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Here, you'll find HUNDREDS of creative writing prompts for your poetry.
The prompts and ideas on this website intentionally open-ended. Each prompt can be approached in
many different ways. Whether you are a traditional poet or an experimental one; whether your poetry is
lyrical, humorous, or dark; you can make these prompts work for you.
The open-ended design of these prompts also means that you can return to the same prompt again and
again, producing a different poem each time.
Ready to write some poems?
12) Write a poem in the form of a message or letter to your future self.
13) Write a poem about the color red or another color. (Some ideas for brainstorming: How does
the color make you feel? What things do you associate with that color?)
14) Write a poem about a place that frightens you or a place where you feel happy. Try to
recreate the feeling of the place.
15) Write a poem using all of the following words: exquisite, visit, glisten.
16) Write a poem about something or someone you lost.
17) Write a poem using all of the following words: dim, hinge, dingy.
19) Write a poem in the form of a lullaby.
20) Write a poem about yourself in which nothing is true.
Night-time
A particular color
Being underwater
A person whose life you're curious about
Your mother's perfume
Falling asleep or waking up
Growing older
The feeling of getting lost in a book
How to know if you're in love
A bad dream
A ghost
Your city, town, or neighborhood
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Feeling lonely
The moon
Getting lost
Marriage or divorce
An imaginary friend
Having a fever
A letter
A recipe
A horoscope
A prayer
A shopping list
A magic spell.
Listen to a piece of music and write about the images that it brings into your mind.
Sit in a park and close your eyes. Notice all of the sounds and smells. Write about them
afterward.
Keep a notebook next to your bed and write down your dreams at night to turn them into poems
later.
Make a list of words you think are unusual, then try to use them in poems.
Watch an animal and write a poem about what it looks like and what it does.
Smell different spices in your kitchen and write about the memories that they inspire.
Look through old family photographs and choose some to write poems about.
Go on a "field trip" -- a museum, the zoo, a greenhouse -- to hunt for poetry ideas.
Get inspiration from books on an area of science or history that interests you.
Three wishes
Getting a haircut
Death
The number 3
The ocean
Missing someone
Having a superpower
Being in an airplane
Playing a sport
A shadow
Daydream
Cry
Kiss well
Find happiness
Peel a peach
Write a poem that contains all three words from one of these lists:
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10 Phrases
Use one of these phrases in a poem (or a story)
"oddly inflated"
"inside my eyelids"
"grind it to dust"
5 Topics
1) A close friendship
Questions to give you ideas:
Close friends often develop a kind of special language, with certain words or catch-phrases that
they use with each other (nicknames for things, quotes from movies, inside jokes, etc.). Does the
friendship you're writing about have any special words or phrases? What memories do you
associate with them? What do they mean?
What place do you associate with this friend (a particular caf, a park, the friends home)?
What memories express specific aspects of this friendship? What memory expresses something
that you admire about this friend?
Have you ever dreamed about this friend? What did you dream? What did it mean?
What's in it? How do the items relate to each other? What memories are attached to them?
How have its contents changed over time? What story does that tell?
What does it mean to you or to someone else? How would its meaning change depending on
who opened it?
What did you eat? What were the sights, sounds, smells, flavors, textures? Who prepared it, and
what was involved in the preparation?
Where did the meal take place? What did the place look like?
Who was there? How did they behave? What did they say? How did their feelings come through
in their words or their silences?
What do you see now, looking back at the scene, that you weren't aware of at the time?
5) Writing
What other experience or activity does writing remind you of? What does it feel like when the
writing's going well, or when it's going badly?
What interesting answer could you invent to the question, "Where do you get your ideas?"
What is a phrase or sentence you had trouble writing? Show the struggle.
If you had a muse, what kind of person would he or she be? What would he or she say to you?
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A babysitter is snooping around her employer's house and finds a disturbing photograph...
At a Chinese restaurant, your character opens his fortune cookie and reads the following
message: "Your life is in danger. Say nothing to anyone. You must leave the city immediately and
never return. Repeat: say nothing."...
Your character's boss invites her and her husband to dinner. Your character wants to make a
good impression, but her husband has a tendency to drink too much and say exactly what's on his
mind...
It's your character's first day at a new school. He or she wants to get a fresh start, develop a new
identity. But in his or her homeroom, your character encounters a kid he or she knows from summer
camp...
Your character has to tell his parents that he's getting a divorce. He knows his parents will take
his wife's side, and he is right...
At the airport, a stranger offers your character money to carry a mysterious package onto the
plane. The stranger assures your character that it's nothing illegal and points out that it has already
been through the security check. Your character has serious doubts, but needs the money, and
therefore agrees...
Your character suspects her husband is having an affair and decides to spy on him. What she
discovers is not what she was expecting...
A man elbows your character in a crowd. After he is gone, she discovers her cell phone is too.
She calls her own number, and the man answers. She explains that the cell phone has personal
information on it and asks the man to send it back to her. He hangs up. Instead of going to the
police, your character decides to take matters into her own hands...
After your character loses his job, he is home during the day. That's how he discovers that his
teenage son has a small marijuana plantation behind the garage. Your character confronts his son,
who, instead of acting repentant, explains to your character exactly how much money he is making
from the marijuana and tries to persuade your character to join in the business...
