Stichomancy Generator Update

Longtime readers probably already know this, but for the benefit of our new fans (welcome!) here’s the lowdown on the writing prompts we post here at the Skelleyverse.

Most of them are stichomancy prompts, in which the author is challenged to write a short piece of fiction (or occasionally, verse) utilizing — verbatim — a list of phrases drawn from other sources. Stichomancy originated as a form of divination performed by flipping to a random page in a book and pointing to a random spot on that page to see what it says. We use it to compile the required ingredients for a writing prompt.

And, this being the twenty-first century, we’ve gone digital with the process to create our online stichomancy writing prompt generator. The snippets it returns are sourced from books, television shows, websites, and other places, including conversations we’ve actually had in real life. Wondering which of the bizarre phrases represent things we had some reason to say out loud is a torment we gladly infect you with. You’ll learn to love us for it.

This week we added another large batch of fodder to the infernal engine that cranks these things out. Jen did the harvesting, and she’s very pleased with the interplay of new flavors. Kent is insisting you’ll be interested to know that the generator’s code is very clever about not repeating results, so we’ll mention it even though we doubt anyone is as interested in that as he is. What it all means to you is a premium writing-prompt experience that keeps delivering new surprises. Give it a try! Share your results in the comments.