Writing Prompt Index

Here you can find all of our current and past Writing Prompts. By clicking on a writing prompt title you can view what members wrote, or you can write a post yourself! If you missed a writing prompt when it was current, don't let that stop you from posting something now!

Dec 30, 2018	2018 Today, write a short update about your year. You can be silly or serious. What are some things you've learned or accomplished in the last 12 months? What are some goals for the next 12?
Dec 23, 2018	Christmas animals Merry Christmas! Today, try writing about a traditional Christmas story from the perspective of one of the many animals involved. Whether a sheep belonging to one of the shepherds, a camel of the magi, or a reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh -- how might things look from their vantage point?
Dec 16, 2018	Christmas Carol First Line Use the first line of a Christmas carol as the first line of a poem or short story.
Dec 9, 2018	Be a Tree What would it be like to be rooted to the ground? To wave in the breeze? To be a home for whatever animals could find a place on you?
Dec 2, 2018	Christmas Haiku Write a haiku that has something to do with the Christmas season -- whether about the sights and sounds, anticipation, or special traditions. Remember, a haiku is three lines long -- the first and third have five syllables, and the middle line has seven.
Nov 25, 2018	One Month Away With Christmas one month away, people are already busy putting up decorations, sending out Christmas cards, preparing for parties, and buying gifts for friends and family members.
Nov 18, 2018	A Feast In the United States, this Thursday is remembered as Thanksgiving, a day to give thanks for the blessings of this life.
Nov 11, 2018	Veterans Day November 11th is variously celebrated as Armistice Day, Veterans Day, or Remembrance Day.
Oct 28, 2018	Halloween Haiku It's almost Halloween! Write a haiku (or a few) that describes some aspect of the holiday that you enjoy -- trick-or-treating, parties, pumpkin carving, costumes, decorations, etc.
Oct 21, 2018	Anxiety Writing has the power to evoke -- to help us experience certain emotions and feelings even without mentioning them explicitly.
Oct 14, 2018	Potions One fun part of the Harry Potter books is when the ingredients and outcomes of specific magical potions are described.
Oct 7, 2018	Election Haiku Write a haiku about the election process. Do you want to express frustration with the process? Could you write a political ad succinct enough to be a haiku?
Sep 30, 2018	Personal Assistant Imagine you had the funds to hire a personal assistant.
Sep 23, 2018	Shuffle Line Put your music player on shuffle (or just listen for the next song that comes on the radio) and take note of the first line on the first song that plays.
Sep 16, 2018	Interview Write an interview you conduct with someone.
Sep 9, 2018	A Recipe Recipes usually involve food or crafts of some sort.
Sep 2, 2018	Memory Movie In a dream, a wizard leads you to a place of memories, where everything you've ever seen has been recorded on video. You're given the option to pick five minutes of any memory to experience again. What would you choose and why?
Aug 26, 2018	Secrets Write about a secret you are keeping or have kept. Don't give it away, but focus on why and how you kept it and/or what it felt like to keep it for as long as you did/have.
Aug 19, 2018	Endings and Beginnings A well-known line in Semisonic's song "Closing Time" says, "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."
Aug 12, 2018	Shadowing You've just been informed that tomorrow you must "shadow" someone for the entire day -- follow them around at their job and activities and observe everything that they do.
Aug 5, 2018	Happy Birthday! In honor of the FMOF administrator's birthday today, write a birthday poem for someone.
Jul 29, 2018	Missed Connections Write a "missed connection" ad (a la Craigslist) for an encounter between two people, where one of them is trying to find and reconnect with the other.
Jul 22, 2018	How-to Think of something you know how to do. It could be something unique, or something ridiculously mundane and easy.
Jul 15, 2018	The First Time I Saw... Think of someone important to you, and write about the first time you ever saw them. Did you instantly connect, or was the first meeting more benign?
Jul 8, 2018	The Birds You're sitting at your desk absorbed in some work, when you notice some activity out the window. As you pull up the shade, you notice birds -- big ones, little ones, all different colors and shapes, flying away in large groups, and all going in the same direction. You look around, and then go to check the window on the other side of the house.
Jul 1, 2018	Freedom in a Few Words Write a haiku (or several) that conveys an image of what freedom looks like to you.
Jun 24, 2018	The Future Is Now Think about the community you live in, and come up with one thing about it that you wish would be improved within the next ten years (whether social, legal, geographic, etc.).
Jun 17, 2018	Thunderstorm As I look at our local weather forecast, I see that on Monday we're expected to have temperatures in the nineties, high humidity, with thunderstorms likely.
Jun 10, 2018	No more pencils, no more books... When I was a child, at the end of the school year students would gleefully recite rude little poems like "No more pencils/no more books/no more teachers' dirty looks." Of course, these poems did nothing toward expressing how much our teachers positively impacted our lives.
Jun 3, 2018	Extraordinary Nature As I sit here writing this, the wind is blowing, and the neighbor's maple tree is shedding its "helicopters" (the aerodynamic seeds that flutter and spin in the wind). It's a remarkable mechanism for spreading seed.
May 27, 2018	Memorial Day Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for people who died serving in the armed services. Often on Memorial Day, there will be a reading of "In Flanders Fields"
May 20, 2018	Silly Creature My son loves inventing silly creatures. His creatures sometimes have many eyes. or giant teeth that are bigger than its body.
May 13, 2018	Hopes Have you ever had one of your hopes or dreams fulfilled? Have you ever had a hope dashed and destroyed?
May 6, 2018	Writing and Rhyming in May Some words (like 'orange' and 'purple') don't have many rhyming or near-rhyming pairs. Other words (like 'May') have many.
Apr 29, 2018	Funny Poem After last week's elegy topic, it might be nice to lighten things up a bit. While poetry has a long history of use for laments, unrequited love, and other sad topics, it has also long been used for humor. Humorous poems sometimes use forms like the limerick, but often they are just short and punchy. A lot of children's poetry also aims for humor, such as the work of Shel Silverstein (which is of course good for any age!).
Apr 22, 2018	Elegy An elegy is typically a poem that deals with loss, and specifically references the poet's thoughts and feelings on the subject. While elegies are usually somber and can be about death, they do not have to be -- other serious, meditative topics can be covered as well. From the definition on Wikipedia: "For all of its pervasiveness, however, the ‘elegy’ remains remarkably ill-defined: sometimes used as a catch-all to denominate texts of a somber or pessimistic tone, sometimes as a marker for textual monumentalizing, and sometimes strictly as a sign of a lament for the dead."
Apr 15, 2018	Simile "My love is like a red, red rose..." (Burns)
Apr 8, 2018	National Poetry Month April is National Poetry Month, and also National Poetry *Writing* Month! It's a splendid time to check out a book of poetry from your local library, do a google search of your favorite poet's works, or work on writing and polishing some poems of your own.
Apr 1, 2018	Easter Traditions Egg hunts, Easter baskets, special foods, books, songs, or church services -- just some of the many things that people do to observe Easter. Does your family have any Easter traditions that are special to you? Do you have memorable ones from your childhood? Or, what kind of Easter tradition might you be interested in starting now or in the future?
Mar 25, 2018	Eggs It's that time of the year when eggs are everywhere -- in stores, stories, nests, Easter baskets.
Mar 18, 2018	A Blessing "May the road rise up to meet you.
Mar 11, 2018	Your Name Most of us probably know the meaning of our first name. Whether your name has roots in an ancient language or was simply invented by your parents, it means something to you. What if you could write a different meaning for your name?
Mar 4, 2018	Spring Tanka We've done many haiku writing prompts already. A "tanka" is similar to a haiku -- in fact, it includes a haiku (3 lines -- 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables), but includes two additional lines at the end with 7 syllables in each.
Feb 25, 2018	Overheard You're walking down the street and you pass by two people who are having a conversation. All you hear as you go by is one person saying to the other, "I don't think it will fit in my garage." You wonder what they're talking about -- something mundane, or more unusual?
Feb 18, 2018	President's Day In the US, Monday is President's Day. Who is your favorite president, either in the current era or the past? Write a paragraph telling why this president is important to you.
Feb 11, 2018	Fish out of Water In the past year there have been many news stories about people displaced from their homeland.relief organizations say we currently have record-breaking numbers of people displaced due to war, famine, or disease. It's hard to imagine what life is like for someone who has to leave everything behind.
Feb 4, 2018	Rewrite a Fairy Tale It's fun to take an existing story (a fairy tale, a fable, or some other well known tale) and revise it - either by changing the characters, the setting, or the conclusion.
Jan 28, 2018	Favorite Month What is your favorite month of the year? Is it your favorite because of the weather? Because of the holidays that occur? Or for some other reason?
Jan 21, 2018	Acrostic An acrostic is a piece of writing (it could be a poem, but doesn't have to be) in which the first letter of each line spells out a word, a phrase, or even the alphabet.
Jan 14, 2018	Lament Sometimes we can be so set on trying to be "positive" and happy, that we try to brush away negative feelings without acknowledging them.
Jan 7, 2018	New For the first writing prompt of the new year, find something in your house or neighborhood (or maybe your house or neighborhood itself!) that's old, and think about what it must have been like when it was new.
Dec 31, 2017	New Year's Eve Happy New Year! Many of us, aware that there is always room for improvement, are ringing in the new year with resolutions about how to be better in the coming year.
Dec 24, 2017	Christmas Eve Christmas Eve can be a time of great anticipation. Many families get together on this day, and many children look forward to Christmas morning as it approaches.
Dec 17, 2017	Misfit Toys You're on the Island of Misfit Toys featured in the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer TV special.
Dec 10, 2017	Christmas Shopping Probably most of us buy or make Christmas presents for friends and family during this time of year. But there are different constraints, such as time and money, that limit what we can give them.
Dec 3, 2017	Hibernation Many animals, such as black bears, hibernate during the winter. Do you ever wish you could hibernate?
Nov 26, 2017	Paving Materials You wake up one morning and look outside to see what all the commotion is about. You are surprised to discover that overnight, the roads have changed from asphalt to a completely different paving material.
Nov 19, 2017	Thanksgiving Fibonacci This week, people in the United States will celebrate Thanksgiving -- a time to gather with family and reflect on what we're thankful for (as well as to eat a lot and watch football).
Nov 19, 2017	Thanksgiving Fibonacci This week, people in the United States will celebrate Thanksgiving -- a time to gather with family and reflect on what we're thankful for (as well as to eat a lot and watch football).
Nov 12, 2017	A Recipe for You You've probably all heard the old-fashioned rhymes about children: girls are made of "sugar and spice and everything nice" while boys are made of "rats and snails and puppy-dog tails."
Nov 5, 2017	New Tool You're the owner of a hardware store, and your shelves are full of hammers, nails, wrenches, screws, saw blades, brackets, bolts, and all kinds of other tools. But you've just received a shipment of something brand new, that's never been sold there before.
Oct 29, 2017	Villain Academy Imagine that all your favorite fairy tale/fictional villains attended a villain academy before finding their roles in their stories.
Oct 22, 2017	House Fire Your house is on fire! Let's imagine that all other people, pets, and electronics (phones, computers) have been evacuated from the building and you have the chance to save only one other object before leaving.
Oct 15, 2017	Weather Factory The children's picture book Sector 7 by David Wiesner is about a boy who makes friends with a cloud, and is then brought up to visit the large, secret cloud assignment station in the sky.
Oct 8, 2017	Seasons We sometimes have different names for seasons. For example, sometimes we call this current season "autumn," while other times we call it "fall."
