1800+ Creative Writing Prompts To Inspire You Right Now – Page 23

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This week's contest:

Win $250

Something Wicked This Way Comes

56 contest entries /

28 stories

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Closes at 23:59 - Nov 22 EST

Start your story with “It was so terribly cold. Snow was falling, and it was almost dark.” (Hans Christian Andersen, “The Little Match Girl”)

Winter – 112 stories

Write a modern version of "The Tiger, the Brahmin, and the Jackal," in which someone suffers from their own good deeds and must turn to an unlikely source for help.

Fiction – 21 stories

Write a story about a fox spirit (a gumiho, jiǔwěihú, kitsune, or hồ ly tinh), inspired by, e.g. Korean, Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese folklore.

Fiction – 41 stories

Write a story inspired by this quote from Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy: “In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost.”

Fiction – 66 stories

Write a story where a character must continue to tell their tale to a listener to avoid unsavory consequences.

Dramatic – 41 stories

Write about a character who’s attending a dinner thrown in their honor, but deeply embarrasses themself during their speech.

Funny – 19 stories

Write about someone who thinks they just got a great deal on something, only for them to realize…

Mystery – 32 stories

Write a story about someone who is determined to not have their day spoiled — but the universe is trying their patience.

Funny – 48 stories

Write about a character who would have complete happiness, if it weren’t for that one thing.

Character – 63 stories

Write a story that starts with the line “So, what’s the catch?”

Dialogue – 97 stories

Write about a human and a cat that come to some kind of mutual understanding.

Character – 126 stories

Set your story in a cat shelter.

Fiction – 24 stories

Write about a cat living in an ancient temple, like the Acropolis.

Fiction – 17 stories

Write a story from the point of view of a big cat — whether that’s a lion, cheetah, etc., or just a chunky pet.

Funny – 48 stories

Start your story with a character being led somewhere by a stray cat.

Adventure – 109 stories

Write a story entirely of dialogue. Nothing but dialogue. No attributives (he said, she said, etc.). No descriptions of scenes or gestures or movements (unless these things are presented in the dialogue). Just words between quotation marks. Pure, beautiful, untainted dialogue.

Dialogue – 276 stories

Write a story that formally utilizes a mathematical sequence; e.g., the Fibonacci sequence could determine the number of words in each paragraph, or start with a number and work backwards. Make sure the formula is made clear, either within the story, or before or after it.

Fiction – 19 stories

Write a story within a story within a story within a ...

Fiction – 55 stories

Write a story of fragments. Many options here: no verbs, sentence fragments, short sections, nothing but objects, etc. The fragments should relate to one another obliquely, hesitantly, subtly, ambiguously, preposterously, marvelously.

Fiction – 54 stories

Write a story in which each paragraph begins or ends (or both!) with the same sentence.

Fiction – 77 stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

We'll send you 5 prompts each week. Respond with your short story and you could win $250!

Contest #277 LIVE

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: Something Wicked This Way Comes

$250

Prize money

56

Contest entries

28

Stories

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Closes at 23:59 - Nov 22, 2024 EST

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