the king and the blacksmith's daughter

A tyrannical king is very close to losing his country to rebellion. In desperation, he tells his only child, a boy, that he will marry a girl from the "peasant class", in an attempt to appease the people. The king has no idea that his son has been sneaking out of the castle and spending the majority of his days with the country folk, and is extremely good friends with a pretty young girl, the daughter of a blacksmith.

Terrified at the prospect of marrying a girl he despises, the prince proposes, even though his heart isn't in it, to his friend. Though she doesn't love him, she agrees to the marriage for his sake. Their marriage becomes extremely rocky, and since divorce is non existent, they must learn to force their way through all forms of difficulty.

AAP by BlueGonfalon

Tomboy Queen

In a world where the King is chosen by the gods through a magical sword, a tyrannical King has ruled his kingdom with an iron fist. His wife bears his child and it is not a boy, so he kills the baby. When the Queen is once again pregnant, she is so afraid of what her husband may do if it is again a girl that she gets deadly sick. The baby is born and it is again a girl. The Queen then begs her governess to escape with the baby.

Sixteen years later. The young prince has had enough of ruling and wants to abdicate, but is not able to gain the gods' blessings. He has to remain on the throne until the true heir is found. The Council (nobles) doesn't want a King; they want to be the ruling power themselves.

Knowing that the council cannot be trusted, the prince sends out his most trusted advisor, with a skilled swordsman, to find the true heir of the throne. But the two men don't know how old the person they are searching for is, and they search for a male.

As the gods lead them, they find the true heir, but she is not what they thought they would find. The "King" is a tomboyish girl, who first of all does not believe them, and does not want to be the Queen. So the men have a problem with their unwilling queen and assassins sent by the Council.

AAP by Melonpan

little girl mails Christmas list to Satan

Postman Sal Magundi has never met a letter he couldn't deliver. So when little Clara Hexton misspells the addressee of her Christmas list as "Satan," neither fire nor sulfur nor hordes of marauding demons will keep this carrier from completing his task.

Feel free to use different names for the characters.

AAP by [unknown]

A Land Where Nothing Dies

There are rumors of a land where nothing dies, nothing *can* die. But it's been centuries since anyone has heard anything about this country that's learned the secret of immortality, and most think it is nothing more than a legend. That is, until a mysterious young stranger comes into the town/city/village/whatever, who claims to have been born and raised in the secret country.

AAP by Kitsuneko

A Different Man (villain with amnesia)

The villain goes for a ride on his new horse, has an accident, and loses his (or her) memory. He wanders around for a while, then some nice peasants (they don't have to be peasants) find him and take him in, not knowing who he is. Without his memory, he's actually a nice guy (I don't know why; you figure it out).

In the mean time, his minions have been looking for him. They think their lord might have been kidnapped, and they're pissed. So they scour the land looking for him, wreaking havoc and terrorizing the populace. The people in the town/farm/city, where the villain is living, hear about the approaching army, so they prepare to fight, and the villain is right there alongside his new friends.

I thought the villain could regain his memory either when he sees his trusted lieutenant at the head of his army, or after the lieutenant recognizes him and calls him by name, but that's up to you, and so is the ending :)

AAP by catwithpen

Beast by Night (human-animal bond)

People from different walks of life begin to have vivid dreams of being animals. One is a tiger, stalking through steaming jungle, one is a whale with a calf, heading north through mountainous icebergs, one is a sheep and feels kinda ripped off when his friend starts on about the tiger...

Anyway, they keep dreaming, and gradually, they gain control over the creatures they dream of. As this is happening, some will be talking about it – and be hauled in by the local sanatorium as lunatics. Some will be making more subtle inquiries, and some might think they’re the only one. But there are strange stories circulating – a town attacked by monsters that don’t exist, communications with the army in the north cut off, no trading ships from the east, but several shipwrecks have washed up...

One night while dreaming, the MC’s animal is killed by something immense and leathery that swoops from above. She/he is heartbroken, until a couple of nights later he/she opens their dreaming eyes – as a dragon.

How will they react? How will they stop these newly awoken monsters, possessed by human minds at night? Can they trust anyone else to help?

AAP by jessymay

great hero with cute bunny tattoo

A system of magic based on tattoos, starting when the magic-users are children. The first tattoo is a power tattoo and usually fierce, frightening things, intense symbols from which a Mage's power derives. Children are prepared for this by a series of non-permanent tattoos of less terrifying things: bunnies, mice, birds, butterflies, etc.

Hero of story must select his/her coming-of-age tattoo design and chooses a child's tattoo! Something small and totally unintimidating, like a bunny or a butterfly. His/her parents are ashamed, etc. But then the hero's time comes...and he/she is POWERFULL.

AAP by annekaelber

Controlling the Elements

Four teens at the same summer camp realize that they share the ability to control one of the four elements - but the fun is over when it becomes clear they didn't meet by accident.

AAP by strdst_grl

Broadcasting Thoughts

In this world, everyone can hear the thoughts of the people around them, but they learn to block them out pretty early on. But the MC can't hear anyone's thoughts but his own. Instead, he broadcasts his thoughts to the people around him uncontrollably. I don't remember figuring out any more than that, so I don't have an explanation for it, but maybe someone else will come up with something.

AAP by KeikoCharna

Bored With Ruling the World

This one was going to be a silly story, but it could probably get more serious. Someone has succeeded in taking over the world, but now he's decided he doesn't want it. So he's rounded up all the people he thinks might be a good leader and is forcing them to take part in a competition to see which one of them he'll hand the world over to.

AAP by KeikoCharna

Pet Dolphin (sea-people)

A species of mermaids or sea elves or fish-people (whatever) has domesticated dolphins as hunters, herders and companions in much the same way that humans have domesticated dogs. Which explains why dolphins like to play with humans and sometimes rescue them from sharks; they're already people-oriented.

One day, a sea-girl's pet dolphin is captured by humans, and put in an aquarium tank. The girl wants her dolphin back, but getting it is going to be tricky...

