90 Writing Prompts for 90 Days

Do you find yourself struggling with writing? Is finding inspiration difficult, or do you perhaps feel out of practice? Maybe you want to get some words on a page, but have no idea where to start? 

Well, whether or not you find yourself struggling with writing, writing prompts are a beautiful concept that can benefit all writers. It doesn’t matter if you’re an experienced writer or are just beginning—writing prompts are a great exercise for those who want to “warm up” their writing, get their creative flow going, or simply just practice. 

At the bottom of this blog post, you will find 90 writing prompts to use over the next 90 days! 

Want a free Writer’s Weekly Planner to help you plan and track your writing over these 90 days? You can get a copy right here.

What Are Writing Prompts?

Writing prompts are suggestions for writers, and can all be very different depending on the prompt itself. Not only do creative writing prompts, story writing prompts, poetry prompts, and even essay prompts exist, but they can come in the form of anything, such as a phrase or simply a word or two.

The greatest thing about using writing prompts is that there is no pressure to create something fantastic, unique, or even good. Writing prompts are just starting points. 

The 90 writing prompts at the bottom of this blog post are perfect examples of this: simple starting points that are perfectly unique, allowing you to create something awesome with ease. Perhaps you’ll create a novel with one, or your new favourite poem. 

At the end of the day, writing prompts can also just be used as writing exercises that inevitably end up forgotten. Regardless, they are meant to let creativity flow and to provide inspiration for all writers: and the free Writer’s Weekly Planner you can find here is a great way to stay on track with all your writing exercises! 

How To Use Writing Prompts

The beauty of writing prompts is that there’s no wrong way to use them. As previously mentioned, they are simply starting points. You can interpret them in whichever way you want, and take whichever creative liberties you choose. 

When you look at a writing prompt, it will usually tell you what to write about or give you some words to use as inspiration. With that, you can take it in whichever direction you wish. Sometimes prompts will specify the kind of writing—for example poetry, fiction, or essay—but at the end of the day, the fact that you’re getting in some writing exercise is what matters. 

You can create whatever you want when you use writing prompts. A prompt that is just a simple object, can influence you to create an entire world. That’s the beauty of writing prompts! They are the line from Point A to Point B. They are whatever you want them to be.

And the key to using writing prompts is exactly that: knowing there are no guidelines that you have to follow. You can create the best thing you’ve ever written, or the complete opposite.

Simply read a writing prompt, and go in whichever direction you wish to go. Does a prompt about a purple butterfly make you think of a magical world, or does it make you think of the beauty of nature? Perhaps it makes you think of something completely different. 

Whatever a writing prompt makes you think of, just follow that and see where you end up. At the end of the day, you’ll have at the very least gotten in some writing practice. 

Why Writers Should Try Writing Prompts

Writing prompts are amazing because literally anybody can use them. Beginners, experienced writers, or even someone who wants to get into writing but just doesn’t know where to start. No matter who you are, you can and you should use writing prompts!

For the more experienced writer, writing prompts can be great writing exercises or warm-ups. Some prompts, depending on the individual writer, may prove to be more difficult than others. This makes using writing prompts a great way to get some practice or to face a fun challenge.

Fine-tuning your writing skills doesn’t have to be boring or technical either—just choose a writing prompt you wouldn’t typically choose and see where it takes you. 

For those who are just starting out in their writing journey, writing prompts can be amazing in a variety of ways. They can be used to discover your writing style, or to brainstorm ideas for a novel or story. For beginners, the fact that there’s no rules to using writing prompts is what makes them so great.

You can just practice and practice as much as you want—and hey, maybe one of them will turn into something that you’re super proud of, or inspire a plot or character in a future novel! 

90 Writing Prompts for 90 Days

Regardless of how experienced you are with writing, or if you’ve never really been into writing at all, writing prompts are a great thing for writers to use when they want to create something new, when they feel uninspired, or simply when they want to use them for the sake of writing something. 

It’s important that you find good writing prompts, though! Prompts that are boring or that don’t give writers proper creative framework are not worth their time. Writing prompts that are unique and allow creativity to flourish are the ideal ones to go with.

The following is a list of 90 writing prompts for you to use over the next 90 days. Whether or not you want to do them in order or at random is up to you, but try to follow one writing prompt every day! 

There are creative writing prompts, poetry prompts, non-fiction prompts, and more! This unique list will take you and the other writers who complete it on a journey of creativity and inspiration. 

At the end of the 90 days, you’ll have 90 pieces of writing that you can use for whatever you want: and to keep track of these 90 days, as well as your other writing activities, you can download a free Writer’s Weekly Planner here! Happy writing!

Fiction

1. Write about how a tiny black bug in their bed leads to a large emotional catastrophe for two people newly in love.
2. Write a story about someone receiving bad news at a birthday party.
3. Write about a dinner party where someone proposes robbing a bank, and someone else takes it seriously.
4. Write a story in which your character wakes up and doesn’t know who they are. Start there and see what you discover.
5. Write a story in which two people meet after a long time apart and one of them looks exactly the same while the other has changed significantly in their appearance. 
6. Write a story about two best friends, one of whom isn’t who she always seemed to be. 
7. Write a story with a middle-aged man who takes up skateboarding.
8. Write a story that starts and ends at a protest march, but not necessarily the same march.
9. Write a story about someone who’s just had their life completely disrupted and now feels completely out of place.
10. Write a love story set in a submarine or hot air balloon.
11. Write about what happens when a husband forgets to pick up the birthday cake. 
12. Write about a chef who witnesses something bad at a food market.
13. Write about what happens when a happy couple gets an unexpected diagnosis.
14. Write a story about a woman who overdoes it with plastic surgery. 
15. Write a story in which the main character is trying to pull a loved one out of a depression.
16. Write about a doctor that finds the cure to a deadly disease, but the cure comes at a cost. 
17. Write about someone who finds a book that changes their life. 
18. Write about someone who accidentally travels through time.
19. Think about any point in your life, and write a story about how your life would have changed if you had found a genie that could grant you three wishes. 
20. Write a story about someone who can suddenly understand what animals are saying.

