Kindlepreneur
Book Marketing for Self-Publishing Authors
Home / Book Writing / Realistic Fiction Story Ideas: 50+ Prompts to Get You Started
Realistic Fiction Story Ideas: 50+ Prompts to Get You Started
For some writers, it's easy to come up with a story about space aliens, vampires, superheroes, or magical beings. But what if you're looking to write a more grounded, realistic short story or book? Well, you might need some realistic fiction story ideas. Luckily, that's just what we have for you in this article. We'll talk about different ways to come up with realistic fiction ideas, and we'll provide you with a list of realistic fiction story prompts to get you going.
Let's get going!
- What realistic fiction is
- How to come up with story ideas in this genre
- Prompts for realistic fiction stories
- How to test your idea before you write
Table of contents
- What is Realistic Fiction?
- Choose a Theme
- Draft Some Characters
- Realistic Fiction Story Prompts
- Vetting Your Realistic Fiction Idea
- Realistic Fiction Story Ideas: Final Thoughts
As the name suggests, realistic fiction defines fictional stories that are grounded in reality. There are believable characters , the situations are easily recognizable, and the conflicts are genuine. These storylines can take place at any time, but they're usually contemporary to the author's life. A realistic fiction tale may seem like a true story, but it's not.
Realistic fiction is not a genre of its own. There is some definite overlap with other genres , like literary fiction and historical fiction. The main characters can be anyone from high school kids to elderly adults. Even children can be major players in a realistic fiction story. But one thing has to hold true: they need to be realistic characters in realistic settings.
Coming Up With Realistic Fiction Story Ideas
There are about as many ways to come up with story ideas as there are writers. Obviously, no one can tell you what to write, but you can get inspiration from anywhere. And the following tips should help do just that.
Writing with an overarching theme in mind can help get the ideas rolling. And there are some common themes in realistic fiction that have held true over the years.
- Love – All different types of love — new, old, unrequited, platonic, fading — make excellent themes for realistic fiction.
- Growing Up – Some of the best realistic fiction is about changing from childhood to adulthood, or from adulthood to old age.
- Life Changes – From divorce and sickness to getting fired and learning to truly live, life changes have made for many a great story in this literary genre.
- Self-Discovery – The successful woman realizes there's more to life than working 60 hours a week. The college student suddenly realizes that his true passion lies in religion after a near-death experience. Everyone goes through self-discovery, which makes it an excellent theme.
- Bravery/Perseverance – Finding the will and the way to face unbeatable odds is a very human thing. We take solace in others learning to live their best lives in the face of great adversity.
- Social Issues/Injustice – Some of the most impactful realistic fiction stories deal with social issues such as racism and injustice. Creative writing in the realistic fiction genre is all about exploring these kinds of issues through compelling and believable characters .
You may have noticed that all these themes are very human. Of course, you could argue that every story is, at its core, human. But these themes are especially human because they're about struggles that people from all walks of life have to deal with. They're about humans dealing with very human problems . If you keep that in mind, you won't go wrong while crafting your realistic story.
Format Beautiful Professional Books
Easy to use, and and full of amazing features, you can quickly turn your book into a professional book.
Remember that characters in realistic fiction won't have superpowers, magical abilities, or the ability to read other people's thoughts. They won't live in a futuristic science fiction civilization. They're just people, which means you can take inspiration from real life .
Try to nail down some character specifics for your protagonist first. Will she be an aging woman who just lost her husband of forty years? Will he be an accountant who saves a young boy's life on his way to work?
Your main character should absolutely have a story arc , so think about what you want that arc to be. Uplifting stories generally have a positive arc with a relatively happy ending. But, like life, there's no guarantee of a happy ending in realistic fiction.
Also, think about some traits or quirks you want your main character to have. Not only physical traits, but beliefs, habits, and compulsions, as well . Check out this article for more on making believable characters .
The following prompts are designed to get the ideas flowing. You can choose a writing prompt and stick close to it, or you can let it take you in any direction you please. The story you end up with may look nothing like the writing prompt you started with! Let each prompt be the story idea that sparks a novel or a short story.
1. Write a story about a character learning that the most important aspect of a relationship isn't what she once thought it was.
2. Write a story about a group of close friends becoming a family after one of their own passes away.
3. Explore the meaning of love through the eyes of two different characters from opposite sides of the world.
4. Write about a character learning about self-fulfillment vs happiness the hard way.
5. Write about an old couple finally going on a train trip through Europe in an effort to save their marriage.
6. Write a story about a character who struggles with self-esteem and vanity.
7. Explore where true confidence comes from.
8. Write a story about characters learning what's truly important as they move from adolescence to adulthood.
9. Write about a woman who meets the love of her life as a result of the 9/11 attacks.
10. Explore the importance of learning to help others during tough times.
11. Write a story in the form of a personal narrative from the perspective of a cult leader.
12. Explore the life of a fictional 19th-century suffragette.
13. Weave the story arcs of several seemingly disparate characters into one surprise ending where they all get what they've been searching for — together.
14. Write a story about a character who loses one of their five senses but learns to live better for it.
15. Write about a character overcoming drug addiction.
16. Write about a character who willfully decides to turn around their philosophy about life, learning to live with intention.
17. Write a story about an author who struggles with writing until something drastic happens in their life.
18. Explore where morals come from and why there's such a big wide range of them.
19. Explore a situation (either real or fictional) in which the majority was wrong about something that affected people's lives.
20. Write a story about a character learning that his concept of love is unhealthy.
21. Write about a family of refugees struggling to survive as they flee their war-torn country.
22. Write a story about an aging athlete who does the impossible.
23. Write about two characters struggling to shift their priorities and keep their relationship intact as they age.
24. Explore a character's trip through the criminal justice system as she is wrongfully convicted of a crime.
25. Write about an entrepreneur's journey to start a small business while his larger competitor sabotages him.
26. Write about a man's journey to return a lost child to his parents.
27. Write about a character learning to love herself before she can love anyone else.
28. Explore the implications of obsession.
29. Write about two characters who used to be best friends when they were kids reconnecting after many years.
30. Start your story with a small moment that has outsized and unforeseen consequences.
31. Write about a teenager who runs away from home after an argument with his parents.
32. Write about the last citizens of a dying town, struggling to revitalize the area.
33. Explore a historic earthquake or natural disaster through the eyes of fictional characters experiencing it.
34. Write about two children who are accidentally left at an amusement park.
35. Write a story about characters during the Great Depression.
36. Write about a dispute between neighbors that gets quickly out of hand.
37. Explore the meaning of Christmas through the eyes of a character who has just lost her family.
38. Explore the trials and tribulations of a character who was devastated by the 2008 financial crisis.
39. Write about a person who leaves everything behind to join a cult (e.g. Peoples Temple or Heaven's Gate).
40. Explore the implications of a husband who is caught spending time with a son he's just learned about.
41. Write a story about parents who struggle with a teenager who has mental health issues.
42. Write a story about siblings who struggle to deal with the mental and physical deterioration of one or both parents.
43. Write a story about a kid who has to deal with bullying at his new school.
44. Write a real-life fairy tale without the magic. Set it in modern times.
45. Explore the high-stakes corporate world through the eyes of a woman who encounters a glass ceiling.
46. Write about a poll worker who is accused of doctoring ballots during a particularly virulent election.
47. Explore the implications of a gender reassignment operation through the eyes of the person undergoing the operation.
48. Write a story about a young woman who struggles with anxiety as she makes her way through the world.
49. Write a story about a pair of identical twins who have to learn to live their own lives after spending so much time together as children.
50. Write a story about a town that suffers a severe earthquake.
Best Book Marketing Software
Over 47,000+ authors, NYT bestsellers, and publishing companies use Publisher Rocket to gain key insight to the market. Help your book now
In the realistic fiction genre, good writing is a combination of compelling story elements , characters that feel real, and situations that are easily recognizable. Of course, a knack for narrative writing is also a plus. Fortunately, all these things can be learned.
But in the competitive fiction market, you need more than just a great story to succeed . For the best chance of success, you need to position the book into the correct categories and ensure you have the best metadata so readers can find it.
And the easiest way to do this is with Publisher Rocket. If you find a story idea that you like, you can vet it with Publisher Rocket, ensuring that the category isn't too competitive. Publisher Rocket can also tell you if there is a demand for the type of realistic fiction story you're going to write.
- Publisher Rocket's keyword search tool can help you determine what phrases and keywords Amazon shoppers are actually using when looking for realistic fiction books on Amazon.
- The Competition Analyzer helps you to see what other realistic fiction authors are doing and approximately how much they're making from their books.
- The AMS Keyword Search function can help you formulate the best Amazon Ad campaigns for your realistic fiction book .
- Lastly, the Category Search function helps you to choose the best categories when you publish your book on Amazon . This is very important for visibility!
This tool does the heavy lifting for you, searching through Amazon to bring you information on keywords, categories, and competition. Learn more about Publisher Rocket here .
Each writer has their own writing process, but the prompts and tips above should help you get into the creative flow. Whether you use a prompt as the spark of inspiration for a full-length book or for a short story idea doesn't really matter. Many great realistic fiction writers got good with short stories before moving on to novels. What matters is that you stay consistent and keep writing. The more you write, the better you'll get!
Dave Chesson
When I’m not sipping tea with princesses or lightsaber dueling with little Jedi, I’m a book marketing nut. Having consulted multiple publishing companies and NYT best-selling authors, I created Kindlepreneur to help authors sell more books. I’ve even been called “The Kindlepreneur” by Amazon publicly, and I’m here to help you with your author journey.
Related Posts
Topics for memoirs: 50+ ideas and prompts to get you started, mystery writing prompts: 35+ ideas to get you started, dystopia story ideas: 30+ prompts to get started, sell more books on amazon, amazon kindle rankings e-book.
Learn how to rank your Kindle book #1 on Amazon with our collection of time-tested tips and tricks.
Join the community
Join 111,585 other authors who receive weekly emails from us to help them make more money selling books.
The Best Realistic Fiction Writing Prompts to Inspire Your Imagination
By: Author Paul Jenkins
Posted on October 21, 2022
Categories Writing , Inspiration , Storytelling
Do you love writing stories but sometimes find yourself struggling with ideas? Are you looking for a way to jumpstart your imagination and develop new story ideas that are both realistic and interesting? If so, then you need to try using writing prompts. Writing prompts are simply short phrases or sentences that provide a starting point for your creativity. They can inspire fiction stories, nonfiction articles, poems, or even journal entries. This blog post will share some of the best realistic fiction writing prompts to help get your creative juices flowing!
20 Realistic Fiction Story Ideas
- Write a story about a young woman who discovers she has superpowers and must decide whether to use them for good or evil.
- Write a story about a small town beset by a curse that makes everyone become an animal overnight.
- Write a story about a woman haunted by the ghost of her dead husband and must find a way to lay him to rest.
- Write a story about a man who wakes up one day to find that his entire life has been turned into a reality TV show.
- Write a story about an alternate world where the American Revolution never happened.
- Write a story about a group of people who are chosen to compete in a Hunger Games-style competition.
- Write a story about a woman who discovers she can time travel and uses her power to change the course of history.
- Write a story about a group of people stranded on a deserted island who must find a way to survive.
- Write a story about an alien invasion and the humans who must band together to fight back.
- Write a story about a dystopian future where the government controls everything and citizens live in fear.
- Write a story about a future where all technology is made by and for women.
- Write a story about a gang that runs a protection racket for businesses in a run-down part of town.
- Write a story about a professor who discovers a powerful magic spell from an ancient tome and learns she is the only one who can use it.
- Write a story about a woman who awakens one morning to find that her entire hometown has disappeared.
- Write a story about a plague that causes people to float randomly in the air.
- Write a story about a knight who must undertake a quest to reclaim his family’s honor.
- Write a story about a country where everyone is forced to wear masks at all times to hide their true identities.
- Write a story about a boy who wakes up one day and discovers that he has psychic powers.
- Write a story about someone who discovers they have a superpower that can only be used once a year.
- Write a story about a person chosen to hunt down and kill all vampires.
Making Your Work of Fiction Realistic
Realistic fiction is a genre of writing that focuses on telling stories that could realistically happen. This means that the events in the story, the plot, and the characters are all plausible, given the setting. However, this doesn’t mean realistic fiction is boring – far from it! Many of the most popular stories are realistic fiction. To write realistic fiction, there are certain elements you should keep in mind.
A work of fiction is only as good as its ability to suspend disbelief. For a reader to truly become engrossed in your story, they have to be able to believe that the world you’ve created is real. But how do you achieve this?
Several elements contribute to the realism of a work of fiction. First and foremost, the setting must be believable. This means doing your research and ensuring the details of time and place are accurate. Even if you’re writing fantasy or sci-fi, there should be an internal logic to the world you’ve created.
Secondly, your characters must be three-dimensional and relatable. Even if they’re aliens or animals, readers should be able to see themselves in your characters somehow. Make them feel real by giving them flaws and vulnerabilities. No one is perfect, and neither should your characters be.
And finally, the plot should be complex and unpredictable. This doesn’t mean that everything needs to be wrapped up in a neat little bow at the end—in fact, open-ended endings can often be more realistic—but it should make sense within the context of your story. Keep your readers guessing by subverting their expectations whenever possible.
Modern Realistic Fiction Examples to Keep You Writing
You always look for new story ideas if you’re anything like me. A great way to get the wheels turning is to read examples of modern realistic fiction and see how other writers tackle relevant issues in today’s world. Here are a few of my recent favorites:
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
In Exit West, Mohsin Hamid tells the story of Saeed and Nadia, two young lovers living in an unnamed country torn apart by civil war. To escape the violence, they use “doors” that transport them to different places worldwide. This novel deals with themes of love, loss, and what it means to be a refugee in today’s world. It’s a beautiful and heart-wrenching story that will stay with you long after you finish reading.
Days Without End by Sebastian Barry
Sebastian Barry’s novel tells the story of Thomas McNulty, an Irish immigrant who comes to America in 1854. He quickly finds himself caught up in the Civil War, where he meets John Cole, a young man who will become his lifelong friend and lover. This book deals with themes of identity, love, and survival against all odds. It’s a beautifully written book that will leave you eager to read more of Sebastian Barry’s work.
Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue
Imbolo Mbue’s debut novel tells the story of Jende Jonga, a Cameroonian immigrant who moves to New York City for a better life for himself and his family. He gets a job working for Lehman Brothers bank executive Clark Edwards, but when Lehman Brothers collapsed during the financial crisis of 2008, Jende’s world is turned upside down. This novel deals with themes of immigration, class, and what it means to chase the American dream. It’s an engaging and thought-provoking read that I highly recommend.
When Does Fiction Writing Become Realistic?
It’s a question that has stumped writers for centuries: at what point does fiction writing become realistic? Is it when the characters seem like real people? Is it when the story feels like something that could happen? As is often the case with difficult questions, the answer is yes and no. Keep reading to find out what we mean.
To understand how fiction can become realistic, we must first understand what we mean by “realistic.” Regarding writing, realism is the quality or condition of representing things as they are. This means that realistic fiction must exhibit some degree of fidelity to reality. However, this does not mean that all realistic fiction must be based on real events or people. Rather, realism in fiction is achieved when the story feels believable and true to life.
So, when does fiction writing become realistic? There is no easy answer, as it depends on various factors, including the writer’s style, the piece’s genre, and the story’s overall tone. That being said, certain elements can make any work of fiction feel more realistic. These include but are not limited to:
- Sensible characters who act and think like real people
- Detailed and well-researched setting descriptions
- Plausible plots that flow logically from one event to the next
- Colloquial dialogue that sounds natural and unforced
What Is a Narrative Perspective and Why Should Writers Care?
Narrative perspective is the angle or point of view from which a story is told. There are three main types of narrative perspective: first person, second person, and third person. Each has its benefits and drawbacks.
As a writer, it is important to know the different narrative perspectives to choose the best one for your story. The wrong perspective can make your story feel disjointed or confusing, so it is important to choose carefully.
First Person Perspective
The first-person perspective is when the story is told from the point of view of one of the characters in the story. The benefit of the first-person perspective is that it allows readers to feel closer to the character as they are experiencing the story along with them.
The downside of the first-person perspective is that it can be difficult to maintain suspense because readers already know what the character is thinking and feeling. Additionally, the first-person point of view can be restrictive because only events that happen to the narrator can be included in the story.
An example of a book written in the first person perspective is The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.
Second Person Perspective
The second-person perspective is when the story is told from the point of view of an outside observer who addresses the reader directly as “you.” This type of point of view is rarely used in fiction but can be found in some works of nonfiction and poetry.
The benefit of the second-person perspective is that it creates a sense of immediacy and intimacy between the reader and the text. The downside of the second-person point of view is that it can be overly didactic or moralistic, which turns off some readers.
An example of a book written in the second-person perspective is How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.
Third-Person Perspective
The third-person point of view is when the story is told from an outside observer’s standpoint by someone who refers to the characters as “he,” “she,” or “them.” This is the most common type of narrative perspective used in fiction.
The benefit of the third-person point of view is that it provides flexibility because the narrator can move between different characters’ thoughts and feelings relatively easily. Additionally, the third-person point of view helps create distance between readers and characters, which can help create suspense or keep readers from becoming too emotionally attached to any one character.
The downside of the third-person point of view is that it can be less intimate than first-person or second-person narratives since readers are not experiencing events with the characters but are observers. Additionally, the third-person point of view can feel detached or clinical if not done well.
An example book written in the third-person point of view would be To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
As you can see, each type of narrative has its benefits and drawbacks. As a writer, it’s important to choose wisely based on what effect you are hoping to achieve with your story.
75 Of The Best Fiction Writing Prompts For All Writers
What separates the casual fiction writer from the professional one is the commitment to daily writing. But sometimes it’s more of a challenge to get the words flowing.
If nothing triggered you today, and if your mind is playing hopscotch with ideas, fiction writing prompts can get you past the brain block into full writing mode.
The following lists are fiction writing prompts for adults and realistic fiction writing prompts , and while there’s nothing NSFW ahead, the fiction writing ideas are best suited to books written for mature readers.
Here’s how to use these writing prompts:
- Choose a prompt that inspires you to write.
- Feel free to alter the writing idea to suit your creative writing needs.
- View the prompt as an idea to kickstart your writing .
- Begin writing and allow your ideas to flow and lead your writing wherever it might go.
- Write as little or as much as you wish to prime your imaginative juices.
- Don’t judge or critique what you’ve written — just enjoy the process.
- Once you’ve completed the novel prompt writing, move on to your book writing , or use the prompt writing as part of a book you might decide to write.
75 Fiction Writing Prompts and Realistic Fiction Writing Prompts
Try one of these 75 fiction writing prompts to improve your creative writing . Some of these are realistic fiction writing prompts, while others have a more fantasy or mystery bent to them.
Choose the prompt that most inspires you, and start writing!
1. This superhero lives on the streets. While the people she saves are safe and warm, she wanders alone, exposed to the elements. She’s asexual, so she’s not looking for a mate, but she wouldn’t mind having someone to watch her back.
2. An unknown spacecraft has sent a rain of unknown elements into the atmosphere, and soon every flower that blooms releases a new, sentient being into the air. And they’re all connected — except for one, whose connection to the hive mind is severed somehow before the opening of his flower. All his fellow, winged warriors have a plan for the people of Earth; he’s the only one looking for a way to save them.
3. He promised me becoming a zombie wouldn’t change him. He had a solution that would preserve his personality and make it possible for him to protect those he loved..
4. A new modern apartment complex is now open, and you’re one of the first to apply for one of its one-bedroom luxury apartments. Less than a week after you move in, tenants start disappearing. Then someone leaves a gift basket at your door….
5. Someone leaves a package with a new, loaded smartphone and a cryptic note in your mailbox. That night, you get a call on that phone, and you answer it. A voice on the other end asks, “Ready to change your life?”
6. You get a chill from something while standing in a grocery store checkout line, and someone cries out and points a finger at you, backing away. “Did anyone else see that?” she asks in a panicky voice, grabbing her baby and heading out the door without her groceries.
7. You left the windows open last night to cool the house after a 90 degree summer day. You wake up to an icy chill and snow blowing in. You soon learn that a catastrophic event has brought on a new ice age. It just so happens you know something that could reverse the freeze before humans become extinct from exposure and starvation.
8. You love how you get when a creative idea takes hold of you, but your loved ones do not. In fact, one by one, they write you off, though you can’t remember why. Then, one evening, the unthinkable happens, and your latest creative idea takes on a life of its own.
9. Your friend just committed suicide, and soon after the funeral, the letters start coming, sent by someone who knew your friend and who (apparently) knows where you live. This someone blames you for your friend’s death, and she won’t stop until you pay for it.
10. Your best friend is suffering from a life-threatening allergic reaction, and there’s no epi pen. As his airways swell shut and his heart stops, there’s no one around to help, and you scream in desperation. That’s when you hear a sound in your own voice that you’ve never heard before. Seconds later, your friend gasps and scrambles to his feet, all signs of swelling gone.
11. Your fiance’s family has staged an intervention to bully you into changing your beliefs and teaching your children to embrace their way of life — and your fiance says nothing in your defense.
12. Your supermodel-thin friend barely survives a terrible car accident, but it changes her. The happy-go-lucky girl with the racecar metabolism and the hot boyfriend has morphed into a moody but more empathetic girl who quickly grows out of her wardrobe and becomes the target of cruel jokes.
13. A predatory classmate ends up dead in your backyard just hours after making unwanted advances to you in the school library. Part of him is missing.
14. Write a story from the point of view of the villain, but don’t reveal the narrator as the villain until the end.
Related: 15 Tips To Help You Write Better And Attract More Readers
15. On Valentine’s Day (which you never celebrate), you receive a surprise anonymous package with a box of licorice all-sorts. The slogan on the side of the box reads, “Everyone is somebody’s favorite.” The last person who called you his favorite died a year ago.
16. You go to sleep one night in an immaculate, luxury apartment and wake up in a small, dingy loft apartment that is full of stacks of newspapers and magazines, elaborately arranged to form the walls of a labyrinth.
17. You’re given the chance to go back in time to save the life of your best friend, but the price is a mission only you can carry out as the doppelganger of a mass murderer’s close confidant. Your mission is to make sure he takes a trip that will lead him into a trap.
18. You write a novel with a main character who has telepathic abilities. You start having dreams about this character, who wants you all to himself. His first token of affection is to punish your neighbor, who has openly criticized your book.
19. Your quirky, potty-mouthed Aunt Em has come to live with you, and the first thing she does is rearrange the kitchen and claim the role of chef and home renovator. You’re fine with it until she hires an assistant, who just happens to be the apartment manager’s recently fired son.
20. You inherit a house from an uncle but decide to rent it out rather than living in it. After interviewing several applicants, you agree to rent it to two brothers…
21. For as long as you can remember, every time you feel panicked, you’ve found yourself quietly singing “Jingle Bells.” You’re about to find out why, and it will change everything.
22. A homeless man is attacked in your neighborhood and sustains a serious head injury. You get him to the hospital, and they save his life, but upon his discharge from the hospital, he starts making money more quickly than you thought was even possible.
23. A stray animal shows up at your door — no tags or anything — and after feeding it, you decide to adopt it. That night, when a stranger comes to your door, you find out the animal is not what it appears to be.
24. You start taking a new dietary supplement you learned about from a late-night commercial, and it does everything it promised — and more.
25. You’re on your way home after work, and you see a strange light up ahead. You get closer, and you see what looks like a black hole about to swallow up your apartment complex. You look up to see your roommate on the balcony taking pictures of it.
26. You go to sleep alone and wake up very pregnant. After checking the calendar and vomiting a few times, you call in sick and schedule an appointment for an ultrasound. Then your boyfriend shows up.
27. A strange plant appears in your window planter, and when its solitary bloom opens, impossible things start happening.
28. You wake up a different gender but with similar facial features.
29. You visit your estranged father and learn some things about him that change the way you see yourself — and everyone else. Turns out, he keeps a low profile for a reason.
30. Your kid starts manifesting a strange, new ability (or no longer hiding it from you), and you know it’s just a matter of time before he attracts unwanted attention. And you’re afraid of what he can do to protect you both — and how it could change him.
31. You’ve always had freakishly good night vision, but with that comes an extreme sensitivity to light. You live like a mole, working overnight shifts and keeping the windows of your apartment covered in blackout curtains. You’ve even disabled the light switches. So, when a thief breaks in, you make him regret it. And it starts something.
32. Your eyes are brown with flecks of green that intensify when you get a sudden chill or come close to remembering something that changed you as a child. Someone notices the intense green in your eyes one day and calls you a freak. He looks familiar.
33. You discover an ability that puts you (more) at odds with your in-laws, and you learn of their plan to get your husband to divorce you and get full custody of your two children.
34. You sign up for a wine delivery service, and while the cases are always left at your door, things start changing in your house. Though you never drink to excess, you start losing chunks of time. And the wine is better than anything you’ve ever tasted.
35. You come home one day and find someone else living there who swears she’s lived there for years. When you look for proof that she’s lying, you find proof to the contrary.
36. You’re making your usual breakfast when you suddenly find you can’t stomach the thought of eating it. When you put a name to your new craving, it scares you. But it won’t go away.
Related: How to Outline A Nonfiction Book
37. You find a ring while walking in the park. The stones aren’t diamonds, and you at first suspect it’s a piece of junk jewelry from the previous night’s Halloween revels. But you like it enough to keep it. No one is more surprised than you when it saves your life.
38. An unknown relative shows up and tells you something you didn’t know about your mother’s family history — and the power that went with it.
39. You’ve started your NaNoWriMo project, and it’s off to a decent start. But when you open the file the next day, you see much more written for it, and the writing is terrible. Then you see that the story is still developing, and while the writing makes your head hurt, the story is drawing you in. Literally.
40. You go to your closet to get a change of clothes for the day before taking a shower, and you find a huge selection of designer clothes (tags still attached) that weren’t there before.
41. You sign up for a class at a local gym, and when you meet the instructor, she seems familiar — and not in a good way.
42. Your kid takes home a Chromebook from school, and one evening you see him staring at the screen, looking entranced. He takes a sudden interest in keeping his room immaculate and volunteering as a member of a new political candidate’s campaign staff.
43. You’ve just given birth to a surprisingly healthy baby two months before the due date, but your husband has inexplicably abandoned you both, and a generous stranger has learned of your situation and offered to help you out and fill the void.
44. Your mother shows up at your door asking for help. Something has taken residence at her home, and she doesn’t feel safe there anymore. You visit the house on your own, and find someone living there who asks, “Where did Mom go?”
45. You finally find a responsible roommate to share the cost of a new luxury apartment. The problem? He knows everything about you — and there’s no reason why he should.
46. You don’t remember the last time you slept for longer than an hour at a time, and you see things others don’t. The things you see that others don’t are causing accidents, and when you try to prevent one, you end up getting blamed for it.
47. Your 12-year-old daughter goes to use the bathroom at the hospital while you’re both visiting her older sister. When she comes back, she seems visibly unsettled, but that gives way to an eery calm and unshakable confidence that her sister will make a full recovery.
48. After experiencing your first nighttime paralysis, you start to see changes in your body. Soon, those changes will be impossible to hide, and a new acquaintance surprises you by making accurate guesses about what you’ve been going through.
49. When you’re about to kill a spider, your kid stops you, catches it, and runs outside to free it. You think maybe killing the non-native spider would have been kinder than putting it outside in the frost-covered grass, but your kid knows something you don’t.
50. It’s Halloween, and your neighbor dresses up as the president and tries to repair his reputation by volunteering at a homeless shelter. Unfortunately, the costume takes over, and he starts firing the other volunteers, one of whom decides to give their homeless guests a Halloween spectacle they won’t forget.
51. Your routine doctor appointment takes a sinister turn when your doc tells you he could put you higher on the waiting list for a liver transplant if you’d pay his ex a visit and help him set a trap for her.
52. Your new smartphone is so much faster than your old one — much faster than you expected from a discounted return. Then you start getting messages made up of symbols you don’t recognize. They resemble hieroglyphs.
53. You’re a high schooler, and today’s lunch is unexpectedly delicious — so delicious that you go back for the seconds. Someone in the kitchen is watching and writing in a notebook.
54. You’re constantly attracting unwanted attention, and you meet someone who knows why. It’s not just your looks that make you unignorable. You’re actually sending out a signal that those around you can’t help responding to. Your new acquaintance offers to train you, so you’ll make better use of your power.
