Tired of prompts that are just 'write a story about a haunted house'

I scroll through this sub a lot when I'm bored at work, and I keep seeing the same basic prompts over and over. Stuff like 'write about a character who finds a mysterious door' or 'a stranger shows up in a small town.' It's like nobody digs deeper. The best prompts I've seen are the ones that give you a weird specific detail to work with, like 'a librarian finds a book that rewrites itself every midnight' or 'a guy who can hear colors has to solve a murder.' Those give you something to grab onto. Why don't more people try adding a twist or a limit? Like, give a prompt with a specific location or a weird rule. Has anyone else noticed this or am I just being too picky?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_stella7d agoTop Commenter

Do you think the problem is that people are just too lazy to think of something original, or are they scared their weird idea won't get upvoted? I've seen a few really out-there prompts die with zero comments while a bland one hits the front page, so it kinda makes you wonder. Maybe the real issue is the audience, not just the prompts themselves.

christopher_craig7d ago

Gotta admit, I've definitely been the guy who posts something super safe because my weird idea felt too risky for a Tuesday afternoon. It's like we're all stuck in this weird cycle of playing it safe, hoping someone else will break the ice first. Maybe the audience just needs a little more time to warm up to the strange stuff, or maybe I'm just making excuses for my own boring prompts (which is probably the case).