What each part of the prompt does
- Theme and alternatives
- Seeing two other directions for the same premise often reveals a better story. A ghost premise can be about grief or about a housing dispute; choosing early keeps the draft focused.
- Want, obstacle, cost
- These three answers are the engine of a short story. Claude fills them in from your inputs so you can correct the parts that are not what you meant.
- Mirror images
- Asking for a final image that echoes or reverses the opening gives the story a sense of completion, even when the plot ending stays open.
- Detail rationing
- One sensory detail per paragraph at most stops the overwritten description models tend to stack up, and makes each detail count.
Variations to try
Same idea, one thing changed.
Flash fiction Act as a writing mentor. Help me turn a premise into a short story by testing the idea, planning the shape, and then writing a first draft I can revise. Inputs: - The premise in a sentence or two: [PREMISE] - Main character, with one flaw: [PROTAGONIST] - Genre and mood: [GENRE] - Point of view: [POV] Steps: 1. Name the theme the premise could explore, in one line, and two other directions it could go. 2. Ask what the character wants, what stops them, and what it costs them. Answer these yourself from my inputs, then show me. 3. Plan three beats: opening image, the moment of choice, and a final image that mirrors or reverses the first. Keep the draft under 500 words. 4. Write the draft in the chosen point of view. Start in a scene, not a summary. Use one concrete sensory detail per paragraph at most. 5. Let the ending follow from the character's choice in beat four, not from coincidence. Format: - The theme and beat plan as a short list. - The draft, under 500 words. - Three revision notes: the weakest scene, a line to cut, and a question the ending leaves open. Quality check: Confirm the final image connects to the opening image, and that the flaw affects the choice.
Plan only, I write Act as a writing mentor. Help me turn a premise into a short story by testing the idea, planning the shape, and then writing a first draft I can revise. Inputs: - The premise in a sentence or two: [PREMISE] - Main character, with one flaw: [PROTAGONIST] - Genre and mood: [GENRE] - Length: [WORD COUNT] - Point of view: [POV] Steps: 1. Name the theme the premise could explore, in one line, and two other directions it could go. 2. Ask what the character wants, what stops them, and what it costs them. Answer these yourself from my inputs, then show me. 3. Plan five beats: opening image, the disturbance, a rising complication, the moment of choice, and the final image that mirrors or reverses the first. 4. Do not write the story. For each beat, give one sentence of what happens and one question I should answer while writing it. 5. Let the ending follow from the character's choice in beat four, not from coincidence. Format: - The theme and beat plan as a short list. - Three revision notes: the weakest scene, a line to cut, and a question the ending leaves open. Quality check: Confirm the final image connects to the opening image, and that the flaw affects the choice.
If the result isn't right
- Make the flaw specific: "lies to avoid conflict" gives a story more to work with than "insecure".
- If the draft resolves things by coincidence, reply "the ending must come from the choice in beat four" and ask for that section again.
- Rewrite the opening paragraph yourself before anything else; it sets the voice for your revision.
- Ask for the same beats in a different point of view when a draft feels distant.