Vent: I forced myself to write from a prompt about a sentient toaster and it actually worked

I used a random generator for a 'silly object' story last Tuesday and ended up with a 2,000 word draft about appliance existential dread. Has a 'bad' prompt ever accidentally unlocked something for you?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_sean12d ago

That "bad prompt" thing happens all the time. I get stuck trying to plan the perfect workout for a client, then a random idea like "what if we only used towels" breaks the logjam. The pressure to be good can freeze you up, but a silly rule or a weird constraint forces a different path. It's like your brain needs permission to be bad before it can find anything interesting. What was the toaster even worried about?

tessap7312d agoTop Commenter

Only used towels? That sounds like a great way to get someone to slip and break their neck.

nancy_king2912d ago

Funny how the brain works like that. It's not really about being bad, it's about turning off the inner critic for a second. That critic is the one that says a towel workout is stupid or a toaster drawing is dumb. Once you ignore it, you can actually see if there's a good idea hiding in there. The weird constraint just shoves that critic out of the way so you can start making something, anything. Then you can fix it later.