Incorporating journaling into a writer’s routine not only fuels creativity but also helps guide writers through creative challenges when crafting a new story.
These journal prompts for creative writing aim to inspire creativity and help writers explore new avenues in their storytelling. If you feel stuck or lost with your writing, or just need a new idea to explore further, these prompts can help.
Why Journal for Creative Writing? Unlock Creativity: Journaling is an invaluable tool for writers seeking to unlock their creative potential and break down creative blocks. By jotting down fleeting thoughts, vivid dreams, or snippets of conversations, writers can build a reservoir of inspiration to draw from when crafting stories or developing characters. Promote Self-Discovery: Beyond journaling fosters self-discovery. Through introspective prompts and free-flow writing, writers uncover hidden emotions, anecdotes, or unique perspectives that can enrich their storytelling. Track Creative Growth: Documenting progress through journaling allows writers to track their creative evolution. Reflecting on past entries is also a great way to see how your writing has evolved. Boost Confidence: Remember, writers write! Maybe you aren't penning a book or a magazine piece right now, but regularly engaging in journaling can still reinforce your confidence as a writer. Journaling is a judgment-free zone where you can experiment without fear and explore new topics.
Also read: Start Here: 50+ Journaling Prompts for Beginners
10 Creative Writing Prompts (Journal)
Whether you’re writing a new story or seeking to break through writer’s block, these prompts will help you explore characters, plots, and settings.
- Create a character based on an object you use daily. Describe their quirks, fears, and dreams, infusing life into this character from the mundane.
- Write a conversation between two characters, but they can only communicate through actions, not words. Explore their body language and gestures.
- Transport a familiar location—your bedroom, for example—into a fantastical world. Describe how a mundane coffee shop or park would appear in a magical realm.
- Write about a moment in your life, but give it a surreal or supernatural twist. Explore how this alteration changes the story’s essence.
- Choose a historical event and reimagine it with a different outcome. Explore how this change impacts the course of history.
- Pick an emotion and describe it using colors, textures, and sounds without explicitly naming the feeling. Let the sensory details convey the emotion.
- Write from the perspective of an inanimate object, narrating its experiences and observations throughout a day in its life.
- Take a completed story or piece and rewrite the ending in a completely unexpected way. Explore how this alters the narrative’s themes and meaning.
- Combine two contrasting genres, such as romance and horror, in a single story. Explore the fusion of these elements in unexpected ways. This is an especially effective prompt if you want to write comedy or humor. Most classic fish out of water comedic stories comes from this type of contrast!
- Write a story based on a vivid dream or nightmare you’ve had recently. Allow the dream’s surreal elements to shape a narrative.
7 Creative Writing Prompts for Storytelling
Whether you’re writing a new story or seeking to break through writer’s block, these prompts will help you explore characters, plots, and settings.
- The Starting Point Journal Prompt: Envision an attention-grabbing opening scene. Describe an engaging event or moment that sets the stage for your story, introducing the characters or conflict.
- Plotting the Journey Journal Prompt: Outline three key plot points marking significant developments in your story. Describe the twists, turns, or revelations that drive the narrative forward, creating intrigue and momentum.
- Character Arc Journal Prompt: Explore the primary character’s desires, fears, and growth throughout the story. Outline their personal journey, detailing how they evolve from the beginning to the end.
- Conflict Development Journal Prompt: Outline escalating conflicts or obstacles that challenge the protagonist. Describe three pivotal challenges they face, each intensifying the tension and raising the stakes.
- Midpoint Revelation Journal Prompt: Describe a major revelation or turning point at the story’s midpoint. Explore how this revelation impacts the protagonist’s journey, altering their goals or perceptions.
- Building towards Climax Journal Prompt: Outline the events leading to the story’s climax. Describe how tensions rise, conflicts escalate, and various storylines converge toward a powerful climax.
- Resolving Story Threads Journal Prompt: Plan the resolution for key storylines or character arcs. Outline how loose ends tie up, conflicts resolve, and characters evolve by the story’s end.
15 Journal Prompts to Overcome Writer’s Block
These journal prompts are short and designed to just get you writing, even if it’s just a few sentences. Don’t overthink and just keep the pen flowing. Aim for half a page in your journal before stopping. Either jump around and do several of these prompts or revisit a prompt you like everyday to get you thinking creatively about different ways you could take the initial direction.
- Write About a Mundane Object: Describe an everyday object in intricate detail, exploring its history, significance, and hidden stories.
- Dialogue-Only Scene: Craft a scene using only dialogue between characters, focusing on their interactions and dynamics.
- List of 10 Prompts: Create a list of 10 potential story ideas or prompts, no matter how bizarre or unconventional.
- Write a Letter to Your Protagonist: Pen a letter from yourself to your story’s protagonist, asking them about their journey or sharing encouragement.
- Stream of Consciousness: Write without pausing or editing for five minutes, letting your thoughts flow freely onto the page.
- Retell a Fairy Tale: Rewrite a classic fairy tale, infusing it with a modern twist or from a different character’s perspective.
- Flash Fiction Challenge: Write a complete story in just 50 words, capturing a moment or scene concisely.
- Character Sketching: Develop a character by describing their appearance, personality traits, and motivations in a few paragraphs.
- Plot Twist Exploration: List five unexpected plot twists and how they could alter the current story or scene.
- Observation-Based Writing: Describe a scene from your surroundings in vivid detail, immersing yourself in the sights, sounds, and sensations.
- Story in Six Words: Craft a compelling story using only six words, distilling a narrative or emotion into a brief phrase.
- “What If?” Scenario: Pose a “What If?” scenario related to your story or characters, exploring how it might change the narrative trajectory.
- Dream Journaling: Recount a recent dream or create a dream-like scenario, using its surreal elements to spark creativity.
- Free Association: Write down random words or phrases and use them as prompts to jumpstart a new story or scene.
- Setting Exploration: Describe a vivid setting without including any characters, focusing solely on the ambiance and atmosphere.