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Write a story that begins or ends with a page that starts with “While x was gone…” For example

While Mary was gone, John concealed a golden pin inside Mary’s desk. This pin would be the cause of etc., etc., etc. This is the beginning of the story.

While John was gone, Mary slipped a sealed letter into John’s backpack, which informed him she filed for divorce, thus ending their 40-year marriage and a sequence of events that is only hinted at since this is the ending of the story.

By placing this phrase anywhere in the story, you give space to some character or characters while others are gone. It’s a nice way to shift focus in a scene or story.

What other types of phrases have this power?

Write a story about a person who loses their senses.

It could be one, more or all of their senses.

The story should start in the middle of things (in media res). In other words, they have already lost their senses.

Try to write about the setting in terms of their memories or their remaining senses, whatever they may be.

The person must have a mission that started before the loss of their senses.

They must now choose between persisting or not persisting in their goals.

The ending must include overcoming any obstacle of your choice, not necessarily the loss of senses.

Write a story that begins with a tragedy, but not a death.

The middle of the story should contain a climax where the main character sits face-to-face with their sworn enemy who is allegedly responsible for the tragedy.

The end of the first part of the story should show the main character resolving their conflict with their enemy.

That resolution creates another tragedy which would ultimately create another cycle of conflict, climax and resolution.

However, the story ends here.

The main character can relate to this new cycle in any way you see fit.

Write a story about a man who is like a snail.

You cannot use the word “snail” in the story.

He has to be technologically savvy.

He is obsessed with food in some way.

He has the fashion sense of a priest.

He lives in a city that is very flat, and he can walk anywhere if he chooses to do so.

He often compares his life to purgatory.

The other characters he might meet have varying opinions about him.

Those opinions are a mix of his being rich, poor, comfortable, suffering, evil, good and anything else you can imagine.

The story is from his point of view but can be told in any person you wish.

His story must go from a dreary context to a bright one.

The ending must be bittersweet, but without a sense of loss.

A character who travels only by train at night.

Do not write about the daytime.

The character must be on the way to an appointment.

They prefer to be alone, so any other characters they meet must quickly exit the story in any way you see fit.

The character is carrying something they are compelled to protect.

Once the character gets off the train, the story must be nearing the end.

The character must have an epiphany or a secret must be revealed.

The character feels more at home travelling than staying anywhere in particular.

The character must have at least one quirk that is explainable, and at least one that is inexplicable.

The story must at least begin or end with at least one death.