Question about using a random word generator for story ideas

I always thought those online random word tools were silly, but I tried one last week and got 'moth', 'key', and 'basement'. It pushed me to write a whole scene I never would have thought of... about a guy finding a strange key in his basement that attracts moths. Has anyone else had a good prompt come from something that simple?

4 comments

4 Comments

wesley8011mo ago

Yeah but @jade32's granola bar spy is way more original than a moth key.

jade323mo ago

My old writing teacher made us pull three random objects from our backpacks and build a story around them. I got a half eaten granola bar, a broken headphone jack, and a library card that was five years overdue. It forced me to write this weird little story about a guy who could hear people's secrets through broken electronics, and the library fine was a cover for a secret society. Sounds dumb, but it actually worked. Those weird limits make your brain jump tracks. Your moth key thing is way cooler than my granola bar spy, though.

ross.angela3mo ago

Disagree about the granola bar spy being less cool. A guy who hears secrets through busted headphones while eating a sad snack is a whole mood. My brain just makes moths that eat keys, which is basically a pest control problem.

bettyhunt1mo agoMost Upvoted

Does writing with these kinds of limits ever make your stories turn out better than when you have no rules at all? I tried that once with a poetry class, and my best piece came from the rule that I could only write about stuff I found in my junk drawer. A rusty key, a 1972 quarter, and a grocery list with "pickles" underlined three times somehow turned into a pretty good poem about lost time.