Hot Summer Day Writing Prompt

The goal of this prompt is to describe an action or situation for your MC on a hot summer day. Choose a specific setting (beach, school, park, etc) and focus on how the details of the summer day might impact your MC's thoughts or actions/reactions. Is it a lazy summer day? One filled with tension? How do the sensory elements influence the dynamics of your story? Set your timer for 15-30 minutes and write. When you are done, read what you've written and see if you were able to firmly anchor your character in time and place.

Person, Place, and a Thing

In this writing prompt, choose one MC from the list below, a setting, and a thing. Set your timer for 15 minutes and write a children's short story that involves all three. Extra points for incorporating a conflict and a resolution.

Person:
1. Boy, age 8, with an almost funny sense of impending doom.
2. Boy, age 6, who loves sports.
3. Girl, age 4, who greets each day with unbridled joy.
4. Girl, age 8, who feels that she has a superpower, but isn't sure what it is yet.

Place:
1. A very proper private school where kids wear uniforms and recess is very orderly...or is it?
2. Home, comfortable wonderful home, which for some reason is not so perfect for harried parents.
3. The neighborhood park. You never know who you're gonna offend.

Thing:
1. A brand-new baseball glove.
2. A red sweatshirt.
3. A cell phone.
4. An unhatched bird's egg.

Character's Biography Writing Prompt

For this prompt, think about the MC in your current work in progress (WIP.) Where was he born? What hospital was he born in? Is there a funny story about the events leading up to his birth? What was his first day of school like, and who was his first best friend? Set your timer for 15 minutes and write a bio for your MC, starting with his birth up until his age in your WIP.

Three Strange Things Writing Prompt

Write for 10-20 minutes about three unrelated objects, and try to craft a children's story around them, using between 700-900 words. Here are the objects:

Chocolate
A clown
A very small town

Message From the Stomach Writing Prompt

Someone asked me, "Can you write from the gut?"

How is that different from writing from the heart? How can the stomach guide a character's actions and behaviors? So, here's the prompt:

You haven't eaten all day, your stomach is in knots and you're shaking from hunger. Oh, and you're a thirteen-year old girl who ditched school just before lunchtime to hang with her boyfriend, only he never showed up. Your mom texted you, saying she knows you're not in school and that you better get yourself home to face the consequences pretty quick. Only you're not sure you want to go home. You want to know what happened to the boyfriend. Was he ever your boyfriend? Write for 10-15 minutes about where you are going, what you're going to do when you get there, and write from your hungry, aching gut.

Sensory Elements - Writing Prompt III

We continue exploring the senses to add texture to a narrative. For this prompt, your main character is eating lunch at the school cafeteria while watching his brother, sister, girlfriend or boyfriend. Choose an emotion to explore in the narrative - anger, jealousy, love, hate, etc. Relying mostly on the sense of taste, write a paragraph describing the emotional state of your MC as he observes someone close to him. Write for 15 - 30 minutes.

Sensory Elements - Writing Prompt II

This prompt continues the exploration of sensory elements in narrative development. The setting is a school cafeteria. Your MC has just walked into the cafeteria on a winter day. He also has some sort of a conflict or problem. Select one from the list below or make up your own. Set your timer for 15 minutes and write a narrative that relies mostly on what your MC hears as he goes about getting and eating his lunch. Can you use this sensory element to create tension that heightens the MC's problem, and move the narrative forward in time?

Problem or Conflict:
1. MC has OCD and is worried about how he will successfully get his lunch and eat it in the lunch period.
2. MC is avoiding his ex-girlfriend, who he can hear in the cafeteria.
3. MC is new to the school, and does not know how to navigate the cafeteria.
4. MC has a much popular younger sibling who is in the cafeteria, causing the MC much anxiety and jealousy.

Sensory Elements - Writing Prompt I

In writing the narrative part of a manuscript, writers sometimes rely upon describing what is seen by the main character, when other senses could also be used to add texture to the paragraph or page. This prompt explores the sense of smell. You can either begin with the starter, or take a narrative paragraph from your own manuscript. The object is to rely on the sense of smell first, and to use the sense of sight secondarily, and write a narrative paragraph that successfully moves the character forward in time, or accomplishes some other goal.

Starter:

It doesn't feel very late, but I am starting to worry that I'm not supposed to be here at all.

Starters - Prompts for PBs

Here are some starters for picture book stories. The object of this prompt is to write a picture book or two (or three, or four) using the starter as the first line in your book. Note that the first line sets up a premise for the story. Remember to write a beginning, a middle and an end. Extra points for using the starter line as your ending line as well.

Starters:

1. Benjamin Cat and Peyton Mouse were the best of friends.
2. With a waddle, a wiggle, and a big angry quack, Mama Duck searched for her naughty little ducklings.
3. Brown Dog is missing.
4. Good-bye, good-night, sun down, twilight.

