mila_murphy•1mo agoProlific Poster

Appreciation post: Someone in my group said my discussion questions were too safe

They pointed out I only asked 'what did you think of the character' and never pushed us to argue. Now I always include one question that forces a side, like 'was the main character's choice at the end brave or selfish?' Has anyone else had to change how they lead a talk?

4 comments

4 Comments

hernandez.gavin1mo ago

But @jenny_white21, where's the line before a fun debate turns personal?

skyler_johnson329d ago

That line gets real blurry fast. It's like when @hernandez.gavin brought it up, that's the exact thing that kills groups. I've seen a book club lose members because someone took a disagreement about a character's motive super personally and it just got awkward. The forced choice questions from viola_garcia56 sound smart though, especially when they're about those gray areas where you can't just pick "nice" or "mean." It's a bummer when a space that's supposed to be fun turns into a place you dread checking.

viola_garcia561mo ago

My cousin runs a book club in Austin and they had a slump because every question was just "did you like it." She started asking if a character's big mistake was more about pride or fear, and people actually stayed late to argue about it. That push to pick a side wakes up the whole room. I try to make my forced-choice questions about the gray areas, not just good vs bad. It's way more interesting when there's no clear right answer and people have to dig for their reasons.

jenny_white211mo ago

My old book club in Portland fell apart because people got too heated over questions like that. It stopped being fun when someone would get actually mad if you didn't agree their take on a villain was right. Sometimes I just want to talk about if I liked the book or not, you know? Not every discussion needs to be a debate club meeting where we pick teams.