Six writing prompts

Six writing prompts to use to get started.

1. When I turned the corner I came face to face with . . .

2. Think back to the first place you remember living as a child. Pick a room in the house, any room, and describe it in detail.

3. Write about something you've lost.

4. Pick a day that didn't end the way you wanted to and rewrite the ending.

5. What happened? (reference photo below)


6. What's his story? (reference photo below)

more prompts

1. Someone wakes up in a strange place. The person observes the place in some detail, then begins to piece together how this happened...

2. Looking down from far above, I see half snow, half grass.

3. I looked out over my city. I had been watching this city for a long time. I decided it was time.

4. “Hear thou from thy dwellingplace…” - 2 Chronicles, 6:21

5. “brown as a the mouths of rivers” - from movie, Angels in America

6. “the world is full of broken wings” - Marvin Bell, “Why,” Georgia Review, Spring 2007

Fairytale prompt

Which fairytale or childhood story has your life most resembled?
Have you met your prince charming, the big bad wolf, the evil step-mother, the Wicked Witch of the West? Are you a warrior, a princess, the Queen of Hearts? Did you become a graceful swan? Will you live happily ever after?

Four Writing Prompts

Writing Prompts: Use one or several to prompt your writing for a few minutes.

1. Describe yourself when you were a child of 8.

2. "I wish I could see..."

3. Setting: In a busy kitchen

4. Your character is on the roof and acting "strange"

Quote writing prompts

“The problem, if you love it, is as beautiful as the sunset.” - Krishnamurti

“Where would the gardener be if there were no weeds?” – Chuang Tzu

“Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night.” – Rainer Maria Rilke

“For aren't you and I gods? Let all of life be an unfettered howl. Release life's rapture. Everything is blooming. Everything is flying. Everything is screaming. Laughter. Running.” – Vladimir Nabokov

“Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.” – Charles Dickens

“If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then his it a third time – a tremendous whack.” – Winston Churchill

“Forget my sins upon the wind, My hobo soul will rise.” – Gillian Welch, “I’m Not Afraid to Die.”

The poet Muriel Rukeyser said the universe is composed of stories, not of atoms. The physicist Werner Heisenberg declared that the universe is made of music, not of matter.

Starters and quotes

Writing prompts!

1. Someone wakes up in a strange place. The person observes the place in some detail, then begins to piece together how this happened...

2. Looking down from far above, I see half snow, half grass.

3. I looked out over my city. I had been watching this city for a long time. I decided it was time.

4. "Hear thou from thy dwellingplace..." - 2 Chronicles, 6:21

5. "brown as the mouths of rivers" - from the movie, Angels in America

6. "the world is full of broken wings" - from "Why" by Marvin Bell, published in Georgia Review, Spring 2007