Plot ninjas

A plot ninja is a person, place, thing, idea that you drop into your plot when you get stuck. Started on the NaNoWriMo forums from the suggestion that every NaNo book should include a ninja jumping out of a wardrobe, they've expanded to be anything that pops into someone's head.

These come from the Take a Prompt, Leave a Prompt folder at the forums. (Probably now buried in the archives at the NaNo site.)

Cut them up and put them in a bowl to draw out a random idea when you get stuck. If you're not doing NaNoWriMo, pull out an idea as a prompt and start writing. When you get stuck, pull out another.

• start your writing with a description of wet feet
  
• Dreams
  
• crumpled clothing
  
• a llama
  
• pink post-it notes
  
• three uneaten oranges..
  
• overhearing a conversation of a tourist and a local
  
• a pet curled up in a chair
  
• tumbleweed
  
• some moldy cheese
  
• a disgruntled landlord
  
• an antique quilt
  
• a picture of a gorgeous man
  
• an unusual locket
  
• an unusually detailed, oft-repeated doodle
  
• a Rubik's cube
  
• Your MC gets a headache
  
• frosted strawberry pop tarts
  
• old ugly wallpaper on a grandparent's bedroom wall
  
• a Halloween bucket full of candy wrappers, with one piece of candy still left at the bottom
  
• A water proof safe, Full of water, left in the middle of the desert
  
• a pair of gangly teenagers with braces, making out
  
• a mannequin
  
• a battered dart board
  
• a homemade birdhouse hanging from a street sign
  
• a one-eyed chicken
  
• a slimy slug trail
  
• Finding a stranger in your bathtub
  
• Getting caught in the rain
  
• A child with a pink ice cream
  
• The couple in the apartment next to you having an argument about a mysterious person called 'Phil'
  
• the sound of a prom dress being thrown away
  
• A notorious thief finds a baby in a boat on the Thames
  
• An unopened love letter from twenty years ago
  
• A broken doll
  
• A handful of sugared violets
  
• An angel on a park bench
  
• And a duke box
  
• a soggy cardboard box that has sat out in the rain all night
  
• a perfectly round rock with an X drawn across it in crayon
  
• Three people from the same office thrown together under canvas for one night. It's raining. There's no booze. There's only two sleeping bags
  
• one woman who sits next to you on the bus with her ipod turned so loud you can hear Christmas Carols, and it's still November
  
• A motorcyclist zooming by, wearing a helmet cam and a microphone
  
• two people walking down the street wearing a horse costume
  
• a piece of broken, dusty yellow-orange glass
  
• a camera with everything intact except the film, which is melted
  
• a row of empty seats with one in the middle occupied. Then another person comes along and takes a seat right next to that person, instead of an empty one further down
  
• a book in a foreign language with the covers ripped off, found in a public place
  
• a necklace with the cord snapped, beads bouncing every which way on a tile floor
  
• A lone operator working by herself all night in a deserted building
  
• A homemade lasagna falling as the cook is knocked over by a large Rhodesian Ridgeback (breed of dog)
  
• One very expensive hairless cat (cannot remember the breed) being held for ransom
  
• 2 people dressed up for Halloween -- one as Santa Claus, the other as the Easter Bunny
  
• A pet dog with a phobia of anything smaller than him!
  
• a chewed up pen in the parking lot (you decide whether it still works or not)
  
• a book in a foreign language with the covers ripped off, found in a public place
  
• a cell phone that fell into a toilet
  
• weapons, elements of battle
  
• The sound of sobbing coming from the attic
  
• someone finding out there is no water coming out of the tap on a given day (while they wanted to take a shower, for example)
  
• Several strands of hair stuck together with sticky tape
  
• Highlighters that have run out, but smell nice
  
• A cracked, glass statue
  
• a candy bar wrapper
  
• a broken timepiece
  
• a teddy bear with (detachable) bunny ears
  
• a puddle of water on the floor
  
• a penguin where it doesn't belong (say, in a house)
  
