IntShoWriMo 2016 Prompts: Day 22

Write a story revolving around these words, “The world seemed to stand still.” — From Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart”

What’s your idea of a perfect vacation? — creativewritingprompts.com

Write a seemingly normal story, except for the last sentence, which makes the entire story creepy. — Reddit

You've graduated from clown college and have been named valedictorian of your class. You must give an inspirational speech to all the other bozos in the crowd and, after weeks of writing, you finally think you've nailed it. Show us you delivering your speech. — Writer’s Digest

IntShoWriMo 2016 Prompts: Day 17

Create a scene which explains the line, “Don’t let false modesty make you retreat from your own excellence.” — Steven Barnes

Paint splattered on a canvas... — Writing.Com

To get the story straight, Dave, we think, has become a chicken. Just the worst of luck with that guy. Tom is claiming he married the futon that’s now covered in yogurt, Carl is on the chandelier with the dog and you just walked in after getting groceries. What the heck happened here? — Writer’s Digest

Sometimes the gifts we receive may seem plain or simple at first—another book, bag, pair of pants, or electronic gadget—but end up changing our lives in unexpected ways. Write a short story in which your main character receives a gift that he is unimpressed with, but that turns out to be more than meets the eye. Does using the gift result in a domino effect of unforeseen consequences? Is something surprising revealed about the gift giver? — PW.Org

IntShoWriMo 2016 Prompts: Day 15

Sometimes, on a sunny day, I look at the sky and see... — Writing.Com

What are things you can do in 3 minutes? List them. — creativewritingprompts.com

Write a scene in which your main character has an eye-opening encounter with a wild animal. Perhaps your character stumbles upon a raccoon, skunk, or opossum in an urban or suburban setting, or maybe it's an unexpected sighting of a bear or wolf in a remote forest. Does the encounter bring to the surface feelings of fear or compassion? Will the animal become symbolic for your character? — PW.Org

On the long flight to a foreign country, you wind up telling your seatmate much of your life story. Only it isn’t yours. You’ve always wanted to pretend to be somebody else, just for an hour or two, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. Only now you find yourself falling for your seatmate, and you don’t know what to tell him/her. Write your conversation. — Writer’s Digest

IntShoWriMo 2016 Prompts: Day 14

Begin a story with, “The hallway was silent...” — creativewritingprompts.com

If life is a TV channel, I'm currently on ... — Writing.Com

Development team Bit Byterz is currently in the process of completing creation of Memoranda, a video game inspired by twenty of Haruki Murakami's short stories. The game employs Murakami's trademarks of bizarre surrealism and characters who are in search of something they’ve lost. Continue this chain of inspiration by writing a short story revolving around an object or person—or even something more conceptual—that has been lost. Allow your scenes to unfold as a series of puzzles and problems to solve, as your main character journeys to locate the lost item. — PW.Org

You start training to run a marathon. Things are going well and you’ve developed a route that you like to run. One day you notice someone peeking out the window of one of the houses you pass, though you think nothing of it. But then the next day the peeper is back again. And the next day. Finally you decide to confront the peeper and knock on the door. But when the door opens, you are shocked to find out it’s someone from your past—who you thought was dead. — Writer’s Digest

IntShoWriMo 2016 Prompts: Day 10

Put Shaggy (Scooby-Doo`s partner) and Batgirl in an elevator and write a 200-word scene. — creativewritingprompts.com

A ring is found with an intriguing inscription inside. — Writing.Com

Write a story that begins with the title of the book you’ve most recently read and ends with the name of your favorite character that you’ve written. — Writer’s Digest

The popular saying “you can’t go home again” refers to the difficulty of matching a confrontation of one’s childhood and home as an adult with the version that exists in nostalgia-tinged memories. Write a scene in which your main character has attempted to “go home again” and is in for a rude awakening. What expectations and memories did she have before arriving home? Do the shortcomings of home reveal something about her personality and identity? — PW.Org

