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Unpopular opinion: writing prompts with super specific rules kill creativity more than they help
So I run a little writing group out of my kitchen in Boise, we meet every other Thursday, and back in April we tried an experiment. Week one I handed out a prompt that was just three words, "broken vending machine," and everybody wrote something wild and different. Week two I got all fancy and gave a prompt with rules, must be under 500 words, must include a rainy bus stop, must have a twist ending, and you know what happened? Eight out of ten stories sounded almost the same. I still think about that. Here is my problem though, a lot of folks in that group swear the strict prompts are better because they force you to be creative inside a box. But in my view the box just makes everyone build the same boring house. I get the other side, I really do, limits can push you in ways open prompts never will. So where do you all land on this, do tight constraints sharpen your writing or just make everything feel like homework?
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