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Heavenly bodies, set your story in a world where astrology and the movements of celestial bodies deeply impact the lives of inhabitants..

LIVE – Fantasy

People have gathered to witness a once-in-a-lifetime natural phenomenon, but what happens next is not what they expected.

LIVE – Mystery

Imagine an origin myth that somebody might use to explain an eclipse, or some other celestial event.

Write a story in which a character navigates using the stars..

LIVE – Adventure

Set your story during a total eclipse — either natural, or man-made.

LIVE – Fiction

Begin or end your story with a character taking a selfie.

Write about a character who sees a photo they shouldn’t have seen., write a story about a character who risks their life to take a photo., start your story with a character staring at a picture they don’t remember taking., center your story around a photo that goes viral., write a story where time functions differently to our world., write a story about a character who wakes up in space., write a story from the point of view of a non-human character., write a story with a strong sense of place. how is the setting of your world the same as, but different to, our own, write a story imagining 'what if' one historic invention had never happened. how would our world be different now, start or end your story with a character who gets trapped inside a museum overnight., write about two characters who meet and/or fall in love in a museum., write about an art thief who is struggling to commit the perfect heist., write about someone who accidentally destroys a museum’s most valuable artifact., write about a gallery whose paintings come alive at night., win $250 in our short story competition 🏆.

We'll send you 5 prompts each week. Respond with your short story and you could win $250!

Contest #245 LIVE

Enter our weekly contest.

This week's theme: Heavenly Bodies

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Contest entries, closes at 23:59 - apr 12, 2024 est, recent contests ✍️.

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Creative Writing Prompts

Need some inspiration for what to write next? Be inspired with these writing prompts for fiction, poetry, journaling and more!

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70 Creative Writing Prompts to Inspire You to Write

by Tom Corson-Knowles | 11 comments

Creative Writing Prompts to Inspire You to Write image

Writing prompts are a useful tool and resource for any writer, from beginners to published authors. A good prompt can give you the inspiration you need to craft a paragraph, a book, or an entire series.

You can also use them just for writing practice and to get your creative juices flowing. See where these ideas take you.

Fantasy Writing Prompts

In your character’s world, only strong magic–users are allowed to survive past their 13th birthday. Your character has no magical ability—but even at 11 years old, they’ve discovered a way to fake it.
Your character is granted one day in the land of the dead to retrieve their deceased beloved, only to discover that their one true love faked death to escape marriage.
A mysterious statue appears in the forest that makes perfect duplicates of any human being that touches it. Your character is one such duplicate—and your “sponsor-body” is wanted for murder.
Your character is a witch-hunter, tasked to track down and slay a powerful target—who is currently pregnant with your character’s child.
A monster emerges from the forest and forces your character to care for its newborn offspring, which begins to look more human the longer your character cares for it.
Your character is one of a species of sea creatures that inhabit the very deepest part of the ocean. This species has created an advanced civilization—and they’re getting ready to break the surface and take their rightful place as Earth’s rulers, with your character at the helm.
Your character discovers that a certain mythical being is real—and they’re about to go extinct.
Your character falls in love with a magical being. To keep their love alive, your character has to fight not only their family, but their entire race.

Historical Fiction Writing Prompts

Your character is the daughter of a poor clergyman in mid-19th-century England. Without a dowry, she has little chance for marriage. Without a husband, she’s doomed to a spinster’s life as a governess or servant. In 1854 she joins Florence Nightingale’s group of female nurses bound for the Crimean Peninsula, where she discovers that the hell of war extends into the hospital at Scutari.
Your character is an artisan in 12th-century Ireland at Clonmacnoise, a monastery that anchored a wealthy community of art, learning, and craftsmanship on the Shannon River. Medieval life is good in this beautiful town … until the Vikings arrive.
England, 1776: A young astronomer has receives the job of a lifetime: traveling with the famous Captain Cook on his voyage to discover the fabled Northwest Passage. After the rigorous journey takes the crew from Tahiti to Siberia, damage to the ship’s mast forces a stop for repairs in Hawaii. Turns out the natives aren’t as friendly as they thought.
Your character is one of the hundreds of thousands of craftsman tasked with creating the terracotta army in ancient China. He molds each soldier’s face after someone he knows: his father, his grandfather, a friend from his village, etc., and thinks about their lives and legacies as he works.
Research the history of your own city or town. Imagine you lived there 50, 100, or even 200 years ago. What would your life have been like?

Horror/Thriller Writing Prompts

Your character has a stalker with the ability to stop time. The stalker uses this ability to manipulate your character—and their efforts are escalating.
Your character’s lover died in a horrible accident—but one day they simply return, and nobody but your character remembers that they died.
Your character and their college friends attend their first off-campus party, and discover too late that the fraternity throwing the bash is a cult—and very serious about the concept of brotherhood.
Your character is marooned on a tiny desert island. One morning, an idol appears outside their shelter’s front door. It’s stone—except for the real human head on top.
Your character’s family moves into a new house with an in-ground pool that the previous owners paved over. At night, your character can hear something screaming beneath the concrete—something that isn’t human.
Your character’s neighbor is an older man who mostly keeps to himself; your character often sees him taking walks or puttering around his garden. But when your character knocks on the old man’s door to invite him to a block party, things take a turn for the sinister.
Your character is a mobile phone. The phone has just been purchased by a woman who turns out to be a criminal mastermind.
Your character is a regular office clerk who just discovered that your company is brainwashing its employees. The goal of the company is menacing.
Your character is on their way to work when they get stuck in a massive traffic jam. Suddenly, in the distance, there is a huge explosion.
Your character is a serial killer, confessing to his crimes.
Your character is at a Halloween party at a bar. Everyone is in costume when a man suddenly drops dead.
Your character is out for a jog early in the morning, trips, and loses consciousness. When they wake up, they are in a morgue surrounded by dead and dissected bodies.

Mystery Writing Prompts

A powerful pharmaceutical company recently released a new drug to market that dampens the arousal response in human beings. Your character is a private detective brought in to solve an unusual murder. The weapon? A lethal dose of this new drug, which was previously thought to be harmless.
Your character’s child has been bringing home peculiar drawings from school for the past two weeks. Your character thinks nothing of it, until they realize that each drawing corresponds to one in a series of brutal murders that have plagued their tiny town.
A marine zoologist is vacationing on a beach in a foreign country when they read about a local political figure who was killed in a shark attack. But from the photos, your character realizes that no shark made those puncture marks on the victim’s stomach—and that the accident may have, in fact, been murder most foul.
A young police detective must find the kidnapped daughter of a powerful city planner. The hitch? She was at a Star Trek convention when she was kidnapped, and the only description of the culprit is that he “looked like Mr. Spock.”
After taking a DNA test, your character discovers that their genetic material was altered in the womb. But your character was adopted, and has no records of who their birth parents are, or where they were born.
Your character has been happily married to their partner for 25 years. But one day, a mysterious stranger shows up claiming to be your partner’s spouse and demanding to know what your character is doing in this stranger’s home.
Your character is a retired military officer who is ready to leave his past behind him. One day, you accidentally walk in on a bank robbery in progress—and these aren’t ordinary criminals.
Your character finds out that their deceased twin had multiple passports IDs with different names and faces. To find out more, your character must assume these identities in his place.
Your character, an important New York businessperson, wakes up naked and alone in a strange, foreign land, with no recollection of how you got there. The native people take you in, but you don’t speak their language and know nothing about the culture. You must learn to communicate in order to get home.

Romance Writing Prompts

After moving into a new house, your character begins to receive love letters addressed to the previous occupant. The letters have no return address, but they are so beautifully written that your character begins to fall in love with the writer, despite never having met the author.
Your character is the first person in history to fall in love. They cannot describe the feeling to anybody else, especially not the person for whom they’ve fallen head over heels.
Your characters have been married for over 700 years; when they die, they are reincarnated with all their memories, and simply find each other again.
When your character’s country loses a long war, your character is tasked with negotiating the surrender. The person across the table holds the fate of both countries in their hands … and they’re pretty darn cute, too.
Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love with girl. The catch? Their parents are engaged to be married!
Your character is a teenager who writes short, fictional romance stories and posts them to a blog that they believe no one reads. One day, a fan starts responding to the stories, and your character connects with the fan on many levels, creating their own idealized, fictional romance story online. Now, they must decide whether they’re willing to let go of their “perfect” love story to meet the real (and inevitably, imperfect) person on the other side of the screen.
Your character was born deaf and your character’s spouse was just involved in an accident that made them blind. After being together for six years, they must re-learn how to navigate the world together.
Your character has a mental condition that landed them in a rehab facility. There, your character meets a recovering addict, and they connect instantly and begin to find healing in each other.
Your character dreams of a person they’ve never met and wakes up convinced it is their true love.
Your character shows up for an interview for their dream job, and discovers that their could-be boss is also their ex.

Science Fiction Writing Prompts

Your character wakes up on a slab in a high-tech medical facility, hooked up to strange machines and occupying a body you don’t recognize. Before the doctors arrive, you hear a voice in your head: it’s your new body’s original owner, and they want it back.
The aliens that land in your backyard strike a deal with your character: Murder one innocent person on the planet, and they will spare the earth. Refuse, or reveal the aliens’ existence to the world, and the planet is doomed.
Your character is captain of a long-distance spaceship taking thousands of Earthling colonists to a new planet. One day, completely by accident, you discover what this spaceship uses for fuel, and are faced with a terrible moral dilemma of how to handle this information.
Your main character is the warden of a virtual-reality prison. One day, a notorious murderer attempts to orchestrate a “breakout.”
Your character is a child whose stuffed toy comes equipped with a nanny-cam and primitive AI. One day, the toy decides to take your character’s safety into its own mitten-like hands.
Your character is an average college student. Somehow, your character discovers that everything they’re doing—every movement they make and every word they say, even in private—is being tracked and recorded. Now they must figure out who is recording and why—without the recorder knowing what they’re doing.
Your character washes up on a remote island that has never been visited by an outsider before. Turns out, there’s a whole civilization there—but these “people” have been isolated for so long, they’ve evolved differently than people in the rest of the world.
Your character is a troubled teenager who discovers that he has the power to see people’s futures by touching them. When you accidentally bump into a man on the subway, you see the man piloting a spaceship—and it’s moving towards your city. Now, you must find the man—and convince everyone else that the danger is real.

Comedy Writing Prompts

Over Christmas, your character’s parents decide to take the family to the Caribbean. The first day there, both of your parents get sunburned and decide to spend the rest of the vacation indoors, leaving you and your little brother to your own devices.
Your character is a reality TV judge, but not one of the judges that appears on TV—you’re one of the judges that decides which contestants even get to be on TV. After being subjected to a string of terrible singers, your character finally discovers someone great, and finds themselves strangely invested in the success of this contestant.
Your character is a superfan of a popular musician. They wait in line to get front row seats to every show, spend outrageous amounts of money on paraphernalia on eBay, and have plastered nearly every wall of their apartment with posters and ticket stubs. One day, your character finally gets a chance to meet the musician—and he’s not what anyone expected.
Your character is a schoolteacher who is watching two kids argue over a toy in the sandbox when suddenly, an alien creature rises out of the sand. The students decide to make it the class pet.
Your character’s life is extremely mundane, until a stray dog starts showing up on their front porch every day.

Memoir/Nonfiction Writing Prompts

Describe a time when you wanted to experience a spiritual moment or looked for spiritual guidance. Why were you in this situation? What were you hoping to get from it?
Tell the story of your life in inverted chronological order.
What was the happiest moment of your life? What made it the happiest?
Write about an addiction. Include as much detail as possible, including how it started and your journey to overcoming it.
Write about an experience that made you feel ashamed or guilty. How did it impact you? What have you done to move on?
Think about the ways in which you’ve changed over the years. Can you identify any turning points? Be specific and describe those moments.
Write about a job or career move that changed your life.
Write about how you met your current partner or spouse. Do you think it was fate? What events led to you two meeting?
Write about a person who has had a profound impact on your life—either positive or negative. How have you changed because of them? What have they done to cause your life to change?
Write a biography of someone in your family who immigrated from one country to another.
Create a cookbook in which every recipe is tied to a specific person or moment in your life.
Describe something you’ve done that you’re proud of. How did you get to that moment? How can others learn from your experience?
Tell the story of how the seed of faith was planted in your life. When did your spiritual journey began, who influenced and guided you in discovering your faith, and at what point did you realize you needed to change your life?
Write about a memory of your favorite pet. What can animals teach us about ourselves?
Think about a time when you learned a new skill. What made you want to learn it? Who did you learn from? How did you practice? How did you improve?

Creative Writing Prompts Can Boost Your Writing Skills

Using writing prompts can boost your creativity and improve your writing skills in a number of ways by:

Helping to overcome writer’s block
Exercising your imagination
Increasing your rate of practice
Teaching you more about yourself

If you’re still not sure using a writing prompt would be good for you, that’s great! If you feel you are against using writing prompts, then you have reason enough to explore it.

As they say, the opposite of love is not hate—it’s apathy. Strong feelings mean strong opinions and emotions, and writing with strong emotions can be incredibly productive and healing.

Did you find this post helpful? Let us know in the comments below!

If you liked this post, you might also like:

72 Journal Prompts to Boost Your Creative Writing Skills

Writing Motivation: 7 Tips for Staying Productive

46 Apps and Sites to Improve Your Writing Skills

75 Quotes About Writing for When You Feel Like Putting the Pen Down

Tom Corson-Knowles is the founder of TCK Publishing, and the bestselling author of 27 books including Secrets of the Six-Figure author. He is also the host of the Publishing Profits Podcast show where we interview successful authors and publishing industry experts to share their tips for creating a successful writing career.

11 Comments

Nice prompts! Can you do more on fantasy?

I love this. So helpful

thanks, so glad you found the prompts helpful! :)

Is there a way I can like this blog? I wish it was on Playstore so I could a rate it a 5. Good work, people.

Thank you, Mercy! We’re happy to have you here :)

Thank you for these. I will use some of them for my writing group.

You’re very welcome, we’re glad you liked them! :)

It is very useful for me as a beginner writer. Thankyou for your hard work.

we’re so glad you found these prompts helpful! :)

A useful tool for beginning and continuing writers. Thank you for the endeavor.

Glad you found the prompts helpful, Bernard! :) Let us know how they work for you!

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Writing Prompts & Exercises

The time is now.

The Time Is Now offers three new and original writing prompts each week to help you stay committed to your writing practice throughout the year. We also curate a list of essential books on writing —both the newly published and the classics—that we recommend for guidance and inspiration. Whether you’re struggling with writer’s block, looking for a fresh topic, or just starting to write, our archive of writing prompts has what you need. Need a starter pack? Check out our Writing Prompts for Beginners.

Tuesdays: Poetry prompts Wednesdays: Fiction prompts Thursdays: Creative nonfiction prompts

Get immediate access to more than 2,000 writing prompts with the tool below:

A Few Things

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“Though you have known someone for more than forty years, though you have worked with them and lived with them, you do not know everything. I do not know everything—but a few things, which I will tell,” writes Mary Oliver about her partner Molly Malone Cook in her book Our World (Beacon Press, 2009), which celebrates their life and home together in Cape Cod through Oliver’s essays and Cook’s photography. Write a poem about someone you have known for a long time, but who is no longer in your life. Begin first by forming two lists: one list for the things you knew about this person and a second list of what you did not know. Select several items from each list and compose a poem that paints a portrait through the lens of your relationship. What are the things that were shared, imparted, revealed, and hidden?

Animals Are People Too

The human tendency to anthropomorphize may come with risks great or small, but could there also be benefits? Last month, Indigenous leaders of New Zealand, Tahiti, and the Cook Islands signed a historic treaty granting legal personhood to whales, with the hope that the bestowal will lead to negotiations with Polynesian governments to enforce greater protective rights for the animals, which hold a position of sacred cultural importance. This week, write a personal essay that reflects on a moment, memory, or encounter that propelled you to project humanlike qualities onto an animal, whether a pet, insect, pest, or country critter. Do your personal beliefs about personhood collide or align with arguments about humanity and nature, or different types of sentience and consciousness?

In the Abyss

In the 1989 science fiction thriller film The Abyss , a search and rescue team descends thousands of feet into the depths of the ocean after a U.S. nuclear submarine mysteriously sinks in the Caribbean Sea. The word abyss could refer to both the oceanic zone that lies in perpetual darkness and to the more general space of mystery, fear, and awe in the face of the seemingly infinite expanse that the crew encounters, including an encounter with an alien being. Write a story that revolves around characters who find themselves in conflict with something deeply unknown and unfathomable. How might feelings of isolation surface or be exacerbated in such a situation? Play around with the pacing and order and quantity of revealed information to create a feeling of suspense.

What Is an Elephant?

In the ancient parable of the blind men and the elephant, a visually impaired group has gathered around an unfamiliar creature to them, each encountering by touch a different part of the animal. Although there are different interpretations of the parable, a poem by nineteenth-century poet John Godfrey Saxe describes how the first of the six men falls upon the elephant and exclaims that the animal is nothing but a wall, the second feels the tusk and disagrees saying the animal is like a spear, the third approaches the squirming trunk and calls the animal snakelike, and another feels the ear and states that the animal is like a fan. The story points at the limits of subjective truths and what is lost by only seeing one side of something. Write a poem that explores a single item, image, or action through a prism of different potential truths. Experiment with expressing contradictions and coexisting truths.

