21. While shopping in a department store, a middle-aged man comes face to face with the guy who almost certainly kidnapped his child ten years earlier.
22. The protagonist wakes up in a seemingly endless field of wildflowers in full bloom with no idea how he or she got there.
23. A con man who convinces people they’ve been abducted by aliens and takes their money… is abducted by aliens.
24. A school of dolphins is too trusting and approaches a boat whose crew is in- tent on capturing the dolphins and bringing them to a theme park for a swim with the dolphins attraction. Write the story from the dolphins’ perspective.
25. Vampires, werewolves, and mummies are classic monsters. Create a classic monster of your own, and then write a story about it.
26. Neither of them wants to marry a total stranger, but arranged marriage is the custom. Their lives will change dramatically on their wedding night, but will it be for the better or for the worse?
27. The entertainment industry boomed in the twentieth century. Technology changed entertainment from an attraction you paid to see in a theater or other public setting to something you could enjoy from the comfort of your home. Every home had a radio. Black-and-white silent films evolved into Technicolor talkies. Now we have the Internet. Write a story centered on entertainment technologies of the past.
28. An arrogant businessman hits a car full of old ladies. He gets out and approaches their vehicle, blaming them for the accident. Hilarity ensues when those old ladies show him what’s what.
29. Puppies and kittens aren’t always born in spring. This winter, a special puppy is born, one that will change people’s lives. Write this story for children.
30. A young man on his first hunting trip has a deer in his sight and suddenly remembers the day his dad took him to see Bambi.
31. Write a story about a character who walks away from the life he or she knows and the people he or she loves. Why would a person give up everything he or she holds dear?
32. A small team of graduate students is conducting research at sea when they are overtaken by a wild storm.
33. The earth has been ravaged by war, famine, disease, and devastating natural disasters. In less than a decade, the population has dwindled from seven billion to less than 42,000. There is no law or order. The grid is gone. Everyone is struggling to survive.
34. There is a magic talisman that allows its keeper to read minds. It falls into the hands of a young politician.
35. The protagonist turns the key in the lock and opens the door. Beyond, he or she discovers untold horrors.
36. A high society engagement threatens to fall apart when one of the betrothed falls in love with an outsider. Businesses, lives, and old family relationships could be destroyed forever.
37. Write about characters living before Homo sapiens evolved or during a time when humans existed simultaneously with the species they evolved from.
38. Write a satirical story about an orphanage that is managed as if it were an animal shelter, or write about an animal shelter that is managed as if it were an orphanage.
39. Children are delighted when a mama cat gives birth to a litter of five orange tabbies and one little gray runt.
40. A single mother leaves her two teenage children home alone for the summer.