Writing Prompts

Exactly what it says on the tin. If you have a prompt you would like to submit, please do so via the ask box. Tag me or reblog the original prompts with your fills that they inspired if you would like me to promote it. Note: I try to only promote original fiction on this blog but sometimes fanfiction fills - which you are welcome to write - slip through. Credit not necessary. I don't own these ideas once I release them out into the world, though I do own any story I may be inspired to write from my own prompts. Askbox is currently closed.

[promptsblog]

"Were you so drunk you don't remember if you killed somebody?"

"Well, I... can't rule it out "

"I can. You were passed out in my bathtub at the time of the murder."

"Oh. Well. That's a relief."

"Is it?"

"Well..."

"You need help, Kyle ."

"Of course. Of course. But I'm not a murderer. So... silver lining."

[promptsblog]

"You're my brother?"

"Yes. Now, I know that's a lot to process - "

"You can't have my kidney!"

"What?"

[promptsblog]

"Sorry, I just didn't expect you to be an inversion."

"Why not?"

"Well... inversions usually have pretty strong personalities."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

[promptsblog]

"I'm going to eat all your children."

"I don't have any children."

"All your future children."

"I'm barren."

"Fuck."

[promptsblog]

"When you say, 'Evil Lizard Woman', are you being hyperbolic or literal? I never can tell here."

"Well, technically she's only one quarter lizard person, and her ties to evil have never been definitively proven, but there have been rumours of her evil deeds for years."

"Evil deeds?"

"Sabotaging her rivals' record sales and streaming numbers with magic, turning critics into goats, murder, making wine taste like lemon juice at awards after-parties, that sort of thing; none of it's ever been proven, though."

"Sorry, did you say, 'murder'?"

"And even full-blooded Lizard People aren't all sorcerers, let alone evil ones."

"Cool, cool, but can we go back to the murder thing?"

[promptsblog]

"You think I'm just going to forget about the whole you-shagging-my-Mum thing?"

"Hey, I've shagged a lot of people's Mums, it's not like I was singling you out."

"Ok but how many of those people were you friends with?"

"Before or after I shagged their Mums?

"Before."

"Seven."

[thejadedkiwano]

To all the Tumblr users who tend to use tags very liberally:

Let’s play a game. Type the following words into your tags box, then post the first automatic tag that comes up. you, also, what, when, why, how, look, because, never

[promptsblog]

Thought I'd try this again, it's been a few years

[promptsblog]

Day Eight: Conflict

When it comes to storytelling, one of the most captivating elements is conflict. At its core, conflict arises from the clash of different goals or desires, creating a tension that can resonate deeply with readers. This tension isn't just an obstacle for characters, it's what propels them into action and decision-making. It’s what keeps us glued to the page, wanting to know what happens next.

To truly engage your audience, it’s crucial to strike a balance between the external events of the story and the internal emotions of the characters. A compelling story goes beyond merely listing events. It delves into the thoughts and feelings that accompany those events. When readers can connect with the characters on an emotional level, their journeys become far more impactful.

Interestingly, sometimes it’s the subtle tension that packs the biggest punch. Not every conflict needs to erupt into loud confrontations; in fact, quieter struggles often reflect the real-life challenges many of us face. This approach invites readers to engage more deeply with the characters’ internal battles, enriching the narrative and making it more relatable.

Making the conflict personal is another crucial element. The stakes should resonate with the characters on a personal level, causing them genuine emotional pain. When readers understand what drives the characters and the challenges they face, the story becomes much more immersive. Personal stakes hold the audience's interest and investment in the outcome.

As your story unfolds, it’s vital that the conflict evolves. Both sides should remain steadfast in their beliefs and desires, adding layers of complexity to the narrative. This evolution not only highlights the characters' resilience but also enriches the story, making the eventual resolution even more rewarding.

This intricate dance of conflict and emotion creates a connection between the reader and the story. Watching characters navigate evolving conflicts and make difficult choices raises the stakes and heightens our emotional investment. The resolution then feels meaningful, reflecting how much the characters have changed and grown throughout their journey.

Ultimately, storytelling is about engaging readers through relatable struggles and transformative experiences, leaving them with a sense of connection long after the last page is turned.

TLDR

Conflict = friction between opposing goals or desires.

Balance external (plot) and internal (emotion)

Subtle tension is often more powerful than shouting matches

Make conflict personal; it should hurt where it matters

Keep it evolving, and make sure both sides have something to stand for

[promptsblog]

Day Five: Writer's Block

Hey everyone! Sorry for no Day Four post; work had me feeling pretty drained. But on that note, let’s jump back in and tackle a topic that’s all too familiar for writers everywhere: writer’s block.