How do you tell the tale of your nose, lips, teeth, eyes, brows, and cheeks? This week, study yourself closely in a mirror, and write a memoiristic essay that relays the backstories of your facial features. Are there elements that have shifted, scarred, or been modified in some way with orthodontics, makeup, surgery, or the natural processes of aging? Have there ever been parts of your countenance that you’ve disliked or preferred, and has that changed over time? Take a long, hard look at yourself and reflect on the memories that come up and how your facial expressions and textures have evolved. You might decide to cover just one or two features, or be inspired to cover each part of your face and how they all have a story.

Raring to Go

This spring brings a rare occurrence of cicadas to the eastern United States: the simultaneous emergence of two separate broods, Brood XIII (the seventeen-year cycle Northern Illinois Brood) and Brood XIX (the thirteen-year cycle Great Southern Brood). Though otherwise harmless to humans, male cicadas serenade females at a range of up to ninety decibels, making for a pretty noisy season. In celebration of this double brood, write a short story set against the backdrop of an infrequent or unusual natural occurrence. How can you play with the imagery or symbolism of the phenomenon to expand on what your characters are experiencing? Do their actions reflect or contrast in some way with what’s happening in the background environment?

Seeing Shapes

“I read Call It in the Air , / Ed’s book about his painter sister & her death / at 44, like Billie Holiday, & I start to consider / 44. No. Not the death, just the conch of it, / how it whorls & opens, limelights / —44 limelights a woman,” writes Shamala Gallagher in her poem “‘The New York Times’ Says Aloe Is a Hoax,” published in the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day series. The lines in the poem shift from lightness to darkness, and the image of recursion and spiraling reappear as the speaker allows her mind to wander freely after a long day. Write a poem that experiments with a recurring shape that you’ve observed. Consider the connotations or associations with this shape, whether it be a number, ray of light, or plant. How might a simple form inspire you to think about the shape of time in your life?

Daily Grind

Day Jobs , an exhibition currently on display at Stanford University’s Cantor Art Center in California, examines the impact of day jobs on artists. Showcasing the work of three dozen visual artists, the accompanying catalogue offers first-hand accounts of how their employment in places like a frame shop, hair salon, and museum helped inform their creativity. The exhibit deconstructs the romanticized image of the artist and draws attention to how one’s economic and creative pursuits are often intertwined. Write a personal essay that considers how one of your day jobs unexpectedly influenced your own writing projects. How might something undertaken because of financial necessity also provide valuable ideas to explore in your art?

Order and Disorder

Sheila Heti’s new book, Alphabetical Diaries , published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in February, is just that—rearranged sentences in order from A to Z made up of the author’s diaries kept over the course of a decade. By placing previously composed sentences into this structure, patterns emerge, and unexpected juxtapositions reveal fresh connections that form a new kind of narrative. “Basically it’s a crazy year, that’s what Claire said, this is going to be a crazy year. Be a pro , Lemons said. Be a woman. Be an individual , he suggested. Be bald-faced and strange. Be calm,” Heti writes. Take this idea of reordering your writing and use sentences from a story you’ve written in the past to create a new story. Experiment with different constraints, whether alphabetizing or grouping by another type of category, perhaps using recurring images or places. See where these arrangements take you.

Anne Carson’s 2017 poem “Saturday Night as an Adult,” which had a viral moment on X last summer, is structured as a short block of text recounting observations and thoughts around a dinner date with two couples. “We really want them to like us. We want it to go well. We overdress. They are narrow people, art people, offhand, linens,” writes Carson. “We eat intently, as if eating were conversation.” While the existential despair may seem tragicomic, Carson conveys an honest vulnerability that touches upon disappointment at the potential smallness of life. Write a poem that builds upon your observations of a mundane social encounter in order to capture larger concerns on your mind, perhaps using sharp, terse statements as Carson does in her poem. Is there humor to be found in these minute details?

Opposite Effects

In her groundbreaking 1962 book, Silent Spring , biologist Rachel Carson foretold of “a spring without voices.” Documenting the harmful effects of chemical pesticides used in the agricultural industry, her book sparked an awakening to the environmental crisis in the 1960s and 1970s and launched a movement that brought about the founding of the Environmental Protection Agency. “The history of life on earth has been a history of interaction between living things and their surroundings,” she writes. “Only within the moment of time represented by the present century has one species—man—acquired significant power to alter the nature of his world.” Write an essay that begins by examining how the environment, whether natural or manufactured, has molded you. Then consider how you have modified your surrounding environment—the nature of your world.

Feeling Lucky?

With Saint Patrick’s Day around the corner, you might be feeling as if luck is everywhere you look: in four-leaf clovers, Shamrock Shakes, horseshoes, a rabbit’s foot, and the number seven. Or perhaps everything is just a coincidence, or predetermined by destiny. In a 2008 Guardian essay critiquing Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel, Les Misérables , Adam Thirlwell writes: “In this gargantuan novel, everything seems utterly improbable. Every plot operates through coincidence. Normally, novelists develop techniques to naturalize and hide this. Hugo, with his technique of massive length, refuses to hide it at all. In fact, he makes sure that the plot’s coincidences are exaggerated.” Thirlwell notes Hugo’s classic novel straddles the ideas of lucky coincidence and predetermination. Based on your personal beliefs about luck, coincidence, and destiny, write a story in which a plot unfolds according to a series of consequential encounters, discoveries, and mistakes. How do your own convictions about these ideas affect your characters’ decision-making and the overall philosophy of your story?

The Thing With Feathers

For one year, fans of Flaco the Eurasian eagle-owl enjoyed watching him fly freely around New York City and become, for many city dwellers, a feathered symbol of liberation. Released from his cage at the Central Park Zoo by a vandal, zoo officials were initially concerned for his survival, but Flaco quickly learned to hunt prey and move about the city. His fans grew, and for them, Flaco began to represent resilience and the ability to embark on a new chapter of life, a gesture at the potential of rewilding. Sadly, Flaco died in February after apparently striking a building on the Upper West Side. This week, write a poem that incorporates a subject that signifies qualities of freedom and hope for you personally. Consider strengths and weaknesses, and address both in your poem.

Regional Representation

A new immersive installation by artist Cauleen Smith uses scent, sight, and sound to explore the work of the late poet Wanda Coleman, widely considered the unofficial poet laureate of Los Angeles. Smith turned to Coleman’s work to help reacquaint her with the city after a sixteen-year absence. “L.A. is a shy one, a real one, and a terrible beauty,” Smith writes in the liner notes to an EP in the listening room of the exhibit. “You can’t really see how gorgeous it is in a drive-by, you have to sit with the banality, the horrors, the wildness of the city until it begins to become legible.” Select a poet who writes about your town, city, or region, and write a personal essay that reflects on their perspectives and your own. How can reading another writer’s observations and emotions about your hometown provide a refreshing lens to what might otherwise seem familiar?

Strangers in a Strange Land

When a group of strangers gathers in one setting, whether in a horror story, mystery, or in real life, the situation makes for a great premise. In The Extinction of Irena Rey (Bloomsbury, 2024), the debut novel by author and translator Jennifer Croft, eight translators from eight different countries arrive at an author’s house located in a primeval Polish forest to begin their work when the author disappears. As they investigate the author’s whereabouts while attempting to continue their work, rivalries and paranoia begin cropping up. Write a story that revolves around a group of unacquainted people, all confined in one location. Experiment with different modes of dialogue, setting description, and point of view. How will their secrets be revealed?

“Because curfews of / Because strip search at the checkpoint into / Because grandmother’s undergarments splayed on / Because two men with guns on the way to / Because grandmother saves plastic Coke liters to / Because the water could without notice be,” writes Jessica Abughattas in her poem “Litany for My Father” published by Split This Rock. The poem consists of twenty-two lines, which, all but the last line, begin with the word “because” and end abruptly, as if in mid-thought. The lines build into a powerful expression of loss and a sublimated sense of intense sorrow, how powerless one can feel in grief. Write a poem that makes use of omission or erasure in this way, taking into consideration how the format might influence your subject or theme. How does this repeated absence of words achieve emotive force?

Subcultures

In a recent essay in the New York Times Magazine , Mireille Silcoff explores the evolving concept of subcultures and how teenagers today are primarily engaged with subcultural aesthetics (such as Preppy, Messy French It Girl, Dark Academia, and Goblincore) popularized on social media, “a fleeting personal pleasure to be had mainly alone.” Silcoff argues that there is no longer a shared experience and work to get into a scene, and that “subcultures in general —once the poles of style and art and politics and music around which wound so many ribbons of teenage meaning—have largely collapsed.” Write a personal essay about a subculture you were engaged with long ago or more recently. Detail your introduction to the scene, the behaviors, styles, and accessories that accompanied it, and its positioning within society at large. How did this sense of belonging inform who you are today?

Maggot, Humvee, Peg, Swap-Out, Baggy Eyes, Creaky, Fast Forward, Extra Eye. These are all nicknames of characters found in Barbara Kingsolver’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, Demon Copperhead , whose title itself is the nickname of Damon Fields who narrates the coming-of-age story set in the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia. In an early chapter of the book, Damon talks about how prominent nicknames are in his town and that even his mother no longer uses his real name. “Some name finds you, and you come running to it like a dog until the day you die and it goes in the paper along with your official name that everybody’s forgotten,” says Damon. Write a short story in which a group of characters have colorful nicknames for each other. Start with a list of names and consider the power dynamics at play for those who use and bestow the nicknames.

Follow the Language

“I wanted to think freely, let my mind wander, follow ideas (and phrases) wherever they might go,” said the late poet Lyn Hejinian in a 2020 interview for the Wheeler Column at the University of California in Berkeley, where she was a professor and John F. Hotchkis Chair Emerita. “For a while—but not for very long—I used poetry to express my adolescent angst and longings, but very soon I recognized the banality and the limits of that. It wasn’t self-expression I was seeking but loss of self.” Inspired by Hejinian , who died at the age of eighty-two on February 24, write a poem that avoids a preconceived intention of style or thematic experience, and instead allow these elements to emerge as you let your mind wander. How might language, in the abstract as the material of your thinking, lead to a new mode of expression or representation?

More Than Chores

Doing laundry, washing dishes, grocery shopping, vacuuming, running out to the bank—do the chores ever end? Perhaps not, but there are small delights and incidental pleasures to be found in all the errands to be completed: a breath of fresh air, the feel of a tidy home, running into a friend, an interesting exchange with a stranger, or a long-forgotten memory that surfaces. This week write a personal essay that focuses on a single mundane task you regularly carry out and expand on the activity by looking at it from a variety of angles. Consider who taught you how to complete the chore, obscure observations, bodily movements, happenstance, and societal relevance. Can the chore become more?

Rediscovered Classic

Our Daily News series reports a recent New Yorker article telling the story of how a bartender in Manchester came across a novel from the 1930s and tracked down the rights for the book in order to get it back in print. Thanks to Jack Chadwick’s discovery , Caliban Shrieks by Jack Hilton will be republished in March by Vintage Classics in the United Kingdom. This week write a short story in which your character comes across an out-of-print book and finds adventure while tracking down the whereabouts of its author. Do plot points from the mysterious book come into play in your tale?

Drawing on a wealth of botanical vocabulary, Canadian poet Sylvia Legris explores themes of nature in her new book, The Principle of Rapid Peering , forthcoming in April from New Directions. In the book, the title of which is derived from early-twentieth-century ornithologist Joseph Grinnell’s study on the behavior of birds around food, Legris categorizes birds as either “those who wait passively for food to approach them” or rapid-peering active-seekers “whose target[s] of desire [are] stationary.” She writes: “The rapid-peerer’s eyes turn / as the head changes position. // The eyes focus the beak, / the instrument of capture. // ... The head follows the feet, / quick moves, to, fro. // Feet with an intelligence of texture, / bark, branch, gravel, soil.” Browse through nature guides or encyclopedias in search of unique animal attributes, specifically looking for evocative terminology with potentially expansive interpretations. Then write a poem that both touches on the term’s original meaning and imagines a new interpretation connecting to a personal experience or memory.

Happy 2,000th!

To celebrate publishing our two-thousandth writing prompt, spend some time this week jotting down a list of the most significant milestones of your life so far. Reflect on both traditional milestones, such as school or education-related achievements and relationship or family developments, as well as other hard-won goals that might be related to creative pursuits or something considered unconventional. You might also choose to focus on an important event that occurred unexpectedly and set your life in a new, progressive direction. Write an essay that expands upon one or more of these milestones. In what ways has your outlook on life evolved over the years, from before the event, immediately after, and then many years later?

The One That Got Away

While the origins of the phrase “the one that got away” may come from the sport of fishing, and how the biggest and best would-be catch seems to always escape, the phrase can also refer to a past love, one that was lost to the whims of fate. Oftentimes this lost love is a source of regret or nostalgia, as is the case in Katy Perry’s song which takes the phrase as its title and reflects on a relationship from the “summer after high school.” Write a scene in a short story that sees one of your main characters recounting a lost love. Does the character encounter something that reminds them of their long-ago amour or does the reminiscence set off a further chain of consequences?

Cosmic Connection

“You have changed me already. I am a fireball / That is hurtling towards the sky to where you are,” begins Dorothea Lasky’s “Poem to an Unnameable Man” from her 2010 collection, Black Life . The poem’s speaker regales their addressee with the projected story of their intense connection, as Lasky incorporates cosmic imagery, a confessional tone, and grandiose language combined with an intimate, idiosyncratic voice. This week write a poem that traverses the galaxy and addresses someone or something you feel tethered to, as if you’re “hurtling towards” them. As you write, play around with figurative language that points to both sizable and smaller, nuanced observations.

About Our Writing Prompts

What is a writing prompt and how do you use one? Whether you find yourself in front of a blank page or stuck in a work-in-progress, writing prompts can offer a spark that ignites your creative thinking and can lead to new writing. Prompts offer guidance, fresh ideas, and direction for writers of all levels of experience. First, choose a prompt for the genre in which you’d like to write, then carefully read it and consider what it is asking you to think about. It could be a specific setting, a writing technique, or an element of an imagined character; a specific poem, story, essay, song, book, or film from which you might take inspiration; or a current event or a topical theme. A writing prompt is filled with endless possibilities—and there is no wrong way to use one to generate new writing!

What makes our writing prompts unique? We have an archive of over 2,000 prompts, all original and offered here and in our weekly newsletter . You’ll find a variety of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction prompts—some inspired by recent and classic literature and other forms of art, current events, and writing practices, and others that offer guidance for a particular form, including sonnets, erasure poetry, flash fiction, lyric essays, and more. For more than fifty years, Poets & Writers has supported creative writers with trustworthy information and inspiration, and our weekly prompts provide a regular dose of encouragement and motivation.

What are the benefits of using writing prompts? Writing prompts can help you get unstuck if you’re in a rut and the ideas aren’t flowing. But even if you’re not experiencing writer’s block, writing prompts can offer a fresh take or a new approach to a work-in-progress. Writing prompts can also provide the motivation to experiment with a new form, try out a new genre, or learn about other writing techniques. And writing prompts are an invaluable tool for teachers who want to encourage and inspire their writing students.

What is this list of Best Books? Best Books for Writers is a list of essential books for creative writers that we curate to support your writing practice. Every week, we add a book (whether new or a classic) with a synopsis and highlights. Included are books on the writing life, anthologies of craft essays, collections of lectures, practical guides with writing exercises, and more.

Poetry writing prompts Every Tuesday we post a new poetry prompt to guide you in your practice. Get to know the work of contemporary and classic poets, as well as a variety of poetic forms.

Fiction writing prompts Every Wednesday we post a new fiction prompt to spark your imagination. Take inspiration from recently published short stories and novels, and of course, the classics.

Creative nonfiction writing prompts Every Thursday we post a new creative nonfiction prompt to help your exploration of this ever-changing genre. These prompts include information and inspiration for a variety of essays as well as memoirs. Discover new writers and their craft, and fresh ways to generate writing inspired by your life.

Need a starter pack? Check out our Writing Prompts for Beginners .

Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, 105 creative writing prompts to try out.

General Education

The most common advice out there for being a writer is, "if you want to write, write." While this is true (and good advice), it's not always that easy, particularly if you're not writing regularly.

Whether you're looking for help getting started on your next project, or just want to spend 20 minutes being creative, writing prompts are great ways to rev up your imagination. Read on for our list of over 100 creative writing prompts!

feature image credit: r. nial bradshaw /Flickr

10 Short Writing Prompts

If you're looking for a quick boost to get yourself going, these 10 short writing prompts will do the trick.

#1 : Write a scene starting with a regular family ritual that goes awry.

#2 : Describe exactly what you see/smell/hear/etc, right now. Include objects, people, and anything else in your immediate environment.

#3 : Suggest eight possible ways to get a ping pong ball out of a vertical pipe.

#4 : A shoe falls out of the sky. Justify why.

#5 : If your brain were a tangible, physical place, what would it be like?

#6 : Begin your writing with the phrase, "The stage was set."

#7 : You have been asked to write a history of "The Summer of [this past year]." Your publisher wants a table of contents. What events will you submit?

#8 : Write a sympathetic story from the point of view of the "bad guy." (Think fractured fairy tales like Wicked or The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! , although the story doesn't have to be a fairy tale.)

#9 : Look at everyday objects in a new way and write about the stories one of these objects contains.

#10 : One person meets a stranger on a mode of transportation. Write the story that ensues.

