Sometimes, people just need a little help getting started, so here you go:
1. Combine these three elements in one story: a stolen ring, fear of spiders, and a sinister stranger.
2. Eat an M&M. Thing about it for one minute. Then describe an M&M as if you are describing it to an alien.
3. He was holding a glass full of melting ice . . .
4. A man elbows you in a crowd, after he is gone, so is your phone . . .
5. Make a list of five things you are afraid of. Write a story in which one of them happens to your character.
6. Choose a poem you like. Take the last line of that poem and use it to start your own.
7. Begin with, "I wish someone had told me . . . "
8. Write in the voice of a rope about to snap.
9. Free write for three minutes about the cliche "ice water in her veins."
10. Make a list of the ten most unusual jobs you are interested in.
