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About this tool
Generate story prompts filtered by genre, tone, setting and character type, each with a want, an obstacle, a twist and a word target.
A story prompt generator that builds each idea as a complete logline — protagonist, want, obstacle, setting and stakes — rather than a one-line 'what if'. Choose from ten genre packs, eight tones and twelve character types, and every prompt also names a reversal to aim at, a first line and a word target (100, 750, 3,500 or 7,500 words). Writers use it to break a blank page, run timed sprints, or set exercises for a workshop.
Open Story Prompt Generator by Genre on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Paste or type the text you're working with.
Choose how it should be transformed or analyzed.
Copy the finished text into your document or post.
Each prompt carries a protagonist, a want, an obstacle and stakes, so the story has a shape before you type.
Settings and reversals come from a pack built for that genre, so a fantasy prompt never borrows a courtroom from a thriller.
The same seed rebuilds the same batch, so you can share a prompt with a writing partner by sending one number.
A usable prompt names who wants something, what stands in the way, and what it costs to fail — the classic logline shape. A prompt that is only a setting or only a twist leaves the hardest work undone, which is why every prompt here fills all four slots plus a reversal.
Pick the target that matches where you want to submit: 100 words for a drabble, up to about 1,000 for flash fiction at most journals, and up to 7,500 words for the short-story category as defined by SFWA's award rules. The tool sets a target of 100, 750, 3,500 or 7,500 words and tells you how much structure that length supports.
Yes. A premise or idea is not protected by copyright — only the expression is — so the story you write from a prompt is your own work. Crediting the generator is optional and never required.
The seed makes the output reproducible: the same genre, tone, character, length and seed always produce the same prompts. Change it to shuffle, or note it down so you can bring back a prompt you liked without copying the text.