Up-Tempo Writing Prompt

This is an exercise in writing fast and furious, to set a lively mood, to create anxiety, or to give a character a definitive purpose for a short period of time. The object is to write quickly in a descriptive narrative, to move from point A to B in your story in an up-tempo way. Select a situation from the list below, set your timer for 15 minutes and write without pause. When you are done, read what you've written and see if you were able to get from your starting point to your destination in a quick and lively pace. What mood were you able to set? Did you establish tension on the page? How did you accomplish it?

Situation:

1. Your MC must take her sick brother from the house to the hospital. The MC doesn't know what is wrong with her brother, and fears he might be dying. En route, she tries to figure out what might be wrong, as well as contend with obstacles along the way, such as a traffic jam, a police officer, an injured dog in the road.

2. Your MC is angry at his girlfriend, who he suspects of cheating. He follows her one day to see if she meets up with another guy. As he follows her, he comes dangerously close to becoming a stalker instead of a boyfriend. As he realizes what he is becoming, his anger turns inward, to himself.

3. Two high school friends have a falling out. One friend wants the friendship to continue, the other wants it to end. Each will do whatever it takes to have it her way, until one friend says something unforgivable. Write from the POV of the friend who wants it to end.

4. A parent searches the bedroom of your MC, looking for drugs. Your MC doesn't use drugs, but the parent is certain there are drugs to be found. After tearing apart the room, the parent tries to defend his/her actions, still certain that drugs are hidden somewhere.

A Prompt, A Game

Here's a game to try. You need a pair of dice to play. The object is to write a paragraph or short story using the dice to determine how many words to write per sentence. So, you roll the dice to get a total number, and then write a sentence in as many words as you rolled. (Roll a total of 6, write a sentence with 6 words. Roll a 9, write a sentence with 9 words, etc.) Stop when you've had enough, or after 15 minutes.

This is also a fun one to try in a group writing practice, or over coffee at the local caffeine joint. Extra points for most readable, or most weird. Winner gets chocolate!

Teen Speak Writing Prompt

This prompt is to explore how a teen character perceives his or her world. Pick a character, and a starting sentence and then write for 15 minutes about a situation that you make up for your character. Imagine how the specific character might think or feel as you envision and write about his or her situation. Keep everything in first person present.

Characters:
Freshman girl, decidedly average. Has one or two close friends, no enemies. Does not stand out, does not have any special talents or activities, no vices, no conflicts that she is aware of. Is a B student.

Junior boy, high maintenance, low achiever. Has one or two close friends, many peripheral friends, but can't seem to maintain any relationships with anyone. His closest friends constantly give up on him, only to be reeled back in. Always on the verge of getting into trouble, but never follows through on anything, so never actually gets into trouble.

Senior girl, attractive but empty. Has a hidden secret. Has many friends, but nobody really knows her. Not particularly smart, but an A student. Takes easy classes. Assumes she will go to college.


Starting Sentence:

I can't believe anyone dresses like that, every day, for school...

I'm thinking that maybe this time, it's my fault, and there's nothing I can do to make it up to her...

I wonder if I can pay someone to take my SATs for me...

Dialog Challenge Writing Prompt

This prompt is to help you explore creating conflict between characters through dialog. Start with a page or so of dialog from your current manuscript and read through it once. Then set it aside. Think of the characters' situation and identify the conflict. Is the conflict addressed in the dialog? Do the characters discuss the conflict outright, or is the conflict the subtext of the dialog? Consider the dynamic of the characters - is one more dominant than the other? Does one character have the upper hand? What if you were to reverse this somehow?

For this exercise, try re-writing one page of dialog from your current work-in-progress. Think about subtext and how it might be used to create conflict or friction between the two characters. Also, don't use any tags, just write the back and forth dialog and keep it flowing. Write for 15 minutes.

Twenty Five Words For April 2009

The object of the twenty-five words exercise is to write a story using as many of the twenty-five words below as possible within a thirty-minute time frame. Read the list once, then set your timer, and try to write a picture book or children’s short story. (Try not to overthink!)

Short
Mini
Skirt
Mudslide
Down
Pretty
Actually
I was going to say
Once again
Tardy
Magical
Feather
Remember me?
Blue
Good deed
Dad
Cougar
Friendly
Sleeping
Myth
Postage
Flicker
Don't tell me what to do
School bus
Clank

Alter Ego Writing Prompt

Who do you become when you sit down in front of the keyboard? An alter ego has a name, not a pen-name, but a name associated with a defined personality. An alter ego has a voice, one that comes through when you write. An alter ego helps you connect to your teen self, or your child self, when you write.

In this prompt, you will define an alter ego. You can approach the prompt in one of two ways: (1) Develop and write about your own alter ego, the person you become when you write, or (2) Develop and write about your main character's alter ego, the person he becomes when he has a problem to deal with, or the person he becomes when he goes to school. Perhaps at home he is a mindful, thoughtful child who never causes problems, while at school he is impulsive, in-your-face, the class clown or class wild-man.

In developing your alter ego, do at least three preparatory things:
1. Name your alter ego
2. Define his or her top four personality traits
3. Define the boundaries of when and where the alter ego emerges, and identify the trigger that causes the alter-ego to emerge.