• A painting of a snowboarder, with a dinosaur hidden within the background
  
• a goldfish swimming in the toilet
  
• A palm tree oasis in the middle of the desert
  
• an old Underwood typewriter with the ribbon stuck somewhere between black and red
  
• a three legged cat, (you decide how he lost his leg, or if we even know)
  
• a bloody razor blade found in a public restroom
  
• A smell which reminds your MC of their mother's home cooking
  
• A dusty trilby lying abandoned on the pavement, and no one else around
  
• A frog that squeezes under a gap in the door when it's raining
  
• A wallet filled with money in an empty car park
  
• a purse - shaped necklace that can open and close
  
• a lighted train rushing by at twilight
  
• a pizza delivery guy delivering a pre-paid pizza to the wrong address
  
• a pair of mismatched flip flops
  
• a set of four spoons, all bent out of shape
  
• a maroon moose that sings Christmas carols. (can be a stuffed moose, if you like)
  
• the landscape of Cocoa Puffs...go nuts
  
• the moon as a consolation prize
  
• a broken doll
  
• Mindscape
  
• A doll missing one of its limbs
  
• The dog barks at midnight
  
• A shoe impression was left in the tomato
  
• A platinum ring found in the bottom of a bargain bin in a music store
  
• three rusty lug-nuts
  
• an old gas lamppost
  
• a throbbing headache
  
• a thrift store shopping spree
  
• a dollar bill with writing on it
  
• pumpkin pie
  
• An ornate clock on a wall
  
• the futility of sweeping potato chips off the side of a mountain
  
• A paperclip lost in the septic tank
  
• a half-finished crossword left on the train, that must be returned
  
• a cold, clear mountain stream
  
• a Chinese pagoda
  
• a shovel stuck into a mound of dirt
  
• a mislabeled lollipop--it's a flavor you don't like or weren't expecting
  
• a plastic green dinosaur whose head is a staple remover
  
• A pangolin
  
• A moderately rainy day
  
• A flamethrower
  
• Miniature Robots
  
• three old batteries and a change purse
  
• an unexpected strip of duct tape
  
• a strangely addictive song
  
• a purple permanent marker
  
• a barrel of monkeys
  
• a field full of talking flowers
  
• Three glow-in-the-dark Troll dolls
  
• Whenever I think of Paris, I think of..
  
• Fur-dyed poodles! (either pink or blue or green... I'll leave that up to you)
  
• a forgotten sock
  
• watching TV from a safe position behind the sofa
  
• a Mysterious Stranger (abbreviated sometimes to AMS)
  
• a strange cloud formation
  
• the sound of a baby crying, or laughing
  
• a facial expression completely at odds with what a character is saying
  
• an extreme temperature change, you decide how or why
  
• a dead body, killed with that shovel (the traveling shovel of death)
  
• a case of identify theft
  
• the feeling you get when you are in the house on your own, and you could almost swear that there is someone behind you, and it gives you a weird burst of speed, and you run into the next room, slamming the door
  1,000 baby turtles gone missing
  
• An egg that cracks open and nothing is inside
  
• A horse named Albert with OCD
  
• A girl named Doug
  
• A one hundred on a test that you paid the teacher to get
  
• The smell of the keyboard
  
• Ten chickens that have no idea that they are chickens
  
• ginger beer
  
• a fight/action scene at a zoo
  
• the last leaf on a tree
  
• Dwarf tossing
  
• a rescued turtle
  
• a British phone booth found anywhere except the UK
  
• three gold star stickers
  
• a mallard duck
  
• A cape
  
• a pitcher of eggnog
  
• a pair of mismatched curtains
  
• an experience that fills the MC with both joy and fear
  
• a dozen cigarette ends floating in a wine glass
  
• a man wearing fingerless gloves
  
• a dead shark
  
• a house with peppermint-themed interior decor
  
• a villain who loves pie
  
• a broken computer on a doorstep
  
• a trophy tarnished with age
  
• a ceiling full of mold
  
• a cry for forgiveness
  
• twenty ancient unopened jars of apricot jam
  
• a blue stuffed elephant named Trunky
  
• your MC suddenly finds him/herself in possession of a prized racehorse
  
• A very wet dog on the couch
  
• A cozy fire on the hearth
  
• a Dixieland jazz band
  
• A funeral where everybody's laughing and cheering about how the deceased will not be missed
  
