I recently came across a website that generated story ideas on the fly. I mean literally, you just clicked the button and it came up with something for you to work with.

Here's an example:

The story starts when a spaceship lands in New York.

Another character is an FBI agent who was abducted by aliens in the Sixties

"Click here for a new idea."

After a few tries of this with the generator, I figured out its formula. Basically, it does something like this:

The story starts with [Character A] doing [Activity B].

Another [Character X] is [Description Y].

And that's. It.

You literally just swap around the pieces with whatever you like, and voila -- a new story has been generated. I figure this is a great template to work with for anyone with writer's block or just having a hard time in general coming up with a new/continuing their story.

Here's a few I'll pull right off the top of the brain:

The story starts with Abraham Lincoln meeting Queen Victoria.

Another character is a steampunk inventor looking to kidnap the Queen.

And another:

The story starts with a star athlete being diagnosed with cancer.

Another character is a writer looking for inspiration.

And another:

The story starts with a college student graduating from grad school.

Another character is a serial killer from that school.

And one more:

The story starts with a dragon born of clouds seeking its destined rider.

Another character is a kid who gets teased a lot because he has cloud-white hair.

One thing I've noticed: conflict is usually assumed from these story ideas, even if the "the story starts" part doesn't follow up with some kind of conflict, like the dragon rider story. The immediate question of "why does the story start this way?" seems to warrant an answer involving conflict -- because let's face it, conflict is interesting. In fact, that's what a story is. The cloud dragon is probably seeking someone to help him win a race with a rival dragon or something.

Regardless, once you have an idea in your head, it's your story, conflict-ridden or no. And now that you have this fantastic template to work with, as they say: the world is your oyster!

It's a pretty ingenious formula, if I may say so myself -- and with it, you no longer need that story idea generator I was talking about. Sorry to those guys.

With these tools at your disposal, this is one problem no writer should ever have to face again. Happy brainstorming!