Oct 1, 2017	Childhood Friend We have many ways of keeping in contact with people these days, but for today, think of a childhood friend that you haven't kept in contact with since childhood. Maybe one of you moved away, or you just ended up at different schools or took different paths in life.
Sep 24, 2017	Going on Strike! That's it -- you've had it with your job! You've decided to go on strike.
Sep 17, 2017	Professor Surprise You're sitting in your first college class ever. You're a bit nervous to start something new, but you feel you are prepared for the challenge. Suddenly, the class looks to the door of the room as the professor enters. You are shocked! Your new professor is none other than...
Sep 10, 2017	Talking Portrait One detail in J.K. Rowling's world of Harry Potter is that portraits of people can move and even talk.
Sep 3, 2017	Back to School Haiku What are some of the best and most lasting things you learned in school? Or maybe your favorite school experiences involved friendships rather than specific subjects.
Aug 27, 2017	A Strange Job What is one job that sounds the least appealing to you -- sewage maintenance? Slaughterhouse? Personal assistant to a celebrity? Or you could make something up.
Aug 20, 2017	Superhero Resume Your local bureau of secret superheroes is hiring! You haven't had work in months, and need this job.
Aug 13, 2017	Pet Store Fantasy You take your young child to the pet shop for their birthday. You're hoping they'll pick out something small like a gerbil or a goldfish. They wander around the store until they come to a hallway at the very back, and enter through a curtain that leads them to another hallway with a strange noise echoing down it. You follow them around the corner and there, in a cage right before your eyes, is a...
Aug 6, 2017	Famous Chef You're a world-famous chef who works in a world-famous restaurant, and you are about to unveil your newest dish to the world. This night has been booked for six months.
Jul 30, 2017	Happy Birthday! We all know the "Happy Birthday" song that gets sung at parties. But doesn't that get old after a while?
Jul 23, 2017	News Story Pick an event from your life -- it could be major or fairly innocuous -- and write about it as if you were reporting it as a story in the news.
Jul 16, 2017	Night at the Museum E.L. Konigsburg's book From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler tells the story of two siblings who hide out for a few days at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Jul 9, 2017	A Life-Saving Poem You're hiking in the woods one day when you're captured by a group of gnomes. They take you back to their underground city where you meet the king of the gnomes. He says "I will release you only if you write me a poem about how great I am. Otherwise you will remain here forever."
Jul 2, 2017	An Unusual Letter You walk to the mailbox one afternoon and get your mail. There's a bill and some flyers, but suddenly a large envelope catches your eye. It's addressed to you and decorated in garish colors and symbols.
Jun 25, 2017	Acceptance Speech You are sitting in a crowded auditorium when the person on the stage announces that the winner of the _____ Award is... you!
Jun 18, 2017	Fiction in the Real World It's 7 a.m. on a Saturday morning, and you're suddenly awakened by someone frantically ringing your doorbell. You rouse yourself and trudge to the door, a bit apprehensive about who this could be. You grab the knob and pull open the door, and there on your doorstep stands... one of your favorite fictional characters!
Jun 11, 2017	Dream House You won the lottery and took off to a distant location for a couple years, during which time you used your winnings to build your dream house.
Jun 4, 2017	A Better Place "The world would be a much better place for all of us if..."
May 28, 2017	Memoir Opener You've reached the ripe old age of ninety, and have decided it's time to write your memoirs.
May 21, 2017	A Good Excuse Your boss gave you a deadline to finish your latest project. It's not done. But she says you can get an extension if you have a good excuse. Fortunately, your boss also has a good sense of humor.
May 14, 2017	Letter of Appreciation Write a letter to someone in your past (or present) who has loved, encouraged, taught, or helped you in any way, big or small.
May 7, 2017	Famous on the Phone You're sitting in your house when the phone rings. You answer, and are shocked to hear the voice of a famous person (and not a recording either) asking for you by name.
Apr 30, 2017	Poetry Month: Headline Poem Welcome to the FMOF celebration of poetry month. This month we will have some fun poetry writing prompts for you. Don't take yourself too seriously; just enjoy writing!
Apr 23, 2017	Poetry Month: Constant Consonant Welcome to the FMOF celebration of poetry month. This month we will have some fun poetry writing prompts for you. Don't take yourself too seriously; just enjoy writing!
Apr 16, 2017	Poetry Month: First and Last Welcome to the FMOF celebration of poetry month. This month we will have some fun poetry writing prompts for you. Don't take yourself too seriously; just enjoy writing!
Apr 9, 2017	Poetry Month: Love Poem Welcome to the FMOF celebration of poetry month. This month we will have some fun poetry writing prompts for you. Don't take yourself too seriously; just enjoy writing!
Apr 2, 2017	Poetry Month: Grab Bag Surprise Welcome to the FMOF celebration of poetry month. This month we will have some fun poetry writing prompts for you. Don't take yourself too seriously; just enjoy writing!
Mar 26, 2017	Last Line Writing Prompt In a "Last Line" writing prompt, we give you the last line of a story, and it is your job to write the rest of the story.
Mar 19, 2017	Idiomatic Origins Phrases like "the straw that broke the camel's back," "raining cats and dogs," and "close, but no cigar" are idiomatic expressions - expressions that convey a meaning other than their literal sense.
Mar 12, 2017	Muddy March? Massive mounds of melting snow metamorphose into messy, mucky mud, making most mortals miserable.
Mar 5, 2017	A Silly Dinosaur My son enjoys drawing dinosaurs, and often asks me to draw them as well. One time he asked me to draw a "silly dinosaur," so I drew a dinosaur with broccoli growing out of his back, and named him "Broccolisaurus."
Feb 26, 2017	Blizzard! I am a part time school teacher (Mondays and Wednesdays are my teaching days), but this year, because of a spate of big snowstorms, I've only taught two days this month.
Feb 19, 2017	Forgotten Everyone has stories about forgetting things. Last week, for instance, I forgot to create a new writing prompt until Sunday morning, so some of you didn't find a new prompt when you visited the site early Sunday.
Feb 12, 2017	Valentine Origin Story "I have a date for Valentine's Day. It's the same date I always have: February 14th!"
Feb 5, 2017	Punxsutawney Phil Will it be a long winter? A short winter? Apparently it's up to a groundhog to make that decision for us.
Jan 29, 2017	First Line Writing Prompt A "First Line" writing prompt is a writing prompt in which we give you a starting sentence, and you have to complete the story.
Jan 22, 2017	Winter Poem This week's writing prompt is very open-ended. Pick an aspect of winter, pick a poetry form, and combine the two.
Jan 15, 2017	Unearned Suffering is Redemptive Tomorrow in the United States we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day. King was a civil rights activist. His famous "I Have a Dream" speech contains the following line: "Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive."
Jan 8, 2017	Snowbound As I'm writing this, we just finished shoveling out from a two-foot blizzard. I'm grateful for snowplows and snowblowers, and recognize that I'm a bit spoiled compared to previous generations.
Jan 1, 2017	Disappointment As a child I heard people talk about "the ball dropping" on New Year's Eve. The first time I saw it happen, I was horribly disappointed, because I had supposed it would be a giant ball in free-fall, crashing into the ground. The reality did not live up to my expectations.
Dec 25, 2016	Scattered Images Christmas week is probably a tough week to find time for writing, so this week the goal is to - as quickly as possible - put down sentences, phrases, and ideas that give a good picture of what Christmas was like for you.
Dec 18, 2016	Christmas Toy Every year there is one toy that every child wants to have, and stores will sell out with days left until Christmas, leaving parents in a panic.
Dec 11, 2016	Christmas Rewrite Think of a favorite childhood Christmas song, and create a parody of it. Maybe you'll turn Rudolf into a moose, Santa into an oompa-loompa, or Frosty into a Christmas Sasquatch.
Dec 4, 2016	Toddler Conversation In our house, some of our most laugh-inducing moments involve things that our kids (both under the age of five) tell us or ask us about.
Nov 27, 2016	Thanksgiving in Retrospect We often have writing prompts about giving thanks during the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. This week we'd like to write about the Thanksgiving holiday you just experienced.
Nov 20, 2016	Pilgrimage The Pilgrims were called pilgrims because they were on a pilgrimage, or journey. There are many types of pilgrimages, and although the word often carries the idea of a religious journey, it does not have to be religious; it is a journey to a place associated with someone or something well known or respected.
Nov 13, 2016	Thanksgiving Acrostic Since Thanksgiving is just around the corner, let's try our hand at writing a Thanksgiving Acrostic. An acrostic is poetry or prose in which a certain letter appears in each line.
Nov 6, 2016	Rich vs. Poor In the Biblical book of James, James writes this: "the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position; and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation." (James 1:9-10)
Oct 30, 2016	I'm a Jack-o-Lantern Every year children (and grown-ups) carve pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns to decorate their home.
Oct 23, 2016	Historical Event Pick an event from history that you've always found interesting, and write about that event. Use your own creativity to fill in details of the event.
Oct 16, 2016	Faith Often our writers will write about their own faith/religion (or lack thereof), but we've never had a writing prompt specifically about faith.
Oct 9, 2016	Blank Fall Verse Blank verse has a specific meter, but no rhyme, which makes it a little easier to rhyme than rhyming poetry. Blank verse often written in Iambic Pentameter, though that is not absolutely required.
Oct 2, 2016	Book Review Have you read any good books lately? If not, you should! Reading great books may inspire you and give you insight into writing.
Sep 25, 2016	Presidential Debate With the presidential debates coming up, what are the subjects you'd like to see addressed?
Sep 18, 2016	School Haiku Haiku is poetry with a sequence of five, seven, and five syllables, often with the last line of the poem forcing the reader to look at the previous lines in a different perspective.
Sep 11, 2016	My Summer Vacation One of the first assignments many students have to do upon their return to school in the fall is writing an essay titled, "What I did during my summer vacation."
Sep 4, 2016	Course Syllabus School is beginning, and students are eager (maybe) to learn. For this week, you are the teacher. But you're not teaching a "traditional" class. No, you are going to invent your very own course.
Aug 28, 2016	Summer is Almost Over Summer is drawing to a close, and fall is almost here.
Aug 21, 2016	Fantasy Names Different people enjoy different elements of writing fictional stories. Some enjoy the technical elements of the plot, while others prefer writing about scene details or conversations. One perk of inventing a fantasy world (or writing about a futuristic time period) is that you get to invent names for your characters that no one has ever heard before.
Aug 14, 2016	Missed Connections Some websites with local sections allow users to post "missed connections" -- messages to people they saw or encountered in which they were unable (or chose not to) formally meet and/or exchange contact information.
Aug 7, 2016	Me in a Museum I wonder how many people who are featured in museums knew they would be honored in such a way. Betsy Ross may not have known just how much she was making history when she sewed the American flag. Ancient peoples had no idea that their tools and everyday artifacts would one day end up in museums for all of us to look at.
Jul 31, 2016	Obituary An obituary is a way of summarizing the life and accomplishments of a person who has recently died, as well as mentioning the close family members who have predeceased and survived them.
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Jul 17, 2016	Last Line Writing Prompt We've occasionally done "first line" writing prompts, in which we give you a starting line, and ask you to finish the story or poem. This time, however, we're going to do it backwards, by giving you the last line.
Jul 10, 2016	Creature from the Depths! During the summer months, families will be visiting oceans, lakes and ponds. Everyone will play on the beach, dip their feet in the waves, or go for a swim. But what kinds of horrible creatures might rise up from the depths to ruin your quiet day at the beach?
Jul 3, 2016	Alternate History One of the more popular pieces of writing on this site is an alternate history story about George Washington: George Washington's Secret Hobby.
