We all need an idea to get us writing. Sometimes it’s nice to find a writing prompt to bring in new ingredients. You can find a number of ideas here to get you working on a new story, or maybe help on a current one. Sometimes you may have the beginnings of an idea, and just need a little help organizing the thoughts.
The way I think about getting an idea I can use to write is like making a potion. You collect ingredients from everywhere and combine them in hundreds of different ways to make the different ideas you use to write. So, here is where you may find a few ingredients to add to your life experiences to make the potion that will create your story!
Prompts
Dialogue Prompt
“I’m never sarcastic about something like this!”
Image Prompt
Scene Prompt
Under the Christmas tree, with a barricade of presents, it was a safe, quiet, and well-lit location.
Writing Prompt Challenges
Seasonal Prompt Challenges
Story Prompt Challenge #1 – Winter Traditions
Story Prompt Challenge #2 – Transition from Winter Blahs
Story Prompt Challenge #3 – Change, Drastically Different
Story Prompt Challenge #7 – The Greatest Blessing
Story Prompt Challenge #14 – Write a Christmas Story
For other ideas based on a certain time of year, look at other seasonal blogs.
Elements of Story
Story Prompt Challenge #4 – Artist’s Struggles
Story Prompt Challenge #5 – Write a Fable
Story Prompt Challenge #6 – Theme or Message
Story Prompt Challenge #10 – Build a World
Story Prompt Challenge #12 – Anxiety and Emotion
For other ideas on practicing or creating a story from the basic elements of story, look at other blogs on Story Elements.
Current Events and Topics
Story Prompt Challenge #8 – Real Deal
Story Prompt Challenge #9 – Doomsday
Story Prompt Challenge #11 – Conspiracy Theory
Story Prompt Challenge #13 – Transformation
For more writing prompt ideas, check out In Fiction, a series that looks at everyday aspects of life and begins exploring how they can influence a story. Life Lessons and Creativity and Writing may be other options that inspire a story from life events.
Event Prompt
What is your first memory? What is a different perspective on that memory?
Experience Prompt
Pick one thing from your bucket list. Write about a character experiencing that.
Situation Prompt
Being pregnant for the first time is an experience on its own. What if it happened on a deserted island?