Story Writing Assignment
Mechanics of Writing a Short Story
Here are some short story ideas that you can use as writing prompts. Any of these ideas can be used either
humorously or dramatically... or you can try both. Have fun! In story writing, first you must think of
character (s), setting (time and place), atmosphere (sunny, rainy, cloudy etc.), climax (rise of action) and anti-
climax (falling action) and resolution. Write a short story based on the assigned topic within 200 words
maximum.
1. At the airport, a stranger offers your character money to carry a mysterious package onto the plane.
The stranger assures your character that it's nothing illegal and points out that it has already been
through the security check. Your character has serious doubts, but needs the money, and therefore
agrees...
2. A man elbows your character in a crowd. After he is gone, she discovers her cell phone is lost. She calls
her own number, and the man answers. She explains that the cell phone has personal information on
it and asks the man to send it back to her. He hangs up. Instead of going to the police, your character
decides to take matters into her own hands...
3. Your character's dream is to be a professional dancer. At a party, she mentions this dream to a
stranger, who says that he has contacts in the dance world and gets her an audition for a prestigious
dance troupe.....
4. A boy moves into a new house and finds out that the other boys in town think it's haunted. He begins
to invent a ghost story to tell at university in order to get attention. But he gradually becomes more
frightened of the house...
5. It's a freezing cold night. Your character finds a homeless family on his doorstep and invites them into
his home to sleep. But in the morning, the family isn’t there. The back door is open....
6. Your character wakes one morning and finds that he is physically stronger, faster, and have greater
reflexes than when he went to sleep. He has got some supernatural powers….
7. One night while your character is camping in the woods with her friends, there's a loud peculiar noise
from somewhere. At first everyone thinks it's an animal, but this sounds like nothing they've ever
heard before. They go on looking for ……
8. Your character likes to have parties. S/he invited her/his friends one day to a party in a yacht on a
river. Some came on time but some were making late. Suddenly it started to rain heavily and there was
a strong wind outside. Everyone was tensed and……
9. Your character is a hard working girl but whatever she does, she can’t get the ultimate success. She is
very sad about her fate. Her father is no more and she can’t take care of her sick mother properly. She
painfully watches her old mom going for work. Tears roll down from her eyes. One day she takes a
strict decision.
10. Your character works under a boss who is very authoritative. S/he has to maintain time and stay longer
in the office with a lot of works. His/her personal life is affected for this. S/he wants to continue his/her
job and enjoy freedom of work. One day s/he thinks of an idea to give his/her boss a lesson.
