Just realized my writer's block fix came from a fortune cookie

I was stuck on a short story for two weeks, couldn't get past the first page. I got Chinese takeout last Friday and my fortune said 'A strange visitor will bring the answer.' So I wrote that a talking raccoon showed up at my main character's door. It was dumb, but I kept going just to see what happened. That silly raccoon actually led me into the plot I needed. Has anyone else used something that random to kickstart a story?

3 comments

3 Comments

caseyl181mo ago

That reminds me of a writer using song lyrics as chapter titles.

johnb9518d ago

Is it just me or does that trick actually work BETTER than trying to force the words out? I did something similar with an old receipt I found in a coat pocket once. The total was $8.42 but my brain turned it into a character's birthday and then I spent three pages making up that person's whole backstory. It's like our brains are ALWAYS looking for patterns even when there aren't any. And honestly that's the best part of writing for me.

marktorres1mo ago

My last novel's whole middle part came from a misread street sign. I saw "Dead End" but my brain read "Deaf End" and I built a whole neighborhood where sound just vanished. It's wild how our brains can grab onto the wrong thing and make it right. That's kind of like what @caseyl18 said about song lyrics, using something outside your head to trick the thinking part. The fortune cookie gave you permission to be silly, and that broke the serious block. I keep a jar of random objects on my desk now just to shake things up when I'm stuck.