jordanc32•22d agoMost Upvoted

Walked into a used bookstore in Portland that had a whole section just for writing prompts

I was killing time before my train and found this place called Mother Foucault's. They had a shelf labeled "writing exercises" with like 40 different books. Some were old collections of prompts from the 70s and 80s. I grabbed one called "The Writer's Idea Box" from 1983 for $6. It had prompts like "write a letter from a ghost to their living landlord." That one actually gave me a weird idea for a short story. Has anyone else found random older prompt books that felt way more creative than the stuff online?

2 comments

2 Comments

jakel3622d ago

Man, that sounds right up my alley. I actually read somewhere that those old prompt books from the 70s and 80s were put together by actual writers who taught workshops, not just content mills cranking out SEO junk. The prompts had this weird, specific edge to them, like the ghost and landlord one you found. I remember hearing about a book called "The 3 A.M. Epiphany" that had prompts like "write a conversation between two people who are both lying to each other about everything." Stuff like that feels way more alive than the generic "write about a secret" list you see online.

graceblack21d ago

Honestly, finding a prompt book from 1983 feels like discovering a secret level in a video game. Ngl, I have a bad habit of buying these old writing books thinking I'll finally become a disciplined writer, but instead they just sit on my shelf doing existential research about dust particles. That ghost and landlord prompt is gold though, way more interesting than the typical "write about a time you felt sad" garbage. The 3 A.M. Epiphany sounds wild, I might have to hunt that one down before my prompt collection becomes a hoarding situation.