I just realized my writing prompts were way too complicated

I was trying to write a short story last week, and I got stuck right at the start. My own prompt was something like 'a time traveler with amnesia must decode a prophecy while running a bakery in 18th century France.' I looked at it for a full hour and wrote nothing. The problem hit me when my friend, who doesn't write much, asked 'what's the baker's favorite thing to bake?' That simple question made me see my prompts were huge puzzles, not starting points. Has anyone else found that simpler questions get you writing faster?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_robin2mo ago

My friend once wrote a whole novel after asking herself what her main character ate for breakfast.

blair_davis2mo ago

Honestly that sounds like a great way to get stuck on pointless details. You can spend forever on stuff like that and never get to the actual plot. It's just procrastination dressed up as character work.