I dropped $40 on a random writing prompt book at a yard sale

Found it in a box of old stuff last Saturday, figured why not. The first prompt was 'write from the view of a lost sock in a dryer vent' and it just clicked for me. I wrote a whole short story based on that one idea, which I never would have thought of myself. Has anyone else had a prompt just unlock a story you didn't know you had?

3 comments

3 Comments

dakota_nelson434d ago

Totally get that. Bought a cheap prompt deck once on a whim. The card said "a conversation overheard in a grocery store line." Wrote my favorite flash fiction piece from it. Sometimes the weird ones just work.

ruby4504d ago

Wow, I always thought those prompt decks were silly until one gave me a perfect story idea too.

daniel5934d ago

Honestly @ruby450, I've never gotten that to work for me. Those decks feel like a shortcut that just gives you someone else's leftover idea. The good stuff comes from paying attention to real life, not pulling a random card. It just trains you to look outside yourself for inspiration. I'd rather stare at a blank page than use a prompt I didn't come up with.