Do Writing Prompts Really Help?

I follow a number of writerly fan pages of on Facebook, and many of them post writing prompts to help get the creative juices flowing for writers. This is great. Really. If it helps to fight writers block, then how can it not be great? However, I’ve noticed something about recent prompts that seem as if they might be hindering more than helping. Specifically the ones about your book’s/story’s characters.

Now, I understand that it’s vital to really know your characters. What do they look like?...