Over 50 writing prompts for stories, lists, and freewriting

Here are over 50 writing prompts to get you started: freewriting exercises, lists, short story ideas, point-of-view challenges, and sets of words to build a story around. Pick one, set a timer, and start writing.

Writing prompts are a great way to get your writing going (here is why you should be using a writing prompt), but where do you find them?

You can draw inspiration from almost anywhere: everyday situations, movies, series, and books, the news, or a conversation you overheard. Yet these ideas tend to hide just when you want to write, or when you finally have the time to.

So here are over 50 writing prompts. Bookmark this page and come back later, or start writing right away.

Freewriting

Set a timer on your phone, or anywhere else, for 3, 5, or 10 minutes, and just start writing.

1. Write about this cliché: "like ice water in her veins".
2. Write about a task or chore that you hate.
3. What is your favorite season, and why?
4. This is your chance to create a new TV series. Brainstorm the storyline, plot twists, characters and how they develop, and the setting.
5. Pick one of your favorite books and brainstorm what made it so special and good for you. You can use this to plan your own perfect story or novel.
6. Planet for sale: humanity has decided to leave Earth, and you have been chosen to sell the planet. How do you advertise it? And who are the potential buyers?
7. Try to write five sentences that no one has ever written before (they must make sense, though). Search the web to find out whether you were right. If not, think of five more.
8. Write a review of one of your favorite books, and fit in as many book reviewer clichés as you can.
9. You have been asked to entertain 10 children for 10 hours, and you have been given $100 to spend on office supplies. What is your plan?
10. You have proof that everyone on Earth except you is an alien. What now?
11. You have surely imagined how you would do in the Hunger Games, but what if you were one of the Gamemakers? Describe the arena you would design, and the challenges and dangers that would await the tributes.
12. Think of five people you know very well, and pick an animal that represents each of them. Explain your choices.
13. Brainstorm what the smell of freshly cut grass reminds you of, or what it means to you.
14. Do you remember your favorite childhood toy? Describe it. Why was it your favorite, and what made it special?

Lists

1. Your top 5 places that you wish existed.
2. Your bucket list: everything you want to do before you die.
3. The top 7 things you would wish on your worst enemy.
4. Things you will never do, or never do again.
5. The top 10 things you would buy with your last $10.
6. Everything that comforts you: sounds, people, activities, smells, anything.
7. The 10 words you use most every day. Find at least three synonyms or descriptions to replace each one.
8. Foods and recipes that you have not had the chance to try yet.

Short story prompts

Be funny, be deep, be scary, or be serious, but write, write, write.

1. Most of us have one dream (or even several) that we just cannot let go of. Write it all down.
2. There is something beautiful in everything. Write about finding a silver lining in something ugly, like war, poverty, cruelty, fear, or hate.
3. If you could invite anyone, living or dead, over for a mug of tea or hot chocolate, who would it be? What would you talk about? What advice would they give you, and you them?
4. Everyone knows Harry Potter, the most famous student of wizardry in the world. But what if you could go to Hogwarts? Which house would you be in? Which classes would you take? And who would your friends be?
5. Pick a painting: famous, modern, or ancient. Write about what would happen if you could step into it.
6. Begin a story with: "There was once a chance I didn't dare to take."
7. Choose two characters from two different books you have read. They are on a blind date. Describe how the date turns out.
8. Write a story about Valentine's Day without using these words: love, Cupid, flowers, Valentine's Day, hearts, February, 14th.
9. Alternative ending: what if Cinderella had ended differently? What if the glass slipper had fit one of the stepsisters instead? Let your imagination run free and write a new ending for the famous story.
10. One day, everyone on Earth vanishes, except for one person from each country. What happens next? Is it part of a bigger plan? How do you talk to each other?
11. Write a story whose dialogue contains this line, and finish it in your own words: "I hope you're happy, because now I have to"
12. Take a famous story and add one small twist: the hero is now the villain, and the villain is the hero. What changes? Is the ending different?
13. Follow the story spine, often called the Pixar formula. Fill in each line below, and you have the outline of a story.

• Once upon a time there was [someone].
• Every day, [they did something].
• One day, [something changed].
• Because of that, [something happened].
• Because of that, [something else happened].
• Until finally, [the story ended].

Point of view

1. Write a story about Cupid, told by Cupid, on the day he hit the wrong person with his arrow.
2. Imagine you are a single drop of water. Describe your journey through wild rivers, hidden forest creeks, the vast ocean, or a winding city sewer, or how you fell from the sky in a gentle summer rain.
3. Describe your day (or yesterday) from three different points of view: an idealist's, a realist's, and a surrealist's.
4. Imagine you are a banknote for one day. What do people buy with you? Who carries you around? Are you given to someone as change, or as a tip?
5. Describe your day as if you could not see. Tell what happened, whom you met, and what you did without any visual descriptions.
6. You are a dragon, but instead of growing up in a dragon's cave, you were raised by a family of chickens. Write about how you discovered who you really are.
7. Take some time to watch someone on the street. Now imagine you are them. Who are you? What do you do for a living? Where do you live? Where are you going, or coming from?
8. Imagine you have a child (or think of the one you have). Describe a day in their life from their point of view.

Word prompts

Write a short story, a letter, or anything else that contains each of these combinations of words:

1. Magnifying glass, priest, garden, ring
2. Desk lamp, burglar, forest, envelope
3. An elderly woman, an umbrella, "never before have I", a newspaper article
4. Depression, grass, moon, bird's nest
5. Doorknob, magic, Sagittarius, potted plant
6. Orange, snake, the military, folder
7. Silk, journalist, an old van, a night light
8. Dictator, slingshot, flower bed, a handwritten note

Need more ideas? Read where to find ideas to write about.