/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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    Weekly Schedule

    Click features below for archives

    Feature Latest
    Sunday Smash 'Em Up SiR2: Jul-Dec '23
    Monday Spotlight writes-on-a-whim
    Talking Tuesday (Tutoring) Magazine & Anthology Publishing pt 2
    Wednesday Wildcard Poetry Corner: Cold Feet
    Thursday [TT] Theme Kinetic
    Fun Trope Friday Parental Issues & Gothic
    Saturday SatChat Favorite Genre?

    Rules & Guidelines

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    Full Explanations »

    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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    Prompt Posts (Inspire new writing)

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    /r/WritingPrompts

    17,699,321 Subscribers

    1

    [WP] "The undead are not like us. They do not suffer nor flag when they are injured. To fight them, you must become like them. Welcome to the Vampire Knights."

    1 Comment
    2024/03/18
    13:01 UTC

    1

    [WP] Chosen as the representative of Earth, First contact with an alien civilization has gone smoothly but at the very end, the Alien Empress offers her Daughter's hand in marriage to you.

    1 Comment
    2024/03/18
    13:01 UTC

    5

    [WP] Since lady justice has been wearing a blindfold for more than a decade, the playful judge decides to replace your lawyer with... a kindergartener!?

    1 Comment
    2024/03/18
    12:19 UTC

    10

    [WP] "I can't do that. The bees wouldn't like it." (bonus points for including the exact phrase somewhere in your story)

    3 Comments
    2024/03/18
    11:59 UTC

    5

    [SP] "Do you believe in ghosts? Cause I'm gonna test that."

    1 Comment
    2024/03/18
    11:06 UTC

    4

    [WP] A man in a white robe with large wings descended from the skies to deliver a message. The message? "It's pronounced "Jod""

    3 Comments
    2024/03/18
    11:05 UTC

    1

    [SP] "God is a liar"

    1 Comment
    2024/03/18
    10:49 UTC

    15

    [WP] A horror movie protagonist can only stay safe from the monster if they are close to it.

    1 Comment
    2024/03/18
    10:27 UTC

    7

    [OT] Writer's Spotlight: writes-on-a-whim

     

    Welcome to Writer’s Spotlight

    Remember, spotlights rely on your nominations! So if there's anyone around the subreddit whose stories you love and you think deserves a shout-out, please do nominate them by sending us a ModMail.

     


     

    This week we are celebrating u/writes-on-a-whim

    Writes-on-a-whim has been sporadically around for a fair few years now. After dipping out for a while, it’s been nice seeing their name come up here again. Whenever they’ve been around, they’ve been wonderfully involved in our weekly features, showing their skill in collaborative writing, constrained writing, poetry, and prose writing to a strict word limit. Their fantasy world-building always draws me in and makes the world feel real and lived in. And they are very good at making me feel all the feelings with their emotive pieces. You can find more of their old pieces on their profile and I definitely recommend checking them out.

    Want to congratulate this week's Spotlight recipient? Have questions you're dying to ask them? Please do so below in the comments!

     

    #Congrats on your spotlight /u/writes-on-a-whim

     


     

    Read u/writes-on-a-whim’s most recent story:

     

    [OT] Poetry Corner: Cold Feet

     

    Their most upvoted Stories:

    [WP] The initials "J.B." are legendary in espionage - James Bond, Jason Bourne, Jack Bauer. When they've all failed, you are sent to recruit the next candidate: Jack Black.

     

    [WP] Knock on door, "sir have you found Jesus?", "uh No. Goodbye" shuts door Jesus steps out from behind door with gun and said "good answer"

     

    [WP] You are the special weapon of the law, if a murder case seems unsolvable they call you. You are a mutant with the power to raise the dead, for a short amount of time. Most dead are happy to see their murderer behind bars but there was this one guy who just didn't want to help.

     


    To view previously spotlit writers visit our Spotlight Archive.

     

    To make a nomination please send us a ModMail telling us which user you are nominating. If you’d like to include a reason for your decision we’d love to hear it!


    Like features?


    Come hang out on our discord. Meet other members from around the globe and chat about anything. We are a friendly bunch and love newcomers. We also have regularly scheduled readings over voice chat!

    Love the community and want to take on a more active role? Apply to join the moderation Team!

