Tools for writers

Writing

Story prompts, characters, villains, sidekicks, legends and titles: generators for writers stuck on the next name or idea.

Every story needs names, and most writers have stalled on one: the villain who needs a title, the sidekick who needs a joke, the village whose legend everybody knows. These generators cover the people in your story, the places and stories around them, and the titles on the cover. For characters, try the Villain, Sidekick, Superhero and Fairy Tale name generators, or the Epithet Generator to give anyone a title they earned.

Stuck before the names? The Story Prompt Generator gives you a character, a setting, a plot or a twist, and the Local Legend Generator makes up the kind of folk tale a village tells about itself. When it's finished, the Horror Movie Title and Song Title generators will help name it.

How to approach names in a story

A name in a story does a job: it tells the reader who someone is before they've done anything. Fairy tales show how little it takes. The Grimms' heroes are often just a trade and a quality, like Clever Gretel or the miller's daughter, and readers know exactly where they stand. Decide what the reader needs to feel when the name first appears, whether that's dread, warmth or a laugh, and choose a name that does it. Then make every name in the story sound different, so nobody mixes up two characters on the page.

Examples

Countess Gloom

VILLAIN

A villain you can introduce in two words.

A noble rank gives her power and an old family, and a single gloomy noun tells you what she brings with her. The pattern is easy to remember, which is exactly what a recurring villain needs.

Keith from Accounts

SIDEKICK

A comic sidekick who gets a laugh just by being introduced.

The joke is how ordinary it is: a plain first name and an office job, next to heroes with code names. It tells readers straight away that this character is here to undercut the drama.

Maud Who Never Lied

FAIRY TALE HERO

A heroine whose name is also a promise.

An old, plain first name with one virtue attached, the way fairy tales name their heroes. The reader immediately wonders what happens when Maud is tempted to lie, which is a plot in itself.

Yewbride

HORROR TITLE

A folk horror title that sounds like an old custom gone wrong.

Yew trees grow in old churchyards and are linked with death and long life, and 'bride' suggests a ceremony. Together they hint at a village ritual nobody should take part in.

Try these name generators

Use these tools to name the characters, places and titles in your story.

Story Prompt GeneratorA character, setting, plot or twist, for kids or adults. Villain Name GeneratorVillains with titles, from petty to world-ending. Local Legend GeneratorInvented British folk legends with a warning.

All 10 Writing generators

Story Prompt GeneratorStory prompts for kids, teens and adults in seven genres, from fantasy to funny. Get a whole prompt, or just a character, setting, plot or twist.

Local Legend GeneratorInvented British-style folk legends: a place, a ghost, fairy or black dog, what happened and the warning locals still give. Spooky or family-friendly.

Fairy Tale Name GeneratorFairy tale names for characters and places: princes and princesses, wicked queens, clever millers' daughters, talking animals, kingdoms and enchanted woods.

Epithet GeneratorAdd an epithet to your character's name: the Bold, Dragonslayer, of the North, or a real one from history like the Unready or Bloodaxe. 36 categories, or a mix.

Villain Name GeneratorVillain names for stories, games and comics: a sinister title (Doctor, Baron, Countess), an unsettling name like The Clockmaker, or a name with a dark epithet.

Sidekick Name GeneratorSidekick names for your superhero: young heroes like Kid Comet, animal sidekicks like Agent Paws, and funny ones like Captain Probably.

Superhero Name GeneratorSuperhero names in the classic comic-book shapes: an adjective and a noun, a something-Man or -Woman, a title like Captain or Doctor, or a single bold word.

NPC Name GeneratorRandom NPC names for D&D and other RPGs: townsfolk of every common race with a job, a personality and a quirk your players will remember.

Horror Movie Title GeneratorHorror film titles for scripts, stories, student films and party games: hauntings, slashers, folk horror, creatures, possession and found footage.

Song Title GeneratorSong titles to spark your next track: a single striking word, a line that tells a story, or a place, with tips on titles that stick.