/r/WritingPrompts

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Writing Prompts. You're a writer and you just want to flex those muscles? You've come to the right place! If you see a prompt you like, simply write a short story based on it. Get comments from others, and leave commentary for other people's works. Let's help each other.

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    We are a subreddit dedicated to inspiring people to write! Find a prompt that moves you and respond with a story or a poem.

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    Commenting
    • < 1. Prompt responses must be good-faith attempts at new stories/poems (No AI)

    • 100 words minimum for stories, 30 for poems but include [Poem]
    • Write something new using the prompt for inspiration (No AI)
    • Plagiarism will result in a ban
    • No joke, copypasta, or AI-generated responses
    • For off topic/clarification, reply to sticky comment
  • < 2. No sexually explicit responses, hate speech, or other harmful content

    • Includes, but is not limited to, pedophilia, bestiality, incest, rape, violence against children, and explicit abuse or torture
    • Avoid racism and detailed uses of suicide, mental health stereotypes, and political debate
    • Use your best judgment, but mods have final say
  • < 3. Be civil in discussion, feedback, and critiques

    • Users are held to a higher standard here. Think before posting
    • Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail
    Submitting Posts
    • < 4. All submissions must be tagged at the beginning of the post, capitalized in square brackets

    • Click [tag] to filter. Click » for more detail
    • Prompt Posts (Inspire new writing)
    • WP - Writing Prompt: No restrictions (other than the rules of the sub) »
    • SP - Simple Prompt: Max 100 characters in the title (including the tag) »
    • EU - Established Universe: Based on existing fiction »
    • CW - Constrained Writing: Limitations or forced usage of words, letters, etc. (don't ask for less than 100 words) »
    • TT - Theme Thursday: Weekly themes announced Thursdays »
    • MP - Media Prompt: Audio or video »
    • IP - Image Prompt: A striking image or album »
    • RF - Reality Fiction: Things that have happened or could happen to unknown people »
    • Response Posts (Write based on prompts)
    • PM - Prompt Me: Answer prompts by other users (if answered prompts before) »
    • PI - Prompt Inspired: Stories inspired by prompts older than three days (include link and max 1 a day) »
    • Other Posts
    • OT - Off Topic: Not a prompt, but writing related, not for complaints regarding subreddit content, stories, or advertising without prior approval »
  • < 5. No recent reposts, even if changing small details

    • Search before submitting! (Popular ideas can cause floods)
    • Reposts are allowed, given time (around two weeks)
    • Don't take a recent prompt and change/invert small details
  • < 6. Prompt users in the title, but don't play writing games or commission stories

    • Prompt in the title and only use text for commentary or links for [IP]s and [MP]s. Avoid too many details
    • No requesting writing or editing services, or homework help
    • Don't post ads without getting permission in modmail first
    • Don't ask writers to pick titles or content from another sub or site
    • Prompts should not call for using autocorrect, autocomplete, or only emojis
  • < 7. Prompts will be removed if there's a high possibility for rule breaking responses

    • Avoid real-world drama (politics, recent tragedies, etc.)
    • Inspire an effort, avoid simple questions, "write anything", word games, fill-in-the-blanks, or "in X words or less"
    • Prompts must actually be a prompt, not just the suggestion of a genre or emotion
    • Don't ask for preexisting content (prompts are meant for new writing)
    • No sexually explicit themes, hate speech, or other harmful content (suicide, mental health stereotypes, violence against children, torture, etc.)
    • No troll, joke, poop, meme-based, or all CAPS prompts
    Community Guidelines
    • < 8. Keep it about the writing here, not competing or making money

    • Authors are allowed to link to a personal sub or profile, but don't link back here until the prompt is 24 hours old
    • Patreon and Paypal links are not allowed. Link to your sub or profile instead
    • Recording of other people's work must follow the guidelines in the FAQ.

    Rule breaking posts or comments may be removed without notice. Rule breaking may result in a permanent ban without prior warning.

    If you spot a violation, please use the Report button underneath the post. This is the best way to help! If you have an issue with other users, send us a modmail.

    All content is © by the original authors.

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    /r/WritingPrompts

    18,578,800 Subscribers

    1

    [WP]: You are part of a family of ferocious magical creatures. However, you are a vegetarian.

    1 Comment
    2024/10/28
    22:23 UTC

    2

    [PI] The zombie apocalypse ended. All the muscles in the undead stopped working after a bit, the problem is, their vocal cords didn't.

    Origin Prompt

    "WUAAAAAGH! OOOOG! BRAINS! BLARRRGH! RAAAAAWR! GRAAAAA! ... A UN N A TU N A WAATS NU USSY ATS!?"

    "OOOAAGH OOOAGH OOO!"🎶

    "WAATS NU USSY ATS!?"🎶

    "OOOAGH OOOAGH OOO!"🎶

    "WAATS NU-"🎶

    I could not sleep, there were monsters nearby.

    "For the love of-" I threw off my sheets, marching to my bedroom window and opening it wide enough to lean out. "Garret! Garret, I know you hear me Garret! I'm not gonna tell you again! Stop raking your zombies onto my [censored] lawn you [heavily censor] alac!"