AAP by Raksab

Portable Portal

A thief with a portable portal steals things from other dimensions, and sells them in his world (or in other worlds), where those objects are rare or unusual. Things get out of hand when a girl trying to hide from bullies goes through what looks like a regular door in an alley, and accidentally ends up in another world. She causes a stir when she introduces red hair to a world where that's never been seen before (the locals could fear her, revere her, or whatever you want).

The girl goes from dimension to dimension, until the portal has gone through it's cycle of worlds and ends up back where she went through. And the poor thief is without an exit from the world he's in, with the police after him, until she gets back. You can have any number of dimensions; it could work with few or many.

AAP by catwithpen

Freaky Thursdays

A girl has her life plagued by mysterious events, which, for some reason, only happen on Thursdays.

AAP by strdst_grl

False Prophecy

When the heir to the throne was born, a soothsayer gave a prophecy that he would end the centuries-old war and return his kingdom to a second Golden Age. But, right before he is to be crowned king (his father is in his death throes, and going to be gone soon) he is visited by that soothsayer, who admits that she made up the prophecy.

She had in truth, not seen a thing in his future, the first time such a thing had ever happened to her. She made up such an over-the-top prophecy in her fit of panic at the prospect of admitting to the king and queen her failure. (Despite being a soothsayer, or because of it, she isn't the most emotionally/mentally stable person.) So obviously, this prince's entire view of himself and his future crumbles into dust. And what happens next, I have no clue.

AAP by super_nova

Eternal Garden (trapped in a never-ending garden)

A man is stuck in a never-ending garden that's tended by a beautiful yet elusive young woman.

AAP by KeikoCharna

The Wizard's Demon

In Fantasy World, when a wizard or witch comes of age, he or she must summon a demon to become his or her partner/familiar from that day forth. Normally this demon is fairly small and weak (such as an imp or goblin), but exceptionally powerful witches and wizards will summon demons that are extremely powerful and human-like. This is very rare, so the ones who do manage it are often highly revered, as are their demons. For the most part, demons will be the opposite sex of the wizard or witch that summons them and will specialize in the same type of magic (Magic is divided by the elements, and magical beings tend to specialize in one or two specific elements).

C1 is a human-like demon who is well known for being a ladies man and being fond of both female demons and humans. He feels the tug of the summons and submits to it, expecting to be bound to a powerful (and hopefully pretty!) young Witch. When he arrives in the human world, the first person he meets is a pretty, shy young lady who twitters and giggles as he flirts with her, but they are cut off when a young man, C2, makes his presence known. Turns out, he was the one to summon C1. The girl is his little sister/assistant/friend/whatever who just sat in on the ceremony.

C1 is stunned and more than a little upset/disappointed that when he was finally summoned, its to work for a man and not a pretty girl, and he goes out of his way to make his sentiments known. C2 is equally upset because C1 isn't exactly what he expected either. Nonetheless, they work surprisingly well together and begin to get recognition from C2's superiors. As they begin to come to terms with one another and climb the political/social ladder, C1 begins to realize that his partner isn't really so bad. However, at the same time he also begins to realize that something isn't quite right about the magician. C2 is keeping things from his demon, and it might put them both in danger...

AAP by RoboPhantom

Crystal Heart

There is a species that is very similar to humans and are indistinguishable on the outside. The main difference is in their hearts. They start out normal but as they grow older, they turn into powerful crystals. The legend goes that it's when they fall in love that the change happens.

The MC is a cynic and doesn't think that's really true. However she is kidnapped by a group that wants to use her heart and does believe the legend. She is put under a spell that makes her fall in love with one of them.

I had several different endings planned for this but none of them seemed quite right.

AAP by KeikoCharna

The Crossroads

When someone dies, they go to this place called "The Crossroads" where they must pay penance for their sins and mistakes by assisting the living in avoiding making the same ones, sort of like a guardian angel. C1 is one such spirit and is assigned to C2. However, C2 isn't behaving exactly as expected/desired, and C1 is catching Hell for it. Time for some drastic measures...

AAP by RoboPhantom

Baby Mage

In a world where a child possessing magic could be born to anyone, trained mage agents have to find them and bring them to a special facility where they can learn to harness their powers before they accidentally blow someone up. Most children gain use of their powers gradually and don't reach full potential until their teens, so the agents are usually tipped off before something big happens.

The MC, on the other hand, suddenly gains all of his/her magic at the age of three. The next time s/he throws a typical toddler tantrum, s/he ends up burning her house down with her parents still inside. S/he's still too young to understand what happened, and thinks the reason why everyone looks at her all weird when the agents take her to the facility is that s/he's the youngest person there. All the people there are old enough to realize that the truth would destroy him/her, and decide not to tell.

She grows up a friendly, normal person.

And then someone, trying to be mean, finally tells him/her. The results are not pretty.

AAP by inph

emotions incarnate

To be perfectly honest, the world should be in chaos right now. But chaos is a very high strong emotional thing, and nobody has feelings anymore, so it's kind of impossible. See, although people aren't very pleased that their emotions (happiness, sadness, anger, fear) have taken on human forms, without emotions, they aren't reacting as much as normal. So you have a bunch of emotionless people, and a handful of high strong emotions in human bodies running around causing trouble.

AAP by Aviechan

werewolves trying to fit in

When someone is bitten by a werewolf, there's no shifting on the full moon and being human the rest of the time. Once you're bit, you're a wolf, for good, and there's no turning back. Werewolves are hunted down and exterminated, because it's believed that they're uncontrollable monsters with no humanity left in them. However, now one pack of werewolves has discovered how to become human again. Not for very long, just an hour or two at a time, but still, it's something. And now they want to reintegrate with society, while trying to avoid those who would kill them.

AAP by Kitsuneko

pharaoh reincarnated goes to high school

Long, long ago in Ancient Egypt, a pharaoh became obsessed with becoming immortal, and tracked down an artifact of some sort that was supposed to let him live forever. Alas, he died old and alone, as it seemed the artifact didn't work — except it did, just not the way he expected. It turns out he is always reborn after he dies, and regains memories of his past lives somewhere between the ages of 6 and 12. He's spent over 3000 years hopping from place to place and life to life randomly like this, until the modern day. In his current life, he's a high school student who's just learned that his best friend is slowly dying, and decides to do something he's never done before: They're going to find the artifact that originally made him immortal. But will his friend use it?

