Writing Prompts

Writing prompts are much like the challenges Vocal Media provides. A little spark of an idea meant to get your mind turning. Hopefully, at minimum, a new article or short story comes out of it. Some are sentences, some are ideas, some start with a photo. I’ve been in charge of creating writing prompts for the Vocal Creators Saloon Facebook group since it first started. Most of these prompts have appeared in that group. Some have been found on other writing prompt websites or posted by other writers in Facebook groups. Hope you enjoy and happy writing! Creativity knows no limits.

1. Your character has been sharing dreams with a stranger for years now. One day they look up and see the stranger there in front of them. Write the story.

2. Find a photo on Unsplash you love and fit it into your next story.

3. Pick an animal (don't get too specific). Pick a number. Go to Unsplash, search the animal and use the photo that corresponds to the number you chose. Write a story/article to match the photo.

4. Pick a song you recently listened to (or a favourite). Pull ONE line from the song. Write about it. Use the line to write a fictional story or share your experiences on why that line of text speaks to you.

5. Pick a location anywhere in the world. Either a favourite place or somewhere you have always wanted to go. Incorporate all five senses into your next bit of writing: sight, smell, sound, touch, taste.

6. Your antagonist is taking you out to dinner. What do they order, drink, talk about? Where do they take you? What are the circumstances? The antagonist should be from one of your fiction pieces or a current work in progress. If you don’t have an antagonist of your own, choose one from a favourite book/movie/tv show. Got this from a writing fiction Facebook group.

7. Pick a city or town (or a hamlet, etc.). Imagine that place 100 years in the past/future. Write about it!

8. Write a letter to your future self. Summarize your present self. What do you want your future self to remember? Is there something you are struggling with that you hope to overcome? Some milestone or goal you are imagining reaching? You can even send it to your future inbox at https://www.futureme.org/letters/new

9. Think back to a memory of yours and explore it from an alternate perspective. It could be another person in the memory, a pet, a stranger, even an inanimate object. What would they have paid attention to? What history and context do they bring to the memory?

10. Think of a job title. Pick a random number. Searching the title on Unsplash use the photo that corresponds to the number you picked. Use that photo to create your next bit of writing.

11. Everything exists on a spectrum. Filthy rich to dirt poor. Overflowing to empty. Hot to cold. Male to female. Microscopic bacteria to megafauna. Write from two perspectives on the opposite ends of a spectrum.

12. Write something that includes your worst fear(s). How can you turn it around? How can you (or your characters) work through the fear?

13. Write something from the perspective of being underwater. This could be from a sea creature's point of view, a scuba diver, perhaps a ship that has sunk below the surface. You decide.

14. Write something from the perspective of being in the air. Not on the surface, but above. From a plane, helicopter, glider, bird. You get the idea.

15. The United Nations has 17 Sustainable Development Goals they wish to achieve for a healthy future. Pick one goal and write about it. Read about each goal here: https://sdgs.un.org/goals

16. Write something for a vocal community you have never submitted to.

17. You (or your character) has found a skeleton key. What does it belong to? What will your character unlock (or not)?

18. Tattoos always come with stories. If you have a tattoo, write about the story behind it. And if you don't have tats, write a story about someone else's tattoos, a tattoo you want to get, or ones your fictional characters have.

19. Have you ever read a book and felt unsatisfied by the ending? Try writing your own alternate ending.

20. Write about a mythical or legendary creature. Or even an extinct one. What does it look like? What does it eat? How does it interact with other species?

21. You can teleport to anywhere in the Universe. Where do you go? What do you see and do?

22. Where does a star go when it dies?

23. Write about an accident. What happened? Who was involved? What did the news report about it?

24. Write about being late for something.

25. Write about someone you thought you knew and how they have changed.

26. Invent something new. A breakfast cereal, an article of clothing, a life saving device, or something else.

27. Write about a nightmare. Or a dream.

28. Choose a photo and try to write the story that led up to it. Use your own or an image from Unsplash.

29. A salesman got rich selling equipment that was supposed to protect the nation’s citizens from the oncoming climate disaster. The equipment didn’t work. From the Daily Prompt app.

30. A group of post-apocalyptic archaeologists uncover a building that they don’t know is a high school from 2015. From the Daily Prompt app.

If you want to see more from me, join the Vocal Creators Saloon on Facebook. #Writingprompts get posted every Wednesday at 8 AM EST. If you do, be sure to share your creations in the comments so I can give them a read.

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Everything is connected. Written by Kelsey Reich on June 24/2021 in Ontario, Canada.