The week my writing prompt group fell apart over a single word

Our group of six had met every Tuesday for a year, but last month we tried a prompt about a 'door that shouldn't be opened'. One guy wrote a 20 page sci-fi epic, another wrote a 3 line poem, and the rest of us were somewhere in between. The fight started when someone said the word 'shouldn't' was too weak and made the whole idea boring. By the end of the night, two people had quit the group for good. Has a simple word in a prompt ever caused that much drama for you guys?

3 comments

3 Comments

samthompson2mo ago

Our book club almost ended over the word "haunting." The prompt was "a haunting memory," and half the group wrote ghost stories while the other half wrote sad personal stuff. One member got so mad she said the word was lazy and ruined the whole month's theme. We spent forty minutes arguing about dictionary definitions before the host just turned off the Zoom call. It took three apology emails to get everyone back for the next meeting.

the_wyatt2mo ago

We just agreed to ban the word "liminal" after a similar meltdown. Now we use "in between" and everyone's much happier.

dakota_murphy901mo ago

Oh man, I actually love when a word has that kind of stretch to it! Like "haunting" can totally mean a ghost, but it can also be that sad song you can't get out of your head. The fight sounds rough, but the different takes are the cool part. It's not lazy, it's just a word with room for everyone's own picture. I'd be way more bummed if we all had to write the exact same kind of story.