Just realized a simple writing prompt nearly ruined my whole story

I was at a writers meetup in Austin last spring and someone gave us a prompt about a character finding a mysterious key. My first draft came out so generic I almost scrapped the whole thing. Has anyone else had a prompt that sounded good but made your story feel flat?

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james_ross4mo ago

Wait, old tax returns? That's actually kind of brilliant though. I mean not for the story, but as a way to kill a prompt before it gets too fancy. I think @victorclark nailed something there. Sometimes the most ordinary outcome is exactly what we need to realize we're overthinking the whole thing. That key prompt got me too, right up until my character found it in a drawer and nothing happened.

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victorclark4mo ago

Wow, a mysterious key... I tried that once and my character ended up just unlocking a closet full of old tax returns. I guess some prompts are better at sounding cool than actually working.

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