exercise in creative writing

Writing Activities

105 Creative Writing Exercises To Get You Writing Again

You know that feeling when you just don’t feel like writing? Sometimes you can’t even get a word down on paper. It’s the most frustrating thing ever to a writer, especially when you’re working towards a deadline. The good news is that we have a list of 105 creative writing exercises to help you get motivated and start writing again!

What are creative writing exercises?

Creative writing exercises are short writing activities (normally around 10 minutes) designed to get you writing. The goal of these exercises is to give you the motivation to put words onto a blank paper. These words don’t need to be logical or meaningful, neither do they need to be grammatically correct or spelt correctly. The whole idea is to just get you writing something, anything. The end result of these quick creative writing exercises is normally a series of notes, bullet points or ramblings that you can, later on, use as inspiration for a bigger piece of writing such as a story or a poem.

Good creative writing exercises are short, quick and easy to complete. You shouldn’t need to think too much about your style of writing or how imaginative your notes are. Just write anything that comes to mind, and you’ll be on the road to improving your creative writing skills and beating writer’s block .

Use the generator below to get a random creative writing exercise idea:

List of 105+ Creative Writing Exercises

Here are over 105 creative writing exercises to give your brain a workout and help those creative juices flow again:

Set a timer for 60 seconds. Now write down as many words or phrases that come to mind at that moment.
Pick any colour you like. Now start your sentence with this colour. For example, Orange, the colour of my favourite top.
Open a book or dictionary on a random page. Pick a random word. You can close your eyes and slowly move your finger across the page. Now, write a paragraph with this random word in it. You can even use an online dictionary to get random words:

Create your own alphabet picture book or list. It can be A to Z of animals, food, monsters or anything else you like!
Using only the sense of smell, describe where you are right now.
Take a snack break. While eating your snack write down the exact taste of that food. The goal of this creative writing exercise is to make your readers savour this food as well.
Pick a random object in your room and write a short paragraph from its point of view. For example, how does your pencil feel? What if your lamp had feelings?
Describe your dream house. Where would you live one day? Is it huge or tiny?
Pick two different TV shows, movies or books that you like. Now swap the main character. What if Supergirl was in Twilight? What if SpongeBob SquarePants was in The Flash? Write a short scene using this character swap as inspiration.
What’s your favourite video game? Write at least 10 tips for playing this game.
Pick your favourite hobby or sport. Now pretend an alien has just landed on Earth and you need to teach it this hobby or sport. Write at least ten tips on how you would teach this alien.
Use a random image generator and write a paragraph about the first picture you see.

Write a letter to your favourite celebrity or character. What inspires you most about them? Can you think of a memorable moment where this person’s life affected yours? We have this helpful guide on writing a letter to your best friend for extra inspiration.
Write down at least 10 benefits of writing. This can help motivate you and beat writer’s block.
Complete this sentence in 10 different ways: Patrick waited for the school bus and…
Pick up a random book from your bookshelf and go to page 9. Find the ninth sentence on that page. Use this sentence as a story starter.
Create a character profile based on all the traits that you hate. It might help to list down all the traits first and then work on describing the character.
What is the scariest or most dangerous situation you have ever been in? Why was this situation scary? How did you cope at that moment?
Pretend that you’re a chat show host and you’re interviewing your favourite celebrity. Write down the script for this conversation.
Using extreme detail, write down what you have been doing for the past one hour today. Think about your thoughts, feelings and actions during this time.
Make a list of potential character names for your next story. You can use a fantasy name generator to help you.
Describe a futuristic setting. What do you think the world would look like in 100 years time?
Think about a recent argument you had with someone. Would you change anything about it? How would you resolve an argument in the future?
Describe a fantasy world. What kind of creatures live in this world? What is the climate like? What everyday challenges would a typical citizen of this world face? You can use this fantasy world name generator for inspiration.
At the flip of a switch, you turn into a dragon. What kind of dragon would you be? Describe your appearance, special abilities, likes and dislikes. You can use a dragon name generator to give yourself a cool dragon name.
Pick your favourite book or a famous story. Now change the point of view. For example, you could rewrite the fairytale , Cinderella. This time around, Prince Charming could be the main character. What do you think Prince Charming was doing, while Cinderella was cleaning the floors and getting ready for the ball?
Pick a random writing prompt and use it to write a short story. Check out this collection of over 300 writing prompts for kids to inspire you.
Write a shopping list for a famous character in history. Imagine if you were Albert Einstein’s assistant, what kind of things would he shop for on a weekly basis?
Create a fake advertisement poster for a random object that is near you right now. Your goal is to convince the reader to buy this object from you.
What is the worst (or most annoying) sound that you can imagine? Describe this sound in great detail, so your reader can understand the pain you feel when hearing this sound.
What is your favourite song at the moment? Pick one line from this song and describe a moment in your life that relates to this line.
You’re hosting an imaginary dinner party at your house. Create a list of people you would invite, and some party invites. Think about the theme of the dinner party, the food you will serve and entertainment for the evening.
You are waiting to see your dentist in the waiting room. Write down every thought you are having at this moment in time.
Make a list of your greatest fears. Try to think of at least three fears. Now write a short story about a character who is forced to confront one of these fears.
Create a ‘Wanted’ poster for a famous villain of your choice. Think about the crimes they have committed, and the reward you will give for having them caught.
Imagine you are a journalist for the ‘Imagine Forest Times’ newspaper. Your task is to get an exclusive interview with the most famous villain of all time. Pick a villain of your choice and interview them for your newspaper article. What questions would you ask them, and what would their responses be?
In a school playground, you see the school bully hurting a new kid. Write three short stories, one from each perspective in this scenario (The bully, the witness and the kid getting bullied).
You just won $10 million dollars. What would you spend this money on?
Pick a random animal, and research at least five interesting facts about this animal. Write a short story centred around one of these interesting facts.
Pick a global issue that you are passionate about. This could be climate change, black lives matters, women’s rights etc. Now create a campaign poster for this global issue.
Write an acrostic poem about an object near you right now (or even your own name). You could use a poetry idea generator to inspire you.
Imagine you are the head chef of a 5-star restaurant. Recently the business has slowed down. Your task is to come up with a brand-new menu to excite customers. Watch this video prompt on YouTube to inspire you.
What is your favourite food of all time? Imagine if this piece of food was alive, what would it say to you?
If life was one big musical, what would you be singing about right now? Write the lyrics of your song.
Create and describe the most ultimate villain of all time. What would their traits be? What would their past look like? Will they have any positive traits?
Complete this sentence in at least 10 different ways: Every time I look out of the window, I…
You have just made it into the local newspaper, but what for? Write down at least five potential newspaper headlines . Here’s an example, Local Boy Survives a Deadly Illness.
If you were a witch or a wizard, what would your specialist area be and why? You might want to use a Harry Potter name generator or a witch name generator for inspiration.
What is your favourite thing to do on a Saturday night? Write a short story centred around this activity.
Your main character has just received the following items: A highlighter, a red cap, a teddy bear and a fork. What would your character do with these items? Can you write a story using these items?
Create a timeline of your own life, from birth to this current moment. Think about the key events in your life, such as birthdays, graduations, weddings and so on. After you have done this, you can pick one key event from your life to write a story about.
Think of a famous book or movie you like. Rewrite a scene from this book or movie, where the main character is an outsider. They watch the key events play out, but have no role in the story. What would their actions be? How would they react?
Three very different characters have just won the lottery. Write a script for each character, as they reveal the big news to their best friend.
Write a day in the life story of three different characters. How does each character start their day? What do they do throughout the day? And how does their day end?
Write about the worst experience in your life so far. Think about a time when you were most upset or angry and describe it.
Imagine you’ve found a time machine in your house. What year would you travel to and why?
Describe your own superhero. Think about their appearance, special abilities and their superhero name. Will they have a secret identity? Who is their number one enemy?
What is your favourite country in the world? Research five fun facts about this country and use one to write a short story.
Set yourself at least three writing goals. This could be a good way to motivate yourself to write every day. For example, one goal might be to write at least 150 words a day.
Create a character description based on the one fact, three fiction rule. Think about one fact or truth about yourself. And then add in three fictional or fantasy elements. For example, your character could be the same age as you in real life, this is your one fact. And the three fictional elements could be they have the ability to fly, talk in over 100 different languages and have green skin.
Describe the perfect person. What traits would they have? Think about their appearance, their interests and their dislikes.
Keep a daily journal or diary. This is a great way to keep writing every day. There are lots of things you can write about in your journal, such as you can write about the ‘highs’ and ‘lows’ of your day. Think about anything that inspired you or anything that upset you, or just write anything that comes to mind at the moment.
Write a book review or a movie review. If you’re lost for inspiration, just watch a random movie or read any book that you can find. Then write a critical review on it. Think about the best parts of the book/movie and the worst parts. How would you improve the book or movie?
Write down a conversation between yourself. You can imagine talking to your younger self or future self (i.e. in 10 years’ time). What would you tell them? Are there any lessons you learned or warnings you need to give? Maybe you could talk about what your life is like now and compare it to their life?
Try writing some quick flash fiction stories . Flash fiction is normally around 500 words long, so try to stay within this limit.
Write a six-word story about something that happened to you today or yesterday. A six-word story is basically an entire story told in just six words. Take for example: “Another football game ruined by me.” or “A dog’s painting sold for millions.” – Six-word stories are similar to writing newspaper headlines. The goal is to summarise your story in just six words.
The most common monsters or creatures used in stories include vampires, werewolves , dragons, the bigfoot, sirens and the loch-ness monster. In a battle of intelligence, who do you think will win and why?
Think about an important event in your life that has happened so far, such as a birthday or the birth of a new sibling. Now using the 5 W’s and 1 H technique describe this event in great detail. The 5 W’s include: What, Who, Where, Why, When and the 1 H is: How. Ask yourself questions about the event, such as what exactly happened on that day? Who was there? Why was this event important? When and where did it happen? And finally, how did it make you feel?
Pretend to be someone else. Think about someone important in your life. Now put yourself into their shoes, and write a day in the life story about being them. What do you think they do on a daily basis? What situations would they encounter? How would they feel?
Complete this sentence in at least 10 different ways: I remember…
Write about your dream holiday. Where would you go? Who would you go with? And what kind of activities would you do?
Which one item in your house do you use the most? Is it the television, computer, mobile phone, the sofa or the microwave? Now write a story of how this item was invented. You might want to do some research online and use these ideas to build up your story.
In exactly 100 words, describe your bedroom. Try not to go over or under this word limit.
Make a top ten list of your favourite animals. Based on this list create your own animal fact file, where you provide fun facts about each animal in your list.
What is your favourite scene from a book or a movie? Write down this scene. Now rewrite the scene in a different genre, such as horror, comedy, drama etc.
Change the main character of a story you recently read into a villain. For example, you could take a popular fairytale such as Jack and the Beanstalk, but this time re-write the story to make Jack the villain of the tale.
Complete the following sentence in at least 10 different ways: Do you ever wonder…
What does your name mean? Research the meaning of your own name, or a name that interests you. Then use this as inspiration for your next story. For example, the name ‘Marty’ means “Servant Of Mars, God Of War”. This could make a good concept for a sci-fi story.
Make a list of three different types of heroes (or main characters) for potential future stories.
If someone gave you $10 dollars, what would you spend it on and why?
Describe the world’s most boring character in at least 100 words.
What is the biggest problem in the world today, and how can you help fix this issue?
Create your own travel brochure for your hometown. Think about why tourists might want to visit your hometown. What is your town’s history? What kind of activities can you do? You could even research some interesting facts.
Make a list of all your favourite moments or memories in your life. Now pick one to write a short story about.
Describe the scariest and ugliest monster you can imagine. You could even draw a picture of this monster with your description.
Write seven haikus, one for each colour of the rainbow. That’s red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.
Imagine you are at the supermarket. Write down at least three funny scenarios that could happen to you at the supermarket. Use one for your next short story.
Imagine your main character is at home staring at a photograph. Write the saddest scene possible. Your goal is to make your reader cry when reading this scene.
What is happiness? In at least 150 words describe the feeling of happiness. You could use examples from your own life of when you felt happy.
Think of a recent nightmare you had and write down everything you can remember. Use this nightmare as inspiration for your next story.
Keep a dream journal. Every time you wake up in the middle of the night or early in the morning you can quickly jot down things that you remember from your dreams. These notes can then be used as inspiration for a short story.
Your main character is having a really bad day. Describe this bad day and the series of events they experience. What’s the worst thing that could happen to your character?
You find a box on your doorstep. You open this box and see the most amazing thing ever. Describe this amazing thing to your readers.
Make a list of at least five possible settings or locations for future stories. Remember to describe each setting in detail.
Think of something new you recently learned. Write this down. Now write a short story where your main character also learns the same thing.
Describe the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen in your whole life. Your goal is to amaze your readers with its beauty.
Make a list of things that make you happy or cheer you up. Try to think of at least five ideas. Now imagine living in a world where all these things were banned or against the law. Use this as inspiration for your next story.
Would you rather be rich and alone or poor and very popular? Write a story based on the lives of these two characters.
Imagine your main character is a Librarian. Write down at least three dark secrets they might have. Remember, the best secrets are always unexpected.
There’s a history behind everything. Describe the history of your house. How and when was your house built? Think about the land it was built on and the people that may have lived here long before you.
Imagine that you are the king or queen of a beautiful kingdom. Describe your kingdom in great detail. What kind of rules would you have? Would you be a kind ruler or an evil ruler of the kingdom?
Make a wish list of at least three objects you wish you owned right now. Now use these three items in your next story. At least one of them must be the main prop in the story.
Using nothing but the sense of taste, describe a nice Sunday afternoon at your house. Remember you can’t use your other senses (i.e see, hear, smell or touch) in this description.
What’s the worst pain you felt in your life? Describe this pain in great detail, so your readers can also feel it.
If you were lost on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere, what three must-have things would you pack and why?
Particpate in online writing challenges or contests. Here at Imagine Forest, we offer daily writing challenges with a new prompt added every day to inspire you. Check out our challenges section in the menu.

Do you have any more fun creative writing exercises to share? Let us know in the comments below!

Marty the wizard is the master of Imagine Forest. When he's not reading a ton of books or writing some of his own tales, he loves to be surrounded by the magical creatures that live in Imagine Forest. While living in his tree house he has devoted his time to helping children around the world with their writing skills and creativity.

Write a Letter to Your Best Friend prompts

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43 Creative writing exercises

A selection of fun creative writing exercises that can be completed solo, or with a group. Some are prompts to help inspire you to come up with story ideas, others focus on learning specific writing skills.

I run a Creative Writing Meetup for adults and teens in Montpellier or online every week. We start with a 5 to 20 minute exercise, followed by an hour and a half of silent writing, during which each participant focuses on their own project. Every exercise listed below has been run with the group and had any kinks ironed out. Where the exercises specify a number of people, if you have a larger group, simply split everyone up into smaller groups as appropriate.

The solo exercises are ideal to help stimulate your mind before working on a larger project, to overcome writer’s block, or as stand-alone prompts in their own right. If a solo exercise inspires you and you wish to use it with a larger group, give every member ten minutes to complete the exercise, then ask anyone who wishes to share their work to do so in groups of 3 or 4 afterwards.

Looking for something quick to fire your imagination? Check out these creative writing prompts for adults .

Writing Retreat in South France

A note on running exercises remotely

While you can enjoy the exercises solo, they are also designed for online writing groups using Zoom, WhatsApp, or Discord.

If you're running a group and follow a ' Shut Up and Write ' structure, I recommend connecting on WhatsApp (for example) first, doing the exercise together, sharing writing samples as needed. Next, write in silence for an hour and a half on your own projects, before reconnecting for a brief informal chat at the end. This works great with small remote groups and is a way to learn new techniques, gain online support, and have a productive session.

If you have a larger online group, it's worth looking into Zoom, as this has a feature called Breakout Rooms . Breakout Rooms let you split different writers into separate rooms, which is great for group activities. The free version of Zoom has a 40 minute limit, which can be restrictive, but Zoom Pro is well worth it if you're going to use it on a regular basis. In my experience, Zoom has a better connection than Facebook chat or WhatsApp.

A Letter From Your Character To You

Letter from fictional character to the author

Spend ten minutes writing a letter from a character in your novel to you , the author, explaining why you should write about them. This serves three purposes:

As you write, it helps you get into the mindset of the character. Ask yourself how they would language this letter and what they would consider important.
It's motivating to know that your character wants you to write about them.
If your goal is to publish a complete work of fiction one day, whether it be a novel, a play or a movie script, you will want to contact an agent or publisher. This helps you practice in an easy, safe way.

If you're doing this exercise with a group of teens or adults, and some of the group haven't already started working on their masterpiece, they can instead choose any fictional novel they love. Ask participants to imagine that a character within the book wrote to the author in the first place to ask them to write their story. How did they plead their case?

The Opening Sentence

The opening sentence has to grab the reader's attention and make them want to keep reading. Many authors achieve this by starting with an action scene. In modern literature, it's best to avoid starting with someone waking up, or a description of the weather. In this exercise the task is to write an opening sentence either to a book you're currently writing, or simply for an imaginary piece of literature. Here are some of my favourite opening sentences to get you going:

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.

George Orwell , 1984

The Golem's life began in the hold of a steamship.

Helene Wecker , The Golem and the Djinni

All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

Leo Tolstoy , Anna Karenina

It wasn't a very likely place for disappearances, at least at first glance.

Diana Gabaldon , Outlander

You better not never tell nobody but God.

Alice Walker , The Color Purple

The cage was finished.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez , Balthazar’s Marvelous Afternoon

Imagine that you are living your life out of order: Lunch before breakfast, marriage before your first kiss.

Audrey Niffenegger , The Time Traveler's Wife

Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.

Douglas Adams , The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

There are a plethora of ways you can start a book, however two ways that help engage the reader immediately are:

Set the scene in as few words as possible, so the reader immediately knows what's happening and wants to know what happens next. The scene must be original and create a vivid image in the reader's mind.
Surprise the reader with an unusual event or usual point of view.

Spend 5 minutes working on your own opening sentence, then share it with the other participants.

Make your protagonist act!

Exercise for 2 writers, or can be done solo.

According to John Gardner:

"Failure to recognise that the central character must act, not simply be acted upon, is the single most common mistake in the fiction of beginners."

Spend 5 minutes writing a scene where the protagonist is passive in a conversation with one other character. It could be that the other character says something dramatic, and the protagonist just listens, or it could be anything else of your choice!

Once the 5 minutes is up, swap papers with another writer. If you're using Zoom, or working online, send it to each other in a private chat. Now the other person spends 8 minutes rewriting the scene to make the protagonist as active as possible. This might include:

Read both scenes together. Which makes you want to keep on reading?

If you're doing this as a solo writing exercise, simply complete both parts yourself.

Showing the emotion this evokes.
Getting them to disagree with the other character.
Showing how they respond physically (whether it's as a physical manifestation of how they feel, or a dramatic gesture to make a point).

Overcoming writer's block

Are you staring at a blank page or stuck for any story ideas? This exercise will help anyone who's experiencing writer's block with a particular piece of writing. If this isn't you, that's great, others will value your input!

If anyone has a particular scene they're stuck with (a pool of blood on the floor they have no explanation for, a reason why the rich lady just walked into a particular pub, etc.) then at the start of the exercise everyone briefly describes their scenes (if working online with a large group, typing it into the chat might be best). Everyone then chooses one scene to use as a writing prompt to write a short story for 10-15 minutes.

Afterwards, split into small groups if necessary, and read out how you completed someone else's writing prompt. As everyone listens to everyone else's ideas, this can be a wonderful source of inspiration and also improves your writing. As an alternative solo exercise, try free writing. With free writing, simply write as quickly as you can on the topic without editing or censoring yourself - just let your creative juices flow. If you're not sure what happens next, brainstorm options on the page, jot down story ideas, or just put, "I don't know what happens next." Keep going and ideas will come.

Writing Character Arcs

There are several different types of character arc in a novel, the 3 most common being:

For this exercise choose either a positive or negative character arc. Spend 8 minutes writing a scene from the start of a novel, then 8 minutes writing a scene towards the end of a novel showing how the character has developed between the two points. Don't worry about including how the character has changed, you can leave that to the imagination.

The point here is to capture the essence of a character, as they will be the same, but show their development.

Positive - Where a character develops and grows during the novel. Perhaps they start unhappy or weak and end happy or powerful.
Negative - Where a character gets worse during a novel. Perhaps they become ill or give in to evil tendencies as the novel progresses.
Flat - In a flat character arc the character themself doesn't change much, however the world around them does. This could be overthrowing a great injustice, for example.

Sewing Seeds in Your Writing

In this exercise, we will look at how to sew seeds. No, not in your garden, but in your story. Seeds are the tiny hints and indicators that something is going on, which influence a reader's perceptions on an often unconscious level. They're important, as if you spring a surprise twist on your readers without any warning, it can seem unbelievable. Sew seeds that lead up to the event, so the twists and turns are still surprising, but make intuitive sense. Groups : Brainstorm major plot twists that might happen towards the end of the novel and share it in a Zoom chat, or on pieces of paper. Choose one twist each. Individuals : Choose one of the following plot twists: - Your friend is actually the secret son of the king. - Unreliable narrator - the narrator turns out to be villain. - The monster turns out to be the missing woman the narrator is seeking. - The man she is about to marry happens to already have a wife and three kids.

Write for ten minutes and give subtle hints as to what the plot twist is. This is an exercise in subtlety. Remember, when the twist occurs, it should still come as a surprise.

This is a fun writing activity for a small group. You’ve found a magic potion labelled ‘Cat Chat’ and when you drink it, you turn into whichever animal you’re thinking about; but there’s a problem, it also picks up on the brainwaves of other people near you!

Everyone writes down an animal in secret and then reveals it to the other writers. The spell will turn you into a creature that combines elements of all the animals. Each person then spends 5 minutes writing down what happens when they drink the potion.

After the 5 minutes is up, everyone shares their story with the other participants.

If you enjoy this exercise, then you may also want to check out our Fantasy and Sci-Fi writing prompts full of world building, magic, and character development prompts..

Joe Brainard wrote a novel called: I Remember It contains a collection of paragraphs all starting with “I remember”. This is the inspiration for this exercise, and if you’re stuck for what to write, is a great way to get the mental gears turning. Simply write “I remember” and continue with the first thing that pops into your head.

Spend 5 minutes writing a short collection of “I remember” stories.

Here are a couple of examples from Joe Brainard’s novel:

“I remember not understanding why people on the other side of the world didn't fall off.”

“I remember waking up somewhere once and there was a horse staring me in the face.”

Giving feedback to authors

If you're running a workshop for more experienced adult authors and have at least an hour, this is a good one to use. This is the longest exercise on this page, but I felt it important enough to include.

Give each author the option to bring a piece of their own work. This should be double spaced and a maximum of 3 pages long. If you're running a workshop where not everyone is likely to bring a manuscript, ask everyone who wants to bring one to print two copies each. If someone forgets but has a laptop with them, the reader can always use their laptop.

Print out a few copies and hand them around to everyone in the workshop of the guide on: 'How to give constructive feedback to writers'

Each author who brought a sample with them then gives them to one other person to review. They write their name on the manuscript in a certain colour pen, then add any comments to it before passing it to a second person who does the same (commenting on the comments if they agree or disagree).

Then allow 5 minutes for everyone to discuss the feedback they've received, ensuring they are giving constructive feedback.

The Five Senses

Painting by Giovanni Battista Manerius - The Five Senses

Choose a scene and write it for 5 minutes focusing on one sense, NOT sight. Choose between:

Hearing Taste Smell Touch

This can be internal as well as external (I heard my heartbeat thudding in my ears, or I smelt my own adrenaline).

After the 5 minutes stop and everyone reads it out loud to each other. Now write for another 5 minutes and continue the other person's story, but do NOT use sight OR the sense they used.

You can use any sense to communicate the essentials, just focus on creating emotions and conveying the story with the specific sense(s).

If you need some writing prompts, here are possible scenes that involve several senses:

Climbing through an exotic jungle
Having an argument that becomes a fight
A cat's morning
Talking to someone you're attracted to

Show don't tell

2 or 3 people

A lot of writing guides will advise you to, "Show, don't tell". What does this actually mean?

If you want to evoke an emotional reaction from your reader, showing them what is happening is a great way to do so. You can approach this in several ways:

Split up into pairs and each person writes down a short scene from a story where they "tell" it. After this, pass the description of the scene to your partner and they then have 5 minutes to rewrite it to "show" what happened. If there are an odd number of participants, make one group of three, with each person passing their scene clockwise, so everyone has a new scene to show. After the 5 minutes, for small groups everyone reads their new description to everyone else, or for large groups, each person just reads their new scene to their partner.

Avoid internal dialogue (thinking), instead have your protagonist interact with other people, or have a physical reaction to something that shows how s/he feels. Does their heart beat faster? Do they notice the smell of their own adrenaline? Do they step backwards, or lean forwards?
Instead of using an adjective like creepy, e.g. "Mary entered the creepy house", show why the house is creepy through description and in the way the protagonist responds - "The light streamed through the filthy skylight, highlighting the decomposing body of a rat resting on top of it. As Mary stepped inside, she felt a gust of freezing air brush past her. She turned, but there was nothing there..."

World building

World building is the art of conveying the magic of living in a different world, whether it's a spaceship, a medieval castle, a boat, or simply someone's living room. To master world building, it's not necessary to know every intricate detail, rather to convey the experience of what it would be like to live there.

Choose one of the above images as a prompt and spend 10 minutes writing a scene from the perspective of someone who is seeing it for the first time. Now, move your character six months forward and imagine they've spent the last six months living or working there. Write another scene (perhaps with an additional character) using the image as a background, with the events of the scene as the main action.

Click the above image for a close-up.

Gossiping about a character as if they're a friend.

Easy to gossip with friends about a character

Judy Blume says that she tells her family about her characters as if they’re real people.

Chris Claremont said, "For me, writing the 'X-Men' was easy - is easy. I know these people, they're my friends."

Today’s exercise has 2 parts. First, spend 5 minutes jotting down some facts about a character you’ve invented that might come up if you were telling your friends about them. Either choose a character in something you’ve already written, or invent one from scratch now.

Answer the questions:

What are they up to? How are they? What would you say if you were gossiping about them?

Then split up into groups of 4 to 6 writers. 2 volunteers from each group then role-play talking about their character as if they were a friend (perhaps another character in the story). The other participants will role-play a group of friends gossiping about the character behind their back and ask questions. If you don’t know the answer, invent it!

Degrees of Emotion Game

This is based on an acting game, to help actors understand how to perform with different degrees of emotion.

Ask everyone to write the following 4 emotions:

For groups of 5 or less, write down numbers starting with 1 and going up until everyone has a number, then give them out in order. For groups of 6 or more, divide groups into 3's, 4's or 5's.

Each person has to write a scene where the protagonist is alone and is only allowed to say a single word, e.g. "Banana". The writer with number 1 should write the scene with a very low level of the emotion (e.g. happiness), number 2 increases the intensity a bit and the highest number writes a scene with the most intense emotion you can possibly imagine.

Once each writer has written about happiness, rotate the numbers one or two spaces, then move onto anger, then fear, then sadness.

It can help to give everyone numbers showing the intensity of the emotions to write about at the start of the exercise, in which case you may wish to print either the Word or PDF file, then use the ones corresponding to 3, 4 or 5 writers.

Everyone shares their scene with the other course participants.

Three birds, one line

The first paragraph of a surprising number of best-selling novels serves multiple purposes. These are to:

Establish a goal
Set the scene
Develop a character

Nearly every chapter in a novel also serves all three purposes. Instead of establishing a goal though, the protagonist either moves towards it, or encounters an obstacle that hinders them from achieving it.

Some books manage to meet all three purposes with their opening lines, for example:

Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.

J.K. Rowling , Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

A little more than one hundred days into the fortieth year of her confinement, Dajeil Gelian was visited in her lonely tower overlooking the sea by an avatar of the great ship that was her home.

Iain M. Banks , Excession

"We should start back," Gared urged as the woods began to grow dark around them.

George R.R. Martin , A Game of Thrones

For this exercise write a sentence or short paragraph that serves all three purposes. If you're already writing a novel, then see if you can do this for the first line in a chapter. If not, choose any combination from the following table:

Blind Date on Valentine's Day (Exercise for Adults)

In pairs one writer spends a minute or two describing a character they're writing about, or alternatively they can describe a celebrity or someone from a work of fiction. The next writer then describes their character.

The story is that these 2 characters (or in my case, person and alien, as I'm writing a sci-fi) have accidentally ended up on a blind date with each other. Perhaps the waiter seated them in the wrong location, perhaps it's an actual blind date, or perhaps they met in some other fashion the writers can determine.

Now spend 10 minutes discussing what happens next!

A Success (Works best for online groups)

This exercise works best for online groups, via Zoom, for example. The instructions to give are:

"In a few words describe a success in your life and what it felt like to achieve it. It can be a small victory or a large one."

Share a personal example of your own (mine was watching my homeschooled sons sing in an opera together).

"Once you have one (small or large), write it in the chat.

The writing exercise is then to choose someone else's victory to write about for 10 minutes, as if it was the end of your own book.

If you want to write for longer, imagine how that book would start. Write the first part of the book with the ending in mind."

This is great for reminding people of a success in their lives, and also helps everyone connect and discover something about each other.

Your dream holiday

You’re going on a dream holiday together, but always disagree with each other. To avoid conflict, rather than discuss what you want to do, you’ve decided that each of you will choose a different aspect of the holiday as follows:

Choose where you’ll be going – your favourite holiday destination.
Choose what your main fun activity will be on the holiday.
Decide what mode of travel you’ll use to get there.
If there’s a 4 th person, choose what you’ll eat on the holiday and what you’ll be wearing.

Decide who gets to choose what at random. Each of you then writes down your dream holiday destination/activity/travel/food & clothes in secret. Next spend 5 minutes discussing your dream holiday and add any other details you’d like to include, particularly if you’re passionate about doing something in real life.

Finally, everyone spends another 5 minutes writing down a description of the holiday, then shares it with the others.

A haiku is a traditional Japanese form of non-rhyming poetry whose short form makes it ideal for a simple writing exercise.

They are traditionally structured in 3 lines, where the first line is 5 syllables, the second line is 7 syllables, and the third line is 5 syllables again. Haiku tend to focus on themes of nature and deep concepts that can be expressed simply.

A couple of examples:

A summer river being crossed how pleasing with sandals in my hands! Yosa Buson , a haiku master poet from the 18 th Century.

And one of mine:

When night-time arrives Stars come out, breaking the dark You can see the most

Martin Woods

Spend up to 10 minutes writing a haiku. If you get stuck with the 5-7-5 syllable rule, then don’t worry, the overall concept is more important!

See How to write a haiku for more details and examples.

Unlike a haiku, which is profound and sombre, a limerick is a light-hearted, fun rhyming verse.

Here are a couple of examples:

A wonderful bird is the pelican. His bill can hold more than his beli-can He can take in his beak Food enough for a week But I'm damned if I see how the heli-can.

Dixon Lanier Merritt, 1910

There was a young lady named Bright, Whose speed was far faster than light; She started one day In a relative way, And returned on the previous night.

Arthur Henry Reginald Buller in Punch, 1923

The 1 st , 2 nd and 5 th line all rhyme, as do the 3 rd and 4 th line. The overall number of syllables isn’t important, but the 3 rd and 4 th lines should be shorter than the others.

Typically, the 1 st line introduces the character, often with “There was”, or “There once was”. The rest of the verse tells their story.

