Serious question, has anyone else tried writing from a prompt versus just waiting for inspiration?

I forced myself to use a 'haunted library' prompt last week and wrote 800 words, but my usual 'wait for the muse' method got me maybe a paragraph in a month. What specific prompt finally got you writing?

3 comments

3 Comments

hugo_schmidt2mo ago

Forcing myself to write about a 'door that shouldn't be there' in a normal house broke a year long block. The prompt gave my brain a fence to play inside instead of staring at an empty field. It's like giving a kid a specific Lego set instead of a giant tub of random bricks. Now I keep a list of weird prompts for when the inspiration well is totally dry.

the_logan2mo ago

What kind of prompts are on your list now? I started doing the same thing after reading a tip online, and my favorite so far is "a library where all the books are blank." That weird little rule made the whole story just click into place for me.

thea_mitchell202mo ago

Try writing about a key that opens anything except locks, that one got me going last week.