Creative Writing Ideas, Inspiration & Exercises

Prompts, Leads, Situations & Sentences to Spark Your Imagination

Sep 14, 2009

Cure Writer's Block by Writing, Not Hesitating, somadjinn

Break through writer's block with creative writing ideas, prompts, leads, situations and questions that will replace the blank mind with characters and their questions.

What is something both inexperienced writers and seasoned writers alike struggle with? Finding ideas and inspiration for writing. While blank page stupor hits some people more frequently than others, ideas for creative writing are everywhere. It just takes a bit of refocusing and observing to catch some of the best ideas that surround you on a daily basis.

For those that enjoy a bit more concrete way of beginning and less searching, there are excellent scenarios and situations to begin any poem, short story or novel: a great sentence can be all a writer needs to get those creative juices flowing.

Creative Writing Prompts Based on a Character or His Actions

It's no secret that characters are what keep readers intrigued with a story, so why not find inspiring writing ideas from interesting characters who have found themselves in odd situations? The people who populate your life have an endless supply of stories and secrets, but if none of them seem to provide the inspiration necessary to write, try some of these characters.

Write about the:

character who must change his or her name
character who finds a note on the windshield of his car
parent who does not get along with the other parents
character who wins something he or she does not want
characters whose power is altered by each others presence
time you felt indispensable
silent character who speaks for the first time
trouble caused by a character's good deed
character who hates perfection at an event in which nothing goes wrong
character who responds literally to a figurative expression
characters who are total opposites with only one thing in common
character who takes a word with multiple meanings the wrong way
character who hears part of a conversation out of context

Creative Writing Prompts Based on Situations & Personal Experiences

Personal experience can be the most invaluable tool for writing. Think about all the interesting and odd situations and people you have encountered in your lifetime. There are bound to be hidden stories behind the engineer who shops at Goodwill or the veterinarian who secretly hates animals. Think about an odd sound you couldn't identify for hours or days on end.

Write about the:

loudest person you know
poorest person you know
shyest person you know
bitterest person you know
repetitious sound that won't go away
opposite of a word that has no opposite
honored tradition that went horribly wrong
mishearing of a word that changes something important
lost key a character will do anything to find
inanimate object that could destroy a character
elephant that ended up on a school's campus
mailed Valentine's Day card that never arrives

Finding inspiring ideas for creative writing is not as difficult as it can seem during the minutes wasted staring at the blank screen. Take a look around and write about anything, imagining unusual situations and the characters behind them: the unmade bed in your room... why would this upset a character greatly? What does this character do in his spare time? What job does he have?

Create histories and futures for people you see on the street or television. Begin anywhere and you can surprise yourself at where you'll end up.