Jun 26, 2016	Very Punny A pun is a play on words, in which two similar (or identical) sounding words are used to produce a humorous result. For example, If a forester is not getting enough clients, his business would need to branch out. This double-pun takes advantage of the similarity of "would" and "wood", plus the multiple definitions of "branch."
Jun 19, 2016	Summer Quatrain A quatrain is a series of four lines of poetry, typically with rhymes on alternating lines. (Here is an article explaining more about quatrains: Quatrains).
Jun 12, 2016	Ice Cream Flavor Summer is upon us, and roadside ice cream stands are opening everywhere. If you were able to create your own flavor, what would it be?
Jun 5, 2016	Killing the Adjectives C.S. Lewis once cautioned writers to be careful of overusing adjectives. "Instead of telling us the thing is 'terrible' describe it so that we'll be terrified. Don't say it was 'delightful'; make us say 'delightful' when we've read the description."
May 29, 2016	Death by Adjective C.S. Lewis once cautioned writers to be careful of overusing adjectives. "Instead of telling us the thing is 'terrible' describe it so that we'll be terrified. Don't say it was 'delightful'; make us say 'delightful' when we've read the description."
May 22, 2016	Lost and Found When people lose something important to them, they may put an advertisement in a paper, or put posters around town, in hopes of finding the lost item.
May 15, 2016	Rhyming Rhyme Have you ever tried to write a poem in which every line ends with the same rhyme? It can be a good challenge to your poetry writing skills.
May 8, 2016	Alliterative Paragraph Alliteration is the repetition of the same sound at the beginning adjacent or closely connected words. For example, "Timmy Tiger talked triumphantly about tennis."
May 1, 2016	M'aidez Today is May 1st, a day that is often referred to as "May Day" - a day of dancing, feasting, and singing. Interestingly, the French word "M'aidez" (which is pronounced the same as "May Day") has become the international distress signal.
Apr 24, 2016	Inanimate Object Think of an ordinary, inanimate object that you use on a regular basis, such as a coffee mug, a chair, a computer, or your house.
Apr 17, 2016	First Line Writing Prompt Write a poem or a story that uses the following as its first line. If you are writing a poem, you may tweak the wording to fit whatever meter you are using.
Apr 10, 2016	Spring Haiku We can't celebrate the return of spring without asking for a seasonal haiku!
Apr 3, 2016	A Day for Fools! April 1st is referred to as "April Fools' Day" (even though it is not an official holiday anywhere in the world). It is a day for tricking people with practical jokes and hoaxes.
Mar 27, 2016	My National Holiday If you were going to create a new national holiday, what would it be, and why?
Mar 20, 2016	Mud Season? Where I live, we joke that between winter and spring there is another season called "Mud Season."
Mar 13, 2016	Leprechaun Trap According to some Irish folklore, if a leprechaun is trapped, he is required to either grant three wishes, or to speak truthfully when asked questions like, "Where do you keep your treasure?"
Mar 6, 2016	New Appliance Invention New things are being invented all the time to make our daily lives easier. Or maybe they're invented to get us to spend our money.
Feb 28, 2016	Literary Mashup What would happen if characters from two different stories met up? What would they talk about? What would they do?
Feb 21, 2016	Falling from the Sky As I write this writing prompt, the snow is falling outside, and I find myself wondering, is there anything else I'd rather have fall from the sky instead of snow? Rain? Meatballs?
Feb 14, 2016	I Love You Today is Valentine's Day, a day for celebrating love and romance (and for spending money on candy and flowers)!
Feb 7, 2016	Presidents! We're halfway between the Iowa Caucus and Presidents' Day, so let's get a little bit political this week.
Jan 31, 2016	Technical Writing My eleventh grade English teacher required each of his students to write "how to" essays - essays that explained in very clear terms how to perform everyday tasks like tying shoes, organizing books on a book shelf, changing batteries in a flashlight, or baking a loaf of bread.
Jan 24, 2016	Celebrity Eulogy In recent weeks there have been several celebrity deaths due to cancer - David Bowie, Alan Rickman, and Dan Haggerty.
Jan 17, 2016	Martin Luther King Jr. Monday this week is Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the United States. We celebrate his life, and the gains he helped bring about in the civil rights movement.
Jan 10, 2016	Grab Bag with Topic In case you didn't know, we have a "Grab Bag" feature on the site, which lets you choose one or more random words to include in your writing. This writing prompt makes use of the "Grab Bag," but additionally, you have an assigned topic.
Jan 3, 2016	2016 Survival Guide I recently saw an article in which a columnist made 10 predictions about social and political events in 2016. What do you think the year 2016 will hold for us all?
Dec 27, 2015	Post Christmas Song For a month and a half, we've been hearing Christmas songs, both sacred and secular wherever we go. But there ought to be a song for the week AFTER Christmas!
Dec 20, 2015	Advent Themes - Part Four Churches around the world celebrate the Advent Season - a time of anticipation leading up to the celebration of the Nativity. For many, the celebration revolves around these four themes: hope, peace, joy, and love.
Dec 13, 2015	Advent Themes - Part Three Churches around the world celebrate the Advent Season - a time of anticipation leading up to the celebration of the Nativity. For many, the celebration revolves around these four themes: hope, peace, joy, and love.
Dec 6, 2015	Advent Themes - Part Two Churches around the world celebrate the Advent Season - a time of anticipation leading up to the celebration of the Nativity. For many, the celebration revolves around these four themes: hope, peace, joy, and love.
Nov 29, 2015	Advent Themes - Part One Churches around the world celebrate the Advent Season - a time of anticipation leading up to the celebration of the Nativity. For many, the celebration revolves around these four themes: hope, peace, joy, and love.
Nov 22, 2015	Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on the many gifts and blessings we have received in life.
Nov 15, 2015	Thanksgiving - Wildlife Perspective Thanksgiving time is great for us humans, but what about all those berries, fruits, grains and game that we gobble down in large quantities; how do you think they feel about the feast?
Nov 8, 2015	First Line "Kevin woke up that morning to a strange hooting sound coming from his front lawn. He opened his door and saw..."
Nov 1, 2015	Surprising Rhymes Currently one of my favorite song writers is a man named Andrew Peterson, who has a penchant for putting rhymes in surprising places. On his most recent album, he has this line: "I want to say I'm sorry that I drew the line/I built the wall, the fault is mine." It's easy to see the line/mine rhyme, but when you listen to it, you realize that "wall" and "fault" have a strong slant-rhyme function.
Oct 25, 2015	New Military Branch According to military.com, our military is made up of five armed service branches: Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Navy. But what if there was another? Maybe the Unicorn Riders? Or the Tech Brigade?
Oct 18, 2015	Poetry in the Style of Dr. Seuss I love reading Dr. Seuss books to my little boy - especially "Fox in Socks" and "One Fish, Two Fish."
Oct 11, 2015	Recipe for Disaster Do you enjoy cooking? Do you like to follow other peoples' recipes, or invent your own?
Oct 4, 2015	New Coffee Flavor! Nobody seems to be satisfied with plain, simple coffee any more. New flavors spring up like weeds. Can you invent your own flavor?
Sep 27, 2015	Fall Limerick Often we ask people to write sonnets, haiku, or quatrain's about Fall. Somehow, it seems fitting to have a "serious" poetic form when talking about fall.
Sep 20, 2015	Elect Me! In many schools, students run for office in their class - class president, treasurer, etc.
Sep 13, 2015	Stream of Consciousness Stream of consciousness is a phrase used to describe the flow of a person's thoughts in response to events and stimuli. It is also used to describe a literary device in which a character's narrative appears to be stream of consciousness.
Sep 6, 2015	In the Mind of an Infant Have you ever wondered what goes on in the mind of a baby?
Aug 30, 2015	In the Elevator We're back, after a summer away from creative new writing prompts each week. Now it's time to get back into the swing of writing! Here's our first new writing prompt for the fall:
Aug 23, 2015	Summer of Current Events #11 Open your favorite newspaper or news site and pick an article from the front page. Now pick one of the following:
Aug 16, 2015	Summer of Current Events #10 Open your favorite newspaper or news site and pick an article from the front page. Now pick one of the following:
Aug 9, 2015	Summer of Current Events #9 Open your favorite newspaper or news site and pick an article from the front page. Now pick one of the following:
Aug 2, 2015	Summer of Current Events #8 Open your favorite newspaper or news site and pick an article from the front page. Now pick one of the following:
Jul 26, 2015	Summer of Current Events #7 Open your favorite newspaper or news site and pick an article from the front page. Now pick one of the following:
Jul 19, 2015	Summer of Current Events #6 Open your favorite newspaper or news site and pick an article from the front page. Now pick one of the following:
Jul 12, 2015	Summer of Current Events #5 Open your favorite newspaper or news site and pick an article from the front page. Now pick one of the following:
Jul 5, 2015	Summer of Current Events #4 Open your favorite newspaper or news site and pick an article from the front page. Now pick one of the following:
Jun 28, 2015	Summer of Current Events #3 Open your favorite newspaper or news site and pick an article from the front page. Now pick one of the following:
Jun 21, 2015	Summer of Current Events #2 Open your favorite newspaper or news site and pick an article from the front page. Now pick one of the following:
Jun 14, 2015	Summer of Current Events Open your favorite newspaper or news site and pick an article from the front page. Now pick one of the following:
Jun 7, 2015	Graduation Haiku Last week's writing prompt was to write a keynote address for a graduation. Keynote addresses are often wordy, so now we want you to go the other direction: succinct!
May 31, 2015	Keynote Address Graduation season is upon us. High schools and colleges everywhere have lined up famous or beloved speakers to address the graduates on the special occasion.
May 24, 2015	Bridget from Card Serives We constantly get scam calls from "Bridget" or "Rachel" or someone else at the fictitious "Card Services" (ask them, sometime where they're located, and see how long it takes before they hang up!)
May 17, 2015	City Council Write a letter to your city council, trying to persuade them that the city needs a new ____ (you fill in the blank...hospital? playground? homeless shelter?)
May 10, 2015	Won't You Be My Neighbor? Your neighbor has been dumping his dead leaves in your yard. Or maybe his teenage son's garage band has been playing at 2:00 in the morning. Or maybe his yard looks like a cross between a hurricane and a junk yard.
May 3, 2015	Rejection Letter You are an employer who has just interviewed someone for a position. The only problem is, the application had absolutely none of the skills required to do the job.
Apr 26, 2015	National Poetry Writing Month: Riddle Poems "Thirty white horses on a red hill/First they champ/Then they stamp/Then they stand still." This is an example of a riddle poem in which the poem is used to disguise the nature of the object described. In this case, the answer to the riddle is: teeth!
Apr 19, 2015	National Poetry Writing Month: Acrostic Poem In an acrostic poem, the first letter of each line can be used to spell out a word. The word should be in some way related to the theme of your poem.
Apr 12, 2015	National Poetry Writing Month: Grab Bag Poem Answer the questions below, and then incorporate your answers into a single poem.
Apr 5, 2015	National Poetry Writing Month: Couplet Poems A couplet's a poetic pair of lines/That share a common meter, and that rhyme.
Mar 29, 2015	April Fools! April First is a day to play pranks on friends and family.
Mar 22, 2015	Nursery Rhyme With a toddler and a newborn in the house, we're always re-inventing nursery rhymes, often to give our children a starring role in them (in our versions, it was Toby, not Yankee Doodle who went to town, and who sat on a wall).
Mar 15, 2015	Ides of March March 15th (the Ides of March) is remembered as the day of Julius Caesar's assassination. "Beware the Ides of March," a soothsayer warned him, but the warning made no difference.
