What is a prompt?
Article by Carter Cada - Written 10/11/2023
Table of contents:
Prompts - The artists best friend
The Setting
The Action
The Spur
When it comes to writing, so many times the hardest part is just starting (something I cover in an article here). And the hardest part of starting is often knowing what to write about.
You’ve probably been there before: you want to write, or you have a message you want to convey, but you just don’t know exactly how. That’s probably why you’re here in the first place.
You’ll be glad to know you’re not alone. Every writer at some point has come accros either writer’s block (when you don’t know how to put your idea into words), or creative block (when you don’t know how to have an idea in the first place).
The solution? For many, the answer is “prompts!”. As a writer and blogger, I absolutely love prompts, since they make my job MUCH easier. The best part? You can find them nearly everywhere.
So, what is a prompt?
What are prompts?
Prompts - The artist’s best friend
I cannot tell you how many times a prompt has pulled me out of a hard spot.
During my junior year, I took a course on creative writing. Little did I know it then, but that course would not only equip me with several tools which have become fundamental to my work, as well as give me the confidence I needed to pursue my passion.
It was through this course that I was introduced to prompts: a few short statements, or a picture that worked as a sort of primer to get creative juices flowing.
There were several ways my professor implemented them: everything from a image with no context, to pulling from a random assortment of phrases written on slips of paper, and compiling them to make a whole thought. Whatever it was, it was always enjoyable.
Yet, with so many sources of inspiration around us, it could be easy to ask why many of these don’t serve as a prompt. While just about anything can be a prompt, most things aren’t one until they meet some specific criteria.
A good prompt can be very helpful to a writer. Learning what makes a good prompt can be difficult, though.
The basic prompt has three distinct parts: The setting, the action, and the spur. The three parts are each as necessary as the other, and must be present in the correct quantities.
Just like in a recipe, having too much or too little of one ingredient (like too much peanut butter in peanut butter cookies, unfortunately) will make the recipe worse.
Knowing how much of each to put in starts with an understanding of what each part is, and what it does. Let’s jump right in!
1) The setting
The setting is the part of the motive that describes where and sometimes when the prompt takes place. It can also include things like the atmosphere, the general feeling of those involved, or the implications.
For example, one of the most popular introductions: “Once upon a stormy night”. The phrase clues you in to several things: the event is taking place at a dark hour. The weather outside is oppressive, and the situation is probably one of dire or fear (things that storms usually indicate in storytelling). All of this info from just five words.
The setting is almost always the beginning of a prompt. Even if the prompt doesn’t begin with the setting itself, it will almost always include some element of it. Take the following examples:
Thirsty, you stare at the sky…
The prompt begins by informing you of how at least one person is feeling. You also know that you are likely outside, by the ability to even look at the sky in the first place.
Shuddering, you try to remember the last time you felt safe…
It is clear from both the language and tone of this prompt into that your are somewhere in danger. Immediate danger. Maybe the exact setting will be left up to the author.
Something as simple as an an image can provide the setting for your prompt. Maybe even action and spur. Pictures of your neighborhood or local nature can provide great prompts!
One more-
You stand at the helm, again and again trying to drive off feelings of sleepiness…
Your character is tired, and yet, the responsibility of some kind of navigation compels them to deprive themselves of sleep. But what?
A good setting sets up questions that will lead you naturally into both the motivation and spur.
2) The Action
The action is the part of the prompt that gives hints as to what someone is doing, why someone is doing something, or giving a hint as to what they might do. It is the part of the prompt that really catches our attention. Let’s continue our example from before:
It was a dark and stormy night. Carefully, you walk along a cobbled road, careful to avoid stepping on any of the tendrils that lie across the path…
So we’ve gotten a little more context on the situation. Now we know not only where we are, but also some about what we are doing. Maybe there is some kind of horrible fungal monster guarding a fortress at the end of the path, or maybe there is a many-tailed serpent in the area. The fun part is, as the writer, the details are up to you.
Generally, the best course of action when beginning a prompt is to go heavy on the setting, but light on the action. The goal of a prompt is to help a writer write, not to tell them a story. Give them too much action, and there wont be very much room left for creativity. Let’s look at an example of a prompt that has too much action, as well as one with very little.
After many long weeks of travel, you’ve finally made it: the regal hall of Austilus the serene. As you take in the scenery, something seems…off. Guards give you a menacing look as you enter the hall, and you notice that the duke is not present. Instead, you see his conniving nephew seated on the throne. Beside him sit several of his best soldiers, armed and at the ready.
While a writer could interpret the events leading up to this any way they like, there aren’t that many outcomes. It’s pretty clear that Austilus’ nephew has it out for you, and you can either stand and fight, or run.
A prompt with too much action can leave a writer frustrated, wondering why they can’t think of a “creative” answer.
