Ask students to make a list of their biggest fears. The list should contain at least three items and as many as five. Once the students have done this, ask them to pick one and write a short story about it. In the short story, the protagonist must encounter one of these fears, and either overcome or succumb to it. This will stretch the creativity and the comfort levels of students.
Bring in random photographs, old photos from garage sales or pages torn out of magazines, and distribute them to students. Instruct them to write a short story narrating the scene. They can choose the point-of-view of the narrator, but must invent their own details as to what happened before, during and after the photograph was taken. Another suggestion is to choose one person in the photo and write about his or her life story.
Instruct students to choose a memory or experience that is somewhat painful to write about. Instead of writing it as non-fiction, ask them to create space between themselves and the events and make it fictional. This can include changing the details of the characters or the event itself, or adding a supernatural or magical realism twist to it. The short story should blur the lines between reality and fantasy.
Make students write a narrative about their daily routine, using one syllable words only. Set a word or page minimum, and encourage them to be as descriptive and complete as possible in their telling of what they do every day. Limiting word choices to single syllable words helps drive home the point of how important each word choice is, and should challenge students to put more creative thought into telling their stories.