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 18, 2020

Fifteen Minutes

"Kean, you're pompous."

He was brushing his hair while sitting on the couch watching the evening news from January 27.

"Why are you watching that? It's old news, what, seven or eight months old by now."

"I had to cut back on my television time this year. Fifteen minutes, a New Year's Resolution. The worst is when I have to stop in the middle of a segment."

"This is worse than the four hours per day you watched last year."

A chime signaled time was up. Kean stopped the stream, stood, clipped his brush into a belt holster, and went to the kitchen.

"Are you pouring me a drink, you lush?"

"Why is it that you have to talk to me like that?"

"Why is it that you dare to talk to me, like that?"

He poured a bourbon, then another. He slid the decanter to the back of the shelf, paused, pulled it out again and made his a double.

"You're a pretty bird," he said.

"Yes, you are." She smiled.

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