20. At a garage sale, your character buys an antique urn which she thinks will look nice decorating
her bookcase. But when she gets home, she realizes there are someone's ashes in it....
Learn to make your story a page-turner with our online course Irresistible Fiction.
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Your character starts receiving flowers and anonymous gifts. She doesn't know who is sending
them. Her husband is suspicious, and the gifts begin to get stranger....
A missionary visits your character's house and attempts to convert her to his religion. Your
character is trying to get rid of him just as storm warning sirens go off. Your character feels she can't
send the missionary out into the storm, so she lets him come down into her basement with her. This
is going to be a long storm....
Your character is caught shoplifting. The shop owner says that she won't call the police in
exchange for a personal favor....
Your character is visiting his parents over a holiday. He is returning some books to the library for
his mother and is startled to notice that the librarian looks exactly like him, only about thirty years
older. He immediately begins to suspect that his mother had an affair at one time and the librarian is
his real father...
Your character picks up a hitch-hiker on her way home from work. The hitch-hiker tries to
persuade your character to leave everything and drive her across the country...
Your character has to sell the house where she grew up. A potential buyer comes to look at it and
begins to talk about all of the changes she would make to the place. This upsets your character,
who decides she wants to find a buyer who will leave everything the way it has always been....
A bat gets in the house. Your character's husband becomes hysterical, frightened that it might be
rabid. In his panic, he ends up shutting the bat in a room with your character while he calls an
exterminator from a safe place in the house. His behavior makes your character see her husband in
a new way....
Your character changes jobs in order to have more time with his family. But his family doesn't
seem interested in having him around...
Your character develops the idea that she can hear the voices of the dead on a certain radio
channel. She decides to take advantage of this channel to find answers to some questions that are
bothering her about her dead parents....
Your character's dream is to be a professional dancer. At a party, she mentions this dream to a
stranger, who says that he has contacts in the dance world and gets her an audition for a
prestigious dance troupe. One problem: your character doesn't know how to dance. Your character
decides to accept the audition anyway and look for a solution....
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Your character thinks her boss is looking for an excuse to fire her. She decides to fight back....
Your character goes out for dinner on a date and becomes attracted to the waiter or waitress....
Your character notices that a stranger is following her. She pretends not to notice. The stranger
follows her home and watches her go inside. Then when he leaves, your character turns the tables
and starts to follow him....
A child moves into a new house and finds out that the other kids in town think it's haunted. She
begins to invent ghost stories to tell at school in order to get attention. But the more stories she tells,
the more frightened she becomes of the house...
Your elderly character escapes from the retirement home where his or her children have placed
him or her....
Your character gets cosmetic surgery in an attempt to make her boyfriend love her more. But then
she worries he only loves her for her looks....
Your character is a writer. But his new neighbors are so noisy that he can neither work nor sleep.
He decides to take action....
Your character's mother-in-law comes to visit for a week, and your character suspects she is
trying to poison him. He shares his suspicion with his wife, who says he's always hated her mother
but this accusation is going too far. Meanwhile, your character has stomach cramps, and his
mother-in-law is downstairs making breakfast again....
It's a freezing cold night. Your character finds a homeless family on his doorstep and invites them
into his home to sleep. But in the morning, the family doesn't leave....
Your character has recently married a man with two teenage children. The children resent her,
and she tries to avoid them altogether. Then her new husband (their father) disappears suddenly,
leaving only a short good-bye note....
Make a list of five things you're afraid of happening to you. Then write a story in which one of
them happens to your character..
42. Think of a big problem that one of your friends had to face. Then write a story in which your
character battles with that problem..
43. What is one of your bad habits? Invent a character who has the bad habit, but a much worse
case of it than you have. Write a story where this habit gets your character into trouble.
44. What is one of your greatest strengths? Invent a character who doesn't have this strength. Create
a situation in which having this strength is very important for your character. What does your
character do? Write the story.
Short story ideas - writing prompts with a focus on: narrative point of
view
1) Short story topics - chemical imbalance
Imagine a blind date. The guy thinks it goes wonderfully -- amazing chemistry; they have
so much in common. The girl thinks it's a disaster, that he's a real creep.
Write about the date in the first person, from the girl's point of view. E.g., "I met him at the
restaurant at seven. He looked..." (For tips on writing in the first person, click here).
Then, write about the same date in the first person, from the guy's point of view.
If you want, you could also rewrite the same scene in the third person, switching back
and forth between points of view. Use some kind of indicator so that readers know where
the point of view is at all time. Maybe give the man a few paragraphs, then the woman,
and use a line break each time you change to separate the story into sections. Don't
switch back and forth too fast, or you might leave your reader dizzy and disoriented.
2) Short story topics - wife's denial
Your character's husband is an alcoholic, but your character refuses to realize it. She
idealizes him. The couple had a dinner party the night before, and your character's
husband got drunk and violent. Your character tells the story of the party in the first
person and tries to convince the reader that what happened was no big deal.
3) Short story topics - the blind woman
Your character is blind. The man she has started dating is not. He invites her to his
apartment for the first time. While she is there, she notices various clues that tell her he is
probably married. Write this story from the blind woman's point of view. Remember that
she cannot see, so you must not use any visual details. Focus on sounds, smells, touch,
even taste. This is her first time in her new boyfriend's apartment, so she is probably
paying a lot of attention to what's around her. Describe the apartment as vividly as
possible without involving the sense of sight.