Mar 8, 2015	Boredom Write a poem or story from the perspective of a child who is always bored.
Mar 1, 2015	Generosity II Corinthians 9:6 states, "He which sows sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which sows bountifully shall reap also bountifully."
Feb 22, 2015	First Sentence Write a poem or short story that begins with the line below (if writing a poem, feel free to modify it to fit a rhythm/rhyme pattern).
Feb 15, 2015	Drifting Snow As I write this, snow is coming down, swirling and blowing in the wind.
Feb 8, 2015	Reboot! Hollywood's propensity for "rebooting" film series is getting a bit silly; it seems that once a movie has been released, studios don't even have the decency to wait a decade before rebooting the series.
Feb 1, 2015	The Perfect Month February of 2015 is considered a "perfect month" because it starts on the first day of the week, and ends on the last day of the week.
Jan 25, 2015	Blank Winter Verse Write a poem about some aspect of winter, using Blank Verse.
Jan 18, 2015	Creative Weather Forecast In the wintertime, I get tired of hearing the same forecasts over and over again: freezing rain, snow, blizzard, more freezing rain, sleet, etc.
Jan 11, 2015	Book Review Have you recently read a book that you want to convince your friends they should read in the coming year?
Jan 4, 2015	A New Year's Blessing An old Irish blessing states, "May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind always be at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, and rains fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the palm of His hand."
Dec 28, 2014	Running Out of Time Father Time is running behind schedule for his appointment to welcome in the New Year.
Dec 21, 2014	Christmas Haiku It's been seven years since we asked our writers to do Christmas Haiku.
Dec 14, 2014	Awkward Office Christmas Party Office Christmas parties can be a lot of fun. Or they can be awkward and uncomfortable.
Dec 7, 2014	December Grab Bag Write a story or poem that makes use of all of the following words: Christmas, merchandise, conjure, small-claims court, poison ivy.
Nov 30, 2014	Mnemonics Mnemonics are "a pattern of letters, ideas, or associations that assists in remembering something." For example, musicians remember "Every good boy deserves fudge" as a way of remembering the line notes on a staff: E, G, B, D, and F. Mnemonics exist for a multitude of subjects, including: the number of days in each month, the planets of the solar system, the digits of pi, and many, many more.
Nov 23, 2014	Historical Thanks At Thanksgiving, we often express gratitude and appreciation for things that are happening now, but this year at Thanksgiving, we'd like you to write about something from history that you are thankful for. Your writing can be either poetry or prose.
Nov 16, 2014	Colors as People Colors often evoke feelings in people. Soft, warm colors can remind us of calm and quiet, while bright, fluorescent colors can seem loud and boisterous.
Nov 9, 2014	Veterans Day November 11 is Veterans Day in the United States. It's a day when we remember and honor those among us who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Nov 2, 2014	Daylight Savings Time When Daylight Savings Time comes around, we often speak of it as "losing" or "gaining" an hour, even though we know that the hour is simply "borrowed" from a later date, and not any kind of magic time travel.
Oct 26, 2014	Spooky Alfred Hitchcock once said, "There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it."
Oct 19, 2014	Talking Pets Imagine that you woke up one day to discover that your pet could speak English (or you could speak Pet).
Oct 12, 2014	Christopher Columbus Tomorrow is Columbus day, and this holiday always generates discussion about whether we should have a holiday celebrating Columbus at all.
Oct 5, 2014	Arrival of Fall Some people know that Fall is just around the corner because they saw a leaf that was orange. Some know because they saw Halloween candy at the grocery store.
Sep 28, 2014	First Memories What is your earliest memory from your childhood? Is it vivid? Vague? Traumatic? Happy?
Sep 21, 2014	Alliteration Alliteration is the repetition of a sound at the beginning of adjacent or nearby words.
Sep 14, 2014	Strange Creatures - Part Two For last week's writing prompt you invented and described your own fantasy creature (if you didn't, it's not too late; go back to last week's prompt and add your description!).
Sep 7, 2014	Strange Creatures - Part One Fantasy writing is filled with strange creatures like ents, hobbits, dragons, wookies, fauns and centaurs.
Aug 31, 2014	Labor Day It may seem strange to have a "Labor Day" writing prompt in August, but tomorrow, the first day of September, is Labor Day!
Aug 24, 2014	Back to School It's time for our yearly "Back to School" writing prompt!
Aug 17, 2014	First Line "One fine morning, I stepped outside..."
Aug 10, 2014	Food Haiku In my mind, certain foods are associated with summer. Last week we had boiled lobster, and tonight we're having corn on the cob.
Aug 3, 2014	A Meeting with History Suppose you could meet one famous person from any era of history. What would you talk about?
Jul 27, 2014	Scarcity Fuels Creativity In a message to me earlier this week, du courage used the phrase "scarcity fuels creativity."
Jul 20, 2014	Reading Your Mind Mind reading is a plot element that occurs in both fantasy and science fiction writing. What do you think life would be like for someone who can read minds?
Jul 13, 2014	Argot In his novel "Les Miserables," Victor Hugo spends a few chapters talking about "argot" - the street language of the criminal elements of Paris. According to Hugo, the street slang was very metaphorical. For example, a saw was called a "fandango" because if you used it to cut the chains on your feet, you would be able to dance again.
Jul 6, 2014	Summer Fibonacci A Fibonacci poem uses the terms of a mathematical sequence as the number of syllables per line. You can read the details of Fibonacci sequences here: Fibonacci Poems.
Jun 29, 2014	At the Beach Going to the beach, whether it's a pond, a lake, or the ocean beach, is a common summer activity.
Jun 22, 2014	A Man of Few Words Dr. Seuss wrote "Green Eggs and Ham" using a very simple vocabulary; there are exactly 50 unique words in the entire book (most of the words get repeated several times).
Jun 15, 2014	Father's Day! Today is Father's Day! What are your favorite childhood memories of your father?
Jun 8, 2014	An Ordinary Moment One moment in time can change everything. Some moments in life are big and memorable, but most are small and mundane. That is where the majority of life happens.
Jun 1, 2014	Singing birds The sound of birds singing can be reminiscent of early mornings and the start of a new day, or the coming of spring when there are more birds to chirp and make noise. But what are they saying? What is all that singing for?
May 25, 2014	Of Mice and Men In Douglas Adam's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the mice were the intelligentsia of the universe.
May 18, 2014	The Onion The Onion is a satirical news site which provides amusing, made-up news stories.
May 11, 2014	The Grammys Imagine that you have been invited to perform an original song at the Grammys.
May 4, 2014	Set for Life Imagine that you won the lottery, and had enough money to live in luxury for the rest of your life.
Apr 27, 2014	National Poetry Writing Month - Week Four April is National Poetry Writing Month, so we will devote this month to poetry writing prompts.
Apr 20, 2014	National Poetry Writing Month - Week Three April is National Poetry Writing Month, so we will devote this month to poetry writing prompts.
Apr 13, 2014	National Poetry Writing Month - Week Two April is National Poetry Writing Month, so we will devote this month to poetry writing prompts.
Apr 6, 2014	National Poetry Writing Month - Week One April is National Poetry Writing Month, so we will devote this month to poetry writing prompts.
Mar 30, 2014	Red Pill, Blue Pill You have a whopper of a migraine, and in front of you are two different colored bottles, both labeled "cure."
Mar 23, 2014	The First paragraph Many say the most important part of any story is the first paragraph, for it is the place where you 'set the hook' to catch the reader's interest.
Mar 16, 2014	Alien Perspective If an alien came to visit planet Earth, how would he perceive the habits and activities of day-to-day human life?
Mar 9, 2014	On the Loose While you are visiting the zoo, one of the animals escapes from its cage.
Mar 2, 2014	Taking a Mulligan In golf there is an unwritten rule called a Mulligan that allows you, one time only per round, to re-hit a badly hit ball.
Feb 23, 2014	Autobiographical Poem Write a poem that tells (in a nutshell) the story of your life.
Feb 16, 2014	Three Wishes A genie grants you three wishes, with all the standard provisos (you can't wish for more wishes, etc.)
Feb 9, 2014	Roses are Red Valentine's Day is near and love is in the air.
Feb 2, 2014	Water, Water Everywhere! You are sitting in your living room when suddenly it is flooded with water. There is a trap door in the ceiling, and another in the floor.
Jan 26, 2014	Writing Prompt Help! One of our writers recently commented to me that it must be difficult to come up with a new writing prompt each week. Guess what! It is difficult!
Jan 19, 2014	Silly Animal Poem Ogden Nash often wrote short poems about animals, such as this one: The Lord in His wisdom made the fly, And then forgot to tell us why.
Jan 12, 2014	Hot or Cold? Do you live in a cold climate or a hot one? Or maybe a bit of both? Which do you prefer?
Jan 5, 2014	Hello, 2014 Last week you wrote a farewell to 2013; this week it's time to say "Hello" to 2014.
Dec 29, 2013	Farewell to 2013 The year 2013 will end soon - what was the highlight of the year for you?
Dec 22, 2013	Christmas Smells When we put a Christmas tree in, it's not just the sight of it that evokes memories and emotions of Christmas - it's also the smell of the tree!
Dec 15, 2013	Narcissus In Greek mythology, Narcissus discovered his reflection in a pool and was so enamored of it that he refused to look away, and eventually died there. From this story we get the word narcissism.
Dec 8, 2013	Invent a Word New words get added to dictionaries every year. Those words must come from somewhere - why not from you?
Dec 1, 2013	Christmas Already? A radio station in our area started playing 24/7 Christmas music a week before Thanksgiving, and I realized that by the time Christmas arrives, there are going to be some songs that I am really sick of.
Nov 24, 2013	Thankful #4 This month in the United States we celebrate Thanksgiving, so this will be our "month of thankfulness."
Nov 17, 2013	Thankful #3 This month in the United States we celebrate Thanksgiving, so this will be our "month of thankfulness."
Nov 10, 2013	Thankful #2 This month in the United States we celebrate Thanksgiving, so this will be our "month of thankfulness."
Nov 3, 2013	Thankful #1 This month in the United States we celebrate Thanksgiving, so this will be our "month of thankfulness."
Oct 27, 2013	A Novel? NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is the month of November each year. Fledgling writers are encouraged to bite the bullet and write an entire novel in one month. If you were going to write a novel, what would it be about?
Oct 20, 2013	Eclipse? Last night, so I've been told, we had a lunar eclipse. I stepped outside at the appropriate time of the evening, and the moon didn't look any different than usual. One might say that the news of the eclipse eclipsed the actual event.
Oct 13, 2013	Light and Dark Normally in the fall we have a "Fall Poetry" writing prompt, which encourages people to write about fall colors. This morning as I was sitting at the breakfast table, however, I was struck by how dark it is outside. Increasing darkness is another part of fall.
Oct 6, 2013	Shutdown! Thursday morning I hiked my favorite mountain. When I arrived at the parking lot at the base of the mountain, I was surprised to discover that the toll collection booth was shut down, and I didn't have to pay. Why? Because of the government shut down!
Sep 29, 2013	Favorite TV Show Do you have a favorite television show? What is it? What do you like about it?
Sep 22, 2013	The Thirty-Seventh Floor The following is the very first writing prompt that was ever posted on the site. I thought it would be fun to revisit the idea, and see what people come up with this time around!
Sep 15, 2013	Strange Landscapes Skies are blue, clouds are white or gray, grass is green, and in the distance there are "purple mountain majesties" on the horizon.
Sep 8, 2013	Back to School It wouldn't seem right to begin the school year without a back-to-school writing prompt!
Sep 1, 2013	Labor Day This week we celebrate Labor Day, a day set aside to commemorate and recognize the achievements and contributions of workers.