Writer's block often stems from two main challenges: a lack of ideas or difficulty finding the right words.

Ideas

When you find yourself struggling to generate ideas, it can be beneficial to engage in brainstorming. This process allows you to make connections between different aspects of your story, often leading to unexpected insights. Additionally, asking questions such as "what if" can spark creativity and open up new avenues of thought. Changing the perspective from which you're writing can also be incredibly valuable; seeing things from a different angle can provide fresh insights and fuel more words for your novel.

Words

If you're encountering a word block, it can be helpful to ease the pressure on yourself. Taking a break is often a valuable strategy; it's important to remember that breaks aren't setbacks but rather serve as fuel for your creativity. Sometimes, just writing anything at all can help you regain your momentum. Additionally, considering a shift in your point of view may reignite the spark you need to continue moving forward.

TLDR

Writer's block often indicates you’re stuck on either ideas or words. 

If it’s an idea issue, brainstorm, pose “what if” questions, or switch perspectives. 

If it's a word dilemma, ease the pressure, take a break, and just get those words on the page. 

[promptsblog]

Day Three: Narrative Voice

Alright, let’s dive into voice: that essential element everyone talks about but few actually explain.

If plot is about what happens, and characters are about who it happens to, voice is about how the story is told. Think of it as the personality of your writing - the feeling, the style, the attitude that colors every detail. It’s what makes two people telling the same story sound completely different.

Check out these examples:

The sky was dark.

The sky was sulking

The sky was having a full-blown existential crisis about the concept of sunlight.

Same sky, three completely different voices.

1. Voice Comes From Perspective

Voice isn’t something you slap on at the end, it grows organically from the character telling the story. Even in third person limited, the character’s worldview should influence how the story sounds.

Ask yourself:

What kind of person is your narrator?

What do they notice first?

What flies under their radar?

How do they interpret the world?

A confident character might describe an alley like, “The street narrowed into shadow.” A cautious one might say, “Someone could be waiting in that dark.”

Same place, different perspective - and that’s where voice lives.

2. Vocabulary and Syntax Matter

Every word choice sets tone. Long, flowing sentences can show reflection or patience; short, punchy ones can create energy or tension.

For example:

The rain had a way of falling sideways, as if it, too, had somewhere better to be.

It rained like it was mad at something.

Both describe the same storm, but one feels lyrical while the other feels grounded and conversational. Neither is wrong, just be consistent with the tone you’ve set.

3. Don’t Confuse Style with Voice

For our purposes, style is your signature as a writer. Voice is the story’s signature. You may hear the reverse being described, and that's not wrong, but regardless of what you call them, the point is they are two different things.

If you write across genres, you’ll probably use different voices; your whimsical children’s fantasy shouldn’t sound like your gritty adult horror (at least, I hope it doesn’t).

The trick is to make sure your style and the story’s voice work together rather than compete for attention.

4. Tone and Voice Go Hand in Hand

I talked about setting the tone back on Day One, but it’s worth repeating: voice sets the tone early.

If your story opens with poetic narration, readers expect something moody or thoughtful. If it opens with snappy humour, they’re ready for a faster, lighter story. You can absolutely shift tone later, just make sure it feels deliberate.

TLDR

Voice is the personality of your story

It grows from perspective, tone and rhythm, with word choice and sentence structure shaping it

Style is yours, voice belongs to the story

Once you set your tone, stay consistent

[promptsblog]

Day 2: Setting

I think a lot of people hear the word setting and immediately think “description.” Trees, cobblestones, the smell of rain, all that. And sure, that’s part of it, but setting is so much more than a place. It’s the atmosphere. The emotional temperature of the scene. It’s what makes the world feel alive. If your characters exist in a vacuum, readers will feel it. So, let’s dig in.

1. Setting Isn’t Just Where — It’s When and Why

Setting isn’t a backdrop; it’s context. It tells us what’s normal here, what’s strange, what’s worth noticing.

A candlelit hallway means something different in a haunted manor than it does in a power outage. A cell phone ringing in a church has a different weight than one ringing in a nightclub. It’s all about why this setting matters now. If you treat the setting like an active participant, you’ll find the scene starts pulling its own weight.

2. Use sensory detail

One of the fastest ways to lose a reader is to give them floating heads in a void. You don’t need a page of description, just a handful of sensory details to orient them.

Ask yourself:

What does this place smell like?

What’s the texture underfoot?

What sound defines the space?

Even one strong detail (a fan that clicks on every rotation, rain that only falls on one side of the street, a carpet so thin the nails poke through) can bring the whole scene to life.

