In one of my previous writing updates, I promised to write about the ABSOLUTELY AMAZING creative writing tools I’ve found and how they inspire me to write. That was in June. It’s now the end of July. Oops! 😛 With that being said, let me introduce you to some new and very inspirational friends. They are called story cubes. Now, there are many, many, many different brands of story cubes and different packs containing specific story categories within those packs within each of the brands. Taking into account how long you actually want to spend reading this article and the time I actually want to spend time typing it/how badly I want to keep all sense of feeling in my fingertips, I’ve decided to only talk about my top 3 favorite brands of story cubes.

#1: Rory’s Story Cubes by Gamewright

Okay, these boys are my homies. But seriously, I love these story cubes. They have adorable, thought-provoking pictures on each of their 6-sides and while you can clearly understand some of the images on the die, others are less obvious and therefore, completely open to your creative interpretation, depending on what story you are using the cube(s) for. What’s even cooler is that the creators at Gamewright purposely refrained from posting specific meanings for their die on their website (I know, I checked) in order to allow people to better use their imaginations. How cool is that? This particular brand has 3 packs of 9 dice each (categories include: original, actions, and voyages) and about 9 packs of 3 dice each (categories are: enchanted, clues, prehistoric, medic, score, intergalactic, mythic, animalia, and fright). Each box contains instructions on how to actually use the dice, but I personally like to pick a dice from each category (I have 6 categories so far), then roll them and see what I get. As I look at the images, I try to think how they could apply to my story or help my story along if I’m stuck in a certain spot. I’m always amazed at how a seemingly random group of pictures can sometimes inspire a full-fledged scene in my head and if it doesn’t, well hey, at least I can enjoy laughing over the crazy mix-up I got. 😛

#2 Story Time Dice by Imagination Generation

These dice are pretty cool in their own right. There are 3 packs of 7 dice each in 3 different versions: original Story Time, Fairy Tales, and Scary Tales. Not only that, but these dice come in different shapes, with a different amount of sides for every one. And each dice is filled with images that pertain to a specific story element. For example, one dice is just for the setting aspect of the story, another is for tools, another for characters, another for challenges, etc. What’s more, the packages each come with their own picture guide to explain the images on the cubes. It does take out the element of using your imagination to bend the pictures to whatever you think they look like, but I think it’s nice to be able to see what the images actually are in case you really have no clue. 😉 In addition to the guide, there are suggestions for games to play but again, I just roll each die and go from there. I only have the original set, but I’m hoping to get the fairy tale pack soon!

#3 Magic & Fairy Tale Dice by Norman and Jules

This brand also comes in Pirate Adventure and Space Travel packs. These are wooden dice that have very beautiful, slightly more detailed pictures on them compared to that of Gamewright’s Story Cubes. This game actually has a special red die, and when rolling all the other cubes, if you happen to roll a red swirl on one of them, you get to roll the special red die and add that image to your story mixture. I really like the vintage look of these cubes and the idea of the special die. It’s fun looking at all your “normal” cubes and being like, “Alright, I think I know what scene I’m going to write using what I got.” but then you realize you also rolled a red swirl and therefore have to roll the red cube. THEN, you get a really random picture that completely messes with your original scene idea and you’re like, “#PLOTTWIST!”. (That might just be me…)

Whichever brand, pack, or number of cubes you like, I highly suggest that you get them! (If you go to our Amazon Store, you can even buy some of the story cubes I’ve talked about on here.)

Using story cubes is a fun way to get yourself to write without the hassle of having to come up with your own topic and individual story elements. Try it, on your own or with a friend. Either way, you’ll laugh so much, you might just die. #punsarelife