Skip to content
Pocket Plot

Welcome

AboutPocket Plot

The idea lab for creative minds

Pocket Plot is a web app for creative experimentation, collecting ideas, and inventing stories. Random prompts help spark new thoughts.

Whether for an actual project or simply for fun, to see where an idea takes you.

Creative Pocket Plot cards as an idea prompt
How It WorksView created ideas

What isPocket Plot?

Discover

Random prompts set thoughts in motion and can lead you in directions you might not have found on your own.

Combine

Strengths, weaknesses, motivations, and many more elements bring characters and a story to life through play.

Keep spinning

Individual sparks can grow into characters, scenes, or whole stories – or simply into an idea that was fun to explore together or alone.

Stay free

Pocket Plot should not be a tool that tells you how you have to write.

It should give you material to play with and challenge yourself.

Who is behindPocket Plot?

Illustration of Jana, the creator of Pocket Plot

Hi, I’m Jana!

I come from a small village in Germany and love inventing far too many ideas for books that might – let’s keep our fingers crossed with naive hope – someday end up on a shelf.

I rarely run out of new ideas. Still, I have always enjoyed games where random words, cards, or other prompts turn into stories through the shared madness of friends. I found that blend of chance and creativity especially exciting.

When I was looking for a subject for my bachelor’s thesis in media design, a small card project I had already been tinkering with felt like a natural choice.

The cards became a web app – and the little experiment became Pocket Plot.

The best help

Mel – the greatest inspiration.

Without my favorite little creativity goblin, this project would surely never have come this far.

THANK YOU to Mel, the best tabletop game master and, without a doubt, a future bestselling author!

Why, how, and what forPocket Plot?

Pocket Plot is being developed as part of my bachelor’s thesis in Media Design at IU in Munich.

At its heart is the question of how random creative prompts can influence motivation during idea generation.

The idea behind it is this: creativity does not always have to begin with a completely blank page. An unexpected term, a character, or an unusual combination can create a starting point from which new thoughts emerge.

Pocket Plot translates this principle into a digital, playful environment. This makes it possible to explore how such prompts are perceived – and whether they can help people enter creative thinking and keep going.

  1. Randomness
  2. Prompt
  3. Idea
  4. Motivation

The future ofPocket Plot

Pocket Plot is far from finished.

Even after my bachelor’s thesis, Pocket Plot should remain a place where everyone can try out ideas and discover stories.

Some additions are already planned; others are still only ideas. Perhaps Pocket Plot will grow to include new storytelling knowledge, playful writing motivation, or tools that can gradually turn a first idea into a whole story – or make the playful experience even more exciting.

Where exactly the journey leads remains to be seen.