Am I the only one who thinks writing prompts need clear endings?

I keep seeing prompts that ask for a story but leave the ending totally open, like "write about a door that leads somewhere." That's not a prompt, it's just a vague idea. A good prompt should give a specific twist or conflict, like "you open a door and find your younger self on the other side, what do you say?" Without that, half the responses end up being random scenes that don't go anywhere. Has anyone else noticed this messing with their writing flow?

3 comments

3 Comments

aaron88420d ago

Wait, is "write about a door" really considered a prompt? That's just a noun with extra steps.

kim69319d ago

That "you find a mysterious tower" thing hit a little too close to home. My last attempt at a writing prompt was "a letter arrives with no return address" and I spent twenty minutes staring at a blank page wondering who bothered licking the stamp. At least with your door example you give the writer something to push back against.

anderson.david20d ago

Yeah, I get that. Reminds me of when my buddy tried to get us to play D&D with a prompt like "you find a mysterious tower" and we just sat there for an hour with nothing happening.