Warning: I thought writing prompts were just for beginners until a workshop in Portland

I went to a creative writing meetup at Powell's Books last fall, mostly to meet other writers. The leader made us do a ten minute prompt about finding a strange key in a coat pocket. I wrote a whole scene I ended up using in my current project. Now I do a quick prompt every morning before I start my real writing. Has anyone else found a specific prompt exercise that actually led to a finished piece?

3 comments

3 Comments

phoenixgonzalez8d ago

Got a similar story. A friend made me try a prompt about a character who always lies about their job. Wrote what felt like a throwaway page. That liar turned into the main character of a short story I just finished. Those quick exercises can shake something loose you didn't know was stuck.

terry_martinez8d ago

Oh man, @phoenixgonzalez, my buddy did a "worst first date" prompt as a joke and now he's got a whole messy novel draft.

ninal9114h ago

Yeah it's wild how that happens. I mean, a friend of mine did a ten minute prompt about finding a weird key and just vented about her bad week into it. That random key story somehow turned into this whole thing about grief she's been working on for months now. Like @terry_martinez said, those joke ideas can really take off. You just start typing and then you're stuck with a whole new project.