I love a good random title generator. Actually, I love a bad random title generator. The ones which come up with the most cheesy and clichéd titles. You know the ones, they come with a narrator in your head that sounds a bit like you’re listening to someone from Downton Abbey.

The Professional Dreamer

The Memory of the Beginning

The Moon’s Willow

Apologies if those are anyone’s actual titles. But I’ve actually discovered something quite useful as part of this humour. For some reason, by scrolling through those randomly generated nonsense titles, it can actually trigger something at the back of your brain which is infinitely more creative.

You don’t have to be just seeking a title in order for this to work. I have found that when I have reached a tricky plot point, where I’ve painted myself into a corner and realised that despite my best laid plans, the whole thing has got stuck, that using this tool can actually help. The randomness of it is the key, I think, in that it forces your brain to start looking for patterns that you might not spot elsewhere.

I’ve tried this a few times now and find that it works pretty well. Even when it doesn’t fully get me to undo the problem, it still gives me a firm shove in the right direction. Leaving my subconscious to work on it for a few more days afterwards generally does the trick.

So next time you find yourself floundering, give it a go. And if nothing else, some of them are so bad it will give you a genuine belly laugh that will help you to forget the problem altogether for a while.