patb86•1mo ago

Last month I tried writing a prompt from my 5 year old's drawing and it cracked open a whole new story

So my kid handed me this wild scribble of a purple blob with three eyes and what looked like tentacles. I was stuck on a writing prompt about a haunted lighthouse that just wasn't going anywhere. Out of pure boredom I used that drawing as a prompt and wrote a quick flash fiction piece about a alien who crash lands in a backyard and has to hide from the neighbor's cat. Within 20 minutes I had 600 words and an idea for a whole series. That drawing completely changed how I think about finding inspiration. Do you ever use random stuff from your daily life to kickstart a prompt? What's the weirdest thing that got you writing?

2 comments

2 Comments

ben4021mo ago

So the cat became the real antagonist in that story then?

dakotab131mo ago

HOLD UP, gonna push back on that take a bit @ben402. I’d argue the cat was just being a cat, doing normal territorial stuff. Like yeah, it knocked over some plants and hissed at the dog, but the real conflict came from the owner refusing to set any boundaries. That’s like blaming a fire alarm for going off when you left the stove on. The cat didn’t choose to be the antagonist, it just reacted to a messy situation.