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My dystopian novel prompt fell flat at a writer's meetup in Austin last Tuesday because nobody bought the premise.
I pitched a story where AI runs all the city governments but people still argue about parking tickets, and the whole table just stared at me like I was nuts, has anyone else had a writing prompt that seemed great in your head but bombed when you shared it out loud?
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zara_hunt2mo ago
Austin writers stared at you like you were nuts over parking tickets?
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jamies451mo ago
...but honestly, I think you were onto something real. In my experience, the best sci-fi is just taking one weird thing and then keeping everything else painfully normal. People arguing about parking tickets under an AI government is exactly the kind of mundane detail that makes a wild premise feel grounded. Your mileage may vary, but maybe the delivery was just a little heavy for a first pitch. I've learned to test the weird premise on one or two friends before bringing it to a group, that way I can see if it lands before I get a room full of blank stares.
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elliotl242mo ago
Stopped going to my local group for a while after a similar thing. Switched to pitching the core conflict instead of the whole setup. Just said "what if AI ran everything but people still fought over petty stuff" and that got a better reaction. Kept parking tickets as a detail for later. Still scrapped the draft but learned to test one hook at a time.
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