50 Awesome Creative Writing Prompts for Adults

Creative writing is a form of art and is often something that many adults seem afraid to try. For you to participate in creative writing, it is not a requirement that you have an artistic talent or be an artist; all you require is the desire to create amazing content. This guide will take a closer look at the 50 different creative writing prompts for adults to help get you started. According to Fillingthejars, each of these creative writing prompts is specifically intended to help you come up with new creative writing ideas.

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A letter

Prompt 50: This scene is often written in the passive voice, where a character in the book receives some news in a letter and later describes receiving the letter and reading it.

Reason: Many scenes in books have been written using active voice rather than passive voice. This is because active characters are interesting to read because the reader usually has a sense of their actions being purposeful, which arouses interest among your readers.

Find story ideas

Prompt 49: Go to Google search and click on the ‘news’ tab, then type in one word. It could be a color, a job description, or even the name of a place. To prevent it from being an odd story, you can opt to write a speculative fiction story.

A chance find

Prompt 48: Open a favorite novel to any page and use the first five words of the first complete sentence to create your story.

Reason: Other successful writers’ novels are often filled with memorable phrases; thus, a single scene can significantly boost your creativity and start writing your own story.

An autocomplete

Prompt 47: Go to Google search and start typing a phrase starting with ‘What if.’ Then pick one of the auto-complete suggestions that come up and use it to compose your story.

Reason: According to Henryharvin, many amazing novels and stories often originate from a simple idea.

A blind stroke of luck

Prompt 46: Open a dictionary to any page five times, close your eyes and place your finger on a random word. Write each of the five random words down and try to combine them into a story idea.

Reason: Random techniques can help expand your creativity as you try connecting different words.

A song

Prompt 45: Select a playlist on your phone or a music streaming service and select shuffle. Press play and use the song’s lyrics as your story’s main idea or title.

Reason: Songs are excellent creative writing sources because they are often ambiguous.

Create eventful plots

Prompt 44: Create a scene in which a character wins the lottery. Vividly describe their excitement when they found out about their great win to claim their ticket, only to find they did not win anything after all.

Reason: Most readers often prefer reading books filled with tragedy and drama.

A prophecy

Prompt 43: Create a scene in which a prophet arrives in a village and prophesies a certain occurrence that immediately throws the locals into turmoil.

Reason: The starting line of your story should indicate the signs of an inciting event that create tension among the characters.

A betrayal

Prompt 42: Create a scene in which two old friends have a disagreement that threatens to end their friendship for good.

Reason: Conflict is often the main theme in many great stories, especially among characters.

An adoption

Prompt 41: Describe a scene of a woman who has been searching for her birth mother for years because there are some questions she needs answers from her. Narrate the first interaction when the woman finally makes contact with her birth mother.

New found evidence

Prompt 40: Describe a scene where a detective has been hunting a notorious killer for years, and when he has finally tracked him, he finds a shocking discovery that ushers in a new chapter.

A late pardon

Prompt 39: Describe a scene where a man has been imprisoned wrongly for a crime and is released 20 years later.

A lone hiker

Prompt 38: Describe a scene where your character has gone hiking in a forest alone. Narrate the different experiences they have during the adventure.

Reason: According to Nownovel, creative writing mainly relies on the visual description of events as it helps create a clearer mental image for your readers.

A city transforms

Prompt 37: Describe the general happenings in a city over the past century. In the course of your narration, describe one major landmark or memorable event that the town’s residents would not forget.

A traveler’s first impressions

Prompt 36: Describe the appearance of a place from the viewpoint of a person visiting the place for the first time. Narrate about the other places in the city that the traveler would find interesting and include the things they did not like.

A house changes

Prompt 35: First, describe a big, luxurious, and beautiful house in the daytime and make it seem accommodating and comfortable. Rewrite describing the house again, making it seem eerie or outright terrifying.

A character’s refuge

Prompt 34: Describe a scene where your character has a favorite destination when they escape to whenever they need to have quality alone time. Vividly describe this setting, including at least three of the five common senses.

Create interesting characters

Prompt 33: Describe a character who seems to be loved by everyone in their community. Also, describe the pleasing qualities of the character that make her so appealing, but end with a secret flaw that everyone notices eventually.

A police line-up

Prompt 32: Describe a character who has witnessed a crime and is required by the police to identify the culprit in a police line-up. Each of the suspects appears quite similar, but there is one person who stands out. Narrate how your character notices this stand-out perpetrator.

A formative experience

Prompt 31: Imagine a character who has one main goal in their life and then describe how a single event from your character’s life has greatly impacted their adopting this goal.

An intriguing voice

Prompt 30: Play a random video and immediately close your eyes. Try to describe the voice of the person you hear speaking. Make sure to include their defining characteristics, such as the quality of the voice and manner of speaking.

