Yesterday, I was walking my dog at the park, and I saw a guy who made me sort of nervous. He walked quickly, with movements that were almost violent. He was twitchy and erratic. He looked around at everything with his eyes, but never really moved his head. He kept putting his hands up beside his face and shaking them, like jazz hands. In reality, he was shaking down the sleeves of his over-sized hoodie. When he got closer, my dog (an 8 month old, highly social Corgi) went ballistic: howling, barking, growling, and pulling on the leash. I’d never seen her act this way unless the human in question was holding a large foreign object, like a rake. Before I could react, the man said, “Shut up,” in a clipped voice, and though he was speaking to my dog, he looked everywhere but at her.

If you’ve been sitting in front of a blank page for a while, itching to write but unsure where you want to start this time, maybe this will help. Who is this man? Why did he have such a strange effect on a very sociable dog? You can use every detail provided here or just use this as a premise.

If this helps you come up with a story you like and you post it on your blog, send me a link and I’ll reblog it.

Happy writing!