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?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_charles2d ago

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

-1

sam172d 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.