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· 4 min read
How to Use Random Prompts to Start a Story
Manesh Jayawardhana
CIO & Co-founder
Ask a group to write a story and most of the time goes on deciding what to write about. Give them six random images and say the story must use all six, and they start immediately.
The constraint isn’t a limitation. It’s the thing that removes the hardest decision.
Why arbitrary constraints help
Choosing a subject from infinite possibility is genuinely difficult, and it’s the part where people stall. A blank page offers no resistance, and without resistance there’s nothing to push against.
Random prompts remove the choice and replace it with a puzzle: how do a key, a storm and a locked door fit together? That’s a question with an answer, and answering questions is much easier than generating from nothing.
They also force connections you wouldn’t have chosen. Left to your own devices you write the story you always write. Given a lighthouse and a bicycle you have to invent something, and the invention is usually more interesting than the default.
Structure helps more than people expect
Free rolling works for confident writers. For everyone else — and especially for children — a structure turns a scatter of images into something completable.
Three acts. Two prompts to open, two for the middle, two to resolve. The simplest scaffold and it works immediately, because it tells you what each prompt is for.
Character, problem, resolution. Assign prompts to roles rather than positions. Slightly harder and produces more coherent stories.
In order. Use the prompts in exactly the order rolled. The hardest version, and it produces the most surprising results, because you can’t reorder to suit the easy story.
| Structure | Best for | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Confident writers | Easy to start, hard to finish |
| Three acts | Most groups, classrooms | Good balance |
| Character / problem / resolution | Older students | Harder, more coherent |
| In rolled order | Practised writers | Hardest, most surprising |
Time limits do the other half
Five minutes produces energy. Twenty produces overthinking and a half-finished story.
A short limit forces the first idea to be used rather than evaluated, which is the point of the exercise. Nobody produces polished work in five minutes and nobody is meant to — the aim is to get something down, and the editing is a separate activity on a different day.
In a group, everyone writing simultaneously and sharing afterwards works better than taking turns. Turn-taking makes it a performance; simultaneous writing makes it a workshop.
In a classroom
Pairs or small groups beat individuals for younger children — the discussion generates ideas neither would have had.
Prompts drawn from objects and animals work far better than symbols or flags. Concrete nouns suggest actions; abstract symbols don’t.
Share the results, briefly. The moment where two groups took the same six prompts somewhere completely different is the lesson, and it lands better than any explanation of creativity.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Rerolling until the prompts feel workable, which reintroduces the choice you were avoiding.
- Allowing too much time.
- Using prompts drawn from abstract symbols.
- Requiring a polished piece from a five-minute exercise.
- Turning it into a competition, which makes cautious writers more cautious.
How to do it with Story Cubes Roller
The Story Cubes Roller generates prompts with optional structure.
- Choose how many prompts — three for a warm-up, six for a full exercise.
- Pick a structure if the group needs scaffolding.
- Set a short time limit and stick to it.
- Use every prompt, and accept the roll rather than rerolling.
Other creative tools are in the tools directory.
Frequently asked questions
Why do random prompts help creativity?
Because they remove the blank page. Choosing what to write about is often harder than writing, and an arbitrary constraint gives the mind something to push against.
Should the prompts be used in order?
Using them in the rolled order is harder and usually produces more interesting results, because it forces connections you wouldn’t have chosen. For younger children, free order is kinder.
How does this work in a classroom?
Well in pairs or small groups, with a short time limit. The time limit matters — five minutes produces energy, twenty produces overthinking.
Final thought
Accept the roll and set a timer. Both rules exist to stop you making decisions, which is the entire mechanism by which this works.