Where to Find Writing Prompts—

and will you recognized them?

Sources for Writing Prompts

As creative writers, we’ve all been given writing prompts: “your most humiliating moment,” “a scene where place is everything,” “an unexpected love story,” “a moment when anger flares,” etc. Prompt writing keeps my creative juices flowing, opens my mind to experimentation, and opens new pathways to convey stories. I find prompts in many places, not just in the classroom. My favorite story ideas hit me when I am out, just living life.

In the wild. I see a quirky character or a spooky house. I park at a trailhead and imagine the conversation between the two hikers walking back to their car. I watch the non-communicative couple at a bar. I observe a waiter condescendingly snap at a hostess as she attempts to seat me at my table. I worry about an old woman, dressed like Cyndi Lauper, inching across a Manhattan intersection. I overhear a furtive conversation in a restroom. I see a political billboard in a front yard and imagine the details and conversations that led up to its installation. These are writing prompts (or inspiration) found in the wild.

Sightings in the media. I find inspiration in videos, particularly those referencing historical characters or classic authors. A sepia image of a friend of a 19^th century author illustrated that author's video biography. The portrait haunted me for months. Finally, I created a character from that image, which became the protagonist of a short story set in the late 20^th century. That short story became my novel manuscript. Another time, I watched an interview between a well-known poet and a librarian. I wrote one of my favorite poems about their awkward conversation. There are dozens of Youtube channels teaching writing craft. Some of those explicitly offer prompts; others weave them into their craft lessons. I rarely write down YouTube prompts, nor immediately puzzle over them. Instead, they somehow percolate over a matter of days. The idea might spark a dream or aid me in conjuring a plot when I see an interesting character. Even while at the cinema, watching TV, absorbing the news, or any media source, be open—writing prompts are everywhere.

Read to be prompted. I read for many reasons, pleasure being at the top of that list—but also for inspiration—for prompts. Some authors and forms are more inspiring than others. Currently, I am reading Colette’s short stories which I am finding endlessly inspiring. It’s the flow of her sentences, the tiny changes she zoomed in on, the truths she chose to tell, and her unique use of dialogue I find motivating. I’ve read novels that I didn’t love but some character lived on in my memory, some underdeveloped backstory, that I invented, needed to be told. We can’t discuss characters without mentioning the master, Charles Dickens. His commitment to improving society by shining a light on its ills and his amazing use of language pushes me to do better. His inventive characters (and character names) always reminds me to be unafraid when developing my own characters. Thomas Hardy focused his novels on life's hardships. Sorrows is a source of profound story. Billy Collins says a poet is always trying to escape from the poems s/he starts. When I read his poems, I try to guess at what point he recognized his route out. If I feel stuck halfway into a poem, I let him prompt me into my not-yet-discovered second half. I recently read and reviewed here a book titled Writing Tools, and at the end of every chapter, the author gave workshop-type exercises, most of which were writing prompts. Whether literal prompts as in the latter, or more inspirational such as I described with Hardy or Dickens, story ideas blossom while reading!

Take a class. Some classes, particularly ones that are “generative,” offer loads of prompts. I’m taking a poetry class from Poets House. Our discussion leader offers us 5 or 6 incredibly challenging prompts each week, all of which I am keeping in a file for use at a later date. In our last class we read the haikus of Richard Wright. I’ve written haikus as a practice for over a decade. But during the discuss of Wright’s poems, we also discussed a form called Zuihitsu, a genre of Japanese literature consisting of loosely connected personal essays and fragmentary ideas. This form has me very intrigued. I’ve taken three workshops at The Writers Institute at Sarah Lawrence (WISL) because their prompts were especially generative. The workshop, taught by Cindy Beers-Fouhy, will likely be offered again in the spring and it is superb. But it was the WISL course, “Writing from Art” that launched me into fiction. The prompts were not specific: write in the surrealist style of Carrington or Dali; Write like a cubist such as Woolf or Braques. Having spent most of my life working or appreciating the visual arts, I suddenly understood how words paint. We were welcome to write personal essays, poetry, or flash, but what came to me like a lightning bolt was short fiction! If you are seeking less expensive workshops, subscribe to Sarah Nicolas’ substack, Virtual Bookish Events. I’ve taken those, too. Regardless of price, it seems teachers can’t help but offer prompts!

Commonplace Book. As I meander, usually by car, I carry a small journal, one that fits in the palm of my hand. I'll jot down place names, scenes, and characters I’d like to use in a story someday, as well as haikus or sentences that pop in my head. I particularly like jotting down the names of country roads and small rivers, because these often are historic and highly-evocative. I also love the ironic names of businesses, such as hair salons, poodle parlors, and car repair shops. Take “Zydeco Jack’s Tire-rama.” Who is Zydeco Jack? Is he a musician? A good one? How did he get into the tire biz? Who loves him? And who does he love? What does he want in life? Will he get it? What are his challenges? [In case you didn’t notice, I just gave you a writing prompt.]