New website StoryQuake.org turns daily USGS seismic data into AI-generated fiction, starting with sci-fi comedy "Ryan Random and the Mall of the Multiverse."
I developed more than 20 TV shows that made it to air. I wrote another 60 pilots that didn't. I don't have millions of dollars to produce them now. But it turns out I have earthquakes. Lots of them."”— John Derevlany, Creator of StoryQuake & Veteran TV WriterCULVER CITY, CA, UNITED STATES, July 17, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — What fate awaits a television pilot that never gets greenlit? For the majority of writers, it simply collects digital dust. For seasoned TV writer and producer John Derevlany, it gets passed off to the most unpredictable showrunner around: the Earth itself.
StoryQuake.org represents a fresh narrative experiment that converts daily earthquake data from California into unique fictional works.
Every day, seismic information is pulled from U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) feeds and processed through a custom-built algorithm. This system translates raw tectonic numbers—including magnitude, location, and even the fractional digits within the Richter data—into numerous immediate creative choices that determine each story’s genre, mood, characters, length, and precise degree of strangeness.
These real-world seismic cues drive a generative AI writing system rooted in a thoroughly human foundation: a detailed story treatment, character universe, and original hand-sketched artwork all created by Derevlany.
From Fault Line to Plot Line: How the Algorithm Works
To connect hard geology with imaginative storytelling, the platform’s internal system maps live physical measurements directly to narrative variables:
* The Tectonic Trigger: StoryQuake’s backend constantly scans USGS data feeds for seismic activity in California.
* The Richter Blueprint: A stronger magnitude might lead to high-stakes cosmic danger, whereas a small tremor could inspire a lighter, character-focused comedy. The event’s coordinates and fractional digits mathematically determine plot points, settings, and structural disorder.
* The Human Foundation: The algorithm’s output is strictly regulated by the creator’s pre-set limits, rules, and artistic materials for his universe.
StoryQuake’s first series, Ryan Random and the Mall of the Multiverse, draws from an unsold TV pilot about a luckless security guard working in a 4,500-store intergalactic shopping center—a workplace comedy where the environment occasionally vanishes into nothingness.
"In three decades in television, I co-created or developed more than 20 shows that made it to air and wrote maybe 60 or 80 pilots that didn't," says Derevlany, whose credits include "LEGO Legends of Chima", "Wayside", "Gerald McBoing Boing", and the upcoming animated action-comedy "Wildcat". "I don't have a studio, a staff, or millions of dollars to produce them. But it turns out I have earthquakes. Lots of them."
Giving AI a "Random Spark"
Derevlany calls StoryQuake an effort to provide AI with the one essential element it lacks: the unpredictable spark that fuels human creativity.
"Great ideas aren't engineered—they're provoked by the world around us," Derevlany explains. "StoryQuake connects machine-generated stories to something real and physical: the ground we stand on. The Earth moves, and a story is born."
Fresh stories appear on the site whenever California’s faults dictate, with each literary piece linked back to the specific, confirmable USGS earthquake event that produced it. Recent titles generated by the Earth’s movements include "Everything Must Slide!", "The Full Price Prophecy," and "The Stall of No Return."
StoryQuake was built by Derevlany with programming assistance from his son. The site openly and transparently explains its methodology—offering a distinctive, collaborative fusion of human authorship and algorithmic production at a time when AI’s role in creative fields is fiercely debated.
About StoryQuake
StoryQuake is an independent storytelling project that uses daily California earthquake data to generate serialized fiction from human-created story worlds. Its first series, Ryan Random and the Mall of the Multiverse, is publishing now at https://storyquake.org/.
Media Contact:
* Contact: John Derevlany
* Email: jd@storyquake.org
* Websites: https://storyquake.org/ and https://johnderevlany.com/
John Derevlany
StoryQuake.org
+1 424-738-0002
jd@storyquake.org
