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    1200 Creative Writing Prompts (Adventures in Writing)
    1200 Creative Writing Prompts (Adventures in Writing)
    1200 Creative Writing Prompts (Adventures in Writing)
    Ebook134 pages2 hours

    1200 Creative Writing Prompts (Adventures in Writing)

    By Melissa Donovan

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    About this ebook

    If you’re looking for writing ideas, you’ve come to the right place.

    Perfect for writers who are feeling uninspired or who simply want to tackle a new writing challenge, 1200 Creative Writing Prompts has something for everyone. Whether you write fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction, you’ll find plenty of fresh ideas inside this book.

    The fiction prompts cover a range of genres, including literary, mystery, thriller, suspense, science fiction, fantasy, paranormal, horror, romance, historical, humor, satire, children’s and young adult.

    Poetry prompts offer poem starters, subject matter, word lists, and imagery.

    The creative nonfiction prompts will inspire journal sessions as well as ideas for writing memoir pieces, personal essays, and a bunch of prompts to help you explore your own writing goals and practices.

    This book doesn’t come with rules. Use a fiction prompt to inspire a personal essay. Use a creative nonfiction prompt to inspire a poem. Combine prompts to come up with interesting and unique story ideas. As long as you engage your imagination and have fun, it’s all good!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMelissa Donovan
    Release dateJan 3, 2014
    ISBN9781310179594
    1200 Creative Writing Prompts (Adventures in Writing)
    Author

    Melissa Donovan

    Born and raised in Northern California, Melissa inherited a love of literature and language from her mom, who taught Melissa to read by age four. Melissa started writing poetry and song lyrics at thirteen. Shortly thereafter, she began journaling. She studied creative writing at Sonoma State University, earning a BA in English with a concentration in creative writing. Since then, Melissa has worked as a technical writer, business writer, copywriter, professional blogger, and writing coach. Blogging is one of Melissa’s favorite writing passions, along with fiction and poetry. In 2007, she launched Writing Forward, a block packed with creative writing tips and ideas. Melissa is the author of 101 Creative Writing Exercises and is currently working on the follow-up book in her Adventures in Writing series.

    Read more from Melissa Donovan

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    • 4/5
      Great poetry and excellent non-fiction prompts. I absolutely loved those!

    Book preview

    1200 Creative Writing Prompts (Adventures in Writing) - Melissa Donovan

    ADVENTURES IN WRITING:

    1200 Creative Writing Prompts

    Copyright © 2014 by Melissa Donovan

    Smashwords Edition

    All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or manual, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher.

    First Edition, 2014

    Published by Swan Hatch Press • Melissa Donovan

    ISBN 9781310179594

    Swan Hatch Press | San Francisco

    Other Books by Melissa Donovan

    ADVENTURES IN WRITING (SERIES)

    101 Creative Writing Exercises

    10 Core Practices for Better Writing

    Adventures in Writing

    1200 Creative Writing Prompts

    Table of Contents

    Other Books by Melissa Donovan

    Introduction

    Fiction Writing Prompts

    Poetry Writing Prompts

    Creative Nonfiction Prompts

    More Adventures in Writing

    About the Author

    Introduction

    Have you ever wanted to write but weren’t sure where to begin? Maybe you wanted to write a story, but you couldn’t think of a plot. Maybe you wanted to write an essay or an article, but you couldn’t think of a subject to write about. Maybe you wanted to write a poem, but you couldn’t find the words.

    Writing prompts provide helpful starting points when you’re not sure what to write. Prompts can be used for a variety of situations:

    • When you need to take a break from a larger project, you can use writing prompts to work on a shorter project. This allows you to take the break you need but maintain your writing practice and routine.

    • Prompts can help you get unstuck. Sometimes a prompt will trigger a solution to a problem you’ve encountered with a writing project that’s giving you trouble.

    • Creative writing prompts are perfect for writing classes, groups, and workshops.

    • Prompts provide ideas and starting points when you want to experiment with new forms and genres of writing.

    How to Use This Book

    This book includes three parts, each geared toward a different form of creative writing: fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction.

    The prompts within each section cover a range of genres and topics:

    • The fiction section includes storytelling prompts in the following genres: literary, mystery, suspense, thriller, science fiction, fantasy, horror, romance, historical, humor, satire, parody, children’s, and young adult.

    • Poetry prompts include a mix of starters, subjects, words lists, and images.

    • Creative nonfiction prompts cover journaling, memoir, articles, personal essays, and topics related to reading and writing.

    Each section contains a list of numbered prompts. You can use the prompts in any way that works for you. Use a poetry prompt to inspire a story. Use a nonfiction prompt to inspire a poem. Mix and match the prompts. Change the details provided in any prompt. Do whatever is comfortable for you and inspires you to write.

    The prompts are meant to spark ideas. Review the prompts until you find one that resonates, and then start writing.

    You can even use the prompts to inspire a list of your own writing prompts, which you can then share with others or use whenever you need fresh writing ideas.

