8 Writing Prompts

If you’re feeling particularly stuck lately, try some writing prompts to help jog your brain over to Storyville.

Here are a few prompts that I’ve used as a warm-up before a writing session:

Write a 15-word sentence about the most vivid dream you’ve had lately.

You’ve struggled financially for most of your life. Your wealthy aunt has passed away and left you with six figures. In order to get the money, you must fulfill an obligation in your aunt’s will. What is it and will you do it?

Think of your favorite song and write the lyrics that usually stick to your head. Write a short story (about two paragraphs) using most of the words in the song and its main theme.

Write your favorite childhood memory, describing the setting, characters, and emotions in the memory.

You wake up in a wooded area with garden gnomes and animals standing over you, each planning a different way to kill you. Write this scene.

Write a letter apologizing to someone you bullied in your past. Include specific names you called that person and the most humiliating moment you put them through.

In the middle of the night, you receive a mysterious phone call telling you that something awful has happened to one of your friends. What is it and what are you going to do?

Choose a fictional character and pretend you have to “walk a day in this person’s shoes.” Write about it.