11 Writing Prompts for Kids

Any of these prompts can be used by writers of any age, but we chose the following 11 prompts as ones that would be particularly fun for kids to write about. (Most of them I used myself as a young writer, so I can vouch for their working!)

#1 : Include something falling in your writing.

#2 : Write a short poem (or story) with the title, "We don't know when it will be fixed."

#3 : Write from the perspective of someone of a different gender than you.

#4 : Write a dumb internet quiz.

#5 : Finish this thought: "A perfect day in my imagination begins like this:"

#6 : Write a character's inner monologue (what they are thinking as they go about their day).

#7 : Think of a character. Write a paragraph each about:

An important childhood experience that character had.
The character's living situation.
Two hobbies or things the character likes to do.
The room where the character sleeps.
An ambition of the character.
Two physical characteristics of the character.
What happens when a second person and this character meet.
Two important defining personal traits of this character.

#8 : Start a story with a quote from a song.

#9 : Begin a story with, "It was the summer of ______ when ______"

#10 : Pretend everyday objects have no names. Think about what you would name them based on what they do, what you can use them for, and what they look like.

#11 : Start a story with the phrases "My grandparents are/were," "My parents are/were," or "My mother/father/parent is/was."

15 Cool Writing Prompts

#1 : List five issues that you're passionate about. Write about them from the opposite point of view (or from the perspective of a character with the opposite point of view).

#2 : Walk around and write down a phrase you hear (or read). Make a story out of it.

#3 : Write using no adjectives or adverbs.

#4 : Write a character's inner dialogue between different aspects of a character's self (rather than an inner monologue).

#5 : Write a true story from your past that involves light or darkness in some way.

#6 : "Saying goodbye awakens us to the true nature of things." Write something in which someone has to say goodbye and has a realization.

#7 : Begin by writing the end of the story.

#8 : Write a recipe for an intangible thing.

#9 : Write a horror story about an ordinary situation (e.g., buying groceries, going to the bank, listening to music).

#10 : Write a story from within a bubble.

#11 : Write down 2-3 short character descriptions and then write the characters in conversation with one another.

#12 : Write a story in second person.

#13 : Write a story that keeps contradicting itself.

#14 : Write about a character with at least three big problems.

#15 : Write something that takes place on a Friday, the 13th (of any month).

15 Funny Writing Prompts

#1 : Write a story which starts with someone eating a pickle and potato sandwich.

#2 : Write a short script where the plot has to do with evil dolls trying to take over something.

#3 : Write about writers' block.

#4 : List five election issues that would be ridiculous to includes as part of your election platform (e.g. outlawing mechanical pencils and clicky pens, mandating every person over the age of 30 must own an emergency last rites kit). Choose one of the ridiculous issues and write a speech in favor of it.

#5 : Write a children's story that is insanely inappropriate but can't use graphic language, curses, or violence.

#6 : List five careers. Write about someone with one of those careers who wants to quit it.

#7 : Write down a list of murder methods. Choose one at random from the list to use in a story.

#8 : Write a romance story in which the hero must have a last name corresponding with a physical characteristic (e.g. Jacques Hairyback or Flora Dimple).

#9 : Come up with 10 different ways to:

order a pizza
congratulate someone on a job well done
return to the store something that's broken

#10 : Search for "random Renaissance painting" (or any other inspirational image search text you can think of) on any online internet image search engine. Picking one image, write half a page each of:

Statements about this image (e.g. "I meant bring me the BREAD of John the Baptist").
Questions about this image (e.g. "How many of those cherubs look like their necks are broken?").
Explanations of this image (e.g. "The painter ran out of blue paint halfway through and had to improvise for the color of the sky").
Commands said by people in this image or about this image (e.g. "Stop telling me to smile!" or "Bring me some gasoline!").

#11 : Write starting with a word that sounds like "chute" (e.g. "chute," "shoot," "shooed").

#12 : Write about a character named X "The [article of clothing]" Y (e.g. Julie "The Yellow Darted Skirt" Whyte) or simply referred to by their clothing (e.g. "the man in the brown suit" or "the woman in black").

#13 : Write down a paragraph each describing two wildly different settings. Write a story involving both settings.

#14 : Think of a fictional holiday based around some natural event (e.g. the Earth being at its farthest point from the sun, in memory of a volcanic eruption, that time a cloud looked like a rabbit riding a bicycle). Write about how this holiday is celebrated.

#15 : Write a "Just-So" type story about a fictional creature (e.g. "how the dragon got its firebreath" or "how the mudkip got its cheek gills").

54 Other Writing Prompt Ideas

#1 : Borrow a character from some other form of media (or create your own). Write from that character's perspective.

#2 : Write for and against a non-consequential controversy (e.g., salt vs. pepper, Mac vs. PC, best kind of door).

#3 : Choose an ancestor or a person from the past to write about or to.

#4 : Write a pirate story with a twist.

#5 : Have a character talk about another character and their feelings about that other character.

#6 : Pick a season and think about an event in your life that occurred in that season. Write a creative nonfiction piece about that event and that season.

#7 : Think of something very complicated and long. Write a page about it using short sentences.

#8 : Write a story as a dream.

#9 : Describe around a food without ever directly naming it.

#10 : Write a monologue (one character, talking to the audience/reader) (*not* an inner monologue).

#11 : Begin a story with the phrase, "It only took five seconds to..."

#12 : List five strong emotions. Choosing one, write about a character experiencing that emotion, but only use the character's actions to convey how they are feeling (no outright statements).

#13 : Write a chapter of the memoir of your life.

#14 : Look through the (physical) things you're currently carrying with you or wearing. Write about the memories or emotions tied with each of them.

#15 : Go be in nature. Write drawing your story from your surroundings (both physical, social, and mental/emotional).

#16 : Write from the perspective of a bubble (or bubble-like creature).

#17 : A person is jogging along an asphalt road. Write a story.

#18 : Title your story (or poem, or play, etc) "Anti-_____". Fill in the blank and write the story.

#19 : Write something that must include an animal, a mineral, and a vegetable.

#20 : Begin your writing with the phrase, "6 weeks later..."

#21 : List 5-10 office jobs. Pick one of them and describe a person working in that job as if you were a commentator on an Olympic sporting event.

#22 : Practice your poetic imagery: overwrite a description of a character's breakfast routine.

#23 : Write about a character (or group of characters) trying to convince another character to try something they're scared of.

#24 : Keep an eye out in your environment for examples of greengrocer's apostrophes and rogue quotation marks. Pick an example and write about what the misplaced punctuation implies (e.g., we have the "best" meat or we have the best "meat" ).

#25 : Fill in the blank with the first word that comes to mind: "_______ Riot!" Write a newspaper-style article describing the events that that took place.

#26 : Write from the point of view of your most-loved possession. What does it think of you?

#27 : Think of five common sayings (e.g., "An apple a day keeps the doctor away"). Write a horror story whose plot is one of those common sayings.

#28 : Write a scene in which two characters are finally hashing out a long-standing misunderstanding or disagreement.

#29 : You start receiving text messages from an unknown number. Tell the story of what happens next.

#30 : Write one character bragging to another about the story behind their new tattoo.

#31 : Superheroes save the world...but they also leave a lot of destruction in their wake. Write about a normal person in a superhero's world.

#32 : Sometimes, family is who we are related to; sometimes, family is a group of people we gather around ourselves. Write a story about (some of) a character's found family and relatives meeting for the first time.

#33 : Write a story that begins in the middle of the plot's action ( en media res ).

#34 : Everyone says you can never have too much of a good thing. Write a story where that isn't true.

#35 : What do ghosts do when they're not creating mischief? Write about the secret lives of ghosts.

#36 : Every year, you dread the last week of April. Write a story about why.

#37 : Write a story about what it would be like to have an animal sidekick in real life.

#38 : Heists don't just have to be black-clad thieves stealing into vaults to steal rare art or money. Write about a group of people (adults or children) who commit a heist for something of seemingly little monetary value.

#39 : "Life is like a chooseable-path adventure, except you don't get to see what would have happened if you chose differently." Think of a choice you've made and write about a world where you made a different choice.

#40 : Write a story about a secret room.

#41 : You find a message in a bottle with very specific directions. Write a story about the adventure you embark upon.

#42 : "You'll always be okay as long as you know where your _______ is." Fill in the blank and write a story (either fictional or from your life) illustrating this statement.

#43 : Forcing people into prolonged proximity can change and deepen relationships. Write about characters on a road trip together.

#44 : In music, sonata form includes three main parts: exposition, development, and recapitulation. Write a short story that follows this format.

#45 : Begin writing with a character saying, "I'm afraid this simply can't wait."

#46 : Write a story with a happy ending (either happily-ever-after or happy-for-now).

#47 : Write about a character before and after a tragedy in that character's life.

#48 : Choose an object or concept you encounter in everyday life (e.g. tables, the feeling of hot or cold, oxygen) and write an infomercial about it.

#49 : "Life is a series of quests, whether important or mundane." Write about a quest you've gone on (or would like to go on, or will have to go on).

#50 : List 10 different ways to learn. Choose one (or more) and write a story where a character learns something using that one (or more) method.

#51 : You've been called to the principal's office for bad behavior. You know what you did. Explain and justify yourself.

#52 : A character discovers their sibling owns a cursed object. Write about what happens next.

#53 : Write a character description by writing a list of items that would be on a scavenger hunt about them.

#54 : The slogan for a product or service you're advertising is, "Kid-tested, _____." Fill in the blank and write the copy for a radio or podcast advertisement for your product.

How to Use Creative Writing Prompts

There's no wrong way to use a creative writing prompt (unless it's to harass and hurt someone)—the point of them is to get you writing and your imagination flowing.

To help you get the most out of these writing prompts, however, we've come up with the six tips below. Try them out!

#1: DON'T Limit Yourself to Prose

Unless you're writing for a particular assignment, there's no reason everything you write in response to a writing prompt has to be prose fiction . Instead of writing your response to a prompt as a story, try writing a poem, nonfiction essay, play, screenplay, or some other format entirely.

#2: DON'T Edit as You Write

The purposes of writing prompts is to get you writing, typos and weird grammar and all. Editing comes later, once you've finished writing and have some space from it to come back to what you wrote.

It's OK to fix things that will make it difficult to read what you've written (e.g., a weird autocorrect that changes the meaning of a sentence), but don't worry too much about typos or perfect grammar when you're writing; those are easy enough to fix in edits . You also can always insert asterisks or a short note as you're writing to remind yourself to go back to fix something (for instance, if as you're writing it seems like you want to move around the order of your paragraphs or insert something earlier).

#3: DO Interpret the Prompt Broadly

The point of using a writing prompt is not to write something that best exemplifies the prompt, but something that sparks your own creativity. Again, unless you're writing in response to an assignment with specific directions, feel free to interpret writing prompts as broadly or as narrowly as you want.

For instance, if your prompt is to write a story that begins with "The stage was set," you could write about anything from someone preparing to put a plan into motion to a literal theatre stage constructed out of pieces of old sets (or something else entirely).

If you're using a writing prompt, it doesn't have to be the first sentence of your story or poem, either; you can also use the prompt as a goal to work towards in your writing.

#4: DO Try Switching Up Your Writing Methods

If it's a possibility for you, see if you write differently in different media. Do you write the same kind of stories by hand as you would typing at a computer? What about if you dictate a story and then transcribe it? Or text it to a friend? Varying the method you use to write can affect the stories you're able to tell.

For example, you may find that it's easier for you to tell stories about your life to a voice recorder than to try to write out a personal essay. Or maybe you have trouble writing poetry, but can easily text yourself or a friend a poem. You might even find you like a writing method you've not tried before better than what you've been doing!

#5: DO Mix and Match Prompt Ideas

If you need more inspiration, feel free to combine multiple prompts (but don't overwhelm yourself with too much to write about).

You can also try switching genres from what might be suggested in the prompt. For instance, try writing a prompt that seems funny in a serious and sad way, or finding the humor in something that otherwise seems humorless. The categories we've organized the prompts into are by no means limiters on what you're allowed to write about.

#6: DO Try to Write Regularly

The more regularly you write, the easier it will be to write (with or without writing prompts).

For some people, this means writing daily; for others, it means setting aside time to write each weekend or each month. Set yourself an achievable goal (write 2x a week, write 1000 words a month) and stick to it. You can always start small and then ramp your wordcount or frequency up.

If you do better when you have something outside yourself prompting to write, you may also want to try something like morning pages , which encourages you to write at least 750 words every day, in any format (story, diary entry, social media postings, etc).

What's Next?

Thinking about attending college or grad school for creative writing? Our articles on whether or not you should major in creative writing and the best creative writing programs are there for you! Plus, if you're a high schooler, you should check out these top writing contests .

Creative writing doesn't necessarily have to be fiction. Check out these three examples of narrative writing and our tips for how to write your own narrative stories and essays .

Just as writing prompts can help give form to amorphous creative energy, using specific writing structures or devices can be great starting points for your next story. Read through our discussion of the top 20 poetic devices to know and see if you can work at least one new one into your next writing session.

Still looking for more writing ideas? Try repurposing our 100+ easy drawing ideas for characters, settings, or plot points in your writing.

Laura graduated magna cum laude from Wellesley College with a BA in Music and Psychology, and earned a Master's degree in Composition from the Longy School of Music of Bard College. She scored 99 percentile scores on the SAT and GRE and loves advising students on how to excel in high school.

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Latest Writing Prompts

Essence extraction.

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Research an experimental cure for the zombie virus that reactivates portions of the brain. Explore This Prompt Further →

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Apex Predators

Write about humans evolving a new set of skills to hunt and kill the zombies, now that they are the apex predators. Explore This Prompt Further →

Terrifying Evolution

Imagine a world where the zombie virus has evolved to the point where zombies can think, feel, plan and co-operate. Explore This Prompt Further →

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Write a story about a group of survivors who develop unique physical mutations to survive a zombie apocalypse. Explore This Prompt Further →

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Narrate a scenario where you have to confront a group of zombies to save your post-apocalyptic community. Explore This Prompt Further →

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Suppose you could interview your favorite toy. What kind of questions would you ask and how would it respond? Explore This Prompt Further →

Magic Transformation

What if your favorite toy magically turned into a real creature or person? Write a story about it. Explore This Prompt Further →

Toy’s Adventure

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Winning the Podrace

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Touched by the Force

Narrate about Anakin discovering he has special powers of the Force and how he learned to use them. Explore This Prompt Further →

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Your protagonist is living under a curse they desperately want to reverse. What is the curse, and how does it affect their daily life? Explore This Prompt Further →

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Bonding in Their Badness

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Journey of the Lost Crown

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First Vigilante Act

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Writing Prompts: 52 Places to Find Them When You Need Inspiration

by Emily Withnall | Nov 1, 2023

If you feel like you are stuck in your writing, writing prompts might be just what you need to get out of your rut.

Whether you’re experiencing writer’s block or you’re tired of your own voice, style or subject-matter, writing prompts can give you a creative jolt to help you begin something new.

In addition to being a writer and editor, I teach writing in public schools and in a nearby detention center. This means I regularly use writing prompts with students of all ages.

Table of contents, what is a writing prompt .

A writing prompt is a brief image or topic that can help writers generate new ideas. Writing prompts can be a great way to inspire ideas in any genre of writing.

They can also take a huge variety of forms. Whether you’re inspired by news headlines, objects, one-word prompts, detailed questions or reading a poem or full work of prose, writing prompts can help you explore a particular topic, engage in a “conversation” with other writers or get through writer’s block.

Writing prompts can also help you make new or unusual connections between things. I was once asked to write an essay that incorporated a dog, a wristwatch and scuba diver. This prompt resulted in an essay that was published in a magazine.

Where to find writing prompts

Writing classes can be wonderful places to encounter interesting prompts, but the internet is also swimming with more prompts than you can ever use.

The following list is a collection of some of the resources that can help you generate new work no matter what genre you’re working in.

While these prompts are grouped in categories, many of the websites offer prompts in multiple genres. Remember that a genre-specific prompt can often be used to generate interesting ideas or connections in other genres, too.

Here’s where to find writing prompts.

Fiction writing prompts and creative writing prompts

1. Poets & Writers: The Time is Now

Poets & Writers Magazine publishes a new fiction prompt online every Wednesday. These prompts are typically a paragraph in length and they encourage ideas through a series of questions and suggestions.

2. Self-Publishing School: 400+ Creative Writing Prompts to Find Your Next (Best) Book Idea

These prompts are aimed at inspiring plot and character development and are meant to generate the sparks needed to fuel writing a book. Sets of prompts are grouped into genres of fiction writing such as mystery, dystopian, fantasy, and more. Each group of prompts is also accompanied by a series of tips for how to write in a particular genre.

The Write Life has teamed up with Self-Publishing School to create this presentation, “How to Write & Publish Your Book in 90 Days.” In it, you’ll learn how to finish your book in just 30 minutes per day. To sign up for this free training, click here.

3. 12 Nature-Inspired Creative Writing Prompts

Nature writing typically brings to mind nonfiction writing, but this list of prompts encourages nature- and place-based storytelling. The prompts contain detailed visual descriptions to help you jump into a particular place or scene.

4. Writer’s Digest Creative Writing Prompts

These prompts are posted weekly and help to generate specific scenes or ideas you can expand on. Most of the prompts are a series of questions to help generate details about plot and character development.

5. 21 Writing Prompts to Help You Finish an Entire Novel This Summer

These short prompts offer a topic, scenario or structure broad enough to build a book around. Each prompt is accompanied by a gif that works as an additional prompt for people who are inspired by visual imagery.