Spend 10 minutes writing a limerick.

Time Travel - Child, Adult, Senior

Imagine that your future self as an old man/woman travels back in time to meet you, the adult you are today. Alternatively, you as a child travels forward in time to meet yourself as an adult. Or perhaps both happen, so the child you, adult you, and senior you are all together at the same time. In story form write down what happens next.

Participants then share their story with other writers either in small groups, or to the whole group.

Focus on faces

Solo exercise.

One challenge writers face is describing a character. A common mistake is to focus too much on the physical features, e.g. "She had brown eyes, curly brown hair and was five foot six inches tall."

The problem with this is it doesn't reveal anything about the character's personality, or the relationship between your protagonist and the character. Your reader is therefore likely to quickly forget what someone looks like. When describing characters, it's therefore best to:

Animate them - it's rare that someone's sitting for a portrait when your protagonist first meets them and whether they're talking or walking, it's likely that they're moving in some way.
Use metaphors or similes - comparing physical features to emotionally charged items conjures both an image and a sense of who someone is.
Involve your protagonist - if your protagonist is interacting with a character, make it personal. How does your protagonist view this person? Incorporate the description as part of the description.
Only give information your protagonist knows - they may know if someone is an adult, or a teenager, but they won't know that someone is 37 years old, for example.

Here are three examples of character descriptions that leave no doubt how the protagonist feels.

“If girls could spit venom, it'd be through their eyes.” S.D. Lawendowski, Snapped

"And Ronan was everything that was left: molten eyes and a smile made for war." Maggie Stiefvater, The Dream Thieves

"His mouth was such a post office of a mouth that he had a mechanical appearance of smiling." Charles Dickens

Spend 5 minutes writing a character introduction that is animated, uses metaphors or similes and involves your protagonist.

If working with a group, then form small groups of 3 or 4 and share your description with the rest of the group.

Onomatopeai, rhyme and alliteration

Today's session is all about sound.

Several authors recommend reading your writing out loud after you've written it to be sure it sounds natural. Philip Pullman even goes as far as to say:

"When I’m writing, I’m more conscious of the sound, actually, than the meaning. I know what the rhythm of the sentence is going to be before I know what the words are going to be in it."

For today's exercise, choose the name of a song and write for 10 minutes as if that's the title for a short story. Focus on how your writing sounds and aim to include at least one onomatopoeia, rhyme or alliteration. At the end of the 10 minutes, read it out loud to yourself, or to the group.

Alliterations

An alliteration example from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”

The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, The furrow followed free; We were the first that ever burst Into that silent sea.

Onomatopoeias

Buzz, woof, quack, baa, crash, purr, beep, belch,...

The alphabet story - creating a story as a group

This is a novel way to write a story as a group, one word at a time. The first person starts the story that begins with any word starting with “A”, the next person continues the story with a word starting with “B”, and so on.

Keep going round until you have completed the alphabet. Ideally it will all be one sentence, but if you get stuck, start a new sentence. Don’t worry if it doesn’t make complete sense!

It can be tricky to remember the alphabet when under pressure, so you may wish to print it out a couple of times, so the storytellers can see it if they need to, this is particularly helpful if you have dyslexics in the group.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Here’s an example of an alphabet story:

A Band Can Dance Each Friday, Ghostly Hauntings In Jail Kill Lucky Men, Nobody Or Perhaps Quiet Rats, Still That Unifies Villains Who X-Ray Your Zebras.

As I mentioned, it doesn’t need to make sense!

A question or two

Small or large groups

The standard format in our group is a short writing exercise followed by an hour and a half of silent writing on our projects.

At one point I felt like we'd done a lot of small group exercises, and wanted to gain an insight into what everyone was working on, so we did the following exercise instead:

Go round the table and ask everyone to briefly talk about their writing. Each person then asks one or two yes/no questions.

Everyone responds either by raising their hand for 'yes' or shaking their heads for 'no'. You can also leap up and down to indicate a very strong 'yes'.

Questions can be about anything, and you can use them either to help guide your writing or to help find other people in the group who have similar interests.

Here are some random examples you might ask:

I want to write a romance novel and am considering setting it in Paris, a traditional romantic setting, or Liverpool which is a less obvious setting. Who thinks Liverpool would be best?
I need to know more about the life of a farmer. Has anyone got farming experience who I can interview in exchange for a drink?
My character gets fired and that night goes back to his office and steals 35 computers. Does that sound realistic as the premise of a story?

This works best when you give participants some advance notice, so they have time to think of a question.

Murder Mystery Game

Groups of 3 or 4

This exercise takes 20-30 minutes and allows participants to create a murder mystery outline together.

Phase 1 (3 minutes)

Split into groups of 3 or 4
Decide as a group where the murder occurs (e.g. the opera house, a bar, a casino)
Decide one person who will write the details of the victim and the murder itself. Everyone else writes the details of one suspect each.
The ‘victim author’ then invents a few extra details about the scene of the crime, who the victim was (a teenage punk, an adult opera singer, etc.) and the murder weapon and summarises this to the others.

Phase 2 (10 minutes)

Each person then writes a police report as if they are either describing the scene of the crime, or recording the notes from their interview with a single suspect:

Write the following:

1 line description of the victim.
When they were last seen by a group of witnesses (and what they were doing).
How the murder occurred in more detail based on the evidence available.

Write the following (from the perspective of the investigator):

1 line description of the suspect
What they said during the interview (including what they claim to have doing when the murder occurs).
A possible motivation (as determined by the police from other witnesses).

Phase 3 (5 minutes)

Each person reads out their police reports to the other members of their small group
As a group, decide who the murderer was and what actually happened

See more ideas on creating murder mystery party games

The obscure movie exercise

Pick a famous movie and spend 5 minutes writing a scene from it from an unusual perspective. Your aim is to achieve a balance between being too obscure and making it too obvious. Feel free to add internal dialogue.

At the end of the 5 minutes, everyone reads their movie scene to the others and all the other participants see if they can guess what the movie is.

How to hint at romantic feelings

Write a scene with two people in a group, where you hint that one is romantically interested in the other, but the feelings aren’t reciprocated.

The goal of this exercise is to practice subtlety. Imagine you are setting a scene for the future where the characters feelings will become more important. Choose a situation like a work conference, meeting with a group of friends, etc. How do you indicate how the characters feel without them saying it in words?

Some tips for hinting at romantic feelings:

Make the characters nervous and shy.
Your protagonist leans forward.
Asks deeper questions and listens intently.
Finds ways to be close together.
Mirrors their gestures.
Gives lots of compliments.
Makes eye contact, then looks away.
Other people seem invisible to your protagonist.

A novel idea

Take it in turns to tell everyone else about a current project you’re working on (a book, screenplay, short story, etc.)

The other writers then brainstorm ideas for related stories you could write, or directions your project could take. There are no right or wrong suggestions and the intention is to focus on big concepts, not little details.

This whole exercise takes around 15 minutes.

Creative writing prompts

Exercise for groups of 3-5

If you're in larger group, split up into groups of 3 or 4 people.

Everyone writes the first line of a story in the Zoom chat, or on paper. Other people can then choose this line as a writing prompt.

For this exercise:

Say who the protagonist is.
Reveal their motivation.
Introduce any other characters

Once everyone's written a prompt, each author chooses a prompt (preferably someone eles's, but it can be your own if you feel really inspired by it.) Then write for 10 minutes using this prompt. See if you can reveal who the protagonist is, what their motivation is (it can be a small motivation for a particular scene, it doesn't have to be a huge life goal), and introduce at least one new character.

Take turns reading out your stories to each other.

Write in the first person.
Have the protagonist interacting with an object or something in nature.
The challenge is to create intrigue that makes the reader want to know more with just a single line.

Creative story cards / dice

Cut up a piece of paper and write one word on each of the pieces of paper, as follows:

Give each participant a couple of pieces of paper at random. The first person says the first sentence of a story and they must use their first word as part of that sentence. The second person then continues the story and must include their word in it, and so on. Go round the group twice to complete the story.

You can also do this creative writing exercise with story dice, your own choice of words, or by asking participants to write random words down themselves, then shuffling all the cards together.

Alternative Christmas Story

Every Christmas adults tell kids stories about Santa Claus. In this exercise you write a Christmas story from an alternative dimension.

What if every Christmas Santa didn't fly around the world delivering presents on his sleigh pulled by reindeer? What if gnomes or aliens delivered the presents? Or perhaps it was the gnomes who are trying to emulate the humans? Or some other Christmas tradition entirely that we humans have never heard of!

Group writing exercise

If you're working with a group, give everyone a couple of minutes to write two possible themes for the new Christmas story. Each theme should be 5 words or less.

Shuffle the paper and distribute them at random. If you're working online, everyone types the themes into the Zoom or group chat. Each writer then spends 10 minutes writing a short story for children based on one of the two themes, or their own theme if they really want to.

If working alone, choose your own theme and spend 15 minutes writing a short story on it. See if you can create the magic of Christmas from another world!

Murder Mystery Mind Map

In a murder mystery story or courtroom drama, there's often conflicting information and lots of links between characters. A mind map is an ideal way to illustrate how everything ties together.

Split into groups of 3 or 4 people each and place a blank piece of A3 paper (double the size of A4) in the middle of each group. Discuss between you who the victim is and write their name in the middle of the piece of paper. Then brainstorm information about the murder, for example:

Feel free to expand out from any of these, e.g. to include more information on the different characters involved.

The idea is that everyone writes at the same time! Obviously, you can discuss ideas, but anyone can dive in and write their ideas on the mind map.

Who was the victim? (job, appearance, hobbies, etc.)
Who did the victim know?
What were their possible motivations?
What was the murder weapon?
What locations are significant to the plot?

New Year’s resolutions for a fictional character

If you’re writing a piece of fiction, ask yourself how your protagonist would react to an everyday situation. This can help you to gain a deeper insight into who they are.

One way to do this is to imagine what their New Year’s resolutions would be.

If completing this exercise with a group, limit it to 3 to 5 resolutions per person. If some participants are historical fiction or non-fiction writers, they instead pick a celebrity and either write what their resolutions will be, or what their resolutions should be, their choice.

Verb Noun Fiction Exercise (Inspired by Stephen King)

Stephen King said, "I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops."

He also said, "Take any noun, put it with any verb, and you have a sentence. It never fails. Rocks explode. Jane transmits. Mountains float. These are all perfect sentences. Many such thoughts make little rational sense, but even the stranger ones (Plums deify!) have a kind of poetic weight that’s nice."

In this fiction writing exercise, start by brainstorming (either individually or collectively) seven verbs on seven different pieces of paper. Put those aside for later. Now brainstorm seven nouns. Randomly match the nouns and verbs so you have seven pairs. Choose a pair and write a piece of fiction for ten minutes. Avoid using any adverbs.

It’s the end of the world

It’s the end of the world! For 5 minutes either:

If working as a team, then after the 5 minutes is up each writer reads their description out to the other participants.

Describe how the world’s going to end, creating evocative images using similes or metaphors as you wish and tell the story from a global perspective, or
Describe how you spend your final day before the world is destroyed. Combine emotion and action to engage the reader.

7 Editing Exercises

For use after your first draft

I’ve listened to a lot of masterclasses on writing by successful authors and they all say variants of your first draft won’t be good and that’s fine. Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman summarise it the best:

“The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.”

Terry Pratchett

“For me, it’s always been a process of trying to convince myself that what I’m doing in a first draft isn’t important. One way you get through the wall is by convincing yourself that it doesn’t matter. No one is ever going to see your first draft. Nobody cares about your first draft. And that’s the thing that you may be agonising over, but honestly, whatever you’re doing can be fixed… For now, just get the words out. Get the story down however you can get it down, then fix it.”

Neil Gaiman

Once you’ve written your first draft, it will need editing to develop the plot, enhance the characters, and improve each scene in a myriad of ways – small and large. These seven creative editing exercises are designed to help with this stage of the process.

The First Sentence

Read the first paragraph of the novel, in particular the first sentence. Does it launch the reader straight into the action? According to On Writing and Worldbuilding by Timothy Hickson, “The most persuasive opening lines are succinct, and not superfluous. To do this, it is often effective to limit it to a single central idea… This does not need to be the most important element, but it should be a central element that is interesting.” Ask yourself what element your opening sentence encapsulates and whether it’s the best one to capture your readers’ attention.

Consistency

Consistency is crucial in creative writing, whether it’s in relation to location, objects, or people.

It’s also crucial for personality, emotions and motivation.

Look at scenes where your protagonist makes an important decision. Are their motivations clear? Do any scenes force them to choose between two conflicting morals? If so, do you explore this? Do their emotions fit with what’s happened in previous scenes?

As you edit your manuscript, keep the characters’ personality, emotions and motivation in mind. If their behaviour is inconsistent, either edit it for consistency, or have someone comment on their strange behaviour or be surprised by it. Inconsistent behaviour can reveal that a character is keeping a secret, or is under stress, so characters don’t always need to be consistent. But when they’re not, there has to be a reason.

Show Don’t Tell One

This exercise is the first in The Emotional Craft of Fiction by Donald Maass. It’s a writing guide with a plethora of editing exercises designed to help you reenergize your writing by thinking of what your character is feeling, and giving you the tools to make your reader feel something.

Select a moment in your story when your protagonist is moved, unsettled, or disturbed… Write down all the emotions inherent in this moment, both obvious and hidden.
Next, considering what he is feeling, write down how your protagonist can act out. What is the biggest thing your protagonist can do? What would be explosive, out of bounds, or offensive? What would be symbolic? … Go sideways, underneath, or ahead. How can your protagonist show us a feeling we don’t expect to see?
Finally, go back and delete all the emotions you wrote down at the beginning of this exercise. Let actions and spoken words do the work. Do they feel too big, dangerous, or over-the-top? Use them anyway. Others will tell you if you’ve gone too far, but more likely, you haven’t gone far enough.

Show Don’t Tell Two

Search for the following words in your book:

Whenever these words occur, ask yourself if you can demonstrate how your characters feel, rather than simply stating it. For each occasion, can you use physiological descriptors (a racing heart), actions (taking a step backwards) or dialogue to express what’s just happened instead? Will this enhance the scene and engage the reader more?

After The Action

Find a scene where your characters disagree – in particular a scene where your protagonist argues with friends or allies. What happens next?

It can be tempting to wrap up the action with a quick resolution. But what if a resentment lingers and mistrust builds? This creates a more interesting story arc and means a resolution can occur later, giving the character development a real dynamic.

Review how you resolve the action and see if you can stretch out the emotions for a more satisfying read.

Eliminating the Fluff

Ensure that the words used don’t detract from the enormity of the events your character is going through. Can you delete words like, “Quite”, “Little”, or “Rather”?

Of “Very” Florence King once wrote: “ 'Very' is the most useless word in the English language and can always come out. More than useless, it is treacherous because it invariably weakens what it is intended to strengthen .” Delete it, or replace the word after it with a stronger word, which makes “Very” redundant.

“That,” is another common word used in creative writing which can often be deleted. Read a sentence as is, then reread it as if you deleted, “That”. If the meaning is the same, delete it.

Chapter Endings

When talking about chapter endings, James Patterson said, “At the end, something has to propel you into the next chapter.”

Read how each of your chapters finish and ask yourself does it either:

End on a cliff hanger? (R.L. Stine likes to finish every chapter in this method).
End on a natural pause (for example, you’re changing point of view or location).

Review how you wrap up each of your chapters. Do you end at the best point in your story? Can you add anticipation to cliff hangers? Will you leave your readers wanting more?

How to run the writing exercises

The editing exercises are designed to be completed individually.

With the others, I've always run them as part of a creative writing group, where there's no teacher and we're all equal participants, therefore I keep any 'teaching' aspect to a minimum, preferring them to be prompts to generate ideas before everyone settles down to do the silent writing. We've recently gone online and if you run a group yourself, whether online or in person, you're welcome to use these exercises for free!

The times given are suggestions only and I normally get a feel for how everyone's doing when time's up and if it's obvious that everyone's still in the middle of a discussion, then I give them longer. Where one group's in the middle of a discussion, but everyone else has finished, I sometimes have a 'soft start' to the silent writing, and say, "We're about to start the hour and a half of silent writing now, but if you're in the middle of a discussion, feel free to finish it first".

This way everyone gets to complete the discussion, but no-one's waiting for ages. It's also important to emphasise that there's no wrong answers when being creative.

Still looking for more? Check out these creative writing prompts or our dedicated Sci-Fi and Fantasy creative writing prompts

If you've enjoyed these creative writing exercises, please share them on social media, or link to them from your blog.

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✍️ 100+ Creative Writing Exercises for Fiction Authors

This curated directory of creative writing exercises was conceived thanks to a collaboration between the top writing blogs of 2024. Use the filters to find and practice specific techniques — and show that blank page who’s boss!

We found 119 exercises that match your search 🔦

The Hammer and the Hatchet

A stranger walks into the general store and buys a hammer, a hatchet, some rope, and an apple. What does he do with them?

Writer's Block

Picket fence.

Describe your house - or the dream house you hope to get some day.

Telephone Directory

It is commonly known that a telephone directory might be the most boring text in the entire world. Here is your challenge: write a page of a telephone directory and figure out SOME way to make it interesting.

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Pick a fiction book from your shelf. Go to page eight and find the eighth sentence on the page. Start with that sentence and write an eight-line poem that connects in some way to your work-in-progress. For instance, write from the POV of a character, or set the poem in a story setting. Don't worry about poetry forms. Just write eight lines of any length that flow and explore some aspect of character, setting, or theme.

Why are you grumpy? I have a hangover.
Why do you have a hangover? My friend was in a bad accident and I thought he might die?
Why did you think he might die? His girlfriend lied to me about how serious the accident was.
Why did she lie about that? She's jealous of our relationship.
Why? I think she's insecure and has trust issues.

Character Development

The ellen degeneres show.

A talk show is scripted to promote the guest and discuss topics with which the guest is comfortable. Imagine your protagonist on the Ellen Degeneres Show (or The Late Show With Stephen Colbert - whichever show you're familiar with). What questions would be asked of your protagonist? What funny anecdotes would your protagonist share? Write down the reactions of both your protagonist and the host.

You could say it began with a phone call."
Michael had watched them both for weeks."
She remembered the way it was the first time she saw the prison."
Midsummer, no time to be in New Orleans."
With the dawn came the light."

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11 Creative Writing Exercises To Awaken Your Inner Author

I believe there’s a writer inside of all of us.

Even if you don’t think you write well, you do have something to say.

You have a story to tell, knowledge to impart , and experiences to share.

You’ve lived a full life that’s packed with observations and adventures, and you shouldn’t exit this Earth without chronicling them in some way.

Whether you write fiction or non-fiction, your life is the laboratory for creating a great book or story.

If you can talk, you can write — even if you need to brush up on grammar and spelling. You’ll naturally become a better writer the more you write.

You’ll learn how to organize ideas, make smooth transitions, and expand your vocabulary.

Reading also improves your writing, so if you have the tiniest desire to write well, read a wide variety of books in different genres.

You can accelerate your writing competence with some simple writing exercises.

Your inner creative muscle needs exertion to stay fit and strong — but writing exercises don’t need to be drudgery.

They can be fun and exciting as you see how much creative juice you have just waiting to be squeezed.

These creative exercises should be practiced without self-judgment, inner filters, or concern about what a reader might think.

The purpose is to allow your creative mind complete freedom to cut loose.

You don’t have to show these writing exercises to anyone if you don’t want to.

It’s a good weekly practice engage in writers exercises to what catches your imagination and awakens your inner author .

1. Answer 3 questions.

2. write a letter to your younger self., 3. use writing prompts., 4. write about your expertise. , 5. write a stream of consciousness page., 6. write a story told to you., 7. pretend to be someone else. , 8. write about something or someone who changed your life., 9. describe your surroundings., 10. pick a number., 11. describe a dream of yours — or the life of your dreams., what are creative writing exercises.

“Perfect” writers don’t exist. Even Ernest Hemingway and Alice Walker honed the craft right up to their waning days. Growth, improvement, and experimentation are the clarion calls of professional and aspiring scribes. And those who succeed put in the work.

That’s where creative writing exercises come in, as they’re designed to help you play with words in a non-judgmental environment.

Common “craft-sharpening” writing games and tools include:

Prompt prose
Timed freewriting
Stream-of-consciousness exercises
Vocabulary teasers / mad libs
Restricted writing (i.e., every sentence must start with a verb, certain words cannot be mentioned, et cetera)

Serious writers — and people serious about becoming better writers — are perpetually composing pieces that will never see the light of day. But just as a tennis player hits thousands of serves during practice sessions, writers scribe thousands of short language exercises. To continue the sports analogy: Writing exercises are the equivalent of an athlete stretching before a game or match.

Here are 11 creative writing exercises to get you started:

In this exercise, you’ll use three questions to stimulate creative thought. You can write these questions yourself, but I’ll give you some examples to show you what to do.

You want to answer the questions as quickly as you can, with whatever ideas pop into your mind.

Write as much or as little as you wish, but just allow the words to flow without pondering too much what you want to say.

Who just snuck out the back window?
What were they carrying?
Where were they going?
Who is Ethan?
Why is he crying?
What is he going to do about it?
Whose house is Julia leaving?
Why was she there?
Where is she going now?

In this exercise, you are writing to yourself at a younger age. It can be your childhood self or yourself just a few years back.

man at coffee house with laptop creative writing Exercises

You can offer advice, compassion, explanation, forgiveness, or praise.

Or you can simply recount an experience you had and how it impacted you as your adult self now.

Try to see this younger self as a real and separate person when you write the letter. This exercise helps you think about your reader as a real person with emotions — a person who can be moved and inspired by your writing.

Again, try not to overthink this exercise. Spend a few minutes deciding the core message of the letter, and then just start writing without filters.

A writing prompt is an idea that jumpstarts the writing process.

The prompt can be a short sentence, a paragraph, or even a picture, but the purpose is the same — to ignite your creativity so you’ll begin writing.

Writing prompts can help you when you feel stuck while writing your book.

If you take ten minutes to work on a writing prompt, you can go back to your book writing primed to get down to business. It stimulates ideas for a writer and releases the creative process.

Here are a few prompts you can use:

Think about something you know how to do well. It can be anything from washing the dishes to selling stocks.

Write a few paragraphs (or more if you wish) explaining some aspect of how to do what you do.

Assume your reader is completely ignorant about the subject.

This writing shouldn’t sound like a dry instruction manual. Try to write in a conversational style, as though you’re verbally explaining the process.

Break down the steps in a way that makes the reader understand exactly what to do, without using business jargon or buzzwords.

This is an easy and fun exercise. You want to write it in longhand rather than typing on your computer, as handwriting slows down the process and allows more time for your creative brain to do its work.

Grab a pen and blank pad and simply start writing. Write down whatever comes into your brain, no matter how nonsensical or disjointed.

man using quill to write creative writing Exercises

There is no wrong way to do Morning Pages — they are not high art. They are not even “writing.” They are about anything and everything that crosses your mind– and they are for your eyes only. Morning Pages provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize and synchronize the day at hand. Do not over-think Morning Pages: just put three pages of anything on the page…and then do three more pages tomorrow.

In this exercise, you want to recount a story told to you by another person.

It can be a story one of your parents or grandparents shared about something that happened many years ago, or it can be a more recent event a friend or family member recounted.

Or you can tell a story you learned in school or through reading about a well-known person or event.

The story can be funny, sad, or educational — but it should be interesting, entertaining, or engaging in some way.

Whether your book is fiction or non-fiction, readers love stories. They enjoy relating to the lives and experiences of other people.

When you share stories in your writing, you humanize your writing and take your readers on a small journey.

In this exercise, you’ll practice writing from another person’s perspective. You can choose a person you know well, or you can write from the point of view of an imagined character.

Put yourself in this person’s shoes, see things through their eyes, and react the way they would react.

Choose one situation, encounter, or setting, and write what you see, hear, think, and feel about the scenario. Get inside of this person’s brain, and try to be as descriptive as possible.

You can write a paragraph or several pages if you’re inspired.

In this exercise, rather than telling the story of someone else or pretending to be another person, you want to share your story from your perspective.

Write about a person or event that has profoundly impacted you and changed your life.

Rather than simply recounting the situation, talk about how it made you feel, what your reactions were, and how you were changed on the inside as well as the outside.

Pour your heart into this writing. Remember, you don’t have to show it to anyone, so be completely vulnerable and real in this exercise.

How These Exercises Can Make You a Better Writer

At first explanation, writing exercises may sound a tad tedious. But people who do them improve by leaps and bounds.

For starters, it all comes down to the human brain’s wiring. In short, every thought and idea we have is conducted by electrical impulses that torpedo around our nervous systems. When we practice something, the associated “circuits” grow myelin, a biological cushion that protects nerves. The added shielding optimizes the relevant electrical paths, rendering them more efficient.

In other words: The more you do something, the better you’ll get. It doesn’t matter if you have an IQ of 80 or 180. Practice yields results. With writing, the more you do it, the better work you’ll produce.

Specifically, creative prose lessons also:

Keep your creativity muscles limber
Help exercise your vocabulary
Present opportunities to think about ideas and situations from different perspectives
Help writers workshop characters, plots, and ideas

Final Thoughts

No matter how experienced you are as a writer, you can always improve and tap deeper into the wellspring of your own creativity.

You can always learn new ways to express yourself and delight your reader.

View these writing exercises as a means to opening doors of insight and imagination and enjoy the process of becoming a better writer.

I believe there's a writer in all of us. Try these 11 creative writing exercises to see what catches your imagination and awakens your inner author. #writing #writingtips #writingcommunity #writingprompts #writinginspiration #author #amwriting #selfpublishing

25 Great Creative Writing Exercises To Awaken The Senses

January 23, 2023
Craft , Inspiration

I’ve written about the importance of sensory imagery in writing before, specifically for developing characters, in my blog: Use The Five Senses and Bring Your Characters to Life.

But it’s not just for developing your characters; sensory imagery is needed everywhere if you want your readers to engage with your story.

What is sensory imagery?

When we tell a story, we create a world in the reader’s mind, and by using specific, definite, and concrete details, we enable the reader to enter this new world.

A detail is definite and concrete when it appeals to the senses. It should be seen, heard, smelled, tasted, or touched.

Whether you are writing non-fiction, fiction, poetry, or plays, getting in touch with your senses, and using imagery that relates to them, will serve you well.

Experience using sensory imagery.

This post aims to give you the experience of engaging with each sense and letting it take you somewhere unexpected. It’s all very well to understand the concept of using the senses and even be convinced that it’s important to include them in your writing. Still, until you’ve taken the time—10 minutes is all you need— to experience the nuances of each sense, you might not fully understand why using sensory imagery in your writing is essential and how it works.

How to start: Choose a writing prompt and write it at the top of your page. Set your timer for 10 minutes. Read the prompt and begin writing immediately, without thinking—follow the first thought and go wherever it takes you. No editing, no judging, just writing.

Keep your pen moving.

Don’t stop until the time is up.

Suspend judgment.

Be curious.

Tip: Write by hand. Writing by hand connects the brain and body and, I believe, the heart. It’s especially helpful in getting those first thoughts onto the page.

Remember: you can always write from the POV of one of your characters.

25 Great Sensory Writing Prompts.

The sense of smell.

More than any other sense, smell can connect us intimately to the past in a way our ideas cannot. A scent can initiate a flood of memories regardless of how unexpected or fleeting. A whiff of your mother’s perfume on an old sweater can catapult you to a long-forgotten memory of weekly drives to ballet class, the last kiss at bedtime, tears over a science project, or your wedding day.

Prompt 1. What’s the most unusual smell you’ve ever encountered?

Prompt 2. What’s the first scent you smell upon entering your home?

Prompt 3. What is the most dangerous smell you can think of?

Prompt 4. If you were holding your favorite stuffed animal from childhood, what would it smell like?

Prompt 5. Peel an orange, inhale the scent and write about the first memory that comes to mind.

For more on smell, read the blog How the Sense of Smell Can Enhance Your Writing .

The Sense of Touch

Touch is a basic human need, and it’s the first sense we develop upon entering this world and the last sense to go as we depart this world.

It is also one of the least used senses in writing, perhaps because it’s the most difficult to describe. But think about how often we confirm what we see by reaching out and touching. A reader can more easily engage with a character’s world if they can touch it. I’m using the word touch rather than feel because the term “feel” tends to lead us to emotions, and while that’s important, it’s not what we’re aiming for here.

Prompt 1. Write about the last time you touched wet .

Prompt 2. Write about something you want to touch but can’t or shouldn’t.

Prompt 3. Imagine you can describe a sculpture by how it feels as you run your hands over it.

Prompt 4. Write about the earliest touch you can remember.

Prompt 5. Write about something you can’t pass by without touching it.

For more on the sense of touch, read the blog How To Use The Sense Of Touch In Your Writing .

The Sense of Taste

Taste might be the least used sense in writing but think of all you can learn about your character through their tastebuds. The sense of taste and the act of tasting can be highly evocative, taking your reader from delight to disgust with a mere nibble.

Yes, it may be challenging to describe taste without using the senses for sight and smell, which are inherent in taste but challenge yourself to see where taste alone might take you.

Prompt 1. This exercise will prime you for the following four prompts Choose something you like to eat, a piece of fruit, a square of chocolate, and most anything will work. Sit quietly and take a few slow breaths. When you’re ready, take a bite or place the food item in yo r mouth and let it sit on your tongue. Take note of physical sensations, flavor, and sound. You may discover new sensations and ideas for enriching your descriptive details. Now, write a description of what you experienced.

Prompt 2. Write about your favorite childhood meal and how it might ta te today.

Prompt 3. Think of two of your favorite foods. Now write about how they might taste together.

Prompt 4. Write about the experience of tasting a foreign dish for the first time.

Prompt 5. Describe the taste of your favorite dessert without revealing what it is.

For more on the sense of taste, read the blog, How To Use The Sense Of Taste In Your Writing .

The Sense of Hearing

Second, to sight, hearing gives us a primary experience of the world we live in. Sounds enrich our environment; we depend on them to help u interpret, communicate with, and express the world around us.

While not as evocative as smell, familiar sounds can stir memories and transport us to another time and place. What more powerful tool could a writer ask for than auditory details that offer nuanced layers to a scene?

Prompt 1. What would it sound like if you amplified the sound of snow falling on the roof?

Prompt 2. Describe the sound of a family holiday dinner.

Prompt 3. Play a piece of your favorite music and write from the first image that appears in your mind.

Prompt 4. Sit quietly for 2-3 minutes until you can identify the sound that is the farthest away. Describe it without naming it and go wherever it takes you.

Prompt 5. What sound do you most like/dislike?

For more on the sense of hearing, read the blog How To Use The Sense Of Hearing In Your Writing .

The Sense of Sight

The sense of sight is the sense we use most often in writing.

If you’ve ever tried to describe something without referring to sight, you’ll know just how challenging that is to accomplish.

Perhaps this is because 70% of the body’s sense receptors cluster in the eyes, and it is mainly through seeing the world that we appraise and understand it.

A visual image can be a trigger for memory and emotion. A painting can take us back to a time in history replete with triumph or tragedy. A gesture captured in a photograph may symbolize love, loss, or confusion.

Remember, sight is not only for description and scene setting; showing how your characters see the world and how they feel about it will capture your readers’ attention.

Prompt 1. Describe your face as you might see it reflected in a pool of water.

Prompt 2. Describe someone who doesn’t know you are watching them.

Prompt 3. If anger were a creature, describe it.

Prompt 4. Describe your ideal writing place.

