Category: Four Elements Prompts

Instant Writing Prompts!

Back in the day, we had to pull slips of actual paper out of actual envelopes, like animals.

But now, a Four Elements writing prompt can be yours for the low-low price of just clicking your mouse! That’s right, we threatened to withhold the thing they hold most dear*, and the webcode monkeys shrieked in dismay for a minute or two before cranking out a fully automated, 21st-century, totally paperless version of our musty envelope-based system.

Take it for a spin! We’ve always found these prompts are a great way to get warmed up before doing “real” writing, not to mention fertile soil for our favorite brand of sophomoric humor. We encourage you to use the comments to share what you come up with. (Be sure to include the elements list the generator gave you!)

*Mountain Dew

Matilda Always Laughed

  1. Character – Nudist lesbian mime with wooden shoes and an attitude
  2. Setting – Peepshow
  3. Object – Bouquet of flowers, all yellow
  4. Situation – Sniper

Matilda always laughed when she thought back on it, even though it was sort of tragic.

The funny thing about it was that she could get paid for just hanging around. Naked, but that didn’t bother her, being a nudist. And the slobbering apes who dropped their quarters in the slots didn’t care about her art, the elegance of being “trapped in a box” when she was literally inside a box already, or the skill it took to be silent in wooden shoes. But why should she expect them to?

On that steamy August night a bank robber paused in his getaway to check out her act. The police sniper blew the shot, shattering the one-way glass and revealing a lovely nymph with a cluster of yellow flowers.

The robber escaped, but Chloe captured Matilda.

about 4 elements writing prompts

handy dandy writing prompt generator

The Cops Swarmed

  1. by jenCharacter – Pirate
  2. Setting – A smelly, gray beach
  3. Object – Handful of dirt
  4. Situation – Police search

The cops swarmed all over the beach. It had once been pristine, but was now gray with fingerprint powder, and stank of both sweaty detectives and wet dogs. The K-9 unit was enjoying the outing at least.

Black Kent stroked his beard with his wrist stump. Of course they had taken his hook when they’d placed him under arrest. His mood was blacker than his moniker. When were they going to admit that they had no evidence? As soon as they released him from this blasted squad car, he’d be on his ship and sailing for the southern hemisphere.

A uniformed officer ran up with a handful of dirt. “Sarge, I think I found something!”

about 4 elements writing prompts

handy dandy writing prompt generator

About 4 Elements Prompts

Before we entered into our passionate love affair with stichomancy prompts, the 4 Elements prompt was our go-to. The idea is simple, but the initial set-up takes a good bit of time.

The four elements concept turns up in many disciplines. For our purposes, the ones we are concerned with are:

  1. Character
  2. Setting
  3. Object
  4. Situation

Character is pretty obvious. You could go with “James Bond,” or “an angry child” or “the inventor of Altoids.” Challenge yourself.

Setting is where your prompted story will take place. Be as vague or specific as you like. Will it be “Canada” or will it be “the 3rd stall from the left in the women’s bathroom on the second mezzanine at Radio City Music Hall”? That’s up to you.

Object is simply an item that will appear in the scene. It doesn’t need to play a vital role, but it can. Will it be a guitar? A pair of slippers? A donut? That’s up to you, and fate.

Situation is a little more complicated. It can be the impetus of the entire plot, or it can simply be something that’s weighing on your character’s mind. “power outage” “servicing the addiction” “unplanned amputation” “new shoes today”

To prepare, you will need to spend a few hours brainstorming a list for each of these elements. You can write each on an index card or a slip of paper, or you could work with a spreadsheet. We have 4 envelopes, one for each element, each filled with little scraps of paper.

When it’s time to write, blindly choose a single entry from each element and combine all four into a perfect work of microfiction. Simple, right? Again, we tend toward humor, but there’s no rule saying you have to. There’s also no rule saying you have to keep them brief. If you’re truly inspired, you could turn these prompts into short stories or even novels.

In the coming weeks our Monday and Wednesday posts will feature the results of 4 Elements Prompts. Let us know how this method works for you.

handy dandy writing prompt generator