When you find yourself struggling with writer’s block, try one of these writing prompts. The writing prompts on this list are intentionally broad. The goal is to jump-start your writing engine so that you can begin writing your book or story. Remember to favor the concrete over the abstract, and to let your mind go where it may. Hopefully, in the future, you will shape the material from some of these prompts into longer pieces.
- What is the worst thing you ever did? Write about it.
- Write about a time when you were very angry. What motivated your anger? How did you display/hide it? How did others respond to your anger?
- Many people have a box of keepsakes–letters, photographs, awards, etc. Explore this box. Write about each item it contains.
- Write about something you saw and have been unable to forget.
- Write about a recurring dream in first person (I) present (as if it is happening now).
- Write about the moment you entered womanhood/manhood.
- Write about your first experience with sexuality.
- Write about something that took place in the middle of the night. Allow the reader experience night without ever using the word “night.”
- Write about your most memorable experience with food, concentrating on taste and smell and touch.
- Write about your first experience with death.
- Describe your first meeting with someone who would later become a close friend.
- Describe your first meeting with someone who would later become an adversary.
- Write about a significant event in your childhood from your mother’s/father’/s/guardian’s point of view.
- Spend an hour in a public place–park, café, bar, etc.–writing about the people who walk by.
- Write about yourself in the third person (he/she) from the point of view of your boss/an employee.
- Write about someone whom you observed in a desperate situation.
- Choose an object of personal significance. Place it in front of you on your writing desk. Write about how the object came into your possession, and about what it means to you. What is your personal history with this object?
- Tell the story of your life in two pages. Then tell the story of your life in a paragraph.
- Write about your most carefully guarded secret.
- Write about what makes you afraid.
- Write about a time when you believed in yourself.
- Write about your parents’ courtship. If possible, interview them. If not, reconstruct their courtship from what they or other relatives have told you.
- Describe a place where something wonderful happened to you.
- Describe a place where something bad happened to you.
- Write about your former relationship with someone who is no longer living.
- Write about a time when your personality changed, when you behaved in a way that was uncharacteristic.
- Write about the last thing you did by candlelight.
- List the most influential people in your life.
- Write about water.
- Write about someone you see frequently but don’t know well, or at all.
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