Creative Writing ideas:



Creative Writing ideas:

Think back to a time when you saw a stranger say or do something that that caught your attention. Write from the stranger's point of view about what they are doing and why.

Find an interesting picture. Write about it. Make sure to include a description of all the five senses to really set the tone for your piece. Then try broadening your view of the image. Are there people there? What are they doing? Who are they? See where it takes you.

A jewel-encrusted box is found in an ancient abandoned temple. Describe the box, what is in the box, and the temple. See where it takes you.

Write about a place where two rivers meet.

Write about fear.

A stepparent has placed his/her ancient family portrait in the characters house. Describe the portrait.

Use a family portrait to start a story - how are the characters different than they appear? What do they look like? Do they appear happy when they're not, etc?

Write a list of ten things you hate. Invent a character who likes that thing you hate. This will expand your ability to see things from someone else's point of view.

Three characters enter a room; an old embittered woman, angry at life and full of regret, a young idealistic boy, and a mother of a newborn baby. How does each character describe the room?

Describe the setting for a haunted house.

Describe the rooms of the following three characters; an artist, a spoiled child, a military leader.

Get ideas from newspapers, magazines and books -

Mix news items with incidents from your own life, or from your observations or imagination. Think about the people in these news reports, too. What drove them to act in the ways they did? What were their hopes and fears, their dreams and desires? Create rounded characters that will add depth to your story. Look through newspapers and magazines, and cut out photos of fascinating faces on which you can build your characters.

Get ideas from watching people -

Observe people around you. Their mannerisms and facial expressions, their distinctive way of talking or special phrases they use, their personality quirks and oddities: any of these may spark off your imagination, leading to a story revolving round one or more fascinating, unforgettable characters.

Twists on Traditional Tales -

Spoof the Cinderella Story

A somewhat absent-minded/bumbling/crackbrained fairy godmother's (or godfather's?) spells go awry, causing Cinders quite a few hair-raising moments. And after all that trouble, what does the silly girl do? Spurn Prince Charming and run off with the palace cook. But can you really blame her, seeing she's been fed nothing but scraps all her life?

Sleeping Beauty, 1000 years later

What happens when Sleeping Beauty wakes up -- not 100 but 1000 years later -- in the 21st Century? Who's the cool guy who gets to kiss her awake? How will she adjust to a world of computers, the internet, cell phones, television, air travel and school life? Will she be a miserable misfit or will she live it up as a swinging teen-princess?

Skeletons in the Closet

Build your story around a terrible secret - one so horrendous that the characters will go all out to protect it. Why? Revealing it will lead to terrible consequences: a loved one injured/killed/ruined financially/ostracised by society/sent to jail.

Some examples:Along Comes an Imposter

Pat is an orphan, a teenager living on the streets. He answers an ad by a wealthy couple looking for their long-lost son, and worms himself into the family's affections. Just as he is congratulating himself on finally living the life he's always wanted...

Home Alone

Ann must guard a terrible secret from her younger siblings - their parents are serving time in prison. She tells them Daddy and Mommy are working abroad and sending money home. Meanwhile, she works two jobs to make ends meet. One day, her kid brother chances upon an old newspaper clipping...

Begin a story with:

I never expected that one day I'd open my closet and find.......

It was obviously going to be an unusual day when my mom came into my bedroom and said.....

She was a funny old lady, but I knew she had come to tell me.....

It was my best friend's deepest secret and it would be a hard one to keep.......

Goats, sheep ,and chickens belong on the farm, not in the middle of........

Late one night the neighbor knocked on the front door and asked..........

Something brushed up against my foot and my surprise turned to horror as I looked down and saw.....

Or pick a beginning from a book you love and use it to write your own story:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…. (A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens),

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way… (Leo Tolstoy ,Anna Karenina),

Call me Ishmael. Some years ago - never mind how long precisely - having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world… (Herman Melville, Moby Dick).

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