Unpopular opinion: I stopped using random prompt generators after a year of trying them

For the first year I was writing, I'd just hit a button on those free prompt sites and try to force a story from whatever came up. It felt like a chore. The change came after a workshop in Austin where the leader said, 'Your best ideas are already in your notes.' I looked back and saw I had 47 half formed ideas in my own docs. Now I start every session by reading my own messy notes from the week before. One line about a guy finding a weird key in a library book turned into my best short story. Does anyone else find their own old notes way more useful than generic prompts?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_charles1mo ago

My own notes are just a list of weird stains I found on carpets.

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sam171mo agoMost Upvoted

Honestly that's a great system. My old apartment had this one stain that looked like a tiny ghost trying to escape the floor. Never did figure out what caused it.

markhall1mo ago

Found a similar ghost stain in my old place. Turned out it was a tiny leak from the pipe under the sink that only dripped when the humidity was high. Took me months to figure it out. Ended up sealing the whole area with that flex seal stuff and painting over it. Never saw the ghost again.