Story Ideas

All of the she story ideas on this website are for anyone who wants to take them and use them as their own. Feel free to use them in any way you wish. You'll find some ideas for poetry too, including a method for more systematically producing poems.

Here's an interesting true story that answers a question some readers might have. A young man took one of the ideas here and created a short story for a creative writing class. I was happy for him, but then he insisted that I take the idea off the page because he had written the story and didn't want a similar one out there. I told him that nobody would write the same story as his own just because he or she started with the same one-paragraph description. He was really upset. So, official notice: Change the suggested title if there is one, but don't ask me to remove ideas that have been "used" by yourself. But rest assured that the same idea will produce a dozen different stories when used buy a dozen different writers.

Random Stories - Some ideas and themes for new stories waiting to be written. Help yourself, and get busy writing!

Short Story Ideas - How to come up with dozens of plots, gimmicks and more, using some simple methods.

How To Create New Stories - Is anything really new? Yes and no. There are universal ideas that remain the same throughout the ages, but there are infinite new ways to express them in fiction. And yes, there are even new ideas once in a while.

Short Story Questions - One line questions to stimulate new short story ideas. Answer the question, and you have the start of a story.

Poem Ideas - A collection of poem ideas, some just an interesting title that you can develop into a poem, and others that are just ideas waiting for the words and the title.

Poetry: For Writers More Than Readers? - What makes a good poem?

Poetry Techniques - Don't just stare at the paper, waiting for poetic inspiration. Why not stop waiting and start using my new systematic techniques for creating poetry?

Mechanical Poems - What do you do when you want to write poetry? Hopefully you start writing, because even writing a bad poem is better than waiting for the "right words." Poetry is poetry, even if the means to get there seem mechanical. This is part two of "Poetry Techniques."

Check back soon. There will be new story ideas here.