WRITING PROMPTS | PROMPTLY WRITTEN
Prompt Yourself: Weekly Prompts December 11–17
Prompts to tempt your muses
Happy 50th Week of PW Prompts! In the northern hemisphere, there’s likely to be snow outside and frost on the windows, but for our friends down under, it’s the middle of summer! I find that very weird to think about, so this week’s prompts are inspired by opposite, topsy-turvy, and contrasting ideas.
Before we get started, here are a couple of quick reminders:
How This Works
- Use these prompts to write poetry, fiction, an essay, creative non-fiction, or an article. They are totally open to interpretation! Include a link to the prompt at the bottom of your post.
- If you use one of these prompts, you can submit the result here at PW, to any publication that accepts prompts from other publications, or self-publish. If you submit somewhere besides PW, make sure to include a link to the prompt and tag PW editors so that we do not miss reading your story!
- You don’t have to use PW’s prompts to submit work here. We are an open publication for established and new writers to submit their writing — usually based on writing prompts from here or elsewhere, but unprompted stories are also welcome!
- Please be sure to use the correct Reader Interest Tags when you submit your work to PW so it lands in the right place on the homepage. Please use ONE (not multiple) of the following tags: Poetry, Fiction, Essay, or Articles. Your other four tags can be whatever you wish them to be.
- Please ONLY submit drafts. To do this, once you have finished writing, instead of hitting the Publish button, click on the three dots (…), choose Add to Publication, click on Promptly Written, and then submit. This will put it into our queue, and we will publish it on our end.
- Each week, you will find prompts for Monday-Sunday. However, you do not have to use them in the order they are written. Browse them all and use only the ones that resonate with you. Submit your work any time during the week (or long after!).
- If you previously wrote for PW but haven’t in a while, you may need to go to the Submission Guidelines and ask to be a writer again. We went on hiatus a few months ago and stopped accepting submissions; if you were a writer with us before that time, you will need to sign up again.
- Have fun!
Are you ready? Great! Let’s get prompting!
Moody Monday
Write a ‘moody’ poem or story around any or all of the following:
— A stiflingly hot night — Deafening silence — A drunken confession — A warm Christmas
Tuesday Twosome
Write a story inspired by the following:
Concept — Topsy-turvy Twosome — Übermensch and Underworld
Wednesday’s Either/Or
Either naughty or nice (’tis the season!)
Bonus: incorporate both concepts in one story or poem
Thursday’s Thoughts
“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.”
― John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley
“Yes, storms are damaging, but we need them because they clear away the bracken that prevents new flowers from having a chance to grow. And of course, we need the sun to shine on those new flowers that without the storm might never have had a chance to bloom.”
― Meg Cabot, Awaken
“My husband says spring will be early. He says this every year, And every year I disagree. He needs me, the dark side of the planetary equation. Together we make the equinox.”
― Lisel Mueller, Alive Together
Fiction Friday
A classic love story trope is the idea that “opposites attract”. Write a story about two characters with opposing views finding common ground, whether it ends in a romantic relationship, a new friendship, or just a begrudging understanding:
- a ‘dog person’ and a ‘cat person’
- an impulsive thrill-seeker and a cautious homebody
- a straight-A student and a coasting jock
- a hopeless romantic and a callous horndog
- an open-minded optimist and a grouchy, no-nonsense cynic
Random Words Saturday
Normally, the prompt for Saturday is 10 random words with no correlation. To spice things up, this week I’m giving 10 word pairs. Choose 5 of these 10 antonyms (you may use any form of the word, such as tense and plurals) to use in a story, essay, or poem:
- Present / absent
- Kind / cruel
- Lead / follow
- Rigid / flexible
- Criticize / praise
- Timid / bold
- Cheap / dear
- Permit / forbid
- Give / receive
- Voluntary / compulsory
Spiritual/Secular Sunday
Are spirituality and secularism really opposites, or do they sometimes go hand-in-hand? For today’s prompt, I want you to consider things that are opposite or contrast in a new light:
- Write about something that scares other people, but that you enjoy. Why doesn’t it scare you? What do you like about it?
- What is one serious thing/topic that you take lightly? Conversely, what is one silly thing that you take seriously?
- Write about three things on your bookshelf other than books.
- What is a trait you that you admire in other people, but criticize in yourself?
- What is good advice is easy to give, but hard to follow?
Bonus Prompt — Write a ‘contrast’ poem, flash fiction (<500 words), or essay.
There you have it! Another week’s worth of prompts to tempt your muses. I look forward to reading your submissions!
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