📚 Become an Endless Story Idea Generator with AI

Hey 👋 - Dave here.

Happy Saturday morning and welcome to the Saturday Storyteller.

Read time: 4 minutes

✍️ Write on.

Creative storytellers often grapple with dilemmas such as:

• "How can I consistently generate new ideas?"

• "Are my ideas good enough to stand out?"

• "How can I turn my ideas into a gripping plot?"

After 15 years of studying master storytellers, I've distilled their idea generation processes into a simple 2-step system to ensure you're always flowing with fresh ideas for your narratives.

And I’ve adapted them to take advantage of your newest collaborative partner: AI chatbots.

Let's explore the process step-by-step.

Step 1: Identifying Your Intentions, Audience, and Their Aspirations

Before putting pen to paper, ask yourself:

• WHY am I writing my story?

• WHO am I writing for?

• WHAT do they desire or aspire to see in my story?

Many storytellers attempt to generate ideas around broad, vague ideas, such as "I want to write a thought-provoking sci-fi thriller" or "I want to create a unique fantasy drama."

While ambitious, these broad goals can be overwhelming and drown your progress. Try completing these two steps to start clarifying your ideas.

1. Figure out your WHY

First, think about the reason you want to tell this story?

• WHY are you writing this story? Maybe you want to make people laugh, teach them something new, or ask a big question.

• Spend some time writing down your reasons. Make sure they're important to you, not just because you want to escape your day job. If your reason is important, it will keep you going when the writing gets tough.

• Remember: Your WHY can help you figure out your story's THEME. The THEME is the big idea or message in your story.

2. Know your WHO and WHAT

Now think about the people who will read or watch your story (the WHO) and what they like (the WHAT).

• WHO are you telling your story to? Think about the people who might like the kind of story you want to tell. Are they kids, adults, fans of science fiction, history lovers, or someone else? Knowing your audience will help you develop a story they'll love.

• WHAT do these people want in a story? Do they like exciting adventures, dark fantasies, deep feelings, tricky problems to solve?

• Your WHO and WHAT will guide your GENRE. The GENRE is like a map for your story—The GENRE is like a map for your story—it guides what should happen and offers inspiration from popular stories.

• Remember: Knowing your WHO and WHAT will help you choose the right GENRE, but it also helps you figure out what should happen in your story and how you should tell it. Making a story that fits your audience will help them connect with it and enjoy it more.

Bottom line: By understanding your WHY, WHO, and WHAT, you'll be able to come up with story ideas that your audience will love. Plus, you’ll find your THEME and GENRE which will further focus your story ideas.

Step 2: Leveraging the Power of AI chatbot (e.g. ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, Gemini)

Now it's time to use AI chatbot (e.g. ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, Gemini) to come up with lots of story ideas!

• First, you need to know who your audience is.

• Second, you need to know what they like.

• With these two things, you can use AI chatbot (e.g. ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, Gemini) to come up with lots of unique story ideas.

Next, we'll use AI chatbot (e.g. ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, Gemini) prompts to help you come up with, polish, and grow your story ideas. These prompts will ask about what you like and want in a story.

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First Prompt: Discover Your Theme and Genre

Note: Adding too much information inside the [placeholder] can dilute the output. Choose only a few interests to include.

NOTE: Alternatively, you can simply ask the AI chatbot (e.g. ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, Gemini) for a list of Genres and Universal Themes for fiction and films. Then review those and choose one Genre and Universal theme that sparks your interest.

Second Prompt: When You're Building a Story Idea from Scratch

Third Prompt: If You Have an Existing Story Idea

For every prompt you experiment with, you can easily ask follow up questions for more ideas or challenge the AI chatbot (e.g. ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, Gemini) to produce more innovative results. For instance, an easy follow up for any of the prompts above would be:

That’s it for this Saturday.

See ya next week!

— Dave