Stories About

A story about metaphor and personal responsibility. 

 

The story begins with the line, "That's a skateboard, not a loaf of bread!" as a customer at a skate shop named, "Loaf," bites into a skateboard deck that they mistake for a loaf of bread.

 

The story then involves the person suing the owner of the skate shop for "gross misuse of a metaphor."

 

The themes of the story are reinforced by how Loaf was a skate shop all about being personally responsible for one's safety in the dangerous, but life-affirming activity of skateboarding.

A story about the power of fiction to express truths. 

 

A man sees an alien from outer space. This leads him to have important revelations about the human experience.

 

He keeps telling people these revelations. No one listens.

 

Then, he writes a "fictional" book titled I Saw An Alien, which includes the same ideas, and through this book, the ideas change the world. 

A story about the beliefs we cherish and preach about but don't live by.

 

A father shows his young daughter his favorite documentary about a famous, brave female architect who came from humble beginnings.  As the credits roll, he tells his daughter, "See, honey, you can be anything you want to be."

 

His daughter responds, "Then, Daddy, why aren't you an architect? Didn't you always want to be one?"

 

The story then continues with the father having an existential crisis about his mediocre life and considering the phrases we all love to preach but rarely live by.

A story about personal enjoyment and objective criticism.

 

Two film critics meet late one night after one genuinely liked a bad rom-com and the other liked a "terrible" new Adam Sandler comedy. They get drunk and discuss how to write their reviews.

 

Eventually, they conclude, "Thank god, no one else has to publicly defend or hide their personal opinions like us." "Yeah, that would be a total shit show if everyone had to hide that they liked a new movie like Waterboy."

 

This last line and some brief chat about the "World Wide Web" reveals the conversation is actually taking place in the 1990s, and the readers are led to think about how the 1990s film critic's conundrum is now one we all face.

A story about people's deep need to feel cared for and appreciated and how evil acts often come from this desire.

 

Dev, the actual Devil, runs a company where she hires the most talented and overlooked people in the world. The only catch: they knowingly have to work for her, the Devil, and their talents will be used to do horrible things.

 

At her company, Global Unlimited, she truly makes these people feel cared for, helps them make real friends, and makes their dreams come true in an idyllic work environment.

 

The main story follows an unappreciated journalist who is the first person to figure out Dev is the real Devil before receiving an official offer. The story is about whether he will accept Dev's offer. 

A story about how things teachers say are "absolutely important for success" are actually not. 

 

On the first day of class, a student contradicts the teacher and says, "But, you don't need critical thinking to be successful." From this moment, the entire class agrees.  

 

A long debate ensues, in which the teacher consistently resists the student's argument.

 

The teacher returns to her closet-sized office, as she hears cheering in the background for a celebrity visiting the campus who has almost no critical thinking skills. The teacher has a final climatic meeting with students roaming the hallways. 

A story about how the leaders of past revolutions tend to become the status quo guardians against the next revolution.

 

A new graduate student is initially resistant to an emerging new science, but then becomes its most important figure and leads a scientific revolution.

 

Decades later, she resists a new revolution that threatens her standing and sense of purpose. 

 

Eventually, she comes to find a new purpose in convincing her field to be open to change, and, on her deathbed, she writes a book called, Let The Next Revolution Happen: A Memoir and Eternal Thesis.

A story about the "Everything's Good" attitude of many successful people.

 

A youth meets a businessman in a crowded airport, waiting for an overbooked flight. The business man teaches him the confidence of an “Everything’s Good” attitude and how it brings others comfort and makes them trust you.

 

The youth is amazed by how using the attitude gets him on a flight no one else can get a seat on. He seeks to learn more from the businessman.

 

However, there’s a sadness to the businessman and in business itself, and the youth soon discovers this when he finds the man crying in a phone booth. 

A story about how characters are meant to represent different parts of us and how we find our whole selves only through multiple characters.

 

A fictional character breaks into reality to tell his author not to simplify him but to let him be "everything at once." 

 

Eventually, in disguise, he meets his author and finds that his author is suffering, as he is trying to write his entire self into one character.

 

This character realizes his role is to help the author embrace his complexity by not trying to write an "everything at once" character but, instead, a series of short stories about different characters.

A story about the choice to fight injustice or cover it up so one can live one's dream. 

 

This is a buddy story that becomes a horror action story, where the audience can't help but root for the likable, sexy, and talented main character. 

 

The twist is: she becomes the villain, as she kills her innocent ghost friends to live out her idealized wedding and life. In a "ghost white," bloody wedding dress, we follow her as, like a hero, she wields a stolen sword and defends her and her family's status quo.

 

And, like all heroes tend to do, she wins, but, in her victory, she reburies the injustice and watches the ghost who was once her friend fade from the window on the left of her childhood home as she walks down the aisle at her wedding.

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Read pitch.

A series of stories about morality captured in villain speeches including:

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The Reapear is the creation a farmer in a failing, rural town. He creates the illusion of a local supervillain named, “The Reaper,” to bring national attention and support to their hometown. 
 

The Billionaire uses illegal business practices, intimidation of global leaders, and corporate espionage to make the world better, and captures a superhero to explain this and get him to join her side.
 

The Selector chooses who to save and help with their powers. They argue that they select the more worthy people than society would. Their speech to the hero is at first compelling, but it becomes clear that The Selector’s plan comes more from anger than altruism, as they want to enact revenge on all the types of people who made them feel unworthy.

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Read pitch.