IntShoWriMo 2016 Prompts: Day 9

2016 is a Leap Year, meaning February gets an extra day on Monday, February 29. Push this one step further and invent—instead of an extra day—an extra month. Where would this thirteenth month fall in the calendar? In what season? Would it be named for an event or a person? Write a story that takes place within this month, using the invented details to enhance the story’s plot and tone. — PW.Org

Describe in concrete terms how “curiosity suffers.” — creativewritingprompts.com

Pulling the file from the cabinet, images rushed through her head. She opened the file and re-read the report she had hoped to forget. — Writing.Com

You were involved in a terrible car accident and have been in a coma for the past three months. What your family and the doctors don’t know is that you can hear everything that they say. Write the scene. — Writer’s Digest

IntShoWriMo 2016 Prompts: Day 8

This dialogue must appear somewhere in your story: “You know what else children don’t know?” — creativewritingprompts.com

One day as you were cleaning you noticed air being sucked towards the base of wall near the cupboard. Perplexed you went closer to investigate. The air was going in, slightly yet in. You hold your breath and gingerly peel away at the wallpaper until a huge wrought iron door stands before you. Where does it lead? Did you imagine this? What happens next? — Writer’s Digest

In his bestselling memoir, ‘On Writing’ Stephen King said, “I believe stories are found things like fossil in the ground. The writer’s job is to use the tools in his or her toolbox to get as much of each one out of the ground intact as possible.” Now write a story where a writer literally digs up inspiration for his story. Is it an ancient relic or bones of an unknown person or maybe just a simple object that arouses his curiosity? — Akpan

Write a short story in which your narrator’s voice is both informal and informed. How will you take advantage of a point of view that can travel through time and space? — PW.Org

IntShoWriMo 2016 Prompts: Day 7

The office building seemed normal enough. You shrug off the feeling of dread as you enter the doors. There’s no receptionist. Simply two doors. One is green, the other orange. Which do you take? Why are you there? What happens next? — Writer’s Digest

For this exercise, pick a character who appears in a story or novel currently in progress. Write a letter to yourself in the voice of that character in which he or she reveals something to you that you didn’t know before. — PW.Org

Write your eulogy. — Writing.Com

Every 50 years all the different coalitions of planets come together to pit their toughest predator against each other in a duel tournament. This year the Terran coalition is out to win for the first time in 54 tournaments since their entry to the intergalactic stage. — Reddit

IntShoWriMo 2016 Prompts: Day 6

Every morning at 9:00 a.m. sharp, you get a call on your cell phone. The speaker says “I know what you did” and then hangs up. This has been going on for two weeks straight. What did you do and how do you react to these calls? — Writer’s Digest

Virginia Woolf’s The Waves explores the inner lives of its six characters through a sequence of connected soliloquies. Try writing a story using only soliloquies. Choose a scene that involves multiple characters, like a Thanksgiving dinner or a holiday party, and move between their inner monologues, building the setting and plot through each character’s unique thoughts and observations. When layered together, the different streams of consciousness will create the world in which these characters live. — PW.Org

You are a child who used to be afraid of the monsters hiding in your room. Now, you're just an annoyed child who is tired of the monster under your bed arguing with the closet monster. — Reddit

Create a story, poem or any piece based on this metaphor: a plate of fear. — creativewritingprompts.com

IntShoWriMo 2016 Prompts: Day 5

Write a story that begins AND ends with this line: There’s no other way to tell the story. — Writing.Com

You receive an invitation in the mail one day requesting your presence at a “Cadaver concert.” You have no idea what this means or who sent the invitation. However, as a mortician, you are intrigued. You show up at the appointed place at the designated time. What do you find? — Writer’s Digest

Incorporate this sentence somewhere in your story: "The strange noises grew louder." Your story should also demonstrate the cliche "a bundle of nerves" (without mentioning the cliche). — creativewritingprompts.com

