Question about using a random object generator for a story idea

I was stuck on a sci-fi plot and grabbed a random object generator online, setting it to give me three things. It spit out 'a broken compass, a jar of fireflies, and a tax form from 1982'. I tried to force them into a space opera, but the story kept turning into a quiet, sad tale about a person sorting through a dead parent's stuff. The unexpected result was a much better, more personal story than the big one I planned. Has anyone else had a prompt tool completely change the genre you were aiming for?

3 comments

3 Comments

kelly_chen2mo ago

Yeah, that happens all the time. The tools just give you a starting point, but your own brain takes it somewhere real. The best ideas usually come from that unexpected turn.

anthony9892mo ago

Just gotta trust the weird detours.

skyler_craig21d ago

Your comment about "your own brain takes it somewhere real" is exactly right. A buddy of mine was trying to write a thriller and used a generator for a detective's sidekick. It gave him "a retired beekeeper with a bad knee." He got SO frustrated because every time he tried to write a tense chase scene, his character would just hobble away from danger. So he finally gave up and wrote a story about that beekeeper solving a mystery by watching what the bees were doing in his backyard. It turned into this whole thing about neighborhood gossip and forgotten clues in a park. He submitted it to a small press and it actually got published in a collection about quirky detectives. The whole space opera he had planned? Never finished it.