# Help me come up with a better name for this writing tool **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 10, 2010, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-come-up-with-a-better-name-for-this-writing-tool/528367 "2010-02-10T03:00:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-come-up-with-a-better-name-for-this-writing-tool/528367/1 "2010-02-10T03:00:44Z")
I’m currently calling them ‘story cards’ They’re story idea prompts, writer’s block helpers, and a random choice machine. Basically it’s 60 or so cards, currently each with a word on them (things like ‘prophecy’, ‘water’, ‘defense’, etc.). I’m working on illustrating them, not that that’s relevant at the moment. But anyway, I’d like a better name than ‘story cards’. (sorry the title sucks…) ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-come-up-with-a-better-name-for-this-writing-tool/528367/2 "2010-02-10T03:11:44Z")
A-Muse-ment cards? ---
**Author:** ![belladonna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@belladonna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/belladonna)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-come-up-with-a-better-name-for-this-writing-tool/528367/3 "2010-02-10T03:11:45Z")
\*Story Seeds? Kernel cues? Artistry actuators?\* Wow. I’m bad at this. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-come-up-with-a-better-name-for-this-writing-tool/528367/4 "2010-02-10T03:13:12Z")
Pencil Primers? or Puncil Primers, if you do wordplay… ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-come-up-with-a-better-name-for-this-writing-tool/528367/5 "2010-02-10T04:08:56Z")
> [@belladonna](#): > > \*Story Seeds? > > Kernel cues? > > Artistry actuators?\* > > Wow. I’m bad at this. No you’re not. All of those are better than what I’ve got. I’m going to steal from a journal entry of mine to describe them a bit better, because my brain is kind of fried lately. Uses: - Pull a card from the deck to discover a theme for your next story - Deal out cards to plan out events. For example: Lessee… God, Feud, Body, Electricity, Division, Depression. Alright, ummm… this guy is at church and there’s a fight because he refuses to agree with something that most of the rest of them agree with. Then the power goes out and people are going off in groups and getting killed. We find out the guy is doing it and he ends by killing himself. There, the skeleton to a slasher story. - Deal out cards for inspiration and to recover from writers block - Use as random choices between ideas. For example, for one of my stories I was trying to decide if I wanted the bad guy to be a monster or mentally control animals or a robot. I pulled out Monster, Spirit, and Iron, and drew one randomly. Bingo, instant decision. I’m also trying to decide what words to combine, since there’s currently about seventy. - Dark and Devil / Evil. Light would cover the concept ‘darkness’. - Feud, hate, and obsession. Probably all under ‘obsession’. - Getting rid of Depression. It’d be covered under Mind and Injury. And Medicine. - Speaking of, I’m combining Weakness, Illness, and Injury. Is that too much? Admittedly, Mind is getting full too (I’ve got everything from decision, to strategy, to mental illness mentioned). - Recovery and Savior. I’m not sure what to call it. Rescue perhaps. - Reconciliation and Redemption. (If anybody wants to see the current full list, I can post it too) ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-come-up-with-a-better-name-for-this-writing-tool/528367/6 "2010-02-10T06:20:15Z")
[Lateral thinking](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateral_thinking) ideation tool. ETA: Though having just read post #5, it appears you’re mostly using them in a more constrained manner. You might find it interesting to take a look at the Oblique Strategies deck; it’s pretty nifty. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-come-up-with-a-better-name-for-this-writing-tool/528367/7 "2010-02-10T06:33:27Z")
I’m partial to silly references, so I’d call them [Plot Coupons](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PlotCoupon). ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-come-up-with-a-better-name-for-this-writing-tool/528367/8 "2010-02-10T14:21:34Z")
This sounds like the game of [Nanofictionary](http://www.wunderland.com/LooneyLabs/Nanofictionary/Rules.html). I like combining **belladonna** ’s and **Tengu** ’s ideas and calling them Plot Cue-pons. But I’m goofy like that. Or just Plot Cues. Cue-pons. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-come-up-with-a-better-name-for-this-writing-tool/528367/9 "2010-02-10T15:42:32Z")
Writer’s Block Cards Unblockers? Cue Cards Idea Cards ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-come-up-with-a-better-name-for-this-writing-tool/528367/10 "2010-02-10T15:45:59Z")
Spark ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-come-up-with-a-better-name-for-this-writing-tool/528367/11 "2010-02-10T18:31:55Z")
I like **belladonna’s** ideas best so far. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-come-up-with-a-better-name-for-this-writing-tool/528367/12 "2010-02-10T18:49:22Z")
So you like alliteration in naming things. If you had just said so. Story sparks Writers whimsies Novel notions Creativity cues Authors abstractions Freelancers flashes Prose prompters Prose prods ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-come-up-with-a-better-name-for-this-writing-tool/528367/13 "2010-02-11T07:48:15Z")
It’s not necessarily the alliteration, although that helps. 🙂 But I think I have some ideas to pick from now so thank you everybody.