Best Writing Prompts: How Story Ideas Happen

Writing prompts come to mind in the weirdest, most unexpected ways, but with care and attention, they become the delightful sparks that start a story.

Have you ever read a book and wondered what inspired the author’s ideas? 

… A world inside a wardrobe

… A young boy starting wizardry school

…. A hobbit tasked with saving the world

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe began when sixteen-year-old C.S. Lewis imagined a faun carrying an umbrella and packages through a snowy wood. Decades later, he dreamed of lions, inspiring the character of Aslan. 

J.K. Rowling’s idea for Harry Potter happened on a train. J.R.R. Tolkien wrote the first line of The Hobbit while grading papers. 

“In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit.” – J. R. R. Tolkien

“I’ve no idea where ideas come from and I hope I never find out; it would spoil the excitement for me if it turned out I just have a funny little wrinkle on the surface of my brain which makes me think about invisible train platforms.” – J. K. Rowling 

Story creation is magical, mystical, and beautiful. Writing prompts are rarely inspired by a blank screen and a will to be an author—that’d be too easy and boring. Writers need more drama than that.

Rather, a story is a collection of little somethings like lightning bugs in a jar. You get one and marvel at it for a while. If you’re lucky, you capture more. And even when you release them, the good ones stay, hovering, waiting for your attention. Until you finally say, “Okay, bright, little idea-fairies, I’ll give your story a shot.” 

Though I’m no cleverly-initialed bestselling author, I relate to how they got their ideas. And how those tiny fairies grew. Writing prompts start with sparks in our everyday lives that grow bigger by asking what-ifs.

With stories dating back to the third grade, my books, and a blog dedicated to writing prompts, I am a What-If Queen.

My Delilah Duffy Mystery Series began with a “vision” of a young woman on a beach about to start over and a childhood memory of spending a day with a boy and never seeing him again. 

What if… what if… what if…

These two little somethings merged and lured other ideas… 

What if she’s reunited with her teenage love? And lies have kept them apart? 

What if she’s trying to reopen her Great Aunt’s bookstore? But there’s a murder?

What if the town’s against her? And members of her family? 

Ten years and five books later, Delilah Duffy has taken us both on a journey that’ll end with Odd-a-Sea, and it’s been a pleasure growing as a writer in her world. 

My children’s novella WaterWorld, available on Kindle Vella, was inspired by bedtime stories with the kids and our beach vacations. I wanted to create an adventure for them, and our love for the ocean gave me a place to start. 

Timing matters in story creation, too. Our little somethings can’t grow until life feeds them.

The idea for One Thing Better began at the kitchen table at my parents’ rundown country house when a mouse scurried near my feet. I’d lost my mom a year earlier, and the stress of caring for my dad while he recovered from surgery—of trying to make things work when little did—inspired the story about a lonely caregiver. It’s my most personal and heartfelt work to date. And my most treasured love story, ah. (fictional love story, Joe. Fictional). One Thing Better couldn’t have happened without the perfect storm of my mom’s death, my father’s surgery, and the pandemic. 

My #pitchwars winner and current work-in-progress, Adam, was inspired by my alma mater Virginia Tech and the mass shooting on April 16, 2007. All the “thoughts and prayers” going out to the victims and their families inspired what ifs and Adam, my first anti-hero. 

Stories are life mixed with imagination. And the key is to be open, always. On alert, hunting, waiting, watching, and marveling over little idea fairies as they come to you. When an idea doesn’t go away, ask what if and capture the creative magic.

I hope to inspire a little of that magic with my writing prompts.

Elizabeth Gilbert, best known for her beautiful book Eat, Pray, Love, writes about the creative life in Big Magic. She writes, “I believe that our planet is inhabited not only by animals and plants and bacteria and viruses, but also by ideas. Ideas are a disembodied, energetic life-form … And the only way an idea can be made manifest in our world is through collaboration with a human partner.”

What happens if we do nothing with these ideas? Ignore our idea-fairies? 

Well, as Gilbert explains in Big Magic, they pass us by and move on to the next human. Have you ever read a book or watched a movie that seemed plucked from your imagination? Hey, I had that idea five years ago! This is just like that book I wanted to write! That’s one of your idea-fairies giving you the middle finger. 

Maybe we won’t make the mistake of ignoring them next time, huh?

Gilbert believes we should take ideas seriously and act on them. Otherwise, we lose them to someone else. 

This has happened to me. My neglected idea fairies have returned in someone else’s story. A few years ago, I started jotting notes about a maid whose sassy insights and keen observations lead to solving a crime. I couldn’t write it at the time, but I was so enamored with the idea I blogged about it. Maid for Fiction: Maid-Inspired Story Ideas is one of my favorite articles on writing prompts.

Anyway, this week, I’m LOVING a new audiobook called The Maid by Nita Prose, and it’s a similar idea. Another premise that struck me as familiar to an idea I had in high school was Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library. While both books are leaps and bounds better than my rough, unrealized attempts, perhaps in some strange and lovely way, they befriended the idea fairies that I neglected.

Anyway, this collection is me releasing my jar of fairies on purpose, handing them over in the hopes that you’ll take care of them properly. As the What-If Queen, I can’t possibly turn every idea I have into a novel, and the idea fairies wouldn’t be living their best lives if I tried. Not all ideas belong with me.

But don’t worry. I don’t give them all away. I keep a special jar for me and the books I want to write. Aw, my sweet idea-fairies. This one’s plotting murder.

