Do you ever find that you want to write some fiction – a short story, a novel, a novella or even a poem – but you don’t know where to start?
I know from experience how frustrating it can be when you have that spare hour and you sit down to write, only to find yourself staring at a blank screen with no inspiration whatsoever. It can feel so hopeless, and by the time inspiration strikes, your time is up and you have to get back to the hundreds of other tasks you have to complete.
When I feel that way, I sometimes find a creative writing prompt can help. It’s very rare I follow them to the letter, often I don’t even use them as intended, but they often flare into something that makes me go “yes, that’s it” and I’m off.
So I thought today I would share with you five story prompts. Use them as they are and write your story based on the themes in the prompt, or use an idea they spark. However you use them, I hope they inspire you to write something you love.
The prompts are in first person, but if you prefer to write in third person, just switch “you” out for your main character.
The Empty Car Park
You’re standing in the car park of your local supermarket. You have no recollection of getting there and you realise there is no one else around. The car park is full of cars, but there’s no sign of any life – not even a bird in the sky.
Just as you begin to panic, a movement catches your eye and you see a man in a hooded jumper standing on the edge of the car park watching you.
Some questions to answer in your story:
- How did you end up here?
- Where is everyone else?
- Is the man a friend or a foe?
- What do you do?
- How does your story end?
The Child
As you’re walking down the street one day, a child approaches you. She points to something to your left. The look of
horror on her face is so unsettling that you hardly dare look, but you do.
Some questions to answer in your story:
- What is the child pointing at?
- Is it truly horrific, or is it only horrific to the child?
- What do you do? Do you comfort the child?
- Does the thing being pointed out come back later and affect you in some way?
- How does your story end?
The Office Romance
You start a new job and you are immediately made to feel welcome, especially by one particular person which is 
good as you feel an immediate attraction to them. You decide to ditch your no dating colleagues rule when they ask you out and you go on a date with them. You later find out something that changes how you feel towards them.
Some questions to answer in your story:
- What do you find out about them?
- Does it change the way you feel for the good or the bad?
- What could happen that created tension between the two of you?
- Would the tension tear you apart or bring you closer together?
- How does your story end?
The Girl in the Red Coat
You wake up one morning and find someone in your room. After your initial panic, you sense they don’t mean you 
any harm and you hear them out. They tell you that they’re from the future and something you do today will change the fate of the world forever. They explain that you will have two choices – one choice will lead to a world war that could potentially wipe out all humans, the other will lead to peace. They won’t tell you what it is that will affect the world or which choice you should make, but they give you a small clue; the girl in the red coat.
Some questions to answer in your story:
- Who is the girl in the red coat? Do you already know her?
- What choice will you be presented with?
- How will you make the choice?
- How does your story end?
The Phone Call
You find yourself in the middle of a bank robbery. When the robber leaves you end up being accused of being in on
it with the robbers because of a phone call you received. You remember a strange phone call, but no matter how much you insist you don’t know who made the call, the police don’t believe you. You are released on bail and you feel like you’re only chance of proving your innocence is by tracking down the actual robbers yourself.
Some questions to answer in your story:
- Why was it assumed that you were involved due to the call?
- Who called you and why?
- How do you go about tracking down the culprits?
- How do you prove your innocence?
- How does your story end?
I hope you enjoy creating some stories from the prompts. If you create a short story, why not send it to me: debbie@myrandommusings.co.uk and I will feature my favourites on here.
Which prompt gets you the most inspired? Let me know in the comments 🙂
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I don t have the time to do that , but I think it is a great Idea!
I generally don’t sit down to write unless I already have an idea to write about, but I have occasionally — well, quite often — joined others who had blogs that supplied photo or single word prompts.
I quite like opening a blank page and just seeing what happens but it’s really frustrating when nothing flows! I hope you give some of these a try 🙂
These are all super exciting ideas, I think though I couldn’t resist continuing the car park story . . . #anythinggoes
The child really freaked me out. I don’t think I could look! This is such a great idea though, at least I won’t be sitting there trying to sort what to write about while my brain is empty. #AnythingGoes
Haha sorry! Hope they help
I think if I did the child one I would make her point to the bloody body of her sibling she had just killed. These are all fab! #anythinggoes
Oh I love that as an opener!
