Imagine a society in which suicide is the norm. Everyone plans theirs since childhood. People who die of natural causes are frowned upon.

Suicides = physical death only. People are ‘killing themselves’ so that their consciousness can be digitized, allowing themselves immortality in a robotic/digital surrogate. The process itself is celebrated and rewarded in society through the paying out of wills etc to a conversions children/partners.

A man delays his conversion and lives among the robots, only to discover a dark secret. The story ends with his child receiving a congratulatory letter.

Write a story about an unassuming antique store with a weird secret.

I think I’m going to exchange antique store for a charity shop. The idea is that the items in the store look like every day disgarded rubbish, and they are disgarded – but not quite in any manner that could be considered usual. Beneath the charity shop exists stone steps that descend downwards almost infinitely, punctuated by the fallen remains of an ancient civilisation. The old ladies (whose job it is to sort through donations to the store) make ventures down these steps and return with items entirely inhuman, alien in origin – which transform themselves as they are brought to surface level, into the regular kind of items that populate the store – and are bought, as bargain finds and disseminated into the wardrobes and living rooms of the stores varied customers. Clear lovecraft influence on this one.

Three objects for your use : A Virgin Mary statue, a bucket of marbles and a sandwich nobody will ever eat

1 . A ghosthunter sets up to record paranormal activity as he trains his rookie protege.

2. An undertaker pranks his new trainee, having sent him to a local shop for a specific list of items required for waring away evil spirits.

A local cult is stealing livestock.

The cult = local dads who are BBQ fanatics, trying to barbecue the perfect burger – and are stealing livestock to keep alive as live donors for their BBQ meat. The story is told from the perspective of a local dad being inducted into the fold. Parallel to children as livestock and how parents project a personal ambition upon a childs innocence.

Write about a historical event from the perspective of the “losers”

Centring on a native American working in a casino – drawing a parallel to a rich man losing his chips.

Write about someone who is utterly awful in every way imaginable.

He’d spent the afternoon reading a book written by an old friend, curiously examining the characters for traces of his influence, and having found none – turned it into a personal crisis of self. Then to compound his self indulgences together, he complimented the author by how their work had triggered a self loathing that wasn’t exactly initiated by, but helped sped along by their novel.

The problem was, you see – that her book was about people who are, for better or for worse, using their art, their passion and in some cases, their lives to affect the world in what they see as a positive way. They are designed around if not simply the idea of, then the reality of people who engage, people with purpose. Earlier that day, he’d been interviewed about his job – a standard PR piece and for the first time in a long while, He’d felt hollow at the answers he’d given to questions about who he was. He’d realized his personality had become constructed not around what he creates, but about what he consumes and he’d felt like all he was at that time, was a shell filled with nothing. He was not someone that would influence anyone’s writing, because there was nothing about him that would be considered inspirational – and worst of all, he knew that deep down, he lacked the energy to change and so he never, ever, could be.

A little girl dies and is accidentally sent to hell where the demons don’t know what to do with her

She ends up being used as a means to punish underperforming demons/provide a special hell for the demons themselves, bringing hells punishment quotient to 100%. The demons become recievers of dreaded tea part invitations and suffer from prolonged exposure to innocence. Lucifer forces them to dress up, perhaps as teddy bears.

A struggling artist is finding it difficult to be creative. Supernatural beings are trying to cross into our reality.

The narrating character is a supernatural being attempting to cross into reality through it’s ‘artwork’.