6. Plot Prompts for Fiction: Writer Igniter

This simple but innovative website offers digital flashcards to help writers explore character, situation, prop, and setting. Four specific cards are offered to the writer and when you finish (or if you want a different idea) you can just press the “shuffle” button and get an entirely new combination to write about.

7. Creative Writing Now: Fiction Writing Prompts

The heart of any story often involves a character’s internal or personal journey. These prompts offer a full paragraph to flesh out a particular character and the personal or relational challenges they are facing.

8. Creative Writing Now: 44 Short Story Ideas

Designed for shorter works of fictions, these short story prompts offer brief scenarios for inspiration. Each set of ideas comes with a writing challenge, and you are encouraged to mix and match ideas from each of the prompt lists. There’s even one set of prompts that helps you brainstorm personal fears and habits and helps you fictionalize them.

9. ServiceScape Fiction Writing Prompt Generator

Scroll through a list of fiction sub-genres, such as “utopia,” “space opera,” “science fiction romance,” or many other sub-genres, to pull up a carousel of prompts. Each prompt is about a paragraph long to set the scene and situation—perfect for any fiction writer who just needs a nudge to get them off and running.

10. Fiction Prompts on StoryADay with Julie Duffy

The prompts provided on StoryADay often ask writers to imagine a momentous moment and dive right into the action. These prompts can be great for helping writers craft plot. Each prompt is paired with a photograph, too, which can be another boon for anyone who derives inspiration from imagery.

11. The Writer: Writing Prompts

Writers looking to combine mundane, everyday life with secrets, mysteries, or other strange twists will likely find these prompts intriguing. Paired with colorful and engaging images, these prompts are updated weekly on Fridays.

12. 40 Short Story Prompts You Can Write in a Day

If all you need is a scenario, these prompts should do the trick. Each prompt sets up the situation, and it’s up to you to provide the story!

13. Random Story Prompt Generator

Click a button and receive a few random prompts! These work well for writers who just need a handful of objects and archetypal characters for inspiration to strike. And for even more random story prompts, check out the links to other story generators below the prompt box.

14. Giant Golden Buddha & 364 More 5-Minute Writing Exercises

For fiction writers who need inspiration for how to begin, these prompts are detailed and focused enough to help you zero in on an opening paragraph, a brief scene, or a vivid description of a character.

Flash Fiction Prompts

15. Laurie Stone’s Flash Fiction Prompts

The prompts on this website are creative and include sentence fragments, excerpts of poems, and sentences with fill-in-the blank spots. The variety makes these prompts unusual and great for experimentation.

16. Bookfox: 50 Flash Fiction Prompts

Designed for fiction 1,000 words or under, these prompts will likely spark ideas for short stories or even novels. The prompts are grouped by category and each prompt introduces the main character and the tension for a writer to run with.

17. 62 of the Best Flash Fiction Story Prompts

This list of prompts is perfect for fiction writers who want to try their hand at writing flash fiction. Steph Fraser provides an overview of flash fiction and tips for how to write flash stories successfully. This introduction is followed by prompts which are grouped by sub-genres such as “horror” and “romance.”

18. 99 Days of Flash Fiction Prompts

If you need a little more to go on than a few words, but don’t need a full paragraph, these prompts provide brief dialogue and just enough sensory detail to spark a flash story idea.

19. 100 Days of Fun Flash Fiction Prompts

These brief prompts created by Eva Deverell are designed to keep you writing every day, but can be used at random, too. As a bonus, her website offers a number of other free writing resources, too!

Nonfiction writing prompts

20. Submittable Prompts

Writers who submit work to literary magazines are likely familiar with Submittable — but did you know their blog has an archive of writing prompts? Each blog post is accompanied by an image that relates to the theme of the prompts. There are 8-10 prompts focused on a particular idea or theme. Most of these prompts can easily be used for other genres.

21. Poets & Writers: The Time is Now

Poets & Writers Magazine publishes a new nonfiction prompt every Thursday. Writers can also subscribe to the Time is Now weekly e-newsletter to receive prompts for nonfiction as well as fiction and poetry.

22. The New York Times Learning Network: 550 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing

Not only are these prompts grouped in easy-to-navigate categories, but each prompt is linked to background information, a brief summary of someone’s story as it pertains to the topic, and a series of questions aimed at helping a writer think through the various aspects of a particular prompt. This is a great option for writers who need more than one-word prompts!

23. Bad-Ass Writing Prompts to Kick-Start Your Creativity

Each of these prompts lays out a brief scenario and asks a question aimed at self-discovery or introspection. These would be particularly useful for personal essayists or memoirists who are trying to find a way into writing about their bad or regrettable behaviors.

24. 10 Ways to Inspire Personal Writing with The New York Times

Writers with years of expertise and a keen eye for structure and tone will benefit from these advanced writing prompts. Each prompt provides loose guidelines for modeling a piece on the writing published in particular sections of The New York Times. The prompts include links to published work writers might reference as good examples.

25. Creative Nonfiction Prompts

The 50 prompts on this list are pulled from Melissa Donovan’s book, “1200 Creative Writing Prompts.” The list is made up of strings of questions that ask writers to recall various types of memories, or to engage with emotional or intellectual responses to music, art, and media.

26. Bookfox: 50 Creative Nonfiction Prompts Guaranteed to Inspire

Most memoirists and personal essayists explore relationships in their writing and this list of prompts is bound to jog particular kinds of memories. Most of the prompts relate to childhood or family relationships, but some prompts focus on other types of relationships, too.

27. Event: 30 Non-Fiction Writing Prompts

While some people prefer a word or phrase to spark an idea, others benefit from paragraphs and series of questions, and some enjoy reading a full essay or article before beginning to write. This list of prompts offers all three options for each of the 30 ideas. Some prompts suggest a straightforward retelling, but others suggest looser associations and experimental nonfiction writing.

28. 11 Strange Fiction/Nonfiction Prompts

Derived from the quotes of renowned writers, these prompts ask writers to dig deep and consider the connections between small, detailed moments and larger themes or events. The prompts can easily be used for either fiction or nonfiction.

29. 10 Easy Writing Prompts to Get Your Life Story Started

It can be difficult to write about your complex life story in a clear way. Each of these ten prompts provides a frame so that you can dive into one aspect of your life story that will likely illuminate larger themes as you keep writing.

30. Writing Class Radio

Perfect for people who prefer a minimalist approach, Writing Class Radio provides daily prompts of one or two words. The website also hosts a nonfiction writing podcast that features writers sharing work and discussing craft.

31. Writing Our Lives Personal Essay Prompts

Writer Vanessa Martír posts prompts weekly. Each prompt invites writers to reflect deeply on a particular memory or set of memories and most prompts include a quote from a book or movie that connects to the topic. Many of the prompts are focused on reflection and healing.

32. Journal Writing Prompts for Beginners: 119 Journal Prompts

You don’t have to seek publication to be a writer. Writing for yourself counts, too! People who want to journal but aren’t sure where to start or what to write each day (or week) will find this list of prompts to be helpful in sparking ideas for topics.

33. Bernadette Mayer’s List of Journal Ideas

For beginners and advanced journalers and nonfiction writers, this list is divided into categories to give you ideas for themed journals, topic ideas, and quote fragments meant to inspire. There are also longer prompts that encourage experimentation with structure, form, and collaboration.

Flash Nonfiction Prompts

34. Flash Nonfiction Lessons in Concision and Revision

As a writing instructor, Zoë Bossiere has a lot of wisdom to share about the various kinds of flash nonfiction and the elements that make flash writing different than longer types of writing. Although this is essentially a lesson plan on Assay: A Journal of Nonfiction Studies, writers can learn a lot about the four main types of flash nonfiction, and gain inspiration for their own flash pieces from the many examples and resources that Boossiere provides.

35. Documenting Life, Briefly: Flash Nonfiction Prompts

In each of these prompts, the writer is invited to approach the truth of the world or themselves from a different angle, whether it’s a memorable phone call or something from the news you just can’t shake. Some prompts walk you through a series of steps, and others offer just a couple of lines to help you begin.

Poetry writing prompts

36. Poets & Writers: The Time is Now

Poets & Writers Magazine releases a new poetry prompt once a week on Tuesdays. You can access these on the website or sign up to receive the prompts in their weekly writing prompt e-newsletter. These prompts are typically in the form of a paragraph with excerpts of poems or quotes accompanied by a series of questions or suggestions.

37. Think Written: 101 Poetry Writing Prompts

If you want to jump right into a poem, these prompts are a great way to start. Each prompt is one short sentence and the list is filled with suggestions that will evoke memories or spark your imagination.

38. Writer’s Relief: 125 of the Best Writing Prompts for Poets

These prompts consist of two words or a short phrase or image meant to evoke life memories. The prompts are grouped in categories like “Momentous Occasions” and “Mysterious Places.”

39. Creative Writing Now: Prompts for Poetry

These short prompts are open-ended and each one might be used repeatedly to produce different kinds of poems. Many of the prompts suggest using a set of specific words. Using words you might not use ordinarily can help you stretch creatively as a writer!

40. Poetry Prompt Generator

Choose the number of words you want to appear on this page, and the number of challenges. Then decide whether you’d like to draw inspiration from an image, and press the “Get Prompt” button. Voila! You now have a set of instructions, a list of words to try to use in your poem, and an image to get your creative juices flowing.

41. The Poetry Writing Society: Poetry Writing Prompts

Each of these prompts involves a series of instructions or steps. For poets who are feeling particularly stuck or benefit from structure, the prompts here just may do the trick.

42. Writing Forward Poetry Prompts

The 25 prompts on this list are pulled from Melissa Donovan’s book, “1200 Creative Writing Prompts.” Books can be great resources for writing prompts and many authors make some of these printed prompts available online. Many of these prompts suggest writing poems that use a specific set of images or sounds.

43. 30 Writing Prompts for National Poetry Month

Take your shoes off, grab the nearest book, or find a recipe: Many of these prompts derive inspiration from the objects and ideas that surround you.

44. CAConrad’s (Soma)tic Poetry Exercises

How do you feel about putting a penny under your tongue before writing? For poets or other creative writers looking for embodied experiences to inspire their writing, these exercises are more than just prompts. Each exercise calls on writers to engage in a particular activity while thinking about particular memories and ideas.

Writing prompts on social media (including Reddit writing prompts)

45. Reddit Writing Prompts

You can find anything on Reddit — including writing prompts. Most of the prompts on Reddit are for fiction writers, but the search bar will turn up other genres, too. Reddit prompts are great for people who want to write and get feedback in an online community.

46. Tumblr Writing Prompts: Story Prompts

Tumblr is a virtual treasure trove of writing prompts of any genre and topic you can imagine. Story Prompts curates prompts from across many different Tumblr accounts, but you can also search for specific blogs or genre types.

47. Facebook Writing Prompts: Windcatchers

Windcatchers is one of many writing prompt Facebook groups and it is run by writer Michelle Labyrinth. Prompts are posted about once a week and other articles and resources for writers are posted, too. The prompts are generally targeted to nonfiction writers.

48. Twitter #Writing Prompts

Hashtags make it easier than ever to find the kind of prompts you are looking for. #writingprompts generates lots of different kinds of prompts, but there are also Twitter accounts you can follow that are devoted to particular kinds of prompts.

49. TikTok Writing Prompts

Obsessed with TikTok? You can find writing prompts there, too! Type “writing prompts” into the search feature and you will find a list of the top accounts posting writing prompts. Some accounts post multiple times a day, and others post less frequently but have an archive of prompts you can scroll through.

50. YouTube Writing Prompts

Do you squander valuable writing time by watching too many cat videos on YouTube? Not to worry—there are tons of writing prompt videos on YouTube. Often, the key to inspiration is looking for it in the places you spend the most time.

51. Instagram #WritingPrompts

Like Twitter, you can easily find any kind of writing prompt by searching for a specific hashtag. However, Instagram is ideal for the image-oriented writer; many prompts are accompanied by an image or background that can provide additional inspiration.

52. Pinterest Writing Prompts

Pinterest is not the first place most writers would think of when searching for prompts, but like Instagram, it has a wealth of image-oriented prompts across all genres. For people who already spend time on Pinterest, this can be a great way to find writing inspiration, too.

Photo via frantic00 / Shutterstock

500 Writing Prompts to Help Beat Writer’s Block

Looking to get your story started with a writing prompt? You’ve come to the right place. In this post we detail everything you need to know about writing prompts and give you 500 writing prompts broken down by genre. Enjoy!

I want to be a writer… but what if I have nothing to write about?

Ever feel like you’d love to write but you’re fresh out of ideas? Like there’s nothing else that you could possibly write about, or you have no idea where to even get started? We get it. One of the hardest steps in writing a book is often knowing where to get started. Coming up with content, getting your pen (or pencil) to paper, and letting your creativity flow is a challenge that many writers struggle with. As we know, facing writer’s block and fighting personal writing doubt is common. An overwhelming number of professional authors admit to getting stuck well before they get to the point of selling books on Amazon . Thankfully, there’s an answer to the question of where to turn when you feel like you’ve hit that proverbial wall: the writing prompt.

What is a writing prompt?

How often do writers use writing prompts?

There’s no right answer to this question because using writing prompts can often be a personal choice. Some authors find it greatly benefits their ability to turn out creative results. Some authors know that they already have the right ideas for a book in their heads. With using writing prompts, you need to decide on what’s best for you . Whatever method helps you generate ideas is what’s best for your writing!

Is there a writing prompt that’s best for me?

You might be wondering if there’s one type of writing prompt that’s best for you. It’s easy to find selections of prompts that are filtered by specific genres (romance, mystery, and so on). However, we recommend sticking to genre-specific prompts if you want your writing to be more focused. With that being said, you never know when inspiration will strike. If your writing needs are less genre-restricted, reading as many prompts as possible may be the best option for you! Whenever I write for fun, I love to read as many prompts as I can across all genres. Hey, you can get some pretty fun ideas for a thriller story from sci-fi writing prompts.

Where can I find writing prompts?

Easy – the Internet! And books, too. We recommend checking out our collection of prompts first, but there are numerous great sources throughout the web (blogs, social media, and even AI tools like ChatGPT ). Through combing the Internet for great websites and blogs like Reedsy , Screencraft , The Write Practice , Bryn Donovan’s resources , and the @writing.prompt.s Instagram page, we’ve written and gathered 500 writing prompts to help you kickstart your brain into writing mode. Categorized into ten popular genres, we encourage you to grab your mug of coffee or tea, read through our prompts, and get ready to catch the writing bug.

Have any particular writing prompts that help you get focused? Want to tell us about a great website for writing prompts? Feel free to share those in the comments below. Happy writing!

Mystery / Thriller
Science Fiction
Fantasy / Paranormal
General Fiction
Religion / Spirituality
Travel / Adventure
Young Adult

What are some mystery and thriller writing prompts?

You find strange, muddy footprints leading up to your front door.
A stranger sits down next to you on a train and gets up, leaving a package behind. Do you investigate the package?
You hear news of your next-door neighbor vanishing without a trace.
One day the national news channel shuts off. And the next day after that, too.
One day at work, you look across the street to see a hooded figure in a black coat pointing directly at you. What do they want?
You stumble upon a strange house you’ve never seen before on your morning run.
You get a text message from an unknown number saying, “Meet me outside. Now.”
Your parents tell you that they actually don’t know whose child you are.
Someone puts a large black box on your doorstep. A note on the front reads, “Caution: may bite.”
You wake up to discover a completely different, unknown face staring back at you from the mirror.
The protagonist of your story discovers that there is a person who looks exactly like him.
An international spy group recruits you to be their latest member.
You begin to realize that your reflection is no longer appearing in mirrors.
You aunt passes away, leaving you $500,000 in her will under the condition that you resume care for your hundred-year-old home.
Your best friend tells you that she feels like someone’s been watching her. The next day she goes missing.
Three words: Long lost brother.
The day of your wedding, you wake up to find every person in your wedding party has been brutally murdered.
The FBI begs you to come back to work on a special case. Your former partner has turned and is now wanted for the murders of three co-workers.
Local gravestones begin disappearing.
You can solve murders simply by stepping foot at the crime scene. Problem is, no one believes you.
Write a short story where the protagonist has a doppelganger. (Reedsy)
Your fingers tensed around the object in your pocket, ready to pull it out at a moment’s notice. (Reedsy)
You’re sitting by a window watching the flakes slowly and silently fall. Suddenly, you see something outside that snaps you out of your reverie. (Reedsy)
You’re at a huge store scouting out Black Friday deals. You start to notice that all the security cameras in the store seem to be following your each and every move. (Reedsy)
You work for the CIA who send you undercover in the FBI, who send you undercover in M16, who send you undercover in the CIA, who are very confused that you are back after only two weeks. (Reedsy)
A terrorist group has been infiltrated by so many agencies that it is now run by spies, unbeknownst to the spies themselves. This fact becomes apparent to an actual extremist who joins their ranks. (Reedsy)
Ever since childhood, a dark figure no one else can see has been following you around, whispering in your ear. Today you see it lying a few feet away, screaming and asking you to run. (Reedsy)
You’ve lived an average life up until today, your 20th birthday. You just found out that your dad is the runaway son of a doting criminal warlord, and your mom is the daughter of an equally doting secret agent. Both family businesses are looking to make you the next heir. (Reedsy)
She has been walking for hours. Her feet are starting to bleed. But she can’t stop moving… she can’t let him find her again. (Reedsy)
The morning after a blizzard you make your way outside and slowly start to realize everyone has disappeared. (Reedsy)
You find a hand-written note on your windshield that says, “Drive west for 100 miles.” (Reedsy)
You wake up in a jail cell, crusted blood covering your hands. You have no idea how you got there. The cell door clangs open, and an officer walks you to interrogation room where two detectives wait to question you. (Reedsy)
You walk into your job and find a secret, coded note pinned to your desk. What do you do next? (Reedsy)
Guard this with your life. (Reedsy)
A loved one confides in you, but the secret could damage someone else you care about. What do you do? (Reedsy)
As you’re browsing through a rack of sweaters, someone approaches you and says, “I need you to listen to me very carefully.” (Reedsy)
Write a short dark comedy in which a long-unsolved mystery is finally cracked. (Reedsy)
They say a picture is worth a thousand words but you knew the one you’d just taken was worth a million. (Reedsy)
You were the oldest person still living in the town and you remembered things no one else did. (Reedsy)
Looking through old family photos, multiple generations back, you notice there is a cat in almost every group photo. The same cat – color, pattern, one docked ear – that is currently purring on your lap. (Reedsy)
“… and that’s why dividing by three is illegal.” (Reedsy)
You’re a serial killer who murders anyone you see hitchhiking up your mountain. One day, you pick up a hitchhiker who kills anyone who picks them up.
You are legally allowed to commit murder once, but you must fill out the proper paperwork and your proposed victim will be notified of your intentions. (Reedsy)
You hire two private investigators to investigate each other. One month later both come to you to present their findings. (Reedsy)
20 years after your daughter was abducted, a detective finds you to reopen the case. The detective turns out to be your daughter. (Reedsy)
You’re shaking hands with a stranger at a networking event when you ask for their name. “I have no name,” they reply. (Reedsy)
As you’re paying for your groceries, you mention to the clerk, “There’s a mess in aisle 16.” They give you a puzzled look and reply, “There is no aisle 16.” (Reedsy)
The detective didn’t realize they were being foiled by a competing detective. (Reedsy)
The first day you opened your own office as a private investigator, you didn’t expect it to be busy. You were wrong. (Reedsy)
You are the world’s greatest detective. With your near superhuman intellect, you have never failed to solve a case before. One day, you finally meet your match: a criminal so unbelievably stupid that you cannot possibly comprehend and predict what he’s going to do next. (Reedsy)

What are some romance writing prompts?