55. You’re sick to death of the clutter in your house, and through a magazine ad, you meet someone who says he can give you the power to instantly transform any room to match a picture you can see in front of you or in your mind’s eye. The only price is one minute of memory from each day.
56. You win a two-week vacation in a real castle (somewhere overseas) with airfare, transportation, and meals, included — along with other surprises. One of them wants to make sure you never leave.
57. You move into a house that has a treehouse out back in one of the tallest, oldest trees. You don’t know until you explore it that the treehouse changes to better suit its occupant. The tree and its house have accepted you. But what does it expect of you?
58. You find an abandoned cabin that is perfect for use as a writer’s getaway, and after some preparations, you settle in for a two-week’ reprieve from city life. The animals aren’t as shy as you expect them to be, though, and they seem to know something about the cabin that you don’t.
59. Your car goes over the edge and down a steep hill. All you remember is the flash of light and the sound of glass breaking before you open your eyes. You check your kids, but none of them answer, and your phone, which had half a charge just minutes ago, is completely dead and unresponsive.
60. You’re shopping for a new computer, and you find one on eBay that the owner says was a gift that he used only briefly before he upgraded to a MacBook. You buy it and revel in its blinding speed and special features. It wakes you that night with a loud beep and prompts you with a single sentence on the screen, “Will you play with me?”
61. Chocolate and wine have gotten you through many a break-up, but this one is harder than most. You wonder why, and a gift from this SO stares you in the face, reminding you of how different your relationship was from those you’ve had with others..
62. Your neighbor has ordered furniture for you from IKEA, and you’re not sure how to deal with it. You love the couch, but you don’t have the budget for it, and you barely know your new neighbor, who seems to have unlimited funds but spends it unpredictably.
63. One of your aunts has died leaving you her pet ______, who helps you cut the toxic people out of your life by scaring them away. One of the few visitors this pet will tolerate is someone you’ve barely noticed but who intuitively knows about and anonymously meets the needs of others in the apartment building.
64. You go fishing in the lake behind your house, and when your hook catches on something, you pull it up. It turns out to be the body of a murder victim, and when the lake is further searched, other bodies are found. Twelve other houses surround the lake, and the police suspect you as much as any of the other residents.
65. You’re renovating your basement and remove a wall that was put in place by one of the previous owners. Behind it is a garbage bag full of cash, and when you examine it, you find it to be genuine.
66. Your spouse tells other Catholics that he knew you were the one when he found out your confirmation saint was the same saint he prayed to for a good Catholic wife. Meanwhile, you’re questioning beliefs you used to take for granted.
67. You wake up to the burglar alarm, and before you can see who has broken in, someone puts a pillowcase over your head and forces you up and out the door.
68. You get a job at your favorite coffee shop, and you meet some local authors, one of whom learns of your book and invites you to their group. They meet in what used to be the living room of a house rumored to be haunted.
69. You can barely make out how many fingers you’re holding up until an elderly neighbor with perfect eyesight shares a secret with you. But there’s a price to pay.
70. You go to sleep listening to static on your radio, which can’t pick up any AM stations. You find out one night, when your bladder wakes you up, that it’s picking up something other than static.
71. You bid on and win an old record player and record collection at an auction. You don’t expect the music to affect you as profoundly as it does and your family thinks you’re just trying to make up for the amount you spent on it. You’re not.
72. You get new glasses at the new eye clinic in town, and they allow you to see better than ever. In fact, when you want to, you can see minute detail from a great distance and microscopic detail up close. This is how you find out your sister’s mole is a malignant melanoma. You also avoid being poisoned by a spiteful coworker. Your fascination with frogs and your large collection of them has made close relationships a challenge.
73. You listen to an audio file designed to make you more creative, and you go into a trance and write a book that people the world over can’t get enough of. Then a visitor asks you if you listened to the entire recording. When you admit to having stopped the recording before it was finished, the visitor smiles in relief and tells you not to listen to the end and to delete the file.
74. When a favorite aunt dies, you inherit a bookstore with an apartment on the upper floor. You look at the finances and realize you have to let go of one of your three employees.
75. You check out a house you like and find moths in every room. The realtor tells you it shouldn’t be a problem to get rid of them but that the house is completely free of other pests — including spiders (which are a huge problem in the area). You buy the house.
Did you enjoy these realistic fiction writing prompts?
Keep this list handy whenever you need a writing prompt to unlock your creativity and kickstart your daily writing.
In fact, you may find ideas for several novels or stories that you can write down the road. Take one of these ideas and begin to flesh out an outline and characters for your story. Let your imagination take you on a journey that may lead to your bestselling book!
Compose Message
Recepient Name *
Users Who Spiked
Andrea Hope
ABOUT THE STORY
Realistic fiction writing prompts for authors of short stories or novels
15 REALISTIC FICTION WRITING PROMPTS
Private Notes
While watching the new photorealistic version of The Lion King, my nephew turned to his mom and asked "Is this a true story?" Cutie!!!
Besides some of Elton John's greatest musical numbers, the plot of The Lion King is fairly realistic. The relationship between different animal species, the herd mentality, and certainly the circle of life - which reminds me, not every hero has to have superpowers or alien contact to embark on an exciting and challenging journey. There are many great stories based on successes and failures that aren't quite true but could be. Below are some (human-centered) realistic fiction scenarios that just might prompt your next compelling adventure.
1. MISSED CONNECTION - write about one person's quest to find someone they met briefly. It could be as romantic as two strangers catching eyes across a train platform or as random as a traveler determined to return a lost hat.
2. MAKEOVER - write about a grand makeover, whether of a person or building, interior or exterior
3. REFUGEE - write about a family forced to escape their land
4. SPIRITUAL AWAKENING - write about a confirming experience that connected a person to God
5. CAUGHT IN THE ACT - write about a person caught in a double life as a performer of some kind
6. ADOPTION - write about someone finding out that they were adopted, or finding their birth parents
7. END IS BEGINNING - write based on the last sentence of your favorite realistic fiction or non-fiction book
8. A SPECIAL CLUB - write about someone creating an unusual club or committee
9. BUSINESS DEALINGS - write about the ups and downs of starting a small business
10. GOING VIRAL - write about a person who wakes up to find their post unintentionally went viral
11. FAN FANTASY - write about how a chance encounter on social media leds a fan to meeting their favorite celebrity in real life
12. BETTER WITH AGE - write about an elderly person who breaks a sports record
13. AWAKENED SENSES - write about someone who experiences sound or sight for the first time through technology
14. NEXT BIG THING - write about a family who comes up with the next big invention
15. MISTAKEN IDENTITY - write about a person who takes advantage of being mistaken for someone else
ANDREA HOPE is a poet, editor, and world citizen, whose works have won acclaim in North America, Europe, and the Middle East. Her poetry books To Mother and Will You Break the Silence? are available on Amazon.
Related Stories
Please login to post comments on this story
Live Customer Service | M-F 10am-6pm Eastern: 864-729-3997
FORMATTING + DESIGN
FREELANCE COMMUNITY
400+ Writing Prompts: 16+ Genres to Start Your BEST Story
Posted on Mar 3, 2023
by Bella Rose Pope
Creative writing prompts are the missing link all writers need…whether you’re writing for fun or looking to write an amazing novel and live full time off your fiction writing like students in our Fundamentals of Fiction program .
Picture this: your imagination is a match…and you need to light it.
There are a number of different methods of setting a match ablaze to come up with story ideas . You can swipe it on the ground, against a rough surface, use your own nail, or even light it with another match that’s already burning.
But the best (and easiest) way? Striking it against the matchbox it came in. That’s what it’s for, after all.
This list is the matchbox with which you can strike your match. We have over 400 original writing prompts you can use across several different genres.
Here are the fiction writing prompts we have:
Fantasy Writing Prompts
Sci-fi writing prompts, dystopian writing prompts, contemporary writing prompts, romance writing prompts.
- Horror / Thriller Writing Prompts
Mystery Writing Prompts
Reddit writing prompts.
These are the nonfiction writing prompts:
- Morals & Values
- Health and Wellness
- Love & Relationships
- Childhood & Family
- Self-Esteem & Confidence
- Faith-Based
- Personal Journey
Save This Resource NOW for Quick Reference Later…
200+ Fiction Writing Prompts In the Most Profitable Genres
Come up with your NEXT great book idea with over 200 unique writing prompts spanning 8 different genres. Use for a story, scene, character inspo, and more!
Creative Writing Prompts are Your Matchbox
All you need is one writing prompt to light your imaginative fire and you can burn through a book idea , formulating the plot and all with just a single prompt. You can even write a powerful short story with a small prompt!
And that’s exactly what we’re here to help you with, whether you’re writing as a hobby or looking to publish a novel that’s destined to be included on every bibliophile’s gift wish list .
Real writers know that you can easily come up with bits and fragments of a story but the overarching plot can be tricky to drum up.
You know what you want to write about: life’s happenings, a tragedy in your life, a deep memoir , magic, advanced science, realistic contemporary stories, but you just can’t figure out how to go from the genre and character development to a writing a novel .
200+ Creative Writing Prompts for Fiction Book Ideas
If you’re ready to take the plunge and finally start writing a book like you’ve always talked about, we can help you get started.
Something to keep in mind is that creative writing is largely driven by tone , style, characters, and your plot .
These are 100% original, never-before-seen creative writing prompts you won’t find anywhere else.
But if you’re ready to start right now , here are a few to set the creative wheel of your imagination in motion so you can find your writing style and master your craft.
Fantasy is all about magic, creatures, and abilities. The possibilities with a fantasy world are nearly endless.
You can literally make up anything you want. This is why fantasy is my preferred genre to write in.
Here are 30 original fantasy writing prompts:
- Write about a characer who has a dream they got a certain magical power or gift…only to discover later that day that they DO now actually have it.
- Write about a fantasy creature who has searched the universe for its special bond: your main character.
- Write about a species of magical people who can conjure fire, control it, and thrive in it. Unfortunately, they’re world is headed toward an ice age…which could mean their extinction if they don’t learn to make peace with their water-wielding nemesis.
- Write a story where magic is abundant, everywhere, and used as currency. Your main character…lacks any magical powers—or maybe just the obvious ones.
- Write about a portal to another world, that is exactly like this one, except magic has been allowed to flourish instead of having been killed off thousands of years ago. Your main character ends up there by accident…and can’t go home.
- Write about a character who researches untouched societies as a living. While deep in the jungle on an assignment, they accidentally allow themselves to be seen by someone from the society, a big no-no. What that person is capable of is beyond the world your character knew existed.
- Write about a character whose world is dying. The actual earth is sick and killing all the plants and probably life as they know it.
- Write about a kingdom overrun by magical beasts who spit a toxin that makes you forget everything…from forever. Your main character wakes up on the ground in the middle of nowhere, not knowing a thing about themselves. They wander to the nearest town, where everybody seems to completely despise them.
- Your character and their brother have always been best friends. They know practically everything about each other. Until they catch him do something they never thought possible.
- Write a book about an ancient society where your character hears a voice within their own mind. Shunned by their village, they spend their life as a near-slave, waiting on others, doing the hardest work, and granted little freedom. Well, they did, anyway, until they uncovered who the voice belonged to.
- Your character boards a ship to sail across to a newly discovered land. What they find when they get there are undiscovered species – both animal and humanoid.
- Non-magic people are outlawed. Your character has no magic and their older sibling has been ensuring nobody knows since your character was born. One missed moment might ruin everything.
- Write about a character who needs a miracle, and they meet one too! Who knew miracles were actually beings and not just something that happens? Your character makes a bad first impression when their miracle shows up to help them out.
- Write a story about how all types of magic exists in your character’s world. While drinking liquid happiness (magic drink) from a local tavern, they’re hit with a vision that overpowered every drop of happiness consumed. They’ve never had visions before, either.
- Your character has always believed magic exists. They just didn’t know how close it really was .
- Write a book about how after an accident that killed your character’s father, they uncover secrets they can’t even understand. Then their father’s friend shows up out of nowhere and explains all of it.
- Write about how your character teaches children magic. When one kid proves to be way more than expected, they have to help them understand exactly what they can do – and stop them from doing something that could be dangerous.
- Write a story about your character and while awaiting test results in the hospital, they encounter an… odd person who teaches them about a world beyond their own – and better than their own.
- Write about a character who embarks on a quest to locate a special type of rock that lights fires almost instantly – something their settlement needs. What they didn’t expect to find, however, was a mermaid-like species living in the cave that houses most of that rock.
- Write a fantasy story about a character who wakes up every day feeling the same thing: that something in their life is just… missing . When they realize their frequent nightmares are actually memories, it all becomes clear.
- Emotions can be controlled. Thoughts can be stolen. In the world your character lives in, holding on to your own sanity is the difference between destruction and thriving. They must learn to push out anyone who tries to alter their perception of reality.
- Write about your character, who gets caught in the middle of an ancient feud between two families as a result of one of their failures. In order to make things right, they have to dive head first into a world they’d rather not know even existed.
- Your character is short on food, shelter, and even patience. When they (literally) run into someone from their past, their reality starts to make sense. If only that person could undo what’s been done to them.
- Magic is the currency. Your character is a rare breed who was born without it. When they find themselves in a dangerous challenge to prove their worth to the settlement, magic would’ve come in handy.
- Write a book about a character who can teleport – but only to places they’ve been before. Their dream? To backpack across each of your world’s countries in order to acquire the most locations. The only thing stopping them is a past that’s sprinting to catch up to them.
- Your character’s country is the best…until a new ruler steals the throne by force…of magic. The most shocking part? Nobody from that country knows magic exists…and everybody with magic didn’t know those without it exist.
- Write about a character who wants to do everything on their “bucket list.” But when they’re kidnapped and shipped off to the unknown, there’s only one thing left on their list: survive. It just so happens the place they end up stuck is one of dreams.
- Your character hears a language they’ve never heard uttered before that day…yet they understood every single word. Turns out, they’re not really from where they think.
- Your character is a compulsive liar, unable to stop themselves from spinning tales that make them the envy of everyone around them. Then they wake up one day to discover that their lies have all come true…
- Write about a character who goes looking for magic out of curiosity. They find more than magic in their family history.