3. Match Setting to Emotion

The right setting can say what your characters won’t. A fight in a cramped kitchen feels different from a fight on a windswept hill. A confession in a moving car has a built-in tension: where can you go when the truth lands?

Let the environment echo or challenge the emotional tone. Maybe the lovers reconcile under flickering streetlights that refuse to cooperate. Maybe your hero finally feels peace, and the rain stops mid-sentence.

Whatever it is, find something that resonates.

4. Use Movement to Reveal Setting

A great trick is to describe the world through what your characters do in it.

She kicked at the wet leaves until they clumped on her boots. He ducked beneath the low beam, like he’d done it a thousand times before. The wind shoved at the door as if it wanted in.

We don’t need a static painting. We need a moment that moves.

5. Less Is Often More

You don’t have to catalogue every smell, sound, and shade of blue. Choose the two or three details that matter most, the ones that reveal tone, character, or mood. The rest can fade into the background, just like in real life. Readers fill in blanks better than you think. Give them enough to see, but not enough to stop imagining.

TLDR

Setting is more than location — it’s atmosphere, context, and mood.

- Use sensory detail to ground the reader.

- Let environment reflect or contrast emotion.

- Reveal setting through action, not static description.

- Trust the reader’s imagination.

[promptsblog]

Day One: Openings

I know many of you are starting a novel today. So am I. That's exciting. But the thing about starting a novel is, most people start at the beginning.  And you don't need to do it that way, you can start writing whatever scene interests you first and jump around, but most of you will be writing chronologically, so I thought I'd chat a bit about opening a novel, and maybe you'll find something useful here.

1. Hook the reader

When the reader starts your novel they're deciding whether to continue reading.  It's up to you to provide an incentive to do that. This can be done with:

. Dialogue

Coming into the middle of a conversation is a great way to capture and hold the reader's attention. In addition to showing us characters and how they interact with each other, it brings us into the swing of things rather than drawing out the beginning with long-winded exposition.

Example:

"I said no."

"But the Duke will be there!"

As the conversation and dialogue tags unfold we learn context of the conversation.

. Action

Action doesn't necessarily mean swordfights or car chases, although starting the story in the middle of a battle or chase scene can work very well. Really, it's about motion. The character doing something.

A logger taking the final blow to a tree with an axe before wiping their brow. A busy parent throwing packed lunch into their son's hands. A job candidate checking their reflection before an interview.

The beginning of the story shouldn't feel like the beginning of the world. The world should already be there, established, in motion, when the reader comes in, and action is a good way to convey that.

. Mystery

Another good way to hook the reader is by offering an intriguing teaser line, something that leads the reader wanting to know more.

Examples:

I hadn’t planned on attending my own funeral, but the invitation was handwritten and far too polite to ignore.

When the alarms finally stopped, we all clapped. The experiment had worked.

The rules were simple: never look directly in the mirror after midnight, and never, under any circumstance, answer when it calls your name.

I was eight when my mother disappeared, but it took me twenty years to realize she’d been practicing for it my entire life.

. Description

I mentioned long-winded exposition earlier. Generally it is a good idea to avoid this, especially at the beginning, but that doesn't mean we can't paint a picture for the reader. A good strong opening image can be a great way to start your story.

Examples:

Dr. Wren looked like someone had tried to draw a person from memory and gotten the details slightly wrong - too many buttons, hair in constant rebellion, and eyes that never seemed to blink at the right time.

Ash fell like lazy snow over the rooftops, muffling the world in a strange hush. Somewhere, a bell kept ringing, as if refusing to believe the church was gone.

The hotel smelled of dust and orange peels, its chandeliers long since surrendered to cobwebs but still pretending to sparkle when the sun hit just right.

The main street glowed honey-gold, the neon sign of the diner flickering its last stubborn “O” while cicadas tuned their night symphony in the trees.

A current of warm air coiled around her ankles as she stepped off the curb, an impossible thing in winter, but then again, so was the shadow that crossed the street ahead of her without its owner.

The tents stood like ghosts under the pale sun, their edges fluttering with old newspaper clippings and prayer flags. Even the wind sounded tired, dragging its feet across the dunes.

. A statement

A really memorable and attention grabbing way to open a story is with a statement.  The most famous example that comes to mind is Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

In this one statement Austen establishes the setting, tone and premise of the novel before even introducing any characters.

2. Set the tone

Tonal shifts can be extremely affective at the right time, but put some thought into what sort of tone you want to maintain through the story and how you can introduce it. This is not so much about what you say but how you say it. Word choice. Number of syllables per sentence. Number of sentences per paragraph. Metaphors and similes or straight-forward description.  Mood. Think about all the things that go into establishing and maintaining tone.

