Free · no sign-up · made by the Feldar team
Story prompt generator
Press New prompt for a random character, place and problem. Keep it for your own writing, or press Write this story and the AI story writer below turns it into a complete short story.
A night-shift baker in a town that floods every spring finds a letter addressed to them, dated fifty years from now.
Each prompt is a character, a place, a problem and sometimes a complication, picked at random from lists we wrote by hand. Nothing is sent anywhere until you press Write.
Turn the prompt into a story
Press "Write this story" above, or type your own idea. Change a word or two first: the best prompts are the ones you bend.
How to use a story prompt
A prompt is a starting position, not a plot. The four parts each do a job: the character gives you a voice, the place gives you texture, the problem gives you a reason to start, and the complication gives you a reason to keep going.
- Ask what the character wants. "A museum guard finds a door that was not there before" becomes a story once you know she wants to retire without one more surprise.
- Make the place do something. A town that floods every spring has a deadline built in. Use it.
- Start late. Open the story after the letter arrives, not before. The reader will catch up.
- Keep one strange thing. If the prompt has two odd ideas, cut one. A single impossible detail feels deliberate; three feel random.
- Write it yourself, too. Generate a story here, then write your own version of the same prompt. Comparing the two is one of the fastest ways to see your own style.
For timed writing, give yourself 20 minutes and 500 words per prompt. For a longer piece, keep the character and the place and draw three new problems: that is the start of an outline.
Questions
Is this story prompt generator free?
Yes. The prompts are free and unlimited, because they are built in your browser. Turning a prompt into a full story with the story writer is free too, up to 10 stories a day.
Are the prompts written by AI?
No. The characters, places, problems and complications are lists we wrote by hand, and the generator combines them at random. Only the full story, if you ask for one, is written by AI.
Can I use these prompts for my own writing?
Yes. Use them for practice, a class, a writing group or a published story. You do not need to credit the site.
Can I get prompts for one genre?
The prompts work in any genre. Pick a genre in the story writer below and it will steer the story there, or try one of the genre pages for ideas made for that genre.
- Free AI story generatorDescribe an idea and get a complete short story, free.
- FantasyFree fantasy stories from your idea, with ideas to try.
- HorrorFree horror stories from your idea, with ideas to try.
- BedtimeFree bedtime stories from your idea, with ideas to try.
- RomanceFree romance stories from your idea, with ideas to try.
- Sci-fiFree science fiction stories from your idea, with ideas to try.
- MysteryFree mystery stories from your idea, with ideas to try.
- Story ideas45 short story ideas by genre, one press from a finished story.
- Random storyOne press: a random character, place, genre and tone, written into a story.
- Short storiesA complete short story from a one-line idea, 500 or 1,000 words.