Sunday, October 31, 2010

Story ideas

For those who are friends with me on Facebook or have been following me on Twitter, you know that I've been listing rejected story ideas before Nanowrimo starts tomorrow. I got this idea last year after I failed to get my story done. I kept thinking that I'm so much better at coming up with story ideas than I am with actually writing something that I'm happy with. It made me want to challenge myself to see if I could actually come up with one good story idea every day for an entire month. (You might quibble with how good some of these are and I'll admit that some of them are joke entries.)
Anyway, I put one of them up each day. They are out in the world and free for anyone to take. (If you do use them, use your own judgment on what you owe.) I wanted to consolidate them in one place. So here they are!

1) A story about a vampire hunter. Or actually a story about someone who hunts authors who are writing about vampires.
2) A story about a long distance bicycle rider who has suffered a tragedy. While out on the road, the rider becomes haunted by other biking ghosts.
3) A story about two cats, each of which is plotting to get the other one thrown out of the house.
4) A story about a giant red dog and his struggles with arthritis while sending his family into debt to feed him.
5) A story about hikers in the woods who follow some strange runes and end up kidnapped by trolls who derail online discussions.
6) A story about guys who kidnap a fictional character and try to extort a small town to ransom her.
7) A story about an older couple who accidentally rob a bank and are chased across the country.
8) A story featuring oddly placed stone monuments placed throughout the US. Clue to something or hoax?
9) Story about a woman who gets a wrong phone number call and believes that she's won the lottery.
10) A man sets up a book club, set up specifically as a front to get certain singles together. The books derail everything.
11) Sci-fi. An interstellar ship's computer gets crossed with a psychology textbook and tortures the crew.
12) A couple finds a beachcomber who is actually God. Become enlightened. Turns out he's actually a beachcomber.
13) Out of towners are stranded just north of Duluth during an unusual June blizzard. Locals help out.
14) A computer error legally reassigns all of the houses on one block. Neighbors must meet and fix everything.
15) A travel agent uses their insider knowledge to travel to a distant city and commit the perfect murder.
16) A pair of teenagers and their senile grandfather get stuck on a yacht in the ocean without a radio.
17) A conspiracy of forest rangers is uncovered, leaving a search for hidden millions in a huge state park.
18) Time travelers are unexpectedly sent to 1485 in the Denver area. They must try to meet up with Columbus.
19) Two brothers and a buddy are flipping a house when they discover a secret about their childhood that threatens everything.
20) A serial killer seems to be effected by football results. Detectives work against the clock to improve the local team.
21) Something about a rock band that is horrified to find out that young kids are actually listening to their lyrics.
22) Real life man tries to become super villain, cops confused by bizarre plans.
23) Historical fiction. Edwardian era light house keeper becomes paranoid delusional. Believes ships are enemies.
24) A vampire writer and his skeptical wife are beset by an aggressive poltergeist.
25) Woman gains power to grant wishes. Word gets out. She comes to hate everyone.
26) Boyfriend tries to impress girl with a grand stunt. Accidentally becomes mob target and must run.
27) Average guy wakes up in the past and tries to figure out how to use his knowledge of the future to get rich.
28) An entire class of English majors is suddenly transported into a fantasy world battleground.
29) Rival movie execs compete to see who can create the most insultingly bad movie. A typical summer season ensues.
30) Story about a paranormal zoo, told from the POV of the poltergeist keeper.
31) A just married couple drive into an Alice in Wonderland type world and must figure a way back to real life.

2 comments:

Kate said...

Are you going to tell us what you DID decide on?

Meigan said...

I didn't know you were on Twitter!