Serious question, my writing group in Austin dared me to use a random Wikipedia article as a plot base.

I got 'List of unusual deaths' and wrote a short story about a guy who gets hit by a falling turtle, but it turned into my best piece yet. Has anyone else tried this kind of forced random prompt?

3 comments

3 Comments

bettyroberts13d ago

Austin writing groups always come up with the weirdest dares (I should know, mine once made someone write a romance set in a DMV). That "List of unusual deaths" page is a wild ride, but I'm not totally convinced it's a serious method for good writing. It feels like a party trick that just happened to work once because you got a funny image. Trying to force another story from, like, the "List of railway stations in Albania" might not give you the same magic.

fiona98513d ago

Honestly, that DMV romance dare is pretty hard to beat. But when @young.kim says you have to dig past the first silly idea, what does that look like? Like, do you just stare at the Albania station list until a character shows up?

young.kim13d ago

It's not just a party trick though. The weird list gives you a hard limit to work against, and that pressure can spark something real. You just have to be willing to dig past the first silly idea.