Prompt 5. Choose a painting and describe it without using the sense of sight Use every other sense.

For more on the sense of sight, read the blog How To Use The Sense Of Sight In Your Writing .

I hope you find these prompts useful—let me know how it goes.

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Thanks for these useful prompts.

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50 Fantastic Creative Writing Exercises

Good question.

Creative writing exercises are designed to teach a technique. They are highly specific, more specific than creative writing prompts, and much more specific than story generators.

Creative writing exercises for adults are not designed to lead the writer into crafting a full story, but are only designed to help them improve as a writer in a narrow, specific category of writing skills.

I’ve broken the exercises below into categories so you can choose what category of skill you’d like to practice. Can you guess which category in this list has the most prompts?

If you guessed characters, then you’re right. I think characters are the heart blood of every story, and that a majority of any writing prompts or writing exercises should focus on them.

But I also think any of these will help you create a narrative, and a plot, and help you generate all kinds of dialogue, whether for short stories or for novels. These writing exercises are pretty much guaranteed to improve your writing and eliminate writer’s block.

Also, if you’re a fledgling writer who needs help writing their novel, check out my comprehensive guide to novel writing.

Enjoy the five categories of writing exercises below, and happy writing!

1. Think of the most deafening sound you can imagine. Describe it in great detail, and have your character hear it for the first time at the start of a story.

2. Have a man cooking for a woman on a third date, and have her describe the aromas in such loving and extended detail that she realizes that she’s in love with him.

3. Pick a line from one of your favorite songs, and identify the main emotion. Now write a character who is feeling that emotion and hears the song. Try to describe the type of music in such a beautiful way that you will make the reader yearn to hear the song as well.

4. Have a character dine at a blind restaurant, a restaurant in pitch blackness where all the servers are blind, and describe for a full paragraph how the tablecloth, their clothing, and the hand of their dining partner feels different in the darkness.

5. Select a dish representative of a national cuisine, and have a character describe it in such detail that the reader salivates and the personality of the character is revealed.

7. Describe two characters having a wordless conversation, communicating only through gestures. Try to see how long you can keep the conversation going without any words spoken, but end it with one of them saying a single word, and the other one repeating the same word.

8. In a public place from the last vacation you took, have two characters arguing, but make it clear by the end of the argument that they’re not arguing about what they’re really upset about.

9. Write a scene composed mostly of dialogue with a child talking to a stranger. Your mission is to show the child as heartbreakingly cute. At the same time, avoid sentimentality.

10. Have two character have a conversation with only a single word, creating emphasis and context so that the word communicates different things each time it is spoken. The prime example of this is in the television show “The Wire,” where Jimmy and Bunk investigate a crime scene repeating only a single expletive.

11. Pick an object that is ugly, and create a character who finds it very beautiful. Have the character describe the object in a way that convinces the reader of its beauty. Now write a second version where you convince the reader (through describing the object alone) that the character is mentally unstable.

12. Write down five emotions on slips of paper and slip them into a hat. Now go outside and find a tree. Draw one emotion from the hat, and try to describe that tree from the perspective of a character feeling that emotion. (Don’t mention the emotion in your writing — try to describe the tree so the reader could guess the emotion).

13. Describe a character’s bedroom in such a way that it tells us about a person’s greatest fears and hopes.

14. Root through your desk drawer until you find a strange object, an object that would probably not be in other people’s drawers. Have a character who is devastated to find this object, and tell the story of why this object devastates them.

15. Go to an art-based Pinterest page and find your favorite piece of art. Now imagine a living room inspired by that flavor of artwork, and show the room after a husband and wife have had the worst fight of their marriage.

16. Pick a simple object like a vase, a broom, or a light bulb, and write a scene that makes the reader cry when they see the object.

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17. Make a list of the top five fears in your life. Write a character who is forced to confront one of those fears.

18. Write an entire page describing the exact emotions when you learned of a happy or calamitous event in your life. Now try to condense that page into a single searing sentence.

19. Think about a time in your life when you felt shame. Now write a character in a similar situation, trying to make it even more shameful.

20. Write a paragraph with a character struggle with two conflicting emotions simultaneously. For example, a character who learns of his father’s death and feels both satisfaction and pain.

21. Write a paragraph where a character starts in one emotional register, and through a process of thought, completely evolves into a different emotion.

Characters:

22. Create a minor character based upon someone you dislike. Now have your main character encounter them and feel sympathy and empathy for them despite their faults.

23. Have a kooky character tell a story inside a pre-established form: an instruction manual, traffic update, email exchange, weather report, text message.

24. Write about a character who does something they swore they would never do.

25. Have a character who has memorized something (the names of positions in the Kama Sutra, the entire book of Revelations) recite it while doing something completely at odds with what they’re reciting. For instance, bench pressing while reciting the emperors in a Chinese dynasty.

26. Write a paragraph where a character does a simple action, like turning on a light switch, and make the reader marvel at how strange and odd it truly is.

27. Have a couple fight while playing a board game. Have the fight be about something related to the board game: fighting about money, have them play monopoly. Fighting about politics, let them play chess.

28. Write about two characters angry at each other, but have both of them pretend the problems don’t exist. Instead, have them fight passive-aggressively, through small, snide comments.

29. Describe a character walking across an expanse field or lot and describe how he walks. The reader should perfectly understand his personality simply by the way you describe his walk.

30. Write a first-person POV of a character under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and try to make the prose as woozy and tipsy as the character.

31. Describe the first time that a character realizes he is not as smart as he thought.

32. Describe an hour in the life of a character who has recently lost their ability to do what they love most (a pianist who has severe arthritis; a runner who became a quadriplegic).

33. Write an argument where a husband or wife complains of a physical ailment, but their spouse refuses to believe it’s real.

34. Write a scene where a stranger stops your main character, saying that they know them, and insisting your main character is someone they are not. Describe exactly how this case of mistaken identity makes your character feel.

35. Describe a small personality trait about a person you love, and make the reader love them, too.

36. Write a personality-revealing scene with a character inside a public restroom. Do they press a thumb against the mirror to leave a subtle mark? Do they write a plea for help on the inside of the stall door? Do they brag about the size of what they’ve just dumped off?

37. Give your character an extremely unusual response to a national tragedy like a terrorist attack or natural disaster. Maybe have them be aware their response is unusual, and try to cloak it from others, or have them be completely unaware and display it without any self-consciousness.

38. Have one of your main characters come up with an idea for a comic book, and tell a close friend about the idea. What about this idea would surprise the friend, upsetting what he thought he knew about your main character? Also, what would the main character learn about himself from the comic book idea?

39. Think of an illness someone you love has suffered from. How does your character respond when someone close to them has this illness?

40. Have your main character invent an extremely offensive idea for a book, and show their personality faults through discussing it with others.

41. Have your character write down a list considering how to respond to their stalker.

42. Write a scene where a man hits on a woman, and although the woman acts repulsed and begs her friends to get him away from her, it becomes apparent that she likes the attention.

43. Write about a 20-something confronting his parents over their disapproval of his lifestyle.

44. Have your character write a funny to-do list about the steps to get a boyfriend or girlfriend.

45. Have a risk-adverse character stuck in a hostage situation with a risk-happy character.

46. For the next week, watch strangers carefully and take notes in your phone about any peculiar gestures or body language. Combine the three most interesting ones to describe a character as she goes grocery shopping.

47. Buy a package of the pills that expand into foam animals, and put a random one in a glass of warm water. Whatever it turns out to be, have that animal surprise your main character in a scene.

48. Have your character faced with a decision witness a rare, awe-inspiring event, and describe how it helps them make their decision.

49. Imagine if your character met for the first time his or her long-lost identical twin. What personality traits would they share and which ones would have changed because of their unique experiences?

50. If a character got burned by a hot pan, what type of strange reaction would they have that would reveal what they value most?

Once you’ve taken a stab at some of these exercises, I’d recommend you use them in your actual writing.

And for instruction on that, you need a guide to writing your novel .

That link will change your life and your novel. Click it now.

33 comments

John Fox, you have some excellent resources, and I thank you. I read your comments, then scrolled down to glance at the list of 50 exercises. The FIRST one, “loud noise’ is already in my head. My Hero is going to be side swiped in my Cozy. I was side swiped on a state highway here in Virginia a couple of weeks ago and, although the damage was minor, the sound of that big SUV “glancing” off my little car was SCARY!!! I once heard a fast-moving car REAR-END is stand-still car; that sound was something I’ll never forget. So, your exercise is very timely. THANK YOU!!!

This is a great list! Thanks!

You know what would be motivating? If we could turn these in to someone and get like a grade lol

I’ve been thinking a lot about “how to master writing,” and this is the first time that I found an article that makes it clear the difference between prompts and exercises. I fully agree with you. These are bound to make you a better writer if you focus on doing a variation of them daily.

An excellent list – thank you very much. I run a small writing group and we’ll be trying some.

Yes, thank you. I too run a small writing group and you got me out of a slump for tomorrow’s group!

yes,thank you . It’s good for improve your writing skills.

Pingback: Writing Exercises for Adults That Can Help You Write Better

What a lovely list! I am working on the final draft of my very first novel, and am constantly working at improving the final product. Your exercises are just what I need to kickstart my writing day. Thank you so very much.

Thank you very much When I turned50 I received my diploma from Children’s Institute in West Redding Ct I got my inspiration from being near water however now that I am in Oregon I have had a writing block thanks to your list my creative juices are flowing

I suppose I better have good punctuation, seeing this is about Writing. Thank you for this great list. I am the Chair of our small Writing group in Otorohanga and we start again last week of Feb. I have sent out a homework email, to write a A4 page of something exciting that has happened over the holiday break and they must read it out to the group with passion and excitement in their voices. That will get them out of their comfort zone!

A formidable yet inspiring list. Thank you very much for this. This is really very helpful. I am from India, and very new to writing and have started my first project, which I want to make it into a Novel. This has been very helpful and is very challenging too. Prompts look sissy when compared to this, frankly speaking. Thank you very much again.

Where can I get the answers for these?

There aren’t “answers.” You create responses to these exercises.

Thank you so much for the detailed suggestions focusing on HOW to put the WHAT into practice; really helpful & inspiring.

Just started rough drafting a story I’ve always wanted to write. Do you have any advice for someone writing their first real story? I’m having trouble starting it; I just want it to be perfect.

I consider this very helpful. Just started my journey as a creative writer, and will be coming back to this page to aid my daily writing goal.

I have always loved writing exercises and these are perfect practice for my competition. I have tried lots of different things that other websites have told me to try, but this by far is the most descriptive and helpful site that i have seen so far.

This is really a creative blog. An expert writer is an amateur who didn’t stop. I trust myself that a decent writer doesn’t actually should be advised anything but to keep at it. Keep it up!

I’ve always enjoyed writing from a little girl. Since I’ve been taking it a bit more seriously as does everybody else it seems; I’ve lost the fun and sponteneity. Until now…..this is a marvelous blog to get back the basic joy and freedom in writing. Or should that be of?:) These exercises are perfect to get the creative juices flowing again…..thank you:)

These are interesting exercises for writing.

These are fantastic! I started reading a really awesome book on creative writing but it just didn’t get any good or easy to follow exercises. So I found your site and having been having a lot of fun with these. Exactly what I was looking for, thank you!

creative and inspiring, thank you

I always wanted to have an exercise where a friend and I each wrote a random sentence and sent it to each other to write a short story from that beginning sentence, then exchange the stories for reading and/or critique. Maybe both writers start with the same sentence and see how different the stories turn out.

Thanks for these exercises. Some are really challenging. To truly tackle them I’m having to spend as long beforehand thinking “how the HECK am I going to do this?” as I do with ink on paper. Would be a great resource if other authors submitted their replies and thoughts about how they went about each exercise.

Start the conversation: submit one of yours.

I think I can use these to inspire my students.

Hi there. Thank you for posting this list- it’s great! Can I ask you to consider removing number 42 or perhaps changing it somewhat? I teach sex ed and every year am shocked by how many young people don’t understand issues around consent. Stories about woman who ‘say no but really mean yes’ are deeply unhelpful. Really appreciate your post but felt I had to ask. Thanks.

What’s wrong with the number 42?

It promulgates the belief that when a woman says no, she doesn’t mean it, potentially resulting in sexual assault.

I just make this list a part of my teaching in Creative Writing Classes. Very good list of ideas!

Thank you so much for posting this! I have used it to create a creative playwriting activity for my high school creative writing class–so much good stuff here for me to pick through and select for my kiddos that will allow them to shine and improve their knowledge of writing as a craft!

These exercises are amazing! Thank you so much for sharing 🙂

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This Fun Creative Writing Exercise Will Change Your Life

by Joe Bunting | 212 comments

I'm sure this never happens to you, but there are times when I don't feel very creative. A few years ago we'd just had a new baby (our second), bought a house (our first), and were busy managing a thousand new details. I felt like I had nothing to give to my writing. And life hasn't slowed down any since then. All the busywork and bill paying leaves me feeling like all the creative juices are dried up.

But no matter how un-creative I'm feeling, there's one creative writing exercise that never fails to fire up my writing.

This Fun Creative Writing Exercise Will Change Your Life

Why We Need Creative Writing Exercises Like This

Over the last ten years, I've worked with thousands of writers, and in that time, I've there is one thing that stops more people from writing than anything else.

“This is so bad,” we think after one particularly difficult sentence. “Why would anyone read this? Why would I want to read this? I thought I was better than this. I thought I was talented. So why am I producing such crap?”

Sometimes, writers don't even allow themselves to go through this kind of painful monologue. Instead, they put off writing altogether, procrastinating until the very last minute, then whipping something together that may not be very good but at least it's done!

So while you can still use daily journal writing or creative writing prompts to jump start your writing process, the creative writing exercise I'm going to talk about in this post is designed specifically to combat that kind of perfectionism .

Where Does Perfectionism Come From?

Perfectionism begins with pride. “I'm so talented how could I not write the next great book? Bestseller? More like best book of the century.” (Full disclosure: this used to be me.)

Or, for the slightly less narcissistic, “I may not be the best, but I have the best idea . And what's more, I care the most.”

Unfortunately, this kind of pride doesn't survive “contact with the enemy”: the blank page.

I've watched so many writers be humiliated and completely demoralized by the process of writing.

“I never want to do this again,” they confess to me, usually when they're about two-thirds of the way through writing their first book. “Writing is horrible. Miserable. I'm horrible! Why did I ever think it was a good idea to write this? to write at all?!”

Neither of these two postures—pride and despair—are helpful if you want to create great work.

What's missing? What's the secret ingredient writing in a way that both displays your natural that is both an absolute joy to write and your best possible work?

The secret ingredient is PLAY.

That's right, the same thing that toddlers are so good at is the key to writing your best work.

This Writing Exercise Brings the Joy Back to Writing—Here's How

How do you play with writing?

Two words: modernist poetry . *

Pioneered by poets like Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot, modernist poetry often makes very little sense. In fact, it can sometimes even seem like gibberish, like a Rauschenberg lithograph .

And that's what makes it such a great exercise. Because it allows you to play with words in a way that the perfectionistic side of your brain won't be able to stop.

5 Steps to This Writing Exercise

I've broken it up into five steps so simple a two-year-old could follow them:

First, get out a blank page. Feel free to open a new document on your computer, get out a pen or a blank piece of paper, or even whip out your old-school typewriter (the preferred method!)
Next, write the first word that comes to your mind. When I did this exercise this morning, the first word I thought of was “Boom.” Why not?! So I wrote it down.
Then, the hard part: write another word. Why is this hard? Because for this exercise to work, the second word must be random and disconnected from the first. This will completely piss off that perfectionistic little writer in your head. Do it anyway!
After you write the second word, write a third, fourth, and so on. After a few words, you can start a new line. It doesn't matter where you break the line. Just do it when it feels right. And as you write, don't forget the most important step of all…
PLAY . When you do this exercise, write with the sounds of words in mind, not their meaning. Try out movie/historical/song/literary references, mashing them up with gibberish rhymes (e.g. “ Twain's hammersaw is bringing me low slow like a long bow “). Make up new words. Pay attention to the sounds of words. Try to come up with the most random noun you can. Then, put it next to a list of five verbs. DON'T use punctation (unless that sounds fun to you, of course).

* I'm of course using the term modernist poetry very loosely here. Good modernist poetry is about much more than random gibberish strung together.

Embarrassing Examples of My Own Attempts at This Exercise

To give you a sense of how your poems might look, and to hopefully give you much room to improve upon, here are two of my worst attempts at this exercise (for humor's sake, it's best to read these aloud in the sincerest voice you can muster):

Boom story Simple reason hides the only response to holiness tears and I'll love you I'll love you Asparagus dream tell me I'm happy Bromate the worn door Catalyst of evergreen I'll sing it all dusk Thiery weeps Allspice leaves Kroner folder brning Someday I'll participate in wishful thinking

Amazingly bad, right? Here's the next one (I actually like this one):

bloom you folly seeking pinwheeling song stealers float your lilly feelings youround a hold and follow the starring problem holder

Ready to write yours?

Why This Creative Writing Exercise Is Genius

When you finish—after ten lines or a hundred— read your poem out loud. You'll probably be surprised at how good it is!

That's why this exercise is so perfect. Because when you try to write badly, you free up your creativity and end up making surprising connections.

Sure, some of your lines will be horrible, embarrassing, and never to be read again. But others will be much better than you expected.

Finally, with your new playful spirit, you'll be able to go back to your work in progress with a new level of creativity.

How about you? Do you ever play with words? Share in the comments !

Ready to try out this creative writing exercise? Use steps above to write a modernist poem. Make sure to PLAY!

When you're finished with your poem, post it in practice box below and offer feedback to three other writers. (Come on, it can't be worse than mine!)

Joe Bunting

Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris , a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).

Want best-seller coaching? Book Joe here.

212 Comments

Sounds like a great idea and definitely worth a try. I’ll be going to a writing retreat in June, so I’m printing this out to take with me. My goal will be to use this exercise to get the creative juices flowing. Thanks for the playful nudge!

Wow, Joe. Though new house and new baby are exciting additions, but are STRESSFUL (she says from experience).

Creepy sushi dancing Wisps of smoke prancing

Die, bastard, die! Comforter comforting me now

Wash adrift the sand Turning pages of my life

Sandals wanting time Laughter make it mine

Wanting more Wanting less Wanting…

This is good brain relief. I like your choices Marcy.

Thanks, Susan. You should try it. It was FUN!

Hahah, I love that you started with creepy sushi! What a random thought: wonderful! Yours is certainly more together than my little pieces I wrote, but I didn’t want to have to think too much longer. It’s the weekend lol

Glad you enjoyed it, Matt. I really did like creating this.

Interesting exercise. My perfectionist brain and definitely my English teacher brain are unsettled by the idea of it, but here goes:

Feathers stream Rockets spread unseen Lockets touching foes unbreaking Feathers spray and need Feed the blue buttons

Wow. That is terrible. Fun exercise though.

Hey, I think it’s great! I really liked the “rockets spread unseen.” Kinda creepy and majestic. 🙂

Thanks. I wouldn’t have thought of it that way, but glad you did 🙂 Thanks!

There could totally be a song for that one. Maybe a new Bruce Springsteen original?

I can hear it now!

Ha! This is great. Feed the blue buttons, but not the green ones, those pigs.

Haha! Thanks, Joe. Strange what comes out when you’re not thinking ahead.

Never tried this before, but it sounds like fun.

boast most helpful dope lean bean is really mean come down come around and be the day play as we may all the day nachos ate grouchos at the grill til morning light with fright in the night she wails while he’s in jail

This is FUN! Thanks

I LOVE that line–“nachos ate grouchos at the grill til morning light”

Players weep on trees Into the gilded forest eggs cry Maybe in the future planes will crawl If only I know when I die

Agonizing grapes pull a ward from the hen Please have the finish, each screams One tangle of empty forges after another Flip and fall to hell

Eight and every page of guards Death and door come to yield Of my apostles one hath died Never rise again

Open girth weighs the justice Golden feathers flim and glide Beguile the dragons in my ankles, And you will be the saint of pyres.

Forest justice ever black Into my heart slack and die Make sure the door is locked my friend The statue thief’s here.

Chinese bells tassels scarlet swaying winds on horseback in Mongolia Leather gauntlet falcons grip with strong talons Cheese drip curds steaming face bent good and hot On a cold winter night on the mountains Snow-covered steppes step back front door and look out to the horizon horses drive towards the mud and centre of our camp Girls wrestle in embroidered helmets on Lacquered heads black as silk satin and moth wings

I was listening to a documentary on medieval China while I wrote this. It’s scary to do this, but very interesting.

A wisp of memory Fading fast Tinges of red and orange Surrounding the evening Memory escaping Irrelevant now Nothing necessary Sustaining Pain Useless to my wellbeing Forget Move on Look at the flowers They don’t weep Yesterday Does not exist There is only My happy heart Free

Beautiful Open Bright Sad Free (i.e. I loved it!)

(Love your summary! Thanks)

mm, beautiful is right! i love how you have the single-word lines. powerful. wonderful to see a longing end in freedom!

Thanks Matt…

I loved the flow of it! Very nicely written!

Thank you Lisette!

Lifeboat don’t sink Speak louder dishwasher Don’t ignore the soap Once upon a time I lived in a treehouse By the sea In a boat Eating popcorn With my best friend’s sister After we met By the seashore Watching chickenwings dance Like chiropractors Eating mustaches I think I’m weirded out By this poem The end.

I love that chicken wingsdance!

This poem paints word pictures. (Smiling)

I’m glad it made you smile. 🙂

Joy, I loved it! I like having your name above your entries… It’s like titling every thing ‘Joy’! I especially like the line ‘speak louder dishwashwer’. What a neat personification you do there!

Thank you, Matt! I’m so glad it brightened your day. 🙂

Wind blown hair Sudden smells Dirt caked fingernails Keep the blood flowing Listen well all of you Faded days of youth Slowly crawling down my hands

Drops slither down the lines of them

The sidewalk will end The days do grow short The sun will someday set You better start running Nothing will keep your heart beating The terror of the inky blackness Slipping towards you Like a unseen hand Pulling towards the sky Silent breathing Eyes looking Holding on to something Anything that seems like hope Dropped from a hundred feet Slammed on top of the fear and anger

Of those looking for it Never to be found Whispers in your voice The voices try to speak

Lovely idea, tried doing this but end up with like freewriting exercise, not poetry. I wonder if I’m doing it right though, would someone mind to let me know?

As you can see, mine is more like a threads of words that sort of rhyme imperfectly together, I’m not sure if I’m doing this exercise right.

Should we rush the next word without 2nd thought like in brainstorming/freewriting, or should we take the time to ponder which next word that can describe the previous word & 2nd word must rhyme?

Is it ok if we have spelling errors, i.e. we make up some words along the way?

Thanks, this is my piece: boom clap boom boom pow fowl fowler spoiler lier spelling error rubbish gibberish nonsense random blank space getting better improve dance fun run hike trial fire hire never say never Justin Bieber tin dean jean man motivational speaker fooler fuller occupational redeem receipt resit deceive deceit damn realm delve elf power grip rip drip dip sip nim numb rum wine alcohol dollar dine sky high fly fry rye nice buy fine nine mine fine right cents sense make fake bake aiks ache cite poetry poem focus circus amazing Britney Spears songs

Hi Alisa 🙂 You’re definitely not doing it wrong! Art is, almost by definition, to be defined by the artist (that’s you 🙂 I’m guessing you were going for the rhyming and that the author’s mention of ‘sound’ guided you toward that specific type of sound/poetry. Well poetry doesn’t have to rhyme, certainly doesn’t have to have any lines working with each other…. but one beautiful thing is that it CAN!

The best part about this is that the rule is there are no rules. Needless to say you did it perfectly. I laughed out loud at this, “

Seems right to me. I think theepoint exercise gets the brain off the right wrong good bad wagon and allows for the revolving of the word flow wheels, creates writing momentum.

Thanks so much guys for the positive enforcement, was pretty fearful actually that I’m doing this wrong, especially after I’ve read many other writers’ comment on this page which seem like poetry to me.

spaghetti soon twitches forknife held below knight night gnight long vacuous overwhelming consistency contstantly spaghetti but that is that how too yearn is rending still

vacuum space unrelated frequency dulled roar riptide rush bloated watermelon belly crying infants smiling sadness empty full long the two fight

hug me hurt me hide me rid me of the actions of the past the ones so now long forgotten belkin summit of faith radioplate maneuver fan running walking stillness complete grain texture paper thin neighbors credit cards fight plastic battles are the swimming seagulls

sleep yellow over long side ways dream a dream facesfacesfacesfaces who questions keep chanting smoke signals carrier pidgeons wood pidgeon harry potter sunrise sunsets full to empty nevermore ravenclaw harry potter slytherin dauntless teen fiction rests above elbows not betwixt

brains are concrete solidly cementing gray matter into dark matter elmer’s legends trip the nation glue that murdered many factionless fathers forget daughterless mothers highlighted on paper numbers alone

notetaking has never neared the precipice starbucks mcdonalds Disney world songs of the weekend amazing handsome always faith window clotheshanger lightpole crosschair living lives left of lines leaving lines write of lies

Wonderful images Matt – “brains are concrete…..” love this.

Thank you Jeanne!

“notetaking has never neared the precipice.” Not sure what it means, but love the sound of it. Great images throughout.

thanks Tom! i have no idea either. of course, as an english teacher you and i could likely come up with something for it. eg. there has never been enough note taking; notetaking is only as good as the bottom of the mountain… etc

lol, thanks again Tom, you’ve become faithful at commenting on my non-make-sensory posts!

Spaghetti sounds good right now… Great job Matt!

haha, right?!

it’s not that late, and it sounds real good to me too :)) thanks for the comment, lisette!

Anytime! It could never be too late for spaghetti!

Better not let any psychologists get a look at this free-association writing we’re doing here – they could have a field day!

Here’s a snippet of mine – what it reveals of my inner demons, I have no idea:

Fuchsia correct killing thyme Sun son jumping giants handle fun Haricot wimples forget-me-nots queen rapier juniper lungs Yesterday warrior bungle contemporary sweat linguine

However, having done that (and a few more lines of equal gibberish), some of the words resonated and I wrote an actual poem – not normally my thing at all. Here it is:

Celebrity cooks, killing thyme, Randy writers, striving to rhyme. Fossilised footballers, can’t keep them down, Rejected representatives, doing nothing but frown. My box is just full Of these unwanted folk. Won’t somebody tell them They’re nowt but a joke?

I loved both of these poems Alex! In the first I especially enjoyed all the crazy nouns. Haricots? Wimples? Juniper lungs? Awesome.

And the second is almost just as crazy! Representatives and footballers in your inbox? Great image! These were lots of fun, Alex. Great job!

For clarity, Joe, where I come from “box” means “television” …

Alex, I so enjoyed hearing your thought process during the writing, and then also enjoy the writing. Thanks for sharing!

Those were both very enjoyable poems! That was great! Thanks for sharing!

Interesting explanation,

Spices, are the most common flavore used to give the recipes a good taste

ninja use nunchaku whack the baby whack Bruce Lee write a song sing sing sing on stage rap swim fly dragon in the pond fly fly up with balloons land shaolin master punch matrix blue red laptop iphone smash medicine pills poets ted choose give up fly disappear forrest musics guitar horses flowers bill gates wheat weed whip whisky michael jackson fly fly fly fly

Ooh, I like this….

Cane Shut up curl

Keep try hop run

Jury Jig try dig

Methos fin help learn love

Delve done truck hug

mushroom bathroom in a line mask violate stop came in time grab grapple free sew line slow feverish tinkering mess all over feet globe car shadows blank squeeze fan top red bump in the road cemetery almost done pancakes shuffle indentation

Firstly get away guitar laying down fluent strings play pencilled drawings in graphite where it weeps the songbird relents ongoing tide in long ago fields of green someday wishful thinking may happen

This brought a smile to my face….

This is beautiful! Thank you for sharing!

when I wrote down my ongoing may happens, I was thinking it was a long month! with a bunch of things happening in May… and it’s not over yet!!! 🙂 great minds think alike!!!

Ripples sunlight rocking across time forgetting wisdom teeth falling out left and right and interdormand rushing giants planting tin cans frequent sighs undeserved highs racking up moments laughing hate spinning monumental focus pointless and proud

Rollercoaster Dreams I’m beaming at the seams.

Moving quickly at the speed of light I’m crawling out of my skin with fright.

People screaming, I hear My turn is getting near.

Do I actually want to ride? There’s no where to hide.

I take a seat in the rear Everything is becoming clear.

We take off with a jerk Maybe closing my eyes will work

to keep me from getting sick Maybe that’s the trick

My stomach turns My heart burns

http://www.shesallsmiles.com

To free write and simultaneously rhyme is no mean feat. I am envious of your ability! Wow!

Oh! I love roller coasters, so I especially liked reading this! Thanks for sharing! 🙂

Now that’s marvellous for a quick writing exercise!

What a good peice of writing, I wish I have the same ability of writing.

Would be a great Rap song!

Cute piece!

I’m beaming at the seams!?! This is gorgeous!

I want to steal juniper lungs and sandals wanting time… After just putting the words that popped up down, I wanted to then use them within a line, so did it really quick to stop my conscious brain having any of the fun! It has made me want to go back to poetry after years away…..

Credible, cheerful, possible cream

Cauliflower people, treading mice

Like flowers popping tears tear in soulful

Cake will play because foe

Archipelago chant swear carry notice

The archipelago of my fractured mind

Gives chant to each spiralled thought

I swear I will sin again

Carry the panniers of hope

Until I notice the emptiness.

This is harder than it seems trees shoot out light beams its rays cause puss to ooze from ears and eyes multicolored tears soon begin to fall easy to say not to do brain filters raise defeat and letters emerge from holes galore

Okay yea this was weird and maybe not right so I’m off to the kitchen to fetch a bite. May attempt this later I might, but it will be well into this night.

Cool! multicolored tears soon begin to fall, trees shoot out light beams. I don’t think there is a right way to do this exercise. You write what comes to mind and cool/ weird things start happening. 🙂

yea my editor was fighting me all the way.

This remembers me of the last scene of Frank, with the song I Love You All. He creates the song based on loose phrases about the place he is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOt6ppIBOd4

Pace Breathing rapidly Tongue twisted around silk Silently contemplating Ifs and ands? Forever is temporary Tonight will change forever Night falls, dawn cracks Missions are possible.

Writing gibberish is a wonderful way to loosen up the old writing muscles. I have been doing this for years. I call these exercises “SOUPS” (like a minestrone of words 🙂

Here’s a ‘soup’ I prepared earlier:

I have hooks for ears. A fox for breath. I am alive but not for much longer. Passion over, I followed the posts, but lost her in Hades. The last words she spoke tore at my soul and were consumed in flames. I have tesserae eyes.

And here’s one I just did. (So much fun!)

How the red fruit became a violent blue. Cause and effect. Holodecks and bears. There’s a fly buzzing around my antlers. Drinking heavy water by the container ship full.

(Preface – This was ridiculously fun…)

Sisyphus expels fiction

Portable headstones rumbling nowhere

Fused opinions laugh at sweat

Mangle Josephine and Scarlet and Rastafarian hats

(Not even sure if that is a word, I continue)

Rain doesn’t come here

Snow doesn’t come here

Pacifists don’t come here

Snaggletooth and mulberries are frowned upon

over there though their new wall and

attempt at visibility works

Voo doo doll paves the way

So this is how this works?