AAP by Kitsuneko

Magical Jurassic Park

A magic-obsessed billionaire founds an island zoo of magical creatures: dragons, orcs, unicorns, etc., but oh, it goes terribly wrong. Remember that scene with the little compys all attacking John Hammond? Picture that with a pack of pixies or leprechauns.

AAP by dustyfro

Immortals (a 'save the world' plot)

Carey is an immortal being. She thought she was normal her whole life, but one night she was bloody murdered, and two days later, she woke up in her own grave. She spent years traveling all over the globe, until one event which changes the whole world. Carey and a handful of other immortals have to take control to make the world a safe place to live again.

AAP by Forestone

Return of the Old Gods

Two teenagers become famous overnight when the Old Gods return and choose them as heroes, defenders of the Old Religion. But the old ways have been forgotten, and the Gods are not as kind as legend remembers them.

AAP by strdst_grl

Offspring of the Incubus

This little village is being terrorized by an incubus. Any child that's born whose father is the incubus is immediately put to death before it can do any damage. But when the main character gets pregnant, she doesn't want the baby to be killed, so her friend says that the baby is his.

AAP by KeikoCharna

On the Other Side of Sunset

What is happening in the distance when one looks out at the sunrise and sunset? What if there was a land that only appeared as part of the regular earth when the sun rises and sets? What if someone from that land looked back out at you and you had the chance to visit that land? Children on each side have heard stories about opposite sides, but neither know if the other is real.

That's pretty much all I have for notes in my idea journal, but I vaguely remember deciding that the person on the other side of the sunset was going to be the person on "our side's" sibling, or just someone they'd have a romantic interest in...though I think I had decided on it being their sibling (I originally thought of it being a pair of twins with one on each side, a boy and a girl). Let me know if you decide to use it! I'd love to see what you write. ^_^

AAP by AWritersFantasy

teenage sons outgrow their graves

This was a typo in a post in another thread, but I am bringing it here cause it was so interesting:

A lady needs to get bigger graves every other week for her two teenage sons, who have outgrown their last ones.

If you take this, NaNo mail me so I can follow and give you support!

AAP by lasalle202

The Locked Room

I had a very vague idea based on a dream I had. I was in a house with no stairs. Instead, each door had two locks and depending on which one was locked, the door led to a different room.

So in the story a large family moves in, but they don't get the key to one of the rooms. The main character ends up with the room opposite that one. I never did figure out what was in there so the story never went anywhere, but if anyone else can think of anything interesting you're free to run with it.

AAP by KeikoCharna

american colonization - with elves

On a world with two (or more) continents, one continent is inhabited by humans and the other one by elves. For reasons which will become obvious, I'm going to refer to them as "Europe" and "America", respectively, although I imagine it as a completely different world so I don't have to think about how much research it would take to place it in something approximating the real world.

A long time ago, even by elven standards, they were a normal society, but then they had a massive war over who would lead them, leading to widespread destruction of America and near-extinction of the elves themselves. The remaining elves, being mostly the elves who'd wanted to avoid war in the first place and even more put off the idea of politics by the war, unanimously decided to do away with it. No elf was going to give orders to anybody else ever again; they got rid of their government and laws and rebuilt their society drastically different than it was before. It's hard for the elves who were around before the War, because they have to completely relearn how to live, but the elves who are born after the War have no problem accepting it because it's the only thing they've experienced. The new society is based on lots and lots of politeness, because if you offend somebody there's no law saying they can't do whatever they want to you, and people tend to band together to stop those who abuse their freedom by hurting others needlessly.

Humans and elves have the same ability to use magic, but because elves live for so much longer than humans, thousands of years, they mastered its use earlier. After the War they practically rebuilt America from the ground up--it was a wasteland, and they made it into mostly a massive forest of gigantic trees, which most of their homes are situated in. They use magic all the time--you name it, they probably use magic to do it, because their society is so individualistic that it's hard to coordinate to do group tasks. In comparison, humans use very little magic. Everybody might know one spell, like firestarting or something useful like that, but everything above that level is only taught at the university level.

The "present" of this plot corresponds to when Europe began colonizing the Americas IRL. In this world, the Europeans come over, start settling in...and eventually (a few years or decades later, after the Europeans have started to settle in) an elf wanders over to find out what's going on, and the two cultures try to make sense of each other.

AAP by darklyndsea

The Methuselah

Setting: A world where there's a special person called the Methuselah. The story opens in an auction, where the Methuselah is being sold. It is said that if one tastes the blood of the Methuselah, they will be healed of all their sicknesses and injuries.

A girl whose mother is dying joins a group of bounty hunters to catch the Methuselah once he has been sold. But once the group kidnaps him and she meets him, she decides that she wants him all to herself, for her own family’s problems. She steals him away and the other bounty hunters follow. She must protect the Methuselah and prevent him from figuring out her intentions before her mother dies.

AAP by bluebeanie41496

The Elves Next Door

In a typical suburban neighborhood, a seemingly nice and normal family moves in. But the neighbors quickly become confounded by the family's insistence that they are elves (or any kind of magical creature you want). Discussions of calling the nearest insane asylum ensue. The neighbors have a range of reactions from disgust to anger to curiosity...and the entire neighborhood is just a mess of arguments over this quiet, kind, and otherwise unremarkable family. Is the family really elfin? I have no idea...

AAP by KeikoCharna

the evil overlord's adopted children

Once upon a time, a baby of prophecy was born. The local Evil Overlord kidnapped her immediately, intending to raise her as his heir.

Then a hero rescued the baby and planted her in an orphanage. Shortly afterward, said hero vanished. The EO tracked his prey to the orphanage, but by the time he got there, he had no way of telling which of the thirty babies in there was the one he wanted.

Still determined to get his hands on the kid, he took over the orphanage and adopted all of them. Which made him the proud guardian of thirty orphaned children, running around his evil palace... and as time passed, the kids grew, and he watched them carefully to see which was his Chosen...

AAP by Raksab

Shadow One

The FMC is what's termed a "shadow one". She has control over shadow within her. The MMC is her lover; he is supposed to protect her. They've been traveling around the US, never stopping in one place for more than a couple of nights. The FMC doesn't quite understand what's going on; she assumes they're hiding from one of their usual enemies or just looking for somewhere to settle down.

