Story Starter Wheel: Spin a First Line

Story starter wheel with 12 first lines to finish, from the strangest Monday ever to a box that began to shake. Spin one and keep the story going.

Creative writing
Group stories
Speaking practice

On this wheel

It was the strangest Monday ever
Nobody believed me, but
The box began to shake
Deep in the woods I found
When the lights came back on
Just before the bell rang
I had one wish left
The map led to our school
My grandma has a secret
The moon looked closer that night
Behind the last shelf
The note said: open me

Why use a story starter wheel

Twelve first lines are on the wheel, each one waiting for a story. Spin one and let students write what happens next, or go round the room and let each person add a sentence.

Give a story its first line
Students copy the line onto a blank page and carry on from there for ten minutes.
Tell a story round the room
Spin the first line, and let each person add one sentence until the story ends.
Practice telling a story out loud
Language learners finish the line out loud in a few sentences.

This wheel wears the Wheel-ementary theme: crayons on a chalkboard, push pins and a gold-star arrow. Your own copy keeps it, or pick another wheel theme.

How to use the story starter wheel

Click the wheel to spin it.
Wait for it to slow down and stop on a random entry. The winner pops up on screen.
Click “Hide & Respin” to take the winner out and spin again, so nothing is picked twice.
Click “Create your own story starter picker” to save your own copy, change the entries, and share or embed it.

All 12 entries on the story starter wheel

It was the strangest Monday ever
Nobody believed me, but
The box began to shake
Deep in the woods I found
When the lights came back on
Just before the bell rang
I had one wish left
The map led to our school
My grandma has a secret
The moon looked closer that night
Behind the last shelf
The note said: open me

More Writing Prompt Wheels

Writing Prompt Wheel16 entries

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I add my own first lines?

Yes. Click “Create your own story starter picker” and type your own.

Is the wheel really random?

Yes. Every entry has a slice of the same size, and where the wheel stops is picked with your browser’s cryptographically secure random number generator (crypto.getRandomValues), so nobody can predict or rig the result.

Can I change the entries on this wheel?

Yes. Click “Create your own story starter picker” to save your own copy. You can then add, remove or rename entries, change the theme and spin settings, and share or embed your wheel.