    Ha! That gottem. The buffoon opens his window to protect his ego. "Well Mr. Pickens, maybe if you stop dumping your sloughed flesh into MY dumpster, then MAYBE, just MAAAAAYBE I'll consider it!"

    This audacious- "I wouldn't have to use yours if I could dump mine! You know!? Because some HUCKLEBERYY NIMROD got the wise idea to place a pile of [censored] bone fragments directly behind my [censored] tires!! So until I get those replaced, looks like you're gonna have to [loudly censored] DEAL WITH IT!!"

    "Saaaaame to you, Mr. Pickens! Same! To! you! Serves you right! I told yaaa to keep your hunk of junk JALOPY from in front of my driveway! Quote verbatim: DEEEAL WITH IT!!" The douche slammed his window! 

    "That's right! Run! GO HIDE! IT'S WHAT YOU'RE GOOD AT! LEAVING ME WITH YOUR-! (messes)"

    His window flew open. "MR. PICKENS!" He seethed.

    "WHAT!? GOT SOMETHIN TO SAY ABOUT IT!?" I [censored] dare him! 

    ".... GOOD! NIGHT!" He slammed his window shut again! PFFFT, in seconds it fell off the frame! 

    "T- HA! ENJOY THE MOSQUITOES YOU KENTUCKY FRIED BIGOT!!"

    Nothing. 

    "I'D HOPE THE REEK STICKS TO YOU, BUT IT PROBABLY CAN'T STAND YOUR OWN!!"

    Still nothing. Was this prehistoric, Yosammity, skid mark ignoring me!?

    "YOU THINK YOU'RE BETTER!? YOU THINK YOU'RE BIG!? WELL JUST REMEMBER WHO GETS THE JOB DONE!!" I thrust my window down louder than he ever could! It falls away. Rotting piece of junk house. 

    I grab my snow shovel from the garage. Put em on my lawn!? I'll show him! Put em on my la- MY lawn! 

    "SUGA PI UNY BUN-"🎶

    "Shut up!" I give the nearest puke colored raisin a bash in the head. Keeping me up all night! I shovel them right back into that fossilized prick's yard, making sure he hears each and every metal scrape along the concrete whenever I drag my shovel back. Dumb [phrase rated R].

    His lantern light turns on. The light cast his silhouette across the yard. That's right, come on, your no better than the trash bags marinating in my dump! Let's go! I can do this all night. He's moving but not to the window. The shadow tells a different story! 

    "Garret!"

    Nothing.

    "GARRET!"

    "... You are right Mr. Pickens. It is my fault. I should have taken better care Harriet before she got to your-"

    "DON'T YOU TALK ABOUT HER! YOU WANNA TALK ABOUT HER, COME SAY IT TO MY FACE!!"

    "I would Mr. Pickens, but half a neighborhood is a scary thing for a person to face. Now I'm sorry Mr. Pickens, but I can't keep doin this foreva." Calls his voice from inside. "We may have gotten through one apocalypse together, but I can't keep re-livin the end of our worlds each and every night."

    "Garret!"

    The shadow steps higher.

    "[censored] GARRET! COME TO THIS WINDOW RIGHT NOW!"

    "The combination is her birthday, Mr. Pickens. 1-1-3-0. 1-1-3-0." He tells me pointless numbers as I use my shovel to bash his door handle off. I hear the thud the moment I enter and dart through his kitchen, around the hall, and upstairs. There's only one room that light shines under. I rush to the door, trying the handle before throwing my weight against it in attempt to bash it in. 

    "GARRET!!?"

    He ignores all my repeated calls. Two thin shadows pass back and forth beneath the doorway. What muffled sounds I hear on otherside eventually do stop. 

    I pause. "Garret?"

    A second wind gives me enough to continue until I hear wood crack. My boot sends the door in with a laughing creak, making enough of a gust to drop the photo from his stiff fingers. It hits the ground in the brief glimpse I'm given before the door rebounds back closed on its rusty hinges, cracking itself partially open. The back of his sleeping gown occasionally came into view, keeping tempo with the slight swing of the shadow that divided the flickering light beneath the door.

    "AAA I WAA FOO QUIS AAS, IG OOO!!"🎶

    1 Comment
    2024/10/28
    22:23 UTC

    1

    [WP] The hero barges into a necromancer’s grisly lab and makes an angry tirade. The necromancer cuts off them off with “I only use *ethically-sourced* human remains.”

    1 Comment
    2024/10/28
    22:12 UTC

    0

    [WP] Exiled from Castile in 1080, El Cid converted to Islam. And so, the legacy of as-Sayyid would shape Andalusia for the coming millennium.

    1 Comment
    2024/10/28
    21:53 UTC

    1

    [WP] —"Vile though you are, this servant of ours adamantly trusts you to become what you must. Do not dare prove him wrong, son of the Darkness." —"I don't think I can help it." —"We aren't giving you a choice. If you cannot change, as he believes you can, we will eliminate the danger you pose."

    2 Comments
    2024/10/28
    21:45 UTC

    1

    [WP] Humanity could only be pushed around so long, at one point even the Gods learned the true power of the Mortals they'd created.