    2 Comments
    2024/03/18
    10:12 UTC

    2

    [WP] A man breaks into a god’s realm because he realizes that god created and abandoned his world. (inspired by a post on r/scrawlquests)

    1 Comment
    2024/03/18
    09:50 UTC

    5

    [WP] After people die they arrive at the pearly gates to heaven, however the gates and clouds and sunlight glimmering all in glitter is nothing but a facade.

    1 Comment
    2024/03/18
    08:24 UTC

    11

    [PI] A spaceship crew of aliens finds a superhero floating in space without a suit and try to find out what they are, to limited success.

    “You’re positive the reading still says this is anomalous?” One of the aliens reached across to poke gently at a monitor, and said “As far as our sensors can tell.”

    “Well, if it says it's anomalous, it must be anomalous, but I'm certainly not seeing any energy readings or other effects that would indicate why a corpse could be considered anomalous.”

    The two sea-cucumber-like aliens watched the unmoving form in front of them, clad in some kind of protective garment that clearly had not been protective enough.

    “Any ideas what killed them, while we wait for the tighter scan of the anomaly reader?”

    “Vented atmosphere would be my guess.” They gestured with a tendril towards the large ruptured tanks on the creature's back. “That's a lot of additional and bulky mass to have on you unless it's absolutely necessary. My guess was either that was necessary for performing some kind of task, or necessary for general upkeep, and the attachment points and feed lines from the tanks led into the suit.”

    The reader gave a gentle chime, and the primary researcher for this pod leaned their mass forward to tap at the display with another tendril. “Fascinating.”

    “So what kind of power was the anomaly? Something about energy manipulation, creation of mass, or some kind of mind reading effects?”

    “None of the above. In fact, it looks like it was capable of temporal manipulations. Correction: The analysis says it’s still capable of that.”

    “It’s dead: How's that possible?”

    “Well, it's typically less about manipulating the entire stream of time, and rather about just fiddling with your place within it. It's a bastardized offshoot of teleportation, I think.”

    This hadn’t really made sense to the other officer, who was much more at home with navigation charting and ship piloting. “So you have a theory?”

    “I think that this creature is, well…is effectively immortal,” said the first. “In fact, by my predictions, in a few-”

    The creature in front of them took a long,shuddering breath, causing both aliens to expel a viscous ink that quickly filled the space. The creature on the bench before them began thrashing and flailing his limbs, and the two were unsure if it was because of the unfamiliar surroundings or because of the blindness induced by the ink they secreted. Then, almost as an afterthought one of them said “I wonder if it's looking for a gaseous atmosphere mix, instead of breathing liquid?”

    The other creature made a noise of revelation, and as they watched the creature scrambled around until its manipulators closed on the mask, lying loosely attached to their suit. They brought the mask over their face, and the aliens could see the lungs deflate and inflate with a huge mass of mostly-water, partially-air as the creature's eyes rolled back in his head and it went limp once more.

    “What just happened?” said the younger of the two alien scientists.

    “I think it died, again.” The biped had curled back into the same collapsed and huddled form they had seen when they first recovered the creature and brought it aboard their ship.

    This cycle of life and death happened another three or four times before they were able to get the atmosphere mix correct. They were working with traces of air that had remained trapped within imperfections in the holding tanks, and as a result several of the atmosphere mixes appeared to briefly give the creature the ability to breathe, their eyes immediately rolling back in their head, and they passed out shortly after. But finally after turning down the oxygen ratio and replacing it with some inert gasses, this time when the biped stirred and took a few suspicious breaths, they appeared to tolerate it quite well.

    At this point the ink had dissipated from the tank, replaced by the atmosphere mix, and so the odd anomalous visitor turned to eye the two aliens, looking up and down the tall, slender and tentacled forms.

    “I take it you're the ones I have to thank about this excursion?” he said. Then he gestured to the inside of the holding tan. “What happened to my ship?”

    The creature’s database on the ship was surprisingly complex for such a simplistic stack of silicon and microscopic electrical wires. They managed to pull what data they could and glean enough to approximate the language relatively well. The aliens lacked anything resembling mouths, but they had managed to find a way they could modify the air scrubbers for the room to produce the appropriate vibrations to match the biped’s speech. Furthermore, the data that had been onboard indicated these were ‘humans,’ but specifically this was an anomalous human their kind called a ‘superhero’; The opinions of the aliens was still out as to whether simply being unable to die was that spectacular of an ability.

