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 4h ago

The Art of Prompt Optimization, Made Simple and Safe.

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0 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

"You've been here for three hours."

3 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

Rowen writes his name in her notebook despite having never met him.

0 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

Bree tells everyone Cindell is her favorite senior.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

" Save me a seat."

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

He rearranges his schedule so he can attend Starlight's classes.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

"That's him - the protagonist. That's the boy I'm supposed to kill."

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

He eventually hears about Scarlet. And discovers that the infamous Duchess du Lac is nothing like the rumors.

0 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

He has already prepared himself - when Renella arrives, be nice.

0 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

Instead, he notices she is carrying too many books and silently takes half.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

She decides that her best strategy is to become completely forgettable.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

Spark magic manifests differently depending on one's affinity.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

Every student capable of forming a familiar bond eventually receives a magical companion. Some are tiny and cute, some are enormous, some are intelligent enough to speak, and some are terrifying enough that their owners are advised not to bring them into the cafeteria.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

In a world where magic is intertwined with technology, there are elemental affinities—fire, ice, lightning, metal, wind, earth—as well as rarer forms such as telepathy, dimensional magic, healing, illusion, and summoning.

0 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

The story takes place at an elite school where noble heirs, talented commoners, magical prodigies, and future Imperial officials study together.

0 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

"I once believed you could change."

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

He remembered Michelle standing beneath the throne in the final chapter, staring coldly while the guards dragged him away.

0 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

When he regained consciousness, the first thing he saw was a pair of blue eyes. "Oh no," he thought. "Absolutely not."

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

The doors opened. Cyril looked up. And promptly fainted.

0 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

"She's just another girl. She's not special, she's not beautiful, she's not the future Empress, and she's definitely not the girl I spent three hundred pages reading about."

0 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

Sunny had spent the entire morning mentally preparing himself.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

That was how the book went.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

Justin knew exactly what was going to happen when he met Zola. He was going to fall in love, become obsessed, make a fool of himself, and then Zola would hate him.

1 Upvotes

r/SimplePrompts 2d ago

Jazna has forgotten one very important thing. The original villain was absolutely terrible at being kind.

1 Upvotes