It doesn’t take much creativity, however, to chose between two options. Because of this, you want prompts to be open ended, like this:
After many long weeks of travel, you’ve finally made it: the regal hall of Austilus the serene. As you take in the scenery, something seems…off. As you step inside, you don’t recognize many of the faces of those inside. What you do recognize, however, is the look of disdain.
An action like this leaves much more room open for interpretation, which is the goal of any good prompt. Perhaps there is a tension between your two kingdoms, or perhaps they have heard false (or maybe even true) rumors about you?
In any case, less is more when it comes to the action of a prompt. Remember, you’re writing a prompt, not telling a story.
3) The spur
The spur is the part of the prompt that inspires the writer to take action based on what they have read. While the spur does not have to be complicated, it does at least need to be present. See if you can tell which of these prompts has a spur, and which does not.
You fire a few more shots from your blaster before retreating behind the wall, bolts whizzing over your head. You pull another charge from your bandolier, bite the top off, and reload your blaster. You take a minute to think before going back over. You have no idea what to do next. Another bolt ricochets of the wall behind you. “Better think fast” you tell yourself, sliding your finger into the trigger well.
You fire a few more shots from your blaster before retreating behind the wall, bolts whizzing over your head. You pull another charge from your bandolier, bite the top off, and reload your blaster. You take a minute to think before going back over. You have no idea what to do next. Steeling your resolve, you spill out from behind the wall, firing several suppressing shots at the enemy. They begin to retreat, and you congratulate yourself on the minor victory.
Were you able to tell the difference?
If you weren’t, that’s okay. I’ll give you a minute.
…
…
Here’s a picture of a dog to look at while you think (I’ve got to break the up the text, you know?).
Okay, done yet?
If you didn’t quite get it, the first example had the spur. The second did not. What was the difference between the two?
While the traits of a good spur encompass many, many things I won’t bore you with today, the main two are resolution and falling action.
Resolution is when a situation that causes rising action (in our example, being shot at) is resolved. In this case, that was the shooters being driven away. The interesting part of a story, the body, or “meat” if you will, is mostly found in the rising action. Think of a story as a steak. If you could only have one part, what would you choose? The crust is nice and flavorful, but a little blasé after a while. The fat, too, is nice, but not all on it’s own, and especially not when the steak is cold.
The best part is when you get a juicy bite directly from the center, while the steak is hot, and a marbled balance between lean and fat. The kind of bite that both melts and drips in your mouth, exploding with savory flavors.
Just like a good steak, a good prompt (or any writing, for that matter) has distinct parts. If you are going to be a good writer, you need to learn the difference.
…Great, now I’m hungry.
Anyway, that bite would be the rising action of a story. The crust would be the introduction, and the fat would represent your wordplay. Some steaks have more or less, but all need some. No one wants the last bite of steak. It’s cold, and sometimes hard. But the last bit is much better if you also had the first. In the same way, a good prompt will let the writer have the first mouth-watering bite by starting them directly at the beginning of the rising action.
As a prompter, it is only our job to cook the steak, not to taste test it. Which leads into the second factor of a bad prompt: falling action.
As the name suggests, contrary to rising action, falling action is where the action has already come to the climax (high point) of it’s arc, and is now trending towards it’s resolution. Maybe you’ve played a strategy game before where, part-way through, you realized you had already won, but hadn’t quite finished yet. That turning point was the climax of your story, and the rest of the game was the falling action.
A really good example of this is Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi. Once the shields of Endor went down, and especially once Emperor Palpatine had been defeated, the battle was already won. It wasn’t over (there is still a good ten or twenty minutes of film left), but it was won.
By the way, if you have no idea what I’m talking about, click out of this blog now, and go watch Star Wars. It’s a better use of your time than hanging around here (lol).
While I say it as a joke, I really do recommend anyone who hasn’t seen the series in its entirety (entirety being the OG six, not the Disney garbage). The series is one of the best written and developed stories of the modern age, and has earned a place amongst other great works of fiction such as The Lord of the Rings and many of the works by Charles Dickens.
If you think the opinion is controversial, check out my article on Lucas’ story here.
Back to prompts, it is important that you don’t tell your reader how things pan out. Just like with the action, it is important that you leave that part up to them.
If you’re just here looking for a few prompts, I have an article you can check out here on that. Also, keep an eye out in the future for reader-submitted writing contests we’ll be holding in the future! Prompts will be provided by yours truly, and winners will have an exciting array of prizes to choose from on our site!
Having this information, you should be ready to churn out some absolutely incredible prompts to help your writers really succeed! And who knows? Maybe in writing prompts, you’ll find that you’re creating more that stories –
You’ll be giving others the gift of inspiration.
About the author
Carter John Cada is the founder of and main author for Quips from the Quiver. In his free time, he loves to read, spend time with his 10 siblings, read, work out, read, work on his manuscript, read, and read.
He also enjoys eating.
