Cure Writer's Block: Over 5000 Writing Prompts To Move You Forward (Writing Prompts & Exercises): Writing Prompts & Exercises, #2

CURE WRITER’S BLOCK ONCE AND FOR ALL:

Over 5000 Writing Prompts & Exercises to Move You Forward

By JanMarie Kelly

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© JanMarie Kelly

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All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author.

If you would like to use this information in an educational/classroom setting, please first email me at jankelly@janmariekelly.com

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Requests for special permission should be addressed to:

JanMarie Kelly

Email: jankelly@janmariekelly.com

Phone: (717)456-0876

Website: janmariekelly.com

Harling House Publishing

Table of Contents

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

CHARACTERS

SETTINGS

BEGINNINGS

ENDINGS

INCLUDE

DESCRIPTIONS

DIALOGUE

TITLES

MYSTERIES/CRIME

FOR OR AGAINST

JOURNALING

EXPERIENCE

OPPOSITES

WHAT IF

IMAGINE

INVENT

CHOOSE

LISTS

FREE-WRITE

JOURNALISTIC PROMPTS

WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY & HOW

THE REST OF THE LIST

WRITING TIPS

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

As any writer who has been at their craft for a while will tell you, one of the most asked questions they receive is some form of where do you get your ideas.  And those same writers are likely to all tell you the same thing – everywhere.

A lack of ideas are not usually a problem for writers, after all they just need to read the paper, watch the people around them, examine their own life, etc., to quickly become overwhelmed with the possibilities. However, sometimes the blank screen staring back at you as you ready yourself to start a new project can be a bit intimidating and cause halt to your creativity flow.

It is for that reason that having your own bank of story ideas (starters, prompts) on hand is greatly recommended for all writers. With the material presented in this book you should have more than enough prompts to get your juices flowing for a lifetime.  As you will see, although the over 5000 prompts included could be enough in themselves, once you start working with prompts it tends to spark other ideas of your own until eventually your notebooks will be overflowing and you’ll be begging for more hours in the day with which to write them all out.

Feel free to start anywhere within the book, whether by topic or random pick, as there are sure to be plenty that will send you off and writing. You could also choose to challenge yourself and start with prompt one and work your way through the entire book and once you are done (if that happens), you can go back to the beginning and start over as most of these prompts are written in a way that allows reuse with different outcomes.

You may choose to follow a prompt wherever it takes you for as long as it takes you, or you may choose a timed writing method. This book and its contents are yours to do with as you see fit. Everyone works differently and whatever method gets you writing, and keeps you writing, is the one you should follow.

Skip any prompts that you don’t like, write from the same one several times, try them all once, add your own twist... it is all up to YOU.

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CHARACTERS

The following is a list of potential characters for your writing. Use the prompts to write character sketches, write a short story about the character suggested, or use the character info in a new (or in progress) story.

However, you choose to use the prompts below, there are certainly many ideas to get your juices flowing and ideas percolating on your next big character.

A barber cutting hair as a front for a gambling room in back.

A bearded man, seen carrying a red umbrella just an hour earlier, is found dead with no umbrella in sight.

A black man applying for a job in 1960.

A boy trapped inside a video game.

A cat lady takes in a stray dog.

A character has an odd and visible tattoo.

A character is knocked unconscious.

A character is wearing a large furry hat.

A character is wearing clown makeup.

A character is wearing stockings and garters.

A character profile for a twelve year old.

A character that has been mistaken for the opposite sex.

A claustrophobic woman gets trapped in an elevator 14 stories up.

A clown arrested for public drunkenness.

A clown gets lost on way to a birthday party and ends up at a wake.

A compulsive liar responding to personal ads.

A couple’s experience appearing on a tv talk show.

A crime writer plots the perfect murder and then sets out to accomplish it.

A cross dresser on a shopping spree with friends.

A deaf man and a seeing-eye dog.

A dentist loses his license after being sued for...

A divorced woman who has recently lost 140 pounds.

A drunken man sits next to you in a bar and thinks you are his buddy.  He starts confessing ‘the truth’. Write about what ‘the truth’ is.

A female hairdresser that works from the basement of her home in New Jersey.

A fitness buff with multiple allergies.

A foreign visitor has only one day to spend in your country.  Where should this visitor go and why?

A hypochondriac comes down with an actual illness that can’t be defined.

A kleptomaniac at a community yard sale.

A librarian who buys a motorcycle.

A lost child

A man in his 30’s must move back in with his parents.

A man turns out to be a woman.

A married man pretending to be single.

A militant vegetarian stuck at an all you can eat seafood buffet.

A mother overprotecting her child.

A mysterious stranger helping at an accident scene.

A naked person was seen sneaking around the outside of an apartment complex late last night.

A nun in a rough neighborhood.

A one hit wonder.

