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A Journal
By the San Francisco Writers' Grotto, Introduction by Po Bronson
100 Writing Prompts taken from "642 Things to Write About"
1) Describe an electronic device in the future that you won’t know how to operate.
2) Describe the most recent moment when you couldn’t think of anything to say. Were you having a hard time making conversation, or were you simply dumbfounded?
3) What could have happened to you in elementary school/middle school/high school that would have altered the course of your life?
4) Describe five memories/events you remember really well. Then take one of them further.
5) How you feel about love these days.
6) The next blockbuster medicine that will be invented and what will happen as a result.
7) Your city one hundred years from now.
8) Write a short story in which you are the villain.
9) Choose how you will die.
10) You are a mid-level Greek deity, hoping to move up the ranks of Olympus. What are your powers, and how will you use them to impress Zeus and the others?
11) What waiting is like.
12) The president’s personal to-do list.
13) The general manager of the New York Yankees’ personal to-do list.
14) A powerful Hollywood agent’s personal todo list.
15) Write from the perspective of a historical figure like Franklin Roosevelt, Marilyn Monroe, Jack the Ripper, or any others you can think of.
16) You wake up by the side of the road lying next to a bicycle, with no memory and no wallet. What happens in the next hour?
17) You bring someone back from the dead. Who is it?
18) Make a case for your favorite fruit.
19) The person in your life you’re most jealous of.
20) The one thing your most ashamed of.
21) You are lost in a foreign country. You can’t find anyone who speaks English. How do you react, and how do you find your way.
22) Irresistible temptation.
23) Find a world map or globe, close your eyes, pick a spot. Write about a person arriving there for the first time.
24) Explain to the historians of 2150 what it’s like to go to a shopping mall. Remember that they may not have malls in 2150. Or escalators, food courts, or cash.
25) You are a customer lying face down on the floor during a bank robbery. Describe the robbery from this vantage point.
26) Write a standup comedy routine to address the United Nations.
27) A missing body part.
28) It’s 2100 and the world is running out of freshwater. Describe a typical day.
29) You wake up in an open field wearing an astronaut suit and lying on a surfboard. What happened?
30) The secret that, if revealed, would upset everything.
31) Be your character’s fortune teller. Tell his or her fortune.
32) Your dog’s last/most recent dream.
33) Write a survival guide for a character: Ten things to do in an emergency.
34) You are stuck on the highway in the world’s worst traffic jam for at least two days.What happens?
35) Describe a trip to an amusement park, focusing on the colors, sounds, smells, and tastes of the day.
36) You’re confined to your bed for three months due to a serious illness. What do you miss, and what’s the first thing you’ll do once they let you outside?
37) You are the pilot of a jumbo jet, just realizing the plane may crash. What will you tell the crew and the passengers?
38) Imagine a character at two very different ages, and describe his or her day at each age.
39) Everyone has a special talent. What’s your special skill?
40) What did you dream about last night?
41) You are the lawyer in a divorce case. The only point of contention is custody of the dog. Argue that your client should get the pup.
42) Something goes wrong at your favorite camping spot.
43) You, a grown adult, are afraid of the dark. Explain why this is a legitimate concern, so friends won’t laugh at you.
44) Five things that always get you into trouble.
45) What does your sleeping, dreaming mind think in the moments before you wake up? What are its last hopes, fears, or promises to itself as the alarm goes off and it feels itself vanishing?
46) You wake up with a nameless feeling of dread in your gut, but you can’t figure out what it is. Write down everything that could possibly happen during the day that could be something for you to dread.
47) You are a camp counselor. Make up a story that will scare the bejeezus out of your
eight to ten-year old campers.
48) The point of view of a blind person.
49) Your character is swimming in a lake, not wearing her glasses. She squints at a shape coming toward her in the water. What does she think she sees?
50) How someone saved your life.
51) Being chased by a killer.
52) Write a story based on the title of your favorite song.
53) You walk into your bedroom and discover someone going through your drawers.
54) You know the person with whom you’re talking is lying. Do you confront him or let him continue?
55) Pick a classic fairy tale, and set it in your modern-day hometown.
56) The biggest lie anyone told you.
57) How to get rich quick.
58) You have a time machine, but it can only go back in time two days. What would you change?
59) “Time” magazine has just named you “person of the year.” Why?
60) You’ve been caught cheating at a casino. Explain to the pit boss why this is all just a big misunderstanding.
61) Write about something you know absolutely nothing about. Make all of it up.
