Prompted

Fiction, Poetry, Creative Nonfiction

Header image: Handwritten page with “Stupid Ideas! 1. Write down at least five stupid story ideas (in a sentence or phrase, jot down a premise for a story you would never, ever actually write). 2. Repeat number 1 every day for at least a week—5 stupid ideas every day for a whole week. 3. Write out your favorite.” Drawings of ideas: “man turns into bug; 1,000 page novels about, among other things, tennis; PowerPoint chapter, a universe that's a house full of statues that sometimes floods; 1,000 page novel that’s just once sentence.” These describe Lucy Ellmann’s Ducks, Newburyport; Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi; Kafka’s Metamorphosis; DFW’s Infinite Jest; and Jennifer Egan’s Visit from the Goon Squad.”

Fiction Prompt

The Stupid Story Ideas Journal

By Juan Martinez

In a journal, jot down at least five stupid story ideas. Don’t give yourself much time: ten minutes, tops. And make sure the ideas are truly not great. Stuck? Try just adding “in space” to something you admire (Anna Karenina in Space) or add a “but” (A family saga but no one’s actually related to each other). All you’re writing is a sentence, or even just a phrase or a couple of words, and tell yourself this is just you playing around with a premise for a story you would never, ever actually write—just something goofy enough to amuse you for the time being. And then? Don’t write out any of these stories. The next day, jot down five more stupid story ideas. Keep doing the same thing for a full week. Try to forget about the ideas for about a week or so, and then revisit the list and pick your favorite—the goofiest, the one that amuses you the most, the one that ended up being secretly kind of awesome—and write.