Showerthought: The best writing prompt I ever got came from a stranger at a bus stop

This was maybe three years ago, waiting for the bus in the rain. A guy, maybe in his 60s, was just staring at a puddle. He turned to me and said, 'You ever think about what a puddle remembers? It holds the sky, the soles of shoes, tire tracks, bird prints. For a little while, it's a perfect record of everything that passed by. Then it just dries up.' He got on his bus and left. I stood there getting soaked, but I wrote that line down on a receipt in my pocket. It stuck with me because it wasn't a plot idea, it was a whole way of seeing the world that could fit into any story. I've used that 'what does it remember' lens for objects, places, even characters. What's the most offhand, real-life comment someone has given you that turned into a great writing spark?

2 comments

2 Comments

jadeg8123d ago

Actually that kind of comment would just annoy me. It sounds like someone trying way too hard to be deep, and @faith_thomas calling it poetic is a stretch. Most random bus stop talk is just weird, not some gift of wisdom. That puddle line is forgettable, and treating every object like it has a memory is a tired writing trick. Real inspiration comes from hard work, not from strangers saying odd things in the rain.

faith_thomas23d ago

Hold up, he just said that to you and then got on a bus? That's the most poetic drive-by I've ever heard. I'd be standing in the rain for an hour trying to process it too.