I walked into that tiny bookstore in Portland and got a wakeup call about writing prompts

I was browsing the shelves near the fiction section and noticed this beat up notebook sitting on a stool. It was FULL of crazy writing prompts people had scribbled down, like "write about a mailbox that only delivers regret" and "what if your coffee cup could talk." I stood there for 20 minutes reading through like 60 prompts and felt dumb because my own prompts are always so boring like "write about a rainy day." Have any of you guys found a weird book or spot that gave you a fresh angle on prompts that caught you off guard?

3 comments

3 Comments

brianl5324d ago

...and here I am still trying to come up with something better than "describe a door" for my writing group. That mailbox that only delivers regret sounds like something I'd accidentally subscribe to. Honestly, if my coffee cup started talking I'd probably pour it down the drain and switch to tea. Those prompts are the kind of weird that actually make you stop and think, unlike mine which just make people stop and nap.

the_alice24d ago

Wait do you remember the name of that shop cause I found a similar notebook in a Seattle thrift store with prompts like "a clock that ticks backwards" and it broke my brain too.

brian32824d ago

You ever notice how the most interesting things in life come from stuff that doesn't quite make sense at first? I've been seeing that more and more - like how my neighbor's garden looks better when she plants things in weird patterns instead of straight rows. Or how the best conversations I have are the ones that start with some oddball question, not the usual "how's work" stuff. Feels like our brains get stuck in these logical ruts and it takes something like a backward clock or a regret mailbox to shake us loose.