The Tangent Method: Finding a Unique Take on a Prompt

Every month, a lot of people write about the same topics. Like, near identical sequences of events or extremely similar takes on the prompt. Obviously, given the fact that storytwigs is a prompt-based competition, this will always be somewhat of a given. However, most of the winning entries have found a unique take on the prompt or a stand-out way of tying it in to their piece. Storytwigs, perhaps more than many other competitions, rewards entries that carry the prompt to new places. Here’s an exercise that I really like that helps find a unique take on a creative writing prompt.

The tangent method:

The tangent method is a three-ish step exercise, and only takes a few minutes.

Step 1: A list

Make a list of five to ten words or ideas that relate in some way to the prompt. This is probably similar to what most writers do as a starting point.

Example prompt: “Salt”

Example List:

• Table salt

• Rock Salt

• Sass (like “don’t be salty”)

• Grain of salt (not taking something as gospel)

• Salt of the earth

• Ocean / sea salt

• NaCl (chemistry)

• Salt lamp

Step 2: The next list

Make a new list of five to ten words about your favorite topic from list one.

Example selection from list one: “Rock salt”

Example List:

• Winter in Michigan (salting roads)

• Rock salt for softening water in water tank

• Those trucks that salt roads in winter

• Winter boots (again, winter salt stuff… maybe tracking salt into house?)

• Doing winter chores (winter, winter winter!)

• The fact that more people die of shoveling their driveway than from mowing lawn (if that’s true… I remember reading that somewhere)

Step 3: Again!

Do it again with your favorite pick from the previous list.

Example selection from previous list: “Winter Boots”

Example List:

• Coming in from sledding as a kid

• Finding old boots in storage unit after moving to a warmer area

• Loving the crunch of salt under boot

• Something about the term “bootlicker” ????

• Outgrowing winter boots? or not fitting into hand me downs

• For sale: baby shoes, never worn (popped into my head)

Bringing it together

Now, pick your favorite, and be sure to tie everything back to the original prompt. So in this example, if I picked the storage unit, I might write about a character winning a storage unit in his first ever storage unit auction and gleefully exploring the contents (among which are a pair of winter boots that still have some decades-old salt on them, making the main character wonder if it was mistake to stay in Florida his whole life).

And we’re done! You now have take that is much more likely to be unique, compared to a story that is more straightforwardly focused on an item from list one.

A few other disorganized thoughts:

• This is some advice for storytwigs, not necessarily for school essays or other writing tasks where strict adherence to the prompt is required

• You do not need to use the prompt word in a storytwig …I should probably advertise this info somewhere

• For storytwigs, please, please don’t try to do the thing where you cram every version of the prompt word into the piece, eg for “stone” as the prompt": “Stoned from the joint, Dwayne the Rock Johnson broke through his stony demeanor and gleefully skipped a stone across the pond in front of the stone cold park ranger.”

• If a judge (usually me) really likes a storytwig but doesn’t see the connection, we will reach out to you and ask how the prompt applies

Take all this with a grain of salt… (I write that after all of these, not just this one!)

Reach out at storytwigs@gmail.com with questions, comments, concerns, or compliments :)

-Devon