Finally picked my third act over the safe bet for a writing contest

I spent like a week going back and forth between two prompts for this local short story thing in Austin. One was a safe haunted house twist I knew I could write in my sleep, the other was this weird idea about a town where everyone forgets how to dream. I went with the dream one at 11pm the night before the deadline and wrote 3,000 words in two hours. Didn't win anything but got a note from a judge saying the concept stuck with her, which honestly felt better than a prize. Has anyone else taken a gamble on a weird prompt and had it pay off in some unexpected way?

3 comments

3 Comments

craig.mila1mo ago

Yeah exactly, that judge's note proves weird stuff sticks in people's heads way longer than safe bets do.

kaih361mo ago

That judge's note is gonna haunt the whole courtroom.

burns.jenny1mo ago

Three years ago I was on jury duty and the judge literally wrote "please remember Exhibit A is not a murder weapon" in big letters on a whiteboard. It still pops into my head at random times, like when I'm trying to sleep. @kaih36 you're totally right that stuff sticks with you way longer than the safe stuff, I can tell you the exact color of that judge's marker (blue) but I couldn't tell you what we had for lunch that day. There's something about a courtroom that just locks those weird moments in your brain forever.