Your next story is about:
A character who wants something but has a problem .
| Pick a character | Pick a goal | Pick a conflict |
|---|
All stories can be boiled down to the following:
A wants B but can’t have it because of C.
or, put simply:
Character + Desire + Conflict = Story
Below you will find exactly one million possible variations on that equation. They may not all work together, but most will. Some options are gendered to save space; allow your character(s) to be whatever you need or want them to be.
We supply the players and the conflict. You find and write the story. After all, that’s why you’re here.
A character who wants something but has a problem .
| Pick a character | Pick a goal | Pick a conflict |
|---|
| A retiree | a milkshake | is a hypochondriac |
| An amateur boxer | to see her daughter | is slowly going blind |
| A ghost | someone to say, “it’ll be okay” | is unemployed |
| Your mother | to knit a scarf | has an evil twin |
| A prison inmate | to lose his virginity | is a mute |
| A five-star general | a puppy | lost his prosthesis |
| A lingerie model | to be an astronaut | is agoraphobic |
| A line cook | to attend Bear Week | has a stalker |
| A puppy | to talk to you one last time | has a skin disease |
| Lady Gaga | to stop drinking | has just declared bankruptcy |
| A high school student | to have a child | is afraid of strangers |
| A single parent | to go to a matinee | has severe allergies |
| A flight attendant | to fall in love | was recently widowed |
| A bank teller | a clear complexion | is an alcoholic |
| A butcher | to get a tattoo | is claustrophobic |
| A dog walker | to stop dieting | is unable to speak the local language |
| An Olympic hopeful | to be famous | is compulsively untrusting |
| A knife thrower | a new car | is a fugitive |
| A stand-up comedian | to travel the world | is an illegal immigrant |
| A talk radio host | to learn how to juggle | is cripplingly shy |
| A city council member | to get married | is a high school drop-out |
| A pediatrician | a career change | has a weak bladder |
| A patient in a psychiatric ward | to kill her neighbor | is afraid of heights |
| An ER nurse | to find his biological parents | has seventeen cats |
| A painter | to go to a museum | has scars over 80% of his body |
| A grad student | to learn how to fly a plane | is germophobic |
| A real estate agent | to tell a believable lie | is addicted to video games |
| A local TV news anchor | a clean house | is still in love with an ex |
| A new mother | to have an affair | has a severe stutter |
| A comic book author | a better cell phone | suffers erectile dysfunction |
| A day care teacher | to move to a new city | is a control freak |
| A marginally-famous singer-songwriter | her mother to be cured | is never home |
| A male model | some fresh fruit | has overwhelming debt |
| A fast food employee | to solve a crime | is a quadriplegic |
| An alcoholic | to learn to read | is obsessed with Tom Cruise |
| Your best friend | a college scholarship | is a chain smoker |
| The President | your mother | regularly forgets to bathe |
| An astronaut | his ex back | is a registered sex offender |
| A Broadway chorus girl | a vacation | is addicted to pornography |
| The girl next door | to learn Spanish | speaks in a fake Scottish accent |
| Judy Bloom | to lose weight | is a spy |
| A graphic designer | to be brave | is stranded on a desert island |
| A homeless child | a gourmet meal | won’t get out of bed |
| A cattle rancher | the girl next door | has a tail |
| A plane crash survivor | a reality tv show | refuses to wear a necessary hearing aid |
| A touring dance troupe | a kiss goodnight | is a dullard |
| A performance artist | his own theme song | has no support from his spouse |
| A runaway | to learn calculus | has an aggressive cancer |
| A World War I veteran | new clothes | is addicted to crack |
| A political reporter | to forget the past | is overwhelmingly lonely |
| A “Mommy-Blogger” | a personal trainer | was recently indicted |
| The CEO of a multinational corporation | to backpack through Europe | is autistic |
| A prosecutor | someone to throw her a surprise party | is obsessed with finding Bigfoot |
| The intern in the Mickey Mouse outfit | to run away | is a nymphomaniac |
| Hannah Montana’s biggest fan | plastic surgery | is a bully |
| A Holocaust denier | to meet her favorite actor | is convinced he’ll never be understood |
| A carpenter | extra money for childcare | has no thumbs |
| An evangelical preacher | a divorce | has run out of fuel |
| An assassin | to be a hero | has no idea where he is |
| A vampire | a new bedroom set | has to pay alimony |
| An intergalactic bounty hunter | to ask out the barista | is a horse fetishist |
| A Naval officer | to go back to school | never says what he means |
| The adult child of a major celebrity | to learn to play the banjo | is a coward |
| An Amish teenager | to try heroin | is too lazy |
| A missionary | to become a drug dealer | can’t find his car |
| An exchange student | to be funny | has misplaced her dentures |
| A personal trainer | her parents to love her | was raised by wolves |
| A bus driver | a regular life | prefers to pay for sex |
| A mechanical engineer | a do-over | is an assassin |
| A professional grammarian | to join the Marines | is stuck in traffic |
| A Holocaust survivor | to write a novel | is being chased by zombies |
| A poet | a fatal disease | is trapped beneath something heavy |
| A political activist | to be a farmer | is being held hostage |
| Lil’ Kim | to help orphans | is lost at sea |
| A New Yorker | to be cool | has faked her own death |
| The editor-in-chief of a fashion magazine | her secretary | is imaginary |
| A photojournalist | a nap | can’t tell dreams from reality |
| An Elvis impersonator | a superpower | is a vampire |
| A self-declared mama’s boy | a friend | is abnormally flatulent |
| A newly-out gay adult | a mentor | has been turned into a bug |
| A street musician | to dabble in S&M | is a fraud |
| A chambermaid | someone to hold her hand | has been wrongly imprisoned |
| An aspiring author | his own apartment | is the last of his kind |
| The lead fundraiser at a non-profit | breakfast in bed | is your mother |
| A salesman | to be picked up in a bar | is in exile |
| A research scientist | boxing lessons | has been cursed |
| An archaeologist | a manicure | has severe OCD |
| A resident of the International Space Station | a cheeseburger | gave away all of her belongings |
| A librarian | a poem written about her | has no friends |
| An elementary school teacher | to be a fireman | mutates after sunset |
| A suicide bomber | to be a dancer | feels compelled to kill |
| A social worker | to be spanked | hears voices |
| A mathematician | to be excited again | is invisible |
| A mutant | a better lunch option | is guileless |
| A Rotary Club member | someone to read to | was recently knifed in a mugging |
| A barfly | a vasectomy | believes he’s the star of a tv show |
| A prostitute | a meaningful conversation | hates himself |
| An auto mechanic | a reason to get out of bed | is a compulsive liar |
| A mail carrier | one more day with her father | is stuck in someone else’s story |
| A non-tenured professor | to commit suicide | is possessed |