Just realized how much better a simple prompt is than a complicated one

I was in a writing group last Tuesday, and we tried two prompts. The first was a huge paragraph about a magical war between sky pirates and clockwork golems. The second was just 'Write about a key that doesn't fit its lock.' Everyone got stuck on the first one, overthinking the world details. But the second one, everyone had a full page written in twenty minutes. It gave us a clear image to start from without boxing us in. Has anyone else found that a single, strong image works better than a whole backstory?

2 comments

2 Comments

sanchez.mia3d ago

Totally agree, that second prompt is perfect. Last month our group tried "a door that only opens at midnight" and it sparked way more ideas than a long list of fantasy kingdoms ever did. Just having that one clear picture to focus on makes everything flow so much easier.

dylan233d ago

Reminds me of a writing prompt about a library where all the books are blank until you need them. We spent an hour just on what the librarian would be like.