There are some great websites and apps online to help writers. Sometimes writers need a little help; not all our ideas just appear from nowhere. It could be a case of writers block, finding the ‘right’ word, or a starting plot line to begin a new story.
I stumbled across a website called Plot Generator a few months back and have kept it on my home screen, just in case. I finally visited the site today to see how it works and if it could help a writer generate a workable plot.
I love it! I enjoyed tapping a few buttons or entering a few words and in seconds having a plot appear. It is as simple as clicking a link and being presented with a random story. For example:
“Hiroshi is a killer fuelled by love, who murders prostitutes and makes them into pies. Detective Hanrahan, a philanthropist from Portsmouth, knows she has to stop him. The killer is never caught, leaving behind one of the greatest mysteries of all time.”
Plot Generator also offers prompts to help cure writer’s block. I tried the link: prompts to try mid story, which included:
“Describe the characters most traumatic memory from childhood. How does that influence current events?”
“The character notices something unexpected in the background of an old photo”
“Turn the character around. What can she see from the other direction?”
Great directives to help a writer think about their story from a different angle.
However, there is so much more to do on this site. There are links to all the genres and a writer can enter more details such as names, locations, professions and adjectives to generate a specific plot line in their chosen genre in seconds.
I had to try the Romance genre. It asked me for three characters: their gender, name, profession and some adjectives to describe each one’s personality. It also asked me to add a few other details specific to a story line. I could already deduce that mine would contain a violent altercation.
The results?
A book called: Someone Like Roger.
The plot generated was boy meets girl, girl doesn’t like boy but when faced with a dangerous situation she realises that she actually likes him. The words I had added it made the story feel far more personal, like perhaps this could be a story I might actually write. However, the way the app is put together led to some funny results: the girl had fallen in love with Roger’s ‘cheerful ways’ and because of Roger’s demanding job as a ‘waitress’ meant they could not be together, for example, were hilarious!
It even gives fake reviews of the plot, prior to the idea being published for real, to an online community, who will give genuine feedback about the plot. The fake reviews were also amusing!
“I fell in love with the Interested Roger Lover. Last night I dreamt he was in my teapot.” – The Daily Tale.
“About as enjoyable as being slapped with a dead fish, but Someone Like Roger does deliver a strong social lesson.” – Enid Kibber
I chose another plot, this one generated randomly with some information I provided through questions such as “Who was the last person to comment on your Facebook status?” “What are you doing in your Facebook profile picture?”
This was even funnier. The book is titled: The Ambitious Milk. It involved aliens and a superhero called Dhondoo-Man, with the special power of “extreme smiling with my family.”
And this is the review:
“Are Dhondoo-Man’s services for hire? I could do with some help finding my own milk” The Daily Tale
I obviously need some more practise on the site to get my plot lies far more believable and to make it work for me in a writing sense. But, it is super simple and free to use. Plot Generator only took a few minutes to generate even a detailed plot line and ultimately it is a lot of fun. It made me smile and sometimes that is all it takes.
When you take time out to see something in a new way, like a plot, the mind opens up to a whole new way of thinking, one that can stimulate creativity.