Rewrite the story where the blind woman goes to her new boyfriend's apartment, but this
time write it from the boyfriend's point of view. The boyfriend is not blind, so you can use
visual details. But don't forget about the other senses. The apartment belongs to him, so
although he can see it, he is not paying attention to the details in the same way that the
woman is. It is all familiar to him. On the other hand, he is paying attention to her. He is
attracted to her physically and notices details about how she looks. Make the reader see
these details. Also: as the blind woman begins to suspect that he's married, he notices a
change in her behavior. He is watching her reactions closely, so show the reader what he
sees.
4) Short story topics - the thief's defense
Tell the story of a robbery in the first person, from the point of view of the criminal. Have
the criminal tell the story as if he were attempting to convince the reader that his actions
were justified.
You might then write about the same robbery from the point of view of the victim.
Our online writing course Through Your Character's Eyes will show you narrative
viewpoint techniques to pull readers deep inside your stories.
Three Elements
Choose a set of three elements, and imagine a story that includes all three of them.
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Character Ideas
Here are 3 ideas you can use to create fictional characters and stories:
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Write about a character who pretends to be cool and tough, but is actually shy and sensitive.
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Write about a character who is obsessed with certain colors.
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Write about a character who secretly plans to leave home and start a new life.
Now, YOU complete the sentences to get even more character ideas:
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First Lines
Here are some beginnings for stories or poems. Start with one of these and see where your imagination
takes you.
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currently lives in. Tracey too lives with her in-laws, but has always worked hard to get along with them.
She begs her husband not to publish the book or at least to disguise the character more, but her husband
refuses...
5) One evening, as your character's getting ready for bed, s/he notices a Webcam attached to his/her
home computer, filming him/her. Your character does not own a Webcam...
6) After a neighbor is murdered, the police talk to your character and his wife, asking if they heard
anything suspicious. Your character's wife answers the police's questions as if she had been home the
evening the crime occurred, when your character knows she was out until very late that night...
7) A teenager hears that the movie star she's in love with will be in town. She develops a plan to meet him
and make him fall in love with her...
8) Your character and his/her husband/wife are both unemployed and sending out CVs. When they both
get interviews at the same time, they discover that they are competing for the same job. Both of them
want the job, and each thinks that he/she is better suited for it than the other...
9) Your character's teenage child makes a rule that no one's allowed in his/her bedroom. Your character
respects this rule until one morning when s/he wants a book that s/he thinks that the teenager has
borrowed. S/he goes to look in the teenager's room and can't believe what s/he finds there...
10) Your character gets a new roommate. This roommate is always complimenting your character and
seems to admire her a lot. But your character starts to get the creeps when the roommate begins to dress
exactly like her, gets her hair cut like your character's, starts reading your character's books and quoting
things that your character has said. Your character has the strange feeling that the roommate wants to BE
her. And then the roommate starts making excuses to spend time with your character's boyfriend....
Story Beginnings
Start with one of these and see where your imagination takes you.
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They sat next to each other on the train, still pretending to be strangers...
I knew he'd been there because he'd stubbed out his cigarette in the sink...
"Don't you dare come any closer..."
She'd imagined this moment so many times, but she never expected...
At first, I thought it was the cat, but it was...
Inside the envelope was a four-leaf clover...
There was only one way to keep her quiet, and it was going to cost us...
"What If..."
In our audio class on writing young adult fiction, author Emma Carlson Berne explains how she uses
"what-if" questions to come up with ideas for novels. Below are some "what-if" questions that you can use
for your own fiction writing.
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What if you discovered that your friend's husband was cheating... but you also knew that if you
told her it would be the end of your friendship?
What if you opened a fortune cookie and found a tiny map inside?
What if the cab driver suddenly turned in the wrong direction and told you he had his own plans
for you?
What if your boss ordered you to do something illegal at work, and you knew if you didn't do it
you'd be fired?
What if someone who looked almost exactly like you suddenly became very famous?
What if you and your brother or sister fell in love with the same person?
What if, in the basement of your house, you discovered a secret passageway?
What if a stranger on a bus told you he or she was dying and needed your kidney?
What if you bought a new house or apartment and when you went to move in, you found
someone already living there?
What if you picked up the wrong suitcase at the airport, and inside it was the evidence from a
crime?
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a reader of romance novels who wants to live a love story of her own.
an amateur naturalist whose dream is to discover a new type of animal.
a character who wants to achieve a world record -- he doesn't care for what.
a character who dreams of starting a new life in a foreign country.
a character who wants to rob a jewelry shop and has a foolproof (s/he hopes) plan to get away
with it.
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a character with no living grandparents, who wants to adopt a grandmother.
Inventor
Taxi driver
Magician
Scuba instructor
Marriage counselor
Prison guard
Beauty pageant contestant
Cookbook author
Computer hacker
Archaeologist
Lead singer of an unsuccessful rock band
Astronaut
Gossip magazine journalist
Divorce lawyer
Animal trainer
Video game designer
High school football coach
Exorcist
Flight attendant
Stunt actor
Think about:
What kind of person would you expect to find in this profession? See if you can play against
Here are some setting ideas that you can use as story starters.