Left at the altar, you decide to seek revenge on your ex.
You got ditched at the last minute before prom – who will your date be?
A stranger texts the wrong number, and accidentally sends you a declaration of love. The message is so sweet and heartfelt that you know you can’t let it go.
A divorced former couple find each other on the same flight to Paris… Sitting next to each other.
After joining an adult swim league, you realize that your coach is irresistibly cute.
Your husband accidentally sends you a text meant for his mistress.
You and a hot stranger get trapped in an elevator.
Write a love story set at the zoo.
A college professor and their teaching assistant hit it off a little too well.
You get to make one wish to create your dream romantic partner. What is it?
Two strangers on an online chat room hit it off. Turns out they’re childhood sweethearts.
A parole officer falls in love with his parolee.
After their catamaran crashes, a husband and wife on their anniversary trip are left marooned on an island in the tropics.
She’s a burgeoning lingerie model who needs her cute neighbor to take portfolio shots of her.
An alien falls in love with a forbidden human.
Desperate for cash, a med student signs up to be a nude model for a retired women’s art club.
A cutthroat business woman swore she’d never find love until her best friend sets her up on a blind date.
Two widowed people meet at a community garden.
A chef decides to embark on an international culinary tour for inspiration and falls in love with their tour guide.
A daughter tries to set her widowed father up on an online dating app – without him knowing.
A Republican presidential candidate and Democratic presidential candidate fall in love.
You are a popular book heroine’s love interest. You now have 60 seconds to convince them that saving the city is more important than saving you. (@writing.prompt.s)
The love of your life is your brother’s nemesis.
You fall in love with every person you make eye contact with.
You’re a mail order bride arriving at her new home for the first time.
After you move to a new city, you fall in love with your realtor while buying a new house.
You realize that you’ve fallen out of love with your new wife while you’re on your honeymoon.
You and your best friends decide to try a new dating app for the first time.
At your friend’s urging, you begrudgingly attend a Valentine’s Day speed dating event. (Reedsy)
Every day, you return to your apartment and say, “Honey, I’m home. Oh wait, that’s right… I live alone.” But then one day, a voice replies, “I picked up some pizza.” (Reedsy)
Cupid offers to shoot an arrow into the person you love. He warns you that if the person already has a pre-existing affection towards you, it will disappear when the arrow strikes. (Reedsy)
You meet your doppelganger of the opposite sex and find you are strangely attracted to each other. (Reedsy)
Write a romantic comedy. Difficulty: both lovers are emotionally mature and have excellent communication skills. (Reedsy)
In the future, romantic attraction is literal: each person is fitted with an electromagnetic bracelet which, they claim, will pull you to your soulmate. It’s the day they turn the magnets on, and you’re waiting. (Reedsy)
A fortune teller falls in love with their client who has their palm read every month. (Reedsy)
It wasn’t love at first sight. But now you were starting to see them in a new light… (Reedsy)
Someone with anxiety falls in love with someone extremely adventurous. (Reedsy)
The lives of two people are changed forever when they coincidentally meet and engage in a weekend-long affair. (Reedsy)
They lived in a world where PDA is forbidden. One day, they slipped up and held hands on the street. (Reedsy)
Two characters who are perfect for one another are foiled by bad timing. (Reedsy)
Two mortal enemies fall in love when they’re trapped in an elevator together and begin to see the other person’s perspective. (Reedsy)
Valentine’s Day at a retirement home. (Reedsy)
Well, that was a New Year’s Eve kiss you won’t forget any time soon. (Reedsy)
You have the ability to make anyone fall in love with you. You’ve just fallen in love for the first time. Do you use your power? (Reedsy)
You and your partner finally have the most romantic vacation planned. Problem is, your in-laws decided to tag along at the last minute.
You never would have guessed that in 48 hours you’d be married. (Reedsy)
A dog lover and cat lover fall in love… and must find a way to get their animals to fall in love, too.
You’ve been bumping into the same stranger for months. Finally, you decide to say hello. (Reedsy)
They might have aged 50 years, but when they held you, those hands felt exactly like they did the first time. (Reedsy)
An avalanche strands two mortal enemies together… and they start to fall in love.

What are some science fiction writing prompts?

You wake up one morning to find out that you get to move to any planet of your choosing.
Your wife is a droid.
Every day, you get one hour to revisit any moment from your life. What do you pick?
Gravity no longer exists.
You are chosen to go on the first ever recreational space journey.
After people die, their spirits can be brought back from death but at the cost of one random human life. Is it worth it?
Everyone in the world has the ability to read thoughts. Except for one person.
You have to power to build one separate planet. How do you build it? Who gets to live there?
What team do you gather to fight the largest alien and terrorist threat on Earth?
The world is dying. In order to save it, you’ve been commanded to sacrifice yourself to an invading alien group.
You are the first person able to breathe in outer space.
A rare form of cancer is the newest superbug. With a team of scientists, you all must find a cure before the population is wiped out.
Human beings begin to find themselves growing extra limbs as global warming amps up.
It turns out humans have been the aliens all along.
You are in charge of a secretive government agency that aligns people’s fates. Their livelihood is entirely up to you and what you want to do with it.
Technology becomes illegal.
All plant life on the planet is wiped out, except for in Florida.
You are one of the mechanics on the first ever self-flying airplane.
Walking through the woods one day, you come across a small animal that has the ability to instantaneously clone itself.
Your whole family has fought in the space military, but you’ve decided to no longer take part in it.
In an alternate universe where global warming has ruined the planet, you’ve spent your entire life living in an airplane on autopilot.
You’re a 15-year-old in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. However, a cure has been found that not only rids the infected person of the virus before they turn but prevents it altogether. Only one problem… Your parents are anti-vaxxers. (@writing.prompt.s)
Nasa engineers monitor the curiosity rover’s actions. All seems normal until the robot suddenly changes its course. The scientists attempt to correct it over and over until they suddenly receive a transmission from the rover: “Will Save Oppy” (@writing.prompt.s)
What if a nuclear submarine was ordered to launch their nuclear arsenal onto the world? (Screencraft)
What if the world we live in is actually a computer simulation? (Screencraft)
What if the past and present timelines began to merge? (Screencraft)
What if your stepfather or stepmother is actually your future self? (Screencraft)
What if the sun began to die? (Screencraft)
What if the universe as we know it is actually someone’s imagination? (Screencraft)
Everyone on earth begins to experience universal amnesia.
The year is 2200. What does the world look like to you?
In the future, we no longer require water, air, or food. We are a super efficient team of robots.
What do you think happens when the grid goes down?
Describe your perfect utopian world.
Your penpal lives on the opposite side of the universe.
Aliens who only communicate with sign language invade. To avoid war, our governments must engage a vastly marginalized portion of the human population: the hearing-impaired. (The Write Practice)
A rogue planet with strange properties collides with our sun, and after it’s all over, worldwide temperature falls forty degrees. Write from the perspective of a someone trying to keep his tropical fruit trees alive. (The Write Practice)
Ever read about the world’s loneliest whale? Write a story in which he’s actually the survivor of an aquatic alien species which crashed here eons ago, and he’s trying very hard to learn the “local” whale language so he can fit in. Write from his perspective the first time he makes contact. (The Write Practice)
An alien planet starts receiving bizarre audio transmissions from another world (spoiler: they’re from Earth). What does it mean? Are they under attack? Some think so…until classic rock ‘n’ roll hits the airwaves, and these aliens discover dancing. Write from the perspective of the teenaged alien who first figures it out. (The Write Practice)
Take anything we find normal today (shopping malls, infomercials, products to remove facial hair, etc.) and write a story from the perspective of an archeologist five thousand years in the future who just unearthed this stuff, has NO idea what any of it was for, and has to give a speech in an hour explaining the historical/religious/sociological significance. (The Write Practice)
House cats are aliens who have succeeded in their plan to rule the world. Discuss.
A high schooler from fifteen hundred years in our future is assigned a one-page writing project on a twenty-first century person’s life based entirely on TV commercials. Write the beginning of the essay. (The Write Practice)
Time travel works, but only once in a person’s life. Write from the perspective of someone who chooses to go back in time, knowing they can never return. Where do they go and why? (The Write Practice)
So yeah, ancient Egypt really was “all that” after all, and the pyramids turn out to be fully functional spaceships (the limestone was to preserve the electronics hidden inside). Write from the perspective of the tourist who accidentally turns one on. (The Write Practice)
Ten years from now, scientists figure out how to stop human aging and extend life indefinitely—but every time someone qualifies for that boost, someone else has to die to keep the surplus population in check. Oh, it’s all very humane; one’s descendants get a huge paycheck. Write from the perspective of someone who just got a letter in the mail saying they’re the one who has to die. (The Write Practice)
In the future, neural implants translate music into physical pleasure, and earphones (“jacking in”) are now the drug of choice. Write either from the perspective of a music addict, OR the Sonforce agent (sonance + enforcer) who has the job of cracking down. (The Write Practice)
It’s the year 5000. Our planet was wrecked in the great Crisis of 3500, and remaining human civilization survives only in a half dozen giant domed cities. There are two unbreakable rules: strict adherence to Life Quality (recycling doesn’t even begin to cover these laws), and a complete ban on reproduction (only the “worthy” are permitted to create new humans). Write from the perspective of a young woman who just discovered she’s been chosen to reproduce—but she has no interest in being a mother. (The Write Practice)
In the nineteenth century, there’s a thriving trade in stolen archeological artifacts. Write a story from the perspective of an annoyed, minimum-wage employee whose job is traveling back in time to obtain otherwise unobtainable artifacts, then has to bring them back to the present (the 1800s, that is) and artificially age them before they will sell. (The Write Practice)
Steampunk! Write a story from the perspective of a hot air balloon operator who caters to folks who like a little thrill… which means she spends half her time in the air shooting down pterodactyls before the paying customers get TOO scared. (The Write Practice)
Creation myth! Write from the perspective of a crazy scientist in the year 28,000 who, determined to discover how the universe began, rigs up a malfunctioning time machine, goes to the “beginning” of the universe, and ends up being the reason for the Big Bang. (Logic? Causal effect? Pfft. Hush, it’s time-travel, and that was never logical.) (The Write Practice)

What are some fantasy and paranormal writing prompts?

A mysterious creature speaks to you in your dreams and tells you that when you awake, you will have the ability to see into another realm.
Your pet dragon transforms into a person.
You are gifted with the strongest, most elusive sword in the kingdom, but if you use it you will never be able to speak again.
A magical world exists underground. To get there, you’ll need to start digging.
You wake up and find out that you’re the only living person left on the planet.
On her deathbed, your grandmother tells you that there’s a hidden treasure buried in her backyard. The family has been trying to locate it for decades. It’s up to you to finally find it.
The ocean becomes the sky.
You must save your kingdom from ruin by learning how to breathe fire.
You have the power to read the lost language, making you the only person to decipher the scroll.
Fairies are tired of being used for free labor.
Your favorite fairy tale is now set in 2019.
You are kidnapped by a knight who demands your assistance in sleighing the city’s most dangerous dragon.
A man and his wife own the largest potion store in town. Little do the townspeople know, but they’re all being slowly poisoned by the potions.
A magical toad begins talking to you, but you’re the only person who can hear him.
You come into possession of a ring that can change the weather to whatever you decide.
You’re selected to take part in a secretive, underground magic university… but you have to kill someone to go.
You wake up to find yourself a member of King Arthur’s Round Table.
An underwater society decides to overtake the world.
Regular person by day, a shape shifter by night.
Satan puts you in charge of Hell.
You are the king. After your daughter was kidnapped by a dragon, you offered the standard reward to whoever rescued her. You weren’t expecting a different dragon to rescue her. (@writing.prompt.s)
A woman has been dating guy after guy, but it never seems to work out. She’s unaware that she’s actually been dating the same guy over and over; a shapeshifter who’s fallen for her and is certain he’s going to get it right this time. (@writing.prompt.s)
The cocky main character of a popular book is sent to the real world. He is shocked to find that the fans of his book not only like the villain more but favor his side kick over him. (@writing.prompt.s)
You’re an immortal who lives at a beach resort. You have many summer flings with mortals on getaways. One day you see someone you had a hot romantic night with 50 years ago. They look exactly the same. (@writing.prompt.s)
The stars have been watching you your whole life, as you laughed and cried, loved and suffered. Today, you’re finally going to do something that none of them can bear to watch. They blink out, the whole night sky turning dark, just as you’re about to do it. (@writing.prompt.s)
A lord takes a fancy to a peasant girl and kidnaps her for his own. Little does he know that she’s a trained assassin who has been preparing to take his life for years. (@writing.prompt.s)
You are the last person on Earth, and you are able to make one wish. What do you wish for?
You and your family are on a hike when you stumble upon a group of witches in the forest, in the midst of casting spells.
You have the power to transform into whatever mystical creature you choose.
You and your ghost best friend are an infamous crime-solving team.
No, there’s absolutely no way that ghosts are real. Sure, you just saw a mysterious fuzzy figure you appear before you in your house, but that had to be your imagination… right?
You’re the one human who is capable of seeing ghosts. It’s up to you to save them from being removed from the human world for good.
You were born to be a villain, but you find yourself leaning more and more towards the good as you get older.
Spend some time working on world building. How can you create a believable fantasy world that readers can picture clearly? What types of characters does your world include?
Dream up your own, one-of-a-kind mythical race.
You and your adventurous crew on a quest for the old King’s hidden gold. Just one problem – so is the rest of your village.
10 cm of snow had fallen overnight, just as the weatherman predicted. The only thing is… the snow isn’t white. (Reedsy)
You start realizing that at least one aspect of every dream you have comes true the next day. (Reedsy)
You can buy a pill that lets you decide exactly what you will dream about while you sleep. (Reedsy)
You find a polaroid camera that seems to predict the future: its pictures show what will happen exactly 5 minutes from the moment you take them. (Reedsy)
You were on your way to see a doctor who promised to know the secret to making yourself fall out of love with someone. (Reedsy)
Write a story that includes a character hearing their fate by a fortune teller. (Reedsy)
As a joke, you put on a tinfoil hat. Suddenly your mind goes completely silent. (Reedsy)
Silence is now literally golden. For every day of total silence a person completes, they receive a piece of gold. (Reedsy)
A new candy had been invented that allowed the person who ate it to relive any memory they wanted. There was a lineup outside the shop. (Reedsy)
It’s 1AM at night. But the sun is out. (Reedsy)
You wake up 10 years younger. What do you do? (Reedsy)
I wish I could skip next week, you think as you get into bed that night. In the morning, you wake up 100 years in the future. (Reesy)
They found out about us. They’re coming. They were the words the kingdom had feared hearing for thousands of years. (Reedsy)
A group of scientists on a submarine are alarmed when they spot what looks like a functioning lighthouse at the bottom of the ocean. (Reedsy)

What are some general fiction writing prompts?

