Story Help ...?

The good news: It's never the idea that makes a story good or bad; it's always the writing. If you don't believe it, just try writing a plot summary of "Alice in Wonderland" (50 words or less) without making it sound like a stupid idea. The writing is what makes it worth reading.

Two suggestions for your story. First, figure out what's at stake. Someone has to want something -- and something has to stand in the way of their getting it. Your story's plot is in how that conflict plays out.

Second, before you start writing, come up with more than one or two answers to the above questions. List five, ten, or twenty possible wants for your character. List that many possible obstacles that might stand in their way. For that matter, come up with that many different options as to who your main character might be.

Then discard the first few. If cliches have been a problem for you in the past, chances are you've been using one of the first few ideas that come to mind. The original ideas are likely to be the ones that come farther down the list -- the ones that took more time and thought to generate.

And when it comes to selecting obstacles for your character, don't just pick one. Pick many of the better ideas from your list and use them all. It's OK to love your characters, but you still have to be mean to them if you want an interesting story.