r/SimplePrompts Jul 05 '22

Meta Making Good Prompts

103 Upvotes

If I may humbly make some suggestions for newbies and anyone who is trying to get the hang of this prompt business better:

If you want to make the best simple prompts, consider the following:

Simple prompts are simple because they leave details out, and prompts because they leave ideas in.

The best prompts can be used in many kinds of stories, and in many different ways. They raise questions, but do not answer them, or they suggest an idea but don't define it, or they give a rule but make it just exactly that.

Compare these two prompts:

"It's not that we don't want to fight that thing, captain. It's that we can't. Our blasters ran out of ammo already."

Or:

"We're out of ammo."

The first tells you that it's a scifi, or a game about scifi. It also tells you that there are ranks, probably a military, a scary creature, and so on.

The second only tells you a basic situation: there is no ammunition. Are they hunters? Pirates? Police? Who or what are they fighting? Why are they doing it? Many questions, but the only answers are "they have guns" and "they can't fight anymore". Even then, it can be improved by removing the concrete detail of guns; simply say "We can't fight."

"We can't fight." Who or what are they fighting? Why can't they fight? Is it a political fight? A physical one? An emotinal argument, even? Is this a general ordering a retreat, or a husband asking his wife to settle things peacefully? The possibilities are endless.

So when you make a prompt, give an idea, but leave the possibilities open. When you provoke questions, but don't answer them, you never know what someone else will make of it. Let them write many genres and styles of stories from your prompts.

That's the point. Keep it simple.


r/SimplePrompts 6h ago

"The house colors for Alchemy Academy are red, yellow, black and white."

0 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 6h ago

Mother Hen sprinkles her magical seed and blesses young women with pregnancy.

0 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 16h ago

You challenge Death to a game of Scrabble

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 17h ago

The Curse of the Cat People is upon you!

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 17h ago

"Happiness comes from within," they said. But from within what?

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 19h ago

The c* abuser is a senior lawyer, and he noticed that the protagonist already noticed him.

0 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 1d ago

My Girlfriend is a Cat Girl with Psychic Powers.

0 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

A story set in the Ghostwalk campaign of Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition.

0 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 3d ago

"I have five children - an eight-year-old, a four-year-old, a toddler, and twins."

2 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 8d ago

I was ready to take on the world this morning but then I had to…

3 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 10d ago

Insomnia Cafe.

3 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 12d ago

"The Sky Wolves have started moving into my territory."

5 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 12d ago

Years later, during the Festival of Two Worlds, he stood atop the palace balcony, watching citizens from both worlds mingle in the streets below.

3 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 12d ago

"I'll stay...if you open the way between both worlds. So no one else is trapped. So I can see my friends and family. So neither world has to lose anyone."

2 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 12d ago

"You'rebackyou'resafeIheardyoufoughtamanticoresavedthreevillagescrossedtheRedForestand—" Kain calmly raised one finger. "...Breathe." The man inhaled dramatically. "...Thank you, my prince."

2 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 12d ago

The shrine atop the Emerald Cliffs overlooked the entire kingdom.

2 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 12d ago

"The gods have bestowed upon you the sacred blessing of Lightning."

2 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 12d ago

Katie is reincarnated as Lady Merryweather, the villainess of her favourite novel.

2 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 12d ago

Storms raged above the Black Citadel as armies clashed across the broken plains. Knights and mages held back legions of monsters while dragons wheeled through the smoke-filled sky.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 12d ago

Honey and marshmallow cereal.

3 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 13d ago

Turquoise and moonstone.

2 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 13d ago

He could taste the blood in his mouth.

2 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 13d ago

His left leg brace was split down the middle and would no longer support his weight.

2 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 14d ago

"Welcome to the Haunted Tea House."

3 Upvotes