Write a story that takes place...
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in a tattoo parlor
at the zoo at night
in an abandoned mental hospital
in a submarine
in a magnet factory
in the vault of a bank
in a bridal shop
in the kitchen of Buckingham Palace
on the edge of a cliff
entirely in the dark
back and makes dinner for him and his father, and when he takes a sip of his milk, he notices that funny
taste again. Your character is beginning to have suspicions, but what can he do? His father would never
believe him...
Your character's brother has always been their parents' favorite. Your character decides it's time to
change that. He comes up with a devious plan...
1) False Appearances
Here's an easy way to get fiction writing ideas. Just complete this magic phrase: "... was/were not what
it/he/she seemed."
Examples:
2) Regrets
Another phrase that will help you produce stories is: "If only I/he/she/they had/hadn't..."
Examples:
1) Your character passes a stranger on the street and has a powerful sensation that goes beyond mere
physical attraction. It is a sense that this is the person he/she is destined to spend his/her life with. But
before your character has the chance to react, the stranger gets onto a bus and is gone. How will your
character ever find him/her again? And what about your character's current relationship?
2) Your character is a passionate collector (you can decide what s/he collects -- art, stamps, antiques,
coins, etc.). One day, s/he hears a rumor that someone else in his/her town has an item that your
character has been wanting for years to complete his/her collection. Your character has to have it! S/he
goes to visit the person who has it and asks for a price. It's not for sale, your character is told. But your
character is not prepared to take no for an answer. If s/he can't buy it, then s/he'll have to steal it...
3) Your character's best friend has a new boyfriend or girlfriend. This person, on the surface, seems
wonderful, and your character's best friend is ecstatic about the new relationship. But your character can't
shake a sense that there's something false about this person, as if he/she's playing a role. Your character
doesn't believe a word out of this person's mouth. And your character is determined to find out the truth...
before his/her best friend gets hurt.
4) Your character loves the apartment s/he's renting. It's the first place in his/her life where s/he's ever felt
happy, at home. But the building is about to go for sale, and all the tenants will be forced to leave. Unable
to face the prospect of moving out, your character makes up his/her mind to buy the building. S/he has no
idea how s/he's going to come up with that kind of money, but there has to be a way...
When people's lives dramatically change, for better or for worse, there are always
surprises and challenges. This makes for interesting story material.
The way people react to changes can be very revealing. By forcing your character to
confront unfamiliar circumstances, you give him or her the opportunity to evolve.
Your character might evolve in positive ways -- gaining maturity and strength. Or,
like Walter White in the TV series Breaking Bad (a chemistry teacher turned drug
kingpin), your character might evolve in negative ways, becoming morally corrupted
by his/her new experiences.
1) After an argument with his/her boss, your character decides to leave a highly
paid job in order to become a full-time artist.
2) Your character was widowed many years ago. Now, s/he decides s/he's finally
ready to start dating again. But s/he hasn't been on a date for over forty years!
3) Your character is in his/her late teens and living in his/her parents' home. One
day, his/her parents sit him/her down and say that they've decided it's time for
him/her to become independent. They inform him/her that s/he has to move out by
the end of the month and that they're also cutting him/her off financially.
4) Your character is unmarried and lives alone... until his/her brother and sister-inlaw are suddenly killed in a car accident... and your character is given custody of
their four children.
5) Your character moves to a different country (you could use a country you're
interested in researching as either your character's starting point or his/her
destination).
Advertisement:
Think about what kind of character it would be interesting to put in the situation
you've chosen. Try to choose a character who will find the situation especially
challenging.
How does your character imagine his/her new life ahead of time? How might the
reality be completely different from what your character was expecting? What
mistakes might your character make based on wrong assumptions?
What challenges are inherent in the change? What aspects of the new situation will
your character have the hardest time adapting to? What are some elements that
you could add to the story to make the change more difficult for your character (and
therefore make your story more interesting)?
What strengths and weaknesses of your character might the change bring out?
How might the people around your main character react to the changes? Who might
be personally affected by what your character does? Who might judge your
character for his/her actions/reactions? Who might feel jealous? Who might feel
concerned? Who might give your character terrible advice?
Happy writing!
5. Your character's an amazing ballroom dancer. Unfortunately, his wife can't dance at all. She's also
extremely jealous and gets very upset if he dances with another woman. Your character misses dancing.
He decides that what his wife doesn't know won't hurt her. But things don't go as planned...
2) Your character is a travel agent. A man walks into her agency whom she recognizes as a former
classmate who was very cruel to her many years ago. The man doesn't seem to recognize your character
and simply asks for help planning a trip. So your character sets about preparing the vacation of his
dreams -- that is, the kind of dreams that make you wake up screaming...
3) Your character, Mr. Smith, flies to another city for a business meeting. When he comes out of baggage
claim at the airport, he sees a man waiting with a sign that says "Mr. Smith." Your character follows the
man to a car, which he assumes has been sent by the hotel. As he talks with the man, he gradually
realizes that there has been a mix-up and the man was actually waiting for a different Mr. Smith. But the
other Mr. Smiths plans sound so much more interesting than your characters business meeting that he
decides not to reveal the mistake.
