6 Writing Prompts to Wake Up Your Muse

 1) Fear is an intense emotion. Fear, in fact, has shaped the person you are today. Or rather, how you dealt with your fear has shaped you.

Create a character with an overwhelming, paralyzing fear. Write a story in which this fear is central to the plot. Illustrate this fear, illustrate how this fear has shaped or affected your character and make your character confront this fear in your story. Most importantly, have your character dissolve (or be dissolved by) this fear in a unique way.

2) Cinderella is the well-known tale of a girl whose shoe size, of all things, allowed her to ascend from servant to princess ... but what do you suppose happened once she became a princess?

Did the constraints of royalty eventually cause her to lose her mind? Did she get a look at power up close and plot to get rid of various members of the royal family so that she might one day rule as queen regent? Did she start meddling in affairs of state, pissing off the royal courtiers?

The possibilities are practically endless. Come up with your own (or feel free to use one of mine) and see how far you can take it.

3)"I swore I wouldn't do this again!" I said this last week when, to my disgust, I was once again plunked down on the couch to watch a show that I absolutely despise. As much as I hate this show, I was there again, both of my own free will and against my better judgment at the same time.

Write a story in which your protagonist finds her/himself engaged in some activity which they had previously denounced, something they had sworn not to do again. Show why this activity is so bad and yet so hard to resist.

If it helps, don't make it an activity. Make it a person your protagonist has sworn not to go near or associate with in any way.

4) Stereotypes are a big no-no when it comes to creative writing. We want dynamic, well-rounded protagonists. We want intriguing, thought-provoking antagonists. We want love interests who make us love them despite their very human flaws. Stereotypes have no place in fiction, it seems.

And yet ... stereotypes have their advantages. Or, rather, stereotypes can be an advantage if used properly.

Write a story in which one of your characters (maybe your protagonist, maybe an antagonist, or perhaps even a minor character) is acting in a stereotypical manner in order to fool someone.

As an example: Let's say your antagonist is using a "shy wallflower" persona in order to avoid being discovered embezzling from the company she works for. Or perhaps your protagonist is using a "village idiot" mask to escape your antagonist's notice.

5) Not all bad people are born bad. And not all bad people stay bad.

Write a story in which your main character is a villain who wishes to return to the straight-and-narrow. What happens? Does it work? Are there other characters (perhaps characters your villain has wronged) who, not buying your villain's new leaf, seek to sabotage his/her efforts? Are the forces of good no match for the lure of the dark side? Does your villain take their newfound virtue too far and wind up causing more harm as a do-gooder than they did as an antagonist?

6) "If walls could talk ..." is a phrase which speaks to the power of an inanimate object to communicate in a non-verbal way. It makes sense if you think about it: A mirror would probably reminisce about some of the more interesting faces that reflected in its surface. A dress would recall some of the questionable odors it has been forced into close contact with.

Write a story in which your object not only speaks to your protagonist, but also exhorts them to do something. What would a dress request of a human? Or a mirror? Or a knife?