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A professor in Iowa City tossed my prompt in the trash and asked why my character wanted anything
Back in 2019 I sat in on a Wednesday night workshop at a coffee shop on Gilbert Street in Iowa City, and after I read my 800 word prompt about a widow fixing a porch light, this older guy named Hank (visiting prof, tweed jacket, the works) dropped my pages on the table and asked me one thing: what does she actually want in this scene, not the backstory, this scene. I had 12 pages of mood and zero wants, and that one question cracked open a whole new way of writing prompts for me, where the want has to show up in the first line or the prompt is just set dressing. So here is my question for you folks: do you write the want first and build the scene around it, or do you draft the scene and dig for the want after, and which one has actually gotten you better responses from readers?
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shane_nguyen1mo ago
Hank threw your pages in the trash, sounds kinda dramatic for a coffee shop.
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jana5841mo ago
Hank sounds like a lot, but honestly that trash move is what stuck with you. For me the want-first thing only works if I keep it tiny, like she wants the light on before her sister pulls up. If I write the scene first I usually end up with pretty words and no pulse, so now I just write one line of want at the top and draft under it. Readers respond way more when they can feel that want in the first sentence.
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