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A guy at a diner in Cleveland handed me his napkin with 3 prompt words on it and it broke my writer's block
I was stuck on the same short story for 2 weeks and he just slid it over without saying anything. Now when I get stuck I ask whoever is nearby for 3 random words, but I wonder if that only works with strangers?
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the_miles5d ago
I actually read a whole thing once about how random words can jump start your brain when you're stuck. The idea is your brain gets locked into the same paths and a surprise word forces new connections. Strangers might work better because they don't know your story, so they won't pick words that hint at where they think it should go. A friend might hand you words that already fit your plot, which kind of defeats the point. There's a study floating around about how mild distraction helps creative problems get solved, and random words do something like that. So maybe try asking people who have zero clue what you're writing about, even total randos online.
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