Say what kind of story you want, and add what you like, what you are tired of and what you are writing. Hemmingway gives you a numbered set of ideas, six unless you ask for another number. Each is two or three sentences: who it is about, what they want, and the problem that makes it a story.
The ideas are written for what you typed, so the more you say about your taste, the less generic they come out.
What makes an idea a story
- A person plus a problem. "A story about grief" is a subject. "A widower keeps paying his wife's gym membership" is an idea, because you can see him doing it.
- Fill in the "tired of" field. Naming the chosen one, the amnesia and the dream ending removes the first things any writer, human or not, reaches for.
- Put two things together that do not belong. A heist and a church fête. The friction does the work.
- Ask what happens next. If a scene comes to mind straight away, keep the idea. If nothing does, it was a mood.
An example
Asked for three ideas for a heist short story where nobody is a professional, set in a small town, ideas along these lines are what to expect:
1. The church roof fund has gone missing, and the three women who count the collection decide to steal it back from the man they are sure took it. They are wrong about who.
2. A school caretaker is asked to let a former pupil into the building for ten minutes on a Sunday. He says yes before he asks why.
3. Two brothers plan to take their late father's car from the garage holding it over an unpaid bill. Only one of them knows the bill was paid.
Tell the chat which number you liked and ask for six more in that direction.
From an idea to a draft
When one sticks, give it to the plot generator for the beats, or go straight to the story generator and read a first version. How to write a short story covers doing it by hand.
Common questions
Is the story idea generator free?
Yes. Hemmingway has a free trial with no card needed, and this tool opens it with your answers filled in. You sign up once, and the ideas are written in the chat.
Can it give me ideas for a novel?
Yes. Say it is a novel in the last field. Hemmingway is stronger on short pieces than on book-length fiction, so take the idea from here and write the book yourself.
Can I use the ideas in something I publish?
Yes. They are yours to use, and your chats are never used for training.
How is a story idea different from a writing prompt?
An idea is for a story you mean to finish. A prompt is a short exercise to get you writing today. The writing prompt generator makes those.
Will the ideas sound like AI?
It is built not to. Hemmingway-1, the model behind it, came first on sounding like a person in our own blind test, Human-Likeness. Ideas are where any AI drifts towards the obvious, which is what the "tired of" field is there to stop.