Write a story in which the main character is a building.
Start your story with this sentence:
Dorene approached the abandoned slaughterhouse, nostalgia canceling out any feelings of revulsion.
Use this dialogue gem in your story:
“Time to belly up to the salad bar of truth!”
Write a story in which the protagonist drives a run-down, old car with special powers.
Write a story about a race. Unlike most races, winning this one has horrific consequences. But your protagonist doesn’t know this. Or does she?
Use all of these words in your story:
anathema , misanthropy, perfunctory, sycophant, voracity, verisimilitude
Write about someone who finds a new, mysterious UHF station while they’re trying to find something good to watch on TV.
Yes, I’m old enough to know what UHF is.
Use all this stuff in your story. Don’t leave anything out!
Genre: cyberpunk
Person: a dinner-theater actress
Problem: the Texas government has just been privatized
All of this stuff. Use it in your story.
a drag queen who works at Dairy Queen, the Walmart parking lot, an ancient book with an ancient curse on it
Write about someone who is ill … and the only cure is for them to do something gut-wrenchingly disgusting.
Three things. Use them in your story, damn it!
a box of tissues, x-ray glasses, a rainbow
Write a completely serious, moving story with one outlandishly screwball element. Make it jarring and make it awesome.
Write about someone who uses everyday office supplies for evil.
Write about someone who celebrates springtime in a very unusual way.
Write about a factory that doesn’t make anything.
“A French corporation that doesn’t make anything … An ambulance driver - wakes up in a Dairy Queen … A town in which even the people who live there … Can’t remember its name.” — David Byrne, “Strange Ritual”
