There are five prompt generators below.

 

The first (word prompts) outputs a single word which might act as the genesis for a new story. To find that story, you might think of everything related to the word (so, "tree" might branch off into different types of tree, tree diagrams, "you can't see the wood for the trees", climbing trees, the tree of life  etc.) until something takes your fancy. You might take the word and play word association to create a chain of words that leads you towards a story (so, "fish" might trigger "chips" then "chip off the old block", "block party", "party pooper" etc.). Or you might simply look to use the word (or several words) within the story in some way.

 

The second (scenario prompts) outputs a scenario which might be used as the situation a character (or group of characters) finds themselves in either at the beginning or the end of a story, or perhaps it might be something which is discussed in conversation, or it might be a dream; it might be an event from a character's past or a character's future. Perhaps you take part of a prompt and let it lead you somewhere slighlty different (so, instead of "a law is passed making it illegal to write stories", you go with "making it illegal to eat ice cream" etc.)

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The third (character prompts) outputs a character or group of characters who might feature in your story. Who are these characters? What do they want out of life? What are their good points and bad points? What was their past? What is their future? How are they defined by their job, family, appearance or status?

 

The fourth (place prompts) outputs a place-related prompt. What does the place look like, smell like, sound like? What are the objects / buildings in the place? What is the history of the place? Is it haunted by ghosts? Do its walls hold secrets? How might the setting affect the outcome of your story?

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The fifth (form prompts) outputs a different form you might try - writing a story in the form of a letter, writing a story backwards, writing a story disguised as a recipe etc.

 

To use the prompt generators, simply click on the "generate" button and a prompt should magically appear. You can keep clicking until you find one that you like, or you might get lucky first time. You might just choose one of the generators or you might use them in combination - a place and a character, for example; or you might choose two characters; or you might pick multiple words. Play around. Have fun. I always think that's the best mantra.