You’re chasing your dream of being the first person to fly.
Coffee is illegal and you have to single handedly smuggle it into the country.
You have to get to the bottom of your family’s deepest secret.
What was the strangest thing you’ve ever seen in public?
Detail the life of the person who inspires you the most.
Imagine what would happen if you woke up one morning unable to see, speak, or hear.
Think about what you are most proud of. Follow the story of how you got to that point.
By way of a lottery system, the king chooses you to be his queen.
Use five points of view to describe one situation.
Describe the life of a struggling author attempting to make it “big.”
Tell the story of one woman on the mission to find her lost biological daughter.
Your dream is to open a restaurant and be a top chef, but how can you do that when you were born without taste buds?
You’ve just returned home from war only to find your family missing without a trace.
A famous shoe designer asks you to quit your job and be his latest model.
You have the power to create, and star in, your own reality show. What does it look like?
The dark family secret that’s always been hidden comes to light.
As an 80-year-old, you decide to finally learn how to swim so you can participate in a triathlon.
Write a scene detailing your greatest fear. Now imagine that has come true for your character.
What’s the greatest advice you’ve ever been given? What if you lived solely according to it?
You live in a world with no stress and fear.
Death has been flirting with you for a long time, but they’ve become a bit annoying. After another attempting to hang out with you again, you jokingly tell them, “If I was the last person on Earth, I’d maybe give you a chance.” Death believes you and will double their efforts.
When people are born, they are assigned a soulmate. They have a song in their head that only them and their soulmate know. How do you find your soulmate? (@writing.prompt.s)
Write a story about a character waking up to something absurd. (Reedsy)
Write a story about a character waking up to the best news of their life. (Reedsy)
Write a short story with an unreliable narrator that readers can never quite trust. (Reedsy)
Write a short story in which the main “character” is the setting: for example, a house. (Reedsy)
Write a story about someone who would be described, above all else, as honest. Or kind. Or intelligent. (Reedsy)
Using only dialogue, write a short story about a first date, a reunion between old friends, an argument that gets heated, an adult explaining something to a child, or the reveal of a long-hidden secret. (Reedsy)
Imagine telling the story of a professional hypnotizer. (Reedsy)
Tell a story through text messages.
Tell the story of what you would do if you won the lottery.
Write your own obituary.
Tell a story from your favorite era.
Imagine how you would help solve the greatest challenges that the world faces. What would your plan be?
What would a world be like with no poverty? What would change? What would stay the same?
Tell the story of the first time that you learned to do something really well.
Imagine what it would be like to be a pop star.
Tell a story through song.
Write from the perspective of your worst enemy.
Tell a story using only one sense – seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, or touching.
After years on the job search, you’ve finally gotten your dream job – but it changes you for the worst.
You own a tiny mom and pops-type store that you run with your family.
The worst thing that you could imagine happening happens.
You’re the judge of the annual pie contest in your hometown but, unbeknownst to you, one of the pies is poisoned.
You go on a road trip to visit your late father’s grave.
Tell the story of seeing the ocean for the first time. Or the last.
You’re allergic to oxygen.
Imagine what would happen if every person in the world woke up in a good mood every day.
You’re put in charge of taking care of your elderly grandmother towards the end of her life.
You get one chance to talk to any person in the world. Who do you choose?

What are some religion and spirituality writing prompts?

What makes you believe in God?
God speaks directly to you – what does He say?
What do you find to be most beautiful in the world?
You get to build a religion of your own. What do you make it into?
You must live every single day according to a holy text of your choice. What happens?
Explore what it means to be religious versus spiritual.
What helps you meditate?
What is the greatest wisdom that you would like to impart on the world?
Who is one religious figure you would like to have dinner with? What do you talk to them about?
Describe your idea of heaven.
Detail your favorite story in the holy text of your choosing.
You live in a world where no Gods exist.
What does karma mean to you?
What would your ideal world look like?
You have the power to make every single person in the world ether religious or nonreligious. What do you do? What changes about the world?
What makes you a religious or spiritual person?
Describe what a church means to you. Have you had positive or negative experiences in a church?
Write a poem about your religious path in life.
Write a religious comedy.
What happens when a priest decides he doesn’t want to be a priest anymore?
Think about what morality means to you.
What is the difference in good versus evil? How do you know?
How does one know what is innately good?
What makes you religious?
What makes you non religious?
Put yourself in the shoes of someone who has completely opposite spiritual or religious views from you. Why do they think a certain way?
Describe what your childhood views in spirituality or religion were.
What do you hope your religious or spirituality path to look like as you age?
How would you advise someone to strengthen their faith?
If you could talk to God, what would you want to say?
The Southern Baptist Convention elects its first woman president, though she is subsequently removed from the position due to an obscure rule. In protest, every woman leaves the Southern Baptist denomination to form an independent, women-only sect of Baptists.
God needs a vacation from heaven, so he comes to earth to experience life as a dog. He is captured by animal control and is impounded, and you adopt god-the-dog after a tragedy that makes you question your faith.
An opiate addict going through severe withdrawal symptoms has a conversation with the Buddha – what did they talk about, and was it the result of a fever dream, or a spiritual awakening?
You record a video that seemingly shows a woman walking on water at a small rural pond. The video goes viral as proof that Jesus has returned, and Christians begin to wonder if Christ was the Daughter, not the Son, of God.
A secular Jew and a devout Muslim debate food and faith on a train from Quebec to Montreal.
What are your personal ten commandments?
When was a specific moment where you felt a “divine presence” in your life?
Have you ever felt like you’ve experienced a glimpse into the afterlife?
What form do you think the afterlife will take, if you believe that it exists?
Have you ever had an out of body experience?
William Blake, famous British poet, thought that to love was to be in tune with the divine. Do you think this is true? How have you experienced divine love?
How have you experienced the divine through love?
Emanuel Swedenborg believed that there was a soulmate for every person, and that you couldn’t get into heaven until your soul mate had also passed away. Do you believe in the concept of soul mates?
Do you believe in reincarnation?
What would reincarnation look like to you?
Some religions believe that animals and plants have souls. Do you agree with this? Why or why not?
Describe a particularly spiritual moment in your life. What were you doing? Were you by yourself or with someone else?
What is your most taboo religious belief?
Some religions believe that human beings could never truly represent a higher power in art. Do you agree with this? What is an example of art or words that you feel represent the higher power?
What are your thoughts on love languages?

What are some travel and adventure writing prompts?

Write about your favorite vacation.
What culture interests you the most?
You get lost in a foreign city with no cell phone and no money. What do you do?
Your favorite chef asks you to join them on a culinary tour of the world.
What country have you always dreamt of traveling to?
What’s your dream vacation?
Tell the story of the worst traveling experience of your life.
A country of your choosing fuses with North America.
You and your best friends go on a road trip across America, with no budget and for however long you want.
You are asked to review a luxury hotel on the beach.
You are forced to leave your home and move to a remote foreign country. What do you pack with you?
What about traveling excites you?
Go back in time to the era of your choosing and describe how you live.
Rate your top five favorite places in the world. What do you like about each place? What do you dislike?
If you could have any travel-related job in the world, what would it be?
You and your partner are kidnapped on your honeymoon.
Describe a 100-day walking journey around your state.
Imagine if you had never left your home in your entire life and then were forced to go outside and never come back to your house.
What do you say to your family in a postcard from a new location?
Describe what it’s like to sit in rush hour traffic in one of the busiest cities in the world.
A journey to a new location is disrupted by natural disaster.
Describe what it’s like to travel with a crippling fear of airplanes.
What is it that you love about traveling? Explore that feeling.
What is frightening about traveling? Explore that feeling.
What stories would you most like to share about the town that you’re from?
You have the opportunity to move anywhere in the world. Where do you choose?
Explore what your travels in Asia have been like.
Explore what your travels in Europe have been like.
Explore what your travels in South America have been like.
Explore what your travels in North America have been like.
Explore what your travels in Africa have been like.
What is the most unusual place you’d like to travel?
What do you think is most misunderstood about the culture of your home country?
What cultural norms are you most interested in exploring from foreign countries?
Describe the foreign foods that you most want to try.
Imagine that you are a successful chef in a foreign city.
Describe a time when you have been excited to explore a new place.
What is the most beautiful image that you have ever seen while traveling?
You get to go to any museum in the world. Which one do you choose?
What is your greatest horror story from traveling?
What is your happiest story from traveling?
Picture yourself on a foreign vacation with a person of your choosing. What do you do?
If you had to move to a foreign country tomorrow, what five items would you pack with you?
Set the scene for a beautiful beach that you have never traveled to.
Set the scene for a gorgeous castle that you have never traveled to.
A three day visit to Budapest becomes a maritime adventure down the Danube River to the Black Sea.
You are a sales representative for a roulette table manufacturer. While visiting the Harrah’s Cherokee Casino for work, you decide to discard all your possessions, cash out your minimal savings, and hike the Mountains-to-Sea trail from Clingmans Dome to the Ocracoke Lighthouse.
While en route to visit your college roommate in Kyoto, Japan you meet a stranger at Tan Son Nhat International Airport who needs your help finding a prophetic monk hiding from persecution in Saigon.
You have to make it from Cairo to Alexandria (Egypt). You have no money. Your only mode of transport is a temperamental camel.
In a high-stakes game of poker in the French Quarter, you wagered your soul to a voodoo doctor on a pretty bad hand. The only way to null the bet is to find a woman in Port-au-Prince, Haiti who has an item – the only item – the man is willing to trade for.

What are some horror writing prompts?

You wake up to a world in which all prisons are shut down, releasing dangerous prisoners into your neighborhood.
A masked stranger appears at your front door with a knife.
A random number texts you saying, “Don’t forget, you’re next.”
Someone knocks at your door. You open it to find your deceased grandfather who has come back from the dead to pay you a visit. What does he want?
Animals take over the world.
Strange murmuring sounds being to come from the door that leads to your basement.
While watching the evening news, the anchor looks directly at the camera and begins screaming before the camera cuts to black.
A polar vortex freezes the entire planet.
Whatever building you enter, you can see all of the people who died there.
You wake up in a strange room, tied to a chair, with a single knife on the floor pointed at you.
A chilling voice appears in your head. It won’t go away. One day, it tells you that you have to run.
The old cuckoo clock at your grandmother’s home is haunted.
You’re driving at night when you can’t help but shake the feeling that there’s a person in your back seat.
One day, while you’re in the shower, you hear your front door open and close. “Hey, roomie, I’m home!” Someone shouts. You don’t have a roommate.
A strange man living down the street begins leaving presents at your doorstep.
The cruise ship is haunted.
While working at a clothing store, you’re closing up the shop for the night when you see five men walk in through the front door and lock it behind them.
You’re in the middle of a bank robbery – hiding in the bathroom.
Your dog won’t stop barking at a sunken spot in your living room floor.
For the last few days, you’ve been getting ominous messages written in blood on your bathroom mirror. Turns out, they’re from an awkward ghost with a serious crush on you. (@writing.prompt.s)
The reason no one has ever seen the real Santa Claus is because everyone who sees him dies. You just saw him and now you need to survive. (@writing.prompt.s)
You wake up bound to an electric chair, moments before your imminent death.
A woman afraid of clowns is forced to work in a travelling circus. (Screencraft)
A treasure hunter finds a tomb buried beneath the dirt. (Screencraft)
A bartender serves last call to the only remaining patron who is the Devil himself. (Screencraft)
A boy’s stepfather is actually a murderous werewolf. (Screencraft)
A man wakes up with no mouth. (Screencraft)
Deceased soldiers return to their Civil War-era homes. (Screencraft)
Suburbia is actually purgatory. (Screencraft)
A man suffers from sleep paralysis at the worst possible time. (Screencraft)
A man murders his wife while sleepwalking.
What appears to be a ghost approaches your car while you’re waiting at a stoplight.
It’s late at night, and you hear footsteps in the cellar—but you’re definitely home alone… or so you thought. (The Write Practice)
You’ve put that doll in the cabinet, in the closet, in the attic, but no matter where you tuck it, it always shows back up on the sofa. On Halloween night, you come out to find it watching you… (The Write Practice)
A bad-tempered businessman is driving home after a long day of work. He thinks he sees his kids trick-or-treating and stops to pick them up—but those aren’t costumes. (The Write Practice)
A young woman goes to her grandmother’s house for tea on Halloween night. They have a wonderful time together, sharing stories, joy, and the best times of family. The next day, the woman learns her grandmother has been dead for a week and no one could get ahold of her to tell her. (The Write Practice)
Aliens have just landed on Earth—and boy, did they pick a weird day to come. How do they respond to Halloween, supernatural or otherwise? Do they decide this place is just too bizarre and get the heck out . . . or do they stick around and join in the fun? (The Write Practice)
On Halloween night, lovers get to come back and spend the evening together one more time. One couple from the Roaring Twenties decides to come back from the grave to help their extreme nerd great-grandchild or the kid will never get married. (The Practice)
A little boy’s lost in the woods, but at least his faithful dog is with him. As they look for the way out, the dog defends his master against terrifying monsters and animals. Finally, the boy arrives safely on the other side, beautiful green field, no more fog or night. Then the dog goes home . . . where his owner, the little boy, has died. The good doggy guarded him all the way to his final rest. (The Write Practice)
You wake up in the middle of the night to see a dark figure crawling across your floor.
Moments after taking off for a flight, the entire plane begins to shake dramatically. The pilot comes on the speaker and says, “This is very bad.”
You awake in a dark, small box and can hear strange noises outside.
Several weeks after buying your dream house, you start getting strange letters delivered in the mail warning you to move out.
Your dog has been acting very strangely recently. Some would say… almost human.
You stumble across a website that contains clues to some very disturbing crimes.
As you’re settling in to bed for the night, you hear an unusual scratching sound at your bedroom window.
You’re on vacation in a new city for the first time. As you walk down a busy boulevard, you suddenly look up to realize you have no idea where you are or how you got there. Come to think of it, you don’t even know who you are.
On your way to work, you notice that no one is driving on roads. The busy rush hour traffic is nonexistent, and there are no people walking around, either. It’s just you. What’s going on?
You discover, much too late, that your downstairs neighbor is a cannibal.
During a renovation of your home, you and your spouse find human remains underneath your back porch – a crime that you are now being charged with.

What are some children’s writing prompts?

Your dog begins speaking in a human voice one morning.
The sky turns purple.
Your best friend’s head turns into a mushroom.
Dinosaurs come back to earth.
You and your family rescue a turtle who was hit by a car and nurse him back to health.
You turn into a goldfish.
What would happen if you could turn any food into cotton candy?
Rain turns into soda.
Your family adopts a pet monkey.
The new kid at school wants to be your friend, but you’re very shy.
You and your boy scout troop get lost in the middle of the forest.
Your parents tell you they’ll give you $20 if you eat your vegetables with every dinner. Do you do it?
Write about a special memory from your childhood.
What parent were you closest do? What are some of your favorite memories of spending time with them?
Write about yourself at age five.
Write about yourself at age ten.
What was your greatest dream when you were a child?
Write about your favorite childhood pet.
Get inspiration for your writing by thinking about a vacation you took as a child.
What would happen if you woke up one day and kids ruled the world?
Tell the story of a child who has just transferred to a new school.
Tell the story of a platypus.
Imagine running away with a group of your childhood best friends – where would you go?
Dream up your own imaginary world.
Children’s books are known for their fun and creativity. What’s the craziest, kookiest new breed of animal you can imagine?
Give advice to new parents.
Give advice to your younger self.
Imagine what it would be like to live in a world where instead of taking the school bus, you ride a dragon to classes!
Write about your favorite childhood game.
Tell the story of a family who decides to hire a new babysitter or nanny.
Your parents tell you one day that you’re going to be a big sister – but you really like being the only child!
If the world could be any color, what would you want it to be?
If you could taste a specific flavor any time you ate something, what would you want it to be?
Describe a trip to the zoo with your class.
You and your best friends get to leave school to have lunch anywhere in town. Pizza, candy – anything! Tell the story of where you go.
Tell the story of your first time at summer camp.
Tell the story of your first time away from home.
What if we lived in a world where kids were treated like adults? And adults were treated like kids?
Take a spin at your very own Dr. Suess-esque book and use rhymes to tell a kooky, crazy story!
You’re in charge of babysitting your little sibling for the first time.
You decide to run away from home – what are some of the challenges that you face?
Picture a world where everything is upside down! What’s life like for you?
Write a book advising children on how to overcome adversity.
Write a book advising children on how to be a good friend.
Write a book advising children on how to be a kind sibling.
Bobby the Bunny wants to make friends with a fox pup who recently lost its family.
A giraffe and an ostrich live together in a zoo, where they bond over similar neck characteristics and learn how to play one another’s games.
A dragon wants to be loved and befriended, but every time he farts, fire erupts from his rear end.
Bruce the German Shepherd loves to run through the woods with his human. When he and his human get separated from one another, Bruce has to learn from his forest friends how to get back home.
Tell the story of the tooth fairy… Imagine that she just started her job and has to be trained.

What are some young adult writing prompts?