Aug 25, 2013	Gift Horse For the summer months, our writing prompts will be based on common idioms in the English language. "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth" is an idiom that comes from the fact that people would gauge the age of a horse based on how much the horse's gums had receded. To look a gift horse in the mouth is therefore considered rude and ungrateful, as it implies doubts about the value of the gift.
Aug 18, 2013	Water off a Duck's Back For the summer months, our writing prompts will be based on common idioms in the English language. "Like water off a duck's back" is an idiom that indicates something happens easily, or has no visible effect.
Aug 11, 2013	Slower than Molasses For the summer months, our writing prompts will be based on common idioms in the English language. "Slower than molasses" (or "slower than molasses in January" or "slower than molasses running uphill") is an idiom that indicates someone is making very slow progress, or should hurry up.
Aug 4, 2013	Over a Barrel For the summer months, our writing prompts will be based on common idioms in the English language. "Over a barrel" is an idiom that indicates someone is in a dilemma, and has no choice in how to proceed.
Jul 28, 2013	A Stitch in Time Saves Nine For the summer months, our writing prompts will be based on common idioms in the English language. "A stitch in time saves nine" is an idiom that reminds us that we should take care of small problems before they become large ones.
Jul 21, 2013	The Cat's out of the Bag For the summer months, our writing prompts will be based on common idioms in the English language. "The cat's out of the bag" is an idiom that indicates that a secret has been revealed.
Jul 14, 2013	Selling Coal to Newcastle For the summer months, our writing prompts will be based on common idioms in the English language.
Jul 7, 2013	Eggs in a basket For the summer months, our writing prompts will be based on common idioms in the English language.
Jun 30, 2013	Don't Count Your Chickens... "Don't count your chickens before they hatch" is a proverb about not getting ahead of yourself in your planning.
Jun 23, 2013	Hike Haiku A couple days ago I went on a 10 mile hike over two mountains with some family members - it was a beautiful day, and gorgeous views all around (Baldface Loop).
Jun 16, 2013	Skool Iz Dun Now that the school year is almost done, some students will consider the summer months a perfect time to forget everything they've learned.
Jun 9, 2013	Idiom Origins An idiom is an expression whose meaning is unrelated to the traditional meanings of its constituent words. For example, "kick the bucket" is an idiom about dying, even though neither "kick" nor "bucket" have anything to do with death.
Jun 2, 2013	Graduation It is the time of year when schools are handing out diplomas to their graduates.
May 26, 2013	In Flanders Fields John McCrae's poem In Flanders Fields is often recited at Memorial Day services. The poem has been praised for its beauty, and condemned for (as one critic said) its "recruiting-poster rhetoric."
May 19, 2013	Quatrain If you don't know what a quatrain is, you can read about it here: Quatrains.
May 12, 2013	Mother's Day What would the world be like if all mothers everywhere decided to go on strike?
May 5, 2013	First Line "I've watched through his eyes, I've listened through his ears, and I tell you he's the one. Or at least as close as we're going to get." This is the first line in Orson Scott Card's beloved Ender's Game.
Apr 28, 2013	April Is the Cruellest Month T.S. Eliot wrote, "April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain."
Apr 21, 2013	Metamorphosis Kafka's The Metamorphosis begins with this line: "One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that in his bed he had been changed into a monstrous verminous bug."
Apr 14, 2013	A Hard Test Have you ever gone into a classroom to take a test, and felt as though you were totally unprepared?
Apr 7, 2013	Recycle Me! We recycle paper, aluminum cans, print cartridges, and much more. But what would it be like if we recycled people?
Mar 31, 2013	Helicopter Parents In Colorado Springs, an Easter Egg hunt was canceled due to the aggressive behavior of "helicopter parents" - hovering parents who were determined to help their children get their share of eggs.
Mar 24, 2013	Spring Fibonacci For those who don't remember Fibonacci Poems, they are poems in which the number of syllables per line follow this pattern: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8. (Here's one I wrote last year: Easter Fibonacci.)
Mar 17, 2013	Shamrocks Saint Patrick used the three-leafed shamrock as an object lesson to teach about the Christian doctrine of the trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit). In doing this, he was following in the footsteps of Jesus, who also used ordinary objects in nature, like fig trees, fish, and mountains to teach lessons.
Mar 10, 2013	Pi Day Pi Day is March 14th. Why? Because March 14th is 3-14, or 3.14. At my school we celebrate Pi Day by eating pie...which is much nicer than eating pi, I suppose.
Mar 3, 2013	Mistakes Last week we posted our newest game on The Problem Site: What Is Wrong?. The object is to find all the mistakes (usually grammar, spelling or punctuation) in the pictures we post.
Feb 24, 2013	Winter Driving I just drove from Fort Kent (northern Maine) to the southern part of the state - in a snowstorm. It wasn't fun.
Feb 17, 2013	Famous First Line George Orwell's classic novel 1984 begins with the following sentence: "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."
Feb 10, 2013	Be my Valentine Can you believe we haven't had a Valentine's Day writing prompt since 2008? I must be the Valentine Scrooge. Or the Valentine Grinch.
Feb 3, 2013	Superbowl 2013 Okay, honestly, I'm not much of a football (American football) fan, and I probably wouldn't even know when the Superbowl is this year, except that I saw it on facebook.
Jan 27, 2013	Cold Poem In the past we've asked people to write poems about winter, but often writers focus on snow, holidays, and winter sports.
Jan 20, 2013	Contentment Here are three quotations about contentment: "That man is the richest whose pleasures are the cheapest." (Thoreau), "The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet." (Oppenheim), and "Enjoy your own life without comparing it with that of another." (Condorcet).
Jan 13, 2013	Website Troubles! This week, several of our websites (including this one) have been experiencing some technical difficulties.
Jan 6, 2013	Educational Songs The Alphabet song is used to teach children their ABCs. Tom Lehrer wrote a song to teach the periodic table of elements.
Dec 30, 2012	All Good Things If you go to Google and begin typing "All good things," Google will suggest the following search phrases: "All good things come to an end," "All good things come to those who wait," and "All good things come from God."
Dec 23, 2012	Cwithmuth Witing Pwompt The song says, "All I want for Cwithmuth is my two fwont teef, so I can wish you a Mewwy Cwithmuth!"
Dec 16, 2012	Favorite Weather Around Christmastime, people are always singing and dreaming about a White Christmas. Of course, depending on where in the world you live, you may never see a white Christmas.
Dec 9, 2012	Lousy Weather Currently our weather forecast says that we're going to get snow overnight, followed by sleet, followed by rain. In other words, an ugly mess.
Dec 2, 2012	Tick Tock They say that "time flies when you're having fun." Of course, if you anthropomorphize time as "Father Time," that gives a rather amusing image!
Nov 25, 2012	Black Friday It seems strange to me that a day set aside for gratitude and thanksgiving is immediately followed by a day that has become the symbol of greed, consumerism, and selfishness.
Nov 18, 2012	Quatrains of Thanksgiving For this Thanksgiving season, write one or more quatrains about the Thanksgiving holiday, or about thankfulness in general.
Nov 11, 2012	Animated Characters Recently I joked that we should nickname our little baby boy "Fuss Lightyear," because he has been fussing so much lately.
Nov 4, 2012	Vote for Me? I don't know about you, but I'm getting pretty tired of the election season, between all the pollsters, mailings, phone calls, signs, and general all-around mudslinging.
Oct 28, 2012	Small Town vs. Big City Some people love small town life, while others insist they could never live far from the hustle and busyness of city life.
Oct 21, 2012	Unicorns The Canadian Irish singing group "The Irish Rovers" theorized that unicorns once existed, but no longer do, because they were off playing by themselves when Noah was herding animals onto the ark.
Oct 14, 2012	Short Life Span Unlike trees, which have very long life expectancies, houseflies live for a very short time. A month is a long life for a fly.
Oct 7, 2012	Long Life Span It is believed (based on growth rings) that a tree in Nevada was over 4,000 years old when it was felled in 1964.
Sep 30, 2012	Fall Haiku Every year we have a writing prompt about the fall season.
Sep 23, 2012	I'm Sorry The phrase "I'm sorry" is a powerful one; it can make a dramatic difference in relationships.
Sep 16, 2012	A Day to Yourself Everyone needs a little bit of time to have some peace and quiet, and just unwind.
Sep 9, 2012	Saying Goodbye On Friday, Laura had her last day of work, because our son is due to be born in the next two weeks. She said that although she's glad to be finished, it was a little bittersweet to be saying goodbye.
Sep 2, 2012	Role Reversal Every year we have a "back to school" writing prompt in September.
Aug 26, 2012	Cheese! G.K. Chesterton once said, "Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese."
Aug 19, 2012	Up, Up and Away! Hot air balloons have featured prominently in works by Jules Verne and L. Frank Baum.
Aug 12, 2012	Limerick Time! Limericks have 5 lines, with lines 1,2, and 5 rhyming, and lines 3 and 4 rhyming. The meter is generally anapestic (or amphibrachic, if you want to look up that term!) Here's an example I wrote a couple days ago: Not Breech Anymore
Aug 5, 2012	The Tie that Binds "When we asunder part, it gives us inward pain; But we shall still be joined in heart, and hope to meet again."
Jul 29, 2012	Bug Poem It's that season of the year when all the bugs are out in full force.
Jul 22, 2012	Letter from Camp Many camps encourage campers to write letters home while they're away at camp.
Jul 15, 2012	Summer Camp Have you ever spent a week (or maybe even a whole summer) at a summer camp?
Jul 8, 2012	Favorite Poem Most people have one or more poems that they consider to be favorites. Maybe they're funny, have a catchy rhythm/rhyme, or maybe they're very serious and thought provoking.
Jul 1, 2012	Fireworks This week many people in the United States will be celebrating our Independence Day with picnics, parades, family gatherings, and fireworks.
Jun 24, 2012	End of School It seems we can't get through the month of June without having at least one end-of-school writing prompt.
Jun 17, 2012	Fatherhood This week we celebrate Father's Day - a day to honor and show respect for fathers.
Jun 10, 2012	Extremes Last week we had ridiculous amounts of rain, but now as I sit here writing this, it's a beautiful, warm sunny day!
Jun 3, 2012	Onomatopoeia Poem Where I live (western Maine), The National Weather Service says that we could get upwards of three inches of rain this weekend.
May 27, 2012	Gardening No one is surprised by gardens that contain onions, potatoes, carrots, or pumpkins. But imagine a garden that grew whatever you wanted: pencils, sofas, computers, or even a kitchen sink!
May 20, 2012	Mount Olympus In Greek Mythology, twelve gods and goddesses (Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Hestia, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus and Hermes) lived in a palace at the top of Mount Olympus.
May 13, 2012	Colorful Poem Pick a color. Write a poem about this color. But you aren't allowed to use the name of your color in your poem.
May 6, 2012	Mother's Day Next Sunday is Mother's Day - a day to celebrate and express appreciation for mothers.
Apr 29, 2012	Human for a Day In the past, you may have done a writing prompt in which you had to imagine that you are an animal, and write about a day in your life. Now it's time to turn that idea upside-down.
Apr 22, 2012	What You Have Tamed The following is a quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupery's book The Little Prince: "Men have forgotten this truth," said the fox. "But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed."
Apr 15, 2012	Hinkety Pinkety A Hinkety Pinkety is a pair of rhyming three-syllable words. These are usually combined with a clue to create a riddle. For example: If two drums are conversing, what is it called? It's a percussion discussion.
