OK gang, I’ve finished my updates to the Writing Prompt Generator. Added some new intros, spices up a few basic openings, and added a bit more variance to a common phrase or two.
As for now, I think I definitely need to take a break from it, so I’ll consider it “good enough” for now – to judge by the comments I’ve gotten. However I should return to it in the future.
This is one that was extremely educational. What stood out was this:
- You need to really vary the openings. Openings, even mildly different, really seem to inspire people.
- Slight turns of phrase have big effects. “always,” “almost always,” and “sometimes” are very different.
- You’ve got to have a kind of opening that makes people want to hear what happens next, wonder what happens next, or tell what happens next. The ending is important as well.
- Little changes in tone, time, opening, description can have vast effects. These generators are “multiplicative.”
- The economy of words, the fact it has to be one sentence, really means you have to pack a lot into a single set of words. I appreciate how hard it is to find good opening lines more now – and I write as well. Analyzing it was humbling.
- This was the hardest generator I’ve done because of the mix of psychology, literature, and variability. I figured it would be easier than it was. On the other hand I learned a lot doing it, especially on how to vary language for inspiration.
- Not all generators have to be “done.” From the start. Normally I like to release them complete, but it’s fine to take feedback. In fact, it’s a lot of fun to be frank and I need to do it more.
Next up I’m taking a break, then have some other generators I want to do that are in various stages of design. Ironically one builds on some inspiration from the start of the year when I asked people for advice . . .
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
