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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 282 prompts reset

This week's contest:
Win $250

Two Sides to Every Story with Emily Martin

72 contest entries /
44 stories

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View contest
Closes at 23:59 - Jul 31 EST

Write about someone who summons the creative muse through a convoluted ritual or method.

– 56 stories

Your protagonist has the perfect day scheduled — but things don’t go according to plan.

– 36 stories

Write from the POV of a character in a story who keeps getting re-written by their second-guessing author.

– 87 stories

Your protagonist discovers that everything they type comes true. What happens next?

– 51 stories

Start your story with someone who wants to give up on their career right before their big break.

– 38 stories

Write a story where a photograph could change the course of history if it’s delivered to the right (or wrong!) person.

– 31 stories

Write a story in the format of a gossip column.

– 35 stories

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.

– 51 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.

– 77 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.

– 61 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.

– 66 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

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