INTRODUCTION

Some people ask: “Where do you get your ideas from?” Most of my ideas just pop into my head, but if you don’t have that kind of head, or your head needs a change from its usual ideas, then this is the book for you. This book works by taking two words that probably have nothing to do with each other and putting them together to make something you might never have thought of thinking about before. You might get something ridiculous, hilarious, confusing or just plain brilliant, but, whatever it is, it will be sure to get your brain going and could even turn you into a creative genius! So, if you are ever stuck for ideas about what to draw, what to write, what to eat, what to wear or where to go, or if you are desperate for new ideas for a story, a monster, a drawing, a game or just lunch, then read on. If nothing else, it’ll make you think about something different for a change.

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HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

Each section of this book has two grids. You will be getting one word (or group of words) from the first grid, and then another from the second grid and then putting them together to make a name or phrase. Each grid has 36 boxes, and so 36 possibilities. With two grids, you have 36 x 36 = 1296 possible combinations! Get a die (or you might call it a dice) and look at the first grid. Obviously, the words here are quite tame and normal compared to other more interesting words and ideas you might find in this book, but let’s go and have some fun… To start, you roll for which column across to use. If you roll a 3 on the first throw, this means the third column (shaded below):

1 2 3 4 5 6

1 Last Time Muddle Left Right Bother

2 Bob Clean Milk Trap Mighty Plump

3 Half Steel Atom Dinner Wrong Junk

4 Open Strict Grand Ugly Zoo Note

5 Bank Damp Extra Flat Irate Jagged

6 Limp Nail Quirky Risky Total Wicked

On the next throw, you might roll a 6, which means the sixth row down (also now shaded, opposite). So your result from this first grid (where the column and row come together) is ‘Quirky’…

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1 2 3 4 5 6

1 Last Time Muddle Left Right Bother

2 Bob Clean Milk Trap Mighty Plump

3 Half Steel Atom Dinner Wrong Junk

4 Open Strict Grand Ugly Zoo Note

5 Bank Damp Extra Flat Irate Jagged

6 Limp Nail Quirky Risky Total Wicked

Then you go to the second grid. Say your first throw is a 5 (the fifth column across) and your second throw is a 2 (second row down), then your result is…

1 2 3 4 5 6

1 Bomb Clock Bird Van Troll Boy

2 Girl Head Travel Car Teacher Mug

3 Hat Coat Shell Photo Question Pig

4 Light Book UFO Chocolate Teapot Finger

5 Bull Crane Day Business Orders Stink

6 Magic Door Wall Song Drawer Gum

Put the two words together and you have ‘Quirky Teacher’, which could make an amusing drawing, a silly title for a story, or just a funny character. But the words could just as easily have been ‘Ugly Plane’, ‘Junk Bomb’ or ‘Risky Finger’. What could those mean?

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CRAZY IDEA GRIDS

This is how it all started. I was sitting there one day, pencil in hand, staring at a blank piece of white paper and wondering what I could draw. The more I tried to think of something, the more nothing sprang to mind. It was very boring. Then I thought of the phrase ‘Dog Boy’ and how funny it was that two words together could make something weirder than either of them alone. What other words could this work with? What happens if the words are randomly paired up? I made up some grids, filled them with words, got a die and tried it out. It worked so well, I tried it again. And again. And now here we are! These first ones are very simple – what kind of strange things can we create? Roll the die, see what you get, and do a drawing. If what you get isn’t what you wanted, don’t start crying and banging your head against the table. Just roll again until you get something that inspires you. Or pick a word out. Or, even better, stop moaning and try working with what you got. You might surprise yourself. I got ‘Electric Tree’. Excellent. Here it is:

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STORY TITLES An interesting title in itself can spark a great story idea. Imagine what Roald Dahl felt when he thought of ‘Charlie & The Chocolate Factory’, or Jacqueline Wilson with ‘The Suitcase Kid’, or Derek Landy with ‘Skulduggery Pleasant’! A good title gets you off to a flying start. It can take you places you had never thought of before and make you imagine characters you had no idea you would be thinking about in a million years. Most of the options in these grids seem a bit strange and scary, but I guess I wanted to avoid anything dull. I mean, who wants to write or read a story called ‘The Pony In The Field’? Not me. Also, if you see a (the) in brackets, it means you can use it, or not, whatever makes sense. So, die in one hand and pencil in the other, let’s see what story I’ll be writing…

I got: ‘White Hell’. I wish I had ‘Doctor Grub’s Destruction’, but never mind! Where could this lead? A freezing Antarctic plain? The blank white page of an artist with no ideas? Someone with white clothes terrified of spills and stains? We don’t yet know. Let’s find out who our hero is next…

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First Grid:

1 2 3 4 5 6

1 The The Million-Pound

The Man From (the) The Last Horror In

(the) City of

2 Operation No More The Edge Of (the)

Doctor Grub’s

The End Of The

The Boy From The

3 The Girl From The

The Abominable After The My Inner White Dark

4 Door-To-Door Tiny Tom’s Scary

Sarah’s My Mum’s My Dad’s The Emperor of

5 The Key To The

Whatever Happened To

The

The Next Big

The Thing In The

The Big Dog’s

The Picture Of The

6 Me And My The Happy Return To The

The Secret Of The

The Shadow In

The

The Leopard, The Wizard

and The

Second Grid:

1 2 3 4 5 6

1 Curses Enigma Space Hell Assignments Dead Castle

2 Nightmare Planet X Wishes Piano Zoo Dream

3 Destruction Amazing Journey

Mad House

Multi-Coloured

Bus Disguise Ghosts

4 Centre Of The World Beginning

Creature From

Beyond

Missing Child Experiment Haunted

Bedroom

5 Magic Mirror

Thing In The Box Trap Fallen

Tree Secret Road Confusion

6 Imagination Machine Favourite Foods

Old Kitchen New Phone Forbidden

Book

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HEROES This is the main character of your story – the one who finds the lost object, solves the murky mystery or saves the defenseless child. Or all of these things at once. You might think it weird to have ‘Evil’ as an option, but just think of the great twist it would be to have an Evil Cyclist or Evil Baby as the hero… Whether they are male or female is up to you, but if you really can’t decide which, just flip a coin. I’ve got: ‘Mutant Fashion Model’. Great! Maybe she is the result of some radioactive experiment, being kept prisoner in a place where everything is painted white?

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First Grid:

1 2 3 4 5 6

1 Young Angry You as a…

Swash-buckling Glamorous Crazy

2 Lonely Muscle-bound Stupid Beautiful Skinny Genius

3 Virtual Noisy Blind Arctic Space Mutant

4 Invisible Robot Future Evil Silent Time-travelling

5 Comedy Mysterious Ghostly Ruthless Crafty Charming

6 Magical Leprechaun Giant Dickensian Shape-changing Nosey

Second Grid:

1 2 3 4 5 6

1 Train Driver

Repair Man Archaeologist Doctor Cartoonist Mum

2 Dad Grandpa Baby Artist Athlete Teacher

3 Soldier Grandma Pirate Spy Student Animal

4 Alien Scientist Detective Police Officer

Shop Assistant Baker

5 Hairdresser Postman Knight Driver Chef Pop Star

6 TV Star Fashion Model Grave-digger Ghost Cyclist Explorer

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