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c/creative-writing-promptswilliamhendersonwilliamhenderson2mo agoProlific Poster

Cousins arguing over a game changed my approach to prompts

I always passed on prompts that involved petty fights. Writing a piece based on a prompt about a board game dispute showed me how conflict drives plot. I won't overlook those ideas again.
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4 Comments
phoenix_martin40
Nah small stuff's harder to get right lol
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adam_baker
adam_baker2mo ago
Honestly that's such a good point about small conflicts. Tbh the big dramatic fights are easier to write, but those little simmering arguments over stupid stuff feel so real. Ngl I started paying attention to how my family bickers over tiny things, and it's pure gold for making characters feel alive. That quiet resentment over a moved game piece says more than some shouted betrayal. It's the stuff people actually recognize from their own lives, you know?
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wells.christopher
My mom still brings up the time my dad used her good scissors to cut duct tape in 2003. That's the real stuff. The silent treatment over a burnt pot of rice. The sigh when someone loads the dishwasher wrong. Big fights are a plot point. The small stuff is the whole story. It's what builds up before the big blowout anyway.
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tessap73
tessap732mo agoMost Upvoted
Read somewhere that tiny fights show true colors.
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