Creative Writing & Journaling Prompts
50 Creative Prompts to Spark Your Imagination
A collection of prompts for fiction, journaling, and overcoming writer's block.
Fantasy & Sci-Fi
1. A mapmaker discovers a city that only appears on their maps after they’ve drawn it.
2. Your shadow starts giving you bad advice. You realize it's not your shadow.
3. The last tree on Earth begins to speak. What does it say?
4. A colony on Mars receives a message from Earth, which was thought to be destroyed
100 years ago.
5. Magic is real, but it only works when you are incredibly bored.
6. You find a pocket watch that can stop time, but only for 10 seconds. You can't use it
twice in the same minute.
7. An alien race makes first contact, not with a government, but with a librarian.
8. Describe a city where emotions are a form of currency.
9. You wake up with the ability to "undo" one small action per day.
10. The world's gravity begins to slowly and unpredictably fluctuate.
Mystery & Thriller
11. You receive a letter in the mail from someone who has been missing for a decade.
12. A detective finds a coded message in the pattern of a victim's wallpaper.
13. Everyone in town receives an anonymous text message with a date and time. Nothing
else.
14. You're the only one who remembers a person who has seemingly been erased from
history.
15. A key is delivered to your house with no return address. It doesn't fit any lock you own.
16. You witness a crime, but when you report it, the location you describe is just an empty
field.
17. A diary found in an old house details a series of events that are starting to happen to
your family.
18. You get a phone call from your own number.
19. A reclusive billionaire dies, leaving his entire fortune to the person who can solve a
single riddle.
20. A quiet, unassuming neighbor is secretly the world's most wanted art thief.
Journaling & Self-Reflection
21. What is a sound you will never forget?
22. Describe a time you felt perfectly content. Where were you? Who were you with?
23. Write a letter to your 16-year-old self.
24. What is a small, everyday thing that brings you joy?
25. If you could have dinner with any three people, living or dead, who would they be and
why?
26. What is a skill you've always wanted to learn? What is the first step you could take?
27. Describe a place, real or imagined, where you feel completely at peace.
28. What is a belief you hold that has changed over time?
29. Write about a time you failed and what you learned from it.
30. What are you most grateful for at this moment?
General Fiction & Slice of Life
31. Two elderly people meet for the first time in a park and tell each other the biggest lies of
their lives.
32. A character has to return an item to a store, but the journey there is fraught with absurd
obstacles.
33. Write a story that takes place entirely during a power outage.
34. A pet's internal monologue during a typical day with its owner.
35. An old photograph inspires a character to uncover a family secret.
36. Describe the first day of work for someone in an extremely unusual profession.
37. A story about a friendship told only through a series of voicemails or text messages.
38. A character decides to finally read the terms and conditions.
39. Write about a promise that was impossible to keep.
40. A chef who can taste emotions in the food they eat.
41. An antique shop owner who knows the story behind every object in their store.
42. A character finds a list of life goals they wrote as a child and decides to complete it.
43. A story about the unspoken rivalry between two neighborhood street food vendors.
44. A character must teach their grandparent how to use modern technology.
45. A plant starts growing out of an old book in a library.
46. The story of a single coin as it passes through many different hands.
47. A character who has lived their entire life in a submarine finally comes to the surface.
48. Two strangers get stuck in an elevator and have a life-changing conversation.
49. A child tries to explain the rules of their imaginary game to a confused adult.
50. Write a story that begins with the line: "It was the last warm day of the year."
