It’s a common misconception that a great idea makes a great story. The truth is that most great stories come down to execution. A great idea with poor execution rarely works, but a great writer can breathe new life into even the most tired tropes.
Like any writer, I have my own treasure trove of ideas that might end up in a story…someday. But why horde them? Instead, I’m opening the vault and setting them free.
Use these ideas as a writing prompt, or come up with your own twist and reply in the comments.
Cordyceps Cosmicum
Grigory Romanslov has space mushrooms growing in his head. He knows this ought to worry him, but it doesn’t.
He knows there are mushrooms in there because his sinuses and ears feel plugged, and everything smells like portobello, and a delicate, thin-stemmed white cap unfurled just above his earlobe while he was shaving last week. Maybe he shouldn’t have breathed in the glowing green dust surrounding the crater he found in the south forty.
A Google search leads him to Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, which sounds much nicer than “zombie ant fungus.” It tells him the fungus controls the ants’ behavior. He doesn’t feel like the space mushrooms are controlling him, although he has been drinking salt water lately, and sucking on pennies.
He feels healthy, despite the fine white fuzz growing on his skin. He did puke up his breakfast on the front lawn yesterday, but he felt fine after.
When he wakes up and sees a dozen tree-sized mushrooms in the yard, it makes him happy. They look nice there. Decorative. And the spores twinkle a million shades of green as they catch the morning breeze.
Words Deferred 