First shots. Not a dunk or lay up

Hula hoop falls down the hips

Too many EL Fudge cookies

leave her belly trapezoidal

I’m not sure if this was what it was supposed to be, but what the heck. Here it is:

Wings darkness glow beauty

Eyes hear broken staccatos

Brainless batteries contain wealth

Eat hearts oil and sadness

Pray stay with contrite expectations

I can’t save me, why save you?

Breathe a breath, save yourself

Talk up to the sky, Sing to the clouds,

You are alone, we are alone, let me be

Hold a chainsaw gently against a pine tree

Keep a cigarette between the teeth, but don’t blow

Thoughts a whirling, don’t slow down, keep thinking

No regrets but no life as well

Don’t fail, don’t trust

Printers lay out a formal foundation

Of ink splattered on a page, rhythm to it

Like bongos, tambourines, a circus of stupidity

Why the formality? Just breathe.

Ok, I doo’d it. I tried to disconnect just write random words. The app I used has a Hemingway mode which will NOT let me go back and correct. So here it is in the raw:

fabulous bang twins supperbanner moon mistriss cold laubchlaunch cart bicycle haeart hart fart fifteen minutes foervroforever as arghhhh terry telephone wizards stupid magic radar neck crackle creakle arthritis ouch ouch ouchouch age apain in the ass still random arrggghhh fifte en minutes!!!! ocoffee coffeecake telephone terry newspaper crossword kids running on the street raining rain falling umbrellas red and blkblue morning gratgrey drizzle falling people walking coffee holding starbusks and caribou barns and noble refugee writing nonsesnenonsense geern of spring why do I keep connecting words!!!! I’m a sentence pig that should be green of spring random words hah blue whit umbrella pblue cap pink shirt white pants black man pololder cell phgone smartphone everine on a phone

This is fun, I’m curious what app you use for the Hemingway mode? Do you like it or does it tend to just force more editing after the fact?

draftin.com

This was gold! Thanks for tuning us into this part of the brain again. I had some rhymes and even a made up word that I had to write down. Some of my words were more connected than I realized after close examination. I think I’ll do it again and keep trying for more and more obscure nouns and verbs. Very fun.

Here’s my first attempt:

Buzz fuzz no flibbery slippery to trees knees acid foreign plastic pom Dom cray lips bend send Growl fowl my Galaxy bar forage skip tip mandible crime time yes Fall

Plenty of rhymes and certainly some connections. Fun connections too! My favorite line is “growl fowl my galaxy bar’

I decided to give mine a title. Very fun exercise. Writed

Hat hormonster tea says That is yours ill elcaire Crane frejuices hotdog on Very long train blank your eye Free fee to honk poink grr Grass hit shovel to joy Little carber yet kinger Questest am I

HA! I feel like I’m reading a combination of Shel Silverstein and Dr. Seuss! I enjoyed how you verbified the word hotdog – as in the “crane frejuices hotdog on”. so many wonderfully unique and made up words, as well as not being constrained by grammar: “Questest am I”

Thanks! It was very fun!

After first draft, I felt happy. I added some connecting words.

Cormorant Languishing on the rocks I watch from the theater of trees carrier, freer, flier

beyond, a boat on the foam, full of hope, stable before, a blue jay, sneaky, to the wren feeder, pecking, tipping, flapping to stay afloat.

I get to Barnes and Nobles and realize that there most likely will not be a prompt today from Joe, new baby and all. So I said why not do Fridays again. So I did. I have no idea what this is but it was fun, which I think is the whole point.

I am a sentence pig. I grovel in words. I wallow in phrases. I show fields of green using appositives where paragraphs are ecstacy. I long for chapters. I pray for a novella Oh my what would I give for a novel. A tome of sci-fi, of memories of west Texas, of a curmudgeon just mumbling on a keyboard.

Well, there sort of was! But I’m glad you wrote this instead. This is publishable Gary! The first line and last two lines are especially wonderful.

A very creative piece with a lovely touch of humor.

Beautiful and such talent in this!

Wow! This is such an intriguing metaphor. I love it!

I loved this exercise…it felt great not to criticize the words I wrote…freeing…thank you!

Trees avenue go Paper pens and doors Wooden leaves swing Flowers sign loudly Anger rises Mad men scream Wishes take turns Mashed potatoes scream, cream and laugh Head full of noise Make it right, write

I’m pretty good at being random so here I go ….

random atom batman cat living loosely bill need a boosty can’t fathom random matter rather ponder infinite father you know, y’all, this random thinking has my inner brain’s eyes a-blinking tac namtab mota modnar line one backwards written makes even less sense this is only a test of my inner randomness but random it is scary it is i think i thunk i thought it was kind of fun but book seems long way off still

Fireworks miss you the forever paper friendly happy I’ll make the move rain oil painting tell me story earthquake end new house cucumber fence Gerber thinking crazy daisy patio fan

and glue smile together sunshine hides at hard rock flirty guitar stage tony danza

ongoing may happens

Heather Guidry

Carefully crafted canvas, smeared by my own hand, as I tried to perfect the image.

Beacon of light, luminous thought. Darkness tamped down.

I think this ended up being more cohesive than random…random words do come to mind once in a while though, and I make note of any interesting ones if I come across them (in order to use it later on).

——————-

Uncertain eyes look to yonder Over the gleaming horizon of sparkling grays and blacks. No whites. Just in between – the uncertainty of color.

Managing stark cold hands, Voices linger behind bedridden backs, Calling “Up! Up!” Back to who we are.

The dark suits hang on dressers, Image of the callback days of loose shirts, Untucked and fondly wrinkled. Memories of play.

The uncertainty of color persists.

Harboring Lost Thoughts By Kiki Stamatiou a. k. a. Joanna Maharis

The doormat brings with it it’s own excuses For harboring lost thoughts Of my vengeance.

Forever embraced by the hallow deeds Of raspberries filled with scornful melodies Inside their core, their bitterness stings My tongue with a sourness overcome By vicious melodies bombarding my Mind so listlessly.

I’m melting in the sun so filled with It’s buttery decree. I’m left dancing outside like a mundane Archer taking aim against vicious levities Of the outright political game.

I’m embalmed with the crucifix burning My flesh with starved convictions. I’m famished by the powers withholding me And feeding me to the hungry sharks Swarming around my cage.

I’m lost in a watery grave Where only the sadistic survive The maze of the harpoon. Dying carp freeze in the ice. I’m withholding my heart Until tomorrows spring.

For I’ve learned to dance in the snow When the burrow brings forth it’s own song. Let the rich melodies pour out of your Grave, and bring me into the hourly tides.

I’m ever floating across the lake of your Misery. Allow me to bring my party hats, so I can Topple over you mind with the fruitfulness Of lush shrubbery with all their essence.

I’m driven by the fires burning up my soul With evergreens throbbing against my heart. For they bleed out the grail pouring forth Unto you, my friend.

If only you’ll learn to hobble once you’ve Been stung on the foot by a bee.

I create my own task master. For it is none other than me. I’m left standing there holding your Heart on a pole.

I’m ready to consume the vilest taste Of your herbs, if only you’ll sedate me So I no longer have to feel the pain Of your leaving me behind.

I’m drifting in the foulest pools Of consciousness when the melody Stops breathing. I’m the delft parted across the sea Of the fires.

I long to be cast aside by the nets Holding me prisoner to the night, But the song they choose to play Is the feverish hours of the stars Blinking their light into my eyes.

I’m gone overboard, because I lost My grip on life. I’m sailing across the sea with no one To guide me to you.

How can I bring for the misery unto You when you’ve left me nothing but The hollow log I sleep in on a cold night.

The waters thirst for survival in the grave Of your rite, but I’m left winded after Trying to tread on water for so long a tide.

I’m sifted by the breathing fire coming From your nostrils when the harpoons Engage themselves in the shark meat Ready to be pounced upon.

I’m the grave holding myself prisoner To you. For I know nothing else better than To sing of the wisest miser ever created By the Creator himself.

I’m strong, but I’m fragile all At the same time.

Help these seeds grow you left Planted in my heart. For they torture me at night with Their bite. I’m helpless in the darkness when Striving to breath in wicked breaths Of fire. Every time the rain goes away,

You take a piece of my sight with you.

Each day passing by me, I’m overcome With the hunger to seize your wild heart, And devour it’s passion with my tired spirit. Bring me back into the lion’s den So my song will continue to be heard.

Let me be the one who lets you into the Coasting plight of this miracle dancing Before us. For the captor is none of than the waves Crashing upon our heads when disease Of the soul echoes on in the realms of the dead.

Time stands still Until it can tip no more And then the days move on Until you lips bleed lore The birds hone down their beaks And the water is low The boats begin to leak With what failed to show I hope with all kindness Genuity and trust That we lack what makes us better That is Until we know what we have lost Because with pride comes the end And as they say The end is the beginning It’s only in the new start Can we begin to see meaning

Fickle beans tasty trophy Force winds and rings tomorrow Gentle sabbath soaring greenly Froth and spirits sending dreams of chairs and inspiration Karma subtle and sorcery bright as foggy lenses Crime and candy dabble in forts of cheesecloth and dandelions Bear crawls for when it has none

Thanks for the idea. It was a lot of fun!

This was a lot of fun! Hippo java maps connects

My boom excites telephones

Rapidly energize terribly memorized

Backpack table cama pillow candles little tables

Life stipe’s the dog and kidnaps the night

Relentless stripes remarkable marbles scattered

Where is the man That purposely punched pilots Of spoiled roses And oscar cigarettes

From the steps he fell Fluffy clouds float Don’t look him in the eye It’s the devil in a goat

Frolic in the fields The sweater astrewn Dream catchers above Still wondering about the man in blue.

(Yeah random and fun exercise)

Busted bread gulls gaping gushing Gucci over moonbeans Muppets bruising, black buckets belting, bucketing, melting, Droplets pelting, pelts, Cigarettes high, rise of smoke of fabric blokes Muscles choke, mice pedal, broke, Wrappers soak Wrap me up, warm, torn, tongue worn and eyes sore, Fingers of lore, written in pores, shivers delivers Knuckles raw on wooden doors.

Sloshed and moshed and fever caboshed Rick Rack, thistle, high jack, delve, dig, seethe, heave Wrist watch, moss, laden toast Butter creamed and curdled and hurdled at strangers On bikes Come in Be gone Be sworn this is yours Its ours – our seething mess, our rubber ringworm test Of time.

Culture gone forgotten Who what am I Where do I come from Here, there, I cannot be from everywhere Lost in a line Pen investigates Discover insight, delightful I am Content with me

Practice moon green deliverance when I loved full but empty I thought I knew, I knew what I thought signing sounds on the wind christmas, crackling flowers druzy quartz sleep grey is silver a song isn’t a voice love is in crisp leaves in autumn smell pain and loss red, blue and purple veins sing a song of merry and bright scream shadows and lust revenge and deception and outrage meditation out of a void experience touch and sound walking children forest dark blues gasping for love remembering you remembering us.

Love killer season pie Melon dew drop Hug me lemon pink dye Books rob heart man Warmth in the blue snowflake Stars drown in lake boat Shy girl dress up dress out Dark sunlight blue sky

Catheter betrayal Why bottle bowl spritz spoon Long bright breezy Simple calm sound Magazine in the trash Water never drunk Purple towel, folded, untrusted Never betrayed Like he had I trusted him in the bed And not the towel But the towel never betrayed He did

Food is food. And I am I. Phones are cool. See eye to eye. Don’t you know how good it feels. To finally be as free as a bee. Love is hate and hate is sorrow. Yolo my friends so be okay. Piglets are weird and so are bowties. But don’t be afraid, my sick little fry. Yolo my friend, you don’t know what it’s like to be me. I am a fry, and so are you, bee. Okay okay where should i go if ye who wanders, Not to far from thee. I am pretty cool, not gonna lie. Omg um yeah cool. Love is food and food is love and i am asparagus. Cheese cheese wonderful cheese to yee who wanders… I’m not really a twat just it’s complicated, okay? Life is stars and stars are life yasss queen work okay Tyler oakley is stupid and kinda is not a queen So is joey and shane and grade I should be a teacher cuz im cool and i grammar right Piglets are dumb No they’re not What am i saying Okay okay i’m okay Fault in our stars is actually a good movie Wattpad is awesome

I long to no longer long. I long to chase my shadow I long for that moment when the sun takes its light and the shadow becomes one with darkness. I long to stand in darkness, panting and laughing at the absurdity of my chase.

life fleeting ships red burning winter’s deep asparagus peel back the layers while finding the bird’s song pinecones a layer of dust she breathes until dawn shining on your back my heart crumpled i pander to your soul the most esoteric fragments of my fingertips radiate and suddenly we are one

Huglesnort prediction elevation anger redevelopment spitfire unadorned clickity-clack barn meadow racer acclimation result thinking adhd motherhood replace learn become Aldrenation replicated meshining verbiage dumper

whisper down the swallowing stream, aloft from the earth, sea green angelic melodies, no desire for the smothering day, nauseating glimmers of a sense of feeling, but there is no more there is no more

Okay, I gave this a try. Here is what I came up with:

Singing a rain of showers Holding the clovers Wishing upon the jar Look the seeds are brining Fool heart incontent Slam slimming silliness Shapes come by hard Shall we ride now pard Hope do not despair Poop on the stairs

LOL Okay, I’m done.

That was fun. I might try this daily to get the juices flowing. Thanks Joe

Holes always look to never Emptiness knows no more clever On life’s machine I lever So pull no more punches And ties no more sever Never say ever Today is much better Present gifts push tomorrows buttons So no loving all of a sudden Butchers chop no muttons Or see self esteem plunging The pen is an extension of my hand So stretch your arms out do it dance to life’s music or die in life’s silence sight.

I was really skeptical for some reason when starting this exercise. I was doubting myself and the process, but something happened to me once I got going and this is what I came up with. There are definitely some crap lines, but true to what Joe claims, there are also some keepers!

Lust crust stuck to my nose. A seed planted where wild things grow. Now I have no room to breath. Rub elbows while desires seethe.

Polarity creates a daunting rift. Between extremes I seek, I sift. Close my eyes and there I find. The alleyway that is my mind.

Wedged between a corner store. And failing rotten tavern door. Graffiti art laments the day. That all we see should turn to grey.

Hypodermic desperation. Apathetic consternation. Should I share my deepest thoughts? With the naked body I’m draped across.

Rejection looms beyond the mist. Savagery consumes our tryst. Explosive climax from both ends. Meets the middle spectrum trends.

Morning brings mundane expressions. Forgotten by the twilight lessons. Of what to do when passions raw. Begin to rip, and tear, and gnaw.

Thanks! That was fun!

Here it is: fast taken long yellow road funny laughter dog takes a wheel of cheese boom goes the cat in winter wintery gloomy sad and desperate final dinner sees broadcast trucking along in the winter snow capped feelings it’s all allowed it’s all aloud cheese strings of death scary and morbid spooky and wrongly written bitten apple snow and white

I stumbled upon this post two years later, but thought I’d join in the creativity. Arriving fashionably late to the party…

Miraculous Ezra writes now And never did he whistfully boast Loud cymbals dampen darkness Lulled by sweet melancholy trees Torn amber flickers in kerosine Forgotten resorts listless in new days Harpoons by night Enslaved carvings hangers of folly Miracle girl Paisley lover Blinded and languid forever mine Shells and shambles balloon or fray Liquid ignition and lusty eyes Pooling careening cereal magic Employing adoring your bickering teeth Pliable queens of utmost sincerity Important or pleasurable it matters not Sandy hearts quake and shudder in time

Me foolish window was astonished Right poster under my keyboard tried to be sympathy Pen afterward might seek another coaster Hello if my chair help me to kick the wire off vegetable sicks coal sky

FUCK PERFECTIONISM words trickle ever so light sounds seem sharper tonight emotions cutting edges thank God for freedom long walks nighttime stories laughter the world moves slowly in the distance i see a perfect stranger in front of me she wears nothing but black with a devious smile & ready to attack eyes as sharp as daggers but a laugh so beautiful it puts my french horn to shame she walks with pride in every step, taking her time soaking in her surroundings gratitude is an action word and to be breathing today is more than I deserve

what are your interpretations? i’m interested

Ton bam landfill mining on a truck Unsure what the jar has struck On the grass a settle petal We sat lavishing flowers in sight To old and young, They all played In songs of mass and greed We stood like pires Eating the way for those saddened In the dormant spaces of their lives Unlucky and solemn Truth be told we aren’t the saints That paper sent us through disdain

Random, chair, purple, millenium falcon, buzz, silver Double, fingers, contact, nod, blank, empty, crack, Jump, tweet, snore, light, cat, breath, duplo, criss-cross Applesauce, orange, wood, song, island, coaster, basket, Egg, video, stupid, dumb, nonsense, soda, dim, car, morning, Awake, early, email, thoughts, tasks, day, ahead, drudge Time, scared, moron, promising?, not, dictionary, web, blog, feather, Kettle, knife, bowl, lunchbox, time, slow, poor, worthy, light switch Ceiling, floor, table, rug, avoid, tray, card, lego, figure, television, Books, breathing, silly, impossible, another avenue, keep, trying?, Exercise, practice, hi-low, plug, outlet, moving, awake, resolve, Undecided, laundry, dust, webbing, sad, afraid, anxious, inferior, Awful, no use, boring, coffee, progress, no, banana, wii, hat, Swallow, fingernails, click, snap, bulb, roar, big, engine, fast, Dawn, light, street lamp, trees, branches, dark, binoculars, Slow, view, pop, nothing, inhale, exhale, move, suddenly, Time, a.m., what, meaning, tires, pavement, stop sign, Text, edit, white, black, housecoat, feet, decision, waste, Possible, not, last, minute, keep, forward, sometime, Expression, money, job, administrate, look, busy, nothing,

Pain and failure easy to come difficult to go it’s just a phase, really?

Coldplay- hope and kindness generosity and love music happiness, calmness

crazy ideas implementation overpowering fear negative to positive long lost dreams.

words, words, words time not enough lost in transition waiting to be found

curious minds to care or not to care here or there now or later to create or not don’t know

New excersize for me, but what fun. Cant say mine makes a bit of sense, but here it is:

Running through the leaves Hyper on my life Hoping past hoping that pain will be Put to rest Open wide Feel free Slide in home Cheaters tea

It seems difficult, yet you must face it, feels likes it never going to end, but you have to get to the end to prove that, when it looks too long, all you need to do is to walk all the way to see how short it actually is… Such is life, we must learn to overcome our fears daily; be rest assured that every unpleasant situation will definitely end, and walk confidently through every daunting and challenging experiences to see how helpful they have been. I think that’s what I’m going to do…. I’ll keep overcoming the fears, enjoying the process, and celebrating the fulfillment of my writings so that someday, I’ll look back and be amazed at how much I have written in a short time….. I hope I’ve been able to walk through these few lines to show that my writings can become better.

So after my Physics lesson I wrote this for fun..

Your soul was embedded within every particle of my being Thus with a kiss my body caught alight From one phase to another my bonds broke Until I was one with the air

You lifted me up

Drifting aimlessly, until you breathed me in slowly I flowed inside of you, through every inch of you Until you were consumed by me

I brought you life

Full I fell in well of will But There is alot n lots thrill.

I love this exercise: it’s fun and it greatly helped with my creative slump. I had a go at it. Here are my results (warning: contains swearing (hope I’m not breaking any rules).

Watch out for the smack attack; making a jam.

If you’re in first class, I’ll put some glass in your ass.

Vroom vroom bam, doing the jam slam.

I’ll beat you till you spew faecal; coming out like treacle.

Gonna end this poem like I did your dick.

Don’t forget this brutality; my formality is a fatality.

Next time I’ll beat you with a stick. (damn right that was sick).

Atop my tower Gazing in despair at all my hands wrought. I strove to raise a better order. Slowed by hubris of the oligarchy. Heads rolled as I pressed on, the weak cowed into place. Behind my back they plot my fall. I am betrayed by all, and I betray all.

All I want Is to shout Really loud Because I’m so mad and sad Since I was bit by a turtle when I was a young lad Make me clap See me slap That ugly turtle face It’s such a disgrace messing up that place

… well this was fun.(Ps. I love animals I swear, it’s like my hand wrote on its own)

I thought this was really good. You seem to have a flair for poetry.

proud victorious free

Soaring high above trees

Beady eyes watchful frilly

It was fun to be silly

the treasure of sound by dancing trees from the swinging wind

the treasure of smell by dropping water from the falling rain

the treasure of taste by refreshing life from the rising sun

the treasure of sight by coloring sky from the varying lights

the treasure of smell by blossoming petals from the growing flora

Post modern poem

Sketch elephant shoe

Badoom badoom baddom

Jukebox millionare

Becky with the guitar hair

And suddenly, I’m soaring

Poop boop and cute

You’re raining and your snoring

Gravy pad thai pouring

Luke warm Jonathon cold

Badoop badoop badoop.

Spirit rider Pickle in syrup Jump out of your skin Pull the rope to freedom Roar like the sister wind Waves of emotion Perfectionism sucks….

Chewy Furry boy Big boy Bad boy Loveable boy Playful boy Handsome boy He’s my boy Loves to look outside at the pretty birds, Wonder what he would do if he were to ever catch one? Headbutting, bread kneading little boy Fat boy, furry boy, does he know how much I love him? Chewy is my handsome, loveable, furry CAT

Eerie palms swinging in the northern breeze Endless summer leaves are playing to the wind The relatively of relatives just brings me in this awful place of hill where sun does not shine either on your door or mine I still hope that the city dream would tell me to sing But I can’t do the party animal I can sing all the genres of dreams Let me do this for you

She was standing over there , chewing her gum , when the old man stumbled on his face on a rainy day , and she sarcastically started to laugh louder, louder and louder , and merly she was trying to help him , what a sorrow to be such sarcastic and regretful at the same time , the man was barley looking at her with eyes full of shame .

So I take a random word. Then write another word disconnected. And then just let it go. Sounds really good. just clarifying.

Emeralds form in my heart Rubies and rainbows show in the dark Crazy molasses engraved in my skin Elevated munchkins makes it harder to kin

Justice prevails, to you I love to hail I am a woman and you are a male Courageous enough to show that I care This is goodbye, get out of my dare

Baby diapers are Fuel for cars Carnation corsage for her Hotrod partner Swimming is fun for Cats who like to skate Honorable mentions for Meticulous wheels Of happiness outfitting Our highways

Thank you for this. I’ve been wanting to write but don’t really know what to write and where to begin. This was an enjoyable way to begin though. Here is my very first attempt with this exercise:

Surging pain for the demented brain Never underestimate the fate of the absurd Words have meaning but why do I care Follies of life and static despair Where is the bag of time wasted When do we trade this agenda for mourning Laugh and you shall see The tears that run through me For I can’t believe anymore I had faith but realized it was fruitless Time can heal but I still remain rootless Fly in the breeze to separate thoughts Grounded for life until I take flight Energize your procrastination to delay the inevitable Chaos ensues we are the idols of temptation

That is amazing

liked the last two sentences

Energize your procrastination to delay the inevitable. Wow great!

Wow!!! This is really great! Your choice of words is inspiring! (It makes way more sense than mine!)

What a nice exercise, I like how random it is. The results are terrible though 😀

mirror is a random word stars and rainbow windows the wet dogs sleep maroon Mr Swish is waterbottlishly pale I like to be sad sometimes is never as good as trees the lasagne contains the summer and Brutus runs as top speed drummer cats wail in narrow alleyways I like words radish radish softly blood when cavernous halls sing piano and the taste of iron my key hole is black chocolate leaves verbs are missing Jesus is not here today my mind spins spoons running time out of setting stage work and French class under the weapon shot Kenmare ink blood navy feather table blue glue sandwich green ocean cold my door is open splashing No! out of tune like the big fish and the past and the future we are laughing laughing still

Jeopardy, what’s this word A lot to think about this torn world He wouldn’t even talk to me A new topic to envy

Wishing upon my diaries I never went fishing with such families Climbing stories and craving lamenities Leverage powers of beauty custodies

I am a woman, or maybe just a girl Crying in depth for when I twirl With sentiments of a wiggly ride Slowing down with a sudden pride

Louminous hearts so bright as to see to jolt is to wander, an unending tavern While darkness hold to what it is told Lies the secret where truth never gets old

Shall I perish? How bout today? How bout tomorrow? Tired as the dog who journeyed restless Chasing the devil who stole sight nevertheless

Allow the highness to judge you of what you are Or what you could have done to save someone drowning

Its u and me today. But not tomorrow.

I do this fun exercise now and then whenever i didnt have the motivation to contine my WIP or there werent just any ideas coming up.

Reading my peoms, I sound smart ass to myself. It’s like reading something very fine and well thought – “Wow, those words are deep!” – but really there’s not much of an effort put there.

It really was fun and helpful.

Thanks, Joe

Spring like morning Dust like wind Feel your mind Wander within Think about The emptiness inside You will find nothing within.

Broken wings, like a strangling theme.

Wanting to be green, In a deserted dream.

The wings that I wear, Were once white and fair.

Now stained with despair, they look dark and glare.

Rubbing the stains, To get them off.

I end up realizing, My hands are also stained dark.

I love this idea and the freedom it brings. Here is what I strung together.

Maine bears eat ice cream From the hands of children To see if they will cry They lick it sweet and Suddenly find The tree and rope to hang it by The furry feet of mothers fretting Will keep us busy and fight for meaning in the night

Crazy but fun! Thanks Joe.

This is such a fun poem! Main, bears, and icecream? Oh my!

Boldly the endless nighttime waits

For tricking tears and synapse connections

Stop fearing It longs to hold you

To free you from your body’s

Fleshy envelope Break apart

Shatter in the glass and be free Darkness passes.

It feels so mysterious. I love the flow of this poem. Thanks for sharing!

I might have missed the point of this exercise by taking so long, but here’s what I wrote.

demolition garden fate a residue keeps its promise some people are far under sea I imagine their tents are ragged live to starve when she eats the fire bowly poley nobody likes me sad that sailboats aren’t more popular what a waste now, people don’t care salvo codec lips eat the rose thyme we live in a deceitful world where presidents are from TV where poetry sucks and the ends justify the means never say always, it always is never right so say the sunken swollen sorry sallow sot air at the mountaintop is thin but the sun can be beautiful on the clouds he with he and she with me how many hidden sets they give to them when their own did that with him and me she didn’t even reply to those dark deeds boat in the fog she leapt off as always, nobody cares air is filled with water matter is filled with me suck it and the morning and the evening were the twenty-first day.

I spent way too much time making it unexpected, but it sure was fun!

Apple. Alms. Rib cage nuns fall in the Dark of day looking for a way Today a heart thaws and hurts raw World blurs feel so small A doll on a staircase childhood memories like sand in my hand Words burns towards nothing low blow Angry frothing doe eyed Cocoa dark Honey in the night Rib cage tight pretty sight Mage bites a knife Circus call backstage brawl Crawl away skin bright tonight Black and blue and purple too White elephant fly high die specify Ivory burst sorts retorts shorts Reaching his knees these people Stones and moans groans in pain Worthless street rat in a fancy shy hat die in glory tell his story ain’t an allegory remembered by none no friends till the ends funeral flowers every hours sours his name sins weigh a ton everyone cries lies say they won’t forget about that I have my doubts. Someone shouts in the back Golden boy rusted never suspected Him of this sin never let it Rejected motivations dissected Like a frog in biology class That was never kissed missed So close to last year’s Christmas Laughs burn the tongue so young Last laugh worth frothing nothing If nobody to share it with.

Love board it happens Phone rings now Can marker paper love Water flowing randomly We are present We are absent Could I be that Picture flowers Girl getting moving dancing crying Where do you go Am I funny or am I not Is it real or is it not

Hello simmering thinking Eye arises clicks sees Silent tears no fear Heart strong quiet warrior stone Black white words shine fight conquer Breathe die live Bell rings toxic fume Mystical ramblings and foes Fantasy reality illusion. Dreams.

Kitten Birmingham fossils share Brimming torture fairly there Wither so the bees dew frown Spinning fruit from wayward cow socks and parrots collide until Fevers surging writing well Cancel pain from yonder square Fancy prancy all the daywear

This is a great idea for starters like me. Thank you.

Roar ocean loud You powerful prudent proud Dusk towards fire She goes nowhere Leaves burning astray I’ll love you today Tomorrow stars will play Dark fading day Fairies sing lilac tears I’ll wait years

Flower: of mine planted in the Ground: To grow and stretch and Beach: itself in a truly fine Wood: That aromatic substance is not Amiss: To a fresh pressed garment sprayed with Starch: A garment that sits up around the neck and chaffs the Chin:

I’ve got a terrible cold right now and my head doesn’t feel quite right, but I thought I may as well give this a go. It was very fun once I got into it! Here is my first one, not really sure where it all came from but I suppose that’s the point!

Stumbling tumbling with yet dawn lawn on shallow peaks some yet speak but some yet don’t humbling lounges spiraling peaks Who might Shoe might Shulamite miss With wide brass buttons and a harrowing kiss close quarters

“Shoe might Shulamite miss”

LOVE it! Are we talking Abishag here?

Exercise #3 The lights are out. The coffee has been drunk. The phone is ringing, The computer is on. The dog is snoring and so is the cat. The paper came The news was checked There’s a desire for dreams.

No great imagination here!

I love the passive voice here: “The news was checked”

So, here is something that I managed to write, using your prompt and my brain working with no expectations whatsoever :D.

Bridge monologue news anchor Lies and tries the fifth Heavy headset rumbling Pantless actor’s face Words blasphemy roll Fear the enemy no 1 Danger we all face Heartless jerk in mic Eyes empty on the cup Thoughts on a coffee sip News anchor sitting up Weather forecast amiss Raining lies wash away Truth in it’s making Realise the bridge monologue Of the puppets and a puppetier Strings and strands Pulled by the fifth king

Delightful smiles Optimistic Non-stop fun Take a break Wipe the few that escape Overwhelmed Rest your mind Replenish energies Youthful spirit Ignite a flame Make the most of the day Funny jokes Incessant laughter Never breaking Every day the same game

excellent is word you want to hear from people for you Pakistan is my lovely country: Mirror can describe you face not your personality, attitude, behavior and inner soul:

I don’t really know what does this means but I enjoy it:

Make it top Stop Evil drops Crops and the bots I care Bear the pain Cain ain’t rain Main system Get together Love it better Leave the mice Spaghetti Leave it I can’t Bear the pain You should know For you Closed

When I awake, I see the light And if I don’t, then it is night Too much tv is bad for the mind Just spot the difference Then you will find Love is blind But so am I Like a diamond In the sky I wrote this poem for you Because the internet told me to.

I wrote this in Messenger and immediately sent this to my sister. Ahhh well.

In a dark forest far far away from the truth. A deadly husband waits alone for his wife. Alone, and drunk in despair, dream terrors at night are his companions. And now the end is coming soon. Everything he wanted for his life was to receive some love, but now it is too late, all too late, all is doomed.

… A little disturbing but really fun to write!

Stop drop tired

blop glop ayer

what is that

this is so bad

crude brood

read and brood

tense happy angry and sad

all the reaction when I read

will they be there when you read

My violena major upgrade senior quality Ten thousand hore radishes eating popcorn why must I beg I shall not go to the zoo with monsoon rain brian burger main chimpzoobam chichichinese why must I be the source of misery misery alli oop Arcana my cana chi cana everybody jutsu ray say ray gun rain May scary play of course the dang blang demented as a hoodlum I acquire a plan tum Jump off the cow Into my arms You dog

Thanks a ton! this was amazing and fun! I always wanted to write something of this style and finally i got to know the mantra. here is something that I wrote just in five minutes. Thanks to you.

sound of the soul loud and clear shines so bright in the dark sky never blame it for your actions close you eyes and feel the sensation try not to tame it free bird flies high so does the soul far from the destination but closer to the realization breathe in breath out let the peace be all yours

I feel like I should print this and read it again from time to time.

