Brainstorm with PlotMonkey

I can't remember where I heard about PlotMonkey. I think something about it appeared in my mail box. At any rate, I usually ignore software writing tools like this but there were two things that intrigued me: it was developed by a guy older than I am, and it was darn cheap ($10). So I bit.

To my surprise, this is a fun and even useful program -- if you understand its use. It brainstorms story ideas with you. It goes from the ridiculous to something you can write. It does this by randomly showing you the Who, What, How, Why, When, Where of a story. It's user friendly and has an important feature: you can save any of the elements and randomly select new pairings for it. You also can add anything to its database.

Let's show you an example. I click the banana to "feed the monkey" and get:

Carl Hooker sells wine using an electric saw because it seemed like a good idea at the time after dinner in the phone booth.

Well, this certainly is ridiculous enough. But I like "because it seemed like a good idea at the time after dinner."

So I keep why, when and click the banana again.

Willie Cantrell marries an Indian with a hack saw because it seemed like a good idea at the time after dinner at home.

I keep where ("at home") and feed the monkey.

Todd Nieaber helps police track madman by hiding inside a cake because it seemed like a good idea at the time after dinner at home.

I pass on this one and click the banana again.

Curt Clakley stabs someone by pretending to be asleep because it seemed like a good idea at the time after dinner at home.

I like "stab someone" ... I save what and feed the monkey.

Leslie Goodrick stabs someone by hiding inside a cake because it seemed like a good idea at the time after dinner at home.

Eureka! I have a story idea! Leslie's in love with a guy getting married. He's having a bachelor party. She bribes a girl hired for the party so she, Leslie, can come out of the cake and stab her ex. This could be a short film, a short story, the big scene in a larger work. You get the idea.

The beauty of PlotMonkey is that it is quick and mindless -- you keep getting ideas and combinations thrown at you until something begins to click. This entire process above took about two minutes. This, in fact, is a workable story idea.

The combinations, the ideas, are endless, and I especially like the fact that you can add whatever you want -- any who, what, how, why, when, where -- to the database. This is a tool that is inexpensive, fun and easy to use, and actually gets your mind thinking about a story direction, which is exactly what a brainstorming tool should do.