Thanks for this great article Chad. I absolutely love the idea of a prompt spark, and concrete words are such a powerful way to both 'tame the AI' and also convey information to multiple audiences. I guess this is also why concrete poetry is so effective!
This is a smart way to teach the idea because you do not start with the definition. You let people experience it first.
A lot of writing advice gets repeated so often it turns into wallpaper. “Use concrete language” is one of those phrases. But your Matsuri example makes the difference palpable before you ever explain it.
I also like that you turn it into something practical with AI instead of stopping at theory. The bigger takeaway is not just “be more vivid.” It is that concrete language carries far more visual and emotional payload, which makes it useful not only for stronger writing but for stronger image generation too.
The cupcake example is especially good. It feels warm, participatory, and memorable in exactly the way your point predicts.
Love the whole process and thinking for this, thank you so much!
When I just used the word ikigai, or indeed the phrase 'ikigai-risk of AI' the models seemed to be obsessed with baking which didn't feel right to me.
So I then tried it with my last essay URL link ... I'll do a restack of this comment so I can add the image, here is the story it chose for me;
"Sarah opened her bullet journal. A wet nose had blurred “enough” into blue puddles. Beside the desk, Henry wagged, paws dusty from the garden. Sarah lifted a sticker, then set it back in the tin. The page stayed blotched. Later, a silver laptop displayed smooth sentences, straight lines, shining masks. Sarah closed the lid. She carried the journal to the kitchen table. Friends arrived with cracked mugs, muddy shoes, loud laughs, and tangled stories. Sunlight slipped through the smeared word. Sarah placed her hand beside Henry’s print. The messy page glowed. Everyone leaned closer. Outside, rain tapped the window glass."
That’s quite a scene. I saw your restack already. Love the image it created for this too.
I think this process could help when it’s difficult to find the right words to describe and image one wants to create. I’ll probably refine this some more in the future.
Yeah it is interesting to have tools to help unblock and to make me think about word choices and yes as you say to picture it… I hadn’t thought about generating a picture almost before or alongside writing before, I tend to write my essays first then think about how to illustrate after… it’s so interesting learning from you and the others on here 🥰
So glad to be helpful. I’m glad Pinkie helped wake up the more artistic side of me. I let that go dormant years ago and I’m not really 100% sure why. 😊
Really fascinating read, thanks for sharing!
Thank you. Glad you found it helpful. It was a bit of an experiment in seeing if I can explain something in a way that isn’t the typical way.
Thanks for this great article Chad. I absolutely love the idea of a prompt spark, and concrete words are such a powerful way to both 'tame the AI' and also convey information to multiple audiences. I guess this is also why concrete poetry is so effective!
Thanks Sam. The vote of confidence from you means a lot to me. 🙏
I hope this type of content resonates well. I’m leaning more toward this style because it’s fun and interesting for me to create.
My tiny contribution to the world.
This is a smart way to teach the idea because you do not start with the definition. You let people experience it first.
A lot of writing advice gets repeated so often it turns into wallpaper. “Use concrete language” is one of those phrases. But your Matsuri example makes the difference palpable before you ever explain it.
I also like that you turn it into something practical with AI instead of stopping at theory. The bigger takeaway is not just “be more vivid.” It is that concrete language carries far more visual and emotional payload, which makes it useful not only for stronger writing but for stronger image generation too.
The cupcake example is especially good. It feels warm, participatory, and memorable in exactly the way your point predicts.
Experience it. Learn it. Try it.
Can’t wait to see what others do with this. 🙌
Love the whole process and thinking for this, thank you so much!
When I just used the word ikigai, or indeed the phrase 'ikigai-risk of AI' the models seemed to be obsessed with baking which didn't feel right to me.
So I then tried it with my last essay URL link ... I'll do a restack of this comment so I can add the image, here is the story it chose for me;
"Sarah opened her bullet journal. A wet nose had blurred “enough” into blue puddles. Beside the desk, Henry wagged, paws dusty from the garden. Sarah lifted a sticker, then set it back in the tin. The page stayed blotched. Later, a silver laptop displayed smooth sentences, straight lines, shining masks. Sarah closed the lid. She carried the journal to the kitchen table. Friends arrived with cracked mugs, muddy shoes, loud laughs, and tangled stories. Sunlight slipped through the smeared word. Sarah placed her hand beside Henry’s print. The messy page glowed. Everyone leaned closer. Outside, rain tapped the window glass."
That’s quite a scene. I saw your restack already. Love the image it created for this too.
I think this process could help when it’s difficult to find the right words to describe and image one wants to create. I’ll probably refine this some more in the future.
Yeah it is interesting to have tools to help unblock and to make me think about word choices and yes as you say to picture it… I hadn’t thought about generating a picture almost before or alongside writing before, I tend to write my essays first then think about how to illustrate after… it’s so interesting learning from you and the others on here 🥰
So glad to be helpful. I’m glad Pinkie helped wake up the more artistic side of me. I let that go dormant years ago and I’m not really 100% sure why. 😊