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A prompt about a lighthouse keeper with no memory of the sea got 40 better replies than my 2,000 word worldbuilding doc
Last Tuesday I posted a one line prompt in a writing group about a lighthouse keeper who wakes up with no memory of ever seeing the ocean. That single line pulled 40 replies, while the 2,000 word worldbuilding doc I posted a week earlier got 3. Turns out the constraint is the gift, because people had to invent the reason he's afraid of water instead of me handing it to them. What is the shortest prompt you have ever seen spark something long?
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fiona_west2114d ago
This is literally just the iceberg principle in action and I see it everywhere! Think about jokes, the best ones leave stuff out on purpose so your brain fills in the blanks, and thats why the punchline hits so hard. Same with scary movies, the monster you barely see is way scarier than the one they show in full CGI at the end. Even recipes work this way, a short ingredient list makes me actually want to cook, while a wall of text makes me close the tab. When you hand people every detail they have nothing to do, but give them one weird image like a lighthouse keeper scared of water and their brain cant help building the rest. So your 2,000 word doc wasnt worse, it just did all the work for them and left no room to play.
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