This time last year I was feeling pretty uninspired, and so I invented a little 24-day challenge called the Writing Advent Calendar. Instead of buying a chocolate cardboard box, I listed as many online story prompt generators as I could find and then tried to complete one each day.
That lasted all of about one week.
And it’s a shame because I ended up using most of what I wrote: in coursework, short stories and even a small piece of Supernatural fanfiction (yup, I had a paper Castiel on my desk tree last year, don’t judge me).
So this year, I’ve improved on the original idea. Online generators aren’t always the most inspiring, so during the drive up to Yorkshire last weekend I thought up twenty-four writing prompts of my own. Each day of December, I’ll pick one at random and write something for twenty minutes. Part of the point behind this post is to make a public declaration – that way there’s less chance of me sneaking off to watch gaming videos instead of writing (Markiplier is my Achilles’ heel, I swear).
I thought this might be a fun idea if others want to get involved, so I’m making the challenge a little more public this time. I’ve written down all the prompts and put them in my fancy festive mug (no expenses were spared this year). Each day during the run-up to Christmas, I’ll take one out and tweet the prompt using the hashtag #writingadventcalendar. Naturally, some of these lean towards the SFF genres so they might not be for everyone. I might post up some of my results, depending on how comfortable I feel.
If any of the prompts take your fancy, feel free to share your thoughts using the hashtag. There aren’t any grand prizes or anything, but I wanted to set myself a writing challenge and thought it might be a bit of fun for anyone recovering from the horrors of NaNoWriMo (or if you don’t feel like shelling out for a chocolate calendar this year!). The prompts will be listed below as they come out each day. Merry writing!
THE PROMPTS
- Your story takes place entirely inside a toilet cubicle.
- Write a story that starts with a chase scene.
- Character A is grieving. Character B has an unusual hobby.
- Your character celebrates a yearly holiday (Christmas, birthday, Valentine’s) in an unusual way.
- Your main character is a florist. In your story, you can’t use the words flower, plant or leaf.
- Your character is invincible, immortal and super-powerful. But they have one weakness…
- Write a story including the last thing you ate.
- What else could you catch at a bus stop?
- A tree falls down. A character forgets a piece of clothing. A disappointing email.
- Your character has never been drunk before. How much trouble do they get into?
- Open the dictionary and find the first noun that begins with G. Include it in your story!
- Write a story based on the last dream you can remember.
- Find the last book you read. The first sentence of chapter 5 is your start, and the last sentence from chapter 9 is your ending. Go!
- Write a story in which the protagonist is an abstract concept.
- Write about a society in which teleportation is the norm.
- Think of a common saying (e.g. needle in haystack) and write a story interpreting this literally.
- Invent a character who is the exact opposite to you. What do they get up to?
- Write a story about an insect.
- What if cheese was a currency?
- Traffic cone, alien abduction, marshmallow sandwich.
- Write a story featuring water, but without using the word!
- What’s the most unthreatening animal you can think of? Now make it scary!
- Write a story with the title Cloud Liver.
- Your character has a secret fear. Scare the pants off them!