INSPIRATION
The idea generation game: Part one
Whatever genre you write, you’ll find something to inspire you in these writing prompts from Alex Davis
Alex Davis
This particular article marks my 100th piece for Writing Magazine – and I have to say a massive thanks to everyone at the publication and all the readers for the incredible support in reaching this landmark. So in this special two-parter, I’m going to be serving up 100 short and sweet writing prompts, in no particular order, just lots of creative jumpstarts.
1 Made up words
Drop by https://writ.rs/fakewordgenerator and pick out a word – then see if you can define it, give it some meaning, and generate a story from it.
2 Word combos
Another great approach can be to take two real but disparate words and throw them together, and see what possibilities spin out of it! Give it a go a https:// randomwordgenerator.com/
3 What’s in a nme (one)
Look up the meaning of your name, or the names of your family/friends at https://meaning-of-names.com/Can you write a story about a character who captures the meaning of their moniker?
4 What’s in a name (two)
It’s often said that a great name can help a great story – Jay Gatsby, Atticus Finch, Patrick Bateman… Stop by the Random Name Generator at www. behindthename.com/random/and create a moniker. Then think about who that person is and what their story might be.
5 The power of titles
Choose a book, short story, etc, that you love and write down its title. Can you write a story based upon that title? What different direction could you take with it? You might want to change the title after writing though.
6 The power of first lines
There are loads of first line websites to help you get off to a good start – give it a go and see if an unexpected opener can take you in a surprising direction. Here’s one to try… https://writ.rs/randomfirstline
7 What are you afraid of?
Write down your biggest fears – get five if you can. Common or rare – anything is fine. Then try to write a story where a character has to face one of those fears – are you brave enough to write it? This exercise can be extremely cathartic.