Learn how to use prompt engineering for creative writing, including stories, poems, and scripts. Discover techniques to guide AI in generating imaginative and structured content. Lecture 11
Unlocking the AI’s Imagination
Welcome back! So far, we’ve focused mainly on getting factual or structured answers from the AI. But AIs are also incredibly powerful creative partners. Today, we’ll explore how to prompt an AI to generate creative content like stories, poems, and dialogue.
The key to creative prompting is to provide a rich seed of an idea and then give the AI the freedom to expand on it, while still providing enough constraints to guide it.
Techniques for Creative Prompting
All the techniques you’ve already learned apply here, especially being specific, providing context, and assigning a persona. But for creative tasks, we can add a few more tricks.
1. Set the Scene (Provide Rich Context)
Give the AI the essential building blocks of a story: the setting, the characters, and the basic plot point.
Story Generation Prompt
Write a short story (around 200 words) with the following elements:
* **Genre:** Science Fiction Mystery
* **Setting:** A neon-lit, rainy city on Mars in the year 2242.
* **Character:** A cynical, retired detective named Jax.
* **Plot:** Jax finds a mysterious data chip that contains a secret everyone is willing to kill for.2. Specify the Style or Tone
Tell the AI what feeling you want to evoke. You can even reference famous authors or directors.
Stylistic Poem Prompt
Write a short, melancholic poem about a forgotten lighthouse. Write it in the style of Edgar Allan Poe.
3. Use a Starting Line or Dialogue
Sometimes the best way to start is to just start! Give the AI the first sentence and ask it to continue the story.
“Continue the Story” Prompt
Continue the following story. Make it a thriller with a surprise twist at the end.
Story starts here: "The old clock in the town square chimed thirteen times, and then fell silent. That's when the strange fog rolled in."4. Brainstorming and Outlining
You don’t have to ask for a finished product. You can use the AI as a brainstorming partner to help you build the world and plot before you start writing.
Brainstorming Prompt
I'm writing a fantasy story about a hidden school for magicians. Give me 10 creative and unusual ideas for the different subjects that might be taught at this school.Pro Tip: Iterative Storytelling
Don’t ask for a whole novel at once. Work with the AI chapter by chapter, or even scene by scene. After the AI generates a part of the story, you can give it feedback and tell it what to write next.
For example:"That was a great introduction to the character Jax. Now, write the next scene where he takes the data chip to a shady information broker named Cy, who works in the underbelly of the city."
Key Takeaways from Lecture 11
- Creative prompting is about balancing clear constraints with creative freedom.
- Provide the core elements: genre, setting, character, and plot.
- Specify the desired tone, mood, or style (you can even reference other artists).
- Use the AI as a brainstorming partner to generate ideas, not just finished text.
- Work iteratively, building the creative work piece by piece and giving feedback along the way.
End of Lecture 11. Have fun creating new worlds! Next, we will return to more analytical tasks and learn how to use prompts for summarization and information extraction.