The car park one stands out for me. I usually makes small notes whenever I had enough an idea though so when I have time to write I just open them up and elaborate
I’ve never come across these techniques but they are great. I can imagine they really get the creativity flowing. Just reading these my mind started answering the questions!
Oooo these are clever. It does start the imagination going! x
Thank you 🙂 x
These are fab. I have this idea for a novel whizzing around in my head but I don’t really know how to progress it!! #AnythingGoes
Go for it 🙂 If you need any help getting started or anything, feel free to email me.
Interesting topics, but I’ve never really done a lot of creative writing like that. And for me, I just tend to write and just see what happens. You can always delete something 😂
I do that too – sometimes you can really surprise yourself
Writing promps are so helpful #anythinggoes
With children I use The Literacy Shed which is excellent as it includes short animations which are great for sparking interest. #anythinggoes
That sounds like a great way to get creativity flowing
The child one. Exciting. Or it will be once it’s written… 🙂 I hope.
I’d love to read your story 🙂
I love a good prompt, so helpful when feeling flat with thoughts.Thanks for sharing X #anythinggoes
Oooh, some really interesting writing prompts. thank you Debbie. Pen x #AnythingGoes
I want to read some “red coat” stories! That sounds like a great topic.
Me too – watch this space 🙂
exciting ideas, especially about the one in the carpark and the telephone call in the bank! #anythinggoes
These are brilliant, they really do get your imagination going! #anythinggoes
I was a keen writer of fiction and published a few novels before baby. Time for short stories is much easier to come by now. Great prompts!
#BloggerClubUK
Finding time to write a novel with a baby would be really hard, but short stories you can just dip in and out 🙂
I’m not a writer myself, I struggle to find time to blog haha! But I must admit, I’d love to read all of these in their full glory! Each of them had me ready to read on! #BloggerClubUK
Some great writing ideas here. I usually just write about personal experiences but should I want to get slightly more creative, these prompts will be really helpful. Thank you for sharing! #BloggerClubUK
Jemma x
Hope they help! x
Ooh great prompts! I’d love to find out how people interpreted them. #BloggerClubUK
This makes me wish that I actually had some time for writing! Oh well, maybe one day… I enjoyed all the prompts, but would probably go for the pointing child first. Though I’m a little bit scared to even imagine what she’s pointing at… x #BloggerClubUK
I would be interested in reading what people come up with! #bloggerclub
Such an inspirational collection of prompts – I really like the questions you’ve included too 🙂 #BloggerClubUK
Those are really interesting! I might have to try a couple of these. I love your writing tips Debbie. Very inspiring:) #anythinggoes
Thank you 🙂 I’d love to read your stories!
Some great prompts here! Thanks for the inspiration. xx
#anythinggoes
Oh I love a writing prompt. I used to do loads of creative writing but with blogging and client work it’s fallen by the wayside a little! I used to go to a creative writing group where an object was bought in each week that would be used as a writing prompt and lead to me writing a poem that was later published. I’m going to set aside some time to do some freewriting and use these as inspiration. #BloggerClubUk
That’s amazing, well done on getting your poem published! I’d love to read any stories/poems you create from the prompts here
These are such great writing prompts, so simple but they open up a world of possibilities and intrigue.
#BloggerClubUK
Such an amazing idea! #anythinggoes
Popping back from #BloggerClubUK
Some very different ideas! Great imagination, thanks.
#anythinggoes
Katelynn, hampersandhiccups.com
Great prompts to encourage creativity. I’d love to write and have lots of ideas but no time! #anythinggoes
I’ve never done any creative writing but I’d like to give it a try sometime. These prompts are really good – I’ll let you know if I’m ever brave enough to give it a go! #BloggerClubUK
I really hope you do 🙂
Ooh I love a good prompt and love writing flash fiction, which I haven’t done for far too long… thanks for remind me to write again! #bloggerclubuk
This sounds like a great way to encourage the writer within to emerge. #fortheloveofBLOG
oops #BloggerClubUK
This is really interesting – I have to confess I’ve never really been drawn to write fiction but the idea of having prompts to inspire writing is a great one. I did Blogtober last year and found it much easier to write every day when someone was telling me what to write about! #BloggerClubUK
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