    “Greetings, superhero-human,” came the mechanical reply, and the man jumped in surprise.

    “I thought the voice would be at least vaguely coming from your direction,” he griped, but repeated his earlier question: “Where’s my ship?”

    “It was recovered, and what we believe to be the damage has been patched and repaired.” The aliens tutted at him like fussy parents. “You know, fission engines are inherently risky at the best of times. You're lucky that the breach you suffered was just an atmospheric one, although we're still confused as to how a full human body such as yours emerged through a meteoroid hole the size of one of your ‘baseballs.’”

    The human flexed their shoulders, rolling it as they groaned at a twinge of lingering pain. “Very painfully and piece-by-piece, I'm afraid is the answer,” he said. “My regeneration must have kept everything just barely together afterwards. Then I seemed to recall a darkness and choking as well.”

    “The void of space, perhaps?” one of the aliens offered, hoping the human would not recall or begrudge them for their initial uncomfortable attempts to save them.

    “Seems like it felt a lot more…wet than that,” he said, but shrugged. “In any case, I appreciate the lift and pick up, so after I've answered whatever question you’ve got, I’ll grab my ship and be on my way. I suspect I'm already late enough getting back as it is.”

    The two aliens made apologetic gestures as one of them said “I wish that could be the case, but we will need you to remain here a while longer. It is our duty to investigate an anomaly such as yourself, and our readings are showing that your world has a statistically-significant higher degree of anomalous beings compared to the galactic mean. We need to send down a scout to investigate and gather more detailed results.”

    “You're going to cause quite a ruckus looking like that" said the man, eyes locked on the aliens as, without looking, he fished around in his side pouch with his free hand.

    As he searched, the first alien said “We agree, which is why we have arranged for a comprehensive biomimicry suit to be calibrated to your specifications. It will not have quite your resilience to damage,”they said apologetically as one of them step forward looking for all the world to the human like himself, “But it should be close enough to you allay most suspicions.”

    The human found what he was looking for, hand closing around a slim, dull gray cylinder that he pulled back and stuck into a pocket. “So I stay back here and play guinea pig while you're taking my place down on the surface below?”

    “That's a bit of an oversimplification to the aid you will provide our people, but the underlying sentiment is accurate.” The alien gestured towards the ship. “However, provided we do not give them a reason to suspect, we should be able to return quite handily, and we promise we will not impune your reputation with our actions.”

    “Reputation’s not the problem I’m thinking of,” said the human, stretching his limbs again. “I’m more concerned about sticking around here and getting poked and prodded.”

    ‘Well, we can assure you that, given your remarkable regenerative capabilities, you will not be killed here.”

    “There's nothing I found yet that will kill me stone dead for sure,” the superhero said defensively, “But I'm sure as hell not eager to have those limits tested out, especially by a bunch of jellyfish who have no idea which way a human is put back together properly.”

    “Oh, we'll be able to figure it out,” said the first enthusiastically, but the human just shook his head.

    “No, I think I'm going to take my chances.”

    With that, he held up and flicked open the end of the metal tube he held. Within, a hazy blue light immediately shot forth, as he passed over the aliens their forms shriveled and burned.

    “What is this?!” one of them screeched, as they began to melt and diffuse into loose cellular clusters.

    The superhero shrugged apologetically, saying “It's just an alloyed alpha, beta, and gamma emitter rolled into one. Plays merry hell on your cell integrity if you're not used to it, but gives you a good sunburn and some nice cancer in 20 years even if your skin does repel the first two.”

    He waved it over his own arm by way of demonstration, and there was a crackling sound as red welts immediately appeared on the surface of the skin. Then he pivoted it back up to continue melting the last parts of the aliens he could see. As the last of the aliens melted away, the superhero turned back to their ship, still sitting hovering and unharmed in the small hanger node.

    Launching, he thought he heard an odd thump, and as he turned he glared in shock as he could see that the body double of himself was grappling on the outside of his ship, banging a fist against the window. Grimacing, the superhero stood, unbuckling his harness and popping the cockpit. He had grabbed a fresh oxygen tank, not bothering to repressurize the cockpit, and as his magnetic boots clung to the wing of his ship, he squared off against the imposter as his own ship began the slow hurtling flight back towards Earth.

