The writing prompt that made me quit a critique group for 6 months

A local writer in Portland once gave me a prompt that was just a single sentence about a forgotten umbrella, and instead of writing a scene, she spent 20 minutes explaining why my response wasn't 'emotionally honest' enough, has anyone else had a prompt leader who cared more about their own vision than the story you actually wrote?

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vera_lewis26d ago

God, that umbrella prompt lady sounds exhausting. I had a similar thing happen in a writing circle in Eugene where the leader kept pushing this whole "show me the wound" philosophy, and if your story didn't bleed on the page, she'd just sigh and say "that's not it." It took me three months before I realized I wasn't writing for me anymore, I was just trying to guess what she wanted. Honestly, good on you for stepping away for six months, sometimes that's the only way to get your own voice back.