#1 Two guys go out duck hunting on opening day at 4 AM. One reluctantly brings the woman who came home with him from the bar the night before.
#2 A character gets an email virus that sends some of his/her correspondence and writings out over the internet. He/She is embarrassed repeatedly
#3 Two brothers embark on a canoe trip which marks their respective graduations. They swamp and lose the canoe three day into the down river and bushwhack out with few supplies.
#4 A rattling bathroom fan in a next door apartment drives a writer to kick the door in after two day. He discovers a suicide.
#5 A forty year old man dies of an aneurysm while taking a hower. His family finds him an hour after the hot water runs out.
#6 A young woman wins a truck in a raffle. She drives to visit a friend in New Orleans and to catch Mardi Gras.
#7 A guy finds himself jobless, homeless, and carless after breaking up with his girlfriend, whose parents he'd been working for.
#8 A chess between father and son turns bad when the boy wins by moving a few pieces while his dad is getting coffee.
#11 A little boy wants a dog, but isn't allowed to have one.later he gets bitten by the neighbor's dog. The dog gets put to sleep despite the boy's protests.
#12 An ornithologist discovers a new sub-species of northern harrier, and captures a specimen, but the bird is so beautiful to him that he releases it, without cataloguing it, after realizing the stress he has caused it.
#13 When stalled- Write a quick setting description, then scetch 2or 3 charachters who wouldn't necessarily interact usually. Toss them all together and write the story
#14 Make a tape recording of yourself reading a nearly final draft of a story- I've found that this forces me not to skim and I catch little errors that I've missed. Also It seems like it'd be a good way to revise a longer story- listen to it being read and jot down notes about plotline and dialogue....