r/SimplePrompts • • Jul 05 '22

Meta Making Good Prompts

104 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

Paul almost laughed, but his worry quickly returned.

2 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts • • 10h ago

The decisive moment came at the reception that night.

3 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts • • 5h ago

He had learned that a joke could make a difficult day easier, but kindness also meant knowing when to stand firm. He had discovered that even the grandest palace was no substitute for home, and that the people who mattered most were the ones who let you be yourself.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts • • 5h ago

"Could've done worse." Ringo considered that. "True. But next time, I'm choosing the holiday destination."

0 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts • • 5h ago

"Usually it's John who does that. I'm just the one who gets blamed when something goes wrong."

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts • • 5h ago

"I'm not much of a letter writer." "Then perhaps you will send me a postcard." "That I can manage. I'll even get the others to sign it."

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts • • 5h ago

"I had hoped that you might become my friend." "Well, that's not impossible," I replied. "But friendship's a two-way street. You can't kidnap somebody and then expect them to pop round for tea."

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts • • 5h ago

"I don't think you're a bad person. I think you've been lonely for a long time. But you can't make people happy by deciding everything for them."

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts • • 5h ago

"I want to go home," he replied. "To see my family and mates. To play my drums. And to have a nice cup of tea without having to wear gold sandals."Laughter rippled through the courtyard.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts • • 5h ago

Roderick smiled at Diego. There was something touching about the way the guitarist stood beside Nyara, neither above her nor beneath her, but simply beside her.

0 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts • • 5h ago

The band were now openly present, having abandoned their disguises after Marco accidentally introduced himself to a guard as "the fellow who's supposed to be here for the entertainment."

0 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts • • 5h ago

He thought about the people he loved back home, and how much it meant to be able to return to them because he wanted to, not because someone had ordered him to.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts • • 5h ago

He had seen how lonely she could be when she wasn't issuing orders. He could understand why Fenton's confession moved her. But he also knew that affection was no good if it came with a lock and key.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts • • 5h ago

He knew Ringo would try to make the best of things, but being cheerful didn't mean he was content to be kept against his will.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts • • 6h ago

"He looks calm enough." "He's probably trying to make her laugh," Paula replied. "Then we'd better get him out before he starts enjoying the conversation too much."

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts • • 6h ago

Mum distracted Dad with an argument about the proper number of potatoes in a royal dinner.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts • • 6h ago

He had always been the heart of the band's humour, the one who could take a ridiculous situation and make it bearable. But they knew he was also sensitive, and they knew how much he hated being treated as though he mattered less than the others.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts • • 6h ago

Zeb paced the room."Well, I'm not leaving him here. The place is bad enough without the drummer."

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts • • 6h ago

"Kyle's always the one who makes light of things. If he's frightened, he might not tell us." Jake nodded."Exactly. We can't assume he's all right just because he's making jokes."

0 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts • • 6h ago

Jim peered through a window at the palace kitchens."I reckon there's a way through the gardens. I've been watching the servants." I raised an eyebrow."Since when did you become a master spy?""Since you became a prisoner."

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts • • 6h ago

"We've got to find him," I whispered. "Obviously," said John. "Question is, how?"

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts • • 6h ago

But when the conversation ended, he was firm."I've enjoyed talking to you. But I still want to go home."

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts • • 6h ago

For a while, they spoke easily. He told her about his travels, ridiculous hotel-room antics, and how the others could turn anything into an argument. She listened, laughing more than she had in ages.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts • • 6h ago

She glanced down at him and shook her head, smiling. "You are not at all what I expected." "That's what everybody says."

1 Upvotes