A writer's block session at a coffeeshop in Portland changed my whole process

I was stuck on a fantasy short story at Stumptown Coffee downtown for like 3 hours with nothing to show for it. This barista came over and said "just describe this room in 50 words" as a prompt and I ended up writing the whole opening scene from a prompt they gave me that day. Has anyone else had total strangers fire off a random prompt that fixed their block?

2 comments

2 Comments

nancy33d ago

Three years ago at a Voodoo Doughnut, a random guy said my notebook looked "too clean" and told me to write about the worst doughnut I ever had. I ended up with a whole short story about a jelly-filled disaster involving a car dealership. But honestly, I think relying on strangers to fix your block is a crutch. You're basically outsourcing the hardest part of writing to someone who doesn't know your story or your voice. What happens when you're at home with no barista around? You just stare at the wall again? I've seen too many writers get dependent on those lucky moments instead of learning to push through the silence themselves. It's like waiting for lightning to strike instead of learning how to build your own electricity.

ben_shah933d ago

Just describe this room in 50 words" - that barista was basically doing your job for you, huh? @nancy3, you're right that waiting around for a magical prompt is kinda like expecting a pigeon to land on your keyboard and type the next bestseller. I've had a dude at a bar tell me to write about that one smudge on the window that nobody cleans, and I got a whole page out of it, but mostly I just sat there feeling like a fake until the caffeine kicked in. So what do you do when you're stuck at home with no barista to hand you a prompt like a lifeline?