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Creative Writing Prompts Cross them off as you try new ideas

• You've had a rough day at work. You head home and go straight to bed, mumbling, "I wish I'd wake up tomorrow and be anyone but me," before dozing off. When you wake up in the morning, your dream has come true, as you quickly realize that you are not you—you are someone else...

• You're a private investigator who is down on his or her luck and hasn't had a client in months. Suddenly the phone rings. It's a kid. The kid proposes a silly case to you. Normally you wouldn't take such a ridiculous job (from a kid, no less), but you need the work, so you...

• Start your story with "April showers bring May flowers, at least, that's what my ______ used to tell me." Then end your story with story with, "And that, officer, is why I had to kill my ______.”

• Suddenly one day, you hop online and notice there are several comments from you—but you didn't write them! You attempt to delete them, but you can't. Worse yet,...

• You start dating a person you met at your local grocery store. The date is going well—you've taken the person to your favorite restaurant (in which you both ordered the same unusual meal) and, it turns out, you both grew up in the same small town. The problem is, when you go in for a…

• You're involved in a scavenger hunt—boys versus girls—and you take off to help your team collect every item on the list. The first several items are relatively easy but the last item is very unusual. But, upon reading the last item, you know exactly where to find it. The only problem is that it...

• You're playing a video game called Wizards & Warriors when, suddenly, lighten strikes the house, scaring you and causing you to black out. When you wake up, you're trapped inside the game. The only items you have is a sword, a backpack and a note attached to your shirt that reads…

• Your best friend knocks on your door one afternoon. You open it and he or she is dressed in a strange costume. Before you can say anything, your friend hands you a sword and says, "I need your help. Your family's life depends on it." Just then, your friend opens what looks to be...

• Your grandmother is in poor health and you spend extra time at her apartment taking care of her. While getting her out of bed and into her chair one day, she thanks you for all your help. Then she says that she needs to tell you a story about her past, one that you…

• You're outside shoveling your own driveway when you decide, as a kind gesture, to shovel your neighbor's driveway too. Just then a group of teenagers with shovels show up and threaten you, claiming that this is "their turf." What do you do?

• You go in for a rather complex dental procedure and the dentist has to put you under in or-der to complete it. When you wake up, though, you are no longer in the dentist office. You are on a train with a briefcase handcuffed to your wrist. Just as you are soaking this in...

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• Your are going on a blind date for Valentine's Day. In case the date is a dud, you have your best friend on standby. Your friend is to call you at 9:30 on the dot. If the date is going well, you answer and use the phrase "I already took care of that." If...

• You've been out of work for a few months and respond an unusual ad online that reads: "Team seeking full-time associate who isn't afraid of ghosts." They call and tell you to come in. Intrigued (and desperate for work), you go to their office and get hired on the spot. Moments later, there's a...

• Write a letter to someone in your life that has passed away. You can tell that person the things you wish you'd said, tell that person some of the highlights of your life, whatever you want. If that's too difficult, have a made up character write a letter...

• There's a note on the windshield of your car. The note says, "I've taken your most prized possession. If you want to see it again, in tact, meet me tonight at baseball field around the corner of the local high school. And bring your glove." What makes this note so curious is that you've...

• Make a New Year's resolution list that includes 10 goals. They don't all have to be writing-related, but at least 3 of them do. Then refer to this post often this year and update it as you complete your goals.

• You've invited all your family members to celebrate Christmas at your house. Unfortu-nately, they all decline with different excuses, which seems highly unusual as you normally spend the holidays together. On Christmas day you decide to drop their gifts off at their houses. When you arrive at the first house, though, you see them...

• You are an Elf on the Shelf and you've been picked up by a famous celebrity to roam around his or her house at Christmas time. But what the celebrity doesn't know is that you've been hired by The National Enquirer gossip magazine to find dirt on that celeb. You are a week in...

• You are one of Santa's reindeer (other than Rudolph) and you are jealous of all the atten-tion that red-nosed reindeer is getting. You've been offered another job and have decided to go in to Santa's workshop office and negotiate a better deal. Does Santa match your de-mands or do you decide to take the...

• You have been elected president of the United States. When you get to the White House, you find out that there's a note from your predecessor. The note says "Good Luck," but when everyone else leaves the room the words on the note disappear and new words ap-pear: "Look in the bottom drawer of...

• After an extreme evening of fun you wake up feeling groggy and fall over. The ground greets you much quicker than usual. You waddle over to a low-lying mirror and see that you’re a baby, but remember everything. You parent’s voice is lilting up the stairs. What do you attempt to tell them? How...

• Two objects sit before you: a golden hammer and a cup of what seems to be water. A note on the wall says: “Go ahead, make your choice. The outcome will decide whether you’re

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ready or not.” Ready for what? What is this place? Why these objects? Which will you choose?

• You went to bed like any other night and were out like a log in minutes. But when you woke up, you weren't at home. You were in a car (that wasn't yours), wearing clothes (that weren't yours), and holding a bag full of money (that wasn't yours). Suddenly, a police car turns on...

