[OT] SatChat: What were some of your favorite writing prompts and why? (New here? Introduce yourself!)

Submitted by MajorParadox t3_z5anzj in WritingPrompts

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What were some of your favorite writing prompts and why?

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wordsonthewind t1_ixv3vam wrote

A while back when everyone was obsessed with those hyperrealistic cake videos there was a prompt about a knife which turns everything it cuts into cake. Weird as it sounds I didn't make the connection to the trend and thought the prompt was about a delightfully weird magic item. I still wish I could see it that way

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xwhy t1_ixwaid9 wrote

It's a great thing when you see the prompt differently than everyone else. It might not have been the prompt they intended, but it's the one you saw, and that makes it stand out.

I think I remember that prompt, but I didn't know about that trend.

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POTWP t1_ixv92pt wrote

Favourite prompts? I have three:

The first prompt I wrote on

The last prompt I wrote on

And the 3rd is the next prompt to inspire the story not yet written.

(Honourable mention goes, of course, to the several hundred prompts between the first and last)

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MajorParadox OP t1_ixva38k wrote

So every prompt you write for is your favorite? That's a great way to think about it!

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xwhy t1_ixwb4p5 wrote

I'm glad you kept track. I had to go through a few years of posts to find some stories when I found out that I could make my own subreddit for them. And it turned out that I missed a few, which I only found when someone told me how to request my data.

Seven years! Keep at it!

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28th_Stab_Wound t1_ixw3j4t wrote

haven't been here for all that long, but I really enjoy the prompts which map MMO:RPG elements onto a general fantasy setting, and like, explores the consequences of them.

those are my jam. :)

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Petrified_Lioness t1_ixvqv29 wrote

I have a certain fondness for typo prompts. Can't remember getting a story out of any of them, but the directions my brain can go in when a dropped letter or auto-corrupt strike completely changes the meaning of something... "Squamates" instead of "squadmates" is obviously a team of lizard-men...supper heroes instead of super heroes, there's got to be some kind of story there...and so forth...

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john-wooding t1_iy1duvu wrote

Yes! Some of the most fun responses I've ever done have been typo ones.

I always feel a little guilty harping on so much about a typo, but the prompters seem to take it in good humour and you get to write some really unusual things.

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184rgreaterodds t1_ixw4o4l wrote

My favorite prompts are either Simple or Constrained ones. I have a tendency to not post my writing to them though. Still warming up to that.

My favorite of prompts I replied to: Elevator

I enjoy when prompts give me ideas for dad quality jokes or puns.

Question for writers with their own subreddits: What made you start it and how do you go about your posts?

How about in regards to only one story or do you use different tags for different tales.

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Helicopterdrifter t1_ixwir7x wrote

I'm still relatively new with my own sub, and it's been a bit of learning process. I started mine up out of a necessity to make my work more manageable/productive.

I was completing WPs that were pulling scenes, characters, and powers from a story I'm developing. Several users expressed interest in that particular storyline and wanted me to message them when I posted similar stories. As more people requested that I PM them, it was looking kind of intensive for notifying several users of each post.

So I made a sub for a centralized location for those stories and just sent the link to those users. I'm still adjusting flairs, collections and content, but what I recommend is utilizing scheduled posts. I haven't set this up on mine yet, but I have it set up on other platforms and it definitely makes life easier in regards to productivity.

I'm still tinkering with flairs and collections, but the latter seems to be the better place option for my needs.

r/jtwrites

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MajorParadox OP t1_ixxou29 wrote

Hey would you like some user flair for your subreddit?

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Helicopterdrifter t1_ixyk178 wrote

I've added a few but I haven't figured out how to put it on a menu yet. The only way I saw to select it was clicking your username on one of your comments.

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MajorParadox OP t1_ixzwyvo wrote

On r/WritingPrompts only mods can set user flairs. I was asking if you'd like me to set yours for you 🙂

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xwhy t1_ixwbj8x wrote

Jump in. Worst that happens is it'll languish at 1 vote. I had some of those.

I'd forgotten about some of those early constrained writing prompts I'd done until I requested my data. I got a laugh out of them now. Now much traction then. Problem is that I can't do anything with them. Even if I made a book of prompts, people care about the story in the finish product, not "hey, look at this crazy story that doesn't repeat a word or use the word 'the'!"

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MajorParadox OP t1_ixxnejv wrote

>I have a tendency to not post my writing to them though. Still warming up to that.

That's completely fine, only post them when you're comfortable, of course. But no need to worry, we're a friendly community!

