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The Write Prompts a try?
Will you free climb the paper mountain, or play it safe, and climb with harnesses dipped in ink? Or will you even climb at all?
On this page, you’ll find a full catalogue of all The Write Prompts we have available. Use them to help kickstart your themed literary piece(s)! Visit Annual Themes for more information. Alrighty. Let’s pick up where we left off.
Deadlines for submissions are 15th October, 11:59pm (BST)
Below, you will find a full drop-down of our write prompts. The Write Prompts were compiled by The Write Team, initially theme specified, but we have since decided to changed it. They are available all year round since we may or may not compile a new catalogue, and wouldn’t want anyone to miss out!! Scroll down for more info and click on the little arrowheads icon in each section for more detail. You can also click on ‘The Write Prompts’ tag – which can be found on the site’s footnotes – for a quicker find. Alternatively, you are more than welcome to subscribing to our newsletter to stay in the loop with write ease!
There’s always time for the write challenge!
The Write Prompts
Have a read through to see which prompts you’ll like to try. You can use the prompts interchangeably with whichever theme you have in mind! Use these prompts to give you momentum, whether that momentum is for poetry, a play, or a short (or long) story, the choice is yours! Whatever you decide, our write prompts are here, to stay, so please feel free to use them whenever. (Please ensure you do not include the actual prompts in your literary piece(s) however!)
Write expressively, daringly, and technically… As for anything beyond that? We leave to your creative licenses. Good luck!
For more info on submissions, please visit Submission Guidelines.
SPEAKER: The beauty my eyes beheld…
SPEAKER: The beauty my eyes beheld surpassed any image I had seen in my lifetime and any I could imagine seeing in the lifetime to follow…
‘In the valleys of my mind…’
‘…In the valleys of my mind I freely roam the landscape of my home. Kissed by the night’s air fragrance, cloaked in the moon’s radiant light. For me…’
You’re an Archaeologist…
You’re an Archaeologist trying to conceal a recent discovery from corrupt law enforcers.
An elderly blind man…
An elderly blind man attempts to describe an artifact they saw in their youth.
Write an article….
Write an article for a fictitious magazine detailing the truth behind who discovered the Olmec colossal heads.
‘And then I screamed.’
Time: A minute past Midnight
Time: A minute past midnight
Place / Setting: Charles Bridge
Intro: The wind howls, relenting for none. Night lamps awaken after the other and the city’s beauty reflects in the water’s shape. An elderly woman strolls alone. A billowing red scarf around her neck, and a walking stick, her lone companion…
SPEAKER: I often look at…
SPEAKER: I often look at myself and wonder why is my…
‘Essentially what’s mine is not really mine…
‘Essentially what’s mine is not really mine. It is an emulsion of parts taken from predecessors and made whole in inflections of me.’
Write…
Write an Ode.
A mother…
A mother talks to her daughter about her favourite body part.
The scent lingers…
SPEAKER: The scent lingers long after the memory fades. In my dreams I often…
‘Shadows rise and loom…’
‘I cannot escape the feeling of being watched. Shadows rise and loom when I take quick corners or make sharp turns. When I dare to walk down streets I’ve previously glimpsed they…’
The worst name in the world…
Begin a story with someone explaining why their name is the worst name in the world, without revealing their name.
A vase shatters…
(A vase shatters as it collides with the floor. An alarm beeps incessantly as a woman walks into the stage’s centre.)
Lady’s Slipper Orchid…
Write a story about flowers that centres on a fictitious legend surrounding the Lady’s Slipper Orchid.
Time: Eve of 2000
Time: Eve of 2000
Place/Setting: A couch in a cluttered room.
Intro: A young couple sits in nervous anticipation. Faces taut with tension, hands tightly clasped, bodies perfectly still. On the table before them sits a letter entitled, ‘A Testament of the life we lived’. A clock ticks away.
Write a poem…
Write a poem about the theme of flowers.