Then she finds out what they've actually been running from. There's a small secret society which plot to kill the shadows ones; they believe that no-one should have such power as to control the shadows. They think it's far too much, too dark for anyone to safely handle.

Unfortunately for the FMC, there's something she doesn't know about her beloved. He used to be a member of said secret society and they still hold something over him. When two of the society members find FMC and MMC, he stands aside and allows the society members to prick her skin. Her blood runs black proving she's a shadow one. She'd tried to deny being one until that point. She's fuming at how her beloved just stands there and allows them to prick her, push her around. They want to kill her, but she fights her way out.

AAP by Fyreheart

Searching for Himself

I had a vague idea for a shape-shifter. He could change his shape into anything he wanted, but now he's done it so long that he can't remember what he looked like originally. And now he's on a quest to find out.

AAP by KeikoCharna

Puppy Love, Demon Style

C1 is a demon of hell, but he's been rather unruly, even by demonic standards. Lucifer/Hades/Other is getting rather fed up with him, and after he nearly burns the capital of Hell to the ground, it's the last straw. As his punishment, he is banished to Earth in the form of a dog. If he so much as kills one human being, he will be banished to the lowest level of Hell instead to serve out his punishment. Needless to say, this is a Very Bad and Painful Thing, so C1 does his best to be good.

While on Earth, he is found by a teenage girl, C2, who proceeds to feed and care for him, eventually taking him home and "adopting" him off of the streets. C1 is sort of resentful of this fact, even if he no longer has to work for his food and all, but the family grows on him. He begins to change, becoming less self-centered and affectionate toward C2 and her family. In fact, he just might be falling in love with C2 and resents the fact that she can only ever see him as the family dog.

After a few months or so on Earth, however, C1 meets up with an old friend who alleviates some of the curse so that C1 can assume a more humanoid form. Hilarity ensues as C1 attempts to lead a double life as the family pet and as a human, while simultaneously attempting to dodge the other demons sent up to keep an eye on him.

AAP by RoboPhantom

Dying Empire

The empire is slowly dying, so the MC wants to set off and start a colony to preserve the sum total of the empire's knowledge and history; they have trouble getting started--for starters, the king doesn't like the idea that his reign will be the last...

AAP by VijayC

What should I label this? It's miscellaneous for now...if anyone can think of something better, please post a comment here.

Dead Zone ('travel to other world' plot)

C1 is an ordinary man (or woman), who's on his way to visit family when he notices an odd looking man skulking along, apparently marking people. Thinking he's a thief, C1 calls out, and gives chase when the man runs. Catching up, he grabs him. The man screams in surprise, there's a flash of light, and the next thing C1 knows he's no longer at the train/bus station. He's in a crowded room that looks like something out of a fantasy novel, with a bunch of people staring at him expectantly.

It is explained that he's been brought to another world because they need assistance. Not from him particularly, but from someone from his world. This is a magic dependent society. People are innately magical, as is much of the landscape. Many things they rely on for day to day life are operated by magic. There are, however, groups of people that choose to live a different lifestyle. People who have magic based afflictions, people who've been exiled, and people who just don't like magic, that live in dead zones.

There are several of these zones, sizable cities with a fair amount of land, on the outskirts of the kingdom. They were created hundreds of years ago, and have boundaries that mark the area of magical cancellation. Recently, however, one of the zones has started to expand, nulling out magic in an ever increasing radius. Somehow C1 is supposed to help them figure out what's going on and stop the spread before it affects the whole country. All they know is that somehow, someone from C1's world helped create the anti-magic zones, and that his lack of magic is supposed to help somehow.

AAP by mme.aloria

The Wolf and the Dragon

A young wolf breaks an ages old taboo and leaves his (or her) forest (resulting in permanent exile) to search for the poacher that killed his sibling/mate/friend/real estate agent.

After a long period of time and still no luck, the wolf grows world weary and pessimistic and begins to believe he has nothing to live for. He comes across a young dragon that was stolen from its nest, turned into a pet, and later kicked out on the streets to die.

The wolf impulsively saves the young dragon who in turn 'imprints' on the wolf and starts following him everywhere, gradually filling the gap left by sibling/mate(maybe not so much...)/friend/real estate agent.

AAP by SpatulaCastle

Prepared Sacrifice

MCs find a child [in the forest], running for his life, and too young to explain what he's running from. After looking after him for a while, monsters/crazed wild animals attack the village/farm/homestead. That never usually happens, they normally keep away from humans...after fighting them off, MCs find a dying man following the pack, who explains – the child is a prepared sacrifice, to raise an Evil thing into the world. The man stole him away from the evil people, and ran for it. The magic on the child drives the monsters/wild animals to attack. And now the people who want to raise the Evil are after this child, because they need him/her back before the year ends, and the time of sacrifice is over...

So MCs have to take kid through monster infested forest (optional). They reach the capital city, where the monsters/animals wouldn’t follow. And THERE they find out that the sacrifice had to be of royal blood, and what do you know, the prince has been kidnapped...(this bit’s even more optional...wait, it’s all optional, right, do what you like with it) so they spend a little while thinking the kid was royalty, but in fact he was the heir’s decoy. WHICH MEANT, that the authorities in the city were all for just killing the kid so the prophecy couldn’t happen, because royal blood or no, he's the prepared sacrifice now. With one side trying to capture the child, and the other side trying to kill the child, they were in way over their heads.

AAP by jessymay

curse on happiest couple in the land

A couple claim to be the happiest in the land, so the local witch decides to test their claim by turning them into animals that would normally hate/eat each other. Can the couple overcome their newfound differences to break the spell and live happily ever after?

AAP by midori_baby

Remembrance

MC has the ability to recollect the memories or past conditions of an object by simply touching it. The thing is, he comes from a family where this power has almost been completely bred out due to severe persecution of these "gifted," so he can barely use it.

He discovers the power when he is listening to music with a pair of used headphones he bought at a garage sale because his good ones are temporarily broken and a song that he has never heard in his life and that he doesn't have on his iPod starts to play. This happens again and again and he eventually discovers that he is hearing songs that the old owners of the headphones had listened to before he had bought them.