And besides another magical thing about ideas is that they change with the person bringing them into the world. My pandemic romance could never be the same as yours, not exactly. And writing prompts are only springboards to get you started. 

So, get started! That novel or short story isn’t going to write itself! (Unless there’s an AI for that now. There isn’t, is there?… If an AI captures all of our idea-fairies we’re in trouble, and so are they!) Hmm, that could be a story idea!

For now… here are my best writing prompts, broken into digestible categories for your convenience.

Getting to Know Your Characters

Strong character development is key to crafting a memorable story, and the magic is in the details. The more fleshed-out a character is in the writer’s head, the easier it is to write her story. Knowing her likes and dislikes, eccentricities, and background leads to understanding the why behind her choices.

In my early writing days, I thought “knowing” a character was being able to describe their looks and how they dressed. But as I’ve developed my craft, such things have taken a backseat to psychology and motivation. What are they like?… What’s their routine?… What drives them?… What’s hurt them?… What do they fear?

Here are my best articles on Character Development:

1. 30+ Quirky Character Questions – Unusual questions lead to unusual insights for really getting to know your fictional friends
2. Character Writing Prompts: What’s in a Mug? – Simple things lead to the best ideas
3. Personality Traits for Characters: Why the Mess? – Play armchair psychiatrist with your characters
4. Writing Prompts on Character Flaws: Brokenness – Add depth and meaning to your characters
5. Character Development Writing Prompts on Waiting – We’re all waiting for something… what about your main character?
6. Writing Prompts on Character Development: Sparking Joy – This article will spark your writing joy with ideas.
7. 10 Childhood Writing Prompts – Create your character’s backstory and discover who they are.
8. 30 Story Writing Prompts: Control Freak – What does your character desperately want to control but can’t?
9. Writing Characters with Contradictions – Create an odd duck of a character with these unique dichotomies.
10. Writing Characters with Hobbies – Everyone needs an interest outside work and relationships. Why not give your character a hobby?
11. Character Development: 10+ Lunchbox Ideas – What’s in your lunchbox reveals much about you.
12. Building Characters through Friendships – Sidekicks support the main character and kick-up the action.

Now, What Will They Do Next?

Now that you have character ideas, it’s time to throw as much life at them as possible. A story isn’t a story without things happening and your characters reacting to them. So, let’s get your story moving.

Here are my best posts on Plot Development:

1. Quirky Story Starters – Have a little accident… walk into trouble… drive into a Morning Radio Show nightmare… these ideas are random but fun.
2. Raising Stakes with Plot Gremlins – Who doesn’t love Gremlins? And why not throw some into your plot?
3. 35 Bookish Story Starters – Writing prompts that hit close to home for writers and aren’t nerdy at all… no, really.
4. 15+ Winning Story Prompts – A big win can lead to real trouble.
5. Maid for Fiction: Maid-Inspired Story Ideas – Well-developed prompts and short starters, too.
6. Story Ideas with a Twist: A Meet Strange – A twist on a Meet Cute
7. Mystery Novel Ideas: Petty Crime – Fun lessons in crime & story ideas
8. 15+ Mystery Story Ideas: Cars – Good for plot and character development
9. Writing Ideas on Horses – Don’t you love how animals resemble people? And using them in stories?
10. Fun Writing Prompts for Back to School – From portal stories to a secret superhero teacher, some cool ideas here.
11. 10+ Eventful Story Ideas – Concerts, weddings, Blueberry Festivals, oh my! Centering your story around a special event may be a good way to drive the action.
12. Novel Ideas on Covid-19 – How might living through a pandemic change us long-term? And our stories?
13. Plot Ideas: Store-in-Crisis – Wrong place, wrong time ideas because you never know what might happen when you go out.
14. 10+ Writing Prompts on Get-Togethers – Want drama? Romance? Mystery? Bring people together, like in these fun examples.
15. 20+ Writing Ideas about Hospitals – Few places offer so many ideas.
16. 15+ Romantic Gift Fails for Story Starters – Not trying to shame bad gift givers, but you may end up in a story.
17. How to Get Story Ideas – Practical ways to get your grumpy muse off her duff with writing prompts mixed in.
18. Plot Prompts: 9 to 5 & Its Sequel – Who woulda thought a boring ol’ office could generate so many exciting story ideas?

Let’s Get Seasonal

Seasonal writing prompts deserve their own category since so much inspiration arises from them. Plus, they’re just fun.

1. 30 Romance Story Starters: Christmas Meet Cutes – Hallmark’s not the only one who can write about love at Christmas.
2. Writing about Holidays: How to (Pumpkin) Spice Up Your Story – Inspired by coffee and creamer… and fall, of course.
3. 25 Thanksgiving Writing Prompts – I love Thanksgiving and the cornucopia of ideas it gives.
4. 40+ Hauntingly Good Story Ideas – Whatever you do, don’t read these writing ideas before bed!

Finally, Let’s Get Weird

My favorite writing prompts tend to be crime-related because I love a good mystery or oddball ideas because, well, I’m odd. The What-If Queen should be a bit weird, right?

Usually, you can tell if I’m super-jazzed over an idea because the writing prompts will be long and detailed–not short, baby story starters, though I’ll have those, too.

These articles reveal my best, weirdest, and favorite ideas:

1. Mystery Novel Ideas: Petty Crime – Small crimes lead to big story ideas
2. Maid for Fiction: Maid-Inspired Story Ideas – I couldn’t stop once I started. If