Story Jam

Recently I joined a Secret Facebook Group (shh, don't tell anybody) in which everyone is supposed to post a new story idea every day. This actually sounds way easier that writing a blog post every day, ad I'll prove it by making this one blog post just a collection of story ideas--as many as I can think of in the time it would normally take me to write an average blog post.

A man breaks into a random house to escape a snow storm only to discover that nobody is home. After a day of being snowed in, he begins to explore the house out of boredom, digging in their closets, trying on their clothes, and imagining what these strangers are actually like based on pictures and their belongings.

After decades of saving up money by running successful casinos and investing government funds, the First Nations of America have bought back most of the United States. In the remaining reservations granted to the poor white folks who can't afford to pay rent on First Nation lands or move to another country, a young man desperately searches for proof that his family is indeed 1/16th Cherokee as his parents have always claimed. (Credits to Laura for providing the idea for the setting.)

After listening to hours of conservative radio talk shows, a group of friends decide to come up with a plan to assassinate the president. It doesn't go well.

In an economy where a person can live the entirety of their life in their apartment--working, talking to people, ordering and receiving food, getting medical care, etc--a man begins to wonder what nature is really like. Filled with vague notions of survival skills learned from video games, he leaves his home and hikes deep into the wilderness, completely unprepared.

After writing a series of successful young adult novels, an author finds herself thrust into unprecedented fame for a writer. America, unsure of how to treat a celebrity author, end up treating them the same as celebrity actors, television personalities, and musicians. The author, unprepared for that level of fame, struggles to balance finding time to write, hiding from the press, and being too polite to simply tell the press to shove it.

Three centuries after aliens have invaded the Earth, killing most of the population in the initial sweep, the modern aliens consider themselves to be on relatively good terms with the remaining humans: sharing their technology, granting them land, and allowing them to assimilate into the new alien civilization if they wish. A young alien, confused as to why some humans are still bitter, travels to a human city to try and change their minds.

A Japanese businessman, traveling to America for his company, finds himself the target of an Internet smear campaign after failing to tip at several restaurants.

An aspiring game designer, fresh out of a Game Design program at a university, slowly realizes that game design is hard and that nobody wants to help her make her game idea come to life.

While chasing a serial killer that targets Internet bullies and others who spend their time harassing people online, a detective is surprised to find that many people simply refuse to assist in his investigation.

A scientist, during an experiment with lasers, accidentally invents a working lightsaber. She posts excitedly about it on the Internet, but soon she finds herself in the terrifying world of Disney's legal system.

After a group of squirrels and other animals in New York's Central Park successfully perform a clearly organized heist at a nearby nut shop, humanity finds it must reevaluate its stance on the personhood of animals.

After years of working his way up the chain of command, an elf discovers that Santa is not a real person but an idea. As the head elf reveals all of the secret workings of the not-so-magical system that produces and delivers toys to children for Christmas, the first elf struggles with the desire to expose the system for what it really is.

Anyway, that's nine new stories, plus three I had already posted in that group. It's a pretty fun exercise.