3. Anchor your reader

Mystery is good, but there's a fine line between mystery and disorientation.  Try to make sure by the end of page 2, the reader knows

- Who we're following

- Where we are

- What's happening

There are going to be exceptions to this but make sure these are deliberately made, not just because you are meandering in your introduction.

4. Accept that your opening will probably change

You're nor really writing an entire novel this month, you're writing the first draft. Once you've finished the draft, you might realise that the story actually needs to start several weeks earlier, or much later, or from an entirely different pov. That's normal. That's writing.

TLDR:

- Hook the reader early

- Use your opening to set tone and manage reader expectations

- Anchor the reader in the world

- Be willing to rewrite your beginning once you understand your ending

As you dive into Day 1 of your November writing challenge, don’t chase the perfect first line; chase momentum. Your opening isn’t a masterpiece, it’s a door. Walk through it. Focus on tone and energy, not polish. You’ll fix the rough edges later. For now, get words down, find your rhythm, and trust that clarity comes from motion. The best beginnings reveal themselves halfway through the process, so start writing, and let the story catch up.

[promptsblog]

For those of you participating in Nano 2.0 or any other November Novel Writing challenge, what mechanisms are you going to put in place to ensure you meet your goals?

In my case, I won't let myself play The Sims until I've met my daily goal, and even then, I can't spend more time playing the sims than I've spent writing that day. Future me is going to hate it, but it must be done.

[promptsblog]

This one’s for songwriters, poets and writers of prose: Write a piece that seems to be a metaphor for something deep at first but as it goes on it becomes clear is literally about something trivial. For example, “I was in the dark

I lost my way

Then I found the light

Shining from a torch

But then the batteries fell out

And I tripped over them

Any way, that’s how I got this bruise.”

[promptsblog]

Sometimes I'll be searching for a post on my blog and then I'll see these other random posts that match the keywords and then stumble on absolute gold

[promptsblog]

A guy wakes up to discover his shadow has quit and is now working as a motivational speaker.

[promptsblog]

Before I ever started this blog, I was already part of something that changed my life: volunteering with Puddle Jumpers. It’s an Australian charity that runs camps and activity days for children and young people who don’t live with their birth parents.

Thirteen years ago, I walked into my very first camp not knowing what to expect. I still remember the mix of nerves and excitement. What I found was a place filled with laughter, resilience, and connection; children who had been through more than most adults, suddenly free to just be kids. Over time, I kept coming back, and the camps became part of the rhythm of my life. Even in the early days of this blog, I used to queue up writing prompts before heading off to camp, because I knew the phone reception would be rubbish, but nothing was going to stop me from showing up for those weekends.

Puddle Jumpers is run entirely by volunteers and relies on donations to make the magic happen. Their work stretches far beyond “just camps”:

- Giving children and young people the chance to experience fun-filled weekends they might not otherwise get.

- Offering much-needed respite for carers who often carry heavy loads.

- Reuniting siblings who don’t live together, so they can share time in a relaxed setting.

- Pairing each child with a one-on-one buddy who ensures they feel safe, seen, and cared for the entire weekend. (There’s also a two-volunteer rule, so no child is ever left alone with just one adult. Child safety is paramount)

- Running a leadership program for young people who have outgrown the main camp program but aren’t quite ready to step into a volunteer role.

- Providing free food and other essential items to families and individuals in need.

This week, I’m stepping outside my comfort zone in a different way: I’ll be abseiling down the side of the Intercontinental Hotel in Adelaide to raise money for Puddle Jumpers. (Yes, you read that right, I’m going over the edge of a building for this cause!)

I’ve hesitated to bring this here, because Tumblr is usually where I share writing prompts and creative thoughts, not fundraising links. But I’ve also seen how powerful storytelling can be, and these kids deserve their stories to be heard. So I’m asking, if you can, please donate to my fundraising page. Every dollar helps us keep the camps running, the food hampers stocked, and the kids smiling. And if donating isn’t possible, simply reblogging or sharing this post makes a difference, too.

The donation page will stay open for a while after the event. Over the next week or so, I’ll be posting more about Puddle Jumpers, in between plenty of writing prompts, so this won’t take over the blog completely.

For thirteen years, I’ve had the privilege of watching kids arrive nervous, shy, or guarded, and leave brimming with confidence, giggles, and sometimes even a new sense of belonging. That’s why I’m willing to dangle off the side of a hotel. Because for them, it’s worth it.

DONATE

[promptsblog]

"What did I do?"

"Nothing. You're the only person here who doesn't deserve this. You're actually just a normal person living your life."

"Then, why am I here?"

"I don't like you.'