Showerthought: the best writing prompt I ever got came from a stranger on a bus in Denver

I was stuck on a story for weeks, nothing felt right. Then this guy next to me on the bus started talking about how he lost his wedding ring in a snowbank and found it six months later when the snow melted. I wrote a whole short story based on that one moment. Has anyone else grabbed a prompt from a random real life conversation or overheard thing?

2 comments

2 Comments

wadea531mo ago

Overheard a guy in a bar describe finding a dead body while fishing. Wrote that one up fast.

michaela161mo ago

But did you change ANY of the details from what the guy told you? Like, if he said the body was hooked on a certain kind of lure or near a specific bridge, did you keep that exact or swap it out? Because I've always wondered how much real stuff writers hold onto and how much they just make up for a better story.