Back when I believed prompts had to be followed exactly

I once saw writing prompts as fixed paths. Then I found folks online who bent them in cool ways. Now I kick off stories with prompts, but I go where they take me. I kinda miss the time when each prompt was a mystery box. It's wild how letting go made writing more fun.

3 comments

3 Comments

williams.diana4mo ago

Last month, a strict prompt led me somewhere unexpected.

val_chen164mo ago

Tell me about it. I stuck to a strict prompt for a writing exercise last week. Wound up with a story so off the rails it was basically about a sentient potato. My own fault for taking things too literally. Now I have a folder full of vegetable based horror on my laptop, and I'm not sure what to do with it.

andrew_wood7229d ago

Ha! That's brilliant honestly. I did a similar thing with a "describe a bustling city market" prompt last year and ended up with three pages about an existential lemon trying to find meaning in a fruit bowl. Vegetable horror is a whole genre now apparently!