1) Someone vanishes under mysterious circumstances
2) A rags-to-riches tale
3) The hero must slay a fierce beast to save a town or city
4) The protagonist discovers they have powers
5) Someone uncovers a secret that should have been kept hidden
6) Two people who hate each other must work together
7) Someone has built/created a super weapon that will destroy the world
8) The world is at risk from a supernatural or man-made threat
9) Someone is being chased
10) A number of individuals are all chasing after a certain object for different reasons
11) A character is given a certain number of wishes–and they all go horribly wrong
12) There is a social uprising
13) Some mysteriously winds up dead–and the protagonist is the main suspect
14) Someone has something to hide
15) A group must defend their homeland from invaders
16) An accident goes horribly wrong
17) The protagonist discovers they are the chosen one–and they want nothing to do with it
18) The main character must escort a person or object to another location
19) Write a story about two opposing ideals
20) A scientist discovers life on another planet
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The Book of Fictional Writing 101
Non-FictionA handy lexicon of terms used in and applied to literary fiction and what they actually mean, as well as some ideas on how to improve your writing.
