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Writing Prompts

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

Showing 2705 prompts

Hide something from your reader until the end of your story.

– 78 stories

Include the line “Have we met before?” in your story.

– 61 stories

Write a story that subverts your reader’s expectations.

– 42 stories

Your character is waiting — or yearning — for something or someone.

– 70 stories

Write a story that has an unresolved or open ending.

– 106 stories

Write a story about a victory that no one else will ever know about… but that has changed everything.

– 69 stories

Center your story around someone who has been working for years toward something others have stopped believing in.

– 35 stories

Write a story from the POV of a character who was certain your protagonist would fail.

– 36 stories

Start your story with the lines: "Nobody believed in me. That was their first mistake.”

– 45 stories

Write a story about someone who shouldn't have made it out… but did.

– 83 stories

Write a story from the POV of a pet or a loyal companion.

– 73 stories

Include a character with an enemy, rival, or nemesis in your story.

– 49 stories

Write a story from the POV of a sidekick, or someone who is happy to stay away from the spotlight.

– 46 stories

Two or more of your characters strike up an unlikely friendship. What happens next?

– 39 stories

Write a story in which a character is betrayed by someone they trusted.

– 88 stories

Write a story about the aftermath of someone’s sacrifice.

– 55 stories

Start or end your story with a sensory detail (something that evokes scent, texture, taste, sight, and/or sound).

– 53 stories

Write a story where two characters share a moment of connection.

– 74 stories

Tell a story through messages in any form, such as snail mail, email, voicemail, text, diary entry, interview, newspaper classified ad, or carrier pigeon.

– 53 stories

Write a story about a character finding something unexpected in the snow, grass, or water.

– 62 stories

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We made a writing app for you

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