4) As your character is pulling out of the parking garage, she looks in the rearview mirror and lets out a
shriek. There is a woman she doesn't know sitting in the backseat of her car. "Don't be scared," the
woman says...
5) Your character doesn't get along with her family (you can decide why), and hasn't been in contact with
them for years. Now, she's writing a memoir about her terrible childhood, and she wants to reread her old
diaries, which she left in the family's summer home. She drives to the house expecting it to be empty.
Instead, she finds her whole family there. And the snow is coming down so hard it's not safe to drive back
that night...
6) Your character's best friend asks him to lie and say that they spent the weekend camping together.
Your character assumes that your friend has been unfaithful to his wife and agrees to lie for him. But it
turns out that he's not covering up an extramarital affair -- he is providing an alibi for a murder. And some
holes in the camping trip story throw suspicion on HIM...
7) After his grandfather dies, your character goes to clean out his house and discovers a machine that
prints very realistic one hundred dollar bills. Your character's sister says they should throw it away or
maybe hand it over to the police, but your character has other ideas...
will assume that your character is only after the patient's money...
3) Your character sees an interview with a celebrity and feels a powerful connection. Your
character is sure that this celebrity is his/her soul-mate. But the celebrity doesn't even
know that your character exists -- yet. Your character finds the celebrity's address online,
and goes there one night, determined to get past security and meet the celebrity in
person...
4) Your character borrows a large amount of money from his/her new boyfriend/girlfriend
to invest in a business opportunity. But to your character's amazement, the business
opportunity fails, and now s/he is unable to pay the money back. Unfortunately, the
boyfriend/girlfriend is much less understanding than your character expected, and keeps
asking about the money. Your character is afraid that if s/he doesn't find a way to return
the loan, it may be the end of the relationship...
5) Your character decides to rent an apartment together with a good friend. As soon as
they move in together, your character realizes s/he has made a big mistake. The friend is
a terrible, terrible roommate (you decide why). What can your character do?
6) Your character suspects that his/her best friend is secretly trying to sabotage your
character's marriage.
7) Your character's best friend confides in your character about his/her marital problems.
Your character secretly thinks that his/her friend's wrong and the friend's husband/wife is
right. But, wanting to be supportive of his/her friend, your character pretends to agree
with him/her. Meanwhile, the marital problems are getting worse, the friend's behavior
toward his/her husband/wife is becoming and more appalling, and your character is
becoming more and more uncomfortable with his/her role in the situation...
8) Your character's best friend asks your character if he/she will take care of the friend's
three children in the case of the friend's death. Your character dislikes children in general,
and particularly dislikes the best friend's children, who are spoiled and badly behaved.
Your character also has a lifestyle which is completely incompatible with raising children.
However, the chances that the friend will suddenly die seem very remote, so your
character says yes, believing that s/he will never have to follow through on his/her
promise. Just six months later, the friend is killed in a car crash. The friend's lawyer calls
your character to tell him/her that she/he has been made guardian of the children.
a snake.
an engagement ring.
a photograph of your character's brother who disappeared when they were children.
a hand-drawn map with an X marking a location not far from your character's house.
a photograph that appears to be your character kissing someone that s/he has no memory of
ever having met.
Betty with a gun in her hand and her clothes covered with blood.
a stranger, who says he can tell your character where Betty is... but for a price.
a portal to the past. Instead of Betty's house, your character is in the house where they grew up,
the way it was when they were both children.
a magnificent house, with the door unlocked and all of the lamps lit, but apparently empty.
a military project so secret that the government can't risk your character leaving alive.
a summer camp full of children who are terrified because the adults supervising them have all
mysteriously disappeared.
person after they've only known each other a very short time. Your character's new husband/wife moves
to your character's country and begins to take language classes there. The better the spouse is able to
communicate, the more your character realizes that s/he isn't the person your character had believed...
2) On a first date, your character makes a joke about wanting to kill his/her boss. But when the boss ends
up in the hospital following a brutal attack, your character begins to worry that his/her new
boyfriend/girlfriend may have taken the joke too literally...
3) Your character runs a small charity. The charity's most important donor has just died, and the donors
widow shows no interest in continuing to contribute to the charity. Your character fears that the charity will
not survive the loss of funding. Then your character learns that the widow regularly visits a psychic -which gives your character an idea. Your character will convince the widow that s/he has the ability to
speak with the dead, and will pretend to pass on messages from the dead husband urging her to continue
with the charitable donations. But something strange and unexpected begins to happen. When your
character pretends to summon the dead, s/he has a distinct feeling that someone, or something, is
actually trying to communicate with him or her...
4) Every evening, when she goes to the parking garage of her office building, your character finds a new
love note tucked under the windshield wipers of her car. These love notes are very beautiful and fill your
character with powerful emotions. But they are all addressed to "Caroline". Your character's name is
Melissa...
5) Your character has been kidnapped and locked in an attic. The attic has a small window overlooking
the garden of a neighbor's house, where your character sometimes sees children playing. Your character
doesn't dare shout out the window because the kidnapper might hear. S/he needs to find a way to signal
for help without the kidnapper discovering what s/he's doing, and without endangering the children...
again. But s/he hasn't been on a date for over forty years!
