For the last stream, with special guest Abbey, we did something we haven’t done in a while: come up with our own writing prompt, then write it.
To do that, we came up with a formula for creating a good prompt: normal idea plus twist equals prompt. For example, robots take over the world (normal idea) plus ducks (the twist) equal the prompt: “A.I. robots have taken over the world but have formed a pact with one species: ducks.”
After coming up with a bunch of fun prompts, chat voted on this one: “A bubble gum company sets up a golf game between Satan and Godzilla in order to get free advertisements but there’s a troll dentist nearby who isn’t happy about it cuz they didn’t solve his riddle first.”
Oh boy. Here’s what we came up with:
You can read what we wrote here.
This was… a story that exists, I can say that much. When chat voted for it, I honestly didn’t know what to do. At first I tried to make sense of the prompt, trying to figure out the how and why of everything, but it just wasn’t working.
That’s when I realized that attempting to put logic into the prompt was destroying the spirit of the prompt. So instead of trying to bend it to our will, we just went along for the bizarre ride and let it take us wherever it wanted.
I think it’s good to do this kind of absurdist writing every now and then. It forces you out of your comfort zone, and it can be a great creativity exercise. Plus there are lots of opportunities for laughs.
If you want to join us and help write a story by trolling in chat, or share your own writing for feedback, then we’d love to have you. We stream on Twitch every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday at 7:30pm-10:30pm (U.S. Eastern Standard Time).
And you missed the stream, you can still watch Rubbish to Published, the writing exercises, or the writing prompts on YouTube, or watch the full stream reruns until Twitch deletes them.
Hope to see you next time, friend!
Scott Wilson is the author of the novel Metl: The ANGEL Weapon, forthcoming November 2018.
Featured image: Flickr/mbarrison, Flickr/peachsmack, Flickr/Victor Garcia (edited by me)