How to Write Fantasy Stories Fantasy is a wildly popular genre. There are countless fantasy worlds out there and that means you really have to focus on being unique within your world. Here are a few ideas to do these writing prompts justice when writing your fantasy novel : Create 100% unique cultures Avoid these worldbuilding mistakes Develop slang for your world based on what’s popular/trending/makes sense with the time it takes place Do not use common phrases like “train of thought” if trains don’t exist in your world Use unique names Don’t forget about diversity! Opt for an unexpected and different journey and outcome (many fantasy novels follow a similar formula) Write what you want to read! Schedule your writing time and follow your deadlines if you really want to finish
Here are 30 Sci-Fi Creative Writing Prompts :
- Write about a character who wakes up in a space pod alone…next to a ship so massive it’s actually carrying a planet beneath it. Your character has no memory from before they wake.
- Write a story about a character who lives in a world where every single person’s DNA is carefully genetically designed for something to help the community. Your main character despises what they were created for. This has never happened before.
- Write about how your character lives on a planet other than Earth. In fact, they don’t even know Earth exists. Well, they didn’t until some sort of advanced, technical probe crash-landed in their settlement, exposing the fact that they’re not alone. Now they have to decide what’s best for their settlement.
- Write a book about how the world used to be plagued with war and famine and inhumanity. But after years and years of developing a technical system that is the center of and controls everything, it’s almost completely peaceful. Your character is the engineer keeping the system running and when they uncover how it works, they contemplate abandoning everything they know.
- Write about the newest advancement in virtual reality that adds a physical sense. Now your characters can even hook up with people through your phone, all while staying at home. But when a glitch alters the mechanisms, what was once pleasure becomes pain and the user gets trapped in a VR state.
- Write a story about how others have been keeping your character alive for over 300 years because of a secret they know. When someone new finally learns the truth, reality becomes…confusing. Now, with only a short adulthood left to live, your character must ensure nobody else learns of this secret. But…well, news spreads fast.
- Write about how they didn’t mean to, but in an attempt to build a time traveling machine, your character actually discovered alternate universes – and then accidentally trapped themselves there. Oh, and this alternate universe hasn’t discovered electricity yet.
- Write a story about a character who lives in an ancient society. When a shiny, unnatural looking contraption touches down and creatures emerge, everything they once knew changes.
- Write about how the only reason your character is alive is because of a test device implanted around their heart. It wasn’t supposed to work and now, they’re not only healed, but they’re also changing . Just what exactly was that device made out of?
- Write about a character who wakes up in a dark, hot room dressed in hardly anything. Their memory is foggy but clearing up, and they have some sort of technical device securing their hands together. They stumble over to a tiny window that gives them a clear view of a world far below them.
- Write about your character’s sister who is discovered dead and the cause of death ruled an overdose. Your character knows better. She was the only person in the family who never had an issue with drugs. In fact, she was developing a cure for cancer in the most advanced research center in the world. Your character finds that…suspicious.
- Write a story about how computers are outlawed. Having access to technology is punishable by life in prison. Your character runs an underground cyber center that gets crashed by local law enforcement. But during interrogation, they get hired instead of prosecuted…because something unworldly has touched down.
- Write about a character who accidentally created a virtual reality software that taps into the user’s psyche and creates their ultimate dream reality. They were on track to become a billionaire until some users became addicted and unable to free themselves from its hold.
- Write a story about how the world your character currently lives on is nearing its breaking point. While the rest of the world rushes to evacuate everyone to a space pod with a destination of a livable planet, your character remains behind bars, left to die with the rest of the world’s prisoners. The kicker? They’re wrongfully convicted.
- Write about how disease is finally eradicated. Cancer is nothing more than an old nightmare. Your character spent years working his way into a lab dedicated to making sure it stays that way. Their secret? They’re a hardcore believer in natural selection. He decides to take Darwinism into his own hands.
- Write a book about a city that’s the first to implement an entirely technological government. It’s under strict surveillance from the outside in order to determine if this is the future of your country…and the world. Your character stumbles into trouble when they discover that technology isn’t in charge at all – a group of people they’ve never seen or heard of are.
- Write about hot time altering is possible, but fatally illegal. In this world, characters can bend, pause, rewind, and even fast forward time…but at the risk of their lives. Your character, in a midst of panic, accidentally alters time…by going 300 years into the past.
- Write a story about how the outdoors is plagued with radioactive particles created by a new technology once thought to eradicate airborne diseases. People are confined to the indoors unless they use a special, very expensive suit. Citizens who can’t afford them are driven mad by confinement. Your character wants to find a way for everyone to have a suit – no matter what law enforcement says.
- Write about a character who invents airborne particles with the intent to eradicate diseases. Unfortunately, they become radioactive, toxic, and severely deadly to anyone who breathes in even a tiny amount.
- Scientists have created a man-made atmosphere around the planet of Mars in order to make it completely livable. Your character is one of the lucky few who are chosen to be among the first to inhabit the planet. What they don’t know is that there is no atmosphere…and others already inhabit it.
- Write about your character who lives in a world where the outdoors is plagued with natural disasters daily. Venturing outside is dangerous and rarely done. When they’re forced to leave their home to rush to the aid of someone struggling outside, they learn that those “natural” disasters are completely fabricated. Their new life mission is to find out why.
- Write a story about how in your character’s world, identity is implanted into your forearm at birth. It’s scannable and contains any information someone would ever need to know, including age, overall health, risk for diseases, and more. Your character, having spent their life in a type of foster care, applies for a job only to realize that now, at the age of 18, their identity is showing two different sets of information.
- Your character’s job is to lead the mission of colonizing new planets – even if there’s life present. When the truth of how they manage to find habitable planets surfaces, a new recruit shows them just how wrong it really is. Your characters new goal? To stop it.
- Write about how oceanic cities have been built for the rich. They float atop the ocean, traveling hundreds of miles a day, all while its citizens go about their everyday life. Unfortunately, your character discovers a superstorm developing below the ocean’s surface, something that has never happened before – something they are wildly unprepared for.
- Your character develops a new device you implant in your ear that reads the minds of those they focus on. After light testing, they accidentally discover that the local baker has a massive, dangerous, potentially even deadly secret .
- Write about how in the distant future, magic is discovered as being real…at least for the humanoid creatures inhabiting an Earth-like planet. Your main character is among the few chosen to venture to the planet and study them. They just never expected to discover the source of the magic like they did in the process.
- Write a story about how oxygen levels on Earth have been plummeting for centuries. Now, with the population dwindling due to suffocation and disease, your main character has to find a way off the dying planet without attracting too much attention from the Keeps, also known as the highly deadly enforcement force tasked with making sure only certain individuals leave.
- Write a story about how centuries ago, a solar flare damaged the Earth’s atmosphere in the opposite way expected; it actually made it stronger. But now the sun’s rays have difficulty penetrating it and the world is slowly growing colder. Your character is among the many determined to find a way to fix it.
- Happiness is an illusion, as are every other emotion. In your futuristic society, humans are bred in a lab without them as a means of creating equality. The only problem is that your main character was born the natural way…with every emotion intact. If this is discovered, they’ll have to fend for their life.
- Write about how your main character was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Tasked with delivering something seemingly unimportant, they witness something they shouldn’t have and are pulled into a world of secrecy, dangerous weapon manufacturing, and a virtual war the public is blind to.
How to Write Science Fiction This genre is another very popular one, and for good reason. You can imagine a realistic, yet very different future than what we currently have. Here are a few guidelines when creating your science fiction world from these writing prompts: Decide if the story will take place in this world or a completely unique one Create realistic advanced technology that your characters would actually use Avoid modern-day slang unless the story takes place here Create your own slang. A great example of this is in Jenna Moreci’s sci-fi novel, EVE: The Awakening pictured below) “Dynamic” is the slang the author created in this instance. It fits with the sci-fi world and further creates a sense of realism and it pulls the reader deeper into the world.
As this genre gains more and more popularity, you may find yourself wondering what a certain post-apocalyptic world might look like.
Why not write about it?
Here are 30 dystopian creative writing prompts:
- Write about a character who finds an odd-looking egg in the forest. When they take it home, they never could have predicted what was inside it.
- Write a story about how natural farming doesn’t exist anymore. Due to climate change, all food has to be manufactured in bulk and distributed. There is no flavor and is the same every day. Your character, who has spent their entire life in this world, takes a trip to the mountains far away from their home. There, they discover real plants , and on them, berries.
- Write about nature extremists taking over the government, stopping at nothing to ensure all man-made harm on the planet is eradicated. Your character ends up in their clutches, forced to do their bidding.
- Write a story about how, due to climate change, wildfires have engulfed the large majority of living land. Your character is one of many attempting to board a ship set for a new in-ocean settlement. The problem? That settlement doesn’t actually exist.
- Write about how after a devastating illness that rocked only the wildlife population over 200 years ago, a scientist created a virus that strengthens animal’s immune systems with the purpose of creating balance and stabilizing the wildlife population once again. The problem is that it worked too well and the wildlife has exceeded (and reduced) the world’s population
- Write a book about how after a devastating storm that encompassed the entire world, the population has thinned significantly and your character, who lost all of their family but their youngest sibling, has to go up against the new “government” with a group of allies as they attempt to gain control over the living population of the world – in the worst way.
- Write about how over the course of a few hundred years, cases of depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses caused the death and destruction of generations. Then an airborne substance was created to balance all levels of each person so they’re created 100% equal in every way. Turns out, your character is immune to the substance.
- Write about how the third World War is done and over with for many years now. It was the downfall of the world’s economic system. Now your main character must navigate a world where governments no longer exist, money is useless, and survival is the only objective. Oh, and they have a debilitating medical condition to look after, too
- Write a story about how two thousand years after a massive wave of a fatal illness swept over the entire world, your character navigates a life of poverty and hardship, struggling to feed their very young twin siblings and alcoholic father. That is, until a new form of choosing a leader is proposed. Now they can finally compete to rule over their settlement.
- Write about how books have nearly been abolished. Your country is separated into three main regions with a dangerous “neutral” zone in the center. With a rumor of a way out located in the midst of the neutral zone, your main character must venture through two other regions to get there.
- Write a book about a character who is fortunate to have been born into a powerful family after the downfall of the world. They have everything they would ever hope to have…except for a clue as to what happens outside their very large, protective walls. Once they find out, they can’t help but need to change it.
- Write about a single tower that powers what’s left of the country’s population. When an outsider tampers with its mechanisms, the tower breaks down, leaving your main character and everyone else struggling to survive.
- Write about how the birthrate has dropped significantly. So much so that children are now worth millions. Your main character, a very poor woman, just found out she’s pregnant – and won’t be able to hide it for long. Kidnapping and worse await her if anyone finds out that she can reproduce, and will soon have a child up for “grabs.” In order to save herself – and her child – she must confess her pregnancy to the father, a very wealthy man in politics.
- Write a story about a character who ventures away from the only town they’ve ever known, despite warnings and many attempts to make them stay. What they find is emptiness…for miles and miles and miles.
- Write a story about a hidden temple is the only thing standing in the way of your character becoming the next ruler of a post-apocalyptic, off-the-grid society. When a newcomer ventures into their land, their chance of finding the temple becomes dangerous…maybe even impossible.
- Write a book about how they really thought they were helping by creating a single drug with the power to eradicate diseases, illnesses, and even cancer. What they didn’t anticipate was the massive super virus 100% resistant to the drug. Your main character seems to be the only one who can’t catch it…that they know of.
- Write about how society has collapsed over hundreds of years, not with war or a single event like they always thought would happen. Your main character discovers a voice message from 700 years prior detailing the downfall’s construction. The 300 years it took to destroy society was completely planned. But why?
- Since the manmade radioactive superstorm that destroyed most of life as they knew it, extreme measures have been taken to document every move of every person. Your main character scans a chip when they eat, sleep, travel, and even when they have sex. When offered a way out, your main character takes it without question…which might be their biggest mistake.
- Write a story about how the government was taken over by the rich nearly 50 years ago. Your main character was lucky enough to be born into the wealthiest family. What they never thought of, though, was the fact that one day, the could be kidnapped and used as leverage.
- Write about a character who, after witnessing horrors of rising crime and drug rates, ran away at the age of 12 to live on their own in a secluded wooded area. Now, after 10 years of solitude, people start filing into their neck of the woods covered in wounds, tattered clothing, and bruises.
- Write about a super tsunami that’s demolished the eastern portion of the United States. But contrary to what was expected, the water is actually creeping inland, not back out to sea. Your main character’s home is a victim of the ocean.
- Write a story about how electricity is scarce…and very expensive . Your main character walks home one night to discover a brand-new electric car sitting idle in behind a forest tree line. They follow its tire tracks to find a massive house lit up and blasting music. A stranger waves at them to come in.
- Write a book about how at the height of your character’s career – and life as a whole – an attack destroys their city, kills their spouse, and forces them into poverty…and maybe even war. With new laws, new standards, and new rulers in place, their life obtains a whole new purpose.
- Write a story about how a little boy is running toward your main character, a look of absolute joy lighting up their face. Then they freeze, their joy turning to anger, rage. Your character cocks their head, confused, and then the truth hits them. He must be one of the Ruin Children, born from the people affected by the Great Tragedy.
- Write about a trial being the only way your character can ever hope to rise above their current abysmal ranking. Your world’s current society is one bred for advancement. Anyone who can’t meet the standards is done for. Your character needs a near miracle to pass their trial.
- Due to an error made by someone in the distant future when time traveling, the world’s societal (and time) structure has collapsed. Each day may produce a completely different reality than the one before. Survival isn’t guaranteed and strangers could have been your best friend – or more – only yesterday.
- Your character’s world is what happens when an experimental chemical compound intended to sustain plant life is pumped into the atmosphere. Now trees have overgrown, plants are squeezing into homes, and the Earth’s oxygen levels are (if you can believe it) too high.
- Tagged, chipped, and shuffled into line. That’s your character’s everyday reality. They’re herded like cattle…to be used in the same way as cattle. Then a single guard takes pity on your character and offers them a way out.
- Write a story about a main character who’s read all about the warning signs of a solar flare and the flipping of the Earth’s magnetic field. They’ve scoured through studies and research papers depicting what would happen. Since both occurred within the same year over a century ago, they’re stuck to live in the aftermath.
- Peace. The world is ruled by one person dedicated to keeping the peace. There’s been no war or poverty or famine in centuries. Your main character is newly employed to be the ruler’s personal assistant. When they discover how the world is kept at peace, their life changes forever.
