Our Weekly Creativity prompts challenge you to make a piece of writing (a poem, a journal entry, a story outline, a review) or art, or music, or a spoken word recording, or other piece of creative work. All the prompts we have written are brought together on this page – see below. The first prompt of the month is also a Flash Contest!
You can find more writing and art activities on our Activities pages.
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Creativity Prompts
Write a short story inspired by one of these funny newspaper headlines. Visit the Bestlifeonline.com webpage, and read their selection of the “25 Funniest Newspaper Headlines of All Time.” Write a story inspired by your chosen headline. Remember, today's prompt is this week's Flash Contest. Submit your response here ...
Write a personal narrative exploring your relationship with your favorite book or piece of art. What do you love about it, and why? What did you experience when you first read or saw it? How has the piece changed for you as you have either reread it or looked at ...
It’s Thursday, a day for thinking about theme. Your theme is the underlying meaning of your story, or the main idea that it explores, or the message it is trying to convey. Any or all of the elements of your story can help to convey your theme. Today, take another ...
Look through some of your old family photos, taken before you were born. Pick an image that you feel drawn to, then try to imagine your way into the moment. What were these people thinking, doing, feeling, and why? Write a short story about it ...
In cubist paintings, it isn’t always immediately obvious what all the shapes represent. Look at Still Life with Checked Tablecloth by Juan Gris (1887-1927). What objects can you see in this painting? Does the way the items are arranged make you see more than is actually there? How does the ...
Go into the kitchen. Stand in front of a cupboard with food in it (or the fridge). Close your eyes, open the door (or better still, have someone else open it for you), stretch out your hand, and touch something. Keep your hand where it is. Open your eyes. Look ...
Write a romance. You can make it anything between rom-coms and Romeo and Juliet, but make sure there are two characters in love, and at least one obstacle (internal or external) to that relationship ...
Write about the first day of school (can be elementary school, middle school, high school, college, or anything else). You can make this a shining moment for your character, or you can make it awkward and embarrassing. Have fun with it! ...
Find an everyday object that you don't usually give much thought to, and write down every detail you can about it. What does it look, sound, taste, smell, and feel like? Does it provoke an emotion or a memory? Is there a story you can tell about it? ...
Do a fake interview. You can interview anyone: your BFF, your cat, or even your houseplant. Think about what they would answer to your questions, and what you would ask them if you could ask anything ...
