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Best Short Story Writing Prompts

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

Showing 255 prompts reset

This week's contest:
Win $250

Gone in a Flash

249 contest entries /
122 stories

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Closes at 23:59 - Mar 13 EST

Write a story where an important conversation takes place during a dance.

– 73 stories

Write a story about two characters who start as mortal enemies but learn to embrace their differences.

– 36 stories

Write a story where a rumor starts to spread. Your protagonist is either the topic or the source.

– 52 stories

Set your story at a Regency-themed fair.

– 12 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

Write a story about hope.

– 78 stories

Write a story in the form of a letter, or multiple letters back and forth.

– 143 stories

Start your story in the middle of the action.

– 68 stories

Write a story that experiments with tone — perhaps a difficult subject dealt with in a playful way, or an ostensibly happy scene that hints at darkness lurking beneath.

– 62 stories

Start your story with two people planting a tree together.

– 49 stories

Fly by the seat of your pants and write a story without a plan.

– 67 stories

Halfway through a fierce competition, your character is given the opportunity to cheat their way to victory: do they take it?

– 52 stories

Write about a character who smells something familiar and is instantly taken back to the first moment they smelled it.

– 217 stories

Write a story about someone experiencing a lightbulb moment of writing inspiration.

– 139 stories

Write a story that ends by circling back to the beginning.

– 213 stories

Write a story about someone who finds a secret passageway in their house.

– 147 stories

Write a story about a character struggling to decide how to handle a problem that is morally gray.

– 41 stories

Write a short story about someone in the self-help aisle of a bookstore. What book do they pick up?

– 88 stories

Write about a character’s secret area of expertise, something most of their acquaintances would be surprised to learn they know tons about.

– 37 stories

It kicks off on a yacht with the delivery of an important letter.

– 35 stories

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