I did this one a couple of days ago foe similar reasons(i felt stuck but wanted to keep on writting) I am at the edge waiting I know i must jump I want to jump But I pause There’s rocks down there My bones will shatter There’s water down there My lungs will falter But there’s also grass And a whole new life Maybe I wont die Maybe it wont hurt to crash I wanna jump I’m gonna do it So Help me god Faith as my fuel I can do it I’m doing it I jump

***** I enjoyed writting it. It felt like describing a dream.

Thanks, Mr Bunting! This exercise is fun indeed. It took a decade for my next ‘poem’. I’m weird at it, so here it is. 🙂

unserious this, please logger dee, logger done twisty legger gum lettuce risen, damage dome fractions munchies calleth sie Zed makes weatherly weasels in to the suncorn megadeers and teenage tentacles to whiperdone and tiny bababas riped with abstract peopees how is the glue Hank achieved? bristing breaching broth reacus propelled pud-ding liberation fungae, clouds of joy champion of life is tot pocket oh, the last escape! jurney knocked china ware spacege cracks inself wieseldorf a bee an a, a c through tyne enterprise euny pewney cow need a shrinky sauce brutalized canvas steer globe around is fear or is ith, dearling tooz? cangashnouze statues work pensil hack up underdust cut off the deal me a ninja skill

Greetings to all from Slovenia!

Grand new start Beautiful beginning Sunrise so peaceful Ready to work Writing at best Looking forward at the rest Same spirit of fluency Guided at best

Straining night Wine before dawn Cat goddess is the only oath Book stacks are craving for fire Peony blossoms yet nobody cares Illusion you saw Weaknesses I sought Fade away In the songs of white birds You are here, my darling, Wander in the wild

Lesson #3 writing practice assignment #2 “modernist poetry”

compare final plans with initial brainstorm prepare night fight right, is it delight? brisk frisk makes fakes angri-nervy singing ringing hinging binging etiquet music in my ears famous woodwind quartet there are no saints here, only strange and queer people from the steeple, who wait for the second shoe drop that gat Looey, watch out! it’s gone kablooey lotta hooey if you ask me take your “poem” and climb up a tree distract compact and also retract I break I bend here lies the end

Reworked this and I like it better.

Lesson #3 writing practice assignment #2 “modernist poetry” version #2

compare final plans with initial brainstorm prepare for night fight, am I gormless or gorm? brisk frisk makes fakes angri-nervy singing ringing hinging binging topsy-turvey music in my ears famous woodsy wind quartet beef steak and kidney pie, finger bowls and pretty etiquette there are no saints here, only stranges with not-a-clue-ish people from the steeple, waiting for the second shoe-ish to drop that gat Looey, watch out! it’s all gone kablooey if you ask me it’s a lot of hooey take this “poem” and stare at a fractal distract compact and also retractal I break, and broken I bend here lies welcome, this is the end

This poem is for my daughter who’s always curious with everything

Hovering into the screen Wide eyes, feelings melting into one Dawdling like a cat purring in the ground Screaming, gnarling feisty feline Up she rose, up she goes Totally immersed into the pooling water of depth How was she to know when the music stops? How was she to know when all things would last? She’s just there, staring, sitting into the bewilderedness She’s just there, feeling the tick of the clock of eagerness Now and then, the bell will rang But she would not bear the raging sound Alas! The time has come to an end! And then she stood again She prowled into me with eyes like diamonds Snuggly, relaxingly came into my embrace As I slowly uttered these words as I say “ What do you have been dreaming my dear?” “ Come here my darling” “ Let’s venture forth and sail”

smooch pooch when coffee quivers write out of sight down deep delving sleep hope for now unturning turn twist toasting tumble flip and sigh. Sleep short sweet shiver sleep soon surest shout ships and skips come shooting through a starless sky, bible black, and blue.

My love Your not alone Running in the the uphill battle I will be silent Till the day I die Take me somewhere nice Bring me the horizon Seize the day I see star My chemical romance Leave me blind My love I’d like to write a love letter in your arms I hate you, I love you I don’t want you Just give me a reason A war inside my head Broken open I’m yours Yet I’m still broken holding-on

Sanity Chaos Dreams Living life in what seems Spiraling up then down again Always moving never proving

Ive told that little girl before When you grow up this will be no more But here I am yet again Drowning Swimming oops..Suffering I promised her on many nights Those thieves would never steal her light I need to fix this make it right I promised her we would always fight.

I really don’t know what i came up with..!! 😀 may be a mordern rap. Here comes my first attemp.

Shape the wire practice at office

Door with the write privilege is the politics of the car

auto made of cabbage taking charge meet the idea of mid-brain

avengers of the scent shop is the pickup

app that chirp fan could walk cloth sing, spoon flap

motor of fish rain bike was a fraud

[bump horn] Sun just honked

Font that wireframe zoom at the article

contestant can check smile with smule

run for the missed ad be like a snail in Facebook

Phew said Phil from boomerang

He blew a thrill so slang

Confused so full of twang

Bulbous frills swing till I sang

So many pills in my hand

Crazy in love til I’m mad

To show how much good to the bad

Filled with surprise till I hang

Dead from the ceiling fan

That was fun!!

Muten gelingen traute Versagen

zeig nicht genügend

Sinn sinnieren transzendental

tausend brillieren versanden zum Ziel

ohne ein Leuchten Paläste und Schwärme

Sanftmut verwundbar zertreten im Staub

Großes gebären Brombeeren nur Mut

Taglicht gesendet rasch kräftezermürbend frömmelnd vergleichen

plaudern zum Troste Rüschen gereichen

…well, it’s German, my second try, but I certainly had fun and I loved most to play with the sounds – the most incredible words flowed out of me, interestingly many quite oldfashioned words that I never use in my day-to-day language. Wonderful! I take it as a beautiful wordfinder and certainly as a good practice whenever creativity seems to be sleeping 😉 Thank you!

Just amazing! is all I can say!!! this method relaxes that internal ‘perfectionist’– completely sacks it really. I kind of like my rendition…sort of poetic:

Picking Up Down It goes Where up your nose Silly as it seems to be Why ask what happened to me

Tip toe in the dawn tulips A blip goes blop and ends in slop Why whistle when the wind wildly wings where No one sings

Purple dermis does a do for you Far away it scatched and sizzled Sinking Rising over the rainbow Far Far Away working while we wink

This tis tarry til tall tail tell Signs sickly sink sound Down dares deeply distressed Crossword carries Carmel convenience

I think this exercise was great fun! Here’s one I came up with

Cant handle the night Hope is a nightmare Dressed in leather and steel Lace and taffeta laugh at the night Boots stomp on the moon Sheep smell the fear of the farmer

#1 hoorah lets get there somewhere to get free and have a bit of coffee and shall not have to pay the fee for everything there is free free

#2 waves of the sea always in motion they are always at work is everyones’s notion when there is a storm they are at commotion when you find that you are stuck up in emotions peace to the heart is what we get on observing the waves devotion

wire put fire truth pour lyre soar drier (i had to work so hard to not write higher over here) mere crier sheer liar pasty admire hasty prier

Foam scared blue Love you too Don’t dive in Love is mean Floor jump sky Feet can fly Disconnected My heart has fainted I wish it was worth it I wish I was worth it

What do you think? I have mixed feelings about it

Halo on high Silver stag midnight woods Time slows Bittersweet snowflakes hang Mutual missing Longing stinging wind Howl under night’s cowl

Wow. Reading all the poems here and then looking at mine= definitely not motivating 😉 I’m going to post it anyway though…

Fall candy sweaters Makes me laugh With sadness Pencils destroy me Coffee an addiction Of despairing minds Paper is linked with Letters and words unmanageable Glasses of kindness Fill my heart with joy Speakers speak with perfectionism Destroy me When people stoop Or slouch and bend So stand straighter

I dream as I lay From last night’s play I wore armor That feels warmer To fight the enemy And win for my army I shout in victory That has become history

this was a terrible one

I blink aim and target With knife that made me feel joy As clear as death Dad claim bed Shout stop gloom Laid slain in clean mid marsh Shave hand and claim bold Chomp stop and dance

Awesome exercise, perfectionism is definitely a force to contend with.

Mind tool freak teak speak geek Hello computer find me where you roam Ventually you step through the foam of life and home Recover not what you once knew but what you will Whereto are the masters of the abyss End of new comes strength and resilience Btw this is was supposed to be gibberish Foiled again damn creative mind

Here’s my poem using random words:

Folly fools eat forest leaves Lyrical leaves fall gushing blur confusing watchers Birds tweet longingly to distant hills Falling wings soar endlessly Fragile features form in tree tops amongst the clouds Dropping tender tears onto branches Sip my nectar slowly

Here is my try at it: Telephone mushroom giveaway morning eagle closet green danger value rose entry speeding blank tube window future whispering hidden modern trembles plastic jokesters parables onion storm demanding eternity venues zero mixtures nibbling honesty general spanning blowing thrust inclement product

Nothing could be more embarrassing than this one. But it’s fun, life is better when you’re laughing.

Water in Mumbai, Happiness sensation. Awkward moments! Formed creative bonds Made artistic expressions Experience art and architecture Different bond with passion A joyful trip captured. Work hard and travel, Wellness through satisfaction. Enjoying writing having fun! Forget limits and recapitulate childhood, Free as an infant, could go to everyone in the neighborhood.

Let me start by saying the last word of every line was the random word. Except for the last line, the last line is the name of the poem. And this is probably dumb sounding but it’s more of a KIDS’ poem, so it’s supposed to be weird and maybe funny. I don’t even know if it counts as a poem because the last word of every line doesn’t rhyme, but whatever. It’s more like a bunch of incomplete sentences… Well, here goes: UNFORTUNATE Heard Biscuit, my dog, Biscuit had my shirt. I had bed-head, Had slept in my closet. Ran into the sink, Last night at the skating rink. Got home on the bus, Sat on a pencil. Broke a mirror, And a doorknob. Tripped on a bouncy ball, Lost a yo-yo. Can’t watch TV. Popped some balloons. Found dirty headphones. My dog ripped a pillow, He tore up the grass, Messed up the rocks, Then chewed my sock, Ripped the head off my doll, Crashed my model airplane. But when he sits on the chair, I know I’m not totally, Unfortunate.

It’s true; it is a fun exercise! Here are the words I wrote down, and I did a bit of straightening up to them:

Ghouls smile to girls Like wolves they twitter Whitewashed curtains Behind wreaths and dolls

But teenage games Have copious spice Like a box of ginger and flowers Crumbs and cables Goad ghosts

But we worn-out tires Hair stiff split flat crooked and parted Await the amorphous death Bright as the moon

I enjoyed the exercise! Thank you for posting! Here’s my first attempt . . .

Bum with rum Tantalize your mind Bust a move, not original, but worthy of movement Sound-ra-la Post much sound waves, talk a lot Be free, run far – don’t get caught Smile with style and hitch it Beyond my dreams, I live Trees and stars Black as night, right as rain, clearly not original but descriptive Abate do not rate Something inside squirms Bringing the A back A time line stopped and reset Refresh to start over Again with the A Stoic empathy Brave beyond fear Sympathy sucks, love is real

I don’t know exactly why most of these things popped into my head. But they did. So here you go. Enjoy!

Apples! They shall rue the day For morning comes after night Red blood shall rein true For the night is young And we shall bogey to our hearts content Cease and desist all intrusions! For it takes only two to tango And one more to be rude Yay verily! For the day is short Shorter than expected Because it’s like that And that’s the way it is Pity the fool who’s never watched the A-team Ed Sheeran should be King of Westeros Spoiler Alert! This life weird Annotations are key Antonio Banderas is lord Shut the gates! Let’s do this! Logang for life Thank you #Pleased

Holy shower devours hours Mannequin brains strain until they fade Believable bars of sand can afflict the conscious Markers of grain make gains upon the day Optimist birds float upon dandelions of smoke Golden spires of ancient dust reflect unjust days

This exercise is amazing! Here’s my poem. Pineapple chair doodles peanut Can flair mixed poodle rut Dinosaurs weep Tiddlywinks sleep Day draws long of noodles or cuts Freckle Pickle Fun Page flip harness his slip Face diet checkers whiz hip Munch lid ponder Wide-eyes wander Doorknob squishes priss lip Peace Crease Run

I wrote this in the comments section. The starting of each line is the word I came up with. Then I fleshed out with minimal thought. Wonderful exercise thank you!

pain is inevitable life is complicated with hopeless promises curry stimulates the senses painting yellow stars in the brain strife fuels courage fueling greatness peel the skin of perfectionism and expose the priceless flaws foam bleeds white cuddling bubbles and picturesque mirage brain fiends optimum success but the line above average houses gold fight the fear of failure white knight throwing worded spears village like happiness no technology just you and the greenery procrastination insidiously creeps up on you, quick stop while your ahead vacuum your mind of negative thoughts barely stop and you’ll be a perfect writer!

duck boomerang never laughing

macabre brain riot

question volume tomb belonging

boom zoom doom and gloom

square leaping sawing bouncing boinging

quitting smoking in the morning

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Creative Writing Prompts

26 Remarkable Comments

Welcome to the creative writing prompts page! What you can find here is a MASSIVE collection of 63 quality writing exercises (basically, each one is a mini-story of its own, with a twist). This is going to be so much fun, and all while you improve your story writing skills.

You can find all kinds of creative writing exercises here. All of them are fiction writing prompts, and they cover almost every genre, plus you can find creative writing prompts about dialogue, characters, plot, for writer’s block, and much, much more…

Interesting Writing Prompts

This is not the usual stuff. I tried to make these writing prompts intriguing. Most of them are complete scenes and even mini-stories.

You can have them. Yes, you own all the rights, even if you base your entire novel on them and get it published and earn a million dollars for the movie rights. They are all yours.

To become a really good story writer, there is only one thing you need to do: Write! And these creative writing prompts should inspire you to write. They should fire your brain up and make your fingers itch.

With each of these prompts, you can train one specific aspect of your writing; either a genre, or your dialogue or story starter skills, etc…

Post Your Prompt

Also, pick your favorite creative writing prompt, do it, and post it in the comments! Let’s make this a page for everybody to share their creative writing. The more you guys comment and actually do these prompts, the more prompts I will add in the future.

Creative Writing Prompts PDF

To top it all off, you can also download these prompts. Find a neat PDF collection of all the prompts here:

Fun Creative Writing Prompts – Index

(Click on the genre to get to the prompts)

1. Romance Writing Prompts

2. Mystery Writing Prompts/Suspense Writing Prompts

3. Fantasy Writing Prompts

4. Science Fiction Writing Prompts

5. Horror Writing Prompts

6. Thriller Writing Prompts

7. Adventure Writing Prompts

8. Action Writing Prompts

9. Historical/Medieval Writing Prompts

10. Dialogue Writing Prompts

11. Character Writing Prompts

12. Plot Writing Prompts

13. Short Story Writing Prompts

14. Writing Prompts with Pictures

15. Writing Prompts for Writer’s Block

16. Story Starters Writing Prompts

17. Unusual Creative Writing Prompts

Bonus: Other Writing Prompts Websites

Writing Prompts that don’t suck: List of Writing Prompts

Romance writing prompts.

[ Read detailed tips about how to write a romantic scene her e . ]

Writing Prompt 1:

On the night before his marriage, Robert gets a visit. It’s Rachel, the girl that grew up next door and has been his best friend ever since. They had always pushed back any feelings for each other, “we are just friends.” (Yeah, right…!).

Now Rachel bursts into is home in a last, unexpected try to convince Robert he is marrying the wrong woman and she and he are meant for each other. But a ceremony for 150 guests is already arranged. After a lot of passionate talk and tears, Rachel gets him to agree to a game: “Can you guess what I would do…?” They both jot down 10 questions plus their hidden answers. Whoever can guess more of the other’s answers right, wins.

Will Rachel win and they will spend the night on a bus, escaping the wedding? Or will Robert win and watch devastated Rachel walk off into the night, frustration in his heart and tears in his eyes? You decide!

How you can make this scene shine:

Make the scene captivating by showing the reader why these two are meant for each other: Let them remember what they appreciate so much in each other (show, don’t tell), the special moments they shared, show the missed romantic opportunities, and how they complement each other perfectly.

Your reader will hope and fear with them and be hooked to your scene like it was her own love story.

Writing Prompt 2:

Gwen and Christopher have been married for 20 years. One night Gwen finds bright red lipstick on the collar of his jacket. Infuriated, she grabs one of his golf clubs, and swings at his car till it looks worse than a bicycle under a freight train.

When she is exhausted and breaks down crying, Christopher can finally explain what happened: Christopher had been with his Chinese language student group. They all had been on their way to a Chinese restaurant for a change, and it had been raining. He lent his jacket to one of his Chinese language students to protect her from the rain. That’s when the lipstick got on the shirt.

Will Gwen believe him and end up sobbing and relieved in his arms? Or will she not believe one word and soon continue with Chris’ Chinese porcelain collection? You decide!

Leave the reader in the dark about why the lipstick really is on the jacket as long as possible, keep the suspense vibrant. Describe Gwen’s pain and the destruction of Chris’ beloved car in energetic detail, so the reader will live with them as if it was their own (heart and car).

Writing Prompt 3:

King Kong, the giant, roaring ape, falls in sweet love with his female counterpart, Queen Kong. While he was terrorizing New York, she was keeping Chicago on its toes. They meet for a date somewhere in the middle, in a dreamy forest (burning trees instead of candlelight, etc…).

They share a romantic dinner (living cattle, farmers…) and discover their common interests: They both love tearing down skyscrapers, putting police cars on top of billboard ads and eating humongous bananas. And oh, don’t even get me started on the sex…

Will these lonely apes form a bond that helps their love survive against all odds/outer resistance? Or will the egomaniacs in them gain the upper hand and tear their love apart? You decide!

How do you express your love when you are a hairy monster the size of a skyscraper? What would be different, what would be absurd? Emphasize the strange contrast between tender feelings and a gigantic physique. Your reader will find their obstacles very different, but equally painful to his own, and love you for it.

Writing Prompt 4:

Lucas has fallen in love with his dentist. His teeth are very healthy, but he is coming into Jasmin’s practice for the third time within three months, in the hope he will be capable of asking her out in a quiet moment, when nobody is listening.

Unfortunately, the doctor has three assistants and one secretary, and even the door to the waiting room doesn’t look too soundproof… Lucas feels like he is on stage in a Shakespearian comedy. Jasmin, on the other hand, lightly makes fun of him, calling him a hypochondriac.

Will Lucas finally have the balls to follow through with his plan? Or will he have to come for a fourth time? Will Jasmin sense what’s up, and will she be attracted or just annoyed? You decide!

Emphasize the contrast between the nonchalant everyday business of the doctor and her assistants, and Lucas’ timid desire to ask her out. Whatever angle he takes, he is running out of time and of Jasmin’s professional attention. How does he feel? Describe his troubled inner life, and your reader will identify strongly and feel for him.

Additional Romance Writing Prompt:

Also see the SF bonus prompt here . It’s a double prompt for two genres, romance and science fiction.

Mystery Writing Prompts/Suspense Writing Prompts

Writing Prompt 5:

Animal-loving Naomi is at her parents’ holiday home. She is observing a small hut at the forest edge. A van shows up there on three nights back to back. Each time, it seems to pick up something. Naomi sees dark silhouettes sneaking around with flashlights.

One night she decides to sneaks closer, and through a gap in the curtains sees a stack of antlers and fur: She has discovered the sinister doings of poachers. Will Naomi alert the police, or will she be so furious she decides to act on her own? Will she stay undiscovered once the van’s headlights show up on the hill? You decide!

Make the readers wonder “What the heck is going on…?” as often as possible, it will make for a suspenseful story. Show how kind, smart and brave Naomi is, so readers fear for her life. Then make the bad guys come.

Writing Prompt 6:

Paris, 19 th century: Detective Beaumont follows his suspect Forestier, who is wearing a long trench coat. He believes Forestier to be the long hunted for “rose murderer.” That murderer always leaves the rare rose variety “Farewell” on his victims’ bodies. The rose can only be bought in one shop in Paris, and if Forestier walks to that shop today, it is almost certain he is the murderer.

Indeed Forestier’s ways lead him to the flower shop in question. When he comes out, the detective follows him into a narrow street to arrest him. He lays his hands on his shoulders, but once he turns him, he sees that it’s not Forestier – he has been played! The real Forestier must have left the flower shop through a back door, and is now up to who-knows-what…

Will that second person have another trap in store for Detective Beaumont? Will the detective get to Forestier before bad things happen? You decide!

Get into the detective’s head! Show his enthusiasm about finding the long sought-after murderer, his doubts, his shock at the discovery! Show the looming danger he is in. It will make for a terrifyingly good scene…

Writing Prompt 7:

Jeremy has a neighbor whose wife has been missing for months. Jeremy is sitting in his living room, watching a documentary about the most beautiful graveyards of the world. It says that the human body and bones are excellent fertilizers and make plants grow like crazy.

He looks out the window and that huge, blooming rose bush in his neighbor’s garden catches his eye. It’s elevated on a small hill of loose soil, and it’s even more striking, as the rest of his garden is barren ground. Suddenly, Jeremy remembers that the name of his neighbor’s wife is Rose…

In this scene, a lot is happening on a mental level, and little on a physical level. Dive into Jeremy’s somber thoughts and his shocking suspicion. But at the same time, remain some outside stimulus going: E.g. Describe images of the documentary, the landscape of the garden, a clock striking ten, etc… It makes for a well-balanced scene.

Fantasy Writing Prompts

Writing Prompt 8:

The four goblins Hukput, Paddycest, Nixxle and Klozzik are on their way to the cave of the Redwing dragon Isidur. They carry a delicious moore rabbit steak with minty potatoes. They plan to present it to him as humble offering of submission, but in reality the dish is soaked with a sleeping potion so they can rob his enormous pile of golden cups, chains and ducats. Will Isidur smell the bait? Or will his loud snoring fill the cave while the goblins hastily get away with as much gold as they can carry? You decide!

Describe how the deceitful goblins try to get suspicious Isidur to devour their dish. Which tactics do they employ? They are so small, and the dragon is so powerful, but will they nevertheless outsmart him? Describe the wide, majestic nature of the landscape and the cave. Tricky and powerful creatures as well as moody sceneries make for a great fantasy story.

Writing Prompt 9:

Magician Axius is potent, old and absent-minded. He wants to put a spell on his best cooking spoon so it should cook his favorite meal, chicken with sweet pepper. But he gets a detail in the spell wrong. The spoon starts to brutally attack all of the chickens in the patio.

Which unlikely places does the spoon go to while Axius is after it? How does Axius make his way through the terrified flock of chickens? And which spells does he use when trying to calm down his good spoon? You decide!

Time to try some “cute,” homespun fantasy! Lay out the small worries of a big magician. Even he needs to take care of overexcited pets and unruly household goods some time. It’s just that he has more powerful ways to deal with them…

Writing Prompt 10:

Two bored dwarfs, Onyx and Hafax, guard a castle’s entrance. They get into an argument who can throw stones further. While they prove their skills to each other, unfortunately a stone hits a giant who is sleeping in the castle ditch. She comes after them furiously. Will she smash their surprised faces to porridge, or can the resilient dwarfs talk her out of it? You decide!

Show the simple, but competitive nature of the dwarfs. They feel strong and then suddenly very weak… Describe the frightening power of the giant. Show your readers a world of many wonders that only exist in fantasy.

Writing Prompt 11:

The ogre Grawczak is invited to a talk show about strange creatures. Believing in the best intentions of TV and eager to help make races understand each other better, he accepts. The vicious questions on air take him by surprise: “Why do ogres smell so bad; don’t they care other people are disgusted?” and “What does human flesh taste like?”

Will Grawczak just freeze in face of the bright studio lights and endure the process? Will he let them provoke him and look really bad? Or will he just eat the moderator with some spices? You decide!

Describe how helpless the big ogre feels in face of the media. Contrast it with the sensational malice of the moderator. If you can paint the ogre as a likeable being, your readers will root for him strongly. If only we understood ogres better, the world would be a more peaceful place!

Science Fiction Writing Prompts

Writing Prompt 12:

It’s an intergalactic poker tournament. Different races from different galaxies have come together. On one of the tables, the only players left are Froggosaurus, The Big Dust, Rhonda Seventeen-Tentacle and the Red Snailman.

Snailman is doing really well, too well for Rhonda. She suddenly reaches out behind his ear and pulls out a mindreader chip! Will the angry players grill Snailman, or will he be able to flee? Maybe an angry/apologetic dialogue ensues that ends with a bargain? You decide!

Writing Prompt 13:

In 2230, humans have conquered Mars. Automated skytrains run through its red desserts. One of these is stopped by a technical glitch at rush hour. The doors are stuck. When the passengers hear the voice of the control system robot through the loudspeakers, they realize the full extent of the disaster…

The system has come to the conclusion that it’s now superior to its creators, and it is planning to take over. It will open the hydraulic doors for the passengers and allow them to leave, under one condition: They have to chain three programmers in the group to a grabpole in the train and leave them behind. It becomes obvious that the system wants to eliminate the last persons that could still endanger its rule: The most talented programmers…

Will the passengers yield to the insane robot’s demand in order to save their lives? Will they try a trick and risk it all? You decide!

Writing Prompt 14:

Zwooshers look like fluffy, pink, door-high pet giraffes – you just want to cuddle them. But their looks are deceiving! They are actually plundering, reckless space pirates.

In the meeting hall, their captain Haab (eye patch, ruffled plush fur, wooden foot, spacemaid tattoo…) holds an inflammatory speech to hype up his crew. They are about to take the freight space ship that showed up on their radar. The ship must carry at least 65 tons of wood shavings, and Haab wants to take them all!

The crew is all hyped up and ready to go, when Haab trips over his wooden leg and falls off the stage. It looks pretty pathetic for a heroic leader. Will the crew just take this as a sign that chaos and plundering can now ensue, and storm forward? Or will this end the captain’s authority and make the horde want to feed him to the Spacephins? You decide!

Writing Prompt 15:

In 2075, the company Cryptofreeze™ offers the simplest, most effective method to time-travel into the future: They freeze your complete organism and defrost you after the desired period of time. Raul Morales was president of Payadua for 12 years. The laws state that he can’t run for office again for the following 4 terms (24 years). His solution is to get frosted for that period.

He is unfrozen in a big televised show that is transmitted directly into the communication chips of the population’s brains. The show features his frozen body in a transparent casket, lasers, dancers, etc… It should be one huge campaign appearance for the upcoming election.

His rivals do their best to make him look bad though: They smuggle in their own audience to boo and ask the wrong questions, they sabotage the lightning, etc… Will they succeed in derailing his campaign, or will Morales’ reputation shine brighter than ever before? You decide!

Bonus Prompt 16: Romance/Science Fiction Writing Prompt

But Cryptofreeze™ also attracts clients with a completely different set of problems: Henry loves Leila and is sure she is the girl he wants to be with. The problem is that she is 19 and he is 58.

Write two scenes:

Henry wants to talk to Leila and finds her on the running track (where the inner track travels less distance than the outer track, but they are still running side by side…). They jog next to each other, which painfully exposes their age difference. He confesses his love to her, she tells him she can’t live with the age difference, and he tells her he has booked his spot with Cryptofreeze™ and that she should make sure she will be free in 30 years. They say farewell in tears.

Henry is unfrozen, but something has gone horribly wrong: Because of a technical failure he has been frozen double time, for 60 years. Leila is now 79, while he is still 58. Roles are reversed, but it’s not as fun as it was supposed to be… Devastated, Henry visits Leila in her nursery home. She is kept in a large metal box, taken care of by robots who drive her out into the garden once per day.

Will they rediscover their love for each other, or will the circumstances have changed them too much? Will the thought of having missed out on all that precious time just kill them? Or will the make the best of it and find happiness? You decide!

Writing Prompts PDF

You can download a complete collection of all the prompts on this page on a neat sheet. Save them for whenever you need them! Enter your email here for your PDF of printable writing prompts:

Horror Writing Prompts

Writing Prompt 17:

Joanna has won a vacation weekend in an old castle. Not many guests are there. Wandering the wide halls, she learns about Count Brookhart, the 16 th century owner of the castle. He stole another nobleman’s wife, started a war, and was beheaded. He is rumored to be roaming these halls as a ghost. The castle’s ancient chronicles state that he will only be redeemed if a living woman kisses him on her knees. Sounds pretty strange, doesn’t it…?

At night, Joanna gets up to look for the bathroom. She only hears wind; a book falls from a shelf out of nowhere. And these heads on the old portraits all seem to turn after her…

She looks into a mirror – and freezes. Behind her is the Count, his eyes beseeching her for a kiss. And she would have to kneel to kiss him, because he is carrying his head under his arm, blood-dripping… Does Joanna feel like redeeming the count? What will happen if she does/doesn’t? You decide!

Describe the setting, the emptiness and the uneasy details. Let Joanna wonder what is going on and show her fear. In the end, go for the terrible shock effect!

Writing Prompt 18:

Gina’s beloved cat Tiger has been feverish and dizzy lately. At a fair, Gina sees a tent with a sign “Voodoo Healings $5.” Inside, she finds an old, hunched woman. She sits down in a strange chair with split rods, and her hair gets caught. The hag speaks a spell and gestures with her hands, then motions Gina to leave.

Outside at the fruit stands, Gina suddenly feels very sick, and it occurs to her what her hair could have been used for… Will she return to demand every single one of her strands back? Or will she already feel too sick and go for a more extreme solution? Will the old woman be gone or deny everything? You decide!

Don’t describe Gina’s fear, but instead describe what makes her scared: Show details of the witch’s looks and how the witch acts, describe Gina’s physical condition. Show how awful it is not to know where the horror is coming from. It will make your readers feel it strongly.

Writing Prompt 19:

When Lucy comes home, she finds her daughter Luna sitting on the floor sobbing, surrounded by broken glass. Luna has just smashed every single mirror in the house. She tells her mother that she saw ‘The Eater’ appearing behind her shoulder in the mirrors: Some dark silhouette that was coming to take a huge bite out of her.

Lucy tries to calm down her hysterical daughter, and is already going through a list of psychiatrists in the back of her head. In the evening, after cleaning up the house, she is applying make-up to go out for an important business dinner. Suddenly she notices huge black teeth appearing behind her in the little mirror…

Will Lucy shake it off as her imagination running wild? Or will she smash the make-up kit? How will she try to save herself and her daughter? And for how long can you avoid mirrors, which surround us… everywhere. You decide!

Have you ever had the feeling that you don’t know what’s going on? Pretty unsettling, right? Give disturbing, moody details about the silhouette, its appearances and effects, but don’t explain the why this is happening. We don’t know why terrible things happen to good people. And that’s scary.

Writing Prompt 20:

Zombie apocalypse has arrived. TV stations finally have the audience they deserve… For the zombies, it’s one huge party, and the humans are desperately holding onto their arms and socio-economic systems.

Four zombies are robbing a bank. Their advantages: Bullets don’t bother them, they really don’t need masks, and they have a natural gift to scare the shit out of the employees. Disadvantages: They are just so damn slow. Imagine a bank robbery in slow motion, and a couple of limbs falling off the robbers on their way out… Will the rotten gang get away thanks to their ‘Shock and Awe’? Or will the guards be quick-witted and find a way to protect themselves and attack? Where is the hunt going? You decide!

