Writing Prompts

It is important to get into the habit of writing every day – sometimes, you may be struggling to find ideas on what to write about. This list of writing prompts will help you with that!

I recently released an article about the Chronicles Writing Challenge – a challenge, where you write a short story each day for 120 days, each story inspired by a prompt. I often (pretty much every single day of this challenge) struggle with finding the right prompt for my fantasy setting. This list of original prompts should help you if you have the same problem as me.
I will periodically update this list, so be sure to check back from time to time!

If you want to improve your writing, let me recommend an amazing book I’ve recently read, Writing Tools by Roy Peter Clark. This book contains 55 amazing tips, tricks, and tools for writers to use. I’ve heard a lot of praise for this book, and I honestly think it deserves all of it. I didn’t buy the book yet, I had it from my local library, but when I buy it, it’s the kind book I’ll always keep close to me when I write.

Here’s my affiliate link for ebooks.com, where you can buy the book.

Writing Tools by Roy Peter Clark

Why and how to use Writing Prompts?

Writing prompts are an awesome way to gain inspiration for your stories. You can follow the prompt to the letter, writing about exactly what is said, or you can get inspired only loosely. Some of these prompts, such as the first one, could be made into fully-fledged short stories, counting thousands of words, with others, for example 37., I would recommend writing only a flash fiction story, something like 500 words.

Where to find more prompts?

I’d like to show you my Pinterest board with all of these prompts, as well as a bunch of other pins that can inspire you when writing (all original, of course). The board is called Writing Prompts | Eledris, and you can find it by clicking that link. There are almost 100 pins!

In my Chronicles Writing Challenge, I often used the r/Writing Prompts subreddit, where you can find a ton of prompts (but it’s harder to find ones that suit your needs exactly), as well as the Writing Prompts Android app by Bew.

I’m also working on my own app for Writing Prompts! I’ll let you know when it’s finished. In the meantime, you can subscribe to my newsletter. I send out e-mails about my articles that can help you with writing, as well as exclusive prompts, polls, etc. And if you subscribe, I’ll let you know first when the app is ready for release. It’s going to be awesome.

Another thing I was thinking I could do some time in the future, would be these physical cards with my original writing prompts. It could be like a little game for writers. If and when I do that, I’ll be sure to include a discount for everyone subscribed to the newsletter!

With that out of the way, let’s finally get to the prompts!

The current count of prompts is: 65.

The last prompt added is: “An astronomer has predicted the end of the world through the stars, he runs to the nearest village.”

1. You wake up in a room. You don’t know how you got here.
2. You have to buy a horse and get out of town quickly.
3. A walk in the forest turns into a nightmare.
4. A paladin commits a horrible crime.
5. A Druid joined the Demonic forces.
6. You find a magical ax that holds the souls of its victims.
7. You stumble upon a village that is captured by the Demons.
8. The crowning of the traitor king is today. You have to stop it.
9. You seek a scroll on how to construct a golem.
10. After all these years, you finally found her.
11. You find out that the best assassin in the kingdom is the princess. No one knows about this.
12. You are to judge the greatest knight tournament in history.
13. You are a mailman. You have to deliver post to a house in the middle of a jungle.
14. You discover a black market with weapons.
15. Weak and weary, you find a farm. You spend the night, only to find out the farm’s horrible secret.
16. A demon escapes its realm and attacks you.
17. As I kneel here, praying for my life, my fate comes for me.
18. An unmanned ship sails to the shipyard.
19. As you enter a dungeon, the entrance caves-in behind you.
20. You eat a mysterious fruit. It has some unexpected effects.
21. A man that has not spoken a lie in his whole life suddenly tells one.
22. Some prophecies are better left untold.
23. The forest is on fire. And that is just the beginning.
24. Two old veterans are reunited after not seeing each other since the war.
25. A tower suddenly appears in the middle of the country.
26. You have found a magical ring. When you put it on, you felt a surge of power and searing pain. It has now melded to your flesh.
27. A friendly duel quickly gets out of hand.
28. Hundreds attend a funeral, including you. You suddenly realize you are not really sure who died.
29. A knight gets captured by the enemy and interrogated.
30. The great clock started ticking backwards.
31. A second moon appears in the sky.
32. You are investigating a long-abandoned asylum. You hear whistling.
33. Our creations betrayed us.
34. A flower blooms on the top of a mountain. It’s absolutely crucial that you retrieve it.
35. A man stops in the middle of the road. He screams.
36. “Look to the sun!”
37. A fight to the death with a shark.
38. As you wake up, you find a gold coin on your cupboard.
39. As you approach the pillar in the middle of the town you are visiting, you start to get more and more nauseous the closer you get.
40. You are a wealthy merchant. As you drink some wine your most trusted friend has offered you, you feel a sudden pain in your chest and your eyes start seeing fuzzy.
41. You are an assassin. You have a bad day. Every time you swish your knife and try to stab some folks, they miraculously duck or lean over accidentally.
42. An angry wizard turns you into a rat.
43. A typical monster becomes the main hero.
44. I had to do it. My eyes were a small price to pay.
45. As you go further into the forest, you spot a trail of blood leading off the main path.
46. As you reach your hand into the safe, you notice a dark shadow looming over you.
47. You hear a scream from behind you. You look back and you see a giant snake with your friend’s arm sticking out of its mouth.
48. After writing a chapter of your book, you start to experience things you’ve written about.
49. You wake up in a dark room, chained to the wall, with only a dim light and a bone saw in front of you.
50. For the last month, you have intensely craved the flesh of a fellow man.
51. You finish your greatest painting yet, only to see a shadowy figure that you swear you didn’t create.
52. Your best friend dies, you have to duel with death in a game of your choosing to bring him back.
53. The sky is slowly falling down.
54. A grey fox follows the hunter.
55. During your regular shift in the shop, a man in dark robes approaches.
56. It was discovered that some can heal themselves by drinking blood.
57. As a simple farmer, you never imagined such a situation would happen to you.
58. The Demon Lord is dead, long live the Demon Lord.
59. You are swallowed by a giant fish.
60. The rabbit stares at you cutely, while your friends urge you to murder it in cold blood.
61. A miner finds a new deposit of unknown ore.
62. You find a pen that writes down everything you say.
63. A peddler, struggling to make a living, is on his way to the capital.
64. A weapons merchant is having an argument with his blacksmith.
65. An astronomer has predicted the end of the world through the stars, he runs to the nearest village.

What’s next?

Here you are, at the end of the ever-expanding prompt list, wondering what now. Well, I’ll tell you! Now, you should write a story, however long or short, inspired by one or more of these prompts, and send them to me to darezar@eledris.com, asking for feedback. I’d be more than happy to provide some.

You can also check out my other Writing or Worldbuilding articles, or my personal favorite at the moment, Creating Races, which will help you create believable species for your worlds.

Got any more prompts that could make it on this list? Be sure to post them in the comment section, or via mail to darezar@eledris.com!