Author skills | Writing prompts

22 Very Random Writing Prompts!

Time to throw the dice in your fiction…?

Time for another weekly list of writing prompts. As I said last time, I had a couple of goes at writing 100 prompts in 20 minutes, and the list below includes some of the more interesting ones (I think) from my abortive first attempt.

Enjoy — and happy writing!

If you are doing the 💯 Story Challenge, or just want to increase your output of short stories or flash fiction, check out a list with all my prompt articles here.

Here’s the list:

1. A mysterious scientific centre figures out how to change someone’s political views by giving you brain implants.
2. A superhero turns into a supervillain after their sidekick/kid is killed.
3. Someone genuinely doesn’t believe that France exists.
4. Someone insists on cooking elaborate and strongly-smelling meals in the office kitchen.
5. The word ‘bandersnatch’.
6. A dragon is misunderstood.
7. “I didn’t used to be like this,” said my grandmother.
8. A country makes itself much bigger by building an enormous sea wall.
9. Two people reach a goal of a massive voyage, but realize that they can’t return.
10. The first adventure of a pirate crew.
11. A D&D dungeon starts to be run as a democratic community.
12. Money begins to fall from the sky. How does this change society?
13. A country decides to ban cars and insist on bikes and public transport. How do things go on day 1?
14. A 24-hour car journey.
15. Someone’s music taste has been the same for years until one experience. Describe it.
16. Two very old men converse about their life.
17. A factory is full if highly intelligent and exceptionally well-read workers. How does this affect daily life there?
18. How a rogue became.
19. How a wizard became.
20. Mansplaining in a job interview.
21. Castaways, week 1.
22. A fully sapient whale’s view of the world.

What I published recently

As it’s a while since I’ve done so, here is a quick summary of what I have published on Medium lately. The edited highlights, at least!

I’ve written a few drabble-length chapters for the ‘You are dead’ story arc started by Bradan Writes Stories. This one leads on from one branch of that overall story, and links to some of my other pieces, as well as to the work of P. L. Goaway:

In another drabble-length Choose Your Own Adventure story arc, this piece shows the main character taking a dark path. Again, it links to several other recent pieces, and the work of other writers including Rayne Sanning:

I also wrote some pieces to tidy up a couple of loose ends in the ‘Castle of Shadows’ arc. This one adds onto the ‘finale’ story, and links the overall story to the ‘Hero of Pendown’ arc by Jonathon Sawyer:

I’ve written some writing prompts, including this list with a Hallowe’en feel:

And this stand-alone story is also seasonal! It was a response to several writing prompts/challenges from other authors:

Outside of fiction, I wrote a couple of stories about The Rings of Power, including this one:

This is a suggested villain that could be seen as a writing prompt/challenge in its own right:

This is a reflection on the images I’ve been using for stories:

Finally, in case you missed it, please check out this starter story for the Medium Adventurers League:

I guess it really is time to throw the dice in your fiction!!

That’s all for now! I share a list of prompts (nearly) every week, as well as other pieces about the craft of writing, and occasional short stories and web-novel chapters. Get my articles by email here.