How to write Dystopian books Dystopian novels are one of the biggest trends sweeping the literary world. With books like The Handmaid’s Tale stirring more post-apocalyptic stories, it’s easy to get stuck in the same mindset as many other dystopian novelists. Here are a few things to keep in mind if you want to write dystopian using these writing prompts: Think way outside of the box Use literary elements from your story’s past to form their present Paint a very clear picture of everyday life for your character from the very first page Get creative with the laws, culture, and customs Don’t just “go with the flow”: The Handmaid’s Tale is so popular largely due to the fact that it’s unique. Not many people would have thought of a world that was overrun by a religion – and that’s what makes it so tantalizing; it’s unexpected.
Some people don’t necessarily want to escape from this world. In fact, they just want to escape from their own life for a little bit but prefer to read something realistic, something they can relate to.
Contemporary writing is all about forming connections with readers.
Here are 28 contemporary writing prompts:
- Write about a character who’s done everything they’re told. They just graduated high school and are off to a very good college to get their degree in something reliable. But when they get there, they realize there’s a whole world of opportunity they never knew existed. Now they have to maintain the façade of going to college even though they decided to pursue a different endeavor.
- Write a story involving a character who answers the door to nothing but an intricate envelope on the ground; an invitation. After attending the secret underground event, they become a part of the biggest activist group out there…and nobody even knows who they are.
- Write about how, while on a hike with friends, your main character discovers a small tower buried beneath the ground. After some digging, they realize it’s filled with scrolls they can hardly make out. What they contain will change your character’s view of life forever.
- Write a book about how a character has been living a very sheltered, very dangerous life. After the death of their overbearing father, they’re thrust into the real world – only to realize just how different their life really is from those around them.
- Write a book about how your main character gets called out of school/work by someone they don’t know for something they are clueless about. But for some reason, the person addressing them thinks they already know everything about it.
- Write a story about how, as an artist, your main character has it well. But when everything they’ve worked for is burned in a tragic fire, they have to start all over with nothing to their name and a roommate determined to hold them back.
- Write about how life for your main character has never been easy. After venturing in and out of foster homes, they’re finally an adult and on their own. When their birth mother reaches out to reconnect, they never could’ve predicted what’s kept her away for so long. Now your character has to decide between getting involved with their real mother or cutting ties forever.
- Write about how death is a natural part of life. Your main character has been feared it or been affected by it. But when their best friend goes missing and their body shows up in front of their house, your character makes it their mission to find out who’s responsible – even if it means breaking the law…a lot of laws.
- Write a story about a character who’s in an accident that leaves them blind. When they meet a stranger who shows them how to enjoy life again, everything seems to be perfect. Until tragedy strikes that stranger.
- A strange person approaches your character claiming to be their long-lost parent. But your character isn’t adopted…so they think. Now they have to make sense of a new reality and an identity that’s shocking.
- Write about how a half-eaten apple flies through the air and smacks your character on the head. There’s nobody around and no way for anyone to hide. Then it happens again the next day. They do some digging and discover the source…a small child with rags for clothes and hollow cheeks.
- Your character’s identity is stolen, racking up thousands of dollars in debt. They were just fired, and to top it all off, their long-term significant other just broke up with them for their friend. And they said your twenties would be the best years of your life.
- Your character was adopted from foster care when she was 5. Their memories of their time in that foster home are almost non-existent. All they can remember is feeling scared and a distinct song that gets stuck in their head from time to time. As they’re walking to class one day, they hear that familiar song in the distance.
- Write a story about how your character woke up in a stranger’s home with a gaping, painful wound on their leg. They have no idea where they are, how they go there, or who the strange man in the corner of the room watching them is.
- Write about how your character had been studying their whole life. With everyone in their family having gone to an ivy league school, your main character feels the pressure to get in and get A’s. They even stoop to low levels to do so.
- Your character embarks on a mission to prove that the key to happiness is doing whatever they want, whenever they want. But that mentality quickly lands them in serious trouble with drugs, new “friends,” and decisions they can’t undo.
- Write a story about a dimly lit street at 3 am. Your character strolls by like they have many nights before after a long shift at the bar. A building they’ve never noticed before flashing an “OPEN” sign catches their attention. Once inside, the direction of their entire life changes.
- Write about how nothing has ever really been difficult for your main character. They’ve been able to coast through life, get a good job, make good friends, and are happy. Then a social worker shows up at their door with a six-year-old child – the same child that was adopted six years prior. Turns out, raising a six-year-old is very, very difficult.
- Your main character has worked their entire life to make their dreams of curing cancer a reality. But when it seems like a cure is within reach, a suspicious fire burns all of their research…or so it seemed.
- Write about a character who survived an accident that killed one of their siblings. When they thought life couldn’t get any harder, a scary diagnosis rocks their already unstable boat. Dealing with grief, your family blaming you for a sibling’s death, and a debilitating disease isn’t easy. Thank goodness they make a new friend.
- Write about purple glasses. Black hair. Polka dot shoes. Your main character has seen this person on the subway every day for two years. When they notice their absence for a week straight, they decide to find out who they are. Turns out, your character shouldn’t have gone snooping.
- Your character lines up at the bank very early in the morning, dreading another day of mind-numbing work ahead at their corporate job. A gentleman in a grey suit with white hair greets them and engages in some small talk. Then, out of nowhere, he hands your character a gun, takes a few steps back, and fires a couple of rounds into the ceiling.
- Write about how fire is your main character’s solace – their addiction. Their home is littered with candles, a lighter is never more than a foot from them, and bonfires are a nightly occurrence. Addiction of any kind can be a very dangerous thing.
- Write a story about how your character sees balloons – hundreds of them – floating toward the sky from miles away. They go to investigate the cause and end up really regretting that decision. They get pulled into something that could change their life forever.
- It’s been two years since your character has actually had a steady job. After growing increasingly desperate, they answer an ad for a personal assistant position. They just didn’t expect it to be for a major drug cartel leader.
- Hospitals have never been your character’s favorite. They think they smell…weird. Unnatural. But they work there now and will have to get used to it. They throw on their white coat and enter the building. Ugh . The psychiatric ward always smells the worst; like wet stone and rotting wood mixed with subpar antiseptics.
- Your main character starts to hear voices shortly after experiencing a trauma. Now they’re in therapy, fighting with their own mind in order to sort out what really happened that day and why they can’t stop hearing another voice.
- Write about how children are the future. They have the power to right our wrongs and start anew. Your main character befriends an orphaned child and learns more from them than they realized was possible.
How to Write in the Contemporary genre I personally believe contemporary can be one of the hardest genres to write because you have the least wiggle room when it comes to creativity. Everything has to be realistic in today’s society. Here are a few tips to remember for writing contemporary from the very talented author of Little Birds and Writing Youtuber , Hannah Lee Kidder: “Realistic dialogue is important. All the characters should sound different from one another, their vernacular should make sense for their background, and the writer should read it out loud.” “Tiny details are hella dope in descriptions. It should be so specific and vivid that when the reader finishes the story, they feel like they’ve lost a bit of reality.” “Imagining characters complexly is also important. Work on understanding real people. If you understand people and why they do what they do, you can understand characters and what they do” Create a conflict many can relate to or sympathize with Spend a lot of time on the character arc as many contemporary novels are primarily character-driven
Contemporary Writing Exercise From Hannah Lee Kidder: Sit in public and pick a random person, then write a completely made-up story about them.
Here are 30 romance writing prompts:
- Write about how your character has gone through life believing that love is a choice. Their decision? To never get involved because love can only lead to pain and hardship. But after an argument with a stranger, their view of love, and life itself, is changed.
- Write a story about how marriage is just what happens when you’ve been with someone forever. For your main character, that seems obvious. But when they’re months away from their wedding and an old friend barges into their life unannounced, a wedding seems like the furthest thing from their desires.
- Write about a character who is up for a big promotion within their company. They’ve put everything on hold for it – including their love life. But when an outsider is hired instead, they lose it, focusing all their energy on bringing this newcomer down. They just didn’t think about the fact that they might end up liking them.
- Write a book about how a character and their significant other have been together since childhood. After a war between their people rips them away from each other, they’ll have to fight, manipulate, and fool in order to get each other back.
- Write about how a package is mailed to your main character. It’s filled with what seems like hundreds of letters all to a single person. Memories and confessions of love are penned within those letters. Your main character feels drawn to the person on the other end and sets out to find them – and the letter’s true destination.
- Write a story about how arranged marriages are the standard. In fact, nobody marries for love. Love doesn’t even exist in your character’s world. But when they’re drawn to someone who’s already spoken for, they start to question everything they know about love.
- Write about how your main character lives in a society of slavery. If you’re not born in a certain family, you’re shipped off and sold. When your character is sold for the 8th time in their short 20 years, then end up at one of the top houses – and become a personal servant to the next leader of their settlement. Soon, they’re enthralled in a romance that could get them both killed…because he’s already promised to another…a very dangerous other.
- Write a story about how cheating is wrong. Your character’s society puts emphasis on loyalty above anything else. In fact, cheating and betrayal of any kind in any relationship are punishable by life in prison (and even death in extreme cases). So why does something that’s been illegal for as long as they can remember feel so right when your character meets someone new? Avoiding jail just became the most difficult part of your character’s life.
- Write about how your character started going blind at the age of six. Fifteen years later, they meet someone who makes their life better in ways they couldn’t have imagined. Then they realize that they’ve actually met that person before.
- Your main character has seen the same person at the bus stop every day for what seems like over a year. They also bump into them frequently at coffee shops, grocery stores, and even restaurants. Finally, they decide to introduce themselves to the person who Fate seems to be pushing their way.
- It had been 10 years since your character last saw their biggest crush. How they both ended up in the same city away from their hometowns makes no sense to them. It’s got to be more than a coincidence, right?
- A waft of something flowery washes over your main character as they jog down the street. They turn and follow the scent to someone dancing in the middle of the street to no music while reading a book.
- Write a book. about how your character runs away from their tribe in the dead of night. After an injury leaves them exposed, an unlikely ally of a rivaling clan saves their life.
- Reading minds might seem like an advantage in the dating world. But when your character can hear every single thought someone has about them, it quickly reduces their chances at finding love.
- Write a. story about how a treehouse in the deep woods is your character’s favorite place to relax. But when they get interrupted by the weird kid at school, they have to set some ground rules for its use. Sharing a treehouse with the weirdo might just be the best thing they’ve ever done.
- Write about how it’s rare to find true love as a child. Your main character did – and they grew up to marry their childhood sweetheart. But after an unexpected death, your character is forced to live without their true love. Oh…and they have a one-year-old to take care of on top of it.
- Write a book about how your character waited two weeks for their date to call. What seemed like a perfect evening must’ve not been all that great for them. Then their date’s sibling called…to tell them they had died. But they did leave a few notes with your character’s name on them before it happened.
- Her brother’s friends are off limits. Her dad’s friends are off limits. She knows those rules. But when a new coworker of her dad’s enters the picture, she’ll have to find a way around her father’s rules.
- Write a story about how many memories of love and loss come to your character’s mind when they’re invited to an all-adult summer camp. They decide to go for it and spend 6 weeks in paradise with complete strangers.
- Write a romance story about how you don’t know unconditional love until you’ve ever felt it at your core. And once you do, you can never settle for anything less ever again.
- “Marry your best friend,” they said. “It’ll be fun,” they said. But when your best friend turns out to be the complete opposite of how you thought, a relationship can get tricky. Your character is on the lookout for a new best friend.
- Write a romance about how your character is basically a “starving artist,” an art student just barely getting by. Their roommate, another art student and your character’s crush, opens a gallery featuring breathtaking paintings of your character. It’s everything your character could want…and then they meet the person who pays thousands for their portrait. Now their roommate is hardly on their mind.
- In an ancient world, your character is getting ready for a life partner ceremony. Their partner – someone they’ve known their whole life – is already chosen and it’s time to secure the bond. But when someone your character has never met before steps up to challenge your supposed-to-be life partner, they’re forced to be with a stranger.
- Write about how two old bicycles are embedded in a tree – grown into it from years of being chained to it. Upon further inspection, your character finds a bottle in one of the baskets and in that bottle, a letter. They attempt to return the letter to its owner to find someone else entirely.
- Write a story about how in order to marry in your character’s society, suitors have to fight a person’s entire family for their hand. On the same day your character challenges their love’s family of 8, someone else challenges theirs – a family of only 3.
- “All’s fair in love and war.” Does this still ring true when your character is fighting a war for love ? Some say they’ll move mountains to get to the love of their life. Others will move kingdoms.
- Write a romance about how falling in love is dangerous – especially for your character, who must stay focused if they want to rule someday. But when their mother’s friend brings her daughter to their palace, their entire focus changes. If only she would notice your character.
- Write about what happens when your very particular character meets the least likely person to ever be a good match for them.
- Falling in love is never easy. It’s even more difficult, however, when you find out the person you’re head over heels for is a torturer. And worse…they enjoy it.
- Write about a character who decides to take a vacation for themselves to a secluded little town in order to figure out what to do with their life after college. Little did they know that this small town could house so much of what they’re really looking for in life – including a hottie with a less-than-favorable reputation.
How to Write Romance Even though romance is an extremely popular genre doesn’t mean you can be lazy when it comes to the actual romance and creative writing prompts isn’t always enough to help you develop a full-blown romance. People read romance to be invested, to feel something real. Consider these additional tips when writing romance: NEVER romanticize abuse as “love” (AKA, a jealous boyfriend should never be praised for “loving your character more” because this is harmful to readers) Create real chemistry by giving your characters qualities that would actually foster a connection Avoid “insta-love” by giving your characters time to bond and get to know each other Look out for serious romance cliches and overused plot lines like love triangles, forbidden romances (these can be great if done uniquely! ), and crazy exes Continuously up the stakes whenever the reader gets comfortable with the relationship
Horror and Thriller Writing Prompts
Because being terrified is entertaining to some people, horror and thriller books exist and are quite popular!
The great thing about this genre is that you can get really creative and really dark .
Acknowledgement Page, Copyright Page, & More!
25-page Fiction Book Outline Template
Ready to write? Get the parts of your story RIGHT and finish your book FASTER by downloading this FREE template that’s pre-formatted, easy to use, and you can fill-in-the-blank!