He slowly learns how to stop this from happening, but then one day he hears something different, a conversation that someone listened to whilst wearing the head-phones, and he slowly begins to uncover a dark past involving his family.

AAP by avidfantasywriter

comatose girl's spirit leaves her body

A girl gets into a horrible accident, and ends up in a coma. The accident was so bad that her spirit left her body. She comes back to the place where she lived all her life, and tries to fit in. All the children (and teenagers, everyone younger then twenty) can see her, and interact with her. Until, someone finds out her secret. Kids who are disbelievers go to check out if it's true.

Once anyone goes to visit her in the hospital, they forget all about her and can no longer see her spirit. Soon, almost everyone has forgotten her, accept a few close friends, who promise never to forget her. But it gets harder and harder for them. Finally they decide to see if there is a way to bring her back, and they start doing research.

I was thinking at the end, the girl thanks her friends and then disappears, allowing them to forget about her while still remaining somewhere deep in their hearts.

AAP by Aviechan

on the trail of the old hag (fairy tale parody)

This is a fairy tale parody.

I don't know if anyone else has noticed this, but a lot of fairy tales seem to include an old lady that puts curses on people. Sometimes there are two sisters, and one gets a blessing and the other gets a curse, but there are other variations too. So in this story, the MC is a detective who has been hired to track down this old lady who has been going around cursing people.

AAP by KeikoCharna

they don't want to be rescued

MMC is a jaded, cynical mercenary traveling home after a war. On the way, he stumbles upon a highway robbery in progress - a group of bandits in service to the kingdom's tyrannical ruler are trying to kidnap a very wealthy lady (the FMC) and her companions. Since the lady's bodyguards appear to be all but useless, practically tripping over their own swords, the hero steps in and dispatches the bandits. He then decides to accompany the lady to her destination in order to protect her, because he doesn't trust her hired guards, and it would go against his oath to leave a defenseless lady unprotected.

Little does he know, the "lady" is far from helpless, having trained in fighting and weapons work her entire life. Her "companions" are a trio of highly-skilled assassins, and the ineffectual "bodyguards" are former members of the king's personal guard who were exiled from the kingdom when they spoke out against the cruel king. The kidnap attempt the hero just foiled was actually the group's attempt to get close to the king, in order to kill him.

Of course, they can't tell the hero any of this, because they don't know if they can trust him, so the hero finds himself protecting a group of people who don't want (or need) his help.

Optional backstory: The king had been kidnapping children to take for his own purposes, and the FMC's older sister was one of those children. So, she grew up her entire life with the knowledge that the king had ripped their family apart, and training so that she could one day get her sister back.

AAP by Sara Wolfe

ordinary man is trapped in a mirror

An ordinary man is trapped in a mirror in a tower in an alternate world, ageless. He is cursed there, stranded, until someone can free him. However, if the mirror shatters, he dies and all hope to save him is lost. It's a rather boring thing, because who would want to save a /regular/ person from a tower, much less a /man/?

Two adventurous sisters are walking through the woods when they come across what appears to be a really old, really tall tree. But it's actually the tower that has been overgrown after hundreds or thousands of years. (The tower is still protected by magic from the witch who cast the spell in the first place, which is a sign that she is still alive and can maybe reverse the curse.) They climb the tower and find the empty room filled with mirrors. /What do you think should happen next?/

AAP by Octoba

teen stuck with an imp

This is a bit of a humourous plot to have some fun with.

You have Ernie, he's about 18, lives in his mum's basement. His mum is obsessed with cats, cat models, stuffed animals, very typical fussy mum with flowery dresses etc. No dad, he divorced mum.

Ernie has been slowly learning all about the dark arts focusing on blood magicks and dealing with demons. It opens with Ernie in the basement, he's spent 2 days researching and preparing for the big ritual. He's in the middle of it, has put his blood into the seal and is muttering the words of the ancient language, when his mum calls him up for dinner! In a typical huffy teen way he goes to eat dinner.

He then comes back down to find an imp has trashed his room and is now sitting on his bed flicking through the channels on his tv. It turns out he'd opened the gap to the void with his seal and out came the imp. Now Ernie's stuck with the imp but the only way he can make said imp do as he's told is to use his full name. Imp's full name is something absurd like Ez'vein-morkanith-delb'grithadabl-tierna'reitha.

AAP by Fyreheart

Pawn (the chess and card fanatic MC)

MMC is a guy who is an absolute chess and card fanatic. He can beat anyone at chess with only a few simple moves and he can do all kinds of different tricks and illusions with his many limited edition card decks. However, one day he begins to notice something odd happening with his chess sets and card decks. It appears that almost every time he wins at chess, all the pieces are in the exact same spots and even one time, when he drops them on the ground by accident, they all land on the board in those positions. Every time, it is the king, queen, bishop, and a single pawn set off on their own in the middle. The rest are either captured or (in the case where he dropped the chess set) fallen on their sides around them.

And his cards -- the royals in his decks, especially one in particular, seem to be taking very life-like faces. The jacks in every deck rather resemble himself. And the jokers in each deck stare back at him with mysterious, chilling faces, and even once, he could have sworn that the eyes had moved and stared at him in a sinister, mocking way. What is happening to his chess pieces and cards? MC Googles these things for lack of any other form of action to take and discovers that there is a very ancient prophecy in which four major figures play a role. A King, a Queen, a Bishop, a Pawn. A King, a Queen, a Joker, a Jack. A President, a First Lady, a shifty Ambassador, a young school boy who only ever wanted to just play chess and cards.

AAP by avidfantasywriter

twins: one is a thief, the other a detective

Jonas Quinn was a master thief, working for a crime boss known only as The Shadow. Neither knows the identity of the other, communicating solely via the internet. Terrence Quinn was Jonas' identical twin, but in every way his polar opposite; while Jonas was content to steal his way through life never holding a steady job, Terrence had studied hard to become a police officer, quickly getting promoted to detective. Jonas steals for The Shadow, while Terrence is put onto The Shadow's case, given the job of tracking him down. Neither aware of the other's job.

