Places to Chat
'Prompt' Exchange
Chatterbox: Inkwell
'Prompt' Exchange
'Prompt' Exchange Thread!
A thread for random ideas you thought up but are probably never going to write/a place to brainstorm cool plots, whether or not you end up going any further.
Maybe you'll inspire someone else with cute, heartfelt, mysterious, angsty, or flat-out weird ideas? Maybe you have a really cool first line or interesting premise, but don't know where to use it? Maybe you're looking for something to motivate or inspire you, but don't know where to start? Or perhaps you just want to design an OC without writing a whole story, or concoct an outline for an overly-convoluted scheme? Perhaps you really want to see more post-apocalypse cyberpunk or a fresh take fantasy or pure fluff-mance stories, or something niche and oddly specific, and want to egg random people on until they finally write it for you?
Well why not try exchanging with others? Drop off ideas that you might not want to write an entire thing about, and pick up other people's ideas to test them out. Maybe you'll find a new favourite genre or writer; maybe you'll finally cure your writers' block. Challenge yourself! And of course, have fun!
submitted by Jaybells, age Obscure, Lost in the Universe
(December 17, 2021 - 12:28 am)
(December 17, 2021 - 12:28 am)
Hi! This thread is a really good idea and I wanted to join! I love writing but lately have been at a standstill. I can't come up with a new book idea and I was wondering if anyone has any prompts they would share? I've been reading some of the earlier stories and y'all are really good! I might post something on here later after I get over my writers block. Thanks!
(January 6, 2022 - 9:34 pm)
Sure, do you have any specific genre/tone you prefer to write in?
If not, you can just choose something different you think you might enjoy. It can be nice to try something new sometimes, and could help everyone offer prompts that might be helpful to your case in particular.
(January 7, 2022 - 6:28 am)
Well, what I mostly read and write about are fantasy and realistic fiction. But it might be fun to mix it up a bit. I'm open to anything really, in the past I've written story's about different worlds, different people, and a couple story's from an animal's perspective. Thanks for your help
(January 10, 2022 - 1:32 pm)
Of course!
Would you prefer:
> fill-in, small-scale scenario-prompts like "A betrays B, which separates them and A feels really guilty, even years later. B was hurt but dosn't really care anymore. They are forced, through various circumstances, to work together in an effort save the[ir] world" that you can build a world around, or
> phrase-prompts, like "A fire raged inside <insert city name here>'s walls, burning everything to a crisp. No one would know what had happened that night; no one but <insert character name here>"/etc. that you can use as a jumping-off spot with a lot of flexibility, or
> instead broader ones like "There is a magical world where humanoids don't exist. Tell a story about this world." where you can create any story you want, with the prompt just giving you suggestions to follow for the setting/constraints?
If you don't have a preference or any other ideas, why don't you pick one of these to try experimenting with?
(January 10, 2022 - 11:39 pm)
Hi I just saw this now sorry. Let's see any one of those would work for me but maybe let's try the first one first? If it doesn't inspire me we can move down the line. Thanks again I'm excited to hear what prompts you guys come up with!
(January 12, 2022 - 11:50 pm)
Sure, great!
(January 13, 2022 - 12:22 pm)
Forgotten.
That was what he now was. He remembered his family. He remembered his friends. Then he had died. He met someone who could bring him back to life, but under one cost. No one would remember him. It would be as if he hadn't existed. He had taken the deal, because it would give him another chance, plus his family and friends would no longer mourn.
He remembered his favorite saying. "Even if you're forgotten, you still have yourself," his mother had once said. It was true. He was forgotten by everyone but himself. Now he thought of his best friend's favorite saying. "Even if you did nothing wrong in your entire life, it doesn't mean that you did every single thing right." Those words encouraged him to get up.
He had been laying in the grass for hours. He decided to find himself a new life. He didn't want to re-live his life, so he got in his recently bought car and began driving to the airport. He would fly somewhere he had never been. Japan, China, Germany, Brazil, or wherever. He would make a new life for himself.
(January 8, 2022 - 4:36 pm)
That sounds... Intriguing, for sure.
(January 10, 2022 - 11:24 pm)
Yeet!
So I was watching a video about the Industrial Revolution in class and somehow got this really weird idea.