62) Never underestimate the lives of old men sitting on park benches.
63) Pick a dictator (or make one up) and write about an imaginary morning or day of his life.
64) Your first fight.
65) Suddenly, you can hear everyone’s thoughts, and you are shocked by what they think about you. Write their thoughts.
66) The last time you changed your mind about something important.
67) Your worst experience during a family dinner.
68) Your worst experience playing a sport.
69) Your worst experience in gym class.
70) Describe a moment in which you were in physical pain.
71) An ethical dilemma.
72) Describe a person you’ve never met.
73) You are in a department store in another city, and you see one of your teachers weeping. Write the scene.
74) The end of the world.
75) A character discovers an object hidden many years ago in a family home.
76) The most recent time you were betrayed.
77) Write a children’s story set in the woods.
78) Do you have a superstition? What is it, why do you have it, and how do you follow it?
79) Life in a snowbound cabin.
80) Life among the pirates.
81) A conversation about you that you weren’t supposed to overhear.
82) An elaborate and complicated lie.
83) Your most memorable experience in the back of a car.
84) A 24hour camping trip with any person you want.
85) Through a freak illness, you lose one of your senses. Which sense is it, what happens to you, and how do you deal with it?
86) Describe the sounds you heard the first time you swam in the ocean.
87) You are a peasant in 1890s Russia. There is no food. Revolution is in the air. The rebels offer meals for your allegiance. What do you do?
88) Write a knock-knock joke. Then use it in a story.
89) Imagine yourself at age eighty. What would you tell yourself?
90) Write about what you’ll be worrying about five years from now. Ten years from now.
Thirty years from now.
91) Write about, or create, a famous, unsolved crime.
92) You are the Grim Reaper. Write three different opening paragraphs for your autobiography, trying out very different styles.
93) Only ten people will fit in the life raft. Convince the captain that you should be one of them.
94) A scene that takes place in extreme heat.
95) A scene that takes place in extreme cold.
96) Your last year on earth.
97) How is handheld technology (i.e., cell phones, iPods) impacting everyday street life and our ability to meet and deal with strangers?
98) Your face is on the evening news. Write a short news story to explain why.
99) You are a superhero. What powers do you have, and how do you use them?
100) Scientists announce they’ve discovered the secret to immortality. Write a petition letter to save the event of death.
2) Describe the most recent moment when you couldn’t think of anything to say. Were you having a hard time making conversation, or were you simply dumbfounded?
3) What could have happened to you in elementary school/middle school/high school that would have altered the course of your life?
4) Describe five memories/events you remember really well. Then take one of them further.
5) How you feel about love these days.
6) The next blockbuster medicine that will be invented and what will happen as a result.
7) Your city one hundred years from now.
8) Write a short story in which you are the villain.
9) Choose how you will die.
10) You are a mid-level Greek deity, hoping to move up the ranks of Olympus. What are your powers, and how will you use them to impress Zeus and the others?
11) What waiting is like.
12) The president’s personal to-do list.
13) The general manager of the New York Yankees’ personal to-do list.
14) A powerful Hollywood agent’s personal todo list.
15) Write from the perspective of a historical figure like Franklin Roosevelt, Marilyn Monroe, Jack the Ripper, or any others you can think of.
16) You wake up by the side of the road lying next to a bicycle, with no memory and no wallet. What happens in the next hour?
17) You bring someone back from the dead. Who is it?
18) Make a case for your favorite fruit.
19) The person in your life you’re most jealous of.
20) The one thing your most ashamed of.
21) You are lost in a foreign country. You can’t find anyone who speaks English. How do you react, and how do you find your way.
22) Irresistible temptation.
23) Find a world map or globe, close your eyes, pick a spot. Write about a person arriving there for the first time.
24) Explain to the historians of 2150 what it’s like to go to a shopping mall. Remember that they may not have malls in 2150. Or escalators, food courts, or cash.
25) You are a customer lying face down on the floor during a bank robbery. Describe the robbery from this vantage point.
26) Write a standup comedy routine to address the United Nations.
27) A missing body part.
28) It’s 2100 and the world is running out of freshwater. Describe a typical day.
29) You wake up in an open field wearing an astronaut suit and lying on a surfboard. What happened?
30) The secret that, if revealed, would upset everything.
31) Be your character’s fortune teller. Tell his or her fortune.
32) Your dog’s last/most recent dream.
33) Write a survival guide for a character: Ten things to do in an emergency.
