Story

Whether you are trying to defeat writer’s block, practice writing, or increase your creativity, writing prompts are a great tool to incorporate into your writing routine. Writing prompts are nuggets of ideas and creative questions that can be used as inspiration for your writing. They can also help guide your writing by providing a starting point for your work. Plus, what’s better than practicing your creative writing while also honing particular writing skills? Do you want to practice writing dialogue? Or creating a funny story? Or crafting a compelling scene in a love story? There are prompts for that!

How writing prompts can turn into writing inspiration

Picture this: you’re just trying to put pen to paper or finger to keyboard. But all you’re actually doing is sitting there wondering, “What should I write?” Debut authors and experienced storytellers have all been there. That’s where writing prompts come in. When you have a writing prompt, it makes it easier to just start writing. It’s like a little kindling you can use to light up with writing inspiration. Writing prompts are particularly great for getting you writing in ways that you normally wouldn’t. It’s like trying out a new exercise at the gym—you’re flexing muscles that can make you stronger overall. Really off-the-wallwriting prompts might seem totally out of your wheelhouse, but may actually lead you to something that you could incorporate into your next writing project. And you don’t have a to be a writer for writing prompts to be useful. If your job requires you to be creative or to think on your feet, writing some strange prompt responses may help you hone those skills. They also may help you build your vocabulary and incorporate new words into your everyday speech, which can also impress during presentations or work conversations. Some examples from Thesaurus.com are:

• Animal Fun! Pink Fairy Armadillo is a real animal name! Invent your own funny animal.
• Use these four words in a conversation: “uncanny,” “gruesome,” “running,” “occurrence.”
• Write a story that is not about love at first sight, but love at first smell.

Next time you’re searching for inspiration, or just want to stretch some unused writing muscles a bit, try a writing prompt that you’d normally pass over. You may be surprised with the results you get!

How to use writing prompts in the classroom

If you’re an educator teaching your students how to write short stories, informational essays, or opinion pieces, writing prompts are invaluable. In fact, you might be using them without even realizing it. In an education setting, writing prompts are often as simple as Write about a time when ____ or In 400 words, describe the effect of ____ on _____.However, especially in the classroom setting, creative writing prompts can make writing seem more exciting for students. Our writing prompts for elementary, middle, and high school students are a great way to kick off a lesson or have students demonstrate the skills they have already learned in class. For example, if you have upper elementary or middle school students creating plots for narratives, you might give them this writing prompt: Write about an adventure you and your best friend had. Make sure it has a beginning, middle, and end. If they’re working on informational writing, a prompt like Outline a step-by-step plan for achieving a big goal would be a great opportunity for students to show what they know.

How parents can use writing prompts at home

If you have a budding writer under your roof, you can support their passion by sharing creative writing prompts with them. For young writers, the sillier the better. Or, even better, you can both write a response to a single writing prompt and then share your responses with each other. It’s a great way to model that writing is fun. And—bonus!—it’s fun for both of you to work side-by-side on creative writing and then share the results. Some children, like many adults, struggle with writing. Between the dread that a blank sheet of paper can inspire and the difficulty of using proper grammar and spelling, writing can seem like an impossibly daunting task. That’s why practicing creative writing at home can be incredibly useful. Writing for fun takes the pressure off of writing (which is one of the major causes of writer’s block). There are no grades, no judgement—it’s just fun. 

How to start writing with prompts

Pick one!

The first step to using a writing prompt, whether it’s for yourself, your student, or your child, is to pick the right one. You want to make sure the prompt is appropriate for your age group. For example, if you are working with a high school student, you may want to pick a slightly more complex writing prompt. You’ll also want to pick a writing prompt that is tailored to the skill you want to work on. There are different writing prompts for practicing daily creative writing or for specifically focusing on a writing skill. We have a whole collection of writing prompts, for example, just for helping you practice writing dialogue. Some of our favorites from the list are:

• Craft a conversation only of questions.
• A group of travelers from different countries meet at a bar. How do they discuss their similarities and differences?
• Recreate—and finish—a conversation you once heard in a public place between strangers.

Brainstorm!

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• True live story #story6. July 2023
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