Here are 30 horror and thriller writing prompts:
- Write a book about how your main character is home alone, just like most nights. This time, however, a new neighbor pays them a visit. And it wasn’t for the last time.
- Write a story about how eight murders have taken place in your character’s town in the past 8 weeks. Once a week, on the same day, at the same time. When your character gets abducted after being out past the town’s new curfew, they have only 48 hours to discover why this is happening and how to get free…all while being tortured by the murderer.
- Write a horror story about how it’s a day of celebration in your character’s hometown! A 100-year-old time capsule is about to be opened, so of course, they go, just like most of the town. When a deceased human hand with a sinister note attached to it is the only thing in the capsule, questions start to buzz. The first being, who is the person who wrote the note? Oddly enough, the note is written in your main character’s handwriting…with their signature…dated 82 years before they were even born.
- Write about how your main character suffers from a condition that gives them periodic blackouts for seemingly no reason. The only thing they can seem to remember from before each blackout is a bike. A red bike with a white basket and muddy tires. One day, they see that very bike leaning up against their house but this time, they don’t blackout.
- Write a thriller about how odd and unexplainable events are said to happen in a certain seaside town. Your main character takes it upon themselves to visit in an effort to see just how accurate the sightings are. What they find is beyond anything they imagined. But now they can’t seem to escape the town.
- Write a story about how your main character and a couple of friends take a boat trip to a tiny, vacant, off-limits island for a night of celebration. When the sun goes down, they realize just how occupied the island actually is…and there’s a reason it’s off-limits.
- Write a book about a character who’s in therapy because whenever they close their eyes at night, they see (very vividly) someone’s tragic death. Some say it’s just their twisted imagination, their new therapist thinks it is something much, much different…and dangerous.
- Write a story about how your main character gets into an accident. While they make a seemingly full recovery, something has just been off inside their head since the crash. When they wake up next to a mutilated body in an unrecognizable place, they start to worry.
- A new town, a new job, a new life. Your character moved away to start over and become someone they’ve always wanted to be. The problem? They just can’t seem to stop killing people.
- The lure of a mysterious person will never get old. Their dark hat, sly smirk, and inquisitive eyes pull your main character in…until they can’t get out.
- Write about a dare. That’s how it all started, like all those horror movies your main character loves. They venture into that basement from the outside with confidence…only to discover two kids and a decaying body chained up. Now they have to make sure they don’t get caught. The hidden camera on the basement stairs doesn’t help with that.
- Write a horror about how your character gets a new job in a restaurant as a waiter. The tight-knit family running the place welcomes them with open arms…and then invites them to take part in what really happens when they close at night.
- Your character’s significant other has always talked in their sleep; it’s nothing new. But when their voice changes and their words take a dark turn, your character can’t help but do some digging into why that is…and they don’t like what they find.
- Your character thinks they must be the last person left on Earth. After a devastating disease swept over the entire world, they wander aimlessly. Then they come across a town that seems unchanged, inhabiting seemingly normal people. They learn that’s far from the truth.
- Write about how after wandering into a brand-new book store, your character thoroughly enjoys the last few books they’ve read. When they go to buy another, the owner recommends a very specific book. They start reading only to realize it’s about that very town, 50 years earlier, about a book shop owner who preys on customers.
- Your character is walking home midday when they hear an usual sound coming from an ordinary house in the suburbs. They soon forget about it for the rest of the day. Then, when they’re falling asleep, they hear that same sound outside their window.
- A boot, a broken glass bottle, and a scuba diving mask show up on your character’s front lawn after a city-wide festival. Thinking nothing of it, they toss them in the garbage…only for them to reappear the next morning.
- Write a story involving a character who officially meets the person they’ve been bumping into all over town. After hitting it off, they go out on a date that ends very poorly for one of them.
- Write about how the painting that’s been in your character’s home for over 50 years starts screaming.
- They said not to visit the museum at night. They said strange things might happen. Your character never imagined just how much they should’ve listened.
- Your character’s best friend just got back from some intense rehab. They seem better than ever…until your character discovers their method of staying clean; a new addiction has taken its place.
- Write a thriller novel about how your character wakes up to a door slamming. They rush to their toddler’s room only for them to be missing. A single gardening glove is in their place on the bed.
- Your character’s mom is caught sneaking into their house in the middle of the night…a trail of mud patterning the floor in the shape of her heels. She’s in a trance and won’t answer to her name.
- Write about how your character gets up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and is alarmed to see their dad standing in the hallway. After shaking it off, they ask him what he’s doing. Without a word, his eyes start to bleed.
- Write a book about a character who’s known the neighbor across the street for years. But after witnessing them limping into their home, covered in something dark at 4 am, your character has questions. Getting close to them might be the only way to find out their secret.
- Write about how all the pictures of your character and their sister go missing from their home…one by one.
- Your character wakes up one morning and all the candles in their house are lit. They haven’t lit them for weeks.
- Witnessing someone’s descent into madness is something your character never thought they’d experience. It soon becomes increasingly clear that they might not witness it in its entirety.
- Write about how the school gym is filled. It’s a day of celebration. Your main character graduates today and when it’s their time to take the stage, a scream is released from someone in the stands.
- Write a horror book about how there have been attacks in your character’s town as of late. Instead of physical injury or even death…the victims are injected with heroin over and over and over until they’re completely addicted. Then they’re released.
How to Write Horror and Thriller Genre Scaring people so much so that they sweat while simply reading is a difficult task. You really have to focus on the structure of your writing in order to create that reaction. Here are a few tips for writing horror and thriller genre : Building anticipation will be your #1 focus Readers need to feel surprised and scared so dig deep and get twisted Plot twists are a must; never let your characters or readers see what’s coming Continuously up the stakes Focus on building deep sympathy for your character from the very beginning. This will make the stakes seem even higher and increase tension, just as Stephen King does in his infamous novel, IT, pictured below.
Human curiosity is what makes this genre so incredibly popular. We always want to figure out what happened. Mystery books are natural page-turners because we just aren’t satisfied until we find out what happened.
But that can be difficult to create from nothing.
Here are 30 mystery writing prompts:
- Write a mystery about how your character is 16 and just learned they were the last person to see their crush the night they were murdered. But when they come forward with these details, they become the new main suspect. They’re determined to solve their crushes murder or risk going to jail for something they didn’t do.
- Write a story about how recently, there’s been a number of abandoned cars scattered throughout the city. Nobody knows where they’re coming from and there’s not a single personal item in them. That is, until one is discovered with a freshly removed human scalp on the dashboard.
- Write about how for the past month, your character has received a number of disturbing and detailed drawings in their mailbox. After chalking it up to immature kid stunts, they try to forget about it. But when the drawings come to life in brutal, horrific ways, they’re the only person who knows of the drawings and therefore, knows what one will come next.
- Write about a character who gets a DNA test for fun – just to see where they really come from. After becoming obsessed with one little detail, they soon discover a number of their ancestors from all over the world were once located in a single, unpopulated place; a gathering of sorts.
- Write a mystery about how your character’s spouse nearly falls through the door, beaten nearly to requiring hospitalization. When an unknown but distinct brand marking is discovered between their shoulder blades, your character has to find out who they are and why they did it.
- Write about a single member of each noble family who has been murdered every week for the past two months. Your character is of a very noble household and can barely sleep each night. So they decide to find out who is responsible.
- Write a story about a character whose religion has a talisman as old as the religion itself. After it goes missing, all fingers point to the chief’s oldest child of 19 years, engaged to the healer’s oldest child. But they never could’ve done it. They were (romantically involved) with your main character when the theft occurred.
- Write about how your main character wakes up every morning feeling as though they didn’t get more than a couple of hours of sleep. After sleep studies, medications, and trying everything available, nothing seems to work. They decide to videotape a night of sleep to determine if maybe they’re sleepwalking. Turns out, they are. Except they seem completely conscious. In fact, in the video, they approach the camera, smirk, and walk away with a wave before disappearing for nearly the entire night.
- Write about how your main character is a key witness for a murder case. Video footage of them at the scene during the murder shows that clearly. The only problem? They can’t remember anything from that night.
- Write a story about a character living in an average sized town. As of late, a very large number of people have been going missing. They leave no trace. There’s nothing connecting them. It’s as if they all vanish in the middle of the day.
- Two years after your character’s significant other goes missing, presumed dead, they start getting messages that could only be from them.
- Your character is going about their normal day when suddenly, a low sound blares outside and doesn’t stop. For weeks. Nobody knows what’s causing it.
- During a follow-up set of interviews, your character conducts around a certain mob member, long thought to have put an end to that very mob, they find out that the mob member has been lying – for 30 years…about everything.
- Write about how, to make some extra money, your character puts their spare room on Airbnb. The first few people seem fine and the extra income is great. Then someone comes to stay for a week and very… odd events keep taking place in that room.
- Your character is a professional photographer. When processing images from a recent event, they notice a single person on the outskirts of every photo …and it’s not a coincidence.
- Your character opens an old sketchbook to try their hand at it again after years of being too busy with their corporate job. When they open it, their half-finished pieces are completed…and it wasn’t their doing.
- All the plants in and around houses in your character’s town are dying even though all other foliage is left untouched. It started happening after the last meteor shower.
- In your character’s world, crime is nonexistent. Everyone lives in harmony with each other. That’s why the murdered child found in the street sets the town into complete and utter chaos.
- Write a mystery about how when the Internet was first invented, warnings of sharing your personal information were everywhere. Now your character knows why. Cyber information is being used to frame innocents in extreme crime cases.
- Write a book about how a crack in the window was all the thief needed to secure the right position that allowed them access to the town’s most famous piece of history. Your character is the one who was supposed to keep it safe.
- Your character’s people believe a certain boulder is sacred. It’s the heart of their civilization and religion. One day the town wakes to find it pulverized, reduced to nothing but dust and sand.
- Write about how there’s a house at a dead end that’s not abandoned, but hardly anyone has even caught sight of who lives there. Your character decides to pay them a visit and discovers why nobody has seen them.
- Your character is introduced to someone that seems perfect for them. After digging into their past, a string of crimes has followed them but your character can’t necessarily prove it was them. So they decide to ask about them.
- Someone left their bag on the bus. Your character, being the good person they naturally are, grabs it and rushes after the person. They never turn around and your character is left with a bag full disturbing ransom notes.
- All the statues in your character’s entire town go missing. They were carefully removed from building, monuments, and schools. Nobody knows how or where they are now.
- Write about how your character moves to a new town with hopes of finally settling into real adult life. But they soon realize that nobody remembers who they are day after day, despite making very clear and memorable introductions.
- The leaves on all the trees have turned black but refuse to fall off the branches. It’s the middle of spring.
- A number of dead bodies are uncovered when your character decides to participate in the upkeep of the city’s public garden. No wonder the food has been so great – it’s been freshly fertilized.
- Write a story about how your character wakes up to a little girl’s screams outside. They rush to her but she’s not hurt. She just has no idea who she is, where she’s from, or how she got there.
- Write about how your character receives a number of letters in the mail to a name they don’t recognize. After weeks of letters piling up, they finally decide to read one. The first letter contains nothing more than a set of coordinates…so do the rest.
How to Write Mystery Mystery is a very difficult genre to write. You have to ensure that you don’t give away too much information so the readers don’t figure it out. These are some of our tips for writing a mystery novel: Make readers think they know what will happen by planting false foreshadowing along with real hints Make the antagonist very likable Juxtapose tense scenes with mellow ones to increase tension Keep the story moving forward always
Reddit is home to many different things—including writing prompts that you’d never find anywhere else.
Oftentimes, people go ahead and create threads expanding on writing prompts they read.
Here Are 15 of the Best Reddit Writing Prompts:
#1 – “You have a machine that tells you the effect of an action you are thinking about making, but you can only activate/use it once.”
#2 – “Well…you never asked.”
#3 – And to top it all off, they give you a medal for it.
#4 – Every Christmas, Santa delivers gifts to the children who have been ‘nice’. But there’s a lesser-known brother Santa who every five years takes gifts away from children who have been ‘naughty’ even once. You just don’t know when…
#5 – You are casually walking down a deserted road when you fall into an open manhole.
#6 – You weren’t sure which was real.
#7 – People thought society would be better if we killed the worst 1% every year. Today is the hundredth anniversary, and the notion of the “worst” is getting really tricky.
#8 – Absolutely everything that makes you uncomfortable is beneficial for you. Weakened viruses train your immune system, small muscle tears make you stronger…and small bullets make you more resistant to larger bullets. Turns out, the government is awfully interested in your unusual ability.
#9 – Before you, the villain holds your sidekick and love interest over a cliff, taunting you to choose one to save. You take one (1) second to think about it. You then shoot them both, to the shock and horror of your archenemisis.
#10 – You’re a man/woman happily married with kids but in severe financial difficulty. A genie gives you the chance to irreversibly rewind time back to the date of your tenth birthday and you accept, hoping to make your current life better with the knowledge you have…
#11 – Every time you die, you are reincarnated into a new body. Unfortunately, the first few times, you failed to act as a normal child after being reborn. You are now a known factor for world powers, crazy nutjobs, major religions, and people who would give anything for the immortality you possess.
#12 – You have a name in your contacts that isn’t in any language you know, you delete it but the next day the number appears again. And that’s when life becomes a little weirder.
#13 – You get to heaven only to find that the judgement is entirely based on how many promises you’ve broken.
#14 – Before you became apprentice, nobody told you learning a new spell is the easiest part of your studies. The real challenge is learning to survive the diverse and alien consequences of casting a spell.
#15 – A war-thirsty species is finally defeated after rampaging through the galaxy for decades, and their remains are exiled to a far away and dangerous planet. Everyone panics when, millennia later, Humanity comes out of that planet asking where is everybody.
Non-Fiction Writing Prompts
I bet I know you.
You’re the type of person who has dreamed of writing a book for however many years, only held back by the lack of ideas – or good ideas, rather.
Or maybe you’re the type who has tons of ideas but aren’t sure if they’re worth pursuing .
It’s hard. I get it. A book is a big commitment and one you might actually want to go through with. But without having a clear idea of what to write about , that dream can seem too far out of reach.
But I’m telling you, it’s not.
In fact, using writing prompts can help you free your mind from its current constraints so you can explore ideas you might not have otherwise thought of yourself – in addition to a number of other benefits.
It’s one thing to use a writing prompt, it’s another to ensure that idea is actually a good one.
