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The neighborhood writers group in Charleston taught me the value of bad prompts
I sat in on a Tuesday night meeting last month where the prompt was something like "write about a door." Boring, right? But one guy turned it into a story about a coffin maker in 1840 who only built doors for people he outlived. Another woman wrote about a fridge door that opened into her childhood kitchen. The plain prompts forced people to build their own drama instead of leaning on a fancy setup. I left thinking we overcomplicate prompts when the simple ones actually do the heavy lifting. Has anyone else found that the most basic prompts spark the best work in your own writing circles?
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eric_morgan5920h ago
Blank canvas" nailed it. Our group did the same with "snow." Best stuff we've had in years.
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lilyt902d ago
Wait, did anyone else notice how those basic prompts actually expose who leans on gimmicks? Like, the door prompt forced everyone to find their own emotional hook instead of hiding behind a wild scenario. Do you think the group's energy changed once people realized they couldn't coast on the prompt itself? I wonder if that's why some writers get frustrated with simple prompts, because it makes them face their own default moves. The coffin maker story is a perfect example, that guy clearly had a voice waiting for a blank canvas. So my question is, has that Tuesday group started picking even flatter prompts on purpose just to see what people do?
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