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Best Character Writing Prompts

Join our ongoing contests and win up to $1,500. Flex those creative muscles with these writing prompts.

Showing 188 prompts reset

This week's contest:
Win $250

What We Carry

96 contest entries /
44 stories

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Closes at 23:59 - Aug 28 EST

Write a story about a character participating in Dry January.

– 33 stories

Write a story about someone who has been tasked to keep a flame burning, surrounded by total darkness.

– 83 stories

Write about someone trying something completely new.

– 33 stories

Write about a character who has reinvented themselves, but realizes it's not always easy to outrun your past.

– 60 stories

Write a story in which a character achieves a new level of clarity about how they’re really feeling.

– 55 stories

Write a story in which a certain food makes your character travel back in time.

– 51 stories

Write a story about someone trying to paint (or otherwise create) a self-portrait.

– 64 stories

Write a story about two people living together who have opposing sleep cycles, and only cross paths at dawn and dusk.

– 46 stories

Set your story during exam season, when tensions run high and a minor incident sends your protagonist into a panic spiral.

– 30 stories

Write about two rival academics pursuing the same grant.

– 13 stories

Write about a mentor whose methods are controversial.

– 22 stories

Write about a character who has a love/hate relationship with their mentor.

– 36 stories

Write about someone who is shackled by fears of failure, until they break free.

– 28 stories

‘Hit a tripwire of smell and memories explode all at once.’ Use the senses to transport a character back to the past.

– 49 stories

Include a scene in your story in which a character's body language conveys their hidden emotions.

– 25 stories

Write a scene in which a character’s behavior or reaction to something is affected by a past experience — without saying what that experience was.

– 50 stories

Now, as an adult, your character looks back on this summer as the summer when they grew up.

– 40 stories

Write about someone with a Midas touch: everything they touch turns to [fill in the blank].

– 38 stories

Write a story about someone who is losing feeling in their hands and/or fingers.

– 46 stories

Write a story about a pair of pen pals.

– 26 stories

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