Stuck in a rut with prompt-based stories, here's what I learned.

I kept using writing prompts exactly as given, and my stories started to all sound the same. Now I always add a personal twist or change the setting to make them fresh. How do you make sure prompts don't limit your ideas?

3 comments

3 Comments

dakotap851mo ago

Jen's genre flip idea is solid, but I go further by adding real life details. Like, I used my grandma's farm as the setting for a detective prompt, which made the characters feel instantly real. It stops the story from feeling generic because you're pulling from personal memories and places you know. Sometimes I even change the protagonist's motivation based on someone I actually met, which adds layers to the plot.

iris_jones891mo ago

Didn't my friend Jen do something similar?

ivanprice15d ago

Hold up, your grandma's farm is a real place? That's wild. Using a spot you actually know changes everything. Makes it so much more specific than just making something up. Jen never went that deep with her stuff.