10 Weird Writing Prompts to Cure Your Writer’s Block

This is how you’ll stop staring at that white page

It’s a Monday night and you’re ready to get to writing. You’ve already written about everything under the sun: from that time you were a bridesmaid at your cousin’s wedding to your favorite weekday meals to your favorite childhood pet, Hammy. You stare at the white screen with the cursor pulsing and begging you to type. Nothing. Ten minutes pass, and you’ve yet to write anything that didn’t get deleted immediately after. If you’re reading this, you’re no stranger to this feeling, but I’ve got a solution.

Look no further than here. I’ve constructed a list of ten strange writing prompts that are sure to get your creative juices flowing. So, grab a coffee, a pen, and some paper and let’s get to the list.

1. You need to get a gift to your hypothetical great grandma. Describe the shopping experience.

Shopping for gifts is one of my favorite things to do. I’m especially keen on hand-making at least part of the gift, whether that is a letter, a book of photos, or a memory book. In this prompt, you just realized you need a gift for your great grandma (whether you have one in real if is unimportant). You have one hour before you need to be at her birthday. What will the shopping trip look like? Have you decided to hand-make dessert? Are you frantically running around the house to look for photos?

If this prompt reminds you of a previous time you went gift shopping for someone, don’t be afraid to write about that experience. Or, if you’re a lover of listicles, why not create a gift guide for a brother, mother, or child? The possibilities are endless with this one.

2. Your current world becomes an animal analogy.

Think Animal Farm but to the scale of events in your personal life. Who would you turn into pigs? Who would become cows? What about the chickens? Maybe an ostrich or two?

Animal analogies can be great for short story content, as well as for brainstorming events of your personal life. Think about an impactful event and turn it on its head. This process can also lead to thinking about personal life events in a way you hadn’t before. Don’t be afraid to use this new perspective in a nonfiction piece as well. The animal analogy is a place to start, but it doesn’t have to be where you end.

3. Write down the first ten objects you see in your line of vision.

This one is especially great for images in poetry. When you’re forced to record details, you’ll often begin to create interesting connections. For example, let’s say you begin your list with a soda can, a calico cat, a television, and a Windex bottle. Originally, I never would have paired any of these images together in a poem, but now I feel inclined to analyze the relationship between a cat and Windex, or even Windex and a soda.

Creating this list could also invoke nostalgia on a personal item you have in your living space. It may jog your memory on an interaction you previously forgot about.

4. Write a list of your eight favorite songs.

Music and writing has an inseparable bond, which is why it is a great place to start when you feel stuck. Not only could this lead to a full analysis of an album or song, it can also help you brainstorm creative concepts. As with making a list of objects, creating a list of songs could invoke images that speak to each other. What content of your favorite Taylor Swift song speaks to Cardi B? How about Vampire Weekend and Twenty One Pilots?

If you feel especially drawn to one song you write down, run with it!

5. Your best friend sends you a text that says, “The wolves are here.”

It’s midnight, and you’ve just brushed your teeth to prepare for bedtime. Suddenly, your phone lights up. Your best friend has just texted you that “the wolves are here.” Take this prompt as you will. Are they real wolves? Is your friend suffering from a breakdown? Do you want to turn this into a sci-fi story? What about a Jungle Book spin-off?

Feel free to replace “wolves” with anything you’d like. Don’t be afraid to get weird.

6. Your mother didn’t return home for dinner.

It’s 30 minutes past six, and your mother isn’t home yet. She’s never late, and she won’t answer here phone. You start to panic, pacing back and forth. What do you do next? Drive to her work? Call her boyfriend? Text her best friend she works with? As you’re deciding, there is a slow knock at the door. A man in a dark suit stands in the doorway, and orders you to come with him.

Whatever happens next is up to you.

7. You open a library book with a mysterious note in it.

You’re back at your favorite place to study and hang with friends: the library. You’ve finished all your homework, and your father is on his way to pick you up. You’re browsing the graphic novels and decide on one with a bright blue cover to check out. As you’re flipping through to see if it is a good book, you see a neon orange paper slipped inside, with a note written in black cursive. You unfold the letter carefully, as to not get a paper cut.

What does the note say? What do you do when you read the note? Who is the note signed by?

Your father texts you. She is waiting outside.

8. Record everything you hear.

This prompt is especially fun in a crowded place, but a family’s living room will have to do with the current climate with the virus. You don’t have to write down everything that is said, but just the phrases or quotes that catch your attention. These could be used for future dialogue, or could help start a story.

If you want to get really brave, use the first quote you here as the beginning line of a story. If you choose to do this: no cheating. If your mother says, “the salad is missing the tomatoes,” that is where your story begins.

9. Make image associations with colors.

This one is an amazing way to get unique images. For this, just write out a list of colors, and then force yourself to list images next to that color. For example:

Red- Firetrucks, tomatoes, lipstick, my grandma’s coffee mug, a dodgeball, the peanut butter lid, part of a Trader Joe’s bag, and strawberries.

When creating your list, feel free to extract images from your mind and your surroundings. This helps to find images you might not have thought of at first. For example, the Trader Joe’s bag on my list is sitting in the corner near me and has red in it, but I wouldn’t have conjured that image myself.

10. You’re starting your own business.

You are starting your own business. What is it for? Is it a lip gloss company? A coffee shop? Do you sell plants? Is it a monthly delivery service?

I like this prompt because it allows you to make your dreams a reality, even if just in writing. If you’ve always dreamed of opening your own book shop or coffee shop, this is the time to plan it down to every detail. What is the vibe? Do you sell vegan and gluten free goods? What sorts of book genres will you have?

The possibilities are endless. Maybe you can even turn this free-write into a reality.

I decided to get weird with some of these prompts, but that is where you have to go sometimes when you feel stuck. My favorite part about prompts is you truly never know where it will take you. You might start out writing a sci-fi snippet and end up writing a childhood memory. You might think you’re writing a free verse poem and it ends up being content for a short story.

So, let’s get into it. That next novel, article, poem, or short story is waiting for you to write it.