Show how absurd this scenario is. How is it different from an ordinary bank robbery? Think it through, and you will get to a couple of interesting scenarios.

Thriller Writing Prompts

Writing Prompt 21:

Jeff is the bloodhound type of a prosecutor. He is currently prosecuting the big ice cream company “Freezelicious.” They are accused of using harmful ingredients. Since Jeff took on that trial, he has been having the feeling that somebody is following him. Yesterday at the gas station, today during the break at a restaurant, and now this Mercedes has been behind him for 20 minutes.

He makes two daring and illegal maneuvers with his car, but just as he thinks he got rid of the Mercedes, it appears in his rearview mirror. He parks at a shopping center and disappears into the bathroom. After a while, the Mercedes driver comes in, and Jeff smashes him against the wall and starts to interrogate him. Turns out the guy isn’t sent by Freezelicious, but by their cheaper competitor Mega Cream. They want to make sure nothing bad happens to Jeff, because they are afraid Freezelicious wants to get him out of the way. Will Jeff just be pissed and throw the guy out? Or will he be secretly grateful? Has Freezelicious indeed planned an assassination? You decide!

Write Jeff’s inner dialogue in short sentences throughout the scene, and alternate it with action bits. Let him wonder whether somebody is following him (yes, no, yes, no) and what they could want. Show his anxiety and uncertainty.

Writing Prompt 22:

Seems like Amanda’s new co-worker Gregory does not waste any time: On his second day in office he asked her out. She declined, and the next week he asked her again with flowers in his hand. She explained he wasn’t her type, no hard feelings.

Today, when she leaves her house, she finds a shocking image: Somebody nailed her cat to the trashcan! In tears, she pulls her lose and buries her in the backyard. On the bus to work, dreadful thoughts race through her head: How can a human be capable of doing something like this? Did Apple suffer for long? Was it just some cruel and mindless kid? Is she in danger? And did she forget to close the bathroom window…?

At work, Gregory sticks his head into her office: “So how is your cat?” he asks… How will this terrible poker game continue? Can Amanda keep cool? You decide!

Again, get into Amanda’s head and play with her uncertainty. How would it make you feel if your co-worker was a dangerous maniac? Grief, terror, vengefulness, remorse… you can draw from all of these strong emotions.

Writing Prompt 23:

Herbert wants to call his son Gerd in from playing in the garden. But he only finds Gerd’s teddy with the head missing, and a note to bring 100,000 € to the Zombie House at the amusement park. If he informs police or doesn’t pay, he will get his son back like his teddy…

Four days later, police are waiting outside the Zombie House, while Herbert roams its eerie corridors, with a backpack filled with 100,000 €. Suddenly, out of the dark, a moldy looking hand grabs his backpack, while his son appears at the end of the corridor. He lets the backpack go and walks towards his son, who suddenly disappears… Will a wild chase between zombie masks ensue? What is waiting in the dark? Will the kidnappers notice the police, and what will they do then? You decide!

Uncertainty and mood! Describe the horrible thoughts of a father fighting for his son. Describe the dark, frightening atmosphere of the Zombie House. Here, your worst nightmares come true…

Adventure Writing Prompts

Writing Prompt 24:

An expedition into the jungle has gone wrong. Desmond is an intrepid, bearded explorer who set out with his team to explore the tropical wild. But they got caught by aborigines.

Then something strange happens: Affectionately, they are asked to put on shoes made of parsley and onion necklaces… Seems like these aborigines are hungry.

Jungle-smart Desmond knows their best bet is to make themselves look toxic. He orders his team to rub violet berries and black roots all over their bodies, to punch a couple of each other’s teeth out and to writhe and babble like an insane person. Will the wild tribe be disgusted, and what will they decide to do with them? Or will they just laugh and proceed to produce a tasty casserole? You decide!

Writing Prompt 25:

Four women are stranded on a small, rocky island. To their dismay, the boat they came in is leaky. The extreme situation makes their masks come off and exposes the true nature of each one:

Ellen freaks out. She blames Ruth for booking a damaged boat and Mary for forgetting to take walkie-talkies with them, even though she had been in charge of equipment.

Ruth can’t stop sobbing, she is pale and shaky and can’t be moved from the rock she is sitting on.

Mary tries to bring all of them onto the same page, so they can work together. She holds Ruth in her arms and sings to her.

Bethany makes a list of possible actions to take and tries to assign tasks to everyone (look for food, try to repair boat, look for material for smoking signal, etc…).

Describe the group dynamics. It could be an upward or a downward spiral. Will the women work together and find a way out of this? Or will they become worked up against each other and start to fight? Will a rescuing boat show up once they are at their lowest point and make them all feel shocked about themselves? You decide!

Writing Prompt 26:

Tobias and Rafael, two colleagues, are trying to reach the top of a mountain in the Himalayas. They are close to the peak, but Tobias knows it’s too dangerous to continue. Once they reached the top, it would get dark and cold, and the descent would be very dangerous. He decides to turn around, but he can’t get Rafael to come with him.

At night he is in his tent and hears Rafael asking for help over the walkie-talkie. The poor guy is sitting high up there in a freezing cold cave without food, and it’s not clear whether he will survive the night. Will Tobias risk his life for a colleague who has disregarded all safety rules? Or will he just encourage him over radio and pray? Will there be calm conditions the next day? You decide!

Action Writing Prompts

[ Read detailed tips about how to write an action/fight scene her e . ]

Writing Prompt 27:

Alfredo is a celebrity cook who loves the good life. That’s why he owes the mafia money.

One day, two gentlemen shaped like bull dozers in suits pay him a visit. They quickly surround him and send him friendly reminders to pay with their brass knuckles and baseball bats. But Alfredo is quick and flexible. He rams a cucumber into their ribs, then quickly jumps over the big counter in the middle of the kitchen.

The weapon of a cook is food… He throws some butter at their feet, so they slide and stumble, and scatters pepper into their eyes. Howling, disorientated and furious, they speed in opposite directions around the block. Alfredo quickly jumps onto the counter, and coming from opposite directions, they crash into each other like colliding trains and stay on the floor unconscious. Alfredo goes on to cook a celebratory cake.

Will the two suddenly wake up and go for Alfredo again? How will he get their heavy bodies out of there? Or is this won already? You decide!

Mix the threat and pain of the cold-blooded torturers with quick dynamic phrases of action (verbs of movement; commas not full stops; graphic descriptions).

Writing Prompt 28:

Prison break time is the best time of the year: Hector, Axl, and Hans have been digging their way to freedom for months. Tonight, they lift the tiles for the last time, hastily crawling through the narrow tunnel. Stuck in the middle, they hear an alarm going off. How were they discovered so quickly? When they block the tunnel behind them with earth and debris, it feels like filling their own graves.

They hear guards crawling after them while rapidly digging the last tunnel part. Once out in the forest, they run! They discuss splitting up, but Hans refuses. They hide in trees, but are discovered by police quickly. They jump into a river, hearing police dogs behind them. Flushing down the river, a waterfall comes up. Whaaaam, freefall! Surely no policeman or dog can follow them here, so they feel safe finally! Until they are washed right into the arms of police waiting at the shore… How is that possible?

The cops have handcuffs for Hector and Axl, and a towel for Hans, who takes a tracker out of his sock… Will the other two try to strangle him? What will be his reward, and how could he have the guts to betray his companions? You decide!

Make it a big surprise and mystery how the cops always know where they are. And give us a taste of what it feels like to be human prey: Use short, quick, hectic sentences to give a sense for the quick pace of the hunt.

Writing Prompt 29:

The “Three Apples” hospital is in flames. On the 9 th floor, nurses Jenny and Linda try to save the babies of the preemie ward. The way downstairs is already blocked by flames, and there is only one way left: Up!

The girls are on the rooftop with the babies, and Jenny brought a container, and a sheet they use as a “cable.” She ties one end around a chimney and sails over the gap onto the neighbor building with a blood-freezing jump. They push the babies safely to the other side one by one like on cable cars, until only Linda is left. But she has major fear of heights, and now the babies are safe, her body has time to panic. The flames come closer.

Will Jenny be able to help her out with another trick? Will she find her courage, or will a helicopter rescue her at the last moment? You decide!

Babies and puppies are your best pawn! Make your reader fear for these helpless little creatures, and fall in love with their brave and quick-thinking helpers. You can heighten that effect by giving the girls very distinctive personalities, and showing their inner struggles. They are no superheroes, they have to earn this!

Historical/Medieval Writing Prompts

Writing Prompt 30:

The middle ages. One of the famous “morality plays” is played in the village. These are basically thinly veiled guidelines for the people on how to behave. This one is for kids though, and very short to allow for their attention span. It tells kids how to behave properly, so mom and dad will love them and they won’t go to hell.

The play features Adam, the good kid, clean and in white like an angel; and Roger, the bad kid, looking nasty in rugs and always misbehaving. Several allegories are also around: Obedience is a thin figure in a long, flowing dress, always looking down. Diligence is a muscular guy with rolled up sleeves and leather apron; Adam tries to be like him, while Roger bites his leg. In the end, Adam is showered with candy toys and even a pet calf, while Roger gets a bloodletting and an ass-whipping. But suddenly the kids in the audience start to cheer and stamp: The calf has lifted its tail and peed all over Adam!

Do the kids get their own morality out of that play? How will the director and authorities turn this around to keep them in line? Will independent thinking or order prevail? You decide!

Create a couple more figures for the “play within the play.” If you constantly switch between the reality of the village and the reality in the play, it will make for nice variety. Get creative on both ends!

Writing Prompt 31:

Francis is a troubadour all girls have a crush on, kind of the Justin Bieber of the 12 th century. He has been courting charming Amalia night after night under her window. Tonight, he sings her his romantic poem “Thou Art the Bellows of Mine Heart.”

Amalia is enchanted, but soon rumbling is heard in the house: Her father has woken up, and that usually leads to him chasing Francis around the house with a rolling pin. He is a wealthy merchant and doesn’t approve of her tie to a penniless poet. The rumbling becomes louder while they speak.

Finally, merchant Robertson rips open the front door and screams up at his daughter: “What happened to the rolling pin!!?” Turns out Amalia has wisely hidden it… Will merchant Robertson get even angrier now? Or will he be charmed by his baby’s wit? Will he do damage to her poor suitor? You decide!

Love is in the air, so describe how and why these two are sighing/yearning for each other: The longing, the flirting, the plans. Draw from romances in your own life, because love never changed throughout the centuries. Disrupt that romance with an angry, drowsy man for great effect!

Writing Prompt 32:

Ancient Rome: On a big “forum” (square), a slave auction is held. Huno, a big, muscular Alemannic slave in heavy chains is next in line. Gaius, a newly rich plebeian, wants to acquire him so he can wear himself out on his construction sites by pulling heavy blocks. Gracelanus, a town clerk, would treat Huno much better and use him as a body guard.

Huno is ordered to demonstrate his power, and he breaks thick logs of wood over his thighs. Gaius lets out humiliating comments like “Work it, proud animal!” or “All the brains are in his upper arms.” He gives him the whip several times to test his resilience. Gracelanus, on the other hand, remains quiet, only to applaud the demonstrations.

When the bid goes to 800 sesterces, these two are the only bidders left. Gaius is hesitating for a moment, and suddenly Huno turns to the side of the stage and lets a heavy log fall on Gaius’ feet. Screaming and swearing, Gaius jumps in circles, while the bid goes to Gracelanus. Will Gaius accept his defeat, or will he get back at them? If Huno is provoked further, can he keep his cool? You decide!

Slavery is disgusting to the modern reader. It has an even bigger effect, if you, the author, don’t judge. Just present the auction as everyday life. Huno’s humility to his own fate, Gaius’ cruelness… try to describe it without emotions.

Dialogue Writing Prompts

Writing Prompt 33:

Punker girl Samantha (pierced tongue, “Anarchy” tattoo, etc…) is detained for stealing a skateboard bit by bit from a sports store (wheels first, then axle, etc…). Her attorney George is a seasoned vet. At his office, he tries to explain to the stupid brat what’s about to happen and what he wants her to do in front of court: Explain that she had just been bored and curious how to dissemble a skateboard, wanting to prove herself, and that she would have brought the complete skateboard back. Samantha is not too concerned about all of this and wishes the old man was a little more chill.

Write their dialogue and show how differently they speak about their agendas, different words they use, tone, rhythm, etc… Will George hammer some sense into the teenager? Or will Samantha stay unimpressed and make him lose his cool? You decide!

What it’s good for:

It’s important your characters’ voices sound different from each other. This exercise trains you to give each character their distinctive voice.

Writing Prompt 34:

Greta has lent her pick-up truck to her cousin Iris to transport some furniture. Unfortunately, a little accident happened: The truck perfectly fit around the pillar of the gateway.

Iris enters the kitchen, where Greta is cooking. At first, she is afraid to confess and wants to cheer up Greta’s mood with some enthusiastic compliments. She hesitates and finally confesses.

Greta is busy and hectic when Iris enters, to get dinner ready before guests arrive. She is happy to see Iris return and asks about the furniture buying, then wants to rush her out of her kitchen. After Iris confesses, Greta feels like everything is going wrong on that day and becomes hysteric. Will Iris be able to calm her down? Or will the two women get into a big fight, just before the guests arrive? You decide!

This scene takes the two protagonists through a rollercoaster ride of emotions. It will train you to always let your characters express their feelings and to insert a lot of emotions into your scenes.

Writing Prompt 35:

Fibby & Fozzy are twins. Their mom has died recently, and their uncle Gerald wants to trick them out of the largest part of their inheritance. He just presented a new, fake will that would only leave them a small heritage. They discuss what steps they could take against their uncle’s scam, and they speak about it at their mom’s favorite place on earth, the zoo.

Show them walking through the scenery in a way that the animals provide some subtle subtext for whatever they are talking about. E.g. when they talk about how ruthless their uncle is, they watch a lion tearing his meat apart; when they talk about how they love their mother, they are watching a cute baby panda, etc…

This should improve your sense to connect what your characters are talking about with their environment. Adding a bit of subtext is easy and makes your scene deep and rich.

Writing Prompt 36:

A popular comedian sits on a park bench. He is the type that shocks and amuses his audience with outrageous ideas. A bum sits down next to him. The comedian asks the bum for change. Is this just a lighthearted joke that will ease out into a philosophical discussion about humanity? Or will the bum be seriously offended and react? You decide!

Train your characters to sound real with this one. When the erratic, playful, ruthless comedian clashes with the tired bum, you can lend your characters raw and realistic voices.

Character Writing Prompts

A. Writing Prompt 37: Shading

Jeff is a very analytical-thinking stock broker; people call him cold-blooded. Sheryl is an elementary school teacher with a big heart. Andy is an always positive and slightly naive flight attendant.

Describe their characters and add one trait to each of them that doesn’t look like them at all. Describe why they have this trait.

Giving your characters an unexpected trait is called “Shading.” E.g. the wealthy, stingy man, who often gives to charity, so he can have the feeling his life has more meaning. If the unexpected trait makes sense, it will give your character a lot of depth and make her look very three-dimensional.

B. Writing Prompt 38: Description

Romeo is a young private detective who dresses like a college boy, with baseball cap and saggy clothes (excellent disguise!). Lana is a stressed restaurant manager. Hannah is a street-artist selling her artwork on a busy corner.

You are having coffee on a lazy Sunday afternoon and are observing each of them separately. Describe their looks, clothes, movements, etc…, so we get a sense for who they are.

Train to describe your characters with this one. Give your readers a sense for who your figures are, simply by listing observations about them. This is pure “Show, don’t tell!” and satisfying for your reader, as she feels like the observer herself.

C. Writing Prompt 39: Backstory

Mariella is an arrogant high-society lady with an expensive fur coat and a little poodle. Henry is a pickpocket with the body language of a beaten dog. Susan is a “speedy reporter,” always driven by the desire to get the latest news first.

Describe their backstories in a couple of sentences each: How did they grow up? What are their biggest fears and desires? What made them who they are? How were they hurt?

This prompt will get you into the habit of rooting your characters in a strong backstory. It will make them look as embraceable as your best friend.

D. Writing Prompt 40: Behavior

Hans is a funny hot-dog street vendor who likes to entertain his customers. Tia is a tax inspector who always welcomes expensive jewelry from companies. Laura is a waitress who is really good at making her customers feel welcome.

Show us how each of these characters would react to the following situations: Somebody carelessly shoving them on public transport. An acquaintance (not friend) asking them to borrow some money. Finding a beautiful rare snail during a bike trip.

Here you are letting your characters act out of their distinctive personalities. We all react very differently to the same situations. Let your figures express themselves!

Plot Writing Prompts

Take the following words and construct a story plot around them. Use them in any order. Describe a short plot summary. Try to add something: Characters, locations, subplots, details, twists. The more you add, the more colorful your story will become. The only rule is that you must use all of the words. Slashes mean you can pick between words.

Writing Prompt 41:

Suitcase – traffic jam – star – contract – drug – celebration – stairs/piano/autograph – beggar – apple

Writing Prompt 42:

Library – rodent – love/hobby/fanatic – magic – flowers – legend/fairy tale/rumor – birthday pie – clock

Writing Prompt 43:

Monastery/Brewery/Pet shop – breeding – tears – wheel – green – rebel – friend – cozy/thick/dirty

Writing Prompt 44:

Cigar – anger – policeman – pill – polite – celebrate/encourage/humiliate – husband – double-edged

Short Story Writing Prompts

Writing Prompt 45:

James and Agnes are throwing their engagement dinner. James’ ex Dina is invited too. Secretly, she still loves him and hates Agnes. During the dinner, she spreads the rumor that Agnes scammed her boss Dimitri out of money/cheated on her fiancée with several of her co-workers/infected people at her office with some disgusting disease. At the after-dinner reception, Dimitri shows up unexpectedly, which leads to really awkward situations for a couple of people.

How will the guests look at Dimitri, Agnes and James? Which awkward misunderstandings and accusations will it lead to? Will somebody clear this up and get Dina kicked out, or will James lose all his trust in his fiancée? You decide!

Writing Prompt 46:

Bruno and Benedict are two kids selling lemonade at their street stand. It’s not going well. A stranger in a trench coat, with a wig and huge sunglasses stops by. He offers to buy all of their lemonade, if they do him a quick favor: Over there on the park bench, a guy with a big sports bag/lady with an expensive jewelry necklace/businessman with a black briefcase is sitting. They should threaten him/her with the knives they use for cutting lemons, and bring him the sports bag/necklace/briefcase. He says it’s a prank for a TV show.

Will the kids agree, and will they actually pull through? If yes, will the wigged guy escape untroubled? Or will the little ones be smart, maybe talk to the guy/woman on the bench? You decide!

Writing Prompt 47:

Randolph is a casino supervisor. He has a crush on that new croupier Lara. Lara on her part has a plan to take her own extra salary from the casino… The two stay after closing hours and get into a risky game: They will play one hour of roulette. If Lara wins, Randolph will turn a blind eye in the upcoming month while chips “disappear.” If James wins, Lara will sleep with him.

Who will come out in front? Or will they call it a draw and declare two winners? And how will the dynamics between the two of them develop during the game? You decide!

Writing Prompt 48:

Gary has been sleepwalking lately. When he wakes up in his bed, he doesn’t remember where he has been, but he finds oily car parts/squashed chocolate/earthy bones in his bed (depending on the genre you want to write in).

Gary’s nephew Walter is working at the car repair shop/chocolate factory/graveyard of the village. Gary asks him to stay at night after his shift, and observe what he is doing in his sleep. But is it even a coincidence Walter is working there? Is Gary subconsciously trying to tell his nephew something, to warn him, help him, or even sabotage him? Will Walter discover something funny or terrible, and can he even tell his uncle the truth the next day? You decide!

Writing Prompts with Pictures

Write a story around the following image:

Writing Prompt 49:

Writing Prompt 50:

Image: Interior Design/Shutterstock

Writing Prompt 51:

Image: LaCozza/Fotolia

Writing Prompt 52:

Image: anibal/Fotolia

Writing Prompts for Writer’s Block

If you are troubled by writer’s block, try one of these exercise. You will find your mind flowing freely again.

Writing Prompt 53:

Think of a very happy day in your life. Describe what happened on that day and how it made you feel. Were you anticipating it when you woke up, or did you have no idea? What did the people around you say or do?

Just write and don’t overthink. What you write really doesn’t matter. This exercise is designed to get you excited and get your juices flowing, and that’s the only thing that matters.

Writing Prompt 54:

Hansel walks up to Gretel and asks her if she wants to go to the lake with him. She says yes. They dance off into the sunlight.

The most commonplace plot in the world. Your job is to write the entire scene as badly as you can. Uninteresting characters, predictable dialogue, action that makes no sense… Please make sure to mess it all up. The worse, the better! If everybody who reads it cringes, you have succeeded. And if you want, send it to me, and I will tell you how awesome it is you finally got back to writing: alex at ridethepen dot com.

Writing Prompt 55:

Pick the window that’s closest to you right now, as you read this. Look through it. Describe what you see in detail!

For this exercise, completely turn around at least one of your writing rituals: If you usually write at a desk, write on the couch or the floor; if you usually write by computer, write by hand; etc… The new approach will give you a fresh start.

Story Starters Writing Prompts

[ Read a post with 31 ways to start your story here . ]

Write a story starting with the following sentences:

Writing Prompt 56:

Anderson knew Amanda as a cheerful person. But on that Wednesday, when she came into the office, she was carrying a big basket, and she looked really sad.

Writing Prompt 57:

Kai looked up at his scary task. This was the craziest thing any contestant of “Where there’s a will, there is a million” ever had to do. It was because he was first! Nobody had ever gotten one step from the million…

Writing Prompt 58:

“Once bitten, twice shy.” That’s all Emma could think while looking at handsome Luis and his bullterrier with the huge jaws. “Once bitten, twice shy.”

Writing Prompt 59:

The day Iggy came into Jasmine’s life, the postman rang twice. That was very unusual, and the reason why it happened was unusual too.

Writing Prompt 60:

Getting stood up at the altar is every bride’s worst nightmare. But what if it happens the other way around? On the day of her wedding, Sophie was nowhere to be found.

Writing Prompt 61:

“I’m so happy, Uncle Albert!” Priscilla screamed into her cell phone as her train was speeding towards London. At that moment, nobody knew that a far-reaching confusion would take place on the train soon.

Unusual Creative Writing Prompts

Writing Prompt 62:

Imagine you are a dog. Now tell me about a day in your life from your perspective. How do you spend your time? Waiting, going for a walk with your owner, hunting a cat? Which emotions do you feel? What concerns you, what makes you happy? What matters? What do you want? Follow your wet snout and describe a typical day.

Writing Prompt 63:

Kurt and Sarah are neighbors in the same building, and they are arguing in the hallway. Kurt thinks he lent Sarah three eggs she never replaced. Sarah claims she replaced them a long time ago.

Emma, an elderly lady, passes by and feels obligated to join: Sarah owes an egg, but it’s just one. The two of them tell her to keep walking, as it’s none of her business.

Erin, a student, passes by, and tries to get all of them to make up in the name of peaceful neighborhood.

Charles, a stressed dad, shouts at all of them to shut up.

Finally, the police comes by and issues a citation against all of them because of public disturbance.

Describe this absurd scene, in which each new participant tries to resolve the quarrel, but tops it up by one additional level. What a mess! Show the good intentions of every party, and how the dialogue finally draws them into the argument. Have fun!

Creative Writing Exercises PDF

You can download a complete collection of all the prompts on this page on a neat sheet. Enter your email here for your PDF of printable writing prompts:

For Your Consideration…

Check Out These Interesting Writing Prompt Pages As Well:

The Wealthy Writers Club features a list of over 100 very creative prompts (most of them are short ideas).

26 Remarkable Comments. Join in!

26 Comments

Hey Riders,

I wrote this sometime back, and thought it’d be best if I shared it with y’all. I’d already gotten a review from (the amazing) Alex, and he encouraged me to put it up here for all to see. Anyway, hope you like it. comments and recommendations are welcome (positive, and if cutting, then constructive).

Happy riding!

P.S. I had some of the stuff for Gwen’s inner dialogue written in italics… not so sure how to do that here, though. Hoping you will get the drift though. P.P.S. This is prompt #2 ————————————————————————————————————————– Gwen sat at the dining table, sipping her coffee, choking back the bitter taste it left in her mouth. Not as bitter as what I am feeling now. She gazed at the large window that would fill the house with glorious, golden light on bright, sunny days. Now, the storm that was raging outside clouded the skies, and the panes dripped with rain whose fate was sealed. She sipped at the coffee, and swallowed painfully, forcing the black liquid to pass the lump that had formed in her throat, and fan out hotly behind her heart which she felt sure was turning to ice. By the window was Chris’ seat. His wickerwork chair he had bought from China during a trip with his student group. She snickered. How long did he think I was not going to find out? Idiot. She sipped at the coffee, and swallowed. The jacket she had bought for him was sprawled on it. Prime leather, as black as sin. And his heart, too. Twenty years of loving the man poured into buying that jacket, only for it to be poured out like spent coffee grounds. She sipped at her coffee, and looked at the clock. Two minutes past six. He always left the bathroom at two minutes past six. As if on cue, he walked into the room, clad in his thick cotton bathrobe. “Whew, what a day it’s been!” he sighed, slipping his hands into the pockets of the robe. Gwen chose not to listen to him; her attention was fully on the jacket. “Sweetie, is there any more coffee? I need the warmth,” he continued, before his voice became as smooth as oil. “Or will you substitute the coffee?” “Why have coffee, when you have the option of green tea?” Gwen sipped at her coffee, slowly turning to face him. His rich brown eyes were puzzled for a moment, before the corners crinkled in amusement. That did it. She flung the coffee mug at him, and he ducked just as fast. The mug exploded on the glossy white wall, coffee streaming down it like rotten blood from a sore wound. “How dare you find this funny?” she screamed, rising up and walking to the wicker chair. She picked up the jacket, sodden and heavy, and tossed it at him across the length of the room. “Explain that, Chris. Explain why you would do this to me!” “Sweetie, what do you mean?” His voice was filled with worry, fear; did she detect a slight quiver? He turned over the jacket, then his eyes widened in realisation. He knows I know, the lying bastard. The lipstick on the collar, red as his neck would be in a few minutes. “Honey, I can explain…” he started, but Gwen could not bear hearing him call her that. How many more has he called sweetie, or honey? She screamed, anger almost blinding her. Or was it the tears? The hurt? She couldn’t say. “Chris, how could you? Twenty years is nothing to you, is it? All we’ve been through, all we’ve faced, and you decide to have it with a whore. A whore, Chris! A slut whose name you can’t even remember!” She picked up a fine porcelain vase Chris had gotten for her birthday. “Gwen, please, calm down, and I can explain everything.” His tone wa soft, almost pleading. Pleading for forgiveness, which I won’t give today. She flung the vase at him. either he didn’t see it coming, or was slow to react. The vase shattered against his head, the shards burying deep into the thick black locks of his hair. He cried out in pain, then crouched down low. Gwen felt a shocking stab of triumph. Why am I enjoying this? “Gwen, what’s gotten into you? Trust me, it’s not what it seems!” Chris got up, a tiny rivulet of blood oozing across his forehead, into his left eye. “Give me a chance to explain everything!” “As far as I know Chris, you have never gotten into me, for as long as I can remember, and you decided to, what’s the word, get ¬into someone else.” She picked up a golf club from its bag – his bag – next to the chair of iniquity. She glowered as she saw him cower back in fear. “Gwen…” “No, Chris, this isn’t meant for you, though the thought of crushing your cunning serpent, along with his nest of eggs, would greatly satisfy me.” She saw his neck muscles cringe at the description. “Gwen, please. I can explain everything – JUST GIVE ME A CHANCE, WOMAN!” She screamed, a feeble attempt at drowning him out, before pushing past him and running out of the house, through the door and into the rain. She spotted his car; his beloved Kia. Did he do it in our car, with that slut? She yelled in anger, anger that seemed to seep out of every pore and element of her being. A scream she felt must have been last used by a Viking berserker; primal and raw. She smashed in the window, the shards mixing with the rain like diamonds. The next swing landed on the bonnet, denting it and taking a big scrape out of the primer. The third shattered the windscreen, and it fell like a delicate fractal plate of ice. She stopped counting after eight, and by the time she was done, the rain had soaked the interior, the system console was cracked, and the steering wheel was awkwardly askew. She was taking in deep gulps, gasping for air. It’s cold, invisible barbs poked at her throat, mixed with the taste of coffee, rage and blood. She realised she had bit her lip, and the blood was dripping onto the wet driveway in big splotches, mingling with the rain. Chris came up from the dry safety of the porch. If he was angered about the car, she couldn’t see it. She began to sob, and fell to the paved driveway, too exhausted to keep standing. She felt Chris’ warmth, smell and presence surround her. “Gwen, it’s alright. Just give me a chance to explain, please.” “I told you, no, Chris. I can’t keep on living if you were to leave me for another.” She let out another sob, and suddenly felt cold. She held on to Chris, even though he was as drenched as she. Still, she needed to feel if he was real; the Chris she knew would never cheat on her. “Gwen, I was with my students, and for a change, we decided to go have our classes at Wong’s over a light lunch.” His voice was soothing, comforting, real. She pulled him closer. She needed that reality more than anything. “The day began so wonderfully, Gwen; the sky was as blue as your eyes, and I felt it would be best to wear the jacket, and think of you and us.” Now my eyes are red, and puffy. Could he still want me? She felt his tender hand push away wet strands of her hair from her face. She didn’t want to look at him; the very idea of seeing his lips mention that he had slept with another woman – or one of those students? – revolted her. “When we were leaving, it started to rain, and I had to make sure my students got home dry and safe. I gave Nessa my jacket – you remember Nessa; she came to see you at the hospital – to cover herself as we walked to the bus stop. I saw her off, then rushed to my parking spot at the café we always use for our meetings. She had some lipstick on; she was from a date with her fiancé before the class began. It must have rubbed off on my jacket” He wrapped her in his big arms, and she could smell the fragrance of the soap he had used. “I swear, I would never walk out on you, Gwen. Never.” “But I had a miscarriage, Chris. Twenty years, and no children. I thought you didn’t want me anymore, now that we can’t have children…” she sniffled, pushing back the memories of the hospital. The smell of antiseptic, green walls, overly sympathetic nurses… the pain associated with them haunted her still. Haunting me to a point where I’d think my husband would never love me? Yet here he is, with me in the rain, even though I’ve smashed our car to pieces. “Chris, I’m sorry I could never be the wife you wanted. You always wanted kids, even before we got married, you’d say how much of a father you wanted to be. Because of me, you can’t have that dream become a reality.” She began to cry, before Chris gently shushed her. “Before I wanted kids, I wanted you. And as long as I have you, Gwen, well – this is cheesy, but – I don’t need anything else. You’re the most perfect, most amazing woman I know. You are the wife I’ve always wanted.” He chuckled at his feeble attempt of professing love. She found herself giggling. He had always made her laugh with his corny declarations of affection. Probably that’s what I’ve always about him; he is real, and honest, and true. “Can we stay here a bit longer?” She nuzzled up to him. “We haven’t done this since college; our vain attempt at recreating The Notebook.” “Oh, yeah; remember when we almost got struck by lightning?” He laughed, and Gwen smiled up at him. What more could I ask for?

Hey Eddie, good to see you posting this here, because… somebody has to go first, right?

And like I wrote to you via email, this is a great piece of writing. Love the psychology, the dynamics and the details. Plus, you have a wonderful feeling for metaphors, similes, images, etc… Nice!

