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After years in writing groups, I think sad prompts hold back new writers.
They push people toward easy tears instead of deep character work.
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schmidt.cameron5d ago
What if sad prompts are how we learn to write real people?
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amy_martin5d ago
Actually knew a guy in a writing group who only did sad dog stories. Got real lazy with it, like every conflict was just another dead pet. Felt like he was using sadness as a shortcut instead of figuring out why the person cared in the first place.
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stone.daniel4d ago
Reminds me of a woman in my old workshop who wrote nothing but cancer diagnosis scenes. Every single character, at some point, got that talk from a doctor. It got to where you could see it coming a mile away, @amy_martin. She had the same issue - using a big, heavy moment to do all the emotional work for her.
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