My writing group argued about a prompt I gave them last Tuesday | Creative Writing Prompts

Rowan Ellis · 2026-03-20T00:35:05.93602+00:00

The prompt was 'a character finds a key that doesn't fit any lock in their house'. Half the group said it was a great start for a mystery, like in a story set in a Chicago apartment. The other half said it was too vague and needed more rules, like the key had to be found three years ago in a specific box. I'm curious which side people here are on. Do you prefer open prompts or ones with more limits?

zaram476mo ago

Honestly, my friend got a prompt like that and wrote a whole novel about a sentient key. Give me the weird open one any day.

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the_tara6mo ago

A sentient key? That's wild, I love it.

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michael8804mo ago

Wait, you said the key doesn't fit any lock in their house, not that it was found in a box three years ago right? @zaram47 I think you might be mixing up two different prompts there. Either way open prompts force you to be creative and that's usually better.

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