    Whether you’re using these prompts to trigger ideas for your own writing projects or to push your writing in new directions, I hope you’ll find them fun and useful.

    Good luck and keep writing.

    Sincerely,

    Melissa Donovan

    Founder and Editor of Writing Forward

    Fiction Writing Prompts

    1. While at summer camp over a decade ago, five teenagers’ lives became irrevocably intertwined. Now their paths have crossed again, and they must all come to terms with what happened that summer.

    2. Someone is sitting on a park bench reading a news article about a recent string of crimes. This person knows who did it.

    3. As passengers disembark from a transatlantic flight, they start to experience amnesia—all of the passengers except one. The farther they go from the plane, the more severe their amnesia becomes. Will they risk forgetting everything?

    4. A writer loses the ability to distinguish reality from the fantastical worlds of his or her stories.

    5. The protagonist is obsessed with serial killers and decides to make a documentary film reenacting their most horrific crimes.

    6. Some relationships aren’t simple enough to be classified as toxic or healthy. Writing about a complex relationship is, well, complex. Give it a shot.

    7. In a country that rants and raves about freedom, the government decides that its people should not be allowed to drink liquor. Write a story set during Prohibition in the United States.

    8. The setting is a festive party honoring the holiday of your choosing. Something unexpected happens, and the guests are drawn into a weekend of pranks and hijinks.

    9. One kid in a big city is bored. School won’t be out for a couple of months. There are no holidays to look forward to. He or she wishes the family lived in the country. (Where do kids get these ideas?)

    10. On the first day of school, two best friends discover a frightening secret about one of their new teachers.

    11. Some stories rhyme. 'Twas the Night Before Christmas is one example. Shakespeare’s plays are another. Try writing a story that is also a rhyming poem.

    12. It’s a cold, rainy night. A man and woman stand beside a car outside a convenience store, arguing. One of them pulls out a gun.

    13. Four friends on a nature hike discover a deep cave, complete with running water. As they go deeper and deeper into the cave, they find strange objects—human skeletons, an old computer from the early eighties, a gas mask, and strange mango-sized orbs that emit a glowing blue light.

    14. What if you discovered a portal to another world? Where is the portal? How does it work? What’s on the other side?

    15. Everyone is getting tired of the cold and eagerly anticipating summer. But this summer is going to bring more than sunshine and easy days at the beach because something terrifying and unimaginable is lurking in the water.

    16. An elderly couple traveling through the desert spends an evening stargazing and sharing memories of their lives.

    17. Write about a historical natural disaster that caused death and destruction to a small number of people and therefore never received national or international attention.

    18. The protagonist is about to drift off to sleep only to be roused by the spontaneous memory of an embarrassing moment from his or her past.

    19. Write a children’s story about a bird and squirrel who live together in the same tree (like The Odd Couple).

    20. All the kids are looking forward to their winter break. There’s a school-sponsored ski trip, and one girl is aching to go so she can try snowboarding for the first time.

    21. While shopping in a department store, a middle-aged man comes face to face with the guy who almost certainly kidnapped his child ten years earlier.

    22. The protagonist wakes up in a seemingly endless field of wildflowers in full bloom with no idea how he or she got there.

    23. A con man who convinces people they’ve been abducted by aliens and takes their money…is abducted by aliens.

    24. A school of dolphins is too trusting and approaches a boat whose crew is intent on capturing the dolphins and bringing them to a theme park for a swim-with-the-dolphins attraction. Write the story from the dolphins’ perspective.

    25. Vampires, werewolves, and mummies are classic monsters. Create a classic monster of your own, and then write a story about it.

    26. Neither of them wants to marry a total stranger, but arranged marriage is the custom. Their lives will change dramatically on their wedding night, but will it be for the better or for the worse?

    27. The entertainment industry boomed in the twentieth century. Technology changed entertainment from an attraction you paid to see in a theater or other public setting to something you could enjoy from the comfort of your home. Every home had a radio. Black-and-white silent films evolved into Technicolor talkies. Now we have the Internet. Write a story centered on entertainment technologies of the past.

    28. An arrogant businessman hits a car full of old ladies. He gets out and approaches their vehicle, blaming them for the accident. Hilarity ensues when those old ladies show him what’s what.

    29. Puppies and kittens aren’t always born in spring. This winter, a special puppy is born, one that will change people’s lives. Write this story for children.

    30. A young man on his first hunting trip has a deer in his sight and suddenly remembers the day his dad took him to see Bambi.

    31. Write a story about a character who walks away from the life he or she knows and the people he or she loves. Why would a person give up everything he or she holds dear?

    32. A small team of graduate students is conducting research at sea when they are overtaken by a wild storm.

    33. The earth has been ravaged by war, famine, disease, and devastating natural disasters. In less than a decade, the population has dwindled from seven billion to less than 42,000. There is no law or order. The grid is gone. Everyone is struggling to survive.

    34. There is a magic talisman that allows its keeper to read minds.

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