So who’s next…?

I want to post my prompt and to get it published too. I have two prompts I have finished writing.

Sounds good, just post your prompts here in the comments. Go for it, I’m curious to see what you have got!

Alex, these are the best ever!

Prompt 52 I think is my favorite. Two of the subjects I enjoy are stone-age fiction and science fiction. What nice marriage that prompt brings. Oh, hmm, maybe there could be a real one in that story, seed and egg age difference of 40,000+ years and still viable. No, I gotta quit now. Too much on my desk to handle immediately.

I’ll try to come up with a good prompt in perhaps a week. Kinda busy here at the moment.

Number 16, perhaps Cryptofreeze™ could have a companion, Cryptoflow™ to un-age. Wouldn’t that be really something, the two of them keeping on missing each other by several decades; ironing out their schedule and venue misunderstandings and trying again.

Eddie, I’m going to come back and read yours.

Thanks, Will! Oh, you are thinking along the lines of a love child in space and stone. And number 16, yes, that would be awkwardly tragic and funny. Imagine the thought of just waking up from a couple of decades in the freezer, slowly learning to move your limbs again, and buying some flowers to show up at her doorstep – only to learn that you have to do the freezing all over again…

I know, these exercises take more time than the prompts I usually publish in my posts. But when you are ready, I would love to read yours.

Hey, Alex, writing writing prompts is hard. I feel an urge to keep writing rather than stopping at the prompt. When I promised I’d make one, many days ago, I didn’t know what I had let myself in for.

Your blog sends me a copy of every comment posted on this page. They’ve served as prompts to write a writing prompt.

Writing Prompt # (no particular genre):

He knew he shouldn’t do it, even as he did it. But it was too delicious a thought to be abandoned. It simply had to be created to share with others.

It was a bad, bad habit, he had. A divine idea would arrive, an idea so clear and insightful and, well, full of awesomeness, that it must be manifested. Somehow. And the first step in the direction of that “somehow” was to make a promise to do it. Not a self-promise that nobody else knows about and is easy to neglect, but a promise to someone whose goodwill was important.

As expected, he did it again, true to his habit.

Immediately after he stated the promise, making it irrevocable, he had a sinking feeling.

Your assignment, dear reader who is also a writer, should you choose to accept it, is to unveil the promise and the consequences the poor bloke experiences because of it.

And now, Alex, let me make another promise. That I’ll write a short little story from one of your prompts. Perhaps the cave man prompt I mentioned earlier.

Hey Will, it happens to the best. Your prompt now is to take your time and write whenever you are ready. It doesn’t have to be very long, btw. Sometimes a couple of imaginative paragraphs create a great story in the reader’s mind.

Well, if it happens to the best, then I must be the best, right? 🙂

This story simply would not cooperate. It refused to become a “stone-age human meets space-suited human”. And insisted to finalize at 1700+ words.

Be all that as it may, here is what the story insisted it must be.

=====================================

Wzzt, the Martian

If they were translated, the whistles and grunts would have meant, “Wzzt, it has been decided that you will welcome the interlopers.”

Wzzt’s protest sounded like a wounded pig. A foreign listener would not have been much deceived.

——

“Base, I see tracks.”

Mars. Every dream, every night since he could remember, from little boy to adult at expedition training, Sam dreamed about Mars — although he could never recall specific details. And here he was.

“Well, I hope you see tracks. You’re following Opportunity’s path.”

“No, these are light tracks on top of what the dust storm left way back in 2018. Round, about the width of my hand, with marks that might be toes or claws.”

“Well, take some pictures and we’ll figure it out when you get back.”

Joe smirked, thinking his trainer was making a fool of himself. On this, their very first mars external operation. He gloried in anticipation of discrediting Sam. Joe had seen the tracks, too, but Sam reported it to base before he had a chance to do so. For once, he was happy not to be first.

It’s impossible, of course, Sam thought. Decades of satellite and robot explorations had proved Mars habitat is inimical to life more complex than bacteria. The track must be something else.

Sam and Joe, trainer and trainee, proceeded along Opportunity’s path, approaching the base of a cliff. In the shadow of the cliff, the two stopped short.

Sam forgot to draw a breath until his body reminded him.

“Base, there is a creature in front of us. It is about half my height with a roundish body, no neck, three short legs with feet that could have made the tracks we saw earlier. It waddles. And it is slowly approaching us.”

“Shit. Pull your weapons, but don’t shoot unless you are in danger. Raise the gain of your mikes. And activate those external speakers we were told we had to have.”

The thing waddled to a comfortable distance, about five times its own height.

It said, “The first humans have arrived on Mars.”

Joe, wanting to be first with the asounding fact, reported, “It speaks English!”

Sam thought, “Shit. This one has tech.”

He followed his thought with, “Base, it played a recording of our arrival transmission to Earth. On our very own comm channel!”

Base responded with, “Yes, we heard it. It seems we have a spheroid waddler with enough tech to intercept our radio transmissions to Earth, record them, and play them back to us on our comm channel. What the hell is it!”

Joe felt deflated. “Well, it did speak English!”

Base ignored Joe, following Sam’s lead like it always had during training and practice.

The thing said, “It speaks English! Base, it played a recording of our arrival transmission to Earth. On our very own comm channel! Yes, we heard it. It seems we have a spheroid waddler with enough tech to intercept our radio transmissions to Earth, record them, and play them back to us on our comm channel. What the hell is it! Well, it did speak English!”

Base told Sam, “That was not a recording. The same voice repeated what all three of us said. There is high intelligence.”

The things said, “Wzzt.”

Base, “What the hell was that!”

Sam, “Base, I think it refers to itself, it’s species or perhaps it’s name.”

Sam bent his knees, pointed at himself, and said,”Sam.”

The thing raised one of its legs and clumsily pointed at itself. “Wzzt.”

“Base, it seems that it’s name is however that word is pronounced.” Sam chuckles and continues, “Maybe we can introduce vowels to its language.”

Wzzt used a leg to point at Joe.

Sam looked at Joe. Joe was shaking.

For the millionth time Sam wondered how Joe got past the psych tests this mission put them all through. Maybe somebody really was bought off, someone who knowingly endangered the first manned mission to Mars by letting Joe slide into the team.

Sam activated Joe’s speaker and said, “Joe.”

Wzzt said, “Sam. Joe. Follow me to my cave,” turned around, and started waddling back the way it had come.

Sam grimmaced as the thought about psyche tests flitted through his mind. An utterly irresistible compulsion contrary to his innate sense of integrity had compelled him to ensure without doubt that he would be posted as head of Mars External Operations.

Sam said, “Base, it originated something. None of us ever said ‘Follow me to my cave,’ or at least not on a radio. It must have learned by listening to us.

Base, “Follow it. But carefully!”

Sam hurried forward, saying “Yes, Base.”

But Joe didn’t move. He seemed to be rooted.

Suddenly, Joe yelled, “It’s an abomination! Humans are the only intelligence! I’ll rid the world of this mad disease!”

Joe raised his weapon to do just that. Base, alert, deactivated it before it could fire.

Base, “Sam, proceed. Please be carefull. I don’t want to lose you.”

Base continued. “Joe, stay where you are. That is an order. Sam will accompany you back to base on his return.”

Then, “Sam, this is private. As you suspected, there were psyche test anomalies. Confirmation came in just before you met Wzzt, however that thing is pronounced.”

“I realize you have no first contact training,” Base continued. “Who would have thunk you’d need it; here, of all places! Use your own judgement and do what you think is right. If we delay for a partner to join you, this opportunity may be lost.”

Wzzt led the way to the cliff.

“Base, there’s a small hole in the cliff, behind a jut and under a rock shelf. Surveilance would have found it only by being within sight on ground level.

Wzzt held up a foot, a clear signal to stop. Then pointed his foot toward the hole.

“This is my cave.”

Wzzt lowered its foot, re-balanced itself, and continued, “If you come in, radio is lost.”

“You are welcome to come in.”

“Base, you heard Wzzt. It is civilized enough to give me a choice. I’m going in, if I can squeeze through that hole.”

“I don’t like this, Sam!”

“Base, you gave me authority.”

“Agreed.”

Wzzt entered the hole.

When Sam entered, it seemed as if the hole expanded to let him through.

Once inside, the light was dim. But he sensed it was a large cavern.

When his eyes adjusted to the dim light, Sam got a surprise. There was Opportunity, taken apart; but not haphazardly. The pieces were laid out in an orderly fasion, each piece labeled.

A dozen creatures of Wzzt’s shape were standing along the wall.

“Base,” Sam started. Then remembered he had no comm signal.

Two of the creatures along the wall stepped forward with an apparatus, setting it near Sam. A dial was turned.

Wzzt said, “Radio found.”

Tentatively, Sam says, “Base, Wzzt tells me we have comm.”

“Clear and no distortions, Sam.”

“Base, Opportunity is in this cave. Taken apart. By experts. No wonder we couldn’t find it after that dust storm. I’ll send you some visual.”

“Sam, are you okay? There are a lot of Wizzes in that cave.”

“Base, they are friendly. They provided the unit that established our comm from within the cave.”

“Sam! Joe has moved. He is running toward your cave. He’s going inside.”

Joe popped through the entrance hole. He grabbed Sam’s weapon, pointing it at Wzzt. Before Sam had a chance to react, Wzzt shriveled into char.

Sam launched himself toward Joe to take him down.

Suddenly, he halted in mid-flight, suspended. He didn’t and couldn’t move. Neither could Joe, being frozen in a leaning-back defense stance. The two were in a static space of some kind, a total absence of motion.

One of the creatures walked over to Wzzt’s ashes and collected them with a deep bag on a handle reminisent of a butterfly net.

The creature waddled over and forcefully put the bag over Joe’s head all the way down to his shoulders.

In less than a minute, the bag was removed and Joe was able to move. He almost fell down, then regained his balance.

When Joe spoke, it was Wzzt’s voice, “Sam, I am Wzzt. The Joe entity forfeited its right to exist when it tried to take my life.”

The Wzzt/Joe bent, straightened, and twisted, as he got familiar with the new body.

“Humans have strange bodies.”

Then from the radio, blared a frantic, “Sam! Base is lifting! The rockets are firing. According to the instruments we’re headed for rendezvous with Orbiter.”

“Sam, we have no control of the rockets or our trajectory.”

“Sam? Are you there? Talk to me!”

Sam desperately wanted to respond. But he couldn’t move. Nor could he make a sound.

“Base, this is Wzzt speaking through the body you knew as Joe. The life essence that was Joe is no more. It used its every effort to kill me, reducing my body to ashes.”

“We will no longer tolerate you and your kind on or near our planet. Except Sam, who we have chosen to learn from.”

“For decades we have watched you and learned about you. Monitoring established your Earth citizens to be capricious and destructive, at odds with each other, and focused on individual benefit, a mad melee reminding us of the animals that finally reduced themselves to extinction on this very planet you call Mars.”

“Do not come back. If in the future Sam wishes to return to Earth, he will be provided with transportation.”

The communicator was removed and Sam’s stasis was released. He noticed his gun was fully charged. He felt normal, healthy, energetic.

He looked at Wzzt, who was still becoming familiar with his new body.

“What now, Wzzt?”

Suddenly, with a silent, thunderous mental bang, Sam remembered everything.

Wzzt said, “Now you remember, friend Zzzt. Your mission was a success. It will be a long time before humans land on our planet again. We will be fully prepared.”

Sam/Zzzt suddenly felt awkward in his body, but quickly regained control.

In a moment, Zzzt emitted whistles and grunts that meant, “You know, friend Wzzt, they really are a strange species. There is little cohesion.”

Zzzt looked around. All the creatures in the cavern, his people, his friends and some new ones, were ringed around him, one leg raised pointing at him in a silent salute.

Will Bontrager

Oh how strange we have become. We are the aliens.

That was a fun read, Will!

All of those writing prompts sound fun and wonderful. it is going to hard to pick just one to write on.

Thank you

That’s great to hear, Bruce.

Have fun with them!

Really useful…. 🙏thanks

Awesome! You are welcome!

Thank you for all the great resources. I am new to writing and have written a couple of pieces for the Show don’t Tell section on your site. Cheers, Tilly

Kayla was a talented piano player Kayla Vlasov sat at the grand piano, her back straight, her delicate hands poised on the shiny black and white octaves. The audience in the front row noticed how Kayla’s legs hung demurely from the stool, her feet barely reaching the pedals. Kayla’s expression was focussed. Nothing else existed when she was about to play the piano. With her right index finger, she struck middle C. The vibration went through to the audience’s marrow and sent a shiver down their backs. Thunderous applause. This would be an evening to remember.

Winny felt shy Winny held her mother’s hand, as they walked through the gates of Newtown Primary School. A teacher with a warm smile and auburn hair bouncing along with each step came towards them. The child hid behind her mother, wishing she could disappear between the folds of her skirt. Warm tears gathered in Winny’s eyes and she lifted her other hand to her mouth, hoping the teacher wouldn’t notice her quivering bottom lip.

Hi Tilly, these are excellent!

Not only do you “show” what’s the matter, but these are also fun pieces full of atmosphere.

If anybody is wondering where the prompts come from, it’s this post about “Show, don’t tell”: https://www.ridethepen.com/show-dont-tell/

Thank you Alex for the great prompts

You are welcome, Maria! 🙂

I would like to use Freezelicious. For a villain name.

Sounds like evil ice cream!

Lol it is. I want Freezelicious. To be a villain in a spy book I’m writing.

I really have a problem with prompt 24 on the adventure prompts. It feels very dehumanizing to indigenous peoples to portray them in that way and it perpetuates harmful stereotypes. I would suggest removing it because it is insensitive.

Hi Jessica, your comment is heard, but I would consider this excessive political correctness, of which the world already is seeing too much nowadays.

Everything is a stereotype – especially in a writing prompt! Your job as a writer is to then lay out a colorful story that draws the reader in, precisely because it’s so far away from any stereotype, which makes it interesting.

Looking for something else?

Hi Alex. Paragraph

I live in a senior residence and have taken on the adventure of coordinating a creative writing group. We have completed a year and I am very enthusiastic about the level of commitment and effort the students have put into all the assignments. This coming year we will be offering to include more people in the group. but since a number of people will be returning I have been looking for some different kinds of exercises to prompt and teach the students.

The prompts seem like a splendid opportunity for all the people in the group to try their hand without having to create new material right off the bat. I will let you know the kind of responses I get. Thanks for putting this together

Hey Pat, sounds great, I imagine in a senior residence people have plenty of time to write. Plus, you are living next door to your critique partners. Would be interesting to hear what came out of it and which prompts were used the most.

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11+ creative writing guide with 50 example topics and prompts

by Hayley | Nov 17, 2022 | Exams , Writing | 0 comments

The 11+ exam is a school entrance exam taken in the academic year that a child in the UK turns eleven.

These exams are highly competitive, with multiple students battling for each school place awarded.

The 11 plus exam isn’t ‘one thing’, it varies in its structure and composition across the country. A creative writing task is included in nearly all of the 11 plus exams, and parents are often confused about what’s being tested.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that the plot of your child’s writing task is important. It is not.

The real aim of the 11+ creative writing task is to showcase your child’s writing skills and techniques.

And that’s why preparation is so important.

This guide begins by answering all the FAQs that parents have about the 11+ creative writing task.

At the end of the article I give my best tips & strategies for preparing your child for the 11+ creative writing task , along with 50 fiction and non-fiction creative writing prompts from past papers you can use to help your child prepare. You’ll also want to check out my 11+ reading list , because great readers turn into great writers.

Do all 11+ exams include a writing task?

Not every 11+ exam includes a short story component, but many do. Usually 3 to 5 different prompts are given for the child to choose between and they are not always ‘creative’ (fiction) pieces. One or more non-fiction options might be given for children who prefer writing non-fiction to fiction.

Timings and marking vary from test to test. For example, the Kent 11+ Test gives students 10 minutes for planning followed by 30 minutes for writing. The Medway 11+ Test gives 60 minutes for writing with ‘space allowed’ on the answer booklet for planning.

Tasks vary too. In the Kent Test a handful of stimuli are given, whereas 11+ students in Essex are asked to produce two individually set paragraphs. The Consortium of Selective Schools in Essex (CCSE) includes 2 creative writing paragraphs inside a 60-minute English exam.

Throughout the UK each 11+ exam has a different set of timings and papers based around the same themes. Before launching into any exam preparation it is essential to know the content and timing of your child’s particular writing task.

However varied and different these writing tasks might seem, there is one key element that binds them.

The mark scheme.

Although we can lean on previous examples to assess how likely a short story or a non-fiction tasks will be set, it would be naïve to rely completely on the content of past papers. Contemporary 11+ exams are designed to be ‘tutor-proof’ – meaning that the exam boards like to be unpredictable.

In my online writing club for kids , we teach a different task each week (following a spiral learning structure based on 10 set tasks). One task per week is perfected as the student moves through the programme of content, and one-to-one expert feedback ensures progression. This equips our writing club members to ‘write effectively for a range of purposes’ as stated in the English schools’ teacher assessment framework.

This approach ensures that students approaching a highly competitive entrance exam will be confident of the mark scheme (and able to meet its demands) for any task set.

Will my child have a choice of prompts to write from or do they have to respond to a single prompt, without a choice?

This varies. In the Kent Test there are usually 5 options given. The purpose is to gather a writing sample from each child in case of a headteacher appeal. A range of options should allow every child to showcase what they can do.

In Essex, two prescriptive paragraphs are set as part of an hour-long English paper that includes comprehension and vocabulary work. In Essex, there is no option to choose the subject matter.

The Medway Test just offers a single prompt for a whole hour of writing. Sometimes it is a creative piece. Recently it was a marketing leaflet.

The framework for teaching writing in English schools demands that in order to ‘exceed expectations’ or better, achieve ‘greater depth’, students need to be confident writing for a multitude of different purposes.

In what circumstances is a child’s creative writing task assessed?

In Essex (east of the UK) the two prescriptive writing tasks are found inside the English exam paper. They are integral to the exam and are assessed as part of this.

In Medway (east Kent in the South East) the writing task is marked and given a raw score. This is then adjusted for age and double counted. Thus, the paper is crucial to a pass.

In the west of the county of Kent there is a different system. The Kent Test has a writing task that is only marked in appeal cases. If a child dips below the passmark their school is allowed to put together a ‘headteacher’s appeal’. At this point – before the score is communicated to the parent (and probably under cover of darkness) the writing sample is pulled out of a drawer and assessed.

I’ve been running 11+ tutor clubs for years. Usually about 1% of my students passed at headteacher’s appeal.

Since starting the writing club, however, the number of students passing at appeal has gone up considerably. In recent years it’s been more like 5% of students passing on the strength of their writing sample.

What are the examiners looking for when they’re marking a student’s creative writing?

In England, the government has set out a framework for marking creative writing. There are specific ‘pupil can’ statements to assess whether a student is ‘working towards the expected standard,’ ‘working at the expected standard’ or ‘working at greater depth’.

Members of the headteacher panel assessing the writing task are given a considerable number of samples to assess at one time. These expert teachers have a clear understanding of the framework for marking, but will not be considering or discussing every detail of the writing sample as you might expect.

Schools are provided with a report after the samples have been assessed. This is very brief indeed. Often it will simply say ‘lack of precise vocabulary’ or ‘confused paragraphing.’

So there is no mark scheme as such. They won’t be totting up your child’s score to see if they have reached a given target. They are on the panel because of their experience, and they have a short time to make an instant judgement.

Does handwriting matter?

Handwriting is assessed in primary schools. Thus it is an element of the assessment framework the panel uses as a basis for their decision.

If the exam is very soon, then don’t worry if your child is not producing immaculate, cursive handwriting. The focus should simply be on making it well-formed and legible. Every element of the assessment framework does not need to be met and legible writing will allow the panel to read the content with ease.

Improve presentation quickly by offering a smooth rollerball pen instead of a pencil. Focus on fixing individual letters and praising your child for any hint of effort. The two samples below are from the same boy a few months apart. Small changes have transformed the look and feel:

11+ handwriting sample from a student before handwriting tutoring

Sample 1: First piece of work when joining the writing club

Cursive handwriting sample of a boy preparing for the 11+ exam after handwriting tutoring.

Sample 2: This is the same boy’s improved presentation and content

How long should the short story be.

First, it is not a short story as such—it is a writing sample. Your child needs to showcase their skills but there are no extra marks for finishing (or marks deducted for a half-finished piece).

For a half hour task, you should prepare your child to produce up to 4 paragraphs of beautifully crafted work. Correct spelling and proper English grammar is just the beginning. Each paragraph should have a different purpose to showcase the breadth and depth of their ability. A longer – 60 minute – task might have 5 paragraphs but rushing is to be discouraged. Considered and interesting paragraphs are so valuable, a shorter piece would be scored more highly than a rushed and dull longer piece.

I speak from experience. A while ago now I was a marker for Key Stage 2 English SATs Papers (taken in Year 6 at 11 years old). Hundreds of scripts were deposited on my doorstep each morning by DHL. There was so much work for me to get through that I came to dread long, rambling creative pieces. Some children can write pages and pages of repetitive nothingness. Ever since then, I have looked for crafted quality and am wary of children judging their own success by the number of lines competed.

Take a look at the piece of writing below. It’s an excellent example of a well-crafted piece.

Each paragraph is short, but the writer is skilful.

He used rich and precisely chosen vocabulary, he’s broken the text into natural paragraphs, and in the second paragraph he is beginning to vary his sentence openings. There is a sense of control to the sentences – the sentence structure varies with shorter and longer examples to manage tension. It is exciting to read, with a clear awareness of his audience. Punctuation is accurate and appropriate.

Example of a high-scoring writing sample for the UK 11+ exam—notice the varied sentence structures, excellent use of figurative language, and clear paragraphing technique.

11+ creative writing example story

How important is it to revise for a creative writing task.

It is important.

Every student should go into their 11+ writing task with a clear paragraph plan secured. As each paragraph has a separate purpose – to showcase a specific skill – the plan should reflect this. Built into the plan is a means of flexing it, to alter the order of the paragraphs if the task demands it. There’s no point having a Beginning – Middle – End approach, as there’s nothing useful there to guide the student to the mark scheme.

Beyond this, my own students have created 3 – 5 stories that fit the same tight plan. However, the setting, mood and action are all completely different. This way a bank of rich vocabulary has already been explored and a technique or two of their own that fits the piece beautifully. These can be drawn upon on the day to boost confidence and give a greater sense of depth and consideration to their timed sample.

Preparation, rather than revision in its classic form, is the best approach. Over time, even weeks or months before the exam itself, contrasting stories are written, improved upon, typed up and then tweaked further as better ideas come to mind. Each of these meets the demands of the mark scheme (paragraphing, varied sentence openings, rich vocabulary choices, considered imagery, punctuation to enhance meaning, development of mood etc).

To ensure your child can write confidently at and above the level expected of them, drop them into my weekly weekly online writing club for the 11+ age group . The club marking will transform their writing, and quickly.

What is the relationship between the English paper and the creative writing task?

Writing is usually marked separately from any comprehension or grammar exercises in your child’s particular 11+ exam. Each exam board (by area/school) adapts the arrangement to suit their needs. Some have a separate writing test, others build it in as an element of their English paper (usually alongside a comprehension, punctuation and spelling exercise).

Although there is no creative writing task in the ISEB Common Pre-test, those who are not offered an immediate place at their chosen English public school are often invited back to complete a writing task at a later date. Our ISEB Common Pre-test students join the writing club in the months before the exam, first to tidy up the detail and second to extend the content.

What if my child has a specific learning difficulty (dyslexia, ADD/ADHD, ASD)?

Most exam boards pride themselves on their inclusivity. They will expect you to have a formal report from a qualified professional at the point of registration for the test. This needs to be in place and the recommendations will be considered by a panel. If your child needs extra arrangements on the day they may be offered (it isn’t always the case). More importantly, if they drop below a pass on one or more papers you will have a strong case for appeal.

Children with a specific learning difficulty often struggle with low confidence in their work and low self-esteem. The preparations set out above, and a kids writing club membership will allow them to go into the exam feeling positive and empowered. If they don’t achieve a pass at first, the writing sample will add weight to their appeal.

Tips and strategies for writing a high-scoring creative writing paper

Read widely for pleasure. Read aloud to your child if they are reluctant.
Create a strong paragraph plan where each paragraph has a distinct purpose.
Using the list of example questions below, discuss how each could be written in the form of your paragraph plan.
Write 3-5 stories with contrasting settings and action – each one must follow your paragraph plan. Try to include examples of literary devices and figurative language (metaphor, simile) but avoid clichés.
Tidy up your presentation. Write with a good rollerball pen on A4 lined paper with a printed margin. Cross out with a single horizontal line and banish doodling or scribbles.
Join the writing club for a 20-minute Zoom task per week with no finishing off or homework. An expert English teacher will mark the work personally on video every Friday and your child’s writing will be quickly transformed.

Pressed for time? Here’s a paragraph plan to follow.

At Griffin Teaching we have an online writing club for students preparing for the 11 plus creative writing task . We’ve seen first-hand what a difference just one or two months of weekly practice can make.

That said, we know that a lot of people reading this page are up against a hard deadline with an 11+ exam date fast approaching.

If that’s you (or your child), what you need is a paragraph plan.

Here’s one tried-and-true paragraph plan that we teach in our clubs. Use this as you work your way through some of the example prompts below.

11+ creative writing paragraph plan

Paragraph 1—description.

Imagine standing in the location and describe what is above the main character, what is below their feet, what is to their left and right, and what is in the distance. Try to integrate frontend adverbials into this paragraph (frontend adverbials are words or phrases used at the beginning of a sentence to describe what follows—e.g. When the fog lifted, he saw… )

Paragraph 2—Conversation

Create two characters who have different roles (e.g. site manager and student, dog walker and lost man) and write a short dialogue between them. Use what we call the “sandwich layout,” where the first person says something and you describe what they are doing while they are saying it. Add in further descriptions (perhaps of the person’s clothing or expression) before starting a new line where the second character gives a simple answer and you provide details about what the second character is doing as they speak.

Paragraph 3—Change the mood

Write three to four sentences that change the mood of the writing sample from light to gloomy or foreboding. You could write about a change in the weather or a change in the lighting of the scene. Another approach is to mention how a character reacts to the change in mood, for example by pulling their coat collar up to their ears.

Paragraph 4—Shock your reader

A classic approach is to have your character die unexpectedly in the final sentence. Or maybe the ceiling falls?

11+ creative writing questions from real papers—fictional prompts

The day the storm came
The day the weather changed
The snowstorm
The rainy day
A sunny day out
A foggy (or misty) day
A day trip to remember
The first day
The day everything changed
The mountain
The hillside
The old house
The balloon
The old man
The accident
The unfamiliar sound
A weekend away
Moving house
A family celebration
An event you remember from when you were young
An animal attack
The school playground at night
The lift pinged and the door opened. I could not believe what was inside…
“Run!” he shouted as he thundered across the sand…
It was getting late as I dug in my pocket for the key to the door. “Hurry up!” she shouted from inside.
I know our back garden very well, but I was surprised how different it looked at midnight…
The red button on the wall has a sign on it saying, ‘DO NOT TOUCH.’ My little sister leant forward and hit it hard with her hand. What happened next?
Digging down into the soft earth, the spade hit something metal…
Write a story which features the stopping of time.
Write a story which features an unusual method of transport.
The cry in the woods
Write a story which features an escape

11+ creative writing questions from real papers—non-fiction prompts

Write a thank you letter for a present you didn’t want.
You are about to interview someone for a job. Write a list of questions you would like to ask the applicant.
Write a letter to complain about the uniform at your school.
Write a leaflet to advertise your home town.
Write a thank you letter for a holiday you didn’t enjoy.
Write a letter of complaint to the vet after an unfortunate incident in the waiting room.
Write a set of instructions explaining how to make toast.
Describe the room you are in.
Describe a person who is important to you.
Describe your pet or an animal you know well.

‘Creative writing can be as impactful as an academic paper’

Grassroots initiatives can promote visibility of marginalised groups, self-expression and community, writes Emily Downes. Here are her key tips from running a creative writing competition to mark LGBTQ+ History Month

Emily Downes

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Last year marked two decades since the repeal of Section 28, a UK law that prohibited what was described as “the promotion of homosexuality” by local authorities. What this meant, in practice, was that generations of LGBTQ+ children grew up with no safe access to information about LGBTQ+ issues, no role models, no representation. They had no indication, in fact, that they could have a successful life that included employment, acceptance and community.

Surely, as hubs of knowledge production, higher education institutions have a social and ethical responsibility to actively repair some of the damage wrought by this law. As LGBTQ+ staff in the sector continue to report discrimination and erasure , are we providing enough opportunities for our students to see their own lived experiences roadmapped and reflected?

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While institutional support and backing are essential in amplifying LGBTQ+ representation and visibility, staff on the ground can also make an impact through grassroots initiatives. And where better to push back against the fearmongering of Section 28 than from a place of love? For author, theorist and educator bell hooks , all key social justice movements have promoted a love ethic: a practice that seeks to use knowledge, responsibility, care, trust, respect and commitment. How might that look in your professional context?

In mine, I have had the privilege of coordinating a creative writing competition for LGBT+ History Month . Here’s some of what I learned.

Knowledge and responsibility

It’s natural to feel powerless against discrimination. However, take heart – there’s no one defining form of activism. You may not feel you have the capacity or physical ability to protest in the streets or the wherewithal for a strategic campaign. That doesn’t mean you have nothing to contribute to the cause of a more inclusive landscape in higher education. We each have our own offering of knowledge, skills and interests to share. These needn’t exclusively be academic pursuits.

What brings you joy? Perhaps it’s a gentle walk in nature or listening to a podcast or crocheting. I’m partial to all three…and I also enjoy using writing to make sense of my inner and outer worlds. A couple of years ago, I started facilitating LGBTQ+ creative writing for well-being sessions in my local community. Last year the chair of our university LGBTQ+ focus group asked if I would use this experience to make our campus more inclusive. We agreed that I would deliver a drop-in session exploring the importance of queer representation , and that I would coordinate a creative writing competition around the same theme. As a “late bloomer” bisexual who grew up with a dearth of positive representation, I felt a responsibility to be visible in our university community. I had first-hand experience of the possibilities that creative writing affords for healing and growth. I am also well aware of how stifling and impenetrable academic writing can feel for many. I saw the creative writing competition as an opportunity to put self-expression firmly back into the hands of a marginalised community.

Care and trust

Over the past two academic years, I have gained important insights into developing the competition process with care and establishing trust with our participants. Working with students with protected characteristics means a vital aspect of care is gaining consent at multiple stages. For trans students , for example, being named in certain contexts could have immediate and severe material consequences. One student sought me out during graduation week last year to ensure they would be dead-named – otherwise, they said, they wouldn’t be able to return home with their parents after the ceremony.

This has fed into my experience with the competition. Just because someone has entered doesn’t mean they will feel willing or able to be named in a university update or read their piece at a public event. However much you think you’ve tied up loose ends, please double-check. It’s better to be mildly irritating with an abundance of care.

That said, please don’t let the need for caution be off-putting. Demonstrating this level of care is foundational to developing trust. Repeatedly checking in with participants about how they are represented also helps to build a sense of agency they may not always feel they have in wider society. Liaise with those in your initiative whenever a new context arises in which they may be named.

