Just realized that writing prompt generator I used killed my story idea

Last month I got excited about a random prompt from a free online generator for a fantasy plot. Three years ago I had a similar idea sitting in my notebook from a writer's group in Austin, but I ignored it for the shiny new one. I spent two weeks on a flash fiction piece that fell totally flat because the generated prompt had no real heart or connection to my voice. Has anyone else had a bad experience ditching their own ideas for a prompt they found online?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_patricia5d ago

Oh wow, that's rough! Did you end up going back to your original notebook idea after that, or did it feel ruined by comparison?

the_sam5d ago

Ruined by comparison" pretty much sums up my whole life's work right there, haha. I actually tried recreating the original notebook from memory and it came out even worse, like someone describing a painting over a bad phone line. So now I just keep it in a drawer to humble me whenever I get too proud of a grocery list.