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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 at a Regency-themed fair.

– 12 stories

Write about a character who has the ability to pause the passage of time.

– 67 stories

Write a story that contains the line, "I wish we could stay here forever."

– 86 stories

Start your story with a character canceling their plans.

– 25 stories

Set your story over the course of a few minutes; no flashbacks, no flashforwards.

– 89 stories

Write a story about a highly-strung character learning to slow down, or someone pursuing a quieter way of life.

– 54 stories

Write a story that includes someone saying, “Be careful what you wish for.”

– 54 stories

Make a character’s obsession or addiction an important element of your story.

– 127 stories

Write a story in which one of the characters is a narcissist.

– 38 stories

Write about a character who struggles to do the right thing.

– 32 stories

Start your story with a character being followed.

– 98 stories

Your protagonist is a voracious reader. Lately, they’ve been noticing odd synchronicities in the books he or she is reading. What does the protagonist discover is happening?

– 30 stories

Dream up a secret library. Write a story about an adventurer who discovers it. What’s in the library? Why was it kept secret?

– 93 stories

Write a story about a future academic (or another influential person) “rediscovering” a book that, in its time, was dismissed. The book can be fictitious or real.

– 10 stories

Your protagonist is a writer who discovers a new favorite author. How does their writing, or even their own personality, change as the protagonist falls under the writer’s influence?

– 27 stories

Write a story about discovering a lost manuscript. It can be from a famous (or infamous) author, or an unknown one.

– 62 stories

Your teacher tasks you with writing a story based on an eavesdropped conversation. When the story is published, your subject isn’t happy.

– 15 stories

A character overhears something at a black-tie event that puts the night in jeopardy.

– 43 stories

Write a story in which someone can only hear one side of a conversation and must piece together the meaning of what they’ve heard.

– 37 stories

Write a story about a child overhearing something they don’t understand.

– 59 stories

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RBE | Illustration — We made a writing app for you | 2024-02

We made a writing app for you

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