One day Terrence and Jonas are both in the same bank at the same time, just as a gang comes to rob it. The brothers act heroes bringing down the gang together, but not before Terrence is shot, dying shortly after in Jonas' arms. Almost immediately after, Jonas learns that the robbery was only a farce to kill his brother, The Shadow having ordered the hit on the one person with a chance of catching him. Swearing vengeance, Jonas sets out to finish what his brother started, assuming his identity as a detective in order to find and kill The Shadow.

AAP by TheBlade07

City of Ice (Atlantis)

Atlantis was a city on an iceberg. They got around on ice-skates, lived in rooms like those awesome ice-hotels, and grew strange plants whose roots gave off heat to melt the ice, and drank that way. They preserved their dead in caves far below the water line, so that you could still see the old kings, frozen forever.

They traded with Egypt, Greece and Turkey, and one of the protagonists is a youth from one of these cultures who once stole from the trading ship of the Atlanteans, and was taken back by them as an indentured servant. Along with another youth, who is dedicated to a career in magical science, they uncover a plot to research powerful magic/science that will enable them to move the city into warmer waters, without it melting. They're growing too big, and they're after a nice fat empire with slaves and such, and they're going for the protagonist's homeland.

So yeah, the end is kind of a given :P The city melts into the ocean -- never to be found, because it moved in the first place so how anyone's meant to locate it...or as a twist, it doesn't melt, they manage to steer it into colder [is this supposed to say warmer?] waters, give up their ideas of conquest, and gradually abandon their magic and science in favor of being able to feel their toes. Yeah, I never really got further than the setting, but hey, if anyone's after a basic premise like this, please do plunder it.

AAP by jessymay

magical realm within the forest

A young woman has always been kept locked away in her family's old keep on the edge of the forest "for her own good". She lives with her older relatives and is bored out of her mind listening to her maiden aunts discuss their knitting over bland soup at dinner.

They cannot allow her to leave because of her "condition" -- she is able to enter the magical realm within the forest. (They found out through an unfortunate incident when she was a young child.) Her whole life it has called to her, and she tries to pretend to be normal so that her family may one day let her leave.

Then, one day an old man arrives and stays as a guest. He flirts with her aunts at dinner, but after the meal he gives her a small hand mirror and tells her it is time to go into the forest.

AAP by 27Frogs

first boy in magical academy

A story about the first boy to be admitted into a magical academy - normally only women have strong enough powers, and men have little if any.

AAP by laura.c.h

wizard needs to protect artifact

A 2 part story:

Young Blood

A young wizard-in-training takes it upon himself to protect his school -- which stands above of the greatest magical artifacts of all time -- from the agents of darkness who want the artifact. When a young girl from his class sees him in action and declares that she will help him, he is not only forced to protect her, but he has to struggle with his growing feelings for her because feelings like that have been known to compromise wizard powers. During the climax, he sacrifices some of his powers in order to save the girl, powers which flow into her and make her a wizard as well. And together, they save the day.


Possible sequel: Dark Blood

After successfully keeping an important magical artifact out of the hands of dark agents who would use it for bad, the novice wizard is given the charge of guarding yet another magical artifact. The only difference between this one and the one under the wizard's school is that this one has a sort of consciousness, a mind of its own. Unbeknownst to the wizard, this artifact is
an ancient evil that has been contained.

The wizard's girlfriend, who is also a wizard now, is drawn to the artifact. While visiting her boyfriend when he is on duty, she asks to see it. As soon as they are near, the artifact draws the girl towards it and when she touches it, the evil is released into her and it controls her body. It leaps towards the wizard and manages to mortally wound him before others come and it escapes. The wizard, despite his wounds, sets out to bring the evil back and contain it once more. But in the end, he will have to choose between saving the girl he loves or saving other innocent lives.

AAP by avidfantasywriter

peace leads to overpopulation

Peace has ruled the world of Lednik for too long. The gods realize that soon, there won't be enough souls for every human body that will be born. The only way to compensate this would be if more people die, so there will be more souls one can recycle.

Eight of the nine gods meet and work out a plan. They would allow fifteen people to return from the dead and give them one order: Kill as many people as possible. Especially pregnant women, babies and children, because they have a more "pure" soul. To ensure their survival, the gods would give them magical powers. Three are allowed to control fire, another three control water, others control earth, air, and lightning.

The ninth god, however, opposes to this idea. So he decides to descend to the earth and stop the destruction.

AAP by vulture

Strange New Bird

When your MC fetches the chicken eggs (or geese, ducks, etc.), they pick up another egg that has a crack in its shell. Figuring it should be eaten immediately (or destroyed), they take it home, break it over a bowl...and out falls a baby bird!

When the bird's feathers dry out, it's clear it's no chicken. It's saffron orange, and its neck is too long, and its beak is the wrong shape. But what could it be? There aren't any books that have pictures of it. The bird has imprinted and it's awfully cute, so the MC decides to keep it as a pet for a while. The orange down soon gives way to glorious scarlet feathers.

The bird grows fast. Very soon, it starts to fly...and one day it disappears. The MC figures it's gone for good.

Until it comes back, carrying a shiny object, which it drops at your MC's feet.

AAP by Raksab

aliens invade through a toll bridge

A boy and his dad go to live in a house on a bridge after his granddad dies (mysteriously). The dad is meant to collect tolls to maintain the bridge and keep it open, but instead lets the money get stolen/disappear somehow. The dad is taken away.

Strange beings contact the boy to tell him it's vital that the bridge is kept open, his dad is a traitor to an ancient cause, and it's now up to him to fix the bridge. The boy befriends 2 others - a weird home-schooled girl whose mother dresses her as a Victorian doll, and a geeky younger boy from school, and a very cool but oddly unpopular older boy who tells him he's also on the mission to keep the bridge open...so that that alien (or magical) beings can come to Earth and make everything all better.

The boy's other friends don't like the cool kid, but he maintains the friendship anyway and begins rebuilding the magical bridge to help the benevolent alien/magical beings.

But then... he realizes he is on the wrong side, that the beings are evil and that his dad was trying to destroy the bridge to keep them out. He now has to try to pretend to be helping the aliens and the evil cool boy, while actually helping his friends the girl and geek to stop the aliens invading.