    Blow for blow it seemed like he was evenly matched, until for a moment he seemed to have the upper hand. Pinning his opponent against the wing of the ship, he raised a repair wrench high, ready to bring it down on the disguised alien when he felt his opponent shift and struggle at the last possible moment.


    Sitting back in the cockpit, the superhero known to Earth as The Immortal held the controls. It was time for him to return home, as he watched a body much like his own tumbling out in the void behind him.

    Source

    1 Comment
    2024/03/18
    08:07 UTC

    5

    [WP] 25 kids are a small power of their choice and then are taken from Earth and teleported in different locations on a fantasy world by an immoral god of entertainment. Their lives on that world are televised on a mysterious channel that any TV or Computer can access.

    2 Comments
    2024/03/18
    08:05 UTC

    5

    [WP] You've had a sleep paralysis demon for most of your life who visits you most nights. One day, bored of it, you started imagining having some sort of relationship with it. Things only got weirder afterwards...

    1 Comment
    2024/03/18
    07:50 UTC

    24

    [WP] A town stuck in a month long time loop for centuries.

    3 Comments
    2024/03/18
    07:43 UTC

    5

    [IP] Highway 76

    Write a story involving this overturned truck (no one was in it btw): https://imgur.com/fTtOlvh

    1 Comment
    2024/03/18
    05:52 UTC

    5

    [SP] You died, only to wake up in a body not your own, and within a morgue.

    1 Comment
    2024/03/18
    05:21 UTC

    73

    [WP] The Galactic Councillor announces: "I regret to say this, but the galaxy is truly fucked." At this moment, several protocols reveal a stasis chamber, in seconds, the hero who saved the galaxy 1500 years ago pops out, it's an human who immediately says "Wassup. I'm the Galactic Unfucker."

    4 Comments
    2024/03/18
    04:59 UTC

    14

    [WP]Its the year 2024, you were stranded in a island and had resources but you wanted to go home and threw out a letter in a bottle .Its the year 2740 and a rescue team has landed at the island you were struck on and saw that you haven't aged a day

    2 Comments
    2024/03/18
    04:58 UTC

    12

    [WP] After many decades of searching, we found intergalactic life. We were shocked when we found out they were... Humans?

    1 Comment
    2024/03/18
    04:51 UTC

    6

    [WP] After a lot of money and a lucky lottery pull, you're going on the first ever commercial tour of the space station. The trip takes a turn for the suspicious though when you notice your phone keeps automatically connecting to the wifi.

    1 Comment
    2024/03/18
    04:15 UTC

    1

    [WP] You can do anything with the snap of a finger. Too bad you don’t know how to snap.

    1 Comment
    2024/03/18
    04:01 UTC

    5

    [WP]Last night half of the population was abducted by aliens. They were returned today, but no one will talk about it.

    1 Comment
    2024/03/18
    03:57 UTC

    4

    [WP] Satan decided to retire to a quiet, suburban neighbourhood, and just wants a quiet life. He likes his neighbour's kid is bullied, he decides to use his powers to help.

    1 Comment
    2024/03/18
    03:10 UTC

    17

    [WP] "Who are you?!" "My job is to rescue people from cults." "But, I'm not in a cult?" "Oh, but you are, whether you know it or not..."

    1 Comment
    2024/03/18
    03:02 UTC

    4

    [WP] Write a realistic salvation story, starting with the character at their highest point in life.

    1 Comment
    2024/03/18
    02:45 UTC

    1

    [WP] You are an actor famous for a role. You suddenly find yourself mid-scene in the movie playing out for real. Since you know your lines by heart, you decide to go with it.

    1 Comment
    2024/03/18
    02:41 UTC

    1

    [WP] A world where everyone is fated to die by someone's hand, and there are no exceptions.

    1 Comment
    2024/03/18
    02:37 UTC

    12

    [WP] “I admit, you are pretty strong. Unfortunately, your name isn’t the title.”

    3 Comments
    2024/03/18
    02:28 UTC

    4

    [WP] After years in a coma, an amnesiac wakes up in an abandoned hospital. Their first word is "Mama!"

    2 Comments
    2024/03/18
    02:27 UTC

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