Basically, there's this girl (presumably from modern times) and she gets mysteriously transported back in time/into this fantasy world that hearkens back to Victorian-ish England, because yes, and explores. I have some antics in mind, but more on that later, then every night she returns to her normal time/world or a personal pocket dimension, so she doesn't have to worry about lodging and disease/hygiene and all that. She likes... This guy. And more antics ensue (will write these out later TvT). Maybe he's on the colder side, but this may be changed later on (not likely, but always possible), and he eventually warms up to her. But, just as things are sailing smoothly, a new (but old-fashioned by our standard) car/< insert device here> is about to run over/crush the guy so she pushes him out of the way and ends up... Out of that world, let's say, in the process. Yea, she ded, sun. But she's still alive in her real world/pocket dimension, (as I think about it, I think I'm preferring the pocket dimension, since it's isolated and leaves room for potential alonely-angst) and perhaps will stay for a short while after being a ghost/spirit. I honestly forgot the rest since I scribbled it down on my hand in pen and it's mostly faded now, but I'm sure I can rebuild from the 'image' I have of the idea, plus spoilers: She prolly returns but with a different appearance/in a different 'seed' where everything is slightly different. How fun. How angsty.
*cackles nefariously*
I think I might actually write this one out as a long-term'ish project... So. Anyone at all interested, by any chance?
(January 13, 2022 - 9:05 pm)
I am SO interested I am VERY interested
(January 14, 2022 - 9:45 am)
Oki, noted! I'll work on it some when I get a chance!
Oh, and feel free to pitch plot-points/funny or dramatic scenes/etc., by the way. Can't guarantee it'll make it into the more final version, but basically all ideas/discussion help in some way, even if indirectly!
(January 14, 2022 - 8:50 pm)
OK idea-dump, interpret as you wish and feel free to share:
> "A maddening descent"
> Stuck on replay
> cB is cA used to know as a child, and who used to be super sweet and a little shy, but they suddenly remeet them and cB going down a dark/dangerous/seemingly 'bad' path, having a much worse/pricklier personality
> "It feels like a lifetime ago..."
> A mask someone is trapped inside
> "if you listen hard, you can still hear them singing"
> "eyes steady, ready to face the/their/her/his/+ 'demons'"
> something fading/etc.(like a candle melting, bells tolling, waves crashing or clock ticking) ominously, flashing back between that and to a scenario slowly going wrong
Yeah, these are darker/angsty whoops-
(January 13, 2022 - 10:15 pm)
Ugh why is it so fun to write angsty stuff
it makes me cry
but it also makes me really happy :>
(January 14, 2022 - 1:20 pm)
Lol, I know right?
Can't decide whether writing or reading angst is worse, but doing both is definitely getting the worst(best??? It's gotta at least be the most interesting, right?) of each world. TvT
(January 14, 2022 - 8:54 pm)
"If you don't know who you can trust then trust me you'll be lonely." (Panic! at the Disco - not sure which song of theirs though)
"Don't trust a perfect person, don't trust a song that's flawless." (Twenty One Pilots -again, I don't remember which song)
"Might be over now, but I feel it still." (Portugal, Feel it Still)
"I could change my address and try another state, I could change my name it won't do anything." (AJR, Adventure is Out There)
"Am I wrong for thinking outside the box from where I stand?" -Nico and Vinz, Am I Wrong
"Please use discresion when you messin' with the message man." (Twenty One Pilots, Message Man)
"I've turned into a monster." (Imagine Dragons, Monster)
"Tell you you're the greatest, but once you turn they hate us. (Imagine Dragons, Enemy)
"Oh, the misery. Everybody wants to be my enemy." (Imagine Dragons, Enemy)
"As a child you would wait, and watch from far away. But you always knew that you'd be the one, that work while they all played." (Imagine Dragons, Warriors)
"Don't really know how I got here, I got some pictures phone, new names and number I don't know." -OneRepublic, Good Life)
"I keep loosing my socks." (AJR, Adventure is Out There)
The last one is sort of an odd ball, but, I put it here anyway. At least it isn't the goose cooking quote from Squirell Nut Zippers I was thinking about! I've been working on a short story based off the song Miss Jackson by Panic! At the Disco, and I'm really enjoying the project.
(January 14, 2022 - 4:50 pm)