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A stranger at the Portland zine fest handed me a prompt jar and it fixed my writer's block
I was at the Portland zine fest back in April, mostly just walking around. A woman at a folding table had a mason jar full of little paper slips and told me to pull one for free. Mine said 'write about a smell you can't find anymore.' I wrote 900 words that night, more than I'd done in the prior 3 weeks combined. Now I keep my own jar on my desk and pull one whenever I stall out. What's your go-to trick when a prompt just isn't clicking?
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lewis.finley14d ago
Oh man that smell prompt is such a good one, it hits you right in the gut instead of making you think too hard about plot or structure. I picked up the jar habit from a friend a couple years back, except mine is an old pickle jar and the slips are mostly ripped up receipts because that's all I had around. My best one so far was "write about a door you were scared to open" and I cranked out like 700 words before I even looked up. I swear half the trick is just getting handed something specific enough that your brain stops circling and has to land somewhere. Also love that it was a total stranger, there's something about a random person giving you the prompt that makes it feel less like homework.
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