SPEAKER: You’ve asked for my name and I’ve given it
SPEAKER: You’ve asked for my name and I’ve given it. Though you must think like most, it’s not real – that it’s…
‘If all names were as I’ve always believed…’
‘If all names were as I’ve always believed – extensions of our soul –’
You run into someone you wish to avoid…
You run into someone you wish to avoid and have to come up with a new name. Why are you avoiding them and what is your new name?
Begin a story by explaining why no one in your family…
Begin a story by explaining why no one in your family knows your name.
Letter: A couple writes individual letters to their unborn child…
Letter: A couple writes individual letters to their unborn child explaining why the name they suggested was best.
Write a news article explaining why names…
Write a news article explaining why names are social constructs.
Setting: A beach sparsely populated
Time: Early evening
Setting: A beach sparsely populated.
Intro: A child wearing a sun-hat kicks a pebble and occasionally dips her feet into the water. She suddenly stops. In front of her is a letter in a bottle with the name Elisabeth addressed on the front.
A woman stands alone crying bitterly…
A woman stands alone crying bitterly. Repeating the same name over and over again…
SPEAKER: The secret…
SPEAKER: The secret ingredient is…
You are about to be given a lethal injection…
You are about to be given a lethal injection and are allowed to pick one final pastry to eat.
Do you or do you not open the envelope?
You are tasked with guarding an envelope containing the recipe for a rare cake by one of the most secretive chef’s on earth. Do you or do you not open the envelope?
Intro: A beloved pastry chef…decides to leave the world one final recipe…
Time: Morning on the last day of the year
Setting: Present day
Intro: A beloved pastry chef with a terminal illness, decides to leave the world one final recipe.
(A child baking prodigy struggles against the wishes of her agents…)
(A child baking prodigy struggles against the wishes of her agents, who have built her reputation on cooking only high-class food, when she is accused of being a lover of – Mississippi Mud Pie.)
SPEAKER: If the phases of the moon were reflections…
SPEAKER: If the phases of the moon were reflections of my family, then my brother would be…
‘The moon is capable of many things…’
‘The moon is capable of many things, especially when it orbits.’
A new moon is discovered…
A new moon is discovered. What is its name and what concealed it for all of these years?
Write a journal entry…
Write a journal entry about your historic landing on the Moon.
Setting: The edge of the world
Time: A minute to midnight
Setting: The edge of the world
Intro: Destiny stands at the edge of the world, contemplating whether or not to let the hands of time strike midnight.
You’ll thank me later…
You’ll thank me later. I don’t wanna spoil your breakfast.
‘But you’ll definitely have…’
‘But you’ll definitely have a taste unlike you never imagined.’
Your gaunt and bruised character sits at a table…
Your gaunt and bruised character sits at a table, gaping hungrily at the tray before them; a clock ticks tauntingly in the background. There is a knock on the door. Another character walks in. They pull up a chair opposite them. ‘Let’s try again. Remember, everything here is your choice.’
…a twinkling light dashes past their periphery. In the next seconds…
They stare at the endless rows of shelves, with a sense of desperation yet despair; a twinkling light dashes past their periphery. In the next seconds, they become silent, and with a sudden willfulness close their eyes, ferociously clenching their hands into fists.
Late at night…
Late at night, a teenager sits at an empty table in a coffee shop, ripping off sugar sachets, screaming as they pour them into a bowl of cereal.
Write…
Write a story about cereal, but it cannot ever be eaten, purchased or offered to a character.
They said, all I have to do is sweeten my pitch…
They said, all I have to do is sweeten my pitch, sing my words out like a butterfly, and ask kindly.
(The family stand around in the living room with solemn expressions…)
(The family stand around in the living room with solemn expressions, until one member walks to the middle, gently shaking something grasped in their hands; upon hearing it, they all turn around and some of them begin to laugh, whilst others whimper.)
