Write It Out

Writing prompts to boost your creativity.

In good old-fashioned prompt form, here is a list of writing prompts to use as a springboard as you wish and when you need. Unlike some of our other prompts, there are no dice, no word limits, no combining bits and pieces— unless you want to make a game for yourself.

1. Open up a weather forecasting app or website. Randomly choose a letter from the alphabet and start searching with that letter. From the list that auto-populates, select a city that most intrigues you and look at the weather they expect to have that week. Write what happens when that town experiences the diametrical opposite of that weather instead.

2. A character has to suddenly give a public speech. What’s the speech about? Do they relish the opportunity to share their thoughts, are they terrified they’ll make a fool of themselves, or something else entirely? Write what happens. 3. Write about a gardening shed that gives certain people who enter special powers. Who are the people and what kind of special powers does it endow?

4. Use as many senses as possible to describe a character preparing and eating their favorite meal or the favorite meal of a loved one. Be sure to include why it’s so special. 5. If you’ve gotten stuck in a story you’re writing, hit pause for a minute. Identify a troublesome character (could be the character that’s giving you trouble as you write, or a character causing trouble for other characters in your story) and have them explain their story to an AI customer service chatbot. How does the dialogue between character and bot go? 6. Two people your character lives with return home together, but they’re no longer speaking to each other. What happened and how does it affect your character? 7. A person is walking past their former elementary school when they abruptly pass out on the sidewalk. What did they see to make them pass out and what happens when they wake up?

8. Your character is invited to go to an awards ceremony as the guest of someone who may or may not win an award. Write two versions of the outcome: one in which the person wins the award but neglects to thank your character, and one in which they don’t win and irrationally blame their loss on your character.

9. Your character’s roommate comes home with a new and entirely unexpected pet. It couldn’t be worse timing, and now your character has to care for it. How does it disrupt and/or enhance your character’s life?

10. Write about a memory you think is from your childhood but could be something you read somewhere or something someone told you. Turn it into a story. WD