My writing prompt about a janitor turned into a horror story last month

I wrote this prompt about a janitor finding a secret door at a school. Posted it on a Wednesday. By Friday, someone turned it into a 10 page gore fest about monster custodians. Have you ever had a prompt go totally off the rails like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

ivan7741mo ago

Had a prompt about a guy finding an old VHS tape in a thrift store. Wanted it to be a simple mystery. Next thing I know someone wrote a 15 page thing where the tape was cursed and made everyone's reflections come to life and attack them. Completely missed the point but honestly it was better than what I had planned.

keith_bennett1mo agoProlific Poster

Oh come on, you're really telling me someone went way off track and you're just fine with it? If I asked for a plain mystery and got reflections coming to life, I'd be annoyed they couldn't stick to the simple setup.

gavin3651mo ago

Respectfully, I think you're missing the point a little. The guy said it was better than his plan, which means the writer actually came up with something cool. Sometimes a person who can't follow directions can still write a great story. Being annoyed you didn't get exactly what you asked for is fine, but you can't say it's automatically bad. The cursed reflection thing sounds way more interesting than a boring mystery anyway. I'd rather have a creative mess than a perfectly boring story.