    1 Comment
    2024/10/28
    21:43 UTC

    1

    [WP] You're the first female special forces soldier of the New Galactic Federation and the only human aboard your newfound ship. The captain places you in an advisory role but soon you're able to prove your worth to the ship and captain.

    1 Comment
    2024/10/28
    21:34 UTC

    1

    [WP] You are a fearsome alien emperor of the Zloba species, the masses kneel before you you leave terror in your wake! So why are you now stuck in some tall ape's lap being called "Bubbles" of all things!?

    1 Comment
    2024/10/28
    21:32 UTC

    23

    [WP] "My daughter is dating a werewolf. My son is engaged to a mermaid. I'm trying to be supportive, but I don't know what to do."

    2 Comments
    2024/10/28
    21:28 UTC

    1

    [WP] There is a global earthquake of low magnitude. Afterwards, everything is exactly how it was beforehand except that the continents have been rearranged in the shape of the supercontinent Pangea.

    1 Comment
    2024/10/28
    21:22 UTC

    2

    [WP] The mighty king of the undead, ruler of thousands... just cannot figure out his Federal income tax return.

    1 Comment
    2024/10/28
    21:13 UTC

    2

    [WP] Computers can think, and only thinking things can be psychic. You’ve made the first device capable of psionics

    1 Comment
    2024/10/28
    21:06 UTC

    4

    [WP] 'I've done this before, relax. I'll prove he's good hearted and the judge will dismiss the case' 'No no no these guys are a coalition of orcs and goblins and DEMONS. You need to prove he's as EVIL as they get'

    3 Comments
    2024/10/28
    20:54 UTC

    0

    [WP] I feel like growing flowers in my eyes, so any time you see me I will make you smile. Come and smell my face, look into my flowers, start watering them.

    2 Comments
    2024/10/28
    20:30 UTC

    197

    [WP] "Why didn't you mug that guy? He seemed like an easy mark." "He was a young man with white hair with red eyes. That's a main character. I don't want to die."

    8 Comments
    2024/10/28
    19:54 UTC

    2

    [SP] When you came home after work your spouse freaked out, demanding to know who you are.

    1 Comment
    2024/10/28
    19:54 UTC

    3

    [WP] There is a world that is talked about in legend. An untouched, verdant paradise of natural beauty and unimaginable material riches. Every time a settler approaches, *something* on the surface wakes up...

    1 Comment
    2024/10/28
    19:49 UTC

    3

    [SP] Vicious Mockery Serial Killer

    1 Comment
    2024/10/28
    18:58 UTC

    3

    [WP]David Hasselhoff’s Nick Fury finds himself in a standoff with Samual L Jackson’s Nick Fury.

    1 Comment
    2024/10/28
    18:38 UTC

    4

    [WP] So, first, it was the extra terrestrials attack, just as we were done handing them the biggest humiliation, now we are suddenly under attack by extra dimensional force. My frustration is unquantifiable!

    1 Comment
    2024/10/28
    18:26 UTC

    3

    [WP] Aliens started to invade Earth, only for the Rapture to start as well. They now face the army of Hell unleashed on the universe while the last humans watch on.

    1 Comment
    2024/10/28
    18:18 UTC

    5

    [WP] You saved this mute kid from danger and now they won't stop following you around or leave your side for even a minute, no matter what you do or try.

    1 Comment
    2024/10/28
    18:13 UTC

    1

    [WP] Only with the spells of the grimores can a human successfully defeat a demon. What no human ever questioned though is who created the grimores and the spells within or why there is no clear historical record of how the church got them.

    1 Comment
    2024/10/28
    18:12 UTC

    4

    [WP] At least the story of how you got your title is less embarrassing then what actually happend back then.

    1 Comment
    2024/10/28
    18:11 UTC

    13

    [WP] "The children of light have forgotten the light, and the children of darkness never knew it."

    2 Comments
    2024/10/28
    17:56 UTC

    3

    [WP] An old-school gimmick villain retires, and heroes and villains get together to throw them a retirement party

    4 Comments
    2024/10/28
    17:54 UTC

    1

    [WP] You were brought into being with the first gun as the God of Bullets, and as the future continues to bring advancements, you have to get creative as traditional bullet-firing weapons are phased out.

    1 Comment
    2024/10/28
    17:39 UTC

    29

    [WP] You’ve been diagnosed with Mavrochromia when you were a baby. This means your eyes are completely black. They are two round black spheres with no pupil. What are the odds of you having such an unique condition AND be born in a Strict Catholic family?

    2 Comments
    2024/10/28
    17:23 UTC

    8

    [WP] Vampire nobility must fight back against an army of Xenomorph that is taking their human prey to make hosts. But these creatures are nothing like they've fought before.

    Think of this prompt as like an Aliens and Castlevania or Underworld crossover!

    1 Comment
    2024/10/28
    17:12 UTC

    3

    [WP] In the world, there is one city where any god within its borders becomes mortal. Rather then fear this place, gods from all pantheon come here to vacation and take the edge off

    1 Comment
    2024/10/28
    16:52 UTC

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