AAP by avery-pyke

chosen one fails, then gets another chance

There was a Chosen One, who failed - he didn't find the wise old man or the sword, didn't go on the right journey and never became a warrior. The girl he was supposed to marry married another, and the kingdom he was meant to rule as a king was taken over, and ten years later he lives as a beggar on some back-alley. His god, who kept a distance over the years to avoid drawing attention to the Chosen One, finds him and sends him back to his childhood to do it all over again - to do it right this time. I don't know whether he's send into his younger body or if he goes as adult and becomes the guardian of his younger self, though.

AAP by esama

girl on king’s treason list saves prince

FMC is a young orphan girl who is always traveling around the world, finding odd jobs that no one else will do just to ensure her next meal will be available. She is very street-smart, has learned her way about marketplaces, and can persuade even the most hard-hearted people to take her on. However, she is extremely temperamental, distrustful, and impulsive, so when she gets into a fight with a boy in a marketplace, she does not stop to contemplate the consequences. Just before she has severely injured the boy, armed men suddenly rip her off him and defend the boy.

Soon, she finds herself on the king’s treason list, since the boy was his son. She is held in prison until the king can decide how she will be killed. That night, the boy comes to visit her in jail, telling her he forgives her. Some of his guards kidnap him right in front of her, and she hears where they plan to take him.

She bargains with the king: if he will let her go, she will tell him who took his son. He agrees in desperation, and he lets her go when she tells him. She keeps the location a secret, though, and plans to go on her own to prove that she was not treasonous.

AAP by bluebeanie41496

The Chosen Ones All Fail

The opening scene is of a Chosen One leading an army into battle against orcs/monsters/whatever. Backed with the certainty of prophecy, the Chosen One strides confidently forward... and is promptly slaughtered. As it turns out, this hapless Chosen One was about the fifth or sixth in a row who came to such a sticky end. Now, the Oracle has chosen a replacement. This replacement realizes that no good will come of being Chosen, and decides not to play along...

AAP by The_Halla

Elemental Music

Girls with artistic talents go to a boarding school out in the country. It is a very old building, built like a fortress with stone walls and old fashioned furniture. While there, the girls learn that the fortress is supposedly one of the four places on earth that contain and control the four elements in a legend. Of course, they don't believe it, but they begin to notice some odd goings-on in their new home, and discover some secret passageways.

They get involved in a singing competition at their school, in which they have to write their own song. They decide to compete as a group because one of them needs the money in order to keep attending this school. They have trouble composing the song, but their luck changes when one of them finds some old sheets of music in one of the passageways. One of the songs, when played by one girls' cello, is an intensely beautiful melody; they all agree to use it in the competition. They make up words to go with the melody and they're all excited for the competition.

On the night of the contest, they are performing their song when something incredible happens. Right where each of the girls is standing, a glowing circle appears on the stone floor around them, and glowing lines and runes appear all around them. As their song comes to an end, the lights flare up and one of the girls screams and faints. When she wakes up, she sees the world around her in a different way. It turns out that the legend about the four elements is true and their boarding school contained the element of [whatever element here].

The song that the girls sang was the key in releasing the element and transferring it into the girl who fainted. Now she controls the element and her friends and teachers will have to help her as they discover that there are people out there who have been alerted to her new powers and want to find her.

AAP by avidfantasywriter

witer trapped in his story

A certain writer has always been terrible at describing people. In order to fix that, he starts basing his characters on real people he sees on the street. When these people start disappearing, he wonders (not really daring to believe it) if he had anything to do with it. It keeps happening, and the idea that it's his fault keeps nagging at him, until he finally bases a character on himself and finds himself trapped in the story.

AAP by KeikoCharna

The Talent Thief

A young boy lives with his mother in a small village. She's a laundress and works hard every day just so they can get by. The boy is sad that she has to work so hard and wishes he could help. One night when he can't sleep, he goes to talk to her and finds her still up sewing. But the thing is, when she's sewing it's like she's glowing with happiness because she's actually doing what she was meant to do. It's her true talent. The boy sees how happy she is sewing and the beautiful things she's making, and he asks her why she doesn't sell them. She says they're for people who can't afford it, and selling them wouldn't be right.

The next day he notices other villagers who seem to have these hidden talents, because when they are engaged in these projects they also give off this glow. There's a chamber maid who sings while she works, a grocer who writes amazing poetry on the back of receipts, and a butcher who paints in the back room of his shop. The boy's talent is seeing the true talents in others. No one uses their talents for their own gain; they all hide away and just enjoy/share their talents in secret.

One day the boy meets a girl about his age, who has also noticed the talents these people have. She doesn't have the same ability to see the glow; she has just heard the singing, read a snippet of poetry, etc. The girl tells the boy that she's found this door into another world where these talented people can go and share their talents all the time and be praised for them and never have to worry about slaving away in the real world.

The boy thinks this would be really cool so he uses his talent to point out what the people in the village can do. The girl takes the boy into the magical world and he sees the people using their talents and glowing away; but when he comes back to the real world and sees the people back there in their ordinary jobs, they seem to have forgotten all about their old talents and they're frustrated and angry. He assumes that it's just because they're trying to hide the fact that they're so happy in that other world.

Finally, he tells the girl about his mother's talent. He can't wait to see how happy his mother will be sewing in the magical world, but when he runs home he learns that her talent in the real world has totally disappeared. She doesn't remember that she could ever sew or why she would want to. She goes to bed exhausted after her work doing laundry and she's just sad and tired all the time.

The boy goes back to the magical world and finds out that the girl has been stealing the talents and set herself up as a kind of queen there where the poetry, singing, etc. are only used for her to enjoy. The boy has to figure out how to get the girl to give the talents back to the people in the real world.

AAP by CallMeMara

The Wizard's Wife

I was going to call it "The Warlock's Wife" or "The Wizard's Wife."

A human girl finds herself accidentally married to a brash young warlock, and because of the permanent nature of magical marriage, they find each other irrevocably bonded for life.

