Steal the plot of another story
Adopt a plot on the NaNo forums
Combine a fairy tale with a different genre or time period
Use the titles of an album or playlist as plot points/chapter titles
Snowflake method
Free write
Fanfiction
Based on real events
Based on an interesting person you know in real life
Use an alternative history
Use a list of random words as plot points
Write a sequel to an existing story
Write a Coen brothers-esque story
Take inspiration from a particular time period
Take an existing story and change its style or genre
Take an existing conflict from current events and switch up its details/style/genre
Ask a series of what if questions
Write a prequel or origin story to an existing story
Use characters and events from previous, unfinished stories
Write what you know
Write what you don’t know
Write what you wish you knew
Based on a board game
Based on D&D
Use a writing prompt
Make a list of 100 plot ideas
Rewrite an existing story (original or otherwise)
Write a Stanley Kubrick-esque story
Write from the perspective of a dead historical figure
Write about a character who’s traveling through different existing stories like the Energizer bunny
Use the Writer Emergency Pack
Use story dice (or whatever they’re called)
Make up some different characters and then see how you can relate them to each other
Turn a movie or TV show into a novel
Write an original story story that takes place in an exiting story’s world
Look through old plot idea notes
Turn your friends into characters in a story (a la Fatman)
Turn a poem into a full story
Turn a short film (like the ones from Dust) into a story
Based on a video game
Based on an obscure/odd profession
Based on a fictional profession
Based on a fictional sport
Imagine the villain is suing the hero or vice-versa
Make up one-sentence story ideas
Ask someone else what kind of story they would like to read
Based on a particular aesthetic
Based on Biblical stories or characters
Write a fictional religious text
Write a manifesto
Write non-fiction
Based on a comic book
Based on a TV show
Take the problems of one historical character and have a different historical character experience them
Based on a web comic (eg, xkcd)
Based on characters from popular toy franchises (eg, GI Joe)
Write from the perspective of a journalist chasing a story
Interview with hero
Interview with the villain
Based on a rare medical condition
Based on a major catastrophe
Take the villain (or hero) from one story and insert them into another
Write about Donald Trump if he were in a different profession (eg, private investigator)
Turn a Greek epic into a contemporary story
Use a plot generator
Use a character generator
Draw a storyboard
Pick different stock photos and relate them together
What if a fact or assumption everyone agreed on turned out to be wrong?
Write about an industry as if it were a different industry (eg, what if Apple and Microsoft were hospitals?)
Use a selection of tropes as storytelling mechanisms
Write about a weird or scary time in your own life
Build a world first, then add the characters
Build a detailed character first and then develop the plot
Write about online communities as if they were IRL institutions
Start with a visceral scene or concept and work outward from there
Start with the ending and work backward
Write some dialog between two characters with opposing wants and see if an idea is born out of that
Start with a main idea/character/setting and mindmap out from there
Use the life of an animal as inspiration for a story (eg, ants are like militant colonists)
Start with a question and ask more questions
Write about something you wish would happen
Based on song lyrics
Based on a sidekick to a popular hero
Write about possible near-future events
Write a short story first, then turn it into a novel
Turn a play into a novel
Create a story from a mad-lib-style template
Create random characters from a generator and try to make a story with them
Roll a D&D character (or two) and make a story out of them
Write a story based on a published D&D adventure
Write the plot of a Western into a modern day story
Take the plot of a sci fi and turn it into a Western
Sit outside and see where your mind takes you
Create a magic system or game mechanic and then build a story out of it
Write a story where each chapter is based on a joke
Create a character that has an obscure phobia
What's the scariest thing you can possibly imagine? Create a story about that
Create a story that's preachy about a particular religious or political point
Create a series of short stories that are tied together by theme or setting or something else (eg, they all take place in the same world)
date: Saturday, October 26, 2019 time: 8:07 PM tagged: @writing @plot