I've started asking AI for bad ideas.
On purpose, thirty at a time.
And it's turned into my favorite way to get unstuck.
My “AI brainstorm” was flat and boring
I had a scene I couldn’t crack. Irene, a retired piano teacher, finds out after her husband’s funeral that he had a second family. I knew what she discovers. I had no idea how.
So I asked AI: “Give me ideas for how Irene finds out.”
It gave me love letters in a desk drawer, a stranger crying at the back of the church, a photo tucked in his wallet.
All perfectly usable. All things I’d seen in at least ten TV movies. And the worst part? Two of them were already in my notes.
Here’s what I figured out: when you ask AI for good ideas, it hands you the most common ones, because that’s what “likely” means to a machine.
So stop fighting it. Ask for the obvious on purpose, all of it, and use the list as a map of where not to go. Let the AI use up the clichés first. Then the page is yours.
The prompt
Copy this, fill in your own story, and resist the urge to pick something from the list:
I’m writing a [GENRE] story. Here’s the moment I need an idea for: [DESCRIBE THE SITUATION]. Here’s what I know about the characters: [PASTE NOTES].
I don’t want good ideas from you. I want the obvious ones, so I can stop reaching for them. Follow these rules:
List the 30 most predictable ways this could go, the ones a reader would see coming.
Start with the most common and work toward the less common.
One line per idea, under 15 words.
If you think an idea is original, put it on the list anyway. It’s probably less original than you think.
Group the ideas into three to five families (for example “objects she finds”, “someone tells her”).
When I write CROSS OFF, give me:
The family that showed up most
The one assumption all 30 ideas share
One question I should answer before I write my own idea
Begin with the single most obvious idea, and tell me in one line why it’s the most obvious.
A few tips: give it real notes about your characters, or the list gets generic too. Read all thirty, even when it gets boring around number twelve. The boring part is the point. And it works with any of the big AI assistants.
What happened with Irene
Before, my plain request gave me letters, a crying stranger, a photo. A rerun.
After, with the prompt, I got thirty ideas that looked a lot like those three, only more of them. Bank transfers to an unknown address, a second phone, a child with his eyes knocking on the door. Then I typed CROSS OFF:
Most common family: things she finds. 12 out of 30.
The assumption all 30 share: the truth comes to Irene. A letter, a stranger, a phone call. In every idea, she’s the last to know and she finds out by accident.
Your question: what if Irene has known for years? What has she been choosing not to see?
I put my coffee down. She’s the last to know. Every single idea, mine included, treated Irene as someone things happen to.
So idea number 31 was mine: Irene has known for twenty years. The scene isn’t the discovery.
It’s the afternoon she stops pretending she doesn’t know, and sends the other woman a card.
Your turn (10 minutes, I promise)
Pick a moment where you know what happens but not how: a discovery, a first meeting, a goodbye.
Run the prompt and read all 30 ideas. Tick any that were already in your notes. No shame, that’s what the list is for.
Type CROSS OFF and read the shared assumption twice.
Close the chat and write idea number 31 in about 100 words, breaking that assumption. In your own words, please.
And if one of the thirty is exactly what you’d planned, don’t panic. Obvious isn’t forbidden. You just get to choose it now, instead of falling into it.
A few last thoughts
One thing to watch for: the list is a map of what to avoid, not a menu. If you find yourself picking idea number 23 because it’s “not that bad”, close the tab and write instead. Your 31st idea only shows up when the AI stops talking.
And remember who’s holding the pen.
The AI is great at the obvious.
The surprising part is your job, and honestly, it’s the fun part.
What assumption did your thirty ideas share? Hit reply and tell me. I have a feeling we’ll find some patterns, and I’m genuinely curious what they are.
Until next week, Wilma 🪶