AAP by Lavender Ink

kid sucked into video game becomes villain

Here's a general plot that I seem to see every year (or maybe I'm crazy):

MC is obsessed with [insert video game] and starts to neglect everything else, family, friends, school, work, etc. Late one night while he's playing there's an electrical storm and it strikes his house and, through the game, so is he. When he wakes up, he's been transported into the game and he has to complete the task/win the game in order to escape.

*Alternative version* (which I have /not/ seen before and if anyone writes it and is comfortable sharing I would love to read it):

MC is obsessed with [insert video game] and starts to neglect everything else. This game is the type where you can choose your alignment (like Fable), meaning whether or not you're a good character. Anyway, he chose the dark side so, when he's transported into the game he is the villain. In order to escape the game he might have to defeat the heroes /or/ in order to escape the game the heroes have to win so he has to help the heroes while at the same time being the villain.

AAP by Imaginary_Rose

magic school, tech school, religious school

In the 21st century, an old-school (four elements) mage and a techno-mage (uses computers, etc.) start rival schools. Both work very hard to recruit the best and brightest kids (and the richest donors) for their schools, and both try to keep the public at large from learning of their existence.

Then they are joined by a third school, a school of religious magic...

AAP by Raksab

hero too stupid to live - sidekick saves world

I was cheerfully tearing apart a published novel where the main character had a bad case of Too Stupid To Live, and was wondering why his buddies kept hanging around and saving his behind anyway. Then I thought: what about a story where the side kick is the REAL hero?

The challenge was dished out to explain WHY the side kick would stick around, and this is what I came up with.

1) Sidekick was hired by "Hero". Although Hero is a complete moron, Sidekick was paid, and has a code of honor/sense of responsibility that keeps them from just dumping their stupid ass.

2) Younger sibling is determined to act the "Hero". Older siblings tags along lest they get themselves killed.

3) Young male plays the role of "hero" becuase, well, it's expected in his society that the males are the warriors! His girlfriend, actually the more skilled of the two, tags along becuase she loves him and someone has to keep saving him...

4) Chosen "hero" matches the prophecy but has all the common sense of a sheep. The prophecy-maker, feeling somewhat responsible for this poor clod's being sent on a mission that will likely lead to his death, feels compelled to stay with him.

5) Sidekick is very smart, but not charasmatic. He wants to be powerful and awesome and hero-like, but isn't cut out of "hero material". He finds someone who seems to be cut right out of heroic cloth. Nice, everyone loves him, but...his grasp of tactics and common sense is lacking. Sidekick thinks that being the real power behind the hero is a totally okay gig. Could very easily turn dark and sinister from there...

AAP by ObsidianDragon

upper-class demon-hunter

A girl has difficulty adjusting to her first job; in spite of her upper-class upbringing, she has chosen to join the ranks of the demon-hunters who risk their lives battling the plague of monsters which surge through the city every night. The girl's colleagues are certain she'll get herself killed before the week is out, but she survives to prove that she can hold her own. However, when her partner disappears, she begins to realize that the demons are not the simple monsters they appear as, and that a memory from her childhood might hold the key to ending the plague for good.

AAP by strdst_grl

elf reborn as human

C1 is the only daughter of the ruling family of fairies, goblins, elves, etc (pick your preferred race). At a birthday party for her when she's very young, the opposing race of fae invades. She is injured when she gets separated from her guard, and is almost dead when she is found. Not wanting their only daughter to die, her parents perform a bit of trickery that causes her to be reborn in a different body.

C2 was C1's guard, a golem created with no desire other than to protect her. When C1 is reborn, so is he. This can be because of their connection, or because it was decided he should continue to serve her, etc. Because he is originally a golem, being reborn changes him. He now has free will, emotions, etc.

C1 is reborn human. She has no memories of her previous life. She's constantly surrounded by the supernatural, but is unaware of it. As she gets older, things begin to change. At school she sees things that shouldn't be there, or hears strange sounds coming from places where there should be no sound. She also starts feeling weak and anemic. She sleeps more than is normal. She's either constantly hungry or never hungry (either works). She has problems concentrating.

One day, a young man appears at her home claiming to be her mother's godson. His mother died recently, and he has nowhere else to go. C1 doesn't take well to this, until she realizes that when she touches him she has more energy, and feels more like herself. It also makes the strange flashes more clear, and she realizes she's seeing "fairies". She eventually has conversation with one of them, who explains that she's somehow the same as they are, but different. It also tells her about what's happened since the "death" of the princess. She gets involved in whats going on without knowing who she is. Eventually she sheds her human appearance, and resumes her original form (though aged), and finds out C2 is her old guard.

AAP by mme.aloria

hero and witch cross-dressing as each other

There is a witch who has an important duty to do. There is a warrior who has an important quest to take. The problem is, the witch is a man and the warrior is a woman, in country where it's meant to be the other way around. They join forces, cross-dressing as each other whenever they encounter people in order to hide their genders, and go about their quests without being bothered by nosy people and even nosier priests.

AAP by esama

Troubadour

The MC is a boy, around 18 years old, with pure white hair. He goes around with a flute and he plays it for a living. His music is excruciatingly beautiful and wherever he goes, many people surround him to listen to his music. He tells a story of a young girl who was captured by a great evil and was forced to live in his castle. The girl was the most powerful enchantress of the kingdom and without her aid, the evil would take over earth. The story goes on to say that, after the girl was kidnapped, a seer had a vision saying that someone with great powers would seek after the girl, rescue her, and destroy the evil.

Every time the boy comes to a new town, he is given a place to stay and food to eat by the mayor, but once the dawn has risen, he is gone. However, at this particular town, a young girl of thirteen is entranced by his story and she seeks him out after sundown to find out more about it. She finds the boy and asks him to tell her more about the story. The boy just stares at her, then hugs her tightly and tells her that she is the powerful enchantress from the story.

AAP by avidfantasywriter

Identical twins: Who's the heir?

Years ago, the queen gave birth to twin boys and died in the process. The midwife disappeared without a trace and now no one knows which of them is older and is the rightful heir. It was decided that the king and his council would watch them as they grew and decide which of them would make a better leader, but they all have different opinions. To complicate things more, there is an older daughter. Traditionally, the throne went to the oldest male, but she's starting to wonder why she can't be next in line.

AAP by KeikoCharna