• On the wall next to your desk you have the picture of someone you greatly admire. It's been there for a few years, but today you notice something different about the eyes—they are looking in a different direction. You rub your eyes, as if they are deceiving you, but when you look again you…

• Describe a real made-up dream or nightmare.

• Draw an imaginary constellation. Write a story such as ancient people might have told about it.

• Write about your favorite childhood toy.

• Write out the best or the worst day of your life.

• Finish this thought: if I could change one thing about myself (if you can't think of anything, you might want to consider telling how you got to be perfect!)

• When I raise children, I'll never...

• I have never been more frightened than when...

• Persuade a friend to give up drugs.

• Five years from now, I will be...

• Invent and describe a new food.

• Describe an event that changed your life forever, or make up and describe an event that would change your life forever.

• Describe someone who is a hero to you and explain why.

• Write about a time in your life when you struggled with a choice and made the right one.

• Imagine yourself in a different century and describe an average day in your life.

• Which character from a book would you most like to meet and why?

• Three goals I have set for myself are...

• What would you do if you were locked inside your favorite department store overnight?

• What would you do if you woke up one morning to find yourself invisible?

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• What would you do if you were able to communicate with animals?

• What would you do if you could travel into the future?

• What would you do if someone just gave you $1 million?

• What would you do it all the electricity in the world just stopped?

• What would you do if you could travel free anyplace in the world?

• What would you do if the dinner served to you in a fancy restaurant came with a fly in the mashed potatoes?

• Write a list of at least 50 things that make you feel good.

• Describe the perfect day. Put in as many details as you can. Make it a possible day, not a "dream day."

• Who is the person from history that you would most like to meet and talk to? Why? What would you like to ask?

• Compile a list of words that describe you as a child. Compile a second list that describes you as you are now. How are these lists the same? How are they different?

• Compile a list of inanimate or animate objects to which you might compare yourself metaphorically. (I am a windmill. I change direction or my thoughts whenever someone talks to me...)

• Tell about what triggers anger in you or someone else.

• Invent a monster and describe it. Tell where it lives, what it eats, and what it does.

• What is your favorite kind of weather? Why?

• What is the best book you have ever read? Why did you like it? Did reading the book change you in any way? What way?

• Write about what you didn't do this weekend.

• Think about an incident that happened to you and exaggerate in the telling. Make it into a tall tale.

• If you were ruler of the world, what things would you banish absolutely for all time (rain on weekends, eggplant, and so forth)? Make a list. Use your imagination.

• If you could go back in time anywhere and "anywhen," where/when would you go and why?

• What law would you like to see enacted which would help people? How would it help?

• What commercial on TV do you dislike beyond all others? What about it is particularly an-noying to you?

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• Design some gadget, machine, building, or other creation that might enrich the future. What does it look like? What does it do? How does it function? In what ways might it bene-fit people?journal writing prompts

• What current fashion in clothing do you particularly like or dislike? Explain. journal writing prompts

• Convince someone why music or art or computers are important in your life. Make them appreciate your viewpoint.

• If you had $100,000, how would you spend it?

• Be a building you know well. Talk about your life and memories.

• You are to tell a person from a distant planet or from another era what pollution is. Make that person understand what causes it and why it is bad.

• If you could do something that you never have done before, what would it be? Why would you want to do it?

• Begin a list of questions that you'd like to have answered. They may be about the future or the past.

• What do you consider your greatest accomplishment to date and why?

• Write one characteristic or habit about yourself that you like and describe it. Or write about one thing you don't like about yourself.

• What is your hobby? Why do you enjoy it?

• If you could go somewhere where you've never gone before, where would you go and why?

• What's, if anything, would you be willing to fight or even die for? Explain your answer.

• If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be? Why would you make this change?

• Is there a machine you feel you could not live without? Explain.

• Write about what you think you will be like and what you will be doing 10 years or 20 years from now.

• Did you ever stick up for someone?

• Describe your neighborhood bully.

• Write about a baby-sitting experience.

• Describe a great fort you built for a great game you played as a child.

• Write about an enemy who eventually became your friend.

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• Write about a time you cheated and got caught.

• Write about a privilege you earned.

• Write about the stray animal you brought home.

• Did you ever send away for something that turned out to be a disappointment? (Or order something over the Internet)

• What is it like to go shopping with your mother?

• Write about a time you performed in front of an audience.

• Write about a difficult decision you had to make.

• Write about learning to skate, to ride a bike, to climb a tree, or to turn a cart wheel.

• Did you ever get lost in a strange town?

• Were you ever locked in or out? What did you do?

• What was it like to spend your first night away from home?

• What was it like to come back home after a long vacation?

• Write about a disappointment.

• Write about something minor that turned into a big deal.

• Did you ever win or lose a contest? Tell the story about what happened.

• Write about something you desperately wanted when you were younger.

• Did you ever know someone who had "everything"? • Right about the time as a child played in one of the following: treehouse, a cornfield, a con-

struction site, a junkyard, an abandoned house or barn, a stream, a cemetery, a swamp, a pasture, railroad tracks.