Apr 8, 2012	Easter Fibonacci Today is Easter. In a lot of people's minds, Easter is associated with rabbits, and in a lot of mathematicians' minds, rabbits are associated with Fibonacci Numbers.
Apr 1, 2012	Rock-a-Bye Baby I sometimes wonder why parents would sing such traumatic words as these to their children: "When the bough breaks the cradle will fall, and down will fall baby, cradle and all."
Mar 25, 2012	Proofreading If you've visited Laura's game Proof It! on her proofreading site, you know that there are many easy mistakes to make in writing, like using "they're" when you meant "there" or "their," or putting an apostrophe in "its" when you don't intend it to be a contraction.
Mar 18, 2012	Proverbs A proverb is a pithy statement that conveys an important meaning in a memorable way. The examples below (from the Bible, Proverbs 25) use similes to help make the meaning memorable. "Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest is a faithful messenger to those who send him, for he refreshes the soul of his masters." and "Like clouds and wind without rain is a man who boasts of his gifts falsely."
Mar 11, 2012	Animal Poems Ogden Nash was well known for his silly animal poems. One of his most well known is The Octopus: "Tell me, O Octopus, I begs / Is those things arms, or is they legs? / I marvel at thee, Octopus; / If I were thou, I'd call me Us."
Mar 4, 2012	3:30 in the Morning At 3:30 this morning I woke up and suddenly thought, "I didn't prepare a writing prompt for this week, and people always look for it Sunday morning!" Fortunately, most people aren't up this early in the morning, so it wasn't a big deal to get something posted before any of you missed it!
Feb 26, 2012	The Riddle of the Sphinx The sphinx was a mythical creature with a lion's body and a human head. The riddle of the sphinx was "What creature walks on four legs in the morning, two in the day, and three in the evening?" Travelers who couldn't correctly answer the riddle were devoured by the sphinx.
Feb 19, 2012	Public Performance Tonight the students at the academy where I teach are going to be performing a 'Comedy Night' - an evening of short skits for the whole family.
Feb 12, 2012	First Sentence Write a short story using the following as your first line (you may change the name and gender of the character if you choose).
Feb 5, 2012	Inside of You In Madeleine L'Engle's book A Wind in the Door, some of the characters were tiny organelles in the human body (mitochondria).
Jan 29, 2012	Winter Poetry Winter is a season that brings both good and bad, from beautiful, snowy scenery and winter sports to cold temperatures and high heating costs.
Jan 22, 2012	I Have a Dream, Part II When Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech, it was significantly different from the speech he had on the page in front of him. A spectator called out, "Tell them about the dream, Martin," which prompted him to deviate from the prepared speech.
Jan 15, 2012	I Have a Dream, Part I Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech contains lines such as, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
Jan 8, 2012	I Can't Decide... Have you ever had a difficult time making a decision about something?
Jan 1, 2012	A Week Later... Sometimes we get Christmas presents we really wanted; other times we get gifts we wouldn't wish on a rabid raccoon.
Dec 25, 2011	Christmas Day! It's the day children have been anxiously awaiting all month...and maybe even longer!
Dec 18, 2011	An Ornament's Tale Some Christmas ornaments are generic, while others can have special meaning and significance to you and your family.
Dec 11, 2011	Christmas Carol All around you during the month of December you will be bombarded by the sounds of Christmas carols from stores, elevators, cars, and maybe in your home as well.
Dec 4, 2011	Advent In the Christian Calendar, Advent Season includes the four weeks leading up to Christmas. Advent means "arrival." It is the season when we celebrate both the first coming and the second coming of Christ.
Nov 27, 2011	School Haiku Everyone has had a favorite and least favorite subject in school. Write one Haiku about your favorite school subject, and then write one Haiku about your least favorite subject.
Nov 20, 2011	Give Thanks Some people use November as a month of counting blessings - one blessing for each day of the month.
Nov 13, 2011	Car Improvement If you were going to invent something to add to your car, either to improve its performance, or to add to the enjoyment of driving/riding in it, what would you invent?
Nov 6, 2011	Family The people we love the most, and sometimes the people who frustrate us most, are the members of our own families.
Oct 30, 2011	Halloween Stores began stocking their shelves with Halloween costumes and treats long before Halloween was here.
Oct 23, 2011	Helium Balloon Imagine that you are a helium balloon which was tied to someone's wrist, but then came undone.
Oct 16, 2011	Say Cheese! There are many different varieties of cheese (swiss, cheddar, provolone, etc) and many different ways to eat it.
Oct 9, 2011	At the Zoo Imagine you're at a zoo. Write a story or a poem from the perspective of one of the animals.
Oct 2, 2011	Fictional Character If you could be any character in your favorite book, who would you be?
Sep 25, 2011	Fair! Describe your favorite part of fairs: rides, fair food, 4-H, prize produce, animals, pig scrambles, tractor pulls, etc.
Sep 18, 2011	Changing Seasons Yesterday the National Weather Service predicted frost overnight in our area. It just confirmed what we're already beginning to realize: fall is on the way.
Sep 11, 2011	Where Were You? Today marks the 10th anniversary of a tragic event in the US. Recently a friend of mine made a video describing how the event impacted his family: In My Seat
Sep 4, 2011	Team Effort It is once again that time of year when I have to create writing prompts for the fall months. This task is much easier when it's a team effort, and I have help from our moderators.
Aug 28, 2011	Back to School In the past, we've had people write about going back to school, from the perspective of the students.
Aug 21, 2011	Dreams, Part II They say that people dream every night. My problem is that I don't usually remember what I dreamed.
Aug 14, 2011	Dreams, Part I They say that people dream every night. My problem is that I don't usually remember what I dreamed.
Aug 7, 2011	Anticipation In six days, Laura and I will be getting married. Needless to say, we're rather excited (and maybe a little stressed) about the event. But mostly excited.
Jul 31, 2011	Happy Birthday Birthdays can be events in your life that you never forget. And sometimes they can be events that you wish you could forget.
Jul 24, 2011	Free Write A free write is an exercise that helps develop you as a writer because it forces you to rely on inspiration and instinct, without over-thinking what you write.
Jul 17, 2011	Overheard As Laura and I sit here at Panera, creating writing prompts, there are conversations going on all around us. It can be difficult at times not to eavesdrop on other people.
Jul 10, 2011	Independence, Part II Last week those who live in the United States celebrated Independence Day. But independence can be as much an individual experience as a national one. Children grow in independence as they mature, and often the elderly experience a decrease in independence.
Jul 3, 2011	Independence, Part I July 4th is Independence Day in the United States of America. We often celebrate Independence Day with fireworks.
Jun 26, 2011	A Day in the Life... Look around the room you are sitting in. Pick an object you can see. Imagine that object could think, and maybe even talk or move!
Jun 19, 2011	Summer Vacation? The month of June typically is the beginning of summer vacation for me, though this summer I have so much to do that the end of school doesn't really seem like much of a vacation.
Jun 12, 2011	Stormy Weather Stormy weather can be quite dangerous and frightening, but it can also be quite dramatic, and even beautiful, depending on your perspective.
Jun 5, 2011	Home Improvement I'm currently in the process of doing some interior decorating in my home. It'll be wonderful when it's done, but in the meantime it's rather messy, with clutter and paint supplies everywhere, and the contents of one room dumped into other rooms...
May 29, 2011	Memory Memorial Day is a day to remember (commemorate) men and women who died in military service in the United States.
May 22, 2011	Favorite Store I'm sitting in the cafe at Borders Bookstore as I write this writing prompt. Borders is a store I could browse for hours on end without getting bored.
May 15, 2011	Time Flies They say that "time flies when you're having fun." The flip side of that, of course, is that time seems to be slower than molasses flowing uphill in the winter when you're bored.
May 8, 2011	Stamps I was looking at a stamp today, and thinking about the many people and things that have been commemorated on stamps in my lifetime.
May 1, 2011	May 1st May 1st is celebrated around the world for a variety of reasons. To name just a few celebrations, it's Beltane, the Feast of Saint Joseph, Constitution Day (Marshall Islands), International Worker's Day, and it also is known simply as May Day.
Apr 24, 2011	Rhyming Quatrain The month of April is Poetry Month. Here at Fifteen Minutes of Fiction we will be having a poetry writing prompt each week.
Apr 17, 2011	Blank Verse The month of April is Poetry Month. Here at Fifteen Minutes of Fiction we will be having a poetry writing prompt each week.
Apr 10, 2011	Intangible Poetry The month of April is Poetry Month. Here at Fifteen Minutes of Fiction we will be having a poetry writing prompt each week.
Apr 3, 2011	Tangible Poetry The month of April is Poetry Month. Here at Fifteen Minutes of Fiction we will be having a poetry writing prompt each week.
Mar 27, 2011	Give It Up! At this time of year, many Christians choose to give up something that is a normal part of life, as a way of helping to focus their attention on the death and resurrection of Christ. This year, for example, I'm leaving all meat but fish out of my diet for 40 days.
Mar 20, 2011	Math and English Suppose a mathematician and an English major/writer were planning to get married. What kinds of issues would they face planning a wedding?
Mar 13, 2011	Ten Minutes We live life from one day to the next, not knowing how many more days remain in our lives. But suppose you found out you only have ten minutes left to live! How would you spend that time?
Mar 6, 2011	Busyness Sometimes life gets far too busy. For example, this week I had so much going on that I forgot to get the next set of writing prompts ready, so I woke up Sunday morning and saw that there wasn't a new one in place! (Sorry!)
Feb 27, 2011	Computer Woes Computers have become an integral part of all of our lives, but they can be very frustrating.
Feb 20, 2011	All the World is a Stage Shakespeare said that all the world is a stage, and we are merely actors.
Feb 13, 2011	High School Horror Most people have both good and bad memories of high school. What was your worst memory of high school?
Feb 6, 2011	Poetic Dialogue Shakespeare wrote dialogue between characters in poetry form. Can you do the same?
Jan 30, 2011	Inanimate Object Can you imagine life from the perspective of an inanimate object.
Jan 23, 2011	TV Advertisment Every new television show requires a clever advertising campaign to catch people's attention.
Jan 16, 2011	Texting 101 It is a fact that young people enjoy texting as a type of communication. Write a conversation between two people as they converse by text message.
Jan 9, 2011	Dear Mr. President Write a letter to the president. You can write to the current president or choose one from the past. You can praise him, censure his policies, or offer advice.
Jan 2, 2011	Disappointment We've all gone through the disappointment of not getting something we wanted or expected.
Dec 26, 2010	Christmas Gift At Christmas time we experience both the joy of giving gifts and the joy of receiving gifts.
Dec 19, 2010	The Angels' Visit In Luke chapter 2 of the Bible (Luke 2 at Bible Gateway), we read about the angels coming to announce the birth of Christ to the shepherds.
Dec 12, 2010	The Guest If you could choose anyone from modern times or the past to come visit you, who would you choose?
Dec 5, 2010	Christmas Shopping At this time of year malls are crowded with Christmas shoppers trying to find just the right gift for friends and family members.
Nov 28, 2010	Favorite Season There are many opinions about which season is the best time of the year.
Nov 21, 2010	Thanksgiving Feast Family gatherings at Thanksgiving can be very memorable, and often it is the people who make the gathering so interesting.
Nov 14, 2010	A Hungry Lion In Daniel chapter 6 of the Bible (Daniel 6 at Bible Gateway), we read about Daniel being thrown into a lions' den, and God protecting him by keeping the lions from eating him.
Nov 7, 2010	Veterans' Day Veterans' Day (in the United States) is a day set aside to honor veterans (still living) who fought in various wars.
