I tried writing a story from a prompt versus making my own idea from scratch

For a year, I only used random prompts from online lists. My stories felt okay, but they never really clicked for me. Then, three months ago, I started with just a single image I saw, a broken clock in a train station, and built everything from that. The second story felt ten times more real and personal. The prompt gave me a start, but my own spark gave it a heart. Has anyone else found that starting from your own tiny seed works better than a full prompt?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_charlie2d ago

Nah, I gotta disagree lol. Prompts are like a jump start when your brain's empty. That broken clock thing only worked because you already had some practice from doing all those prompts first. Sometimes a full prompt gives you a fence to play in, and that actually helps more than staring at a blank page.

the_wade2d ago

My buddy Dave tried writing with no prompts for a month. He just stared at his screen most days. Finally caved and used a simple one about a lost key, wrote his best story in weeks. Guess he needed that fence.