3) Your character is in his/her late teens and living in his/her parents' home. One day, his/her parents sit
him/her down and say that they've decided it's time for him/her to become independent. They inform
him/her that s/he has to move out by the end of the month and that they're also cutting him/her off
financially.
4) Your character is unmarried and lives alone... until his/her brother and sister-in-law are suddenly killed
in a car accident... and your character is given custody of their four children.
5) Your character moves to a different country (you could use a country you're interested in researching
as either your character's starting point or his/her destination).
6) Your character wins the lottery.
7) Your character's mother wants to sell the family house. Your character has a strong sentimental
attachment to the house, which is the only place where your character has ever felt happy. Your character
had always intended to move back there himself/herself one day. S/he can't let it be sold to a stranger, but
s/he doesn't have any money to buy it herself/himself...
character is sure that if s/he can't touch the charm before the game, s/he will lose badly. S/he needs to
get it back. But how?
3) Your character's new boyfriend has a habit which drives her crazy. They'll be out to dinner or at a movie
or alone in your character's apartment, and the boyfriend keeps texting on his phone. When your
character complains about this behavior, the boyfriend says that an emergency has come up at work;
however, your character's beginning to suspect he's seeing another woman. One night when the
boyfriend falls asleep, your character slips the phone out of his jeans pocket to investigate. Most of the
messages are to someone named P.T., and when your character opens one of them, she's surprised by
what she finds. It's a photograph of her, your character, at a restaurant where she went with her boyfriend!
The other messages contain more photographs of your character and reports on her actions and
behavior. What is going on?
4) Your character is songwriter... or used to be. After some brief success, your character has had a long
dry spell without inspiration when s/he just can't come up with a good melody. One day, a new neighbor
moves into the apartment next door to your character's. This neighbor spends the whole day humming -the wall between the apartments are paper-thin, and your character can hear her perfectly. The neighbor
hums melodies that your character doesn't recognize, but they're catchy and appealing and they stick in
your character's head. After a week of listening to the neighbor, your character meets her face-to-face for
the first time. They take the elevator together; the neighbor, as usual, is humming. "What is that song?"
your character asks. "Oh, it's not a real song," the neighbor responds. "It's just something that came to
me." It suddenly occurs to your character that s/he's sitting on a gold-mine. If your character wrote down
the neighbor's melodies, s/he's sure they would sell, and your character's song-writing career would be
back on track. But that would be stealing, wouldn't it? The temptation is powerful...
Setting
Trait
Character
Situation
On a ski trip,
a shy
librarian
In a stuck elevator,
a deceitful
babysitter
At a costume party,
an incredibly
novelist
attractive
In a moonlit graveyard,
a sarcastic
ballet
dancer
is visited by a ghost.
In a natural history
museum,
a jealous
psychiatrist
seeks revenge.
Backstage at the
theater,
a gullible
tattoo artist
succumbs to temptation.
On a rooftop,
a misunderstood
burglar
In an orphanage,
a famous
taxi driver
In a hair salon,
a paranoid
police
officer
On a private jet,
an obsessivecompulsive
bodyguard
is kidnapped.
In a maze,
a spoiled
animal
trainer
makes a sacrifice.
At a police station,
a clever
actor
(add your
own)
(add your
own)
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Once you have your idea, how can you go about turning it into a story? Some suggestions:
- Use our character profile questionnaire to develop your main character into a 3-dimensional person.
- Identify what the main problem facing your character in the story is. What steps will the character take to
overcome the problem? What complications might arise when your character takes them? Make a list of
ideas. If you like, write them on notecards and start playing with the order.
- Imagine one of the scenes in your head and start writing it. It doesn't have to be the first scene in the
story. You can go back and write the story beginning later. Start with whatever scene is clearest in your
imagination. Then move on to the next scene.
Fiction writing ideas with a focus on: showing versus telling, and
specific detail.
1) Creative writing ideas - the new house
Your character and his wife visit a new house that they're thinking of buying. Your character's wife is
enthusiastic about the house, but it's really a terrible place. The character hates it but is afraid to say what
he really thinks. Show the scene. But.. do NOT tell the reader that the house is terrible. Do NOT tell the
reader that your character hates it. Do NOT have the character tell his true feelings about the wife.
Instead, make the reader see and feel it all. And eventually, make the wife see it too.
2) Creative writing ideas - secret love
Two old friends get together for dinner after a long time apart. One of them is secretly in love with the
other one. Show this, don't tell it.
3) Creative writing ideas - the grouch
In an emergency, a small boy is left to stay with his grandfather for several days. The grandfather
pretends to be annoyed at the inconvenience, but, secretly, he is delighted. He adores the boy. He is
embarrassed about displaying emotion, so he acts gruff with the child, who is therefore frightened of him
at the beginning of the visit. Show the old man's act, but also let his real feelings show through.
4) Creative writing ideas - the lemon
Your character thinks she's gotten a great deal on something (car, house, vacation package, moneymaking scheme, new job offer -- you decide). She brags to everyone who will listen about how fabulous
this deal is. Meanwhile, little by little, you let the reader see what she's really gotten herself into.
values but is promiscuous by nature. You decide. Then think of a situation in which these two sides of
your character would be in direct conflict with each other. Write the story.