Oct 31, 2010	Trick or Treat Halloween is a time for fun and costumes and candy and maybe even a bit of scariness.
Oct 24, 2010	Travel Poem Travel fills our lives with all sorts of images and experiences that enrich us in many ways.
Oct 17, 2010	Personality Makeover Everyone has personality traits that they like about themselves, and traits they could do without.
Oct 10, 2010	Dreamland Your subconscious mind comes up with all sorts of strange things while you sleep.
Oct 3, 2010	First Car Some folks have hair-raising stories to tell about their very first car.
Sep 26, 2010	Writing Prompt Creating writing prompts can be a challenging exercise. Your moderators on this site spent an hour and a half writing all the prompts for this summer.
Sep 19, 2010	Favorite Sport Sports are often a source of both excitement and controversy, as spectators cheer for their favorite team, or fights break out on the field.
Sep 12, 2010	Fall Fibonacci A Fibonacci Poem is a poem in which the number of syllables per line is 1, 1, 2, 3, 5 and 8. Here is an example: Motherhood.
Sep 5, 2010	Numbers My Algebra students are always asking me, "When will we use this in real life?"
Aug 29, 2010	Trusted Friends Have you ever been betrayed by a trusted friend?
Aug 22, 2010	Chocolate! Chocolate! What more must be said?
Aug 15, 2010	A Good Deed Part Two Jesus spoke about people's good deeds making them shine like lights in the world.
Aug 8, 2010	A Good Deed Part One Jesus spoke about people's good deeds making them shine like lights in the world.
Aug 1, 2010	Power Failure During the ice storm of '98, many people lost power for one to two weeks.
Jul 25, 2010	Turning the Tables Last week, you wrote a pet. Now let's turn that around. What do you think your pet would have to say about you?
Jul 18, 2010	Your First Pet People often remember with great fondness their very first pet.
Jul 11, 2010	First Line "I looked out the window and saw something that would change my entire life." That is the first line of your story.
Jul 4, 2010	Periodic Table The Periodic Table of the Elements lists all of the known elements in the universe, including such elements as Helium, Oxygen, Lead, Gold, Calcium, etc.
Jun 27, 2010	Independence Day In the United States of America we celebrate July 4th as our Day of Independence.
Jun 20, 2010	Famous Painting In Lewis's Voyage of the Dawn Treader characters got sucked into a painting.
Jun 13, 2010	Substitute Teacher If you've never been a substitute teacher, you only look at substitute teachers from one perspective: the perspective of a student.
Jun 6, 2010	Poor Planning The Tacoma Narrows bridge collapsed in gale force winds due to poor design: Collapse video.
May 30, 2010	Summer Haiku Remember that Haiku is a poem with lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables. Often the last line causes you to "re-imagine" what you've read before. An example of this can be found here Space Walk.
May 23, 2010	Trees! A deciduous tree is a tree which loses its leaves in the fall, and is bare throughout the winter. An evergreen tree is...well...ever green!
May 16, 2010	Laughter Laughter, they say, is the best medicine. But what illness does this medicine cure?
May 9, 2010	To the Moon... You have been selected to fly a mission to the moon. What do you suppose the flight there would be like? What adventures would you have when you arrived?
May 2, 2010	Limericks! Limericks are a lot of fun. This form of poetry is generally used for light-hearted, often completely nonsense subject matter.
Apr 25, 2010	Obsolete Due to rapid changes in technology, many once-new and innovative objects have become nearly obsolete, and are no longer used. Some of these are still preserved today - lighthouses, old steam trains, trolleys, (etc.).
Apr 18, 2010	A Foreign Land This evening I watched the movie Cry, The Beloved Country. As I sat watching the movie, looking at the lovely mountains and valleys and the lush green grass, I found myself thinking, "I would really like to visit South Africa someday."
Apr 11, 2010	Meta Poetry Did you know that April is National Poetry Month? In honor of National Poetry Month, let's write some meta-poems!
Apr 4, 2010	A Bad Start to the Day I'll give you a line, you write a story that starts with that line. Note: You can change the character's name, and if you're writing a story-poem, you can tweak the line to make it fit your meter/rhyme.
Mar 28, 2010	March It has often been said that the month of March "comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb," or the other way around, depending on the year. Do you think it happened either way this year? If not, what animal would you compare March to?
Mar 21, 2010	Fibonacci Food A Fibonacci poem is a poem which has 6 lines, and the lines have 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, and 8 syllables.
Mar 14, 2010	It's Pi Day! This Sunday is 3.14 (March 14th), or Pi Day, as we mathematicians like to call it.
Mar 7, 2010	Springtime Haiku It has been awhile since we've written Haiku for our writing prompt. Remember that Haiku has 5-7-5 syllables, and often uses the last line to re-imagine or re-interpret the previous lines.
Feb 28, 2010	A New Olympic Event! Lately I've been hearing a lot about people staying up late to watch the Olympics. Myself, I haven't spent any time watching the Olympics, but I do think it would be fun to invent my own Olympic event.
Feb 21, 2010	The Worst Job I think at some point in the past we've had a writing prompt about "what you want to be when you grow up."
Feb 14, 2010	Snowman! Today I was at a winter camp for children, and the children had to dress up their counselors as snowmen. That made me wonder...what would it be like to be a snowman?
Feb 7, 2010	What Irritates You? We all have pet peeves...things that irritate us and drive us crazy.
Jan 31, 2010	Sibling Rivalry Brothers and sisters are supposed to get along better than anyone...after all, blood is thicker than water...right?
Jan 24, 2010	Silence! It is rare to find silence in this world; noises of all sorts bombard our ears constantly. Do you like silence? Or dislike it? Does it make you feel uncomfortable?
Jan 17, 2010	A Bug's Life Have you ever wondered what a day in the life of a bug would be like? Have you wondered how a bug might perceive humanity?
Jan 10, 2010	So Much Trouble Last week I gave a "first line" prompt; your writing had to start with a specific set of words. Let's try another one of those...
Jan 3, 2010	I Resolve... Because it is the New Year, the word "resolution" is in the air a lot. It reminded me of an old hymn we used to sing in church when I was a child: "I am resolved no longer to linger, charmed by the world's delight; things that are higher, things that are nobler, these have allured my sight."
Dec 27, 2009	Historical Character Imagine what it would be like if you could interview someone from the history books. What kinds of questions would you ask?
Dec 20, 2009	It's Better to Give... On a past Christmas, we've had a writing prompt about the best Christmas present you ever received. But they say it's better to give than to receive. So...
Dec 13, 2009	Letter To Santa We've done this writing prompt in the past, and it has generated some fun pieces...
Dec 6, 2009	Snowfall Poetry As I sit here writing, it is snowing in Maine. Last year on our first snowfall, Iwrote this poem: The Painter.
Nov 29, 2009	Book Review It's been awhile since I've asked for book reviews for the weekly writing prompt.
Nov 22, 2009	Thanksgiving Poem This seems to be a yearly tradition; it's time to write a Thanksgiving poem for this week's writing prompt!
Nov 15, 2009	Driving in the Rain Driving in the rain can be both interesting and nerve-wracking.
Nov 8, 2009	Invention Have you ever imagined yourself as an inventor? Have you had any ideas of things you would like to invent?
Nov 1, 2009	Time to Vote It's November, and that means...time to vote! Imagine that you are running for an office - maybe a real office, or you could invent an office!
Oct 25, 2009	One Sided Telephone Conversation Have you ever tried to listen to someone's telephone conversation and guess what the other person is saying?
Oct 18, 2009	A Recipe It's good to share new and old recipes from one kitchen to another.
Oct 11, 2009	Something Simple...A Bit of Haiku Haiku poetry is written with a 5-7-5 syllable scheme: five syllables in the first line, seven in the second, and five in the third.
Oct 4, 2009	A Musical Instrument Imagine that you were a musical instrument: a guitar, a violin, a clarinet, a bass drum...
Sep 27, 2009	An Imaginary Animal This writing prompt comes from my niece, Annie, who wonders what sorts of animals everyone would create if they could invent their own animal!
Sep 20, 2009	Writer's Block I haven't been writing much lately. Primarily it's because my life has been incredibly busy the last couple months. And then, when I do have a few minutes to write, my brain doesn't seem to be in the mood for writing.
Sep 13, 2009	Fairy Tale Witches, talking animals, lost children, sleeping princesses...they're all part of the genre we know as Fairy Tales.
Sep 6, 2009	A Day for Yourself Today I hiked 10.2 miles over three mountains. It was a fabulous day. If you had a day that you could do whatever you wanted, what would you do?
Aug 30, 2009	Parables and Fables Sometimes writers and storytellers like to tell short little stories that have a pointed message for the listener/reader. Jesus was famous for this, and so was Aesop.
Aug 23, 2009	End of Vacation? For many, the end of August signals the end of vacation time. For students returning to school, it may be a time to write a "What I Did During Summer Vacation" essay.
Aug 16, 2009	Alphabet Soup - Z Think of a person, place, or thing that begins with the letter 'Z'. Now write a paragraph, a poem, or a short story about that person, place or thing.
Aug 9, 2009	Alphabet Soup - Y Think of a person, place, or thing that begins with the letter 'Y'. Now write a paragraph, a poem, or a short story about that person, place or thing.
Aug 2, 2009	Alphabet Soup - X Think of a person, place, or thing that begins with the letter 'X'. Now write a paragraph, a poem, or a short story about that person, place or thing.
Jul 26, 2009	Alphabet Soup - W Think of a person, place, or thing that begins with the letter 'W'. Now write a paragraph, a poem, or a short story about that person, place or thing.
Jul 19, 2009	Alphabet Soup - V Think of a person, place, or thing that begins with the letter 'V'. Now write a paragraph, a poem, or a short story about that person, place or thing.
Jul 12, 2009	Alphabet Soup - U Think of a person, place, or thing that begins with the letter 'U'. Now write a paragraph, a poem, or a short story about that person, place or thing.
Jul 5, 2009	Alphabet Soup - T Think of a person, place, or thing that begins with the letter 'T'. Now write a paragraph, a poem, or a short story about that person, place or thing.
Jun 28, 2009	Alphabet Soup - S Think of a person, place, or thing that begins with the letter 'S'. Now write a paragraph, a poem, or a short story about that person, place or thing.
Jun 21, 2009	Alphabet Soup - R Think of a person, place, or thing that begins with the letter 'R'. Now write a paragraph, a poem, or a short story about that person, place or thing.
Jun 14, 2009	Alphabet Soup - Q Think of a person, place, or thing that begins with the letter 'Q'. Now write a paragraph, a poem, or a short story about that person, place or thing.
Jun 7, 2009	Alphabet Soup - P Think of a person, place, or thing that begins with the letter 'P'. Now write a paragraph, a poem, or a short story about that person, place or thing.
May 31, 2009	Alphabet Soup - O Think of a person, place, or thing that begins with the letter 'O'. Now write a paragraph, a poem, or a short story about that person, place or thing.
May 24, 2009	Alphabet Soup - N Think of a person, place, or thing that begins with the letter 'N'. Now write a paragraph, a poem, or a short story about that person, place or thing.
May 17, 2009	A Series of Puns Puns are jokes that rely on words that sound alike, but have different meanings.
May 10, 2009	Mother's Day This week we celebrate Mother's Day, a day to commemorate and honor mothers.
May 3, 2009	Performing a Task In high school I had a teacher who had us write a paper on "how to reeve a block and tackle." We quickly discovered that writing understandable explanations of how to perform a specific set of instructions could be quite challenging.
Apr 26, 2009	Newspaper Reporter Imagine that you are a newspaper reporter, and your job is to report on the news in your neighborhood.
