Always thought fiction writing prompts were just fluff for beginners

I used to skip writing prompts because I thought they were just for people who couldn't come up with their own ideas. Then my writing group did a prompt about a locked room with a single feather inside, and I wrote my best short story in years. Has anyone else been surprised by a prompt that forced you to write something you never would have tried?

2 comments

2 Comments

richardk264d ago

My buddy Dave had the same attitude until his creative writing professor made the whole class write a story based on a torn movie ticket stub they found on the sidewalk. Dave got stuck with a crinkled one from a 1985 showing of "The Goonies" in a town he'd never heard of. He ended up writing a noir detective piece about a private eye tracking down who left the ticket and why it mattered so much. Won him a small local contest and everything, totally changed how he looked at prompts. He still jokes that a piece of trash gave him his best work.

christopher9523d ago

Huh, that's a good story. It kinda proves the point that most good ideas are just sitting there waiting for someone to pick them up. @richardk26 I've noticed this same thing with old tools at estate sales or weird little junk shops. People walk right past the stuff that doesn't look like anything, but someone willing to stop and look at it can see a whole different thing. It's like half the battle is just deciding to pay attention to the little stuff that everyone else ignores.