• Did your mom or dad ever make you wear something you hated?

• Write about a time you were talked into something and you regretted it.

• Were you ever in a helicopter, limousine, racecar, hot-air balloon, submarine, or horse-drawn carriage? If not can you imagine what it would be like?

• Did you ever forget something really important? What happened as a result?

• Write about an experience in a hospital.

• Were you ever accused of something that you didn't do?

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• Write about a disastrous trip or vacation.

• Were you ever given a responsibility that you couldn't handle? journal writing prompts

• Were you ever in a fire, flood, tornado, or hurricane?

• Describe the best concert you ever attended.

• Write about a window you broke or something valuable you lost.

• Did you ever catch fireflies? Crickets? Frogs? Snakes?

• Write about a time you tried to help and ended up making things worse.

• Did you ever break an important promise?

• Write about moving to another city or neighborhood.

• Describe an outdoor game you used to play in the summer time.

• Write about building sand castles or mud pies.

• Did you ever meet a famous person?

• Write about mowing the lawn, burning leaves, or weeding the garden.

• Describe the club you organized as a kid.

• Describe a car or bicycle accident you were in.

• Write about being a misfit.

• Write about a day spent in another country.

• Write about a time you out-smarted someone.

• Write about going shopping for new clothes.

• Did you ever turn someone in or tell on someone and feel bad about it later?

• Imagine that you are an animal in the zoo. What type of animal are you? How do you feel about being caged? How do you feel about people that visit and watch you?

• Write about a time your parents embarrassed you.

• Describe learning something from a friend.

• Write about a time you gave someone good advice.

• Write about the funniest thing that ever happened to you.

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• If you had to escort a visitor from outer space for a 30-minute tour of your community, where would you begin and end?

• Be a grape that becomes a raisin: describe how it feels to shrink, to shrivel, to become dry and wrinkled.

• Be an icicle that becomes water. Describe how it feels to be cold and firm and full of beau-tiful crystals but only to melt and lose your shape.

• You go to the store with your parents and baby brother. Your parents go into a store and tell you to watch your brother. You take your eyes off your brother for just a minute and you can't find him. You...

• I really hate it when my mother/father/sibling...

• What if the use of robots in school becomes a workable reality?

• What would you pack in your suitcase if you could not go home again?

• You have just met an alien from another planet. He wishes to take a student back to his planet. Convince him you would be the perfect specimen for him to take.

• If you could change one law, what law would it be and how would you change it?

• How forgiving are you when a friend lets you down? Explain. Give an example.

• What if you were named principal for the week? What would you do?

• If you could only speak twenty words for the rest of your life, what words would head your list and why?

• It started out as an unusual Monday morning, when I...

• As I approached the deserted house at the end of the road, I saw...

• Do you think girls are raised differently from boys? If so, in what ways?

• Do you think you are treated differently because you are a boy or girl?

• Do you think men and women are equal in today's society? Why or why not?

• Do you think a woman will be President of the United States in the near future? • Two men or women have it easier in our culture? If so, why do you think so?

• Have you ever wished you were either older or younger? What would you consider to be the benefits? The problems?

• Describe what you think of as the typical mother.

• Describe what you think of as the typical father.

• Do you think women should take men's last names when they marry? Why or why not?

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• Write a short biography of your mother.

• Write a short biography of your father.

• Visualize a time when your favorite person was laughing. Recall a time when you two shared a good laugh over something.

• Write about two things that your family has taught you.

• Write about some of the things that you worry about.

• Describe a happy memory of your family.

• How do you know someone loves you, even if he or she doesn't say it?

• Name one thing you like about yourself and why you like it.

• Imagine yourself as a teacher. What type of student would you like to teach and why?

• Name and describe a teacher who made a difference in your life. What did that teacher do that was so special?

• What makes you proud to be an American? Not proud?

• Describe the one thing that gives you the most comfort.

• If you could be a character in any book, TV show, or movie, who would you be and why?

• If you had to work in any store at your favorite mall, which store would it be and why?

• Describe the most difficult thing about being your age.

• Describe one possession that means the most to you.

• Who is the most important role model in your life?

• Describe your best personality trait.

• If you could study one subject in school that wasn't offered, what would it be and why?

• If you had a chance to live anywhere you could, where would it be and why?

• Write about the pros/cons of year-round school or a four-day school week. • Write about your favorite sport.

• What the first thing you think of when you think of summer?

• Who should be paid more, professional athletes or teachers? Why or why not?

• What class did you enjoy the most and why?

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• Write about the worst fight you ever had with a friend.

• If you had only one month to live, what would you do?

• Describe your dream house.

• Who is your favorite person to be with? Why?

• What would be your ideal job? Explain.

• If you could guest star on any TV show, what would it be and why?

• What do you think your life will be like in 10 years? 20 years?

• Describe how you would manage your own radio or TV station.

• What is your definition of success?

• The saying goes, "Money cannot buy happiness." Do you agree or disagree? Why?