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I used to think writing prompts were just for beginners until I met a guy at a coffee shop in Portland
He was working on a novel and told me he uses a prompt every morning, 'like a warm-up lap,' and showed me his notebook full of wild, short scenes that later became chapters. It made me see prompts not as simple exercises, but as a tool to find new ideas you didn't know you had. What's the most surprising thing a simple prompt has led you to write?
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aaronlee5mo ago
Oh man, that's awesome. I always figured prompts were like training wheels, you know? But that coffee shop guy has it right, it's just practice. Like @jake_dixon said, it pulls out the weird stuff. Once I saw a prompt just saying "write about a broken fence." I ended up with three pages on this imaginary neighbor feud over a rose bush, which somehow turned into a story about two brothers not talking for years. My brain just went there on its own. It's crazy where a simple starting point can take you.
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jake_dixon5mo ago
A prompt about describing a smell you hate got me writing a whole page on the scent of wet concrete in the rain. It was weirdly personal, ended up being about my dad's old work boots. Never would have gone there on my own. Sometimes the simple stuff pulls out memories you have packed away.
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benwilliams2mo ago
It's interesting how these things work for some people. I don't know if every prompt is going to unlock some deep buried memory or if it's just a lucky shot in the dark. Might just be overthinking it is all.
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