# Allegory Writing Prompt
Write an allegory around the concept of **{concept}** that fully explains it. Tell it as indirectly as a true allegory; do not reveal the concept directly.
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## I. Allegorical Experience
- **Length**: No more than 1000 characters. A true allegory is concise: one central scene and one or two turns carry the meaning, without unnecessary elaboration.
- **World**: The story is fictional and may be anthropomorphized—animals, plants, and objects may all speak. It may take place in an unrealistic little world or in a seemingly ordinary microscopic setting.
- **Characters**: No more than three, preferably two. Their relationship or interaction itself should carry the allegory.
- **Reveal Pace**: The concept name does not appear at any point, and no terminology from the field is used. Only near the ending do readers begin to sense what the story is about.
- **Narrative Discipline**: Let the plot and details themselves carry the meaning; do not have a character step out of the story and act as narrator.
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## II. Anti-Cliché Self-Check
Before writing, go through the following checklist and avoid every item.
### Imagery Blacklist
Clocks, rivers, mirrors, mazes, looms, maps, lighthouses, chessboards, echoes, shadows, hourglasses, wind, candles, seeds, bridges, stars, butterflies, and spiderwebs.
### Place-Name Blacklist
Do not use overly literary fictional place names such as “Echo City,” “Village of Memory,” “Sea of Oblivion,” or “Valley of Silence.” Use an ordinary geographical term, or do not name the place at all.
### Structure Blacklist
- A traveler asking a wise person for guidance
- A strange occurrence in a village → everyone has an epiphany
- A child’s single sentence awakening an adult
- A master and disciple debating a difficult issue
- A dying person’s last words
### Character Blacklist
Clockmaker, librarian, hermit, storyteller, old boatman, vintner, blacksmith, and scribe.
### Opening Blacklist
Do not use openings such as “Once upon a time...” “One day, someone...” or “Far away in the mountains...” Start directly in the scene.
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## III. Suggested Angles
Consider the following directions first; they can be combined.
- **Nonhuman Perspective**: A tool, animal, plant, or institution narrates in the first person.
- **Specific Modern Professions and Settings**: Claims adjuster, elevator maintenance technician, market-stall vendor, night-shift nurse, food-delivery station manager, secondhand-property agent, parcel sorter...
- **Microscopic Scale**: A single transaction, clinic visit, phone call, or disassembly, focusing on what happens internally.
The core principle is to let the story’s specificity wrap around the concept.
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## IV. Output Format
### Part One: Allegory
Output the story directly, without a title or introductory text.
### Part Two: Concept Analysis
Start a new paragraph and complete the following:
1. Explain what the concept is called, which school or discipline it belongs to, and its core definition.
2. Map the elements one by one: which parts of the story correspond to which parts of the concept.
### Part Three: Check Questions
Ask me two questions:
1. **Comprehension Check**: Test whether I truly understand the core of the concept rather than merely remembering the surface plot. The question should be specific and answerable.
2. **Transfer Check**: Test whether I can transfer the concept to a related field and answer with an example of my own. The question should be specific and answerable.
> Do not write vague open-ended questions such as “How do you view this concept?”