The Lodestar Contest

1. A woman is at a diner when she sees herself sitting at the counter from the outside of the building. Then her POV switches back to her own head. She turns to see a woman standing outside looking at her reflection in the window glass, straightening her pantyhose. Over the next few days, she finds herself in this woman’s head more and more often, and for longer periods of time. Then she sees the woman committing a crime—theft or assault or both. She needs to know how to find her, and she doesn’t know if the woman knows that our heroine has been inside her mind. And where has the woman’s mind been?

2. A musician finds a musical instrument with a person’s consciousness within it, probably a guitar or piano. When he plays the instrument, the person’s emotions come out through the music. His solos are awe-inspiring, heartbreaking, beyond that which anyone else has ever achieved. He learns to speak to the person within and finds himself sympathetic to them, perhaps falling in love with them. He wants to free this person, but knows that his art will suffer. He must search for the cure, and then decide whether to use it.

I hope these are valid. I don’t like telling someone EXACTLY what they have to write from beginning to end.