Good stories center on the clashing of characters’ goals and motivations. Sometimes a character’s goals and motivations arise when someone who is innocent must prove so. Here are four writing prompts for stories that center on being wrongly accused.

Man vs. nature
Falsely accused by his closest friends, a man is abandoned or imprisoned in a hostile wilderness. How does he escape/survive Mother Nature and upon returning to civilization, prove his innocence? Or will he be bent on revenge? Why did his friends betray him?

Man vs. man
Two former lovers are coincidentally trapped together. To survive, they must work together – and confront the other about their shared past in which each (wrongly) believe the other guilty of some betrayal. What circumstances caused them to be trapped, and can this be symbolic of the emotional trap they’ve been in since their breakup? How do they ultimately come to be lovers (or at least friends) again?

Man vs. society
A person who generally is considered virtuous is arrested. What he is arrested for? Was the arrest part of some conspiracy? How does he prove his innocence?

Man vs. himself
Our protagonist suffers a terrible fate because he has been wrongly accused. Can he ever forgive his accusers? How does he learn that the only way to inner peace given his situation is to make peace with those who have hurt him?