Just had a writing prompt backfire on me in a workshop setting

I was running a creative writing group at the library in Evanston last Thursday and tried a prompt about 'writing from a villain's perspective.' Three people got way too into it and started arguing about whether the villain was actually justified. One guy even stood up and started yelling about how his character was misunderstood. I had to cut the session 20 minutes early and pull everyone back to a neutral exercise about describing a sunset instead. Anyone else ever had a prompt go completely sideways like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

angelac6314d ago

oh man, i feel your pain lol. that's such a classic workshop trap. i've had people straight up refuse to switch from their villain's POV because they were so attached to the character's "real" motives. what i do now is set a hard rule before we start: you've got exactly 15 minutes to write, no talking until the timer goes off, and after that we're sharing as a group with everyone agreeing the villain is a bad guy in the story world. keeps the debate from even starting. also helps to frame it as "exploring the shadow self" not "making excuses for evil" if that makes sense. you learned the hard way but now you've got a war story for the next time someone brings up workshop horror stories lol.

brookep6214d agoMost Upvoted

wait, people REFUSED to switch POV? like they actually argued with you about it? i thought the whole point of a workshop was to try new things, not dig your heels in lol. that's wild.