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I have to write a 10-20 page short story for my school. Seeing as I'm practically braindead here, are there any ideas? It has to be a fiction story.

Remember the two most important words in the writer's lexicon:
What if...

Most (if not all) ideas for good fiction come from mental exercises involving these two words. For example, I'm currently working on the screenplay for the pilot episode of a television series that is best described as a fantasy western. Entitled The Wasteland, the "what if" element of the story came to me after watching both Samurai Jack and Trigun on Cartoon Network, and I thought to myself: what if an Old West gunslinger was trapped in Faerie and had to find his way home?

Now that I had my story, I had to come up with some basic questions:
arrow Who is our hero? What makes him so special?
arrow How did our hero arrive in Faerie?
arrow What was our hero doing before the story took place?
arrow What events in his life shaped his character and personality?
arrow How does our hero resolve to escape from Faerie?
arrow What are his abilities? His powers? His limitations?
arrow What are his strengths and weaknesses as a character?
arrow Who are his friends? His allies? His enemies?
arrow What is Faerie like? What makes it so different from Earth?
arrow Who are the Faerie Folk? What are they like?

As you can see, once you start asking questions about the character and his relationship with the the story, his enviroment, and other characters, the story almost writes itself. My main weakness as a writer is creating plotlines: I can come up with both the characters, the background, and the major scenes in the story, but I have problems putting them together as a coherent whole. In my case, certain sounds and images stimulate the creative juices; for example, I'm also working on the screenplay for a comedy/horror film entitled The Bone Goddess, but couldn't get past the opening sequence, which involved the heroine meditating in the local cemetery to the music from Elton John's "Funeral for a Friend."
By chance I found Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (which contains the song) on sale and purchased the album, and upon listening to the song was suddenly able to break through my writer's block and continue with the next scene in the screenplay. Never underestimate the power of the subconscious mind in the creative process!

Yay, thanx! The questions are pretty helpful! ^_^ biggrin

Why don't you try writing a post-apocalyptic story based on a semi-realistic series of events that could possibly happen in todays world? Why not let the story take place in northeran America, the south has been nuked by the North Koreans (no offense to those of korean decent). Let the remaining vestiges of american government struggle to keep order in the four north most states while rogues and mercenaries gangs and thugs terrorize and plot against them?

What's Canada doing you ask? How about nothing? Let them have closed their borders to the American's claiming that if they let the American's cross over into Canada then they would eventually become a target of a newly offensive and Russian backed nuclear Korea? Not to mention the taint of radiation nearly every American now carries. Only the strongest have survived and coped, your two main characters: A young college student of 21 and his best friend's kid sister (lets say she's about 13 years old).

The plot you ask? Simple, the main character is a well put together strong man, he's being recruited not only by government spies but also by many of the stately gangs. However, Adam (I'm just naming him for the sake of stability) knows if he joins the government he'll never be safe, and if he joins a gang then his friend's sister will never be safe. So lets say they're on a journey to find a key smuggler of human beings into the western most part of Canada, who isn't even entirely trustworthy (he might even be Canadian! Oh no!).

Sorry I didn't post something sooner, exams are coming up and s**t's been crazy around the house lately, I really hope this helps!

the Lion

A family stuck in a house during a blizzard. generator dies. how to they band togther and survive or dieor whatever.

Uh, guys, she said on April 4th that her paper is due in 4 days... This topic is no longer required O.o;

I can't believe you didn't notice, Leavaros >.>;;

lucifer's side of the fall