Why does nobody talk about how bad writing prompts are for character voice?

I visited a writing workshop in Denver last weekend and sat in on a session where everyone used the same prompt. Every single story sounded like the same person wrote it. The characters had no personality, just the prompt's plot shoved into their mouths. Has anyone else noticed prompts kill your character's natural voice unless you ignore the prompt halfway through?

2 comments

2 Comments

elizabethn5620d ago

Yeah "same person wrote it" is EXACTLY what I noticed too. I used to think prompts were just a helpful little push but now I see they basically hijack your brain and make everyone write the same boring stuff.

carr.brooke20d ago

Wait, are you saying prompts actually make your writing worse instead of better?