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Showerthought: I used to think writing prompts needed to be super specific to be good.

For about a year, I followed a prompt blog that gave you a full character, setting, and conflict. My stories felt stiff. Then I tried a simple one from a book, just 'A key that opens a door that shouldn't exist,' and wrote my best piece in months. Are we overcomplicating prompts now?
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annaw73
annaw737d ago
Ngl, those super detailed prompts can box you in before you even start. They hand you a full set of rules instead of a spark. A simple prompt is more like getting a single, weird tool and having to figure out what to build with it. That figuring out part is where the real writing happens. Your brain has to do the work to connect the dots, and that's when the story feels like your own. It's the difference between following assembly instructions and actually making something from scratch.
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patricia558
My writing group had the same problem last spring.
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kellys78
kellys787d ago
Yeah that's a good point about the spark. But what makes a prompt too simple, like when does it just become a random sentence that's not helpful at all?
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