A writing prompt book I bought turned out to be a total waste

I saw a fancy hardcover book of writing prompts at a bookstore in Seattle, and it cost me $35. I thought it would have unique ideas, but when I got home, I found most of them were just basic stuff like 'write about a rainy day' or 'describe a character's first day at a new job'. It felt like a collection of the most common ideas you could find for free online. Has anyone else found a good source for prompts that aren't so obvious?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_troy1mo ago

Ouch, that's a pricey lesson in buyer beware.

uma4091mo ago

Actually, I kinda like those basic prompts. Sometimes the simple stuff gets me writing when my brain is stuck on overthinking.

oliver_wilson491mo ago

Yeah, sometimes you just need a simple starting point to get the gears turning, right? I get what @the_troy is saying about being careful, but there's a real comfort in those basic prompts. They feel less like a test and more like a friendly nudge to just put words on the page.