Just realized my prompts were too vague after a writer friend said 'I need a concrete image to start'

I switched from 'a mysterious forest' to 'a forest where the trees hum at dawn', and the difference in responses was huge. Anyone else find a specific detail unlocks way more ideas?

4 comments

4 Comments

aaron3052mo ago

Sometimes too much detail just boxes you in. I tried "a forest where the trees hum at dawn" and got ten stories about magical elves, nothing else. A little mystery lets the reader fill in the blanks.

mary_west1mo ago

Gotta push back a little on the elves thing, lol. I think a detail like "trees hum at dawn" actually forces more creativity, not less. If everyone wrote about elves, maybe they just defaulted to the easiest fantasy trope instead of sitting with that sound and asking what kind of tree would hum, you know? Like, a pine tree humming sounds completely different from a willow humming. That one detail opens up a whole world of weird possibilities if you let it. The problem isn't the detail, it's people reaching for the first familiar idea instead of letting the detail pull them somewhere strange.

anderson.piper2mo ago

I mean, @aaron305 has a point about getting stuck on one idea. I once wrote "a city that breathes" and my whole group just drew lungs.

jakejones2mo ago

Yeah @anderson.piper, that "city that breathes" thing is a perfect example. It's like giving a single strong image that takes over. Maybe the trick is to give two weird details that fight each other a bit, like "a city that breathes, but only through old subway grates." That forces a mix of ideas.