Debate: Should writing prompts spell out the ending or leave it open?

I keep seeing prompts on here that basically tell you how the story ends in the first sentence. Like "A detective finds a cursed artifact that makes him immortal" - where's the mystery? But then there's the other side that says vague prompts like "a stranger knocks on your door" are too loose to work with. My writing group argued about this for 45 minutes last Tuesday over instant coffee. Which style actually helps you write more?

3 comments

3 Comments

milam4822d ago

My group had this same fight for an hour and Sarah nearly spilled her coffee on my laptop over it lol.

blair_taylor3222d ago

Honestly changed my mind about this last month. I used to be all for open-ended prompts, thought they gave you more room to breathe. But then I tried one that was super specific, like "A librarian finds a book that writes itself and the last page predicts her death." Man, that got me writing immediately. The concrete details sparked way more ideas than some vague knock on the door ever did. Tbh, having a clear ending made me focus on the journey instead of stressing about where to go.

iris92722d ago

Respectfully gotta push back on @blair_taylor32 here. A prompt that spells out the ending kills the whole point of writing for me. When you already know the librarian is doomed, where's the fun in figuring out how she gets there? You're just filling in blanks instead of actually creating something. Open-ended prompts like "a stranger knocks on your door" make me work for it, which is why I actually finish things. The vagueness forces me to make choices about character, setting, and plot instead of following someone else's roadmap. Don't you find that having a blank canvas pushes you to surprise yourself more than a detailed outline ever could?