Fiction First Steps - Writing Prompts #2

Sometimes, you can't decide on what to right about no matter how much you try. This article will give you some suggestions you can use to jump-start your creative process. Don't feel limited by these ideas. You don't have to write only what's described in the prompt. If you find a prompt you like in the list below, simply use it as the basis for a freewriting session. Your finished product may not resemble the prompt in any way, but that's not a bad thing. If anything, I think it's a great sign. It shows that your subconscious is able to take ideas from an outside source and transform them into something unique.

In an earlier article, I discussed how you can use your own life experiences as platforms to launch your own stories. This set of 12 prompts were chosen to help you access your memories and beliefs, so you can express them in ways that you might find useful in your writing.

Not all of these prompts are centered around positive memories, thoughts, and feelings. Even negative emotions can be used to generate characters, plot ideas, and stories. Let's get started.

Prompts List

1. Think back to the last holiday dinner you shared with family or friends. How many people attended? What was the menu? Did anyone say anything awkward or funny during the meal? If you can't recall anything anyone specifically said, try and come up with some topics for dinner conversation. Write the dinner scene where someone says something funny. Then, try the same scene where someone says something awkward or embarrassing Finally, write about some kind of food emergency that might have changed the meal (a main dish burnt, nobody likes the food, etc.).
2. What's your best memory from your school years? What was your worst? Create a pair of characters and have each of them experience those memories. Change them a little, so they're not exactly how you remembered.
3. What did you want to be when you were growing up? If you didn't follow that path, what did you end up doing? If you did become what you wished to be when you were a child, how does the reality differ from what you imagined it would be? Create two characters. Have one follow their childhood dreams, while the other becomes something completely different.
4. Who do you admire most? Why? Create a character completely different from that person (different gender, age, background, whatever), but give that character the traits you admire.
5. If you were granted only one wish, what would you wish for? Write a scenario where that wish turns out for the best, and then write about that wish causing a catastrophe.
6. What's your biggest fear? Write a story where the main character has to confront the same fear.
7. What memories first come to mind when you think of your parents? Jot them down and write scenes based on them. Can you string the scenes together into a story?
8. What was the best gift you ever received from someone else? What was the worst? Create two characters and write about them each receiving those gifts. How do they react? How do the givers react?
9. Do you believe in the paranormal? Why, or why not? Write about a character who feels the opposite to the way you do, and have them explain why they believe (or don't believe) as they do.
10. Are you superstitious? If so, what superstitions do you observe? If not, what do you think about superstitious people? Write two scenes. In one, have bad things happen because a superstition wasn't observed. In the second scene, have the character go through an experience that leads them to stop believing in superstitions.
11. What is the one issue facing your country that you are most passionate about? Write a scene where two characters discuss this issue. Have the character whose opinion is different than your own win that argument.
12. What's the one thing you can't live without? It could be a piece of electronics, a religious text, a particular food, anything at all. How would you feel if you had to give up that thing? Now, write about a character who goes through that loss. How do they cope?

If you think of any other prompts you'd like to explore, simply jot them down and add them to your files. They may come in handy one day.

Related Links

Fiction First Steps - Find Inspiration In Your Life 
Fiction First Steps - Writing Prompts #3