Drawing a Blank?

Coming up with story ideas is part of a writer's job, but the ideas don't always materialize when you want them to. But hey, don't panic, you can find ideas in all sorts of places.

There are many prompt sites out there like Seventh Sanctum http://www.seventhsanctum.com They have seventeen generators to choose from and a list of fifteen other sites with generators. This is the link to the quick story generator http://www.seventhsanctum.com/generate.php?Genname=quickstory All you have to do is click until you find a story idea that works for you.

Over at Duotrope they have a theme calender http://www.duotrope.com/themecal.aspx You can scroll down through the calender and find any number of different themes that might trigger a story for you. If the zine with the theme doesn't suit you, it doesn't matter. There are always other markets, only the idea is important at this point. Get the story written.

And speaking of themes, I found a Western theme opening for you Western writers out there. It's a non-paying quarterly market called "Schlock" who's looking for pulpy type stories for a variety of themes. http://schlockmagazine.net/submission-guidelines/ They also take reprints. The deadline for the Westerns stories is November 1 for the December issue.

Of course, there are other places to find ideas like prompt groups, google, and blogs. All you have to do is open your mind to the possibilities then hit the keyboard.