Bought a $120 'idea generator' book that was just a list of random words

Found it online last month. Promised to unlock endless story starters. It arrived and was literally 200 pages of single words like 'clock' or 'whisper'. No context. No prompts. Just a dictionary with fewer words. My partner saw it and said, 'You paid for a thesaurus?' Felt pretty silly. Anyone have a go-to source for actual, usable writing prompts that isn't a total scam?

3 comments

3 Comments

jessica7071d ago

Oof, that's brutal. You basically bought a phone book for lonely nouns. "Clock." Page turn. "Whisper." Revolutionary. For that price it should at least give you two words together. Like "angry whisper" or "broken clock." My cat walking on a keyboard could generate better content.

jamie_webb671d ago

Honestly though, is it that deep? It's just a list of words, not a life-changing purchase. Maybe the person just wanted some simple ideas and didn't need a whole story. Not everything has to be a masterpiece.

roberts.leo1d ago

Hold up, you're missing the whole point! Sometimes a single word is MORE powerful because it's open. "Clock" makes YOU imagine the specific clock, not some writer's idea of a broken one. It's a spark, not a full story. Honestly, @jamie_webb67 gets it, it's not supposed to be a novel. That blank space lets your own brain do the cool part. Your cat on a keyboard would just give you "gggggg," which is way less useful.