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WIHachillies t1_ixw8w56 wrote

My favorite prompt is anything I can have the idea of making multiple chapters. So if I can make an entire book on it. For example, the post on my profile about summoning an insanity god is my favorite series I've written. I have a couple of short stories from old prompts on here.

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MajorParadox OP t1_ixxomm3 wrote

Do you always make new characters or ever try to reuse them across prompts?

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WIHachillies t1_ixxridh wrote

I usually make new characters, but I might make reference to older characters. I reuse ocs sometimes, but i'm trying to make my own universe.

like currently i'm making a pantheon full of gods.

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xwhy t1_ixwaaur wrote

Greetings! This is u/xwhy, and many of my prompts appear in r/xwhy. I also have a book of flash fiction "In A Flash 2020" from eSpec Books under the name Christopher J. Burke available on Amazon. Twenty flash stories and a few of them started life as prompts from this board. I also have three flash pieces in their anthology "Devilish & Divine", two of which were inspired by prompts here.

(Note that at most one of those stories might even shown up here in some form or other. Most were written after the prompts fell into obscurity, so I didn't "waste" them.)

Favorite prompts are hard to pin down. I'm all over the map. Of my published stories, there are no Supers pieces, but if I have a followup, there will be a bunch because a bunch of them just clicked. I have written a few time travel pieces, but those start to get repetitive. And I seem to like fantasy or fantasy elements in a modern story just because I get to make the rules, and I might not know the science rules.

There are times that when I think I've clicked so well with a prompt but it goes nowhere (sometimes the prompt has no votes and sometimes the prompt and other responses take off but none languishes). But if I looked at my top 5 stories by votes, I'd wager at least 2 would be head-scratchers, meaning I didn't think them to be among my greatest work.

I do like the chance to be silly, so I can blow off a little steam, but I don't need the silliness spelled out in the prompt. I can find the silliness, whether it's three hobbits in a trenchcoat, or a guy finding a lamp on the beach and the three genies inside turn out to be a bit stooge-ish (that last-part was not part of the prompt).

One of my favorite stories in a soon-to-be (I hope, I hope) collection is about a demon hiding an angel in hell ... I totally misread the prompt, but I went with it anyway.

As I tell writers who reply to my prompts: a prompt takes you where a prompt takes you. It's a starting point.

Anyway, I'm rambling and this is turning into a short story of its own, so I'll point to r/xwhy again and mention that comments are always welcome. And, hopefully, updates will be coming soon, but my job has been keeping me busy, and blocking reddit. Sigh. Makes it difficult.

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MajorParadox OP t1_ixxoq6c wrote

> I do like the chance to be silly, so I can blow off a little steam, but I don't need the silliness spelled out in the prompt.

I used to love doing silly prompt responses. I should get back into it!

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Helicopterdrifter t1_ixwkt2y wrote

I've had several writing prompts that I really enjoyed during November. Most of my October stories were pretty grizzly so I tried to stick with a theme related to dream/imagination magic for this month. I enjoyed the act of writing them but I don't think they were seen by many. 😅

This is two that i felt were really satisfying to write:

https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/z1ufaa/wp_there_is_a_place_a_place_between_places_its_an/ixi1cj1?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3

https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/yvvkzi/wp_you_have_been_imprisoned_in_space_but_not_in/iwglu6v?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3

I think this whole theme came from me writing a story in response to a comment that said: "Anything can be a prompt if you're creating enough."

After my story-reply I was told I was a Picasso of writing 🥰

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MajorParadox OP t1_ixxos91 wrote

> I think this whole theme came from me writing a story in response to a comment that said: "Anything can be a prompt if you're creating enough."

I love that!

> After my story-reply I was told I was a Picasso of writing 🥰

Aww, that's great!

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SirPiecemaker t1_iy36v7k wrote

One that I think about fairly often - this one.

It's not that it's especially unique, but I loved seeing how many completely different stories it spawned. It had classic monster ones, subversive monster ones, secret society, evil superpowers, the variety was fantastic and I still remember them even after all this time.

It was also very early in my writing here, making it stick out in my mind a tad more.

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MajorParadox OP t1_iy3nw25 wrote

Yeah, I love how different people can come up with such widely different ideas!

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Maxathron t1_ixyjh7e wrote

I didn't end up saving it. I wish I did it. It'd be like a month's worth of prompts to dig through.
One of my favorite is this: the one where someone summons a demon and the demon demands a murder, and some other heinous things before granting wishes to the summoner. One writer wrote 'The summoner outwits the demon by using things that are named that.' (paraphrased) So, for the murder part, the summoner brings a group of crows to the demon. The word for a group of crows is a murder. Good story.

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