Write a story about zombie-hunting vampires. Color it up and feature some high-tech Sci-Fi stuff. Do the vampires win or do the flesh-eaters just keep showing up? — Akpan

IntShoWriMo 2016 Prompts: Day 4

Unexpectedly dying people start yelling, screaming and crying before they take their last breath. Your brother just died, he screamed "I see him! He's coming for me!" in a terrified voice as he died. — Reddit

Feathers flew from the chicken coop and squawks rang out across the farm yard. — Writing.Com

Try your hand by first writing about what comes to mind immediately: perhaps the changing colors and textures of autumn leaves outside, or everyday details about upcoming holidays and visiting family. Try not to pause or edit yourself. Gradually let your mind progress into an associative stream of consciousness. Take a look at what you’ve written and, using your favorite elements, write a short short story with a seasonal theme, allowing it to be nonsensical, absurd, or surreal. — PW.Org

At first it's like any other day. You wake up, shower, start to brew your morning cup of coffee, and that's when you notice—outside the window, there's nothing there. Just an endless black void. What happened? Where are you? How do you get back to reality? — Writer’s Digest

IntShoWriMo 2016 Prompts: Day 2

Write a scene in which a character—human or animal—finds himself in a situation where he is a fish out of water. Does he explore the new and foreign environment surrounding him, or is he in need of rescue? — PW.Org

Your first experience at a concert. — Writing.Com

You are a professional assassin for the CIA. But you are also a double agent. One day, you are assigned with killing a foreign agent. This foreign agent is your other alias. — Reddit

After a grueling day at work you go home. The sweet allure of your couch and captain crunch is over powering! You arrive at the door, stick in the key, yank it open and … see a writhing horde of Minotaur chanting in the night and then one notices you and charges. You slam the door, wait a minute and try again. This time it’s a mountain with climbers clambering up the towering heights. One waves at you. What do you do? What’s going on with this door of yours? Do you go in? — Writer’s Digest

IntShoWriMo 2016 Prompts: Day 1

You are renting a room in someone’s house as you transition to living in a new city. The owner tells you that basement is absolutely, 100% off limits. You don’t bat an eye at this request, until you start hearing noises from the basement at night. After several week of this, you sneak downstairs to see what’s going on. Finish the scene. — Writer’s Digest

Sorry, but swimmers are not allowed to ... — Writing.Com

You see a light at the end of the tunnel but it’s everything but inviting. It seems to possess a personality with an evil aura who is more likely to eat you up than convey you to safety. How did you get in the tunnel in the first place? Who is in the light? Do you yield to the glow and its evil presence? Write your story. — Akpan

In a world of crime, you alone have the ability to shoot things from your hands. Fireballs, ice, you name it. Only, what comes out is completely random. — Reddit

IntShoWriMo 2015 Prompts: Day 30

 

1. You live in a society where all crime is forgiven until 1st January every year. Upon this day, all criminals are hunted down and killed using differing techniques based on the severity of their crime. You look out of the window to see that your judgement has come. — REDDIT

2. What I know about myself... — Writing.Com

3. 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 that you know! Excited to live the day in that person’s shoes, you set off, only to find a day in the life of that person isn’t as easy as you imagined. — WritersDigest.Com

4. Write out a scene based on this quick plot: search for the missing daughter of a high-ranking government official. — CreativeWritingPrompts.Com

IntShoWriMo 2015 Prompts: Day 29

1. An unknown person sends you, from Egypt, a box containing a rock etched with hieroglyphics. — Writing.Com

2. You’re playing a video game called Wizards & Warriors when, suddenly, lightening 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, “Beat me and I’ll send you home." — WritersDigest.Com

