Decided those $40 'writer's dice' were worth it after all

I was super skeptical when I saw these things on Etsy for like 40 bucks. I mean, rolling dice to come up with story ideas felt like some kind of gimmick. But I was stuck on a scene for a fantasy prompt about a cursed library, just completely blank for two hours. Finally caved and bought a set with character traits, plot twists, and setting details on them. Rolled once and got 'a jealous sibling' plus 'a hidden door that opens at midnight' and suddenly the whole scene clicked. It saved my writing night, no joke. Now I use them whenever I hit a wall, but I still feel kinda silly admitting it. Anybody else find luck with weird tools like this or am I just late to the party?

2 comments

2 Comments

grantf735d ago

Actually just read a blog post about how constraint based tools can trick your brain into being more creative. Something about working in a box forcing you to think sideways. Those dice basically do the same thing by limiting your options so your brain stops spiraling. Might have to grab a set the next time I'm staring at a blank page for an hour. Sounds better than the seven browser tabs I usually open instead of writing.

bennett.vera5d agoMost Upvoted

Has your friend tried those story cubes too? I actually heard about this from @grantf73's post, yeah it makes sense. My friend Kate was stuck on a short story for like a month and she tried one of those random word generators online that gives you three random words to work with. She said it was the first time she actually finished something in weeks. I don't know if it's the same brain trick or just having a smaller problem to solve, but it seemed to help her stop overthinking everything.