#cardwright

✦✦✦

The cards have been quiet for a little while.

Not because the ideas disappeared, but because the mind shaping them became clouded by the weight of life beyond this space.

✦✦✦

I’ve always wanted the prompts shared here to feel intentional.

Not rushed. Not hollow. Not created simply for the sake of filling silence.

And recently, I haven’t been in the right state of mind to offer the kind of prompts this space deserves.

✦✦✦

Stories require clarity. Worlds require focus. Lore requires thought.

And sometimes, the person behind the cards must step away long enough to find those things again.

✦✦✦

This pause was never an ending.

Only a moment to breathe.

✦✦✦

The cards will be drawn again soon.

And when they are, they will be drawn with the care and intention they deserve.

Cardwright will return this Monday, picking up exactly where we left off—with A Soul Divided.

✦✦✦

Thank you for your patience.

Until then, may your stories continue to grow.

✦✦✦

✦✦✦

I've now created over 50 prompts, I’ve realized something:

I don’t just find prompts.

I build them.

✦✦✦

Every idea you’ve seen here didn’t start as a fully-formed concept. It all starts from a card.

If you haven’t noticed, weekdays are story prompts. Saturdays are for my world builders, and Sundays are for those who want to expand or flesh out lore.

✦✦✦

Here’s what my process usually looks like for story prompts:

1. I determine where I am in my prompt-making cycle.

I cycle between the different prompts laid out by the creators of The Story Engine Deck:

Simple Prompts (Story Seed, Character Concept, Item-Driven Prompt, or Setting-Driven Prompt)

and

Complex Prompts (Circle of Fate, A Clash of Wills, or A Soul Divided).

Once I’ve determined the type of prompt I’m creating, I follow its structure as a guide.

✦✦✦

2. I let fate guide my hands.

This is the easiest step—and where the cards come into play.

I draw the cards needed for the prompt, following the guide.

✦✦✦

3. Then, I take it from here.

This is where I truly create the prompt—and, to me, the hardest step.

The cards give me the pieces, but it’s up to me to connect them into something meaningful.

Each card has multiple options, and I’ll rotate cards or tuck them beneath others to shape the direction of the prompt.

I take those seemingly random elements and turn them into something intentional—something unique and compelling.

Every prompt is drawn from my own aesthetics and creative instincts.

✦✦✦

4. I refine the wording.

I keep prompts clear, but open enough for interpretation—

not too long, not too specific.

Just enough to guide, but not control.

My goal is always the same: to build something that feels like it needs to be written.

✦✦✦

If you’d like to see this process in action, I’ll be sharing a video in the future—so stay tuned.

I’ll also be revealing my process for World Creation after the 60th prompt, and Lore Creation after the 70th.

✦✦✦

What I love most about using these cards is watching something simple transform into something that demands to be written.

If you’ve used any of these prompts, I’d genuinely love to see what you’ve created. Every story that comes from them will be completely different—and that’s what makes this so exciting.

✦✦✦

This blog started as a way to share ideas with writers and artists.

I hope to grow it into something more.

Not just prompts—

but possibilities.

✦✦✦

Here’s to the next 50.

✦✦✦

✦✦✦

Sixty prompts later, as promised—here’s my process for worldbuilding.

✦✦✦

When I first created this blog, I focused on stories—small pieces of something larger.

But over time, I started asking different questions:

Where can this story take place?  

What kind of world allows this moment to happen?  

What place exists where this prompt can occur?

✦✦✦

Saturdays became my space for that.

A space to build—not just stories, but the foundations beneath them.

✦✦✦

My world-building process still begins the same way:

With a card.

Using the Deck of Worlds, I start with fragments—locations, cultures, environments, and ideas.

But just like with my story prompts, the cards are only the beginning.

✦✦✦

1. Fate controls my draws.  

Each card builds on the last, forming what the creators call a micro-setting:

• Region Card — the underlying environment  

• Landmark Card — expands the area and provides a point of interest  

• Namesake Card(s) — gives names to the region, landmark, or both  

• Origin Card — provides a lore-based backstory  

• Attribute Card — defines a present-day detail about the area or its people  

• Advent Card — introduces an event that could shape the future or serve as a story hook  

✦✦✦

2. Tucking and rotating.  

Just like with the The Story Engine Deck, each card has multiple possibilities.  

It’s up to me to rotate and tuck cards together to shape the direction of the setting.

✦✦✦

3. Interpretation.  

This is the longest—and hardest—step.  

I take the completed spread and interpret it into something cohesive.  

If I think too long, I overcomplicate it—so I trust my first instinct and record it in my prompt book.

✦✦✦

World-building, to me, is about creating a place that feels like it exists—even when no one is looking at it.

A place where stories don’t just happen,  

but belong.

✦✦✦

A video of this process will be released —so you can see how these worlds come together in real time.

✦✦✦

But for now—

the worlds are starting to take shape.

✦✦✦

✦✦✦

Even the one who draws the cards must, at times, step away.

✦✦✦

No prompt was created yesterdy. Not for lack of ideas—but for the simple truth that creation cannot exist without pause.

✦✦✦

There are moments when the hands that build must rest, when the mind that shapes must be still.

✦✦✦

This, too, is part of the process.

✦✦✦

The cycle will continue.

The cards will be drawn. The prompts will return.

✦✦✦

Until then—

hold onto your ideas.

They will be waiting.

✦✦✦

Not forgotten—just… paused.

✦✦✦

The author was elsewhere, pulled into the quiet obligations that exist outside of stories, where time moves differently and words must wait their turn.

✦✦✦

But the thread was never lost.

✦✦✦

It has been gathered, smoothed, and set back into place.

✦✦✦

From here on, the entries should arrive as intended—steady, on time, uninterrupted… unless something unseen intervenes again.

✦✦✦

For now, the story continues.

✦✦✦