3. Write about a lady who picks a line from a verse of poetry and takes it literally… too literally. — Akpan

4. List 7 reasons to turn down a marriage proposal. — CreativeWritingPrompts.Com

IntShoWriMo 2015 Prompts: DAY 28

1. You die and go to Heaven only to find that Mars is indeed heaven and Ray Bradbury is God in Residence. You and the legend strike a deal in which he offers you another shot at life on Earth to make up for all the wrongs you’ve ever done but only on one score. What’s the condition and do you accept or not? — Akpan

2. A promotion at work has you head out with coworkers to celebrate. While at the bar, you decide to sing karaoke. As you belt your way through the song (fill in the blank), another member of the crowd starts harmonizing with you. Is it someone you know? Is it not? Either way, this is the moment you fall in love. Write this scene. — WritersDigest.Com

3. Wouldn't it just figure that the very same day Jolie decided to go to the city... — Writing.Com

4. Create a story based on this personification: the sun bows as pain vibrates. — CreativeWritingPrompts.Com

IntShoWriMo 2015 Prompts: DAY 27

1. One day, your dog starts talking to you. — Writing.Com

2. 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 appear: “Look in the bottom drawer of the desk. There’s a hidden compartment. You will find more instructions there.” — WritersDigest.Com

3. Write a story about a writer who buys a writer-robot which churns out one bestseller after another whenever the writer feeds in a few phrases. He in turn sells these novels under his own name. The robot, meanwhile, has been evolving and has developed a sense of being and a strong emotion—jealousy. The writer-machine quietly plots how to deal with the writer-man for taking credit for his creations. — Akpan

4. Use this plot in a short story: fired from her job after getting the wrong number. — CreativeWritingPrompts.Com

IntShoWriMo 2015 Prompts: Day 26

1. Everyone has a favorite song. Except... — Writing.Com

2. You're a door-to-door thief who visits houses when everybody is off at work, but today, you walk into someone about to hang themselves. — REDDIT

3. Write a vampire story in which you attempt to create a plausible reason why vampires have a strong aversion to sunlight. It must not bear any similarities with traditional beliefs. — Akpan

4. Use these words in your story: Doctor, roll of film, stairwell, telephone. — CreativeWritingPrompts.Com

IntShoWriMo 2015 Prompts: Day 25

1. You’re a regular commenter on a website about a hobby you are passionate about. You’ve been posting for years and have made many friends. Suddenly one day, you hop on the site 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, more appear while you are sitting at your computer. What do you do? — WritersDigest.Com

2. Write about the history of your first computer. — Writing.Com

3. Guardian angels are parasitic spirits that only exist as long as their host remains alive. You are the guardian of the "luckiest" man alive. — REDDIT

4. C. S. Lewis used a wardrobe, J. M. Barrie used the second star to the right, and Lewis Carroll used a rabbit hole—each a gateway to another world. This week, pick an object that is important to you and transform it into a portal to an alternate world. Write a story about someone discovering the portal and adjusting to life where everything is foreign. Take into consideration where this secret passage is located and what it feels like to pass through it. — Poets&Writers

IntShoWriMo 2015 Prompts: Day 24

1. The smell of roasting meat wafted out of the restaurant as he dug through the dumpster in the back. — Writing.Com

2. It’s the last day of school and you’re clearing out your locker when your best friend runs up to you out of breath. “You have to come with me right now,” your friend says. “It’s a matter of life and death.” So you rush with your friend to the cafeteria, only to find several of your classmates have been turned into zombies. What they don’t know is that, you are secretly a superhero who kills zombies. Write this scene. — WritersDigest.Com

3. Write a story about a writer who, because of his choice of genre, is accused by neighbors of triggering several paranormal activities in the area. — Akpan

4. Gold is one of the most valuable metal on this planet. People have been unearthing it, stashing it, and fighting over it for centuries. Today, write a story about a character who creates a large amount of imitation gold so convincing it passes for real gold. What circumstances compelled him to produce this form of counterfeit currency? What will he do with his “fool's gold?” — Poets&Writers