Writing Prompts
It’s a list day!
Some people write for pleasure, some people write to inform, some write for money, others for therapy. Whatever your reason, sometimes you might find yourself stuck for an idea. Don’t be; there’s loads of sites out there to get your creative juices flowing.
As a writer however, I would urge everyone to at least try to come up with your own ideas – take pictures, go for a walk, even in your own neighbourhood, take a bus ride and write down what other passengers say (old people are the best!), sit alone in silence for fifteen minutes, keep a dream diary, question yourself.
It’s a list day!
So you tried all that and today your brain went on holiday. Instead of trawling through your search engine, I have dragged together a list of 15 sites you might like to visit. I have included fiction, non-fiction, poetry and Y.A links.
1.Penguin Random House Writers Academy
Divided into categories – so you can find the genre you prefer. This is a shareable site, so you can add your own prompts if you like.
http://www.thewritersacademy.co.uk/writing-prompts/
2.Daily Writing Prompts
As well as a list of prompts to get your ideas started, they have other suggestions for making your own prompts.
https://www.dailywritingtips.com/writing-prompts-101/
3.Edutopia
Primarily aimed at school students, but there is no reason why an adult could not find something of interest here. Can also be used to prompt essay writing as much as fiction. N.B: Star Wars fans might be interested to learn that this was set up by George Lucas as part of the George Lucas Educational Foundation (GLEF)
https://www.edutopia.org/article/50-writing-prompts-all-grade-levels-todd-finley
4.Tumblr
Snapshots of quotes, opening lines, pictures and more to get the juices flowing. Great idea as some of us are visually stimulated rather than through other people’s words.
http://writingprompts.tumblr.com/
5.Pinterest
Similar to tumblr. If you are not familiar with Pinterest it is like a massive series of online message boards. You can find quotes, images and text to get you started.
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/explore/writing-prompts/?autologin=true
6.Think Written
Need a prompt for each day of the year? Here you will find 365 writing prompts, simple one-liners without too much input from the creators.
http://thinkwritten.com/365-creative-writing-prompts/
7.Reddit
Ideas submitted by members of the public (you can too!) Some of these ideas are really interesting.
https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/
8.Writers Digest
Hundreds of ideas to scroll through here, from the light-hearted and fun to more potentially serious issues. Click on one of the idea links and you are provided with some background to start you off.
http://www.writersdigest.com/prompts
9.Poets & Writers
I found this site a little awkward to use, you have to read through a lot of other stuff until realising, oh, this is the prompt.
https://www.pw.org/writing-prompts-exercises
10. The Writer magazine
As well as having lots of prompts ready to use, right there on the first page, you can sign up (free) to get weekly prompts in your mailbox!
https://www.writermag.com/writing-prompts/
11. Letterpile
Although small and limited, in comparison to other sites, I quite like the mixture of pictures and single lines as prompts.
https://letterpile.com/writing/200-Creative-Writing-Prompts
12. The New York Times
For narrative and personal writing, the New York Times has collected ideas from students, who had previously been prompted to write something in response to articles in the NYT.
13. The Poetry Society
Ideas from tutors and poets, not just prompts but how to go about writing a poem on a theme. Contains links to poets and other helpful sites. You can download and print off a PDF of ideas so that you can get off the computer and let your poetic mind wander over paper!
14. Poetry Prompts
Although this is a tumblr blog, and I already have included tumblr, I thought this was beautifully clean and simple in its presentation. Looks like a series of prompt cards with a single sentence or word.
http://poetryprompts.tumblr.com/
15. Bookfox
Non-fiction writers don’t get much inspiration handed to them, so here’s a site for those of you who love writing creatively, but not fiction. He also has extra links at the bottom of the page – to push yourself!
https://thejohnfox.com/2016/06/creative-nonfiction-prompts/
Flailing Through Life 