A knowledgeable guess

Prompt 29: Carefully read through the first paragraph of a short story or novel, then close the book and write a summary.

A relocation

Prompt 28: Describe a scene where a character moves to a new city. She spots something that catches her attention, making her want to stay there longer. Describe this experience from the first-person point of view.

A chase

Prompt 27: Describe a scene where a criminal group chases your character through an abandoned area. Vividly describe their fear and a probably lucky escape.

A late arrival

Prompt 26: A character arrives late to an event, not knowing that their former lover is also attending the same event. Then, the host introduces them to each other, unaware of their history. Explain this experience from the host’s point of view.

A long affair

Prompt 25: A young couple is sitting at a restaurant and is having playful conservation, testing their love for each other. Rewrite the same scene, but this time with a much older couple, and vividly explains how the conversation would differ.

A change of view

Prompt 24: Using the first person’s point of view, describe a detective investigating a person’s disappearance and explain how he conducts his investigation. Then rewrite the scene in the second person.

Create compelling dialogue (An argument)

Prompt 23: Two lovers disagree at a local restaurant. One of the lovers who hate public displays tries to calm the situation, but the other lover does not care what other people think.

A new tag

Prompt 22: Using your own or another writer’s work, take a few dialogue lines with dialogue tags such as he said or she said and rewrite the same dialogue without using dialogue tags.

Reason: According to Thoughtco, dialogue tags can sometimes be repetitive and distracting.

A public figure

Prompt 21: A politician or celebrity is giving a long speech and is suddenly interrupted by a member of the audience and heckled. The speaker loses their calm and responds impolitely to the heckler.

An elevator pitch

Prompt 20: Two characters have been stuck in a lift for almost an hour. They were strangers but began talking to each about their daily lives as they waited for help.

Reason: Creating a sense of progression in dialogue makes the story more interesting.

A group project

Prompt 19: A group of students has created a group to compile a report. Since each of them has a different work approach on how to complete the project, conflict arises.

A dramatic incident

Prompt 18: Begin your opening sentence with a character having passed away immediately, capturing your audience’s attention and causing them to want to continue reading.

A narrator’s regret

Prompt 17: Beginning your story with words that signify regret is a sure way of captivating your audience.

An uncommon birth

Prompt 16: Beginning your story with ‘I was born…’ motivates your readers to want to know more about your life’s history. This writing prompt is very common in classic novels.

A strange action

Prompt 15: According to the Community.Lincs, beginning your story with an awkward or surprising action often captures the attention of your audience.

Reason: While the mundane scenes can be present throughout your story, try keeping these parts in the middle or end of your book.

An encompassing idea

Prompt 14: Writing a first line that summarizes the whole story often attracts curiosity among your readers.

A marriage day

Prompt 13: Imagine a character describing her wedding day. This happy event vividly describes all experiences in the present tense and first person (plural) point of view.

A revelation

Prompt 12: Your character is a high school student who has just sat for his final exams. Describe how he did his exams in the recent past tense. Now rewrite the same piece in the past perfect tense to show complete actions. This helps create a more complex sense of time in your story.

An interview

Prompt 11: A character is nervously waiting outside for a job interview. Try writing the scene in the present progressive tense, as this helps create active scenes in the reader’s mind.

A plan

Prompt 10: Describe a character making plans for where they expect to be in life when they reach 40 years. Try using the future perfect tense to make it clear that your character is in a state of transition.

An unexpected visitor

Prompt 9: Begin your story explaining an unexpected visit using the past perfect progressive tense that describes a continuous action that was completed in the past.

An imperfect copy

Prompt 8: Open a favorite novel to a random page and select a paragraph. With the cut-out, the paragraph replaces all adjectives with their synonyms. Compare the two paragraphs and note any differences.

A marathon

Prompt 7: Describe a scene where your main character runs a competitive marathon. Vividly describe their feeling and progress as they near the finish line.

A synonymous exchange

Prompt 6: Write a scene between two individual characters who are out on a date at a local restaurant. They mimic each other’s gestures from time to time in a subconscious display of attraction.

An intelligent child

Prompt 5: Describe a scene where your main character talks about a smart child who showcases certain special interests or abilities. Vividly describe this scenario capturing every moment.

A blank slate

Prompt 4: You can also develop your creative writing prompt and use it to write an interesting story.

A top-rated finale

Prompt 3: Pick a favorite TV movie or series and create your own story ending based on what you can vividly remember of the characters and plot line.

A metamorphosis

Prompt 2: Describe a character where they are animals, food items, songs, or buildings. Creative writing prompts about imaginary people and things help create a more solid idea of them in your reader’s mind.

A better ending

Prompt 1: Take a novel you read and find the end unsatisfying. Try to rewrite the ending and change the unsatisfying elements until you are content with the outcome.