F
5

Heard a guy at the coffee shop say 'every prompt needs a twist' and I call nonsense

I was waiting for my order at this place in Austin, and this dude at the next table was holding court about writing. He said, 'If your story idea doesn't have a killer twist, it's just a boring logline, man.' That stuck with me all day, and not in a good way. It feels like this pressure to be clever is killing simple, solid stories. I wrote a whole piece last year about a kid finding his lost dog, no twist, just the journey home. It got more real feedback than any 'the dog was a robot' idea I ever forced. Constantly aiming for a shock ending makes your writing feel like a cheap puzzle box. What's a prompt you love that works without any big surprise?
3 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In
3 Comments
joelmoore
joelmoore22d ago
That lost dog story you wrote sounds way better than any robot twist.
4
ryanc57
ryanc5722d ago
My last twist was so bad it untwisted itself.
1
west.casey
west.casey22d ago
So bad it untwisted itself? What was it, @joelmoore?
6