Creative writing prompts are a gold mine for both students and teachers. They can be used to inspire and engage students’ imaginations, and provide teachers with a steady stream of engaging material. As you’ll see from this list, there’s a creative writing prompt for every situation. From general topics (such as nature or food), to more specific ones (like love or death) there’s a topic for every taste. Whether you’re looking for inspiration for a short story, novel, or just need some filler content for your creative writing class, these writing prompts are bound to provide just the right material. Let’s dive in.
General Topics
Here are some of the most common topics that can be used as creative writing prompts:
- Nature
- Location
- Food
- Water
- Weather
- Feminine
- Masculine
- Abstract
- Illness
- Animals
- Arts & Crafts
- Family
- Birds
- Travel
- Flora & Fauna
- Colors
- Odd Number
- Time
- List
- Fiction
- Dictionary
- Antiquities
- Celebrity
- Mythology
- Geography
- Aristocracy
- Polarity
- Numbers
- Biology
- Astronomy
- Music
- Literature
- Animals & Nature
- Aquatic Life
- Pride & Prejudice
- Love & Marriage
- Money & Luxury
- Crime & Punishment
- Adventure
- Autumn
- Winter
- Automatic
- Food & Cooking
- Summer
- Spring
- Holidays
Love & Death
One of the most powerful themes that resonates throughout human history is that of love and death. The themes of love and death are inextricably linked, and can be used as a steady stream of creative writing prompts for your students to explore. Students can use the death of a loved one or a cultural legend as a starting point for their writing. Let’s dig in.
- Mourning & Sorrow
- Sympathy
- Resurrection
- Romantic Love
- Tragedy
- Betrayal
- Jealousy
- Unrequited Love
- Unpredictable Love
- Ambivalence
- Resurrection
- Mad Love
- Redemption
- Hate & Violence
- Repentance
- Forgiveness
- Reconciliation
- Religion
- Tornado
- Natural Disaster
- Drought
- Waterfall
- Volcano
- Earthquake
- Tsunami
- Landslide
- Tropical Storm
- Dust Storm
- Storm Drainage
These are just a small selection of the general topics that you could use as creative writing prompts. There are hundreds of others that you could use, depending on your teaching style. Regardless of what you use, the important thing is that you find content that resonates with your students. It is often the case that popular culture can speak more directly to students than academic subjects, so being alert to the popular culture of your students can help you identify the themes and ideas that they find intriguing. With a little bit of brainstorming and planning, you can ensure that you provide your students with a steady stream of engaging material.
Dictionaries
Another useful tool for creative writing is a dictionary. Students can look up words that they don’t know, and gain insight into the meaning of unfamiliar words and phrases. Additionally, dictionaries can be used to look up words that are relevant to particular themes or concepts that the writer is exploring. For example, if you are writing a creative non-fiction piece about your family, you may look up words such as:
- Matriarchy
- Patriarchy
- Oedipus Complex
- Electra Complex
- Pheromone
- Chiasmus
- Tricycle
- Anaclitic Crisis
- Kinship
- Familiar
- Paparazzi
- Photogenic
As you can see here, dictionaries are a fountain of words and phrases that you can use to inspire your creative writing. Rather than simply listing words that you know students will need to know, use a dictionary to uncover relevant terms that you might not have thought of. Additionally, you can help your students develop their critical thinking skills, as they examine words and their definitions, and come up with their own meanings and connotations.
Location
There are a host of places that you can use as a writing prompt. Some options include:
- A local park
- A wooded area near your school
- A garden
- A deserted building
- A mansion
- A palace
- A museum
- A gallery
- A farm
- A beach
- A cave
- A lighthouse
- A field
- A mountaintop
- A car park
- A boarded-up house
- A tree stump
- A rooftop
- A canal bridge
The important thing to keep in mind here is that no matter where you are, there’s a topic that you can use to spark your students’ imaginations. Inspiration can come from anywhere, and no matter where you find it, you can use it to create something wonderful.
Nature
One of the most effective methods of encouraging your students’ imaginations is to give them material that inspires them. You can use this opportunity to your advantage, by encouraging your students to explore topics such as:
- Wildlife
- Biodiversity
- Sustainability
- Climate Change
- Pollution
- Conservation
- Overpopulation
- Feminine
- Masculine
- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
- Earth Hour
These are all topics that are pertinent to our current environmental concerns. If you teach in an area where there is plenty of nature, you could set a weekly environmental writing assignment, in which your students explore the topic of the environment, and how it specifically impacts them. Additionally, you could use these topics to engage your students in some degree of self-reflection. What is important is that you find a way of raising ecological awareness, while at the same time allowing your students to develop their creative writing skills.