Got told my discussion questions were too vague at a meetup in Austin

I used to just ask stuff like 'what did you think of the ending?' during book club... someone finally said it felt lazy and that I wasn't giving a direction to talk about. They pointed out that a specific question about a character's choice or a symbol gets way better conversation going. So now I prep 2 or 3 focused questions before each meeting like 'why did the author have the main character lie about her job in chapter 5?' Has anyone else gotten feedback that totally shifted how you run your discussions?

3 comments

3 Comments

morganhayes14d ago

In my experience from running a few different book clubs over the years, the specific versus vague question thing really depends on the group. I've seen that a super specific question like about the lie in chapter 5 can sometimes shut down people who haven't thought that far or who focused on something else entirely. What I've found works better is starting with one broad question to warm everyone up, then moving into a few more pointed ones once the conversation is rolling. Amy mentioned vague questions leaving room, and that's been true for my groups too, as long as you have a couple of backup specifics ready to pull out if things go quiet. Your mileage may vary, but maybe try mixing both styles and see what gets people talking naturally.

claire95814d ago

My book club tried doing a theme night once where everyone dressed up like characters from the novel, and it was a disaster because half the people showed up as different interpretations of the same main character. But what I noticed during that whole chaotic mess was the mix of specific and vague questions actually worked best when we were all laughing about the costume fails. Book clubs are funny like that, you never really know what's going to spark a good talk until you're right in the middle of it, so having both types of questions ready gives people options.

amyr5714d ago

Hmm, I actually have the opposite take. Vague questions sometimes work better for me because they leave room for people to bring up what they found interesting. If I ask something too specific, the conversation can feel forced or like I'm steering it toward one thing.