I used to write prompts as full paragraphs, now I just give people 6 words and it works way better | Creative Writing Prompts

Adam Thompson · 2026-10-11T21:35:04.471166+00:00

Back in 2019 I ran a little writing group out of my garage in Boise and I handed out prompts that were like three sentences long, full of detail, basically me writing the story for everyone. Someone finally said "dude, you already did the hard part" and I got kind of annoyed but they were right. Now I hand out stuff like "a locksmith who hates keys" and people come back with way weirder, better stuff than they ever did with my long setups. Six words in, they have to build the world themselves and that is where the good writing lives. What is the shortest prompt you have seen that still got a great story out of someone?

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I used to write prompts as full paragraphs, now I just give people 6 words and it works way better | Creative Writing Prompts - Babble Community