An Ongoing List to Generate Story Ideas
Let me know if you have any more ideas.
- Personal experiences
- AI photo generator
- AI/Chat GPT
- Browse Unsplash
- Browse DeviantArt
- Other movies or stories. Don’t steal or use the copyrighted material, but piggyback off them into a different story.
- Vent. Rant. Pick a fight with something that upsets you.
- Free writing (at least 500 words before you give up)
- Mind mapping
- Write for ten minutes. If nothing comes, take a walk, then try again.
- Write the dumbest/worst piece of writing you can think of.
- Write about a character in a movie that is a secondary character.
- Write a long list of nouns of things that interest you. Visit when you need an idea.
- Keep an idea journal.
- Brainstorm with a friend.
- Write random stuff down during the day, and hopefully, something will work.
- Doodle
- Watch people in the park.
- Listen to music.
- Play video games.
- A random word generator. Pick 2-3 words. Does it inspire an idea? Re-spin if nothing works.
- Story Cubes
- News articles
- Wikipedia deep dives
- Staring at the screen until something hits.
- r/WritingPrompts
- r/SimplePrompts
- 642 Things to Write About
- What are your character's worries, hopes, or fears? Or what is your own and how can you spin it into a story?
- Create an idea every day and then go through that list regularly.
- The 100 idea theory - come up with 100 ideas and then choose the best one out of that list.
- What's the big problem? Figure out the big problem and then make characters solve it.
- True life stories. Take a story of your own or that you have the right to tell.
- Ask the big question: What if...? What if dogs could talk? What if a meteor was heading to Earth? Anything goes.
- Take scenes and dialogue from other scripts or stories you've written and spin them into something new.
- The comp game - Combine story ideas. When Harry Met Sally meets Die Hard. A western in space. A superhero story where all the powers are bad.
- Look at the stories of the working class. Don't just go for the big ones.
- Have a sounding board to which you pitch ideas. Someone who will give you feedback whether it is good or bad or salvageable.
- What would your version of a genre be? Be specific. Go for the deep sub-genres—especially the ones you love.
- Add challenges and constrictions. Limited characters, limited locations, limited words. Whatever works to inspire you.
- River - a visual connection engine. "Clear your mind and surf laterally through image space."