3) Short story ideas - self-realization
Your character things he/she is good at something, but he/she isn't. Something happens that makes your
character realize this. What? What does your character do about it? Write the story.
4) Short story ideas - blast from the past
Years later, the character's first love shows up on his or her doorstep again. Both your character and
his/her first love are surprised at how the other person has changed (How?) This encounter causes a
disruption in your character's life (How? What does your character do about it?) Write the story.
5) Short story ideas - crisis of faith
Your character has a certain deep-held belief about life. This belief may be based on religion, on
something he learned from his parents, or on his own experience. Decide what this belief is and where it
came from. In your story, something happens to the character that seems incompatible with this belief.
How does your character react? Write the story.
6) Short story ideas - reluctant confrontation
Invent a teenage character who is very shy and hates confrontations of any kind. Her friend Stacy gets
into serious trouble at school, and your character knows that the situation is a teacher's fault, not Stacy's.
Your character wants to help Stacy, but all of her options seem terrifying: confront the teacher directly, talk
to the principal, or tell a parent who might not believe her. What does she do? Write the story.
7) Short story ideas - old dreams
Your character has a family and a stable job. Then something happens that reminds him of the plans he
had when he was younger, to become an actor and live a creative life without ties of any kind. What
happens to make him remember this? He starts to wonder if he's made the right choices. What does he
do?
A woman who is constantly calling the police on her noisy neighbors, not because the noise
Make sure your character feels real to us. You can read more about character development .
Make us care about your character.
Make the puppy extremely important to your character, and make sure we know why. Make us
so much? You decide. Your character develops a plan to get this thing for himself. What's the plan? But
several obstacles block him. What are they? The situation is looking pretty bad for your character, but he
decides to make one final last-ditch effort to get what he wants. This is the story climax. What is your
character's final plan? What happens? Write the story.
3) Creative writing topics - important party
Your character is a teenager, who wants to go to a particular party. Going to this party is incredibly
important to your character, who practically feels that his or her life depends on it. (Why? Come up with a
reason). Unfortunately for your character, Dad has absolutely forbidden this party. (Why? If you're a
parent, you can probably come up with about twenty possible reasons. Choose one). Write a story from
the teenager's perspective. The climax of the story is Party Night. The teenager tries with all his or her
might to get to the party, and Dad tries with all his might to prevent this. What happens?
4) Creative writing topics - the competition
Your character decides he must become the best in the world at a particular sport. Choose your favorite
sport. If you hate all sports, you can choose a board game. Why is it so important to your character to
become the best at this? Show why it matters. Your character develops an unusual training program.
What is it? He organizes a match to prove his skill. What's the big match? Create obstacles and
difficulties in his training and in his preparation for the match. Show how he tries to get past these
roadblocks. Then show the big match. This is the story climax. What happens?
5) Creative writing topics - creepy hotel
Your character's car breaks when he is driving home from a business trip late at night. Fortunately, there
is a hotel nearby, so the character decides to stay there and deal with the car in the morning. This hotel is
the creepiest place he's ever seen. Why is it so creepy? Create the atmosphere. According to the hotel's
policy, the character pays in advance for the night. Then he goes up to his room, and things get even
creepier. How? Show us. Your character wants to leave the place but tells himself he's being irrational.
He's already paid for the room, and he tells himself everything will be fine. But it just gets worse.
Depending on how you write this, it could be a ghost story, a crime story, a realistic psychological drama,
or a comedy. You could even try your hand at all of them and write four stories.
Character's conscience versus her temptation to get rich illegally when a unique opportunity
arises
Man's actual money problems versus his desire to look successful when his parents come to visit
Two men competing for the same woman
Traditional wife versus feminist husband
Ideas for creative writing - story starters with a focus on: writing
dialogue.
1) Creative writing ideas - the wrong lie
A husband catches his wife in a lie and suspects she is cheating on him. She isn't cheating, but she has a
new job that she doesn't want him to know about. (Suggestion: As preparation, write character
profiles for both the husband and the wife so that you have a clear idea of who they both are.) The
husband confronts the wife about her lie. Write the conversation.
2) Creative writing ideas - explain that baby
Your character kidnaps a baby. (What is the motive?) Your character's husband/wife, discovers your
character changing diapers in the living room, and wants to know what's going on. Write the conversation.
What happens next?
3) Creative writing ideas - testing the waters
Two people are on a date. Each thinks he or she might be in love with the other one. But each is afraid of
getting hurt, so he or she wants to find out the other one's feelings before revealing his or her own. Write
a conversation in which both are trying to get the other person to say how he/she sees the relationship
going. By the end of the conversation, have at least one of them decide that he or she is no longer
interested.
4) Creative writing ideas - taking sides
This story takes place at a restaurant. Three acquaintances have gone out to dinner together. Person A
has just left his/her wife and family. Person B supports this decision. Person C thinks this was criminally
irresponsible. write the conversation. (Suggestion: try giving each character the voice of a different person
that you actually know. For example, Person A might talk like one of your coworkers, and Person B might
talk like your brother or sister. Choose people who are very different from each other. Then try to express
each one's unique voice so clearly that you don't need to tell the reader which character said which
sentence, that the reader can "hear" the difference between who says what.)
