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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 241 prompts reset

This week's contest:
Win $250

A Fright to Remember

52 contest entries /
16 stories

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Closes at 23:59 - Oct 30 EST

Center your story around something that’s hidden.

– 35 stories

Write a story that has a big twist.

– 129 stories

Center your story around a mysterious forest fire, disappearance, or other strange event.

– 68 stories

Write a story in which someone gets lost in the woods.

– 69 stories

Write a story that includes the line “This is all my fault.”

– 51 stories

Write a story in which a stranger warns someone about events yet to come.

– 42 stories

Write a story about a character who encounters someone with an uncanny resemblance to a lost love, friend, or relative.

– 55 stories

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

– 24 stories

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

– 62 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.

– 89 stories

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

– 64 stories

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

– 40 stories

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

– 46 stories

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

– 72 stories

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

– 90 stories

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

– 45 stories

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

– 99 stories

Center your story around a character facing a tight deadline.

– 37 stories

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How to Write a Novel
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