If you’re writing a nonfiction book , we have great ideas for you to focus on.
While reading these, note which ones cause you to pause and think – if only for a moment longer than the rest.
Those are the ideas to ponder and create a mind map for.
Here are a few writing prompts for a number of different broader categories that have proven to be prosperous.
Writing Prompts about Morals and Values
This is one of the top book ideas right now. Writing about your personal beliefs, how you came to them, and how they steer your life is something almost everyone can relate to.
And in a time where morality is being questioned time and time again by the media, it’s the best time to write on this topic.
Here are 25 Writing Prompts about Morals and Values :
- Write about a time when you were wrong and didn’t realize it for maybe years.
- Consider morals and how one discovers what truly matters to them.
- Portray the biggest value in your life.
- Dissect the biggest problems in the world and how it impacts us every day.
- Write about hidden problems in the world nobody is paying attention to.
- Consider a time your morals were compromised and how it affected your life.
- Write about a time your values were challenged and you had to face it.
- Compare and the difference between a value and a moral.
- Weigh societal values that actually negatively impact our lives.
- Write about morals that have inadvertently negative impacts.
- Spotlight an inner struggle between what’s morally right and what feels right.
- Write about how to find what you value in life.
- Write about what life would look life if morals were not in place.
- Present ideas of values affecting your morals in life.
- Expose popular moral dilemmas in the world.
- Write about how morals and values differ within different cultures and regions.
- Conflict arising from out a time when you had to debate morals and values.
- Write about your idea of the best combination of morals and values.
- Conflict you once endured because of mismatched morals.
- Overcome doubting your morals and beliefs.
- Write about how morals and values shape happiness in life.
- The importance of matching morals and values in relationships.
- Write about how to share your morals with others.
- Open discussion on ways in which one can develop new morals and values.
- Write about how our morals and values change as we grow up.
Tips for Expanding on these Morals and Values: Be honest but don’t force your ideas on someone else Use research and facts to back up your statements Give real-life accounts of your experiences Avoid adopting a “know-it-all” voice
Writing Prompts about Health and Wellness
This is another book topic that has seen a rise in sales and engagement over the past few years. Society is starting to focus on health and well-being more so than many other important life ventures and now is the time to write about it!
Here are 25 Health and Wellness Writing Prompts:
- Your struggle with an addiction of some kind and how you overcame it.
- Write a book about your journey to become healthy.
- What being healthy inside and out means to you.
- How others can overcome unhealthy habits.
- Create a book about the importance of mental health and wellness.
- Write about how to form healthy habits.
- How to find the best exercise type for your needs.
- A book about the idea of self-care and what it means to you.
- How to find health through personal reflection.
- Write about the technicalities of being “healthy.”
- The different ways in which someone can find health and wellness.
- How others can affect your health.
- Write about the impact of mental health on your physical health.
- A specific form of exercise you’ve grown to love and why.
- What it means to have overall life wellness.
- The impact of who you surround yourself with on your mental health.
- How learning can impact your health.
- Dietary needs and how they affect your mental health.
- Write about how to break unhealthy habits that drag you down.
- How negativity can greatly impact your health.
- Write about your ideal health and wellness system for long-term success.
- A time when you had to overcome super unhealthy ways.
- What you’ve learned about yourself through pursuing wellness.
- How professional athletes approach health and wellness.
- Societal standards of health and wellness.
Tips for Expanding on Health and Wellness Writing Prompts: Always use facts and research with something as sensitive as health Talk about what has worked for you personally and why Feature advice from experts in the field Include actionable steps others can learn from
Writing Prompts about Love and Relationships
This can be a tricky topic to write about because love is different for everyone.
Each relationship has different needs and trying to tell someone what their relationship needs can often cause issues if it’s not actually what their specific relationship can benefit from.
That being said, keeping your message broad enough to impact a lot of people while also hitting specific key points can make it easier.
Here are 25 Relationships and Love Writing Prompts:
- Tell a story about how you see love.
- Write about what’s most important in a relationship.
- How to enjoy your relationship in every phase of life.
- Your idea of a successful relationship.
- What it really takes to have a successful relationship.
- Write about how your friendships play a part in your relationships.
- How self-doubt can affect your search for love.
- Write about how to love someone else in a way they need.
- How to find what you truly enjoy in a life partner.
- Becoming open-minded in your pursuit of love.
- The importance of loving yourself before loving someone else.
- Your journey to find love and what it’s meant for you.
- Write about a time you thought you found love but were very wrong.
- How finding love has changed the way you care for others.
- How to develop healthy and nurturing relationships.
- Friendships and how they play a role in your happiness.
- Creating relationships that lift you up and not drag you down.
- Write about what it means to truly love unconditionally.
- How intimacy can help your self-esteem.
- Ways in which you can improve your sex life.
- Write about ways in which you can improve your romantic relationship.
- Ways in which you can improve your platonic relationships.
- Loving yourself and what that fully means.
- Building strong relationship foundations in a family.
- Write about how to communicate in relationships.
Tips for Expanding on Relationship and Love Writing Prompts: Never assume every single person loves and wants love the same way Tell personal, real-life stories to build relatability Keep your advice open-ended and always encourage communication
Writing Prompts about Childhood and Family
We all had a childhood and we all have a family – even if we’ve decided to adopt friends to be a part of our family.
That means everyone can relate to being a child and having a family.
That being said, it’s hard to decide on which direction you can take when writing about your childhood or family.
Here are 25 Writing Prompts About Childhood and Family :
- Write to your parents about all they’ve taught you about life, love, and happiness.
- Family about what they mean to you.
- Parenthood and how it’s changed you.
- Your parents and what they taught you.
- What your parents didn’t teach you and how it affected your life.
- Write about how not having parents impacted your life.
- Your childhood and how it shaped you.
- Write about what the definition of family truly means to you.
- Finding family in the least expected places.
- Discovering who you are within your family.
- The lessons you didn’t realize you learned as a child.
- How your childhood friends affected your adult life.
- Whether or not your family can truly impact who you are as an adult.
- How to have healthy communication in your family.
- Trials and tribulations of a blended family.
- Your journey as an adopted child.
- Write about whether or not emotional closeness with family affects your life.
- Your vision as a child and whether or not you lived up to it.
- Write about childhood pains that have followed you into adulthood.
- How to let go of a crappy childhood to find happiness as an adult.
- How your family doesn’t define you.
- Write about letting go of toxic family members to find happiness.
- How you’d change your childhood if given the chance.
- The journey of parenting and what it’s taught you about yourself.
- Write about how to make your own family when you can’t rely on your own.
Tips for Expanding on Childhood and Family Writing Prompts: Family can be a sensitive subject so avoid hard “facts” about “all” families Make sure to include details about differences Tell stories others can easily relate to at the beginning
Writing Prompts about Happiness
Happiness is very subjective. We all have very different ideas about what true happiness is and how it comes about.
What you have to remember, though, is that everybody wants to be happy .
Here are 26 Writing Prompts about Happiness:
- Write about the idea of wants versus needs in life.
- Work and finding happiness in your career.
- Not being happy in your career and how to conquer it.
- Write about finding success in your career.
- Finding success in every aspect of your life.
- Building a successful love life, family life, and career.
- Write about balancing a career and family life.
- Being open-minded in life.
- Write about what rewards you can reap from being kind.
- What you can gain from being open-minded in every aspect of life.
- Goals in life and how to accomplish them.
- What living a happy life is defined as according to you.
- Write about a time you had very little happiness and how you found it again.
- The ups and downs of life and how to get through them.
- What truly contributes to happiness in life.
- Write about the true measures of happiness in life.
- How success ties into happiness and how to define them separately.
- The difference between how you view happiness now versus when you were a kid.
- The biggest life lessons one can learn through finding happiness.
- What people should focus on instead of happiness in life.
- The difference between self-fulfillment and happiness.
- The biggest problem in today’s society revolving around happiness.
- The idea of NOT looking for happiness in order to find it.
- How self-reflection can increase happiness.
- What you expected happiness to be versus how it truly is.
- How to include the people in your life when finding happiness.
Tips for expanding on these writing prompts: Remember that your happiness is not what makes everyone else happy Focus on helping others find what makes them happy Talk about times you were unhappy frequently to drive the point home
Writing Prompts about Self-Esteem and Confidence
No matter who you are, you’ll experience moments of self-doubt and a lack of confidence.
Yes, even Beyonce has felt down about herself occasionally (though probably not often!).
The point is, writing about a lack of self-esteem and how to gain it is something everyone has experienced and therefore, everyone can relate to.
Here are 25 writing Prompts about Confidence :
- Write about accepting who you truly are and how it can change your life.
- How to ignore societal expectations when they clash with who you are.
- How to change your overall outlook to be more positive.
- What it’s like to go from disliking yourself to truly loving yourself.
- Write about what it truly means to have complete confidence in yourself.
- How to conquer inner demons in order to love yourself.
- Your journey to accepting your flaws and seeing them as strengths.
- Daily habits that will lead to overall confidence.
- How bettering your health can increase the way you view yourself.
- Write about how physical appearance actually has little to do with confidence.
- How journaling can relieve negative thoughts about yourself.
- Write about your journey with therapy and the quest to gain confidence.
- Alternative methods one can use to gain confidence.
- How using certain essential oils daily can help with your mood and self-esteem.
- Write about the internal effects of a negative opinion of yourself.
- Create a workbook dedicated to making someone feel positive about themselves.
- The negative impact toxic friends/family have on your self-esteem.
- How toxic relationships can alter your self-esteem for the worse.
- Write about how to overcome a learned toxic thought-process when thinking about yourself.
- How to introduce self-love into your life.
- The difference your life can have if you have self-confidence.
- Struggling with self-esteem and how it can affect relationships.
- How to know if you actually do love yourself or not.
- Write about how to use your passions to increase your confidence.
- How to help someone else learn to how themselves.
Tips for Expanding on these Writing Prompts: Be honest, real, and raw when writing about your experiences Offer different solutions even if they didn’t work for you personally Interview a psychology expert in order to further the book’s credibility
Faith-Based Writing Prompts
Faith writing is a very personal journey for people. Whether you’ve been a lifelong believer or have recently stumbled into something that has changed your life, others have been there.
And they’ll want to read about it.
Here are 25 writing prompts about faith:
- Write about your faith and how you discovered its meaning.
- How your faith changed your life.
- How you learned to love yourself through your faith.
- Your journey from not having any faith to where you are now.
- A message to anybody who doesn’t think they have something to believe in.
- Write a book to the person who helped you discover your faith.
- How your faith shapes your family.
- Write about overcoming questioning your faith.
- Unexpected realities of having strong faith.
- How your faith can steer your career and life.
- How much others can gain from pursuing faith.
- Your own struggles with faith and how you maneuvered them.
- Juggling faith, family, friends, and love.
- Write about how school impacted your faith negatively or positively.
- Common struggles with faith and how to overcome them.
- Write a memoir about your life’s journey to accepting faith.
- Write about being part of a family with split faith
- Friends or family not understanding your faith.
- How there’s more to life than JUST your faith and how to avoid blinding yourself to it.
- Different faiths and how to separate differences.
- What faith means to you and how you express it daily.
- How-to guide for finding something to believe in.
- Write a guide for how to discover what’s truly meaningful to you with your faith.
- How faith can give you a whole new family and a sense of belonging.
- The differences in your life since believing in something bigger than you.
Tips for expanding on faith-based writing prompts: This is a great time to be open and specific about your beliefs Avoid shaming others in an attempt to get your message across Tell deeply personal stories so others can relate
Writing Prompts about Personal Journeys
Everyone has a personal journey. No matter what you’ve been through, there is a lesson hidden within it.
You can use these creative writing prompts to not only discover more about yourself, but perhaps light the way for others to see and understand as well.
Here are 25 writing prompts about personal journey:
- Write about a moment in your life that changed the way you saw the world.
- Don’t censor yourself and write about what you believe the meaning of life is.
- Biggest struggle you’ve faced in life.
- Your journey to finding yourself and all you’ve learned.
- Life lessons you believe everyone should learn.
- How you got to where you are in life and where you’ll go from here.
- A tragedy you, unfortunately, lived through and how it has shaped you.
- An internal struggle of yours and how you were able to solve it.
- Your pet/s and what they mean to you.
- How you were able to accomplish so much by a young age.
- Your life and what lessons you learned that others should know.
- What you’ve gained from networking throughout your life.
- Your top life values and how they contribute to happiness and success.
- Learning to live with something difficult or painful every day.
- Write a memoir about your unique life.
- A story to your younger self about life, love, and happiness.
- Write about conflict in your life and how you managed to get through it.
- Your life’s expectations versus its reality.
- Art and how it can show you a lot about yourself.
- A time when you thought all was lost.
- Looking for the light in life instead of succumbing to darkness.
- Your journey to understand what it means to truly be alive.
- Write about how to conquer toxic desires.
- Your journey through sports and how they shaped you.
- Write about your journey to write and publish a book 🙂
Tips for expanding on personal journey writing prompts: Don’t censor yourself Talk to a therapist or psychologist to better understand your own journey Bring your real-life experiences into play
Ready To Write YOUR Book?
Grab a copy of Published. below to get the definitive guide on “how to write a book” PLUS get access to the audiobook, advanced trainings, and additional resources to help you write your book!
Bella Rose Pope
Most popular blog posts, what is self-publishing school.
We help you save time, money, and headaches through the book, writing, marketing, and publishing process by giving you the proven, step-by-step process and accountability to publish successfully. All while allowing you to maintain control of your book–and its royalties. Learn to publish a book to grow your impact, income, or business!
Related Essays
Class 1st hour Fictional Narrative Final Assessment It was early on the morning December fifth and we were sledding behind the boarded up Baldwin. It was...
The whole house started to violently shake. She fell down the stairs and felt her left leg break. She heard her dinnerware falling out of her cupboards and c...
Meyer stood by his door with his small coffee cup, something he has done for years. It was interesting to see that the freshman wanted nothing to do with me,...
Memoir It all happened so quickly. The boy lunged at the girl with a crazed look in his eyes. People were screaming from every direction. Thousands of scena...
1 item, 3 stories, 1 ending By Caitie Moore The crunching sound of cheerio’s under her white double strap Birkenstocks broke the silence of the still but e...
I observed the cafeteria at Archbishop Mitty High School. As the classes dismissed and lunch began, a swarm of student pushed, shoved, and crammed into the l...
