461. It may be controversial but it happens every day: write a story about a teenage couple who find themselves dealing with an unplanned pregnancy.
462. In a small town, every member of the community works for a factory owned by the wealthiest family in town. Friction between the people and the family eventually leads to murder.
463. Within a few decades, people will start embedding microchips and other technologies into their bodies. What happens when a shady corporation uses this technology to control people and make them do the corporation’s bidding?
464. A photographer who collects and uses old cameras acquires one that takes pictures through time. He snaps a picture in one time and place, and what comes out in the darkroom is from the same place but another time.
465. Cemeteries are great settings for creepy stories. What happens when a group of teens hanging out at the graveyard find themselves stalked by a terrifying night walker?
466. The protagonist’s significant other is a musician—always on the road. When rumors of trysts with groupies arise, the protagonist decides to follow the tour bus and see what’s really going on.
467. Apartheid in South Africa was a political system of racial segregation that oppressed the rights of the majority, which was the native black population. Write about characters living during apartheid.
468. Kids are always good for a laugh. They ask the funniest questions, or they ask serious questions that fluster parents into giving funny answers. Write a dialogue story (or a script) about adults answering children’s questions.
469. Kids love stories that play with language. Write an ABC book and come up with a single sentence for each letter—but here’s the catch: each sentence must be a tongue twister featuring the letter it represents.
470. Write a story about a teenager struggling with depression.
471. A phobia is a persistent, irrational fear. Write a story about a protagonist who is coping with a phobia or paranoia. Explore how the condition prevents the character from living a full or normal life and how the character is affected by the stigma attached to the condition.
472. A brilliant but evil scientist unleashes a biologically engineered virus that targets people with specific ideologies, as identified by their genetic makeup.
473. One scientist is out to prove that there is an energy field resonating through the entire universe—a field that connects us all and that we can use for miraculous purposes if only we can learn to access it.
474. There have been lots of stories about characters with supernatural abilities who work with law enforcement. Write a story about one such character who works in a hospital.
475. A journalist researching a book about serial killers finds himself or herself hunted by one of the killers he or she wants to interview.
476. They’ve known each other for years because they have a close friend in common. They’ve hung out at parties, even gone on trips with the group. But they’ve always been in other relationships. Now they’re both single.
477. Write a story about a character who discovers a safe house where Jews hid in Nazi Germany.
478. When an aunt or uncle unexpectedly has to babysit, everything goes topsy-turvy— from a hilarious trip to the grocery store to trying to put together a decent meal with sugar-infused kids running around.
479. Authors often use stories about baby animals to teach children about life. Write a story about a baby animal that experiences something difficult: getting separated from a parent, struggling for food, or finding it difficult to make friends.
480. For reasons entirely up to you, a young teen becomes a ward of the foster care system.