A police officer’s first day of retirement.

A postman with dyslexia.

A professional wife.

A refugee.

A reporter trying to quit smoking.

A rich man pretending to be poor.

A school bus driver addicted to prescription pain killers.

A secondary character has her head in the clouds.

A secondary character is having a birthday and your main character doesn’t know.

A single mom dreaming of going to college.

A stalker ends up being the hunted.

A tattooed biker becomes a daycare provider.

A thanksgiving guest.

A victim of mistaken identity.

A woman deciding whether to leave her husband for a younger man.

A woman in a purple hat is seen fleeing the scene of an accident.

A woman wrongly accused of domestic violence.

An A student cutting class for the first time.

An adult with an imaginary friend.

An amnesiac found covered in blood.

An annoying co-worker that you must interact with daily.

An annoying telemarketer that keeps calling your cell phone.

An architect who has just been hired to design a new city.

An art forger gets scammed in his own con.

An asthmatic kid wins the 25 meter race at a school event.

An astronaut with six months to live.

An Obsessive/Compulsive.

Artist stuck in a suit.

Combine two people you know - one relative and one friend - to come up with a new character.

Create 2 or 3 characters from facets of your personality.  Put them in a car, driving to the coast (furthest from where you are).  Who takes the wheel?  Who navigates?  Give them a topic of conversation, such as the best route to take or what they should do when they arrive.

Create a character and give them a family tree. Go all out, give them eccentric ancestors:  world travelers, horse traders, mad scientists, whatever your creative bent comes up with. Don't forget the dates for birth, marriages and deaths - drag out all the skeletons in the closet.

Create a character based on a friend of yours by either changing his age or developing her opposite.

Create a character profile of a clockmaker.

Create a character profile of a pompous waiter.

Create a character profile of a postal employee.

Create a character profile of a telemarketer.

Create a character profile of a twelve year old.

Create a character profile of an evil coward.

Create a character that is incredibly happy.

Create a character with a secret to confess. Write their journal entries over the days, weeks, they keep the secret. Show how it affects the people in their lives. Why do they continue to keep the secret? How does it affect them?

Create a character with a superstition.

Create a character with multiple allergies.

Create a charming villain, one that is most cunning, intelligent and handsome, but evil, nonetheless.  Whether a murdered, wife beater, robber or some other character, make him as irresistible as you can, except for his one evil habit. Then write a descriptive scene with him doing his worst.

Develop a character sketch for a villain based on a painful truth you’ve experienced.

Do character sketches of members of your family.

Find 5 photos of different people in magazines and write a character profile for each one.

Find a random name in the phone book and base a character on it.

Get a massage or spa treatment.  Write the life story of the masseuse.

He was a recovering alcoholic.

He’s the sexy single moving in next door.

Jerry was a show-off. Whatever you knew, he knew better. Whatever you had, he had better. He could always win the argument by thumping you because he was bigger. However, one day....

John and Meg celebrate Valentine’s Day the same way every year...

One of your characters is 95 years young today and having a big bash to celebrate.  Trouble is, when it’s time for the party to start, your character is nowhere to be found.

One of your fictional characters was in an accident and won’t survive the night.  Write the character’s obituary for tomorrow’s paper – include relatives, accomplishments, work history, etc.

Open a baby name book and randomly pick a name.  Write a brief history about a character with that name.  What’s in his pockets (or handbag)?  What are her hopes, dreams, desires, and fears? Outline a story using this character.

Our paper boy

Pamela and Michael; write their story.

Pick an unusual name and create a school-age character.  How do classmates react to the name? How does the child handle the teasing, if there is any? When does the child begin to be proud of his/her name?

Pregnant drug users

She’s kept a blog for years, but her latest entry may just end up getting her, and her co-worker, fired.

Someone who hasn’t eaten in three days.

Someone with a disability who also fights crime.

Someone with a secret obsession is being blackmailed.

The character has a secret obsession. Write about it.

The character’s name is Bobby Fillmore.  Write what happens when he gets home.

The character’s name is Marguerite Harling. Write a profile about her.

The granny who sits on her porch knitting every morning is not who everyone believes her to be...

The hardworking, affable mayor hides a dark side that only comes out in private.

The maid drops a plate of appetizers when she overhears...

The man with a glass eye.

The mysterious stepmother has a second life.

The waiter came to our table wearing a mask.

The young aristocrat ends up failing out of medical school.

The young political hopeful addresses a crowd at a mall.

Tobacco chewing woman.

Unemployed and ill, your character finds another means to pay his doctor bills.

When you saw his upper physique, you would have thought he was a body builder. That is until he stepped from behind the podium.

Write a character profile for a sore loser.

Write a character sketch of a person who gets under your skin.

Write a character sketch of a pompous waiter in a posh restaurant.

Write a character sketch of a woman called ‘doc’.

