Menu

More apps built by Reedsy

Assemble a team of professionals

The writing app for authors

Writing courses, events and memberships

Get your book reviewed

Weekly writing prompts and contests

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Directory
Weekly Prompts Contest
Reedsy Literary Prize
Magazine
FAQ

Writing Prompts

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

Showing 2670 prompts

Start your story with someone buying a cursed — or perhaps blessed —mirror from an antiques store.

– 73 stories

Write about someone who can’t sleep due to jet lag, and decides to set out and explore their new city at night instead.

– 19 stories

Write a story about someone pulling an all nighter.

– 33 stories

Start your story with someone saying “I can’t sleep.”

– 86 stories

Write a story about two people living together who have opposing sleep cycles, and only cross paths at dawn and dusk.

– 46 stories

Set your story before dawn. Your character has woken up early for a particular reason.

– 92 stories

Set your story during exam season, when tensions run high and a minor incident sends your protagonist into a panic spiral.

– 30 stories

Write about a student reporter uncovering a university scandal.

– 22 stories

Write a story in which a jaded academic makes an unexpected, rash decision.

– 41 stories

Write about two rival academics pursuing the same grant.

– 13 stories

Start your story with a student discovering a hidden room in a university library.

– 75 stories

Write a story that includes someone saying, “You’ve got this.”

– 52 stories

Write a story about a character who finds guidance in an unlikely place.

– 80 stories

Write about a mentor whose methods are controversial.

– 22 stories

Write about a character who has a love/hate relationship with their mentor.

– 36 stories

Start your story with a student on their first day of apprenticeship.

– 17 stories

Set your story in a world where contacting the dead is as easy as making a phone call.

– 34 stories

Write a story where ghosts and the living coexist.

– 69 stories

Write a story about someone trying to raise the dead.

– 49 stories

Write a story about someone who is haunted. Whether by a ghost or something else is up to you.

– 135 stories

How to Write a Novel

Join Tom Bromley for a writing master class and finish your first draft in 3 months. Learn more →

How to Write a Novel

Explore more writing prompt ideas:

Adults Writing Prompts ⭢

Adventure Writing Prompts ⭢

Angst Writing Prompts ⭢

Character Writing Prompts ⭢

Christmas Writing Prompts ⭢

Dark Writing Prompts ⭢

Dialogue Writing Prompts ⭢

Dramatic Writing Prompts ⭢

Dystopian Writing Prompts ⭢

Fall Writing Prompts ⭢

Fantasy Writing Prompts ⭢

Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Fluff Writing Prompts ⭢

Funny Writing Prompts ⭢

Halloween Writing Prompts ⭢

High School Writing Prompts ⭢

Historical Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Holiday Writing Prompts ⭢

Horror Writing Prompts ⭢

Kids Writing Prompts ⭢

Middle School Writing Prompts ⭢

Mystery Writing Prompts ⭢

Narrative Writing Prompts ⭢

Nonfiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Novel Writing Prompts ⭢

Poetry Writing Prompts ⭢

Romance Writing Prompts ⭢

Sad Writing Prompts ⭢

Science Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Short Story Writing Prompts ⭢

Spring Writing Prompts ⭢

Summer Writing Prompts ⭢

Teens Writing Prompts ⭢

Thanksgiving Writing Prompts ⭢

Thriller and Suspense Writing Prompts ⭢

Valentine's Day Writing Prompts ⭢

Vampire Writing Prompts ⭢

Winter Writing Prompts ⭢

Reedsy | Default — Editors with Marker | 2024-05

Bring your publishing dreams to life

The world's best editors, designers, and marketers are on Reedsy. Come meet them.