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Best Dramatic Writing Prompts

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

Showing 214 prompts reset

This week's contest:
Win $250

Tension, Twists, and Turns with WOW!

67 contest entries /
30 stories

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Closes at 23:59 - Feb 27 EST

Center your story around someone’s public image and private self colliding.

– 27 stories

Write a story from the POV of someone who’s hiding a secret.

– 64 stories

Write a story where a character's true identity or self is revealed.

– 89 stories

Hide something from your reader until the very end.

– 118 stories

Write a story with an open ending that leaves room for your reader’s own interpretations.

– 91 stories

Center your story around a struggling author who discovers they can control reality through their writing — but there’s a catch.

– 65 stories

Your protagonist joins a mysterious group of readers and/or writers, and nothing is what it seems.

– 41 stories

Write about someone who makes a deal for viral fame — but their rising popularity comes with unexpected (or dangerous) side effects.

– 47 stories

Center your story around two characters who like each other but don’t get a happily ever after.

– 73 stories

Write a story that includes the line “Do I know you?” or “Have we met before?”

– 91 stories

Center your story around someone who will stop at nothing to get what they want.

– 47 stories

Center your story around someone or something that undergoes a transformation.

– 104 stories

Center your story around a character facing a tight deadline.

– 38 stories

Center your story around someone who makes an irreversible decision — knowing it will haunt them forever.

– 74 stories

Center your story around a character who breaks the rules for someone they love.

– 46 stories

Center your story around an important message that reaches the wrong person.

– 29 stories

Center your story around a mix-up that leads to huge (or unexpected) consequences.

– 39 stories

Write a story about someone who tries to fix a mistake but ends up making things worse.

– 17 stories

Write a story about someone who trusts or follows the wrong person.

– 50 stories

Center your story around a crazy coincidence.

– 35 stories

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