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My writing group in Austin fell apart after one prompt went sideways

We were trying a prompt about a character finding a key that opens nothing. Halfway through, two people started arguing over whether the key should be real or a metaphor. It got so heated that one person left the call early. The whole vibe was ruined and we never met again. Has a prompt ever completely derailed a session for you?
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wrenstone
wrenstone2d ago
Had a group once dissolve over whether a coffee stain in a story was a plot point or just a coffee stain... people get weirdly attached to their metaphors.
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johnfoster
That Austin prompt sounds like it was asking for trouble. I've seen groups get stuck on that kind of thing before, like wrenstone's coffee stain. Sometimes a key is just a key, and the story is about what the character does with it.
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