34) You are stuck on the highway in the world’s worst traffic jam for at least two days.What happens?
35) Describe a trip to an amusement park, focusing on the colors, sounds, smells, and tastes of the day.
36) You’re confined to your bed for three months due to a serious illness. What do you miss, and what’s the first thing you’ll do once they let you outside?
37) You are the pilot of a jumbo jet, just realizing the plane may crash. What will you tell the crew and the passengers?
38) Imagine a character at two very different ages, and describe his or her day at each age.
39) Everyone has a special talent. What’s your special skill?
40) What did you dream about last night?
41) You are the lawyer in a divorce case. The only point of contention is custody of the dog. Argue that your client should get the pup.
42) Something goes wrong at your favorite camping spot.
43) You, a grown adult, are afraid of the dark. Explain why this is a legitimate concern, so friends won’t laugh at you.
44) Five things that always get you into trouble.
45) What does your sleeping, dreaming mind think in the moments before you wake up? What are its last hopes, fears, or promises to itself as the alarm goes off and it feels itself vanishing?
46) You wake up with a nameless feeling of dread in your gut, but you can’t figure out what it is. Write down everything that could possibly happen during the day that could be something for you to dread.
47) You are a camp counselor. Make up a story that will scare the bejeezus out of your
eight to ten-year old campers.
48) The point of view of a blind person.
49) Your character is swimming in a lake, not wearing her glasses. She squints at a shape coming toward her in the water. What does she think she sees?
50) How someone saved your life.
51) Being chased by a killer.
52) Write a story based on the title of your favorite song.
53) You walk into your bedroom and discover someone going through your drawers.
54) You know the person with whom you’re talking is lying. Do you confront him or let him continue?
55) Pick a classic fairy tale, and set it in your modern-day hometown.
56) The biggest lie anyone told you.
57) How to get rich quick.
58) You have a time machine, but it can only go back in time two days. What would you change?
59) “Time” magazine has just named you “person of the year.” Why?
60) You’ve been caught cheating at a casino. Explain to the pit boss why this is all just a big misunderstanding.
61) Write about something you know absolutely nothing about. Make all of it up.
62) Never underestimate the lives of old men sitting on park benches.
63) Pick a dictator (or make one up) and write about an imaginary morning or day of his life.
64) Your first fight.
65) Suddenly, you can hear everyone’s thoughts, and you are shocked by what they think about you. Write their thoughts.
66) The last time you changed your mind about something important.
67) Your worst experience during a family dinner.
68) Your worst experience playing a sport.
69) Your worst experience in gym class.
70) Describe a moment in which you were in physical pain.
71) An ethical dilemma.
72) Describe a person you’ve never met.
73) You are in a department store in another city, and you see one of your teachers weeping. Write the scene.
74) The end of the world.
75) A character discovers an object hidden many years ago in a family home.
76) The most recent time you were betrayed.
77) Write a children’s story set in the woods.
78) Do you have a superstition? What is it, why do you have it, and how do you follow it?
79) Life in a snowbound cabin.
80) Life among the pirates.
81) A conversation about you that you weren’t supposed to overhear.
82) An elaborate and complicated lie.
83) Your most memorable experience in the back of a car.
84) A 24hour camping trip with any person you want.
85) Through a freak illness, you lose one of your senses. Which sense is it, what happens to you, and how do you deal with it?
86) Describe the sounds you heard the first time you swam in the ocean.
87) You are a peasant in 1890s Russia. There is no food. Revolution is in the air. The rebels offer meals for your allegiance. What do you do?
88) Write a knock-knock joke. Then use it in a story.
89) Imagine yourself at age eighty. What would you tell yourself?
90) Write about what you’ll be worrying about five years from now. Ten years from now.
Thirty years from now.
91) Write about, or create, a famous, unsolved crime.
92) You are the Grim Reaper. Write three different opening paragraphs for your autobiography, trying out very different styles.
93) Only ten people will fit in the life raft. Convince the captain that you should be one of them.
94) A scene that takes place in extreme heat.
95) A scene that takes place in extreme cold.
96) Your last year on earth.
97) How is handheld technology (i.e., cell phones, iPods) impacting everyday street life and our ability to meet and deal with strangers?
98) Your face is on the evening news. Write a short news story to explain why.
99) You are a superhero. What powers do you have, and how do you use them?
100) Scientists announce they’ve discovered the secret to immortality. Write a petition letter to save the event of death.
Fonte: The Writers Grotto
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