1

Creative Writing Prompts

1. Fairy tales have happy endings. All of us know what

happened in that mushy fairy tale, Cinderella. Yes, it’s
romantic, the prince actually finding Cinderella. They
lived happily ever after. But happy endings can
sometimes be, well … boring. No zing. So predictable.
So … happy. What if the shoe fit one of the sisters?
What happens then? Play with your imagination here.
Be funny if you like. Or serious if you feel like it. Or be
an Alfred Hitchcock. Whatever you are into write your
ending to the Cinderella story – but this time make it
so that the shoe fit one of the icky sisters. What does
Prince Charming do? How does Cinderella cope with
it? And what about the Fairy Godmother? Start your
story here.
2. A picture is worth more than a blank page. Take out
those dusty photo albums. Pick out photo 14. Count
however way you like, but make sure you stop at
photo 14. Then for ten minutes, write all the feelings
that photo made you feel. Don’t censor yourself. Just
write.
3. Close your eyes briefly. Think of one object that’s in
the room and focus on it. Without opening your eyes,
recall as much detail as you can about it. After three
minutes or so, open your eyes and write about that
object without looking at it.
4. If you could invent something to help mankind what
would it be?
5. Create a poem using Emily Dickinson’s “Bring me the
sunset in a cup” as a starting point.
6. Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative
force. Today stop what you’re doing and listen for two
minutes. Then write the new thoughts you had as a
result of this simple activity.
 2

7. What would you do with three wishes?

8. Write a letter to someone you feel you need to spend
more time with.
9. It was Herman Melville who said, “We become sad in
the first place because we have nothing stirring to do”.
Write about what stirs you.
10. Begin with “Today I will……” and write for ten
minutes.
11. Here’s a 90-second drill: list items you can find in a
hospital. When the 90 seconds are up write a story
that includes all the words in your list but don’t set
your story in or near a hospital.
12. This dialogue must appear somewhere in your
story: “You know what else children don’t know?
13. Start your story with this: “She touched the little
box in her pocket and smiled.”
14. Write a story about a father looking for his son. The
child was one of the passengers in a plane that
crashed earlier that day.
15. How would a broken plate feel?
16. Begin with “I wish someone told me……”
17. Write a pure dialogue story. Make your story move
along by using dialogues only. No narration, no
description … just dialogues.
18. Use this line anywhere in your story: “Behind her
the noise escalated”.
19. Begin a story with: “The hallway was silent.
20. What happens when two friends visit an old house
that one of them inherited from a distant relative? In
the house, there is a 100-year old mirror that had
never been broken.
21. Choose a poem you like. Take the last line and use
that as the first line of your own poem.
22. Electricity is a recent discovery. Think of twelve
things to do when there is no power.
23. Write about a task, job or chore you dislike.
24. Write a story with the help of this image: The shore
fumed at the waves.
 3

25. Take two people who dislike each other and stick
them in the backseat of a cab. What happens?
26. You come home and check your phone messages.
You get to your third message and freeze. Begin from
there.
27. You wake up, go to the bathroom and look in the
mirror. A different face stares back at you. Begin your
story here.
28. Write about how you felt when you discovered you
were lied to.
29. What do you do on a rainy day? Write about it in
250 words.
30. Write a story about a town that ran out of sugar
supply.
31. List ten things you can do with tissue paper. Pick
one of them and write about it.
32. Write about what you’d cook for an enemy.
33. Write about a good thing gone bad.
34. A drunk man sits next to you in a bar, thinks you’re
his buddy and starts confessing ‘the truth’. Write
about what ‘the truth’ is.
35. List 10-15 things worth saving then choose one of
those things and write about it.
36. Write about Valentine’s day without mentioning
these words: Valentine’s Day, cupid, love, roses,
flowers, hearts, February.
37. In 300 words write about deceit.
38. If you don’t risk anything you risk more. Write about
what this means to you.
39. Write about what you’d say to an uninvited guest.
40. Write a letter to the 10-year old child you had been.
41. Re-write the fairy tale Snow White from the point of
view of Bashful, one of the seven dwarfs.
42. Write an excuse for not going to school today.
43. Write about a blue-coloured object.
44. List 20 things you are afraid of. Pick one fear and
write about it.
45. Begin a story with the line The clock winked.
 4

46. Put Shaggy (Scooby Doo’s partner) and Batgirl in an

elevator and write a 200-word scene.
47. In 200 words, write about what this metaphor
makes you think of: a garnish of joy.
48. In 500 words or less, write about a plate of
sunshine.
49. Do a 5-minute free-write with the phrase: Anger
suffers as grief withdraws as your guide.
50. Think of a product you wouldn’t be caught dead
using. The company who makes that product plans to
stop its production. Write a strong letter to the
company and convince them not to take that product
off the market.
51. List 15 simple pleasures. Pick one and write about
it.
52. Write about how you felt when you discovered you
were lied to.
53. Come up with a poem about an object that
describes you. First, choose the object. Next, list down
the reasons you think the object you chose represents
you. From your list of reasons which one is the most
powerful? Which one conveys the strongest image of
you? Once you’ve chosen your main image list down
things that support this main image. Build your poem
from there.
54. Write a story about an empty glass.
55. List 10 things that annoy you. Pick one and write
about it.
56. List 30 uses for a hanger.
57. Cook your own version of a ‘get rich quick’ scheme.
58. Write from the point of view of an old car that has
just got a new paint job.
59. Write from the point of view of a freshly scrubbed
floor.
60. Write from the point of view of a branch with a bird
perched on it.