Creative Writing Prompts

This week’s post is prompted by a writing acquaintance who was asking for suggestions of websites that have good creative writing prompts.

Creative writing prompts are useful for those times when the ideas just won’t come. Using a prompt focuses the mind and encourages the words onto the paper. It doesn’t matter if the story then goes off at a tangent from the original prompt – the prompt has already done it’s job by starting the process.

There are various sites offering creative writing prompts. Here are a few to get you started:

Esther Newton often provides prompts and challenges on her blog
Throughout June 2016 Writing Magazine has been providing a daily prompt
Creative Writing Now has a page of forty-four short story ideas. They also offer a free e-book of writing ideas.
Writing Exercises has lots of ‘random generators’ to create plots, first lines and subjects.

Many writing competitions supply a prompt in the form of a subject or theme. These prompts have the added advantages of a ready market to which your story can be submitted and a deadline to work to.

My writing buddy, Helen Yendall, is currently running one such short story competition, it’s free to enter and only requires 100 words! It closes July 12th 2016. Why not have a go?

Do you have a favourite way of generating prompts and ideas?

Creative Writing Now, creative writing prompts, Esther Newton, Helen Yendall, short story ideas, Writing Exercises, Writing Magazine

This entry was posted on June 23, 2016, 9:09 am and is filed under Competitions, Resources, Short Story, Writing, Writing Exercises. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

#1 by Betty Taylor on June 23, 2016 - 12:03 pm

Thank you Sally – lots to work on there and useful for our writers’ group.

- #2 by Sally Jenkins on June 23, 2016 - 12:36 pm
  
  Glad it’s helpful to you, Betty.
  
#3 by juliathorley on June 23, 2016 - 3:35 pm

Try Morgen Bailey’s Creative Writing Blog morgenbailey.wordpress.com

- #4 by Sally Jenkins on June 23, 2016 - 4:51 pm
  
  Thanks, Julia – it looks like another one worth investigating.
  
#5 by colettecoen on June 24, 2016 - 8:35 pm

Creative Writing Ink do weekly prompts – no fee – £10 Amazon voucher prize. Also do monthly short story competitions. I’ve been lucky enough to win a few times.

- #6 by Sally Jenkins on June 25, 2016 - 9:30 am
  
  Thanks, Colette. The link is http://www.creativewritingink.co.uk/resources/writing-prompts/ and that prize is a great incentive to get writing!
  
#7 by stellab on August 15, 2016 - 3:40 am

Here are some writing prompts I made up —- anyone can feel free to use them!

http://cyberwindow.blogspot.com/2015/01/21-writing-prompts-for-you.html

- #8 by Sally Jenkins on August 16, 2016 - 12:52 pm
  
  Thanks very much, Stella! I’ll take a look at these.