Welcome to 1,000 Characters!

This is a project about exploration, into writing and into characters. The goal is to create one thousand characters, and learn more about all of them. Most days (at least twenty per month) there should be a new story snippet to keep the words flowing. Do not fret that everything (or at least most things) are short, as that is the intention.

1,000 Characters is a practice for better storytelling, improved fiction. The focus is diving into characters, looking curiously and deeply into their hopes, dreams, desires. Exploring new characters, their stories, the places they live and work, becomes a journey of fun. This process of discovery should, in many cases, lead to longer stories, possibly even a novel. Dare it be said: maybe novels.

A total of 102 works of fiction featuring 32 different Characters!

Featured Story

Published: Sep 02, 2020

As Her Hands Shook, a Dream

Her hands shook as she poured the coffee, steaming, into a cracked mug. A dribble of the dark brown liquid ran down the outside of the carafe onto the counter, looking like a tiny pond, a deep and mysterious pool. Robin wondered if there would be fish, frogs, turtles, or even snakes or possibly alligators. These things were kept in zoos, as pets, and roamed wildly on the Earth.

Her mind wandered to the screech of tires, the wind through her hair, the stiff ground as she landed. There were faces, blurred faces, sirens in the distance. The sky too bright, the faces too dark as she lay waiting. Distance memories awoke with her in the morning, stole her thoughts and commanded her nerves with an unsettling vibration. Waves, swells, rocking of a boat on an ocean. The counter coffee could not be like an ocean, of that she was sure.

First thing in the morning her hands shook; it had been happening she couldn't remember since when. But once she got through the pouring of the coffee, the mental centering around the puddle, a calm washed over her and she was still.

Recent Stories

Published: Aug 29, 2025

Lamb History

featuring: Moreland Bouquett

Moreland stood before the picture window filled with hanging sausages, dried jerky, smoked slabs, ribs, and birds, plucked clean, dangling by rope. His mouth watered. He entered the shop, breathing heavily and ...

Published: Jul 12, 2025

He Walked too Far

featuring: Moreland Bouquett

Sometimes the long walks took Moreland into new parts of the city, blocks and blocks that he had never seen before or that had completely changed since the last time he had ...

Published: Jun 26, 2025

Moreland Liked to Walk

featuring: Moreland Bouquett

Moreland liked to walk the streets because he could inhale the smells of foods leaking from the restaurants as he passed: fried, spicy, grilled, sweet, steamed, broiled, baked, and fresh. Glasses tinkled ...

Published: Jun 19, 2023

Jonesy

featuring: Harold White

Trash tumbled down the parkway, carried by the wind. Trees swayed, the crescendo of rustling leaves drowning out the sounds of the street at the end of the block. Harold watched from ...

Published: Jan 25, 2022

Email is Popular

featuring: Kroft Rodgers

I thought about writing this story last week. The plan was to type some words and see what I thought of them. Instead researched the top searched words on Google. I learned ...

Characters