Now Emily's sick with a bad cold. Our dinner party this evening isn't happening; anyone want a pork loin? It's already marinated and everything. We've also got piles of asparagus, new potatoes, and other things neither of us can eat right now.

No doubt you're familiar with the instant Poetry Generator, which generates first lines for poems. But they're always pretty boring because the syntax is always the same: "In the X the something something does Y." Far more interesting--almost always a little parable in itself--is what gets produced by its sister site, The Story Starter. Here are some random results from that site:

My main character/protagonist is a male. My main character is a wine taster. An archetype present in my story is Orphan. A key object or symbol in my story is a skull. My story will be set in Belgium. My story is about doom.

My main character/protagonist is a female. My main character is a cartoonist. An archetype present in my story is Hercules. A key object or symbol in my story is a cue card. My story will be set in a landfill site. My story is about independence.

My main character/protagonist is a female. My main character is a zoo keeper. An archetype present in my story is Demon/Goblin. A key object or symbol in my story is a leash. My story will be set in Niagra Falls. My story is about sadness.

My main character/protagonist is a female. My main character is a bull fighter. An archetype present in my story is Dionysus. A key object or symbol in my story is spectacles. My story will be set in an attic. My story is about vanity.

Try it out!