Whether you're having trouble thinking of short story ideas, or you find yourself returning to similar plots and themes, these exercises and prompts will help you take new directions with your writing. Use them to unlock your subconscious, explore new territory, and have fun.
And for more sources of inspiration, books such as The Right to Write and 52 Projects provide a wealth of prompts and exercises.
Freewriting
© 2007 Ginny Wiehardt, licensed to About.com, Inc.
One of the easiest ways to generate new short story ideas, freewriting is often overlooked outside of the classroom. These guidelines provide structure to make it effective while working on your own. (If you're unsure what the results of freewriting should look like, link to the step-by-step example at the end.)
"I Have a Secret" -- A Writing Exercise
Secrets naturally inspire the storytelling impulse. This lighthearted writing exercise essentially prompts groups or pairs of writers to provide each other with random stories while helping the group to bond.Photos as Writing Prompts
Discover the story implicit in a photograph or snapshot -- or use the image to start off a round of freewriting -- with this exercise for individuals, pairs, or groups.Dictionary Writing Prompts
A few words chosen at random can lead you in a whole new direction in this creative writing exercise that turns the dictionary into a writing prompt generator.Storyteller Exercise
This exercise for your imagination, inspired by one in Julia Cameron's The Right to Write, teaches writers to listen for short story ideas.Ten-Minute Creative Writing Exercise
If you think you don't have time to write, think again. See what you can produce with a simple set of writing prompts and ten minutes of your time with this creative writing exercise.Story Starters
These story starters, meant to be the opening phrase of a story, were offered by readers as their favorites. The phrase might give you an entire story, or you might spend a half hour freewriting, and there find the story you really want to tell. The important thing is to spend time writing, whatever the result.Short Story Idea Box
Keeping an idea box is a fun way to ensure that you always have a place to turn for inspiration. It doesn't have to be elaborate. Just having a place where you keep ideas will cause your mind to look out for them.Monthly Writing Challenges
Each month from September to May, the fiction writing site at About.com supplies a monthly writing challenge and posts reader responses. It's a good source of new writing prompts and exercises, and the responses provide examples of how the exercise might be approached. (If you attempt the current challenge, be sure to submit a response of your own.)Testing New Short Story Ideas
Robert McKee, in his book, Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting, has this tip for testing out a new plot.
Find more creative writing prompts.
