Midjourney Prompts: How to Remix for that Creative Spark

We’ve all been there. Sitting with around, minding your own business, when you hear that dreaded question: “So, what do you wanna eat?” Cue the sighs, the groans of “I don’t know” or “I don’t care”. The only honest answer to that question is, “Say some names that I can disagree with until I can find what I want.” Did you know MidJourney has a feature for the honest people? The people that have an idea, but no direction to really take it in? I want to show you how I use MidJourney prompts when I’m feeling that creative blah.

Setting the Scene:

Something piqued your interest. You saw a movie, read a book, played a game, maybe you had a nightmare. Either way, you have a spark in your mind now. That spark isn’t going burn without some kindling, so you need to gather. I’ve found while using MJ, that the less words you begin to prompt with, the wider array of directions you can follow.

Being an unapologetic horror and macabre fan, let’s use a spooky spark to begin. I know that I want something in the horror genre, and I know that I want a forest type terrain. When starting to build your vision, it is always better to start short and simple. Remember, MJ doesn’t read like a human. No need for grammar or long descriptors.

Midjourney Prompts:

Note: I almost always use the same three beginning descriptors for my prompts. This is just my preferred photo style. These Midjourney prompts are ‘high detail.’ ‘cinematic photography.’ and ‘hyper realistic.’. I also most commonly use “--ar 16:9” for cinematic shots.

Out of the four, this was my favorite. I like the hazy lighting, but I wish it was darker. So, let’s remix and start clicking the best button ever. The Chef’s Kiss to the indecisive masses: Vary.

Note: be sure to type /settings and turn the remix button on. This is will give you access to re-word or edit your Midjourney prompt.

Midjourney Prompts: Adding the Ick

Ooooohh. Okay, I’m getting more ideas now. This is the point where I start prompting in types of characters. If you do a little googling, you will find great words for different folklore monsters or creatures from superstition. Or, we could prompt in one of my biggest phobias:

Mannequins.

Why mannequins, you ask? Cause I don’t know what’s in there. It’s a lifeless, uncanny, representation of human. There could be a human in that form. There could be 8 or 9 rabbits stacked up in that thing. Or a horde of crickets playing Trojan horse. I know they’re hiding something.

Quick sidebar. We have a place in the town I grew up called Bonanzaville, and it’s like an early 1800s settlement amusement park (for whose amusement, I’m not sure.) Kids are forced there on family outings, and the Boomer crowd is all over the place. A friend of mine in my lil tot days convinced me that people were inside the lifeless mannequins as if they’d all been Han-Solo’ed in carbonite. Bonanzaville is filled to the brim with mannequins. The entire class stalked me with them or moved their heads or arms around when I wasn’t looking.

The ick never went away. And here we are.

So, you’re using Midjourney to create one of your enduring childhood fears? Yes. Yes, I am. Why wouldn’t I?

That. Yeah, that is unsettling. Yeah, no, I don’t like that. Good work MJ, let’s do another Vary: Subtle

Okay, that works. I’m officially uncomfortable. Now, we can prompt in some details. To no one’s surprise, I’m going to prompt in some….ick.

Midjourney Prompts: Adding… CHAOS

I’ve run into an issue now. I’ve Varied both subtle and strong and it still isn’t quite what I want.

Time for some CHAOS.

Yes, you can prompt Midjourney for chaos. When prompting, use the prompt “–chaos 00“ at the end. You can change the number value to whatever you want. The more chaos you input, the more MJ will run with your prompt. You can get some very unexpected things. (Be warned, it has been known to lead to more brain babies…)

The same Midjourney prompt goes for the below:

See what I mean? A little chaos in your Midjourney Prompts and your get all new terrible ideas to expand on.

So next time you have an idea, a passing thought, a little spark, open up your favorite AI. Building your Midjourney prompts can take your thoughts and give them life, or even branch from your ideas to create another world all your own.

And always sprinkle in some chaos for flavor.