100 Writing Prompts to Spark Your Creativity
Made this list for anyone who’s feeling stuck, curious, or just needs a little push to get words flowing.
Use them however you want!
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A blind cartographer maps dreams for a living.
The letter arrived 100 years too late.
A town where no one can lie—until someone does.
Rewrite a fairy tale from the villain’s perspective.
A retired assassin opens a flower shop.
A machine lets you delete one memory—what do you choose?
The moon vanishes for 48 hours.
Every time they fall asleep, they wake in a different life.
A ghost demands rent from the new homeowners.
A child is born without a shadow.
A passenger on a train realizes they’re the only real person onboard.
The sea gives back what it once took.
A witch runs a detective agency in a cursed city.
Heir to a throne—but the kingdom is imaginary.
A tree grows in the center of town and whispers names at midnight.
A house swaps locations every full moon.
Your character wakes up in someone else’s body—again.
A book writes itself while you read it.
A lost item returns with a note attached.
The stars rearrange to spell a warning.
NON-FICTION / MEMOIR PROMPTS
Write about a moment you felt truly invisible.
What would your childhood home say if it could speak?
Recount a secret you’ve never said aloud—without revealing the secret.
Describe a person who changed your life without knowing it.
Write about a meal that marked a turning point.
A letter to your future self—ten years from now.
Explore a family myth or rumor and what it means to you.
Write about an object you’ve carried for years and why.
Describe a sound that takes you back in time.
A trip that didn’t go as planned—but needed to.
Write a poem as a letter never sent.
Begin with the line: “I buried the silence in the garden.”
A love poem to something that cannot love back.
Write about light without using the word “light.”
A weather report for your emotions.
Describe a season as if it were a person.
A poem where each stanza represents a different room.
Write a poem using only colors and sensations.
A poem titled "The Archive of Forgotten Smells."
Personify the moon arguing with the ocean.
A retired superhero loses their powers in the real world.
Two strangers are stuck in an elevator during a blackout.
A reality show goes horribly wrong—live.
A time traveler returns to prevent their own birth.
An AI starts writing its own soap opera.
A musical set entirely in a laundromat.
The last voicemail of a missing person.
A road trip between a ghost and the person who accidentally summoned them.
A world where emotions are traded as currency.
A man wakes up and no one remembers he existed.
A character refuses to speak for a year—why?
Someone finds their own name on a list of missing people.
Your protagonist has never seen their own reflection.
A compulsive liar tells one final truth.
A character who hears people’s thoughts—except one person’s.
A friendship slowly turns into a rivalry—show the tipping point.
A character begins receiving letters from their childhood pet.
An archivist begins to erase their own records.
Your character is convinced someone’s rewriting their memories.
A person confronts their past self in a dream—and loses.
SPECULATIVE / SURREAL PROMPTS
Everyone wakes with the same tattoo—and no memory of how.
People are born with countdowns on their wrists.
Each season brings new laws.
You receive a package addressed to someone you used to be.
An abandoned theme park that alters time.
A library where books age with their readers.
A forest appears where there was none before.
You wake to find all sound gone except music.
People begin turning into stone, one finger at a time.
A staircase that never leads the same place twice.
WRITING STYLE / FORM PROMPTS
Write a story without using the letter “e.”
Compose a narrative entirely in dialogue.
Write a scene backward, from end to beginning.
Use footnotes to tell a secondary story.
Tell a love story using only emails and receipts.
Write an unreliable narrator who thinks they’re telling the truth.
Tell a ghost story through a series of diary entries.
A story that shifts genres halfway through.
Describe a character using only metaphors.
Write a piece in the format of an old recipe card.
A story exploring obsession without using the word “obsession.”
Write about justice through the eyes of a villain.
Create a world based on one of the seven deadly sins.
Tell a story about forgiveness set in a hospital.
A narrative about legacy—what is left behind.
Write about betrayal from the betrayer’s perspective.
Explore the concept of “home” without referencing a house.
A love story where one character is already dead.
A journey where the destination disappears.
A tale about control—gained, lost, or surrendered.
MYSTERY / TENSION PROMPTS
A missing persons case solved by a child’s drawing.
A phone rings in an abandoned building.
Every clock in the world skips one second.
A stranger knows everything about you—except your name.
A detective falls in love with their prime suspect.
A letter opener is the only clue left behind.
Someone confesses to a crime no one knew happened.
A mirror shows not the present, but five minutes ahead.
A thief breaks into a home only to find their own belongings.
A child’s imaginary friend starts leaving footprints.
