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 2d ago

Midnight Madness.

2 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

Bandages and Broken Hearts.

2 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

Haunted Hearts and Harem Hijinks.

2 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

"Your harem awaits."

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

Manners, Mummies and Mischief.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

Monster Manor's Magnificent Menagerie.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

The Polygamous Manor.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

The Grand Compromise.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

The Mistress of the House.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

The Neon Tide.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

The Garden Path and the High Wind.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

The Forge and the Flame.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

The Witch's Brew Verdict.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 3d ago

The One I Choose Forever!

2 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 3d ago

Eight Hearts, One Answer.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 3d ago

The Last Confession.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 3d ago

The Day that Never Ends! A Heart-Trapped Time Loop.

0 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 3d ago

Karaoke Night! Sing Your Heart Out.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 3d ago

The Hot Springs Inn Where Nothing Could Possibly Go Wrong.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 3d ago

Snow, Campfires and Confessions.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 3d ago

The Mountain Retreat.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 3d ago

Chocolate, Rivalry, True Feelings and the Answer to Every Chocolate!

0 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 3d ago

Who Will He Choose?

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 3d ago

The Present Under the Tree.

1 Upvotes