Are you looking for writing ideas? Take a tour of our list of the best creative writing prompts for writers in need of inspiration.
Whether you are writing fiction, non-fiction, articles, or blog posts, you sometimes need a little help to give you a spark of an idea.
Perhaps you need a new idea to write a scene or even a story. Maybe you are not sure what point of view to use.
There are many places where you can find terrific prompts. Our list below consists of some of the best. So, it is an excellent place to start if you are looking for new topics to write about.
Finding creative writing prompts
Have you started writing recently?
Or do you have high school assignments to write?
Little ideas from prompts can help you jump the first hurdle.
However, you need inspiring writing ideas.
You don’t want the boring old run-of-the-mill writing prompts that we have all suffered.
I am sure you have been asked at some time to write a short story about a family member or to write about a time when you felt excited.
Or you were asked to write a story about a character in a TV series.
Yes, you’ve written about time traveling and falling in love more times than you can count.
Let’s get started on helping you find fantastic, fresh, and new story ideas.
It could be for writing a book, a new novel, a biography, to write a poem, or for your next blog post or a writing exercise.
Creative writing prompts and resources
Writing prompts are great tools to get you writing.
Here are the best places around to find writing ideas for anyone who loves writing.
They will help get your creative juices flowing, and you can forget all about writer’s block.
1. The Writer’s Digest
Writer’s Digest is a great place to start your writing idea hunt.
The prompts cover a vast range of topics. You will see by the number of comments on each posting that it is a popular site for writers.
Each writing prompt is written by Jess Zafarris, who is the Director of Content Strategy and Online Content for Writer’s Digest.
It gets my number one position because the ideas are so varied and should inspire any writer. Spend some time and take a look and see what you think.
2. Self-Publishing School
Self-Publishing School gets my vote due to its diversity of writing ideas.
Once you get past all the prompts to add your email address and receive a newsletter (which is a bit annoying, so ignore it), there are plenty of great ideas waiting for you.
There are writing prompts for fantasy, sci-fi, dystopian, contemporary fiction, romance, fairy tales, horror, thriller, mystery, non-fiction, morals and values, love, sex and relationships, childhood and family, and, well, the list goes on.
If you can’t find your writing genre here, well, read on. We might have it covered further down our list.
3. The New York Times
Maybe the New York Times is the last place you would expect to check for writing prompts.
But it is definitely worth a check. It has a regularly updated list that is sure to get you thinking.
It often has some off-the-wall concepts that will stretch your imagination and lead you to new places to take your writing.
One posting, Does Grammar Still Matter in the Age of Twitter, caught my attention.
Now that is good food for thought.
4. Pinterest
Pinterest is another place you would not think to look.
But Pinterest user Mandy Corine has collected over 10,000 pins of writing prompts.
With close to 17,000 followers, this must be one of the most popular accounts on Pinterest for writers.
Take a scan through the extensive listings of ideas of things to write about. You are sure to strike gold.
5. Plot Generator
Plot Generator works on a click an image to find a story concept.
It is a fairly basic site as far as design is concerned, yet with one click, you can access lots of ideas for your writing process or task.
You can even select a happy, sad, or twist ending on some story ideas. That is making life too easy for a writer.
Not only can you get story ideas, but there are also links to other generators, such as a name and character generator.
As I said, it is a site that lacks flair, but its content makes up for it.
6. CoShedule
CoShedule has an interesting take on writing prompts.
Once you get past the pleading for your email address, which you can ignore, there are some great resources.
There is a fill-in-the-blanks idea starter, question prompts, and an ideas section for finding more ways to discover writing concepts.
For bloggers, there is a section dedicated to reworking your blog post headlines and how to create a database of compelling headlines.
7. Freewrite
There is nothing fancy about Freewrite.
But it does have a solid list of 60 helpful writing ideas for you to scan through.
It is worth a quick look to see if one of the topics grabs your imagination.
8. Think Written
Think Written gives you a year’s worth of ideas.
There are 365 ideas for you to scroll through when you need a little motivation.
This one caught my attention. Trash Day: Write from the perspective of a garbage collector.
Now, there must be a fascinating story somewhere in that writing prompt.
9. See Jane Write
Lastly, just for bloggers is See Jane Write.
Fiction writers might only need a blast of motivation every few weeks or months.
But for bloggers, you need to find something to write about almost every day.
It is a nice list of ideas that could help you write your next article and meet your deadline. It is worth a look.
Conclusion
You can find writing inspiration anywhere.
For me, looking out at real life from my balcony and the world moving below me is often an instant winner.
Also, spending half an hour at the train station and watching people go by is never time wasted.
Another terrific source of writing ideas is the comments I get on my blog or social media from Twitter and Facebook users.
If you are stuck for something to write about, you are always only a minute away from finding it. All you need to do is look or listen.
I cannot recall a day when I spent hours agonizing over where the words would come from for my next writing project.
Yes, I sometimes agonize over how to say it. But that is a different story altogether.
Related reading: Why A Plain Text Editor Is An Effective Writing Tool
