I once saw this bar graph where the x-axis had motivation, inspiration, and time. The graph was called something like “the life of a writer,” and each example of the graph shown had a lot of motivation and inspiration but no time, or a lot of motivation and time but no inspiration, etc., etc. All artists can relate to this—I feel it whether I’m trying to write a novel, a short story, paint, or embroider, especially now when everyday feels the same. Sometimes I feel like I’m a writer first and a human second, so not having motivation or inspiration (right now I have plenty of time) makes me feel like I’m just floating around looking for a purpose. Luckily, I’m taking a class called “writing fiction: longer forms,” which means I have to write something. I wanted to put together a list of prompts, some of which may be able to be used for writing or another type of art.
- Tell a story that begins with a ransom note.
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This one got me out of a year-long writer’s block, maybe it can help you too. I wrote the story of a family torn apart by the abduction of their youngest child (which I loosely based off the kidnapping of JonBenét Ramnsey because almost nothing haunts me like that story), but you can do anything you want with it. Make it a comedy. Did a younger sibling take something from an older sibling to try to get them to spend more time together? Play with genres and see what you can come up with.
- Describe yourself in the third person (your appearance, emotions, personality, etc.) as if you were a character in a book.
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An excellent opportunity to focus on everything you love about yourself. You could also use this prompt for a visual art by painting, drawing, embroidering yourself.
- Describe 5 memories and/or events you remember well. Then take them farther.
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You can make them fictional, recalling it from someone else’s point of view with their thoughts, or you can write about the long-lasting effects that moment had in your life.
- “I didn’t know what was happening at the time.”
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Use this sentence to start your scene. You can write a fictional piece or use an actual memory.
- Write about a difficult conversation you’ve had recently or one you can’t stop thinking about. Then rewrite the conversation, saying what you couldn’t say at the time, what you wish you had said instead, or what you would say now that you’ve had time to think and reflect.
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No one ever has to read it, so be brutally honest. Would you hurt them? Apologize? Fine tune your argument? Have fun with it.
- Write a scene that begins with: “It was the first time I killed a man.”
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You can work backwards, leading up to the death like Gabriel Garcia Marquez does in Chronicle of a Death Foretold; you can write a villain who is the main character; it could be an accidental death—the possibilities are endless.
- Find a photograph, then write the story of what’s going on outside of the frame.
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This is one that could be used for writing or visual art. You can make it nonfiction, describing the place to the best of your abilities, or fiction, making it more fantastical.
- Open a book to a random page and, without looking, point at a sentence. Write a story using that sentence.
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I had to write a short piece based off the opening line to one of four books. I had never read any of the books, so I got to create something entirely different from what the story is actually about. I don’t remember what the line I used was, but I remember I loved the piece I wrote with it. You can use this website to read through some iconic opening lines from famous books, or if you would rather have a sentence not from a novel already written, you can look at this website to look through some sentence starters to get you going.
- Write a story based on your favorite song, a lyric, or just the title.
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I do this all the time. If I’m in a writing slump, I open Spotify, hit shuffle, and see what happens.
- “How many times do I have to kill you before you stop coming back?” “No idea, but please, for the love of God, keep trying.”
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If I still wrote Supernatural fanfiction, I would take this and run. Play with the genre of this. I, for example, only just started trying to write horror, but you can make it comedy, drama, romance, etc.
- You can taste lies. One day, you’re comforting your best friend after a tough breakup and almost vomit at the foul taste in your mouth after saying the words, “After all, you’re only human.”
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How does this change the friendship, if at all? Is the friend immediately confronted? Are you (or your main character) human, or does the ability to taste lies stem from the fact that you’re some supernatural being?
- A dragon enjoys living a peaceful life away from humans. One day, a princess shows up and asks the dragon to “kidnap” her so that she doesn’t have to get married.
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I love this prompt. I have never written a fantasy piece, so this will be a really fun thing to write. There are a lot of possibilities here: Are you writing from the dragon’s point of view? The princess’s? The royal family?
- Now that all the humans are hiding inside, forest animals aren’t the only ones coming out of the woods.
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How very M Night Shyamalan. But it doesn’t have to be. I would challenge myself to make this a horror piece, but it could easily be sci-fi or fantasy.
- A witch offers couples deals in return for their first born child. The witch runs an orphanage full of children freed from their would-be parents irresponsible enough to make a deal with a witch in the woods.
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Since becoming obsessed with Wicked, I always sympathize with the witch, so this is a wholesome prompt to me. But she could be an evil witch. You decide…
- Write a villain who is unaware they are the villain.
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Writing villains always seems like such a daunting task because I love villains. I love three dimensional villains who have a reason to be villains. I’m thinking of characters like Billy Hargrove, who might not have realized at first that the younger kids saw him as the villain because he saw his dad as a villain.
- In a world where people can’t physically hurt their soulmates, your protagonist becomes a serial killer to find theirs.
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World building is such a unique thing that a lot of writers seem to forget about when they’re dealing with writer’s block. You can focus on the history as to why people can’t hurt their soulmates and then develop the serial killer character.
- A box is delivered to a doorstep one night. The note attached reads, “Show no one.”
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I will admit, a boy I matched with on Tinder gave me this prompt. I wrote a drama/thriller piece, but it could be applied to any genre!
I got these prompts from @writing.prompt.s on Instagram, 642 Things to Write About by The San Francisco Writers’ Grotto, my head, and that one boy from Tinder. If you’re up for a challenge, write in a genre or from a perspective you don’t usually use. Good luck!