Poetry

1. A narrative poem about a dream you had and what it means.
2. Pull a Tarot card and write a poem using that card and something that happened to you yesterday.
3. Write a poem in which ordinary household objects take on divine significance.
4. Brainstorm four nouns beginning with the same letter, and four verbs beginning with the same letter--include all 8 words in a new poem.
5. Brainstorm 3 questions and write a poem that almost but doesn’t quite answer them.
6. Write a 7-line poem that contains the following things: porcupine, [scented] soap, an eraser.
7. Write a poem that retells an old wives tale and makes it modern.
8. A poem where each line contains one word from another language.
9. Write a poem taking something from science you don’t understand, and explain it as you think it should work.
10. Write a poem in which a bird is, or once was, human.
11. Write a poem in which your grandmother gives you 8 different warnings.
12. Write a poem without using the word “the”.
13. Write a poem that, when read backwards, tells a completely different story than it does when read forwards.
14. Pick a colour and write a poem about the emotion it’s typically associated with.
15. Write a poem about the end of the world.
16. Write a sad poem disguised as a happy one.
17. Write a poem about your favourite place.
18. Create a list of words you would use to describe a person you know, then use those words in a poem about them.
19. Write a poem about magic in a boring world.
20. Think of three words you love and three words you hate, and write a poem with them all.
21. Write a poem inspired by your favourite movie.

Creative Nonfiction/Blogging

1. Social media gains (or losses).
2. Ordinary things that should be supported as professional sports.
3. How people should greet each other instead of “How are you?”
4. Things you wanted to say out loud in the past week, but didn’t.
5. The biggest lie of your life and why you told it. 
6. An inventory of all the minute beautiful details of yesterday.
7. The power of silence.
8. An aspect of science newly affecting our daily lives. 
9. The impact of fake news.
10. Three memories that guide your daily choices.
11. Why “self-care” is or isn’t the answer to your problems. 
12. The dark side of the wellness movement.
13. Should we be goal-driven or just let life happen?
14. Ten life lessons you’ve learned in the past ten years.
15. Why/how small changes lead to big shifts.
16. What you’ve learned from your favourite author(s).
17. If the world was a more just place…
18. Argue for how the weaknesses of someone you love are actually their strengths. 
19. What you wish you’d known (or hadn’t known) about your great-grandparents.
20. The joys and sorrows of insomnia.
21. Write about the significance of the butterfly effect.
22. Write about three things that could make a significant difference in the world if they happened.
23. Write about the best TV show of all time and why you think it’s so great. 

Word Prompts

1. Red sky at night
2. Paw prints in the snow
3. Ocean spray
4. A heavy moon
5. New beginnings
6. Blanket of stars
7. Whispering trees
8. Flickering candlelight
9. Tiptoeing
10. Deafening silence
11. Industrious city squirrels
12. Spilled tea
13. A forgotten bobby-pin
14. Roaring flames
15. Pockets full of breadcrumbs 
16. Climbing ivy
17. An ancient forest
18. Ink stained fingers
19. A secret manuscript
20. The perfect reading nook
21. An enchanted tree
22. A fox on the side of the road
23. Moonbeams spilling onto a still ocean
24. Your favourite sweater
25. Homesick
26. Mythical creatures

Need More Writing Prompts?

Below I’ve listed some places you can go to find even MORE writing prompts when you have tried all of the above. But first a word of warning…

Sometimes when we work with prompts, our resistance will rise. We’ll look at a writing prompt and think “No, not that one…” and then go looking for a “better” prompt, or dare I say it – the PERFECT writing prompt. And of course, there’s no such thing.

Too many writers spend their time “prompt shopping” instead of getting down to the business of writing. Don’t let this happen to you!

The 1-2-WRITE Method

When working with writing prompts, I recommend a method I call 1-2-WRITE. It works like this:

1. Pick a writing prompt.
2. Don’t like that prompt? Okay, you can pick just ONE more.
3. Now, WRITE. You must write something using one of the prompts you’ve chosen. 

As you sit to write, you’ll find that something comes. But you must start to write first.

Prompts for Beyond the 90 Days

On Day 91, here are some further places you can go to pick up some additional writing prompts:

The Narrative Arc site has a Daily Prompt Generator. They’re a mixed bag, with some lending themselves naturally to reflective essays or memoir, and some with potential for fiction or poetry.

The New York Times has published a few lists of prompts intended for students writing essays. But some of them are good prompts for adult writers as well.

My friend Sarah Selecky is a short story master. She has a set of writing prompts delivered to you via email over 21 Days for just $5. You can access her 21 Days of Writing here.

 

Before you go, be sure to grab your free copy of my Writer's Weekly Planner to help you think through how to plan and schedule writing time into your life. Happy writing!