Apr 19, 2009	Blank Verse Sometimes people get so caught up in rhyming that they forget another very important part of a poem: its rhythm.
Apr 12, 2009	A Trip to the Mall People go to the mall to shop, to hang out with friends, or just to kill time.
Apr 5, 2009	Recipe for Disaster? Do you enjoy cooking? Here's a chance to tell us all your favorite recipe.
Mar 29, 2009	Spring Is in the Air? Where I live, there's still plenty of snow, but we're all anticipating actual, honest-to-goodness spring weather.
Mar 22, 2009	Mythological Creatures Greek and Roman mythology are filled with strange creatures like the Hydra, the Minotaur, Cerberus, and many others.
Mar 15, 2009	Iambic Pentameter An iamb is a sequence of two syllables in which the first syllable is unstressed, and the second is stressed. Iambic Pentameter is made up of lines of 5 iambs apiece.
Mar 8, 2009	Admiration We all have people in our lives we respect and admire, people we look up to, maybe even aspire to be like.
Mar 1, 2009	You're a Book Last week I asked people to imagine that they were an animal, and write a short piece from that perspective. This week, let's make that a bit more challenging...
Feb 22, 2009	You're an Animal Pick an animal, any animal, and imagine that you are that animal.
Feb 15, 2009	Pep Talk Grab-Bag This is a first; I thought it would be fun to do a Grab Bag for the writing prompt. So I went to the Grab Bag Page and asked for four words...
Feb 8, 2009	Duct Tape Some folks say that Duct Tape holds the world together. They even make calendars with 365 uses for Duct Tape.
Feb 1, 2009	Writer's Block This week has been one of the slowest weeks I've seen on this site since its beginning. A few pieces were written, but as of 6:00 PM on Saturday, only one person had done the weekly writing prompt!
Jan 25, 2009	Lottery Winner Imagine that you've just won the lottery. What kinds of things do you think would change in your life as a result of your winnings?
Jan 18, 2009	More Historical Confusion Can you imagine what would happen if Thomas Edison lived in the time of Alexander the Great? What would happen if George Washington could have a conversation with Abraham Lincoln?
Jan 11, 2009	Hector and the Clarinets It's been quite a long time since we last did a "First Line" writing prompt. So let's do one...
Jan 4, 2009	Movie Review Now that 2008 is over, people like to talk about their favorite (or least favorite) movie of last year. What about you?
Dec 28, 2008	New Year's Resolutions Some people resolve to make changes in their lives, starting on January 1st.
Dec 21, 2008	Snow, Snow, Snow! The weatherman is telling me that I'll have a White Christmas for sure this year. As I watch the snowflakes falling, I can't help but wonder: If snowflakes had brains, what kinds of things would they think about?
Dec 14, 2008	Science Fiction Holiday Write a paragraph, a story, or some dialog about people celebrating in a "science fiction" setting.
Dec 7, 2008	Anapestic Christmas 'Twas the Night before Christmas' is a famous Christmas poem written in anapestic tetrameter. Each line sounds like this: da da DA da da DA da da DA da da DA, and every pair of lines rhymes.
Nov 30, 2008	Memorable Christmas Party Have you been to a Christmas party that sticks out in your mind, maybe even after many years have gone by?
Nov 2, 2008	Short Story Here at Fifteen Minutes Of Fiction, November 2008 is Short Story Writing Month. There will be only one writing prompt this month: Write a short story.
Oct 26, 2008	Thanksgiving - A Month Early Just a reminder, next week starts ShoStoWriMo at Fifteen Minutes Of Fiction, and we're encouraging writers to write a short story over the course of the month.
Oct 19, 2008	School Conversation Between classes, two students are walking the hallway at school. What are they talking about?
Oct 12, 2008	Bird's Eye View Today I was imagining how the world would look from the perspective of a bird flying overhead.
Oct 5, 2008	Fibonacci Poems We haven't done a Fibonacci Poem for awhile. A "Fib" is a poem with 6 lines, and the number of syllables in each line is: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8. There are no other metrical or rhyming rules, making it somewhat similar to a Haiku.
Sep 28, 2008	Animal For A Day If you could be an animal - any animal you wanted - for a day, what animal would you choose?
Sep 21, 2008	Time Machine A mad scientist just dumped you into a time machine, scrambled the controls, and sent you off to another time.
Sep 14, 2008	Dream Vacation We've written about a dream job, and our dream superpower, now it's time to write about your dream vacation.
Sep 7, 2008	Super Hero! If you were a super hero, what would your super hero name be? What would your super power be?
Aug 31, 2008	Labor Day In honor of Labor Day, let's write about jobs this week.
Aug 24, 2008	Summer Haiku School is starting soon; for many students, "back to school" is this week. Let's start the school year with a poetry writing prompt...
Aug 17, 2008	Alphabet Soup - M Think of a person, place, or thing that begins with the letter 'M'. Now write a paragraph, a poem, or a short story about that person, place or thing.
Aug 10, 2008	Alphabet Soup - L Think of a person, place, or thing that begins with the letter 'L'. Now write a paragraph, a poem, or a short story about that person, place or thing.
Aug 3, 2008	Alphabet Soup - K Think of a person, place, or thing that begins with the letter 'K'. Now write a paragraph, a poem, or a short story about that person, place or thing.
Jul 27, 2008	Alphabet Soup - J Think of a person, place, or thing that begins with the letter 'J'. Now write a paragraph, a poem, or a short story about that person, place or thing.
Jul 20, 2008	Alphabet Soup - I Think of a person, place, or thing that begins with the letter 'I'. Now write a paragraph, a poem, or a short story about that person, place or thing.
Jul 13, 2008	Alphabet Soup - H Think of a person, place, or thing that begins with the letter 'H'. Now write a paragraph, a poem, or a short story about that person, place or thing.
Jul 6, 2008	Alphabet Soup - G Think of a person, place, or thing that begins with the letter 'G'. Now write a paragraph, a poem, or a short story about that person, place or thing.
Jun 29, 2008	Alphabet Soup - F Think of a person, place, or thing that begins with the letter 'F'. Now write a paragraph, a poem, or a short story about that person, place or thing.
Jun 22, 2008	Alphabet Soup - E Think of a person, place, or thing that begins with the letter 'E'. Now write a paragraph, a poem, or a short story about that person, place or thing.
Jun 15, 2008	Alphabet Soup - D Think of a person, place, or thing that begins with the letter 'D'. Now write a paragraph, a poem, or a short story about that person, place or thing.
Jun 8, 2008	Alphabet Soup - C Think of a person, place, or thing that begins with the letter 'C'. Now write a paragraph, a poem, or a short story about that person, place or thing.
Jun 1, 2008	Alphabet Soup - B Think of a person, place, or thing that begins with the letter 'B'. Now write a paragraph, a poem, or a short story about that person, place or thing.
May 25, 2008	Alphabet Soup - A Think of a person, place, or thing that begins with the letter 'A'. Now write a paragraph, a poem, or a short story about that person, place or thing.
May 18, 2008	A Penny For Your Thoughts... Write a short dialogue that begins with one character saying to another, "A penny for your thoughts..."
May 11, 2008	Famous Tales Revisited Pick a favorite story from your childhood - a fable, a fairy tale, or some other story - and rewrite it.
May 4, 2008	This Is the Way the World Ends T.S. Eliot said that the world ends "not with a bang, but a whimper." Douglas Adams said there was a restaurant at the end of the universe.
Apr 27, 2008	April Showers and May Flowers "April showers bring May flowers," they say. We're now at the end of April, so we should be seeing those May flowers soon.
Apr 20, 2008	Many Adjectives Well chosen adjectives make your writing come alive by helping the reader picture what you're describing.
Apr 13, 2008	My Favorite Books Write a paragraph about one of your favorite books, explaining why you like it so much.
Apr 6, 2008	Puns! Write a paragraph, a conversation, or a story which contains lots of puns.
Mar 30, 2008	Talking Animals Have you ever wondered if animals talk to each other when we're not around?
Mar 23, 2008	Easter Celebration Does your family do anything special on Easter? Write about your family traditions/activities.
Mar 16, 2008	My Favorite Day Of The Week Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday: which is your favorite day of the week?
Mar 2, 2008	To Whom It May Concern Have you ever purchased a product or service and been very unhappy with the quality of what you received?
Feb 24, 2008	Inanimate Perspective Last week you wrote a poem about a "mundane object" - this week you'll need another object...
Feb 17, 2008	Poem About A Mundane Object It's been over two months since our last poetry writing prompt, so lets do another one!
Feb 10, 2008	Happy Valentines Day? Good Grief, Charlie Brown! Valentine's Day is this week! Have you got your Valentine's cards written and mailed?
Feb 3, 2008	A Little Fantasy Great fantasy writing often has strange, mystical creatures such as unicorns, fauns, centaurs, and many more.
Jan 27, 2008	Historical Confusion It has been said that "the winners write the history books". In other words, how can we be sure the things we read in history books are what really happened?
Jan 20, 2008	Letter To A Spammer Spammers (people who send unsolicited emails) are the bane of the internet. If you were going to write a letter to a spammer, what would you say?
Jan 13, 2008	The Unexpected Test Have you ever walked into a classroom having completely forgotten that you had a major test that day?
Jan 6, 2008	Alfred's Missing Keys Alfred has lost his key ring, on which he keeps the keys to everything he owns. How does this affect his day? What does he do to recover his keys?
Dec 30, 2007	Alliterative Paragraphs Alliteration is repetition of a leading vowel or consonant sound in a phrase. For example: "Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers."
Dec 23, 2007	My Favorite Christmas Gift With Christmas this week, probably no one will have much time to "get creative", so for this writing prompt you really don't need much creativity.
Dec 16, 2007	Homeless On Christmas For many of us, Christmas is a time for family and feasting and celebration - but there are millions of people who are alone and without anything on Christmas each year.
Dec 9, 2007	Letter To Santa Claus For some of you it may have been many years since you wrote a letter to Santa Claus, and maybe some of you never have.
Dec 2, 2007	Christmas Haiku Let's return to Haiku this week! Write two or more Haiku about Christmas. Remember that in a Haiku, there are three lines, with 5/7/5 syllables.
Nov 25, 2007	Christmas Story Christmas is a month away. For the next few weeks the writing prompts will all be Christmas themed.
Nov 18, 2007	Thankful Free Verse Thanksgiving is a time for giving thanks (nothing like stating the obvious, eh?) What are you grateful for?
Nov 11, 2007	Children Fighting Children often fight and argue; two children are having an argument. What are they arguing about? What kinds of things are they saying?
Nov 4, 2007	Inside The Television In Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a little boy ends up just a few inches tall and "on TV". What would it be like if that's how television really worked?
Oct 28, 2007	I Lost My Job You just found out this morning that you have been fired from your job. Your family does not yet know. What will you tell them? How will they react?
Oct 21, 2007	Man-Made vs Nature Haiku is a short Japanese form of poetry, in which the lines follow the form: 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables.
Oct 14, 2007	My Campaign Speech People who are running in an election must be prepared to make speeches. If you were going to run for an office, what office would it be? How would you present your campaign to voters?
Oct 7, 2007	The Mountain Peak You've been hiking all morning, and have just reached the peak of the mountain.
Sep 30, 2007	A Fibonacci Poem A Fibonacci Poem (or 'Fib') is similar to a Haiku; the poem's structure is based on the number of syllables per line.
Sep 23, 2007	The Thirty Seventh Floor An elevator got stuck on the 37th floor of a skyscraper. One or more people were stuck in the elevator. Write a short story or story fragment about what happened.

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