• A black kitten named Matt
  
• a broken wine glass
  
• a repair bill
  
• a half empty Coca-Cola
  
• an old grandfather clock set to the wrong time
  
• the making of a salad
  
• a very old bloodhound
  
• hot peppermint tea with little mini biscotti from a boxful bought at Shoprite
  
• two blue ballet shoes and a claddagh ring (which have a relation to one another, a tied significance)
  
• a pair of fairy wings
  
• a stove timer that always adds five minutes onto the time inputted
  
• an unjust accusation
  
• the scent of freshly baked bread
  
• the taste of a lie
  
• a red haired girl with one blue and one green eye
  
• an ingrown toenail
  
• squirrels in the attic
  
• A flower pot getting thrown off a roof
  
• a dog kennel that washes up on shore
  
• a TV show involving robots
  
• a river without any fish
  
• a baby with colic
  
• the number 7
  
• a roaring fire
  
• a burning bush
  
• a dead rose in a vase
  
• a frozen pond with the ice broken in the center
  
• An impromptu dancing lesson
  
• A parakeet that can only say, "Schpedoinkle!"
  
• A single glove found lying on the sidewalk
  
• A car catching on fire
  
• a white tank top
  
• ceramic dwarves
  
• blue highlighted hair
  
• a nightgown in a washing machine
  
• a cat sitting on feet
  
• the ending of a video game
  
• multi-hue eyed girl!
  
• an illicit affair
  
• A horse named Albert
  
• A purple spotted toad
  
• A grandmother who thinks that she is a fish
  
• needing badly to go to the bathroom in the middle of a meeting
  
• a plastic carnation painted green with nail polish
  
• A red wedding dress
  
• Afternoon nap when it's raining outside
  
• A purse filled with brown leaves
  
• Tangles headphone cables
  
• The salt cap falling off while salting a dish, and all the salt falling in
  
• A train ride
  
• Getting pizza for the mixed herb packets
  
• Playing cards all night
  
• another character's perspective
  
• voices in the attic
  
• "I can't sit still."
  
• an over-enthusiastic nude photographer
  
• a pair of papier mâché clawed hands
  
• a midnight snowfall
  
• a selection of brightly coloured boxes in an empty room/house
  
• a light-up, plug-in, green gnome
  
• a well-preserved dinosaur skeleton
  
• a missing iguana
  
• gypsy dancing bears
  
• your character's reaction to running over something on the road
  
• someone wearing mismatched socks
  
• a niggling memory that you can ALMOST remember, but not quite
  
• "Of course I'm fine. I'm more than fine. Who wouldn't be with someone like you landing on me??"
  
• a messed up judicial system causing an arrest and detainment in jail
  
• fine, realistic costume jewelry
  
• a rickety, creaking white gate that gives someone away
  
• a spy who catches a bad cold at just the wrong time
  
• A hair ribbon flying with the wind
  
• a nearly-empty jar of peanut butter
  
• No two snowflakes are alike
  
• the lifetime of a $5 bill
  
• A toad under a rock
  
• a fake potted plant
  
• a vast array of staples
  
• an umbrella left in the park on a sunny day
  
• a strange light in the sky
  
• a sudden burst of laughter
  
• a knife with a dull, nicked blade
  
• Mug shot, toe tag and broken bridge
  
• blowing up an air mattress with a hair dryer
  
• a car stuck in mud
  
• A cat lying in the sunlight
  
• Odd eyes
  
• An unpainted dollhouse
  
• The last book in a series
  
• A dusty globe of Saturn
  
• The sound of thinking
  
• a consistent beeping noise
  
• a nightmare about a horse
  
• an earthquake
  
• celebration of a feast
  
• performing a ritual
  
• MC must taste chocolate, cacao, or similar substance
  
• a music box that won't open
  
• glass figurines
  
• a plastic lizard
  
• purple nail polish