Thankfully, spring break was only half a day away. Because school was nearly out, students were getting rowdy and a little too excited. I immediately met u...
Narrative Essay One day me and my cousin were sitting and wondering what to do we were 10 and didn’t really know of anything to do. Then we got an idea to t...
I couldn’t see what was happening upstairs, but I could hear them bring in a stretcher, the clanking and rolling noise of the wheels against the floor of the...
Then she fell and hurt her head and blacked out! She woke up just to be in a building from the stir of society all ALONE with no one to call for without h...
- Shuffle Toggle On Toggle Off
- Alphabetize Toggle On Toggle Off
- Front First Toggle On Toggle Off
- Both Sides Toggle On Toggle Off
- Read Toggle On Toggle Off
Card Range To Study
Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
11 Cards in this Set
- Free courses
- How to write a story
- How to write a novel
- How to write poetry
- How to write a script
- How to write a memoir
- How to write a mystery
- Creative journaling
- Publishing advice
- Story starters
- Poetry prompts
- For teachers
- Writer's shop
Fiction Prompts - Ideas for Stories
Three elements.
Choose a set of three elements, and imagine a story that includes all three of them.
- a hitchhiker, an allergy, and a mistake in a map.
- a cemetery, a missing dog, and a joke that goes too far.
- a Halloween costume, a stapler, and a complaint between neighbors.
- a stolen phone, a love song, and a bet.
- a dance competition, an engagement ring, and a worried parent.
- insomnia, a birthday card, and an encounter with someone famous.
- an eavesdropper, a secret kiss, and a fire in the kitchen.
- a stuck elevator, a pickpocket, and a promise.
- a babysitter, a pet snake, and a tow truck.
- a lit window, a stamp collection, and someone pretending to be angry.
- a dream come true, inappropriate laughter, and something buried.
- an abandoned house, false eyelashes, and a lump in the bed.
Character Ideas
Here are 3 ideas you can use to create fictional characters and stories:
- Write about a character who pretends to be cool and tough, but is actually shy and sensitive.
- Write about a character who is obsessed with certain colors.
- Write about a character who secretly plans to leave home and start a new life.
Now, YOU complete the sentences to get even more character ideas:
- Write about a character who pretends to be ________, but is actually ________.
- Write about a character who is obsessed with ________.
- Write about a character who secretly ________.
First Lines
Here are some beginnings for stories or poems. Start with one of these and see where your imagination takes you.
- He wasn't at all what I was expecting...
- How would we ever get rid of...
- She was a wonderful liar...
- He hurled the phone against the wall...
- The fortuneteller was mistaken...
- I crouched behind the sofa...
- It was wrapped like a present, but...
- I should never have come here...
Twist Endings
Here are some twist endings you can use in your own fiction. See what story ideas they give you...
- The detective turns out to be the killer.
- The vampire hunter turns out to be another vampire.
- It turns out that your character's lover has only pretending to be married as an excuse to avoid a commitment to your character.
- The jewel everyone has been fighting over turns out to be a fake.
- Your character's main enemy turns out to have been on your character's side the whole time. Your character has been misinterpreting his/her attempts to help him/her.
- The murder victim turns out to have faked her own death. She's still alive and playing games with the detective!
- Your narrator has been lying to the reader to make himself or herself look better.
Creative Writing Recipes
Just follow these recipes, and see what comes out of your imagination.
SHORT STORY RECIPE Beginning of the story: Your character's mother wants your character to do something, and your character doesn't want to do it. They argue about it. Next part: The argument is interrupted by a surprising sight which startles both of them. Next: The surprising sight brings back a memory from your character's childhood involving his/her mother. Flash back to this memory. Next: Return to the present. Your character and his/her mother continue their conversation, but the tone of it is changed by the surprise and by your character's thoughts about the past.
POEM RECIPE Line 1: Give the reader an instruction. Line 2: Refer to a smell. Line 3: Use the word "ghostly". Line 4: Mention a childhood toy. Line 5: Quote a proverb or saying. Line 6: Refer to an animal. Line 7: Repeat a phrase from earlier in this poem. Line 8: Ask the reader a question.
Ideas for Stories - Next Steps
Sign up for our free e-mail group to receive fiction prompts, writing tips , and Creative Writing Now news.
You can find hundreds of ideas for stories on our website. Here are some links to start with:
- Story beginnings and "What If" story ideas
- "The Evil Roommate" and other story ideas
- 44 fiction writing prompts
- See a complete list of Creative Writing Now pages with ideas for stories.
Click here to go back to the Creative Writing Ideas Blog .
<< BACK from Ideas for Stories to Creative Writing Now Home
"Both courses I have taken have with Creative Writing Now have been amazing. Each time I have learned something new. The one thing I love, you take everything apart and give examples." - Katlen Skye
"There is so much to learn, and had I not done this course my writing would still be at the starting gate." - Josephine Webster
"I really have learned many things that have changed the way I think about writing. I've taken many college, even Masters level writing courses, and must tell you that I have learned much more from your courses than I have from any of those classroom courses." - Prue Prentice
"This course is amazing – definitely the most beneficial class that I have taken." - Kimberly Daroogar
"Thank you for all the material in this course. I have learnt so much." - Jacqueline Tasik
"I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the lessons and feel they were very helpful in introducing new ideas and perspectives to my writing. I am sure I will go back frequently to review them for reference during many of my future writing projects. Thanks again!" - Jenny Jacks
"Thanks very much for this course. It's been really helpful and well-explained. I look forward to any more courses you run." - Robin Gott
"I'm learning so much. This course is amazing." - Karl Tobar
"Thank you so much!! You're always there... The course is great. You are always looking forward to the next lesson like a good novel!!!" - Nuria Alberti
"Thank you for a course that builds writing skills with direction to excellence. Everything was included, possibly more than college courses can offer." - Janett Lee Wawrzyniak
"Must say I'm SOO glad I opted into this class, it's been eye-opening on many levels." - Courtenay Schurman
"I will add the comment that I love this course, I have taken it several times. The first time I took it was after a time I had stopped writing for several years, and the course really re-ignited my writing spirit!" - Mary Ellen Hancock
"This was the best course I’ve taken. It allowed me to enjoy the experience of writing." - Jeff Killian
© 2009-2023 William Victor, S.L., All Rights Reserved.
Terms - Privacy - Returns & Cancellations - Affiliate Disclosure
- Skip to primary navigation
- Skip to main content
- Skip to primary sidebar
- Skip to footer
Realistic Fiction Story Ideas for the Writer in You
Do you love to express yourself through writing or love writing stories on fiction? This article covers the realistic fiction story ideas that could help you unleash your creativity. After all writing is a form of expression through unlimited imagination.
Don’t know where to start? Relax, it happens to even the best of us. I was sure about the content that needed to be written in this article, but got confused as I started writing. Then I made a rough sketch of all that needs to be mentioned and my problem was solved. I still remember the famous quote by Mr. Stephen King that “Fiction is the truth inside the lie” .
Most of us often tend to stay away from writing fiction. Why? Is it because we have no idea of what needs to written? A human mind can never run out of ideas. Take the example of a painter or a sculptor, their creation is based on mere imagination and creativity. It’s the same while writing, you need to invent something in your own mind.
So what had inspired the famous and successful writers to come up with such vague ideas? The author of the famous Harry Potter series- J. K Rowling wrote way beyond one’s imagination. The same goes for movies or novels based on fiction, like science fictions, vampire movies, fairy tales, disaster movies, monster stories, supernatural stories, superhero movies, comic strips, etc.
Fiction writing is not difficult, you just need to find ways of getting new and different short story ideas. Wondering what makes it realistic? Realistic fiction is basically just showing real characters dealing with real problems, which may not be true at all times and could take place in the present as well as the future. It may also be portrayed by people that have really lived like those characters; for example in My Sister’s Keeper or The Twilight Series.
Sometimes you may add extra characters in a story, like it was done in the movie Titanic. The lead actors of the film were just imaginary and were not present during the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912. It is very important to conceptualize the entire plot along-with creative character outlines in a story.
Story Ideas
Books/novels.
Referring to books, novels, comics is the best way of drawing inspiration and getting story ideas. You may learn different styles of writing a particular story or get to know the techniques used in writing a particular type. You may draw inspiration from a famous author since they are masters in their field, and you will get some amazing ideas.
Real Life Incidents
We always come across many real life stories, learn to get ideas from them. It could be about a simple boy, a brutal murder, an accident, or a gang war. It may be about anything and everything taking place in the present or something that has taken place in the past. The best way of getting to know of such ideas is through news channels, History channels, or newspapers and magazines.
Photographs/ Drawings/ Paintings
Have you ever come across a painting and paused just to think that a fiction story can be developed? Bingo! Then you are absolutely on the right track. It is very rare that people think of penning down stories after coming across any drawing, painting or even old photographs.
This is indeed my favorite way of getting the most prolific and innovative fiction ideas to start a story. Almost every human being on earth dreams every night. You can interpret those dreams if possible, and may end up with the most amazing idea.
Your own life can be your biggest inspiration! Just look around yourself there is loads to write, right from your childhood, college crush, the annoying boss at work, your big and weird family, the girl or guy you hate the most, your aged neighbor, your pet, that slimy animal in the lawn, the accident you witnessed – there’s so much. So keep your eyes open and notice everything taking place in your life and pen it down.
Movies have always been the most common way of getting ideas of writing stories. It could be in the form of a remake of a certain movie, a prequel, a sequel or just a different story altogether. This helps when writing on a specific genre, like drawing ideas from movies based on monsters, you can either create a new story about a creature that has never been used before, it may be inspire you to create a short story idea for kids or a horror story meant only for adults.
Short Story Ideas With a Twist
- The Wizard of Oz
- Jungle Book
- Sindbad the Sailor
- Beauty and the Beast
- A Christmas Carol
- Alice in Wonderland
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
- Raiders of the Lost Ark
- Jurassic Park
- The Sixth Sense
- The Star War Series
- The Alien Series
- The Chronicles of Narnia Series
- The Golden Compass
- The Lord of the Rings Series
- Pirates of the Caribbean Series
- The Twilight Series
Remember there is a big difference between drawing inspiration and plagiarizing someone’s hard work.
Elements of a Short Story
A title for the story can be decided before writing the story or at the end. It is advisable to do this at the end since you would have a wide option of words to choose from. Finding the perfect title is not a big task. Just remember it should fit the genre as well as the plot of the story. Avoid names that have been used by other authors and writers for their novel or movie.
Writing a plot is the main part of the story, while writing a fiction story you should keep in mind that there are many techniques involved. The plot may be written in a flashback, either in a linear or nonlinear way. The story has to consist of a conflict faced by the protagonist, then comes the part when the protagonist needs to resolve the problem with all the complications and hurdles involved. The story starts with a rising action then leads to a climax or anti-climax scene and ends with a falling action. While writing a plot learn to play with all the characters and the situations they are caught in, during the climax do not reveal the suspense early but keep the reader or viewer engrossed so that the story remains unpredictable till the end.
Wondering how to create a realistic fiction character? Characterization is very important while including characters in a story. The number of characters as well as their character traits like age, body language, personality, etc. need to be mentioned while writing a plot. The character can either be human, an animal, a creature, or an imaginary thing invented by you. The protagonist is the main character around whom the entire story revolves, apart from the protagonist there are other characters like the antagonist (negative character), minor characters (character supporting the protagonist) and the foil character (in contrast to the protagonist).
Setting of the story is nothing but the time and place of where the story is set. You need to describe the location, time of the day, the weather, the climate, and the background. This can be done by action, a dialog or through a person’s thoughts.
Point of View
The point of view is the narrative point of view and is the way a story is told. It can either be a first person point of view narrated by the protagonist or another character in the story and the term ‘I’ is used during narration. In the case of a third person’s point of view the story is narrated by a third person who is not a part of the plot.
Symbols are used to create a meaning in a fiction story, it is done by depicting images or objects during a particular situation. Some situations are not expressible and symbols need to be shown, thus for a strong fiction story it is essential to involve all the human senses. For example blood signifies the color red or the Ouija board signifies the supernatural.
Theme is something that motivates and leads the writer to write on a particular subject. Themes have a very strong base in most fiction stories. There are a few examples of themes like those shown in Ice Age (animals show a sense of belonging), King Kong or Beauty and the Beast (beasts also have strong emotions) and Shrek (unconditional and true love), etc.
Start writing some really good stories on fiction and remember to use only a maximum of six sentences in each paragraph and introduce new words and refrain form using the word ‘said’ every-time. Instead use words like called, informed, cried, reminded, screamed etc. to express the feelings of a particular character. It would take you one week or a year to complete a fiction story, depending on the plot you select and the time you decide to dedicate to it.
Like it? Share it!
Get Updates Right to Your Inbox
Further insights.
Privacy Overview
IMAGES
VIDEO
COMMENTS
Realistic Fiction Story Prompts · 1. Write a story about a character learning that the most important aspect of a relationship isn't what she
20 Realistic Fiction Story Ideas · Write a story about a young woman who discovers she has superpowers and must decide whether to use them for
4 Realistic Fiction Story Ideas · 1. Create a historical work. Realism can be in the past. · 2. Dramatize your personal narrative. · 3. Imagine the
75 Fiction Writing Prompts and Realistic Fiction Writing Prompts · 1. This superhero lives on the streets. · 2. An unknown spacecraft has sent a
15 REALISTIC FICTION WRITING PROMPTS · 1. MISSED CONNECTION - write about one person's quest to find someone they met briefly. · 2. MAKEOVER - write about a grand
200+ Fiction Writing Prompts In the Most Profitable Genres ... tragedy in your life, a deep memoir, magic, advanced science, realistic contemporary stories
Story Ideas for Realistic Fiction · Theme: End of Love · Theme: Starting Over · Theme: Imitation of Life · Theme: Self Discovery · A Good Example of Dehumanization
11 Cards in this Set ; Paul and Jan were walking home from the park and noticed a wallet on the sidewalk. Write a story to tell what happened. No Problem ; One
Fiction Prompts - Ideas for Stories ; a hitchhiker, an allergy, and a mistake in a map. a cemetery, a missing dog, and a joke that goes too far. a Halloween
Realistic Fiction Story Ideas for the Writer in You · Books/Novels. Referring to books, novels, comics is the best way of drawing inspiration and getting story