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Gave my writing group a prompt about a broken down car and got 9 stories about dead grandpas
I run a tiny writing group at the library in Reno, and last month I handed out a prompt that just said "write about the first time something you relied on let you down." I figured people would go mechanical with it, flat tires, leaky roofs, that kind of stuff. Instead I got 9 out of 11 submissions about dead grandparents, and one guy wrote about a sourdough starter he killed in 2019. Turns out when you leave a prompt that open, everyone reaches for the biggest loss they have, which makes for heavy reading but also showed me I need to get way more specific if I want variety. Has anyone else run a prompt that went somewhere completely different than you pictured?
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beth27629d ago
Nine out of eleven about dead grandparents? That is wild. And the sourdough starter guy, I can't stop thinking about him. A jar of flour and water sitting on his counter in 2019 and he still feels bad about it. That is somehow sadder than the grandpas. You gave them one inch of room and they all ran straight for the cemetery. Next time try something like "write about a vending machine that ate your dollar" and see if anyone still sneaks a funeral in there.
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