Creative Writing Prompts

‘In Search of Lost Time’:

Food memories can be very powerful and evocative reminders of the past. What are the childhood memories and journeys you associate with a specific taste? Who did you share these moments with? When I was small, I used to love White Rabbit milk sweets. With their classic red and blue packaging, these sweets have a very creamy taste. I used to eat lots of them during the Chinese New Year. I especially love the taste of the wafer-thin paper-like wrapper made with sticky rice, and beneath those wrappers, the chewy texture of the sweets.

Buy a snack you used to love as a child. Write about how it tastes and what memories that taste brings you… 

Start by imagining an action. Make something happen:

Very often, we think of stories in terms of a meaningful sequence of actions and sensations. There is nothing better than to first begin the story with a course of action, especially action situated in an everyday setting, so that the reader can ‘enter’ your story. Imagine you have a box of fortune cookies in your home. You reach out for that box of cookies and start opening the cookie to see what’s inside. Fortune cookies have messages in them so you can create your own message in the story. So you then open one of them, which says: ‘“You must know your own heart before you can know the heart of another.” Or, ‘you will meet a new friend this year and your friendship will change your life forever.’ Then you can start building a story around you and that projected course of action. Try it! 

Think of an everyday ritual:

You may not notice it, but we tend to carry out lots of rituals from day to day, rituals that are meaningful to us. Have a think of the actual or possible rituals that can add complexity to a story. For example, someone may begin the day with a prayer, while another person starts the day with a takeaway coffee from a cafe next to his workplace. Or a sporty person may have a quick jog around the local neighbourhood before starting the day’s work. Think of rituals that define a character or add complexity to a character.

Write a story that starts from that ritual.

Start a story with interesting voices:

Dialogue is a great source of inspiration for storytelling. In any given situation, there’s an infinite range of possibilities and directions for a conversation. Each conversation—long or short—helps to add meaning and texture to the story and the characters, adding depth to the relationship.

If you were to make a phone call to a friend or relative living overseas, what will you tell them? Write a poem/story based on that imagined conversation. Pay attention to the details in the dialogue, e.g. the particular gestures, dialect or accent, pitch or tone of the person or character, the messages conveyed in the conversation or what remains unspoken.