These optional prompts are meant to inspire creative thinking. They are intended as a guide and can be interpreted in many ways. We encourage experimentation with different types of creating writing, including poetry, short stories, nonfiction, plays, comic strips, and narrative essays. Have fun! We look forward to seeing what you come up with.
Write about a ship or other vehicle that can take you somewhere different from where you are now.
Write about something ugly — war, fear, hate, or cruelty – but find the silver lining in it.
Write about what you think it means to be strong.
Write a poem or short story inspired by the phrase “mirror image.”
Write about someone who is sleep-deprived.
Write about a road trip.
We’ve seen cute and cuddly dragons, mean and vicious dragons, and noble dragons. Write about a different kind of dragon.
Write about when you have felt most alone.
Write a scene or story involving a grandparent.
Write about a ghost.
Write about a time that somebody close to you surprised you – for better or for worse.
Write about a first. Your first time learning how to ride a bike, your first heartbreak, first love, first time failing a test, etc.
Write about a fantasy that you had as a child.
Write about a complex familial relationship.
Write a short story that uses only monosyllabic words.
Write a short story in 25 words or fewer.
Write a short story or poem using the words from a pop song.
Create a written or visual work that uses words from the opening line of “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
Write a short story or poem that is set in the forest at night.
Write a poem that makes use of verbal irony (eg. puns or words/phrases with double meanings).
Write a poem that describes music.
How would you describe snow to a blind person?
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