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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 2715 prompts

Set your story in a world where love is prohibited.

– 78 stories

Your character is getting changed in the bathroom of a nightclub or restaurant, then emerges looking completely different. Why?

– 57 stories

Write a story in which a character discovers that a truth they've believed their whole life is either false or not the whole story.

– 69 stories

Write an open-ended story in which your character’s fate is uncertain.

– 86 stories

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.

– 28 stories

Start your story with the lines: “The room is unfamiliar. I don’t know how I got here.”

– 105 stories

Set your story in a place where the weather never changes.

– 44 stories

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

– 89 stories

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

– 59 stories

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

– 136 stories

Start or end your story with a breeze brushing against someone’s skin.

– 68 stories

Start or end your story with someone being soothed by a hug or words of comfort.

– 47 stories

Write a story with a character pouring out their emotions.

– 43 stories

Center your story around someone who’s boiling over with anger, frustration, or jealousy.

– 54 stories

Set your story in a café, garden, or restaurant.

– 63 stories

Start or end your story with a character making a cup of tea for themself or someone else.

– 177 stories

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

– 41 stories

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

– 71 stories

Write a story about a cherished heirloom that has journeyed through multiple generations.

– 47 stories

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

– 79 stories

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