Plot Name Generator
One-line premises: a person, something that happens to them, and a complication. Every result is yours to use, and a new seed gives you a completely different page of them.
How to use this tool
- 1Set how many Plot ideas you want.
- 2Add a starting letter if you have one in mind, or leave it blank.
- 3Press Generate.
- 4Copy a single result, or copy the whole list at once.
12 Plot ideas
- A teenage chess prodigy finds a letter addressed to them in their own handwriting and the deadline is not negotiable.
- A rural vet finds a letter addressed to them in their own handwriting, before the storm closes the road.
- A widowed beekeeper meets the person they were named after while pretending everything is normal.
- A widowed beekeeper finds a letter addressed to them in their own handwriting, though every version of the story is different.
- A widowed beekeeper is followed home by a child who will not speak, but nobody else can see the problem.
- A village postmistress is mistaken for someone dangerous and the only witness has gone quiet.
- A ferry captain inherits a house nobody will talk about, and has three days to fix it.
- A disgraced chef meets the person they were named after with a stranger who knows too much.
- A deaf lip-reader meets the person they were named after, but nobody else can see the problem.
- A disgraced chef meets the person they were named after, with a stranger who knows too much.
- A disgraced chef discovers the town has been lying for forty years, but nobody else can see the problem.
- A decommissioned soldier wakes with a memory that is not theirs, and the only witness has gone quiet.
What to do with a premise
Do not take it literally. The point of a prompt is to get the first sentence written, and the first sentence is usually the only difficult one. Change whatever you like as soon as the writing starts.
Why three parts
A character, an event and a complication is the smallest unit that makes a story want to continue. A premise missing the complication reads as a situation, and situations do not go anywhere on their own.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use these Plot ideas in something I sell?
Yes. Everything here is assembled from ordinary words and invented syllables, so a result belongs to whoever uses it first. Do search the one you pick before you print it on anything — free to use is not the same as unused.
Why do I get the same list when I come back?
The draw is seeded, so one seed always produces one list. That is deliberate: you can bookmark a result or read it out to somebody and still find it later. Press Generate for a new seed and a completely different set.
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