It’s your first day of middle school. But when you’re half human, half dragon, that makes things a little tough.
What happens when you begin working at the same yogurt shop as your crush?
Both of your parents die in a car accident, leaving you an orphan who gets shipped off to your mysterious aunt’s house in Europe.
One day you find out that you never have to return to high school. What do you decide to do instead?
You’re chosen to go on a school trip to Africa where you’ll be helping to build wells. You’ve never been out of the country, though, and are worried.
Your mom disappears one day, and you never see her again.
Tell the story of the best high school summer of your life.
Your boyfriend gets in a horrible car accident and ends up in the ICU. Another girl is found in the car with him, too – but she died. Who is she?
You find out that your brother is adopted.
During her freshman year of college, she found out that people in her dorm started to disappear. Almost from thin air.
A group of high school freshmen learn that the teachers and administrators at their boarding school are actually human like AI working towards the Singularity and human enslavement. If they don’t act fast, the robots win.
A group of at-risk teenagers are on an overnight camping trip with a wilderness counseling group in Badlands National Park when an arctic blast forces them out of a blizzard and into a cave. On day three, their counselors go out in search for help – and never return.
Your high school sweetheart dumps you suddenly because of something you posted on social media. But you didn’t post it, and you have to figure out just how different – and difficult – your life is now that you’ve been hacked.
Imagine that the world is run amok with vampires. Or zombies. Or authoritarian dictatorships in a dystopian future.
In the near future, climate change has led to the extinction of butterfly and bee pollinators. A small group of teen geniuses band together to develop autonomous, robotic insects to replicate the functions of insect pollination before the global food shortage turns from disastrous to extinction-level.
You find out that your best friend’s dad is responsible for the growing number of missing people in your hometown. How do you get everyone to believe you?
You did it – after years of hard work and try outs, you finally won the coveted spot on the football team. But here’s the thing – you’re the first girl to ever play.
One night you wake up to find yourself levitating over your bed. The next morning, strange wings start to grow from your shoulders. Are you turning into some sort of mystical bird?
It was pretty freaky to wake up for school one morning, only to see that my parents were literally frozen into blocks of ice in the kitchen. Even freakier? Every adult in town is frozen solid, too.
A boy pursues his list of wildly ambitious New Year’s resolutions, with hilarious and touching results. (Bryn Donovan)
A girl on the swim team transforms into a part-time mermaid. (Bryn Donovan)
A group of “outsiders” become a clique that eventually excludes others. (Bryn Donovan)
A girl’s favorite author plagiarizes her fanfiction. (Bryn Donovan)
A boy learns who believed his sister died finds out she’s very much alive. (Bryn Donovan)
A teenager’s best friend goes missing—and is widely believed to be the murderer of a family member. (Bryn Donovan)
Two teens begin to write a fantasy novel together and then cross over into the world they’ve created. (Bryn Donovan)
In a dystopian future, college admissions boards have access to video footage of students’ entire lives. (Bryn Donovan)
A girl always hangs out at a particular little nook at the library. Then the same boy starts taking the space every day. (Bryn Donovan)
A boy learns something terrible about his parents.(Bryn Donovan)
In a modern-day Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, three girls ditch class for a day filled with adventures. (Bryn Donovan)
35. A girl who wants to be a virgin until she gets married faces social pressure about her decision. (Bryn Donovan)
A teen gains the ability to take the form of any other person she chooses. (Bryn Donovan)
A girl’s science fair project yields results that attract the government’s attention. (Bryn Donovan)
A teen’s suspicions about a teacher lead him to conduct a private investigation. (Bryn Donovan)
A girl struggles with the decision to tell authorities about what the star quarterback did. (Bryn Donovan)
Soon after a boy was born, his father went missing. Now, a skeleton has been discovered in the basement of their former home. (Bryn Donovan)
You check out a book from the library and discover that it’s telling the story of your life. Do you decide to read ahead and find out what happens, or let it be a surprise?
Your beloved dog goes missing, resulting in a cross-country chase to reunite her with your family.
Put yourself in your favorite anime or manga series. What type of character would you play?
You and your best friends have been playing in a band in your mom’s garage for years. Now you’ve gotten discovered by a major Hollywood scout, but they only want you to go on to fame.
Some friends go to an escape room only to discover it’s being run by one of the most elusive serial killers in history.
After going to see the circus with your parents, you decide to run away to join the troupe. What act do you take on?
What would you tell your younger self as a teenager? What do you wish you had done differently, or not done at all?
What would your younger self tell you now? What would they think about your life?
Tell the story of someone who switches places with themself as a 14-year-old.
Think Princess Diaries – you’ve just found out you’re part royal with a massive inheritance to look forward to. What changes about your life?
A small spaceship crash lands in your backyard with nothing inside but an instruction manual on how to rebuild the aircraft. Do you take it back into space?
You have the power to shift into whatever creature you want – bear, wolf, etc. When do you choose to utilize your powers?
What would happen if you changed places with a rockstar?
Your big brother has always been the more successful, studious one of the family. You’ve finally got a chance to prove yourself and one up him – how do you do it?

There you have it, we hope these 500 writing prompts help you on your way to publishing your next book . For more resources on self-publishing, book marketing, and general indie author trends, make sure you check out these resources . You can also sign up for our free author newsletter to stay up to date on the latest news.

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49 comments on “ 500 writing prompts to help beat writer’s block ”.

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Thanks for sharing the prompt ideas! I am thinking to start writing a book since a long time. But I wasn’t getting any good heads. Your article has helped to understand my area of interest, especially in which I can write a book successfully.

very nice story I like it

Writer’s doubts never end here is a way to solve this issue with 500 writing prompts. It is such a research based and praiseworthy blog, it is a must read. Thank you for this article! This is really very informative for us.

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With all 500 of these, I should have no trouble finding something to write about. Thanks so much for these prompts.

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My friends and I are doing a competition to see who is the best FANTASY writer. Here’s the catch, you need to include twins, homeless people and abused animals in your story. Plz help???

Hi Ebony! Maybe try a slightly post-apocalyptic slant? I know that subgenre can veer on Science Fiction (instead of Fantasy) but you could definitely apply those required themes to a post-apoc story.

Urban fantasy set in a modern day. The protagonist is a homeless person who has a pet dove-griffin (also called winged rats). One day, he is assaulted and they take his companion, leaving him for dead. He survives, and uses his background as a hunter to track down the people who wronged him, stumbling in the process upon a ring of fantasy animal traffickers called the Chain of Cerberus, which is ruled by three brothers, triplets. He has to fight against all odds using his skills and save his only friend and companion.

The secret motivation for the protagonist is atonement for his past as a hunter, since he helped rich people (like the Triplets) to capture the fantastic animals they were after.

I call it ‘Fantasy John Wick’

Thank you for sharing such a wealth of prompts! These are fantastic. What a tough job to choose 500! If you’re interested in more open-ended prompts (just to switch it up), check out my instagram for (almost) daily writing prompts as well: @sharp.writer .

This is the complete list of writing prompts over the internet. Thanks for sharing.

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SoI made like a short script bit of a prompt like the one bout you looking in a mirror to see something that does not look like you.

Its 5 o’clock in the morning. As I came out of my cream sheets with speckles of generally grey all around, I fixed my bed. From patting down pillows to rearranging my duvet for the most part placing my silk pretty black blanket to definitely finish it off. I basically was heading for the fridge to get the creamer for coffee when I stared into the actually metal fridge looking for my reflection but instead kind of found that something looking back at me and it was not my reflection, which really is quite weird. Its kind of looked nothing like me, or so I thought. I really tried to really come up with excuses; I am in a daze, I am still half-asleep, I for the most part am asleep. IT CAN’T BE. I said, until I saw that it can. But that thing in the mirror particularly was scaring me because it stared back at me and it was waving now in a kind of like I AM WATCHING YOU kind of way. but before I could do anything it….

I found your blog very helpful in my writing project someday. Thank you for sharing your wonderful article.

I’m so glad this was helpful to you, Monique. You’re very welcome!

I have been reading posts regarding this topic and this post is one of the most interesting and informative one I have read. Thank you for this!

You’re very welcome, Patricia!

i need to do a story in which the main character is a demigod (as in percy jackson yknow) and i don’t know what to write.

Here’s one you might enjoy , Anika! Found on the #demigod prompts Tumblr page.

This is an excellent list of prompts! For me, though, I don’t lack story ideas or character scenarios. After plotting out my story, I tend to get stalled after a few chapters or in a particular scene, even when I have a good conflict for the characters to work through. ****** I found this great little book on Amazon called “What Would Your Character Do?” It really helped me because the prompts are designed to get you brainstorming about your character’s next actions when you’re stuck in a scene. I can always find a prompt in the book to get me unstuck! I’ll definitely share this particular list with my writer friends though!

Great recommendation, Jackie! Thanks for sharing

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thank you for these prompts. they really helped with my writer’s block

these are so helpful! I’ve been trying to figure out how to continue my dystopian story for weeks then I found this website! I can’t wait to continue working!

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Thank you so much for compiling such an array of prompts. Reading through these and of course changing them up in my head has me scrambling to write again. Have a Blessed Day!

Was looking for some takes regarding this topic and I found your article quite informative. It has given me a fresh perspective on the topic tackled. Thanks!

What a great list of writing prompts. I have saved this page to share with my writing partner. I am sure we will use some of these.

Hello! I wanted to ask you, if I am allowed to use some of you prompts. (of course I will give credits to you and add a link to this site). I am leader for a community on an app called Amino, it’s quite similar to Instagram, where the member can post some stuff. I wanted to post some writing prompts, since everyone there likes to write. So I wantet do aks, if i can use some of your prompts. (And sorry for my bad english, I have a german community there, since I speak german…)

Absolutely, please feel free to share and we would appreciate linking back!

Of course I do, thank you!

This was so helpful! Every prompt in this article was amazing You’ve really outdone yourself Kelsey!!!!!<3

This is extremely helpful. I am in 2nd year of high school and struggle with writers-block. I decided to do number three in the ‘horror’ section, and the options written in this article are extremely ‘flexible’ — there is a prompt for everyone. Thank you.

These writing prompts are fun! Thanks for putting it all together.

I’ve started several books. None completed, Although a few stories were published in a small town newspaper. A couple of years ago I began a book when the work came to an abrupt end. My husband fell off the roof. Now, after 2 years, I find myself wanting to write, but stymied as how to pick up where I left off. I’ve read your prompts. Some of the fiction, thriller, mystery and prompts in other areas have been true life experiences for me. Now, as I stand in the aftermath of the train that hit me, in need of a battery jump to restart, I have hopefully found a way forward.

I absolutely loved these! Thanks so much! Writing prompts really help me keep the wheels turning.

Thanks so much for these amazing prompts! I had nailed down a genre and topic but needed some help getting down to the nitty gritty specifics. You saved the day (and my essay). Thank you!

I am impressed with your sharing. Helpful for new writers. Thanks for your share.

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Unbeatable listing. A lot of quality and tremendous compilation.

I love these prompts! They help me get started when I’m feeling stuck.

I have all the actual writing material I need, but I am using writing prompts to get myself in the zone for writing. This list is outstanding. It’s a bit of a struggle to stop perusing because there are so many that entice me. I’m pretty sure that many of these will little warm-ups will end up in my Ideas file. Thanks so much for this.

To the prompt about scientists figuring out how to extend life but someone has to die:

The mail held a few worthless ads, nothing to be worried about. But then my heart stopped at the sight of a letter. My hands trembled as I took it out of the box. I wracked my brain for ways to escape. If I never read it, could I claim ignorance? No, it would never work. Shakily I tore open the envelope and unfolded the paper inside. When it began with “We sorrowfully regret to inform you,” I recognized the words from my sister’s letter and the grief came flooding back. Half for her and half for myself. I wasn’t ready to let go of the wonderful life I had. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye. But it didn’t matter. Getting this letter meant I was going to die, and it also meant that I had no choice.

Just a blurb. Thoughts?

These gave me some great ideas!

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Writing prompts - a short story

Lisa couldn’t believe it. Yes, she’d taken on the challenge to write every day. Yes, she’d promised to try some of these random writing prompts you could generate online. Had she known the outcome would be so outrageous, she’d never have done it. What were you supposed to do with a shipwrecked, cowardly fireman who somehow had anything to do with a music instrument? Was he going to realize that his talents lie elsewhere? Could he somehow manage to use the instrument to call for the help he desperately needed? Befriend it as Tom Hanks befriends a volleyball in Cast Away? If made out of wood, perhaps it could be used to construct a raft.

Lisa shook her head. Writing prompts. At this point even the ice bucket challenge sounded better.

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Grab writing ideas with this creative writing prompt generator

Welcome to The Story Shack's free creative writing prompts generator! Are you in need of a story starter? Then simply click the button above and let the tool generate some great random writing prompt for you. You also don't have to worry if it will work on your iPad, iPhone, Kindle or other smart device, as the plot generator is fully responsive!

This tool is currently capable of generating 2.8 billion random fiction writing prompts , and that is not where we're stopping. Check back frequently for new ideas.

Currently, the writing prompt generator provides the following ideas:

Writing genre

Character type

A prop to use

A bonus assignment

Writing prompts through our story idea generator

Do you need writing inspiration for your next book? A story starter for an upcoming flash fiction journal's competition? Perhaps you simply want to do a writing exercise? This plot generator is a one-stop shop to get the creative juices flowing. Our writing prompt generator provides you with a random prompt that includes a genre, the length of your short story, characters (also try out our character name generator ), quotes, props and a bonus assignment.

What makes for a challenging creative writing prompt?

Creative writing prompts can be a lot of fun to write. However, not all ideas are created equal. Some topics are more difficult than others. Some of the most challenging prompts may include animal-human hybrids or autobiographical essays.

It is important for creative writers to have a variety of writing assignments and creative writing prompts. While some may seem easy at first glance, they can be quite challenging when it comes to actually sitting down and putting words on paper.

The idea of how to write on the given topic is often what makes for a good writing prompt. It's important to have an idea of what you want your story to be about and what you want readers to learn from it. Writing prompts often give you topics that you wouldn't think about yourself, so it's important that when reading the resulting story, one can tell that there is something interesting about the topic and not just something random.

Story prompts modeled after the 48 Hour Film Project

Writing prompts should be challenging. Because of this, I've modeled this story idea generator after the 48 Hour Film Project model. This film project takes place in many cities throughout the world and challenges storytellers to create a short film within two days. This short film needs to adhere to a number of random prompts that all participants share.

It's always a great challenge and a lot of fun. Hopefully you will have as much fun with the creative writing ideas this tool produces. So get the creative process started, click Generate above and keep clicking it until you have all the writing ideas you'd like.

Take writing prompts to the next level with Taleforge

The writing prompt generator was the very first tool I created on The Story Shack, and the site has evolved a lot since. It’s still my favorite random generator, and I wanted to try to explore the idea a bit further. The result is Taleforge , an interactive writing app that challenges you by throwing random prompts at you while you’re racing against a timer.

Can I share the random writing prompts that this tool creates?

Yes you can. The Story Shack claims no copyright on any of these prompts.

How many ideas can I generate with this random Writing Prompt Generator?

The Writing Prompt Generator can generate thousands of ideas for your project, so feel free to keep clicking and at the end use the handy copy feature to export your prompts to a text editor of your choice. Enjoy!

The importance of writing prompts for authors

For quite some time, the idea of writing prompts has been something of a useful resource for writers of all levels. Writing prompts can have a significant impact on both the quality and quantity of your output, whether you're a novice looking to improve your writing confidence or an experienced professional looking for fresh ideas. Prompts help you come up with ideas you didn't know you had, making your writing go further and faster than it would have otherwise. Many writers struggle with blocks, writer's block, and generally low levels of productivity without them. Writing prompts are essential because they assist in inspiring you and reviving your creative juices. But first, let's talk about what exactly writing prompts are. A statement, idea, or sentence that encourages writers to come up with ideas and start writing is known as a writing prompt. A simple word or a lengthy sentence that prompts the writer to respond could be used. It is essential to keep in mind that prompts for writing are typically incomplete and necessitate further investigation. They are most effective when used to motivate the writer to investigate the subject more deeply and develop their own original story or perspective that they would not have otherwise considered. Anywhere and on any subject can be used as a prompt. You could get a prompt from someone else, like an editor, teacher, or mentor, or you could look within yourself for one. In either case, the way you approach a prompt is the key to making the most of it and maximizing its impact. Setting a timetable for progressing your writing is one of the most effective ways to use a prompt to advance it. That one sentence might end up being the subject of an entire article, opinion piece, or even novel! If you give yourself deadlines and goals to meet, you will stay on track and continue to develop the prompt's initial idea, which is when you will reap its full benefits. Naturally, there is no right or wrong in creative writing, and anything can be interpreted and considered. You don't have to use the prompt exactly as it was given to you or take it at face value. Writing prompts are adaptable and can be tailored to each person. They can be used to write about personal issues that you might not have been comfortable discussing before. Additionally, prompts can be utilized to dismantle self-imposed boundaries, thought patterns, and preconceived notions. A writer might, for instance, come up with a prompt that forces them to look at a subject from a different angle. By allowing the writer to look at a subject from a different perspective, a prompt has the power to enhance one's understanding of it when used in this manner. Whether you use them to gather ideas, improve your writing abilities, or just for fun, writing prompts are extremely useful resources for writers of all levels. Naturally, it is the individual's responsibility to make the most of the prompts that come their way. Writing prompts, on the other hand, are not to be undervalued as a useful tool for assisting writers on their journey.

5 questions to help you come up with writing prompts

What unique life experiences have I had?
What recent news event could I use to inspire a story?
What emotions do I want to explore?
What classic stories could be re-told from a different perspective?
What unsolved mysteries need re-telling?

Can I use the random writing prompts that this tool creates?

Yes you can. The Story Shack claims no copyright on any of these names, but it is of course possible that some of the values this name generator provides are already owned by anyone else, so please make sure to always do your due diligence.

