Fiction Writing Prompts

Whether you are someone who is a beginner in the field of writing or someone who has been writing for a while, there comes a time when they face a mental block and do not know where to start writing the story from. If you are someone who is going through this phase, my personal advice is not to worry too much about it as it happens to every writer (including me!). And my second tip to you is to practice free writing by making use of the prompts given below.

Popular Choices
Ask your friends, family members, neighbors or unknown people, to tell three kinds of stories that they would like to hear or read. If any of the themes or ideas suggested by them inspires the writer, he or she can start writing on the same.

Unknown People as Characters
Sometimes, having some interesting characters for a story can actually motivate the writer to come up with a good storyline. So go to any public place such as a bus stand or a restaurant and observe people there. On finding someone unusual or unique, start writing about them. What they are wearing, what they are eating, whom they are talking to, what are they thinking, what possible reasons are there behind their coming to the restaurant, anything and everything which comes to the mind should be jotted down. Do the same for all the people who look interesting, unusual or fascinating in some way. Creating some interesting characters and then building a story around their life is a different way to begin writing.

Proposed Beginnings and Ends
Another activity is to pick up an inspiring or unusual line and then build a story beginning or ending with it. Here are some examples:

• Elizabeth's daughters gifted her a baby carriage. She was left wondering why on earth would they give her such a gift on her sixtieth birthday?"
• And then he walked towards the same mountain for the last time. This time nobody could change his mind!
• Roger stood bare-chested besides the church. He had been wrong all along and he knew that.
• Finally, she could hope for a better tomorrow. A future free of the dark shadows of her past.
• Love was in the air indeed or how would you explain Evita falling for a rogue like George.
• Everybody in the airplane started to feel their feet melting away. And when they looked down, their feet were indeed gone!

Random Words in a Dictionary
Such writing exercises are very popular in schools. The kids are asked to open the dictionary and write the first word that they see on the page. Similarly, the kids pick four more random words from the dictionary. After that, they are asked to continuously write for ten-fifteen minutes, without taking a break in between. The kids have to ensure that all the words taken from the dictionary, are used in their write-up. Once they are done, the kids are asked to analyze and see whether they are able to build a story around these words. Initially, the aim of this exercise is to keep them writing continuously so even if there is no story, it does not matter. This is one of the fun ways to generate writing prompts for middle school.

Fictional Situations
These situations can be very creatively used to write some good stories. Here's an example - "he saw a flying object in the sky. Was it a UFO, he wondered aloud? Suddenly, he saw it crashing down, right in front of his house! What should he do now, call up somebody or go check it himself or simply mind his own business?" Such situations serve as very good science fiction prompts. So, think of any unusual situation and start building a story around it.

Here's hoping that these prompts will get you going once again. Otherwise, take a break from everything, including writing for a while, relax the mind and visit a picturesque, serene countryside, to find inspiration!