Random plot generator

This article is about the generation of random plot ideas. For fictional plot devices, see Plot generator.

A random plot generator is a device used by writers of fiction to generate plot ideas. The generator could be in the form of a computer program, a chart with multiple columns, a book composed of panels that flip independently of one another, or a set of several adjacent reels that spin independently of one another, allowing a writer to randomly select elements of a narrative plot. Such a device can be created for virtually any genre, although it tends to produce formulaic and hackneyed situations.

Plot generators have also been portrayed in fiction, as in Fritz Leiber's The Silver Egghead.

Examples of random plot generators

An example from the now defunct The Official Movie Plot Generator has three vertical boxes. The top specifies a specific type of protagonist, such as "A trucker who doesn't play by the rules." The middle box specifies a specific action on the part of the protagonist, such as "bareknuckle fights for money." The bottom box specifies an antagonist or complicating circumstance, such as "accompanied by a mischievous orangutan." By piecing these three elements together, the user obtains the sentence, "A trucker who doesn't play by the rules bareknuckle fights for money, accompanied by a mischievous orangutan." This plot may sound absurd, but it is the plot of the movie Every Which Way but Loose, starring Clint Eastwood.

In an article originally published in 1935[1] and reprinted in 2002,[2] Robert J. Hogan described a book-based device called the Plot Genie which consisted of three lists of 180 items each: murder victims in the first list, crime locations in the second list, and important clues in the third list. The item to use from each list was chosen by spinning a dial with 180 numbers on it. Hogan also mentions other similar devices called The 36 Dramatic Situations and Plotto: The Master Book of All Plots.

Plotto by William Wallace Cook is a plot generator, but not a random plot generator. The reader makes all the decisions within the framework set out by the book. "Plotto achieves creative art in fiction by a new method of plot suggestion."[3]

TV series-specific random plot generators

Some random plot generators are designed with particular television series in mind. For example, the now defunct website The Law and Order Random Plot Generator allowed users to select different narrative elements for a hypothetical Law & Order episode by refreshing the screen. One plot for an episode might read, "A dead infant is discovered in a seedy basement by the perpetrator. Lenny and Curtis initially pin the crime on a local celebrity, but after a visit to the crime lab, they arrest Lenny himself. McCoy and Kincaid prosecute, but McCoy must not push for the death penalty to win. The old DA looks annoyed and says 'A wise person cares not for what he cannot have, but for what he can.' Sting guest stars." By refreshing the screen, the plot reads "A dead taxi driver is discovered in an abandoned van by a police sting. Lenny and Curtis initially pin the crime on a local celebrity, but after Curtis uses an internet chat room, they arrest a co-worker. McCoy and Kincaid prosecute, but McCoy must convict of a lesser crime to win. The old DA looks annoyed and says 'A handful of patience is worth more than a bushel of brains.' Michael Dorn guest stars."

References

  1. ↑ Hogan, Robert J. (October 1935). "Inside an Author's Brain: The Birth of a Book Length Mystery Novelette". Writer's Digest.
  2. ↑ van Hise, James (2002). Pulp Masters. pp. 120–5.
  3. ↑ Cook, William Wallace. Plotto. Ellis Publishing, 1928 (Reprinted by Norton Creek Press, 2011), p. 1.