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30 creative writing prompts

Whether you’re a novelist or just enjoy having your own Substack, sometimes you just get stuck and need a little nudge. That’s where writing prompts come in. 

A writing prompt can allow you the freedom to just play with writing again. Without the burden of working with a blank page, you have a starting point – and if the ideas are fun, they can bring out a side of you that you might not normally express out of self-consciousness. 

At first, it can feel a bit awkward – like having a creative writing task in school. But as soon as you relax and just indulge it, your creativity can start to flow and you can ease your way out of your block. 

These are just a few ideas to get you started. The best creative writing prompts are specific, relevant, and challenging. They should also be something that you are interested in writing about.

Even if they’re not usable, they could spark an idea for something else – so keep an open mind and give them a try.

  1. You wake up one day and everyone else in the world has disappeared. What do you do?
  2. You find a magic lamp and rub it. A genie pops out and grants you three wishes. What do you wish for?
  3. You are transported back in time to the year 1000. How do you survive?
  4. You are transported into the future and see a world that is very different from your own. What is it like?
  5. You are given the power to read minds. What do you do with your new power?
  6. You are able to fly. Where do you go first?
  7. You can turn invisible. What do you do with your new power?
  8. You can shapeshift into any animal. What animal do you choose and why
  9. You can stop time. What do you do with your new power?
  10. You can travel through dreams. What do you see?
  11. You can communicate with animals. What do you learn from them?
  12. You can read the future. How do you use your new power?
  13. You can rewind time. What do you change?
  14. You can create anything you imagine. What do you create?
  15. You can bring people back from the dead. Who do you bring back and why?
  16. You can erase someone’s memory. Who do you erase and why?
  17. You can control the weather. What do you do with your new power?
  18. You can control gravity. What do you do with your new power?
  19. You can control minds. What do you do with your new power?
  20. You can create wormholes. Where do you go?
  21. You can travel to parallel universes. What do you find?
  22. You can become immortal. How do you use your new life?
  23. You can shapeshift into any person. Who do you become and why?
  24. You can bring back extinct animals. Which animals do you bring back and why?
  25. You can create a new planet. What does it look like and who lives there?
  26. You can solve any problem. What problem do you solve and how?
  27. You can bring peace to the world. How do you do it?
  28. You can create a utopia. What does it look like and who lives there?
  29. You can create a dystopia. What does it look like and who lives there?
  30. You can write your own story. What is it about?

Once you’ve done your creative spree, don’t forget to use Readable to proofread your work. This way, you can have a more objective view about how easily your piece of writing flows – and how the average audience will receive it.