How many ideas can I generate with this Writing Prompt Generator?

The Writing Prompt Generator can generate thousands of ideas for your project, so feel free to keep clicking and at the end use the handy copy feature to export your writing prompts to a text editor of your choice. Enjoy!

What are good writing prompts?

There's thousands of random writing prompts in this generator. Here are some samples to start:

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Writing Games

Interactive Creative Writing Games

Fun interactive writing games to get your creative juices flowing...

Visual Poetry : Explore your creativity by drawing word mosaics with your poetry.
Haiku Madlibs : Fill out the text fields to generate 16 haikus, madlibs style - using templates from the masters, including: Basho, Buson, Issa, Shiki, Shuson, and Soseki.
Madlib Poem : A madlib poem is a fun and creative way to write poems using a fill-in-the-blank format using poem templates from famous poems.
Electronic Poetry : Similiar to magnetic poetry. Create poems using the words of your favorite authors or create magnets from your own text. Includes author kits for: Antonin Artaud, Charles Baudelaire, Francesca Lia Block, André Breton, Poppy Z. Brite, Charles Bukowski, William S. Burroughs, Angela Carter, ee cummings, Hilda Doolittle, Brett Easton Ellis, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Allen Ginsberg, Ernest Hemingway, Jack Kerouac, Stephen King, Comte de Lautréamont, The Smiths, Anaïs Nin, Flannery O'Connor, Mary Oliver, Sylvia Plath, Edgar Allan Poe, Marcel Proust, Anne Rice, Arthur Rimbaud, J.D. Salinger, William Shakespeare, Robert Smith, Gertrude Stein, Donna Tartt, Michelle Tea, Tristan Tzara, Oscar Wilde.
Poem Collage : Enter your poem and click Generate. Poem Collage will generate your poem as a series of draggable lines. Rearrange the lines to form a new poem.
Poem Builder : Flip 3 cards to build a poem - one: the subject of the poem, two: the poetic form you should write the poem in, and three: 10 words you should incorporate into the poem.
Exquisite Corpse : A writing game that originated in the Surrealist movement of the early 20th century. The game involves a group of writers who each contribute a sentence or phrase to a collective work without being able to see what the other writers have written. Add a word or line to the exquisite corpse poem - started in 2000!
Poetry Stamp : Poetry stamp will randomly generate lines of poetry, which you can then modify by changing or removing words.
Letter Link Poetry : When we play Boggle, we then like to use the words we found to write a poem, using each word to start each line of the poem.
Ring Game [Vowels vs Consonants] : Use letters to chain together words to write poems.
Text Collage : Linguasso - dynamic emotional design linguasso (for lingual and Picasso) creates totally random works of art, composed of text and based on varying emotions.
Story Dice : Roll the dice to get 6 different words - a setting, a character, an object, an action, an emotion, and an adjective. Use all of these words as prompts to write a story.
Neverending Story : Add a line to the neverending story - started in 2000!
Tarot Reading Writing Game : Use a Tarot Reading to flesh out characters, come up with plot twists, and character conflict. Tarot readings can be a powerful tool for writers looking to generate ideas for their creative work. By interpreting the symbolism and meanings of the tarot cards, you can access your subconscious mind and tap into a rich source of inspiration and creativity.
Fade Out : Fade Out is a writing game that forces you to be creative with limited word choices.
Alliterator : An alliteration text generator that only uses words starting with the same letter.
Ring Game : Use letters to chain together words to write poems.
Graffiti Wall : Add to or edit the writing on the Graffiti Wall! Yes, your additions may be altered or deleted by someone else and you may change or delete other's additions. That is the game...
Blind Finish-the-Story : A modified version of the popular writing game where at least three players take turns adding to a story on numbered index cards, creating a surreal dreamlike tale that can inspire or be used for fun.

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The best AI image generators to try right now

If you've ever searched Google high and low to find an image you needed to no avail, artificial intelligence (AI) may be able to help.

With AI image generators, you can type in a prompt as detailed or vague as you'd like to fit an array of purposes and have the image you were thinking of instantly pop up on your screen. These tools can help with branding, social media content creation, and making invitations, flyers, business cards, and more.

Also: ChatGPT no longer requires a login, but you might want one anyway. Here's why

Even if you have no professional use for AI, don't worry -- the process is so fun that anyone can (and should) try it out.

OpenAI's DALL-E 2 made a huge splash because of its advanced capabilities as the first mainstream AI image generator. However, since its initial launch, there have been many developments. Other companies have released models that rival DALL-E 2, and OpenAI even released a more advanced model known as DALL-E 3 , discontinuing its predecessor.

To help you discover which models are the best for different tasks, I put the image generators to the test by giving each tool the same prompt: "Two Yorkies sitting on a beach that is covered in snow". I also included screenshots to help you decide which is best.

Also: DALL-E adds new ways to edit and create AI-generated images. Learn how to use it

While I found the best overall AI image generator is Image Creator from Microsoft Designer , due to its free-of-charge, high-quality results, other AI image generators perform better for specific needs. For the full roundup of the best AI image generators, keep reading.

The best AI image generators of 2024

Image creator from microsoft designer (formerly bing image creator), best ai image generator overall.

Powered by DALL-E 3
Convenient to access
Need a Microsoft account
In preview stage

Image Creator from Microsoft Designer is powered by DALL-E 3, OpenAI's most advanced image-generating model. As a result, it produces the same quality results as DALL-E while remaining free to use as opposed to the $20 per month fee to use DALL-E.

All you need to do to access the image generator is visit the Image Creator website and sign in with a Microsoft account.

Another major perk about this AI generator is that you can also access it in the same place where you can access Microsoft's AI chatbot, Copilot (formerly Bing Chat) .

This capability means that in addition to visiting Image Creator on its standalone site, you can ask it to generate images for you in Copilot. To render an image, all you have to do is conversationally ask Copilot to draw you any image you'd like.

Also: How to use Image Creator from Microsoft Designer (formerly Bing Image Creator)

This feature is so convenient because you can satisfy all your image-generating and AI-chatting needs in the same place for free. This combination facilitates tasks that could benefit from image and text generation, such as party planning, as you can ask the chatbot to generate themes for your party and then ask it to create images that follow the theme.

Image Creator from Microsoft Designer f eatures: Powered by: DALL-E 3 | Access via: Copilot, browser, mobile | Output: 4 images per prompt | P rice: Free

DALL-E 3 by OpenAI

Best ai image generator if you want to experience the inspiration.

Not copyrighted
Accurate depictions
Confusing credits

OpenAI, the AI research company behind ChatGPT, launched DALL-E 2 in November 2022. The tool quickly became the most popular AI image generator on the market. However, after launching its most advanced image generator, DALL-E 3, OpenAI discontinued DALL-E 2.

DALL-E 3 is even more capable than the original model, but this ability comes at a cost. To access DALL-E 3 you must be a ChatGPT Plus subscriber, and the membership costs $20 per month per user. You can access DALL-E 3 via ChatGPT or the ChatGPT app.

Using DALL-E 3 is very intuitive. Type in whatever prompt you'd like, specifying as much detail as necessary to bring your vision to life, and then DALL-E 3 will generate four images from your prompt. As you can see in the image at the top of the article, the renditions are high quality and very realistic.

OpenAI even recently added new ways to edit an image generated by the chatbot, including easy conversational text prompts and the ability to click on parts of the image you want to edit.

Like with Copilot, you can chat and render your images on the same platform, making it convenient to work on projects that depend on image and text generation. If you don't want to shell out the money, Image Creator by Designer is a great alternative since it's free, uses DALL-E 3, and can be accessed via Copilot.

DALL-E 3 features: Powered by: DALL-E 3 by OpenAI | Access via: ChatGPT website and app | Output: 4 images per credit | Price: ChatGPT Plus subscription, $20 per month

ImageFX by Google

The best ai image generator for beginners.

Easy-to-use
High-quality results
Expressive chips
Need a Google account
Strict guardrails can be limiting

Google's ImageFX was a dark horse, entering the AI image generator space much later than its competition, over a year after DALL-E 2 launched. However, the generator's performance seems to have been worth the wait. The image generator can produce high-quality, realistic outputs, even objects that are difficult to render, such as hands.

Also: I just tried Google's ImageFX AI image generator, and I'm shocked at how good it is

The tool boasts a unique feature, expressive chips, that make it easier to refine your prompts or generate new ones via dropdowns, which highlight parts of your prompt and suggest different word changes to modify your output.

ImageFX also includes suggestions for the style you'd like your image rendered in, such as photorealistic, 35mm film, minimal, sketch, handmade, and more. This combination of features makes ImageFX the perfect for beginners who want to experiment.

ImageFX from Google: Powered by: Imagen 2 | Access via: Website | Output: 4 images | Price: free

DreamStudio by Stability AI

Best ai image generator for customization.

Accepts specific instruction
Open source
More entries for customization
Paid credits
Need to create an account

Stability AI created the massively popular, open-sourced, text-to-image generator, Stable Diffusion. Users can download the tool and use it at no cost. However, using this tool typically requires technical skill.

Also : How to use Stable Diffusion AI to create amazing images

To make the technology readily accessible to everyone (regardless of skill level), Stability AI created DreamStudio, which incorporates Stable Diffusion in a UI that is easy to understand and use.

One of the standouts of the platform is that it includes many different entries for customization, including a "negative prompt" where you can delineate the specifics of what you'd like to avoid in the final image. You can also easily change the image ratio -- that's a key feature, as most AI image generators automatically deliver 1:1.

DreamStudio features: Powered by: SDXL 1.0 by Stability AI | Access via: Website | Output: 1 image per 2 credits | Price: $1 per 100 credits | Credits: 25 free credits when you open an account; buy purchase once you run out

Dream by WOMBO

Best ai image generator for your phone.

Remix your own images
Multiple templates
One image per prompt
Subscription cost for full access

This app took the first-place spot for the best overall app in Google Play's 2022 awards , and it has five stars on Apple's App Store with 141.6K ratings. With the app, you can create art and images with the simple input of a quick prompt.

An added plus is this AI image generator allows you to pick different design styles such as realistic, expressionist, comic, abstract, fanatical, ink, and more.

Also : How to use Dream by WOMBO to generate artwork in any style

In addition to the app, the tool has a free desktop mobile version that is simple to use. If you want to take your use of the app to the next level, you can pay $90 per year or $10 per month.

Dream by WOMBO f eatures: Powered by: WOMBO AI's machine-learning algorithm | Access via: Mobile and desktop versions | Output: 1 image with a free version, 4 with a paid plan | Price: Free limited access

Best no-frills AI image generator

Unlimited access
Simple to use
Longer wait
Inconsistent images

Despite originally being named DALL-E mini, this AI image generator is NOT affiliated with OpenAI or DALL-E 2. Rather, it is an open-source alternative. However, the name DALL-E 2 mini is somewhat fitting as the tool does everything DALL-E 2 does, just with less precise renditions.

Also : How to use Craiyon AI (formerly known as DALL-E mini)

Unlike DALL-E 2, the outputs from Craiyon lack quality and take longer to render (approximately a minute). However, because you have unlimited prompts, you can continue to tweak the prompt until you get your exact vision. The site is also simple to use, making it perfect for someone wanting to experiment with AI image generators. It also generates six images, more than any other chatbot listed.

Craiyon f eatures: Powered by: Their model | Access via : Craiyon website | Output: 6 images per prompt | Price: Free, unlimited prompts

Best AI image generator for highest quality photos

Very high-quality outputs
Discord community
Monthly cost
Confusing to set up

I often play around with AI image generators because they make it fun and easy to create digital artwork. Despite all my experiences with different AI generators, nothing could have prepared me for Midjourney -- in the best way.

The output of the image was so crystal clear that I had a hard time believing it wasn't an actual picture that someone took of my prompt. This software is so good that it has produced award-winning art .

However, I think Midjourney isn't user-friendly and it confuses me. If you also need extra direction, check out our step-by-step how-to here: How to use Midjourney to generate amazing images and art .

Another problem with the tool is that you may not access it for free. When I tried to render images, I got this error message: "Due to extreme demand, we can't provide a free trial right now. Please subscribe to create images with Midjourney."

To show you the quality of renditions, I've included a close-up below from a previous time I tested the generator. The prompt was: "A baby Yorkie sitting on a comfy couch in front of the NYC skyline."

Midjourney f eatures: Powered by: Midjourney; utilizes Discord | Access via: Discord | Output: 4 images per prompt | Price: Starts at $10/month

Adobe Firefly

Best ai image generator if you have a reference photo.

Structure and Style Reference
Commercial-safe
Longer lag than other generators
More specific prompts required

Adobe has been a leader in developing creative tools for creative and working professionals for decades. As a result, it's no surprise that its image generator is impressive. Accessing the generator is easy. Just visit the website and type the prompt of the image you'd like generated.

Also: This new AI tool from Adobe makes generating the images you need even simpler

As you can see above, the images rendered of the Yorkies are high-quality, realistic, and detailed. Additionally, the biggest standout features of this chatbot are its Structure Reference and Style Reference features.

Structure Reference lets users input an image they want the AI model to use as a template. The model then uses this structure to create a new image with the same layout and composition. Style Reference uses an image as a reference to generate a new image in the same style.

These features are useful if you have an image you'd like the new, generated image to resemble, for example, a quick sketch you drew or even a business logo or style you'd like to keep consistent.

Another perk is that Adobe Firefly was trained on Adobe Stock images, openly licensed content, and public domain content, making all the images generated safe for commercial use and addressing the ethics issue of image generators.

Adobe Firefly f eatures: Powered by: Firefly Image 2 | Access via: Website | Output: 4 images per prompt | P rice: Free

Generative AI by Getty Images

Best ai image generator for businesses.

Commercially safe
Contributor compensation program
Personalized stock photos
Not clear about pricing
Not individual-friendly

One of the biggest issues with AI image generators is that they typically train their generators on content from the entirety of the internet, which means the generators use aspects of creators' art without compensation. This approach also puts businesses that use generators at risk of copyright infringement.

Generative AI by Getty Images tackles that issue by generating images with content solely from Getty Images' vast creative library with full indemnification for commercial use. The generated images will have Getty Images' standard royalty-free license, assuring customers that their content is fair to use without fearing legal repercussions.

Another pro is that contributors whose content was used to train the models will be compensated for their inclusion in the training set. This is a great solution for businesses that want stock photos that match their creative vision but do not want to deal with copyright-related issues.

ZDNET's Tiernan Ray went hands-on with the AI image generator. Although the tool did not generate the most vivid images, especially compared to DALL-E, it did create accurate, reliable, and useable stock images.

Generative AI by Getty Images f eatures: Powered by: NVIDIA Picasso | Access via: Website | Output: 4 images per prompt | P rice: Paid (price undisclosed, have to contact the team)

What is the best AI image generator?

Image Creator from Microsoft Designer is the best overall AI image generator. Like DALL-E 3, Image Creator from Microsoft Designer combines accuracy, speed, and cost-effectiveness, and can generate high-quality images in seconds. However, unlike DALL-E 3, this Microsoft version is entirely free.

Whether you want to generate images of animals, objects, or even abstract concepts, Image Creator from Microsoft Designer can produce accurate depictions that meet your expectations. It is highly efficient, user-friendly, and cost-effective.

Note: Prices and features are subject to change.

Which is the right AI image generator for you?

Although I crowned Image Creator from Microsoft Designer the best AI image generator overall, other AI image generators perform better for specific needs. For example, suppose you are a professional using AI image generation for your business. In that case, you may need a tool like Generative AI by Getty Images which renders images safe for commercial use.

On the other hand, if you want to play with AI art generating for entertainment purposes, Craiyon might be the best option because it's free, unlimited, and easy to use.

How did I choose these AI image generators?

To find the best AI image generators, I tested each generator listed and compared their performance. The factors that went into testing performance included UI/UX, image results, cost, speed, and availability. Each AI image generator had different strengths and weaknesses, making each one the ideal fit for individuals as listed next to my picks.

What is an AI image generator?

An AI image generator is software that uses AI to create images from user text inputs, usually within seconds. The images vary in style depending on the capabilities of the software, but can typically render an image in any style you want, including 3D, 2D, cinematic, modern, Renaissance, and more.

How do AI image generators work?

Like any other AI model, AI image generators work on learned data they are trained with. Typically, these models are trained on billions of images, which they analyze for characteristics. These insights are then used by the models to create new images.

Are there ethical implications with AI image generators?

AI image generators are trained on billions of images found throughout the internet. These images are often artworks that belong to specific artists, which are then reimagined and repurposed by AI to generate your image. Although the output is not the same image, the new image has elements of the artist's original work not credited to them.

Are there DALL-E 3 alternatives worth considering?

Contrary to what you might think, there are many AI image generators other than DALL-E 3. Some tools produce even better results than OpenAI's software. If you want to try something different, check out one of our alternatives above or the three additional options below.

Nightcafe is a multi-purpose AI image generator. The tool is worth trying because it allows users to create unique and original artwork using different inputs and styles, including abstract, impressionism, expressionism, and more.

Canva is a versatile and powerful AI image generator that offers a wide range of options within its design platform. It allows users to create professional-looking designs for different marketing channels, including social media posts, ads, flyers, brochures, and more.

Artificial Intelligence

This new ai tool from adobe makes generating the images you need even simpler, dall-e adds new ways to edit and create ai-generated images. learn how to use it, openai makes gpt-4 turbo with vision available to developers to unlock new ai apps.

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