Just had a weird moment at the Portland airport that gave me a story idea

A TSA agent looked at my bag and said, 'I bet there's a whole other world in there.' It made me think about a prompt where a character's luggage contains a literal hidden realm. Anyone have a favorite 'portal' prompt?

3 comments

3 Comments

sean7821mo ago

Dig into the TSA agent's character. Are they a bored employee making small talk, or do they actually know something? What if they say that line to everyone, and your character is the first one whose bag actually contains a hidden world?

ryan3691mo ago

Used to think that line would just be creepy small talk, but your idea makes it way better. Picture a guy named Carl who's said "interesting world you got in there" to a thousand bored travelers. It's his dumb joke while he looks for shampoo bottles. Then one day, the bag actually feels warm, and the X-ray shows a tiny, glowing city. His scripted line just became real, and his whole bored life flips in an instant. That's way more fun than him being some all-knowing wizard.

wells.karen1mo ago

Imagine if my grocery bag held a tiny city.