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 109 works of fiction featuring 38 different Characters!

Featured Story

Published: Dec 01, 2020

Wet Mailboxes

Jerry was the kind of man who fixed things, things he didn't know how to fix, things that did not yet need fixing; if it was broken or perhaps about to be broken, Jerry was there fixing it. Sometimes there were things he could not fix the first time around, things that kept breaking. He would occasionally deem those things unfixable. But Melinda, Jerry's wife, could count the number of times he had stopped trying to fix a thing easily, if she could remember those times; they were so few that they sort of just slipped out of her mind.

He was currently battling one such thing: their mailbox. It leaked, and had done so for twenty-odd years, off and on. Every so often the rain was blow just right on the wind and find a way into the mailbox, where a few letters or a magazine would soak up the water. Jerry could not leave the problem for the next sideways rain that might happen in six or seven months.

"Other people must have wet mailboxes," he proclaimed over a plate of biscuits and gravy. "There for someone has found a way to fix them and I will too."

Recent Stories

Published: Jun 30, 2026

Twenty Ways to Talk to No One

featuring: Luciano Xavier

I dabbled in French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Russian. I never learned to be good with any of them, probably because I couldn't find someone to practice with. A few ...

Published: May 14, 2026

No Stills

featuring: Donald York

I walk the bridge path everyday, both directions, all two miles or more. I see a lot of tourists taking photographs of everything: the skyline, other bridges, the harbor, monuments, even the ...

Published: May 11, 2026

Movie Masks

featuring: Lizzy Unger

I thought the masks were terrifying: big circular filters near the mouth, a clear plastic visor shielding the eyes, heavy back rubber to fit the contours of a human face, and thick ...

Published: May 07, 2026

In the Attic

featuring: Lizzy Unger

We climbed the stairs to the attic; the house protested with creaks and groans. I opened the door slowly, stirring dust. The air was hazy and the ceiling sloped sharply down from ...

Published: Apr 02, 2026

Seeds of Boredom

featuring: Brent Que

Boredom was the overpowering state of mind around me, in the house, in the city, in the country, in much of the world. A dictator of decisions for the populace, impressively exercising ...

Characters