Write a character sketch of someone in a before and after ad.

Write a scene that shows a character struggling with memory loss and the affect it has on the people around them.

Write a scene with a 20-something character watching cartoons.

Write a scene with a depressed character.

Write a story about a Mr. Mom

Write a story where the protagonist feels she is underpaid.

Write about a ‘by the book’ person.

Write about a character eating while something else is going on.

Write about a character in danger.

Write about a character wearing a real or figurative mask.

Write about a character who gets engaged.

Write about a character who is mistaken for the opposite sex.

Write about a character who is obsessive-compulsive.

Write about a character who is unemployed.

Write about a day in the life of a valet.

Write about a female character, 53; who’s an extrovert, but gets easily depressed.

Write about a fisherman who keeps a blog on ways to catch and cook fish.

Write about a flight attendant drinking champagne in first class.

Write about a fortune-teller.

Write about a man who chews tobacco.

Write about a man who got stood up on a date.

Write about a person who has a peculiar way of walking.

Write about a person who has stood in a line too long.

Write about a procrastinator.

Write about a redheaded woman.

Write about a smoker.

Write about a spelunker.

Write about a stalker.

Write about a stout, grumpy ghost.

Write about a technophobe.

Write about a veteran.

Write about a woman in a hat.

Write about a woman in a non-traditional job.

Write about a woman named tomorrow.

Write about a woman who smokes a pipe.

Write about a woman with a glass eye.

Write about a woman with heavy eye makeup.

Write about an unwelcome guest.

Write about being a mailman in the city.

Write about someone from high school who turned out in a surprising way.

Write about someone who has beaten the odds.

Write about someone who has no enemies.

Write about someone who is an underdog.

Write about someone who is easy to make blush.

Write about someone who thinks it’s Monday.

Write about someone who wore a little too much perfume.

Write about someone with a disability.

Write about someone with an imaginary friend.

Write about someone you know who has a secretary.

Write about someone you know who is a secretary.

Write about the lonely woman in the park.

You are a 58-year old nurse who is a hypochondriac.

Your main character has acute amnesia.

Your main character has died unexpectedly, and you have been asked to give the eulogy. What will you say?

Your MC gets released from prison after being locked up for fifteen years.

Your shopaholic character regrets a recent purchase that breaks a two month stretch of no shopping.

Your terminally ill character has no heirs to leave her possessions to, so she decides to...

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SETTINGS

Below are plenty of prompts to get you thinking about the settings for your story.  There are some with detail already included and others with just a general setting starter to use as jumping off point. Choose one that gets your imagination firing and write the scene.

A bar during its grand opening.

A baseball field during a big game.

A beauty pageant for teens.

A beauty pageant for tweens.

A block party.

A bowling alley after hours.

A burning building.

A casino during the wee hours of the morning.

A chase through an amusement park.

A city street after a super bowl loss.

A concert hall during cleanup after a highly successful show.

A convenience store during morning rush hour.

A convenience store.

A court room where the jury has just come back with their decision.

A crowd squeezing on a subway at rush hour.

A dance hall during an event for seniors.

A dark alley filled with trash and homeless people.

A deserted railway station.

A disastrous (outdoor) family get-together.

A drive-in movie

A drive-in movie theater that is about to be shut down.

A favorite coffee shop of your character’s that is about to be torn down.

A football game where rival teams are fighting.

A funeral of a much hated town resident.

A hardware store right before a bad winter storm.

A high school

A high-stakes card game in the back room of a Laundromat.

A hospital room, bedside a terminal patient.

A hospital waiting room. A nurse enters...

A house with all-white walls and very little furniture.

A house with its curtains drawn during the day.

A liquor store in a poor neighborhood.

A locker room at a men’s gym.

A mall during Christmas shopping season.

A movie theater after hours.

A movie theater during a preview showing.

A national park during hunting season.

A new, big-name bookstore moves in to a small town.

A parking lot overgrown with weeds and uneven pavement.

A picnic in the park at midnight.

A post office at Christmas time.

A pot-luck dinner to get to know your neighbors.

A public restroom.

A public schoolyard.

A room in a transient hotel.

A school classroom during summer sessions.

A secret location.

A smalltown church during a prominent wedding service.

A snowy, abandoned carnival along a deserted highway.

A sparsely furnished room with peeling wallpaper.

A sunflower decorated kitchen.

A tiny, isolated cottage in the woods.

A university classroom during exams.

A wedding

A zoo

A zoo at feeding time.

An abandoned house with boarded windows.

An airport waiting room.

An all-night dance contest.

An attic or cellar in an old southern house.

An empty basketball court.

An escalator in a department store.

An ice skating rink during summertime.

An old mansion being renovated.

An outdoor market.

At a circus.

At a police station during riots.

Back of a limo during her 30th birthday bash.

Backyard in a