341. When he was sixteen, he spent a summer out of state with his grandparents while his parents sorted through their marital problems. That summer, he hung out with the fifteen-year-old girl next door. When one of his grandparents dies five years later, he returns for the funeral and finds out the girl has a child—his child.
342. The protagonist has a semi-successful career ghostwriting mystery novels. When a close family member is murdered, the protagonist gets caught up in solving a real-life crime.
343. Almost all of humanity is wiped out in a single day—by plague, aliens, or war. But a few dozen humans survive. They can use technology to communicate but are separated by land and sea. Now, they’ll each embark on a dangerous journey to unite and rebuild.
344. Write a story about a protagonist who leads a double life, coexisting in two dif-ferent worlds or times, and who constantly travels back and forth between them.
345. The protagonist is paranoid and believes that people are watching and trying to kill him or her. Friends and family—even the psychiatrist—says these are delusions, but in the end, they are wrong.
346. The royal monarch, who is young and widowed, falls in love with a servant in the castle.
347. Many historical revolutions were started to gain independence from colonial overlords. Choose one such revolution from history and write a story about ordinary people living in those times.
348. In a poor, rural area, a treasure map is discovered. All hell breaks loose when a bunch of locals get their hands on copies of the map and embark on a race to find the treasure first.
349. The protagonist is a child whose parents run a candy store or bakery. All the other kids in the neighborhood always expect the protagonist to give them free treats. Some even make threats!
350. Almost all teenagers have difficulties with parents: Some parents ignore their kids; others berate them. Some parents push their kids too hard; others spoil their kids rotten. Write a story about teens who come together and learn about each other’s familial struggles.
351. An elderly person lives a rather lonely life that changes when he or she finds a puppy on the doorstep. But the puppy is a pit bull, and soon the neighbors demand that it be destroyed by animal services even though it hasn’t harmed anyone and has a sweet disposition.
352. The protagonist is abducted and imprisoned by a psychopath. Write the story from the protagonist’s point of view while he or she is held captive, or write it from the abductor’s point of view.
353. Write a story set in a world where the Internet is a virtual reality that is almost indistinguishable from the real world. Some people are plugged in all the time. Others won’t plug in at all.
354. In our world, war is bloody and violent. But what if war was fought with wits and magic, and nobody got hurt?
355. Write a story about a clairvoyant who can communicate with ghosts and other supernatural beings—but only beings who are dark and disturbed.
356. The protagonist is a wild wanderer and avid traveler who never wants to settle down. But then, while on a trip, he or she gets stranded in a small town and falls for one of the locals.
357. History is peppered with inventions that changed the course of human progress: the wheel, the wagon, the printing press, the train, the airplane, the computer, and the Internet. Write a story set during a time when one such invention was taking hold. How did it change culture, and how did it affect the marketplace?
358. Write a story about a thirty-something bachelor or bachelorette who is perfectly happy with every aspect of life except the fact that friends and family keep trying to play matchmaker.
359. There’s a child who wants nothing more than to grow up and become an astronaut. What kinds of things does the child do? End the story with a bang— admission to space camp or a meeting with a real astronaut.
360. The teenage protagonist is wild—dabbling in sex, drugs, and stealing.