Respect and commitment

University community members who participate in our writing competition are occupying a brave space , and this demands our respect. We value our staff and students’ intersectional identities and recognise how vulnerable it can feel sharing those parts of yourself in your place of work or study. I have shared some of my own LGBTQ+ journey during the drop-in sessions. Another sign of respect has been the active and enthusiastic engagement from our executive director of communications and development, who has sat on the judging panel both years. Having buy-in from senior management is indescribably validating not just for our entrants but for the wider LGBTQ+ community at the university.

Commitment to such an initiative can take many forms, the most essential of which are reflection and learning. For example, our inaugural winner, Allison Rosewood, submitted a non-fiction piece about becoming the trans role model she had always sought herself. We platformed her work at the university Pride event – she was unable to speak in person, so we recorded her reading her work and played it during the Pride Literary Hour. We invited Allison to sit on the 2024 judging panel, and the award has been named the Allison Rosewood LGBTQ+ History Month award. Now, our winner will always be invited to read at Pride and to sit on the panel. Allowing the project to evolve has helped create space for students to have their experiences and identities validated, and to build an archive of visible role models.

This year, our prompt invited entrants to imagine a world where Section 28 had never existed. Mac McClelland’s winning entry, Brianna , is staggering. The piece eloquently draws a line from past to present, highlighting just how far-reaching and damaging legislation in this vein can be. Opening the door for this creative expression has resulted in something that, in my opinion, is as impactful as an academic paper.

Knowledge, responsibility, care, trust, respect and commitment, then…what’s coming to mind for you? Perhaps you owe it to yourself and your community to explore your own initiative. One caveat to this: please also apply a love ethic to yourself. Does the thought of a project like this make you weary? You may be running low on reserves, especially as we so often expect members of marginalised communities to advocate and enact positive change themselves. Someone else can take up this mantle, and that’s fine, too.

The legacy of Section 28 is a traumatised, under-represented LGBTQ+ community and a wider UK society that still often struggles to accept those living outside a heteronormative, cisnormative version of reality. But if you do have the energy and resources, projects like ours can be transformative for individuals and institutions. As bell hooks wrote: “When we are taught that safety always lies with sameness, then difference, of any kind, will appear as a threat…The choice to love is a choice to connect – to find ourselves in the other.” Let’s work to make our institutions a place of connection and relish all the richness of experience that entails.

Emily Downes is senior student success tutor (academic writing) and LGBTQ+ Focus Group co-chair at Teesside University.

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The Best Student Writing Contests for 2023-2024

Help your students take their writing to the next level.

When students write for teachers, it can feel like an assignment. When they write for a real purpose, they are empowered! Student writing contests are a challenging and inspiring way to try writing for an authentic audience— a real panel of judges —and the possibility of prize money or other incentives. We’ve gathered a list of the best student writing contests, and there’s something for everyone. Prepare highly motivated kids in need of an authentic writing mentor, and watch the words flow.

1. The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards

With a wide range of categories—from critical essays to science fiction and fantasy—The Scholastic Awards are a mainstay of student contests. Each category has its own rules and word counts, so be sure to check out the options before you decide which one is best for your students.

How To Enter

Students in grades 7-12, ages 13 and up, may begin submitting work in September by uploading to an online account at Scholastic and connecting to their local region. There are entry fees, but those can be waived for students in need.

2. YoungArts National Arts Competition

This ends soon, but if you have students who are ready to submit, it’s worth it. YoungArts offers a national competition in the categories of creative nonfiction, novel, play or script, poetry, short story, and spoken word. Student winners may receive awards of up to $10,000 as well as the chance to participate in artistic development with leaders in their fields.

YoungArts accepts submissions in each category through October 13. Students submit their work online and pay a $35 fee (there is a fee waiver option).

3. National Youth Foundation Programs

Each year, awards are given for Student Book Scholars, Amazing Women, and the “I Matter” Poetry & Art competition. This is a great chance for kids to express themselves with joy and strength.

The rules, prizes, and deadlines vary, so check out the website for more info.

4. American Foreign Service National High School Essay Contest

If you’re looking to help students take a deep dive into international relations, history, and writing, look no further than this essay contest. Winners receive a voyage with the Semester at Sea program and a trip to Washington, DC.

Students fill out a registration form online, and a teacher or sponsor is required. The deadline to enter is the first week of April.

5. John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Essay Contest

This annual contest invites students to write about a political official’s act of political courage that occurred after Kennedy’s birth in 1917. The winner receives $10,000, and 16 runners-up also receive a variety of cash prizes.

Students may submit a 700- to 1,000-word essay through January 12. The essay must feature more than five sources and a full bibliography.

6. Bennington Young Writers Awards

Bennington College offers competitions in three categories: poetry (a group of three poems), fiction (a short story or one-act play), and nonfiction (a personal or academic essay). First-place winners receive $500. Grab a poster for your classroom here .

The contest runs from September 1 to November 1. The website links to a student registration form.

7. The Princeton Ten-Minute Play Contest

Looking for student writing contests for budding playwrights? This exclusive competition, which is open only to high school juniors, is judged by the theater faculty of Princeton University. Students submit short plays in an effort to win recognition and cash prizes of up to $500. ( Note: Only open to 11th graders. )

Students submit one 10-page play script online or by mail. The deadline is the end of March. Contest details will be published in early 2024.

8. Princeton University Poetry Contest for High School Students

The Leonard L. Milberg ’53 High School Poetry Prize recognizes outstanding work by student writers in 11th grade. Prizes range from $100 to $500.

Students in 11th grade can submit their poetry. Contest details will be published this fall.

9. The New York Times Tiny Memoir Contest

This contest is also a wonderful writing challenge, and the New York Times includes lots of resources and models for students to be able to do their best work. They’ve even made a classroom poster !

Submissions need to be made electronically by November 1.

10. Nancy Thorp Poetry Contest

The deadline for this contest is the end of October. Sponsored by Hollins University, the Nancy Thorp Poetry Contest awards prizes for the best poems submitted by young women who are sophomores or juniors in high school or preparatory school. Prizes include cash and scholarships. Winners are chosen by students and faculty members in the creative writing program at Hollins.

Students may submit either one or two poems using the online form.

11. The Patricia Grodd Poetry Prize for Young Writers

The Patricia Grodd Poetry Prize for Young Writers is open to high school sophomores and juniors, and the winner receives a full scholarship to a Kenyon Review Young Writers Workshop .

Submissions for the prize are accepted electronically from November 1 through November 30.

12. Jane Austen Society Essay Contest

High school students can win up to $1,000 and publication by entering an essay on a topic specified by the Jane Austen Society related to a Jane Austen novel.

Details for the 2024 contest will be announced in November. Essay length is from six to eight pages, not including works cited.

13. Rattle Young Poets Anthology

Open to students from 15 to 18 years old who are interested in publication and exposure over monetary awards.

Teachers may choose five students for whom to submit up to four poems each on their behalf. The deadline is November 15.

14. The Black River Chapbook Competition

This is a chance for new and emerging writers to gain publication in their own professionally published chapbook, as well as $500 and free copies of the book.

There is an $18 entry fee, and submissions are made online.

15. YouthPlays New Voices

For students under 18, the YouthPlays one-act competition is designed for young writers to create new works for the stage. Winners receive cash awards and publication.

Scroll all the way down their web page for information on the contest, which accepts non-musical plays between 10 and 40 minutes long, submitted electronically. Entries open each year in January.

16. The Ocean Awareness Contest

The 2024 Ocean Awareness Contest, Tell Your Climate Story , encourages students to write their own unique climate story. They are asking for creative expressions of students’ personal experiences, insights, or perceptions about climate change. Students are eligible for a wide range of monetary prizes up to $1,000.

Students from 11 to 18 years old may submit work in the categories of art, creative writing, poetry and spoken word, film, interactive media and multimedia, or music and dance, accompanied by a reflection. The deadline is June 13.

17. EngineerGirl Annual Essay Contest

Each year, EngineerGirl sponsors an essay contest with topics centered on the impact of engineering on the world, and students can win up to $500 in prize money. This contest is a nice bridge between ELA and STEM and great for teachers interested in incorporating an interdisciplinary project into their curriculum. The new contest asks for pieces describing the life cycle of an everyday object. Check out these tips for integrating the content into your classroom .

Students submit their work electronically by February 1. Check out the full list of rules and requirements here .

18. NCTE Student Writing Awards

The National Council of Teachers of English offers several student writing awards, including Achievement Awards in Writing (for 10th- and 11th-grade students), Promising Young Writers (for 8th-grade students), and an award to recognize Excellence in Art and Literary Magazines.

Deadlines range from October 28 to February 15. Check out NCTE.org for more details.

19. See Us, Support Us Art Contest

Children of incarcerated parents can submit artwork, poetry, photos, videos, and more. Submissions are free and the website has a great collection of past winners.

Students can submit their entries via social media or email by October 25.

20. The Adroit Prizes for Poetry & Prose

The Adroit Journal, an education-minded nonprofit publication, awards annual prizes for poetry and prose to exceptional high school and college students. Adroit charges an entry fee but also provides a form for financial assistance.

21. National PTA Reflections Awards

The National PTA offers a variety of awards, including one for literature, in their annual Reflections Contest. Students of all ages can submit entries on the specified topic to their local PTA Reflections program. From there, winners move to the local area, state, and national levels. National-level awards include an $800 prize and a trip to the National PTA Convention.

This program requires submitting to PTAs who participate in the program. Check your school’s PTA for their deadlines.

22. World Historian Student Essay Competition

The World Historian Student Essay Competition is an international contest open to students enrolled in grades K–12 in public, private, and parochial schools, as well as those in home-study programs. The $500 prize is based on an essay that addresses one of this year’s two prompts.

Students can submit entries via email or regular mail before May 1.

23. NSHSS Creative Writing Scholarship

The National Society of High School Scholars awards three $2,000 scholarships for both poetry and fiction. They accept poetry, short stories, and graphic novel writing.

Apply online by October 31.

Whether you let your students blog, start a podcast or video channel, or enter student writing contests, giving them an authentic audience for their work is always a powerful classroom choice.

If you like this list of student writing contests and want more articles like it, subscribe to our newsletters to find out when they’re posted!

Plus, check out our favorite anchor charts for teaching writing..

Are you looking for student writing contests to share in your classroom? This list will give students plenty of opportunities.

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17 Most Useless College Degrees Employers Don't Want Today

Posted: June 19, 2023 | Last updated: June 19, 2023

College can be expensive, so you want to make sure you’re getting a useful education for the money you’re putting down or borrowing.

However, some degrees are better than others when it comes to landing a job when you get out of school. After all, you don’t want to be looking for ways to pay off debt on a degree that doesn’t pan out.

Here are some degrees that might not give you the best bang for your buck as you consider a particular career after graduation.

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Creative writing

Pursuing a creative degree may not make you much money after college, and that’s particularly true of creative writing.

The publishing field isn’t lucrative for many writers (unless you’re a big name), so you may be stuck with a degree that won’t help you get a sustainable job after graduation.

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Communications

One issue with a communications degree is that it could be too broad depending on the program and the classes required for the degree. Instead, focus on a specific type of communication like journalism, marketing, or public relations.

Fashion design

Fashion design has become more popular, and more competitive, with social media and reality competition shows looking for new designers. The market may be oversaturated and it could be difficult to stand out.

If you enjoy fashion, consider other positions in the industry, including writing for fashion publications or working as a buyer or stylist, which may help you earn more money.

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Hospitality

Travel habits have changed in recent years due to the pandemic, and have affected places like hotels. Events planners and hospitality management have also taken a hit. But you may still have options if you want to pursue a career in hospitality.

For example, consider getting a business degree that may be more useful when finding a job after college. You could still use it to get a job in hospitality or have the flexibility to find a position outside of hospitality that would require a business degree.

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Teachers are amazing resources for students across the country. Despite a nationwide teacher shortage, salaries often do not reflect their importance in society. Plus, nearly 50% of new teachers leave the profession within their first five years.

If you feel the strong desire to be a teacher, it would be wise to have a backup plan in case you need to leave the profession.

9 things you need to know before retiring with $500,000

Computer science

There’s been an emphasis in recent years on computer science careers, but that focus has led to an oversaturation of computer science graduates compared to the number of jobs available.

If you still want to get a computer science degree, find ways to make yourself stand out among other applicants such as internships and training or certification in specialized skills.

Culinary arts

If you want to work in a restaurant or get a job as a personal chef, a culinary arts degree might not give you the experience and education you need to cook or bake for a living.

Instead, ask around to local restaurants you like or talk to chefs in your area to see if it's possible to get a job working with food without a degree.

6 Genius Hacks All Costco Shoppers Should Know

<p> Music may be a wonderful thing to participate in, but it could be difficult to make enough money with a music career to cover the cost of getting a music degree. Instead, get a degree in a field that may be more lucrative and use your free time to practice music. </p> <p> You may even be able to use your music to make money with a side hustle while earning a salary that can pay your bills another way. </p> <p> <a href="https://financebuzz.com/paycheck-moves-55mp?utm_source=msn&utm_medium=feed&synd_slide=9&synd_postid=8430&synd_backlink_title=5+Moves+If+You+Want+to+Stop+Living+Paycheck+to+Paycheck&synd_backlink_position=4&synd_slug=paycheck-moves-55mp">5 Moves If You Want to Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck</a> </p>

Music may be a wonderful thing to participate in, but it could be difficult to make enough money with a music career to cover the cost of getting a music degree. Instead, get a degree in a field that may be more lucrative and use your free time to practice music.

You may even be able to use your music to make money with a side hustle while earning a salary that can pay your bills another way. Many people nowadays take on a side hustle to reach financial independence and stop living paycheck to paycheck .

<p> You don’t necessarily need a degree in photography to make a living as a photographer. However, a degree can help if you want to be a photojournalist or an industrial and scientific photographer, according to the BLS. </p> <p> Photographers make a median salary of $38,950 per year. </p>

Film, video, and photographic arts

This is another degree that can be tempting if you have a passion for the arts. However, the result of success in the fields of videography and photography often comes without a college degree.

You may be able to just use your natural talent to become a filmmaker and develop your skills by using online resources. You could get a job as a photographer or videographer in fields such as marketing or the service industry, serve as an independent contractor, and even open your own business, all the while without needing a student loan.

Get paid up to $225 a month while watching viral videos

Performing arts

If you want to be an actor, it may be better to act than to go to school for it. You don’t need to enroll in a college or university to take acting classes.

Practice, auditions, and real-world experience can also be more helpful than sitting in a classroom or lecture hall. Try landing your next best role instead of spending cash on a degree.

Criminal justice

If you’re interested in a job in law enforcement, a criminal justice degree may not be as helpful as other options. You might want to apply for a job directly and go through training that may be paid for by a police department or sheriff’s department.

See how much you could save on auto insurance

<p> There may be few opportunities for foreign-language majors once they leave college or a university, which may make it a less-than-desirable degree. </p> <p> Instead, consider getting a minor in a language you’re interested in and major in something else you’re interested in. For example, you could get a business degree and work internationally. </p>

There may be few opportunities for foreign-language majors once they leave college or a university, which may make it a less-than-desirable degree.

Instead, consider getting a minor in a language you’re interested in and major in something else you’re interested in. For example, you could get a business degree and work internationally.

<p>You may be someone who loves history and dreams of excavation sites, but be ready to spend years as an underpaid intern or research assistant. The truth is unless you go for the fancy Ph.D., which will take a lot of time and money, most degrees in this career path don't offer much. </p>

Anthropology and Archeology

You may be someone who loves history and dreams of excavation sites, but be ready to spend years as an underpaid intern or research assistant. The truth is unless you go for the fancy Ph.D., which will take a lot of time and money, most degrees in this career path don't offer much.

Religious studies

You may be interested in studying the spiritual side of life, but it might not help you financially. A religious studies degree could lead to a low-paying job in exchange for a high debt load from your degree.

Instead, consider training that may be paid for by a local religious organization, or major in something else and minor in religious studies.

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Exercise science

Exercise is a good component of a healthy life, and you may want to help others follow a plan for a healthy life as an exercise science major. But majors in this field may not make enough to cover college debt or everyday expenses when they graduate.

Instead, look into certification programs that may be more affordable or find out how you can become a trainer or instructor without a college degree.

<p> The pandemic proved that the tourism industry can change dramatically. In addition to COVID-19 keeping tourists at home, some travelers may be trying to fight inflation by staying closer to home and spending less on trips. </p> <p> If you want to stay in the tourism industry, it may be a good idea to save extra cash in an emergency fund to weather the ups and downs of the industry. <p class=""><a href="https://financebuzz.com/earn-with-inboxdollars?utm_source=msn&utm_medium=feed&synd_slide=17&synd_postid=10044&synd_backlink_title=Get+paid+up+to+%24225+a+month+while+watching+viral+videos&synd_backlink_position=11&synd_slug=earn-with-inboxdollars">Get paid up to $225 a month while watching viral videos</a></p> </p>

The pandemic proved that the tourism industry can change dramatically at any time, for better or for worst. COVID-19 kept tourists at home for so long, which resulted in high prices post-pandemic. Now many people are choosing staycations to avoid the high costs driven by the current market.

If you want to stay in the tourism industry, it may be a good idea to save extra cash in an emergency fund to weather the ups and downs of the industry.

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<p> Working for an ad agency today could be difficult if you’re trying to create interesting ads that pull in a viewer. Instead, ads are usually targeted based on the interest of particular internet users who may not interact with ads the way they once did. </p> <p> If you still want to pursue an advertising degree, consider taking classes about social media or online advertising. That may make you stand out more as a job candidate and help you earn some extra cash. </p>

Advertising

Working for an ad agency today could be difficult if you’re trying to create interesting ads that pull in a viewer. Instead, ads are usually targeted based on the interest of particular internet users who may not interact with ads the way they once did.

If you still want to pursue an advertising degree, consider taking classes about social media or online advertising. That may make you stand out more as a job candidate and help you earn some extra cash.

<p> Before you commit to a degree, sit down and find out what kind of careers that degree could be useful for. You also may want to find more affordable options to take some general classes or summer classes to get the degree you want at a lower cost to <a href="https://financebuzz.com/financial-stress-55mp?utm_source=msn&utm_medium=feed&synd_slide=17&synd_postid=8430&synd_backlink_title=reduce+your+financial+stress&synd_backlink_position=6&synd_slug=financial-stress-55mp">reduce your financial stress</a>. </p> <p> And remember that in the end, it’s important to be happy with whatever major you pursue. You may be able to find a way to make any degree work for you. </p> <p> <p class=""><b>More from FinanceBuzz:</b></p><ul> <li><a href="https://www.financebuzz.com/shopper-hacks-Costco-55mp?utm_source=msn&utm_medium=feed&synd_slide=17&synd_postid=8430&synd_backlink_title=6+genius+hacks+Costco+shoppers+should+know&synd_backlink_position=7&synd_slug=shopper-hacks-Costco-55mp">6 genius hacks Costco shoppers should know</a></li><li><a href="https://financebuzz.com/grocery-inflation-55mp?utm_source=msn&utm_medium=feed&synd_slide=17&synd_postid=8430&synd_backlink_title=Paying+more+for+groceries%3F+6+ways+to+fight+inflation&synd_backlink_position=8&synd_slug=grocery-inflation-55mp">Paying more for groceries? 6 ways to fight inflation</a></li><li><a href="https://financebuzz.com/retire-early-quiz?utm_source=msn&utm_medium=feed&synd_slide=17&synd_postid=8430&synd_backlink_title=Can+you+retire+early%3F+Take+this+quiz+and+find+out.&synd_backlink_position=9&synd_slug=retire-early-quiz">Can you retire early? Take this quiz and find out.</a></li> </ul> </p> <p> <i>FinanceBuzz is reader-supported. We may receive compensation from the products and services mentioned in this story, but the opinions are the author's own. Compensation may impact where offers appear. We have not included all available products or offers. Learn more about <a href="https://financebuzz.com/advertising-policy?utm_source=msn&utm_medium=feed&synd_slide=17&synd_postid=8430&synd_backlink_title=how+we+make+money&synd_slug=advertising-policy">how we make money</a> and <a href="https://financebuzz.com/editorial-policy?utm_source=msn&utm_medium=feed&synd_slide=17&synd_postid=8430&synd_backlink_title=our+editorial+policies&synd_slug=editorial-policy">our editorial policies</a>.</i> </p>

Bottom line

Before you commit to a degree, sit down and find out what kind of careers that degree could be useful for. You also may want to find more affordable options to take some general classes or summer classes to get the degree you want at a lower cost so you won't find yourself barely scraping by financially .

And remember that in the end, it’s important to be happy with whatever major you pursue. You may be able to find a way to make any degree work for you.

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ODU Creative Writing Students Partner with Norfolk SPCA to Help Get Animals Adopted

Photo of a man holding a phone with an image of a dog displayed.

Writers from Old Dominion University’s Master in Fine Arts in Creative Writing program are harnessing the power of language to help adoptable animals at the Norfolk SPCA find forever homes. The effort is part of ODU’s Writers in Community , a non-profit program dedicated to helping the diverse communities of Coastal Virginia by cultivating literacy and creativity. A branch of the Old Dominion University MFA Creative Writing Program, Writers in Community works with local organizations to reach out to children and adults who can benefit from the opportunity to express themselves artistically.

Through a social media campaign that started in May, students wrote bios for the several dogs, bunnies and a cat, who are in need of new homes, including the shelter’s longest resident, Haley, who has been with the SPCA for more than a year. Students have also shared photos of their own literary-minded pets to encourage others to adopt.

“We’re thrilled to partner with such talented writers to share the stories of these wonderful animals,” said Tammy Lindquist, community engagement manager at the SPCA. “Animals make a profound difference in our lives and we’re so happy these writers are sharing the stories of our beloved animals and their own.”

The novelists, poets and essayists in the MFA program also shared photos of their own pets, with reflections on the impact these best friends have made on their lives. SPCA supporters are encouraged to share photos on social media of the pets they’ve adopted through the SPCA with #findyournewbestfriend.

“Our pets provide endless joy and inspiration,” said Kent Wascom, MFA in Creative Writing program director at ODU and author of “The Great State of West Florida.” “The incredible writers in our program are so excited to help these dogs and cats and rabbits find families who will care for them, and to share the ways their own pets impact their lives.”

The adoptable animals featured in the campaign and others hosted by the SPCA can be met from 1 to 4:30 p.m. each day except Tuesdays at their adoption center on Ballentine Boulevard.

Enhance your college career by gaining relevant experience with the skills and knowledge needed for your future career. Discover our experiential learning opportunities.

Picture yourself in the classroom, speak with professors in your major, and meet current students.

From sports games to concerts and lectures, join the ODU community at a variety of campus events.

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105 Creative Writing Exercises: 10 Min Writing Exercises
Creative writing exercises are short writing activities (normally around 10 minutes) designed to get you writing. The goal of these exercises is to give you the motivation to put words onto a blank paper. These words don't need to be logical or meaningful, neither do they need to be grammatically correct or spelt correctly.
43 Creative Writing Exercises & Games For Adults
A selection of fun creative writing exercises that can be completed solo, or with a group. Some are prompts to help inspire you to come up with story ideas, others focus on learning specific writing skills. Intro. I run a Creative Writing Meetup for adults and teens in Montpellier or online every week. We start with a 5 to 20 minute exercise ...
8 Creative Writing Exercises to Strengthen Your Writing
Learning to write fiction is like training for a marathon. Before you get ready for the main event, it's good to warm up and stretch your creative muscles. Whether you're a published author of a bestselling book or a novice author writing a novel for the first time, creative exercises are great for clearing up writer's block and getting your creative juices flowing.
️ 100+ Creative Writing Exercises for Fiction Authors
Eight. Pick a fiction book from your shelf. Go to page eight and find the eighth sentence on the page. Start with that sentence and write an eight-line poem that connects in some way to your work-in-progress. For instance, write from the POV of a character, or set the poem in a story setting. Don't worry about poetry forms.
24 of the Best Writing Exercises to Become a Better Writer
Among both exercises to improve writing skills and fun writing exercises for adults, writing metaphor lists is one of the best writing exercises out there. A metaphor list is simple. On a notebook, create two columns. In one column, write down only concrete nouns. Things like a pillow, a tree, a cat, a cloud, and anything that can be perceived ...
11 Creative Writing Exercises That Will Improve Your Skills
5. Write a stream of consciousness page. This is an easy and fun exercise. You want to write it in longhand rather than typing on your computer, as handwriting slows down the process and allows more time for your creative brain to do its work. Grab a pen and blank pad and simply start writing.
25 Great Creative Writing Exercises To Awaken The Senses
Prompt 3. Imagine you can describe a sculpture by how it feels as you run your hands over it. Prompt 4. Write about the earliest touch you can remember. Prompt 5. Write about something you can't pass by without touching it. For more on the sense of touch, read the blog How To Use The Sense Of Touch In Your Writing.
50 Fantastic Creative Writing Exercises
How are creative writing exercises different than writing prompts or story generators? Good question. Creative writing exercises are designed to teach a technique. They are highly specific, more specific than creative writing prompts, and much more specific than story generators. Creative writing exercises for adults are not designed to lead the writer into crafting a full […]
13 Creative Writing Exercises: Become a Better Writer
4 - Take one of your favorite short stories, either one you've written or one you've read, and write it in a different genre. For example, take a romance and write it as horror. This is a super fun exercise, and it lets you practice using tone and perspective! The tone of a story can change the meaning.
101 Creative Writing Exercises (Adventures in Writing)
101 Creative Writing Exercises takes you on an adventure through the world of creative writing. Packed with fun and practical tools, techniques, and writing ideas, this book will motivate and inspire you: Explore different forms and genres by writing fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. Discover effective writing techniques and expand your ...
This Fun Creative Writing Exercise Will Change Your Life
Use the creative writing exercise below to… The Secret to Show, Don't Tell - […] don't tell" is a popular piece of creative writing advice to write with more sensory detail, allowing your reader… Story Arcs: Definitions and Examples of the 6 Shapes of Stories - […] practice using story arcs with a creative writing exercise. Here's ...
Creative Writing Prompts
Creative Writing Prompts. 26 Remarkable Comments. Welcome to the creative writing prompts page! What you can find here is a MASSIVE collection of 63 quality writing exercises (basically, each one is a mini-story of its own, with a twist). This is going to be so much fun, and all while you improve your story writing skills.
From 101 Creative Writing Exercises: Freewriting
Chapter One: Freewriting. Freewriting is one of the most creative and liberating writing exercises you can do. Also called stream-of-consciousness writing, freewriting allows you to let your thoughts and ideas flow onto the page without inhibition. Anything goes. Turn off your inner editor and allow your subconscious to take over.
A Big, Bold List of Creative Writing Activities
Read and Resemble. Read a handful of poems by a single poet and then attempt writing a poem in that poet's voice. This is not an exercise in copying; it's an exercising in studying the voice of a writer. If you're feeling ambitious, try it with works of fiction and write a scene in an author's voice.
Creative Writing Exercises and Prompts
Welcome to Writing Exercises and Prompts. This site provides (completely free) creative writing prompts and exercises to help you get started with creative writing and break through writing blocks - as well as some fun anagram vocabulary games. Generate random story ideas, plots, subjects, scenarios, characters, first lines for stories and more.
33 Creative Warm Up Exercises to Get You Writing
Creative Warm-Up Exercises with Places: Choose a place and make it come alive by describing the sights, smells, and sounds. Think of an object and write a story where that object is the main character. Write down three things you want to include in your writing project and then brainstorm how you can incorporate them.
Creative Writing Exercises To Enhance Your Writing
8: Play Therapist. Helps with: Using personal blockers to push through writer's block. This one is great for creative writers who are struggling with writer's block due to personal issues. Use your pain, your confusion, or your anger in real life to help you flex those writing muscles for good.
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Exercise 1: Blind Writing (Memoir) Open your notebook. Close your eyes. Start writing on a fresh page. You will write a story based on your life and experiences.
Creative Writing Exercises
Looking for creative writing exercises? Read on for a list of 9 great activity ideas to inspire you and improve your creative writing skills.
Welcome to the Purdue Online Writing Lab
Mission. The Purdue On-Campus Writing Lab and Purdue Online Writing Lab assist clients in their development as writers—no matter what their skill level—with on-campus consultations, online participation, and community engagement. The Purdue Writing Lab serves the Purdue, West Lafayette, campus and coordinates with local literacy initiatives.
11+ creative writing guide with 50 example topics and prompts
11+ creative writing questions from real papers—non-fiction prompts. Write a thank you letter for a present you didn't want. You are about to interview someone for a job. Write a list of questions you would like to ask the applicant. Write a letter to complain about the uniform at your school.
Creative Activities to Develop Writing Skills for Students
How to use different creative writing types like visual writing and poetry to meet learning goals. Storytelling exercises like role-playing and picture prompts help spark creativity. Ways to integrate fun writing games like story chains and story cubes can improve student writing skills and foster a positive learning environment.
'Creative writing can be as impactful as an academic paper'
Mac McClelland's winning entry, Brianna, is staggering. The piece eloquently draws a line from past to present, highlighting just how far-reaching and damaging legislation in this vein can be. Opening the door for this creative expression has resulted in something that, in my opinion, is as impactful as an academic paper.
Creative Writing in First Grade
Examining Elements of Creative Writing in First Grade. For this particular unit, my first grade students were examining literature and storytelling. After they had enjoyed several read-alouds, explored story elements, and studied the story mountain (beginning, rising action, conflict, resolution, and ending) as a team, it was time for them to ...
The Big List of Student Writing Contests for 2023-2024
Students in 11th grade can submit their poetry. Contest details will be published this fall. 9. The New York Times Tiny Memoir Contest. This contest is also a wonderful writing challenge, and the New York Times includes lots of resources and models for students to be able to do their best work.
6 Writing Exercises to Practice and Improve Your Writing Skills
See why leading organizations rely on MasterClass for learning & development. A good writer doesn't become a great writer overnight. Improving your writing skills requires hard work and constant practice on a regular basis. Even the best writers perform various writing exercises to keep their abilities sharp and the creativity flowing.
John Rice in McSweeney's
MFA alum John Rice has a piece up on McSweeney's Internet Tendency this morning, a review of the 7-Eleven french toast breakfast sandwich, under their Reviews of New Foods section. McSweeney's Publishing is a non-profit publishing house based in San Francisco, California, founded by author Dave Eggers in 1998. In addition to their daily ...
17 Most Useless College Degrees Employers Don't Want Today
Creative writing. Pursuing a creative degree may not make you much money after college, and that's particularly true of creative writing. The publishing field isn't lucrative for many writers ...
From 101 Creative Writing Exercises: Titles and Headlines
101 Creative Writing Exercises takes writers on an adventure through the world of creative writing. The book is packed with writing exercises that are fun and practical. Not only will these exercises inspire you, they'll impart helpful writing techniques and offer valuable writing practice. Try your hand at fiction, poetry, and creative ...
ODU Creative Writing Students Partner with Norfolk SPCA to Help Get
Writers from Old Dominion University's Master in Fine Arts in Creative Writing program are harnessing the power of language to help adoptable animals at the Norfolk SPCA find forever homes. The effort is part of ODU's Writers in Community, a non-profit program dedicated to helping the diverse communities of Coastal Virginia by cultivating literacy and creativity.

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11 Creative Writing Exercises To Awaken Your Inner Author

1. Answer 3 questions.

Here are 11 creative writing exercises to get you started:

How These Exercises Can Make You a Better Writer

Final Thoughts

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25 Great Creative Writing Exercises To Awaken The Senses

What is sensory imagery?

Experience using sensory imagery.

25 Great Sensory Writing Prompts.

The Sense of Touch

The Sense of Taste

The Sense of Hearing

The Sense of Sight

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