Good stories center on the clashing of characters’ goals and motivations. Sometimes a character’s goals and motivations arise from seeking to win a competition. Here are four writing prompts for stories that center on race.

Man vs. nature
The main character must accomplish a goal before impending storm – say a hurricane or a blizzard – makes that impossible. What is the goal to be achieved and why is it so important? What happens when the main character, with his goal in reach, decides to keep pursuing it despite that the storm arrives?

Man vs. man
Our main character is engaged in a race with an old nemesis, and the winner will be able to prove his worth and gain something of great value. What struggles have the characters had in the past with one another? How might the nemesis underhandedly attempt to prevent the main character from winning?

Man vs. God(s)
What if the main character – angry at the world and angry at God – decides to enter a dangerous race that he may not be qualified to complete? How does this attempt to prove his anger is justified actually bring him closer to God? Why he is angry at the world and God in the first place?

Man vs. himself
Our protagonist have five minutes to disarm a bomb whose interior he’s entirely unfamiliar with. How does he keep his cool and succeed?

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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past decade, I’ve helped more than 300 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the 7 Minutes a Day… writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.