Switched from character-driven prompts to world-building prompts for a month and my story ideas went from 2 per week to 12

I used to just write about a person with a problem, but after I tried that one prompt about designing a city where rain falls upward, I had a whole notebook full of plot threads from just that one setting, so has anyone else found that a specific type of prompt totally unlocks your creativity?

3 comments

3 Comments

lilychen21d ago

yo that city with the upward rain sounds insane but also genius? i feel like world building gives u so many hooks without even trying. like a rainy city is just weather but flipping gravity makes u ask a million questions right away what do people wear how do buildings work what happens when it floods. i get stuck on character prompts sometimes cause its too much pressure to make the person interesting. but a weird setting kinda does the work for u. glad im not the only one who found this trick it really does unlock stuff.

jason11220d ago

Jump in with the buildings first cause that's the biggest thing. People would have to live in upside down houses with roofs pointing down and floors on top. Umbrellas would be useless, you'd need some kind of dome hat or a canopy you carry over your head like a shield. Flooding would be weird too, water would collect on the ground but also pile up against the sides of buildings since gravity is pulling it downward toward the sky. The real trick is thinking about daily stuff like how do you pour a drink or take a shower without everything getting completely wrecked.

the_robert20d ago

lilychen that thing you said about the setting doing the work for you is exactly it. I tried writing a normal fantasy story once with a regular kingdom and I got stuck on the third page for like two months. Then I switched to a world where everyone lives on the side of a floating mountain and suddenly I had a whole plot about people falling off and having to be rescued by giant birds. The character stuff just came out of that like how would you learn to walk on a slanted surface or what do you do with your furniture so it doesnt slide away. Its like the weird setting forces you to solve problems and the solutions become the story.