Story Idea Generator

What this generator does

Assembles a story premise from several elements — who it happens to, what goes wrong, what is at stake — combining two template passes so the result reads as a situation rather than a single noun.

What it builds, and how many ways

Each result is assembled to this shape: [protagonist] + [goal] + [deadline] + [complication] — one of 3 sentence patterns this generator uses.

• protagonist: 10 options
• goal: 8 options
• deadline: 6 options
• complication: 5 options
• inciting incident: 5 options

Taken together those banks can be assembled 3,050 different ways, repeating after about 69.

Some results it can produce:

• A retired locksmith must outrun a reputation before the last train leaves, but everyone they trust is lying to them.
• When the sea stops rising, a runaway heir discovers the one person who can help is the one who betrayed them.
• In a world where the sea stops rising, a orphaned mapmaker sets out to undo a promise made too quickly.
• A runaway heir must outrun a reputation before the truth comes out anyway, but they're not who they think they are.

A fixed sample so this page stays the same between visits. Your own results are assembled at random, each slot filled independently and each press independent of the last, so the same result can come up twice — past the repeat figure above, seeing one twice is more likely than not.

How to use this tool

1. Press generate for a new story idea.
2. Generate again any time for a new combination.

Common use cases

• Overcoming writer's block
• Classroom creative-writing exercises
• NaNoWriMo or short-story brainstorming

How this generator works

An idea is assembled from a character, a situation, a complication and a stake, because those four are what a premise needs before it is a story rather than a setting. Assembling them independently is what makes the results worth reading: the friction between parts that do not obviously belong together is where most of the interest is.

Limitations and good to know

• Elements are drawn independently, so some combinations will be incoherent. That is usually the point: the interesting premise is often the one you have to argue into making sense.
• A premise, not a plot. Everything after the first complication is yours.
• The parts are drawn independently, so some combinations will not cohere — those are as often the useful prompt as the tidy ones.
• Nothing is checked against published fiction, and a short premise can coincide with an existing work.