Writing Prompts

1. Standing at the top of the cliff,staring into the vast emptiness below, I scream for help.

2. Lurking in the gloomy shadows, I get ready to run.

3. Suddenly a raspy voice behind me speaks.

4. Opening the prehistoric book, I dive into the soiled pages.

5. Searching for more about my childhood, I plunge my hand into the drawer.

6. Clutching her book to her chest as if it would be grasped by the man, she stares deep into his eyes.

7. The dog leaped across the murky river and chased his pursuer.

8. You see a ladder leading up to the top of a tall tree, half shrouded by cloud; you decide to see what's up there.

9. Screaming at my dad to stop, I realise who he is.

10. Opening the mailbox, looking for my daily newspaper, I notice a small package at the very back; branded with a metallic dragonfly. I wonder what is inside.

11. Thinking about my father makes me want to cry, but I know that I have to stop him from destroying even more.

12. Walking into the store, I gasp at what is before me.

13. Turn one of the last texts you sent into a story.

14. Gazing out the window, I can't believe my eyes.

15. As my hand slipped into his/hers, my eyes flashed with images of our future together.

16. I cannot remember the last time I smiled. Smiling is not a thing I do, and this is why...

17. Turning in a circle like a dog chasing his tail, I can't remember what direction I came from.

18. The strong wind tore trees from the ground like a child plucking grass from a field.

19. He was a giant of a man, with broken-knife teeth and midnight eyes.

20. Looking into the horses eyes was like staring into dark, deep, stormy waters.

21. The horse's mane was a glistening waterfall flowing down it's back.

22. Spinning off the road, the car crashed into the fence making it look like teeth after years of no dentist appointments.

23. Crashing into the neighbours' fence, the car was a bottle getting spun at a teenager's party. I wonder if just recently a party had occurred.

24. The boy walked slowly to school like a veteran coming back from a losing battle.

25. He was a newborn tortoise, dragging his feet as if they were weights.

26. Dear younger (or older) me...

27. Writing is my favourite pastime. This is why...

28. I wonder what 5 years from now will be like... Hover cars? Half dog half computer? ...

29. I wish I could go to...

30. Jolting awake, I think of my recent dream.

40. Their voices drift away with me.

41. I heard a voice, but no one was there.

42. A snap resounds throughout the forest.

43. Dazed, he walks along.

44. My tears smudge the words that are before me.

45. Questions swim around my mind

46. I run as they chase me throughout the bush.

47. "Where are you!?" I scream my lungs out, my voice starting to become hoarse.

48. Find an image and describe it .

49. Pick a random name and explain how the character got that name.

50. Choose one of these emotions and write a story about it:

Sonder - The realization that each passerby has a life as vivid and complex as your own.

Opia - The ambiguous intensity of looking someone in the eye, which can feel simultaneously invasive and vulnerable.

Monachopsis - The subtle but persistent feeling of being out of place.

Énouement - The bittersweetness of having arrived in the future, seeing how things turn out, but not being able to tell your past self.

Vellichor - The strange wistfulness of used bookshops.

Rubatosis - The unsettling awareness of your own heartbeat.

Kenopsia - The eerie, forlorn atmosphere of a place that is usually bustling with people but is now abandoned and quiet.

Mauerbauertraurigkeit - The inexplicable urge to push people away, even close friends who you really like.

Jouska - A hypothetical conversation that you compulsively play in your head.

Chrysalism - The amniotic tranquility of being indoors during a thunderstorm.

Vemödalen - The frustration of photographic something amazing when thousands of identical photos already exist.

Anecdoche - A conversation in which everyone is talking but nobody is listening.

Ellipsism - A sadness that you’ll never be able to know how history turned out.

Kuebiko - A state of exhaustion inspired by acts of senseless violence.

Lachesism - The desire to be struck by disaster; to survive a plane crash, or to lose everything in a fire.

Exulansis - The tendency to give up trying to talk about an experience because people are unable to relate to it.

Adronitis - Frustration with how long it takes to get to know someone.

Rückkehrunruhe - The feeling of returning home after an immersive trip only to find it fading rapidly from your awareness.

Nodus Tollens - The realization that the plot of your life doesn’t make sense to you anymore.

Onism - The frustration of being stuck in just one body, that inhabits only one place at a time.

Liberosis - The desire to care less about things.

Altschmerz - Weariness with the same old issues that you’ve always had; the same boring flaws and anxieties that you’ve been gnawing on for years.

Occhiolism - The awareness of the smallness of your perspective.