Then, slip into the skin of your newly-defined alter ego and write for 15 minutes in you alter ego's voice.

The Character's Parent Writing Prompt

Adults in children's books are often used to help reveal things about the main (child) character, particularly about the main character's moral compass or self-identity. Adults also mediate, administer justice, and play devil's advocate. While the adult is generally not central to the story, they can play an important role in the development of the main character's journey.

For this prompt, select a scene, a role for the adult to play in the scene, and write for 15 minutes. The challenge is to keep the scene all about the main child character, using the adult to advance the plot or to help the main character reveal something about his motive or emotional state.

Scene:
1. The main character has has helped a friend, who had some sort of personal crisis, arrive home safely. But in doing so, the main character has broken his own curfew. He can't tell what the crisis is, but must make the adult understand why he did it.
2. The main character has had yet another fight at school. No authority figure understands why he fights, up until now, they have presumed that the main character is simply a bad person. The main character actually has a pure motive, and one adult is determined to understand.
3. The main character is depressed and possibly suicidal. The subtle signs have been adding up, but no one has been willing to confront the situation. The main character has a hard time distinguishing reality from fantasy.

Adult Role:
1. A school figure, but not a teacher or counselor. Could be a librarian, a parent aide, a volunteer. Good at mentoring or administering justice.
2. Best friend's Mom, who is unusually uptight, but tries to befriend her child's friends. But she only does so because she has her own child's best interests at heart. Good at playing devil's advocate.
3. A close relative, who is good at keeping secrets. Good at being supporting no matter what. But how far can she be pushed?
4. An elderly neighbor, often has a parallel experience from her own childhood that relates to the child's current experience.
5. The character's no-nonsense parent. Administer's justice and acts as the character's moral compass.

Bedtime Story Writing Prompt

Bedtime books for the very young are a popular picture book sub-genre. Many follow a basic story arc: showing a small child or animal getting ready for bed; showing a small child or animal who does not want to go to bed (but usually ends up asleep by the end of the book;) or a lyrical story that sets a "sleepy mood."

For this prompt, select a story arc, a character, and an unusual setting and write a short bedtime story for the very young child.

Story Arc:
1. Activities to get ready for bed;
2. Distractions to avoid going to bed;
3. Common bedtime fear and overcoming it;
4. A happy, peaceful bedtime ritual.

Character:
1. Small hedgehog
2. Roly-poly piglet
3. Baby griffin
4. A small fire-breathing dragon
5. The tooth fairy's son
6. A little girl with an annoying baby brother

Unusual Setting:
1. An invisible castle that slowly becomes visible if someone remains awake after bedtime.
2. A frog-filled pond
3. An elfin forest
4. A petting zoo
5. A swamp with a noisy Ogre
6. The 61st floor of a 60-floor highrise
7. An animal sanctuary.

Text Message Writing Prompt

Your challenge in this prompt is to create tension and set a tone. Here's the prompt:

Your character is a middle schooler who has just gotten a cell phone. Your character has not had time to get his or her phone number out to friends, yet just before getting to school, your character receives a text message. Pick one of the messages below, and write for 15 minutes.

Message:
R U chewing fruit gum?
OMG I cant believe what u did!
I think u r Stacy and not who u say u r.
U wont get away with it. I know.

Character's Secret Writing Prompt

Millicent Min had a secret. She didn't tell her new best friend that she was a genius. Barnabus Collins, from the old television soap opera Dark Shadows also had a secret. He was a vampire. Melinda, the main character from Laurie Hals Anderson's novel Speak, also had a secret. One so dark and traumatic that Melinda could barely speak.

Millicent Min, Girl Genius and Speak are two contemporary examples of how authors use secrets to create rich, authentic and memorable characters. In this prompt, pick a secret and a situation. Write for 15 minutes about how the character's secret intrudes and creates conflict within the situation. You don't need to resolve the conflict, but try to write about how the character reacts and feels within the confines of the situation, as he or she deals with the secret.

Secret:
1. Teen girl knows her father is having an affair
2. Teen boy has seen his teacher turn into a werewolf
3. Middle school girl has a mentally ill younger sister
4. Elementary school boy is in love with a popular older girl

Situation:
1. A disturbance related to the secret occures while having lunch in the school cafeteria.
2. A family meal in a restaurant is interrupted by a fight involving the secret
3. The secret is discovered during gym class at school.
4. The character is confronted somehow by another family member about the secret

Passed Object Writing Prompt

This is one we did in a group awhile back, but it can be fun to do on your own, or with your own group. The way it works is that each person in the group pulls out an object from their pocket or purse, and then hands it to the person sitting next to them, to the right. Using the object passed to you, plus whatever you may know about the person who handed you the object, write for 15 minutes a fictional account of why this person is carrying the object. Work in a conflict, if you can. If you're doing the prompt on your own, either pull out a random object from your purse or from a pocket or purse from someone in your household.

When we did this in a group the first time, nearly everyone handed over a set of keys to the person sitting to their right. Then, nearly everyone wrote about driving. Nobody would admit if their fictional characters came close to the real characters, though.