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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 220 prompts reset

This week's contest:
Win $250

Comic Relief

137 contest entries /
66 stories

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Closes at 23:59 - Apr 17 EST

Write your story as text messages or an online conversation between two characters — and at least one of them isn’t who they say they are.

– 27 stories

Start or end your story with someone standing in the rain.

– 88 stories

Write a story where the weather mirrors a character’s emotions.

– 58 stories

Set your story during — or just before — a storm.

– 135 stories

Write a story with a character pouring out their emotions.

– 42 stories

Write a story with the line “You never know a good thing until it’s gone.”

– 40 stories

Center your story around a character who’s afraid of being forgotten.

– 72 stories

Center your story around a character who’s struggling to let go.

– 79 stories

Write a story with a character or the narrator saying “I remember…”

– 157 stories

Write a story about people preparing for Y2K.

– 29 stories

Set your story in a place where everything should be familiar to your character(s), but isn’t.

– 57 stories

Write a story that includes the line “I should’ve known better.”

– 82 stories

Write about someone who receives a gift or message that changes their life forever.

– 88 stories

Write a story with the line “I wasn’t expecting that.”

– 63 stories

Write a story that ends with a huge twist.

– 79 stories

Write a story where someone who has done something wrong seeks a fresh start.

– 25 stories

Write a story that begins with an apology.

– 77 stories

Write a story that includes the line “Be careful what you wish for.”

– 37 stories

Start or end your story with someone receiving a strange — and possibly sinister — gift.

– 52 stories

Write about a mysterious guest who arrives at a party — but no one knows who they are.

– 55 stories

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