5) Creative writing ideas - bus ride
The story takes place on a long bus ride between two cities. Two strangers are sharing a seat. Each one
secretly hopes to get something from the other. For example: one of them wants a job or money or a
place to stay in the city where they're headed. The other one wants love or a one-night stand. Neither of
them mentions directly what he or she wants. They pretend to make casual small-talk, but each one is
actually trying to manipulate the conversation in order to reach his or her secret goal. Write the
conversation.
6) Creative writing ideas - young decorator
Parents comes home from a trip and discover that their teenager has redecorated the house while they
were gone. The teenager tries to convince the parents that this was a good idea. One of the parents is
partially convinced; the other one isn't. Write the conversation.
7) Creative writing ideas - dangerous suggestion
A man suggests to his girlfriend that she get cosmetic surgery. Write the conversation.
8) Creative writing ideas - reluctant roommate
Friend A thinks it would be great to share an apartment with Friend B. Friend B would rather die but wants
to get out of this without hurting Friend A's feelings.
Short story ideas - writing prompts with a focus on: narrative point of
view
1) Short story topics - chemical imbalance
Imagine a blind date. The guy thinks it goes wonderfully -- amazing chemistry; they have so much in
common. The girl thinks it's a disaster, that he's a real creep.
Write about the date in the first person, from the girl's point of view. E.g., "I met him at the restaurant at
seven. He looked..." (For tips on writing in the first person, click here).
Then, write about the same date in the first person, from the guy's point of view.
If you want, you could also rewrite the same scene in the third person, switching back and forth between
points of view. Use some kind of indicator so that readers know where the point of view is at all time.
Maybe give the man a few paragraphs, then the woman, and use a line break each time you change to
separate the story into sections. Don't switch back and forth too fast, or you might leave your reader dizzy
and disoriented.
2) Short story topics - wife's denial
Your character's husband is an alcoholic, but your character refuses to realize it. She idealizes him. The
couple had a dinner party the night before, and your character's husband got drunk and violent. Your
character tells the story of the party in the first person and tries to convince the reader that what
happened was no big deal.
3) Short story topics - the blind woman
Your character is blind. The man she has started dating is not. He invites her to his apartment for the first
time. While she is there, she notices various clues that tell her he is probably married. Write this story
from the blind woman's point of view. Remember that she cannot see, so you must not use any visual
details. Focus on sounds, smells, touch, even taste. This is her first time in her new boyfriend's
apartment, so she is probably paying a lot of attention to what's around her. Describe the apartment as
vividly as possible without involving the sense of sight.
Rewrite the story where the blind woman goes to her new boyfriend's apartment, but this time write it from
the boyfriend's point of view. The boyfriend is not blind, so you can use visual details. But don't forget
about the other senses. The apartment belongs to him, so although he can see it, he is not paying
attention to the details in the same way that the woman is. It is all familiar to him. On the other hand, he is
paying attention to her. He is attracted to her physically and notices details about how she looks. Make
the reader see these details. Also: as the blind woman begins to suspect that he's married, he notices a
change in her behavior. He is watching her reactions closely, so show the reader what he sees.
4) Short story topics - the thief's defense
Tell the story of a robbery in the first person, from the point of view of the criminal. Have the criminal tell
the story as if he were attempting to convince the reader that his actions were justified.
You might then write about the same robbery from the point of view of the victim.
Break it down
Here's an exercise that will help you generate your own story starters.
1.
2.
someone mugs the character's grandmother. Another version might be that the character's mother
is unfairly fired from her job).
4.
Now, take some of these scenarios, and make them even more specific. (Using the example of
the character's mother getting fired: Maybe it is a case of sexual harassment. Or maybe an envious
coworker is telling lies about her...)
5.
Keep going, getting more and more specific, until you find a story you want to write.
Build on a name
Go to a phone book, and pick a name at random. If you don't have a phone book handy, you can make up
a name, or feel free use one of these: Hank Jenkins, Trevor Smythe-Hewitt, Tatiana Zeleny, Margaret
Wintergreen, Mimi Howard, Jasper Krupp.
Try to picture how someone with this name might look. I imagine Tatiana Zeleny as in her early twenties
with long dyed black hair, a round pasty face, ice blue eyes, crooked teeth, and elaborate silver jewelry.
There is no right or wrong to this -- just try to form a mental image of a person.
Ask yourself more questions about this person. Does he/she have a job? A family or relationship? What
are his/her dreams and fears? You can use our character questionnaire to develop a fictional character.
Present this character with a terrible problem. How will the character react? Start turning this into a story.
People-watch
Go to a public place like a coffeehouse or a mall, and watch the people around you. Imagine what their
lives might be like. Everyone has secrets -- guess at the secrets of the stranger you see. You can turn
some of these people into characters for a story.
An added bonus: this exercise gets you away from your desk for a while. A change of scene may be just
what you need to inject new energy into your writing.
Keep a journal
Keep a journal, where you describe the people, places, and events from your day. Describe the details of
how things look, sound, smell, and feel. Try to capture the details that you couldn't have imagined if you
hadn't observed them for yourself. If you use them in your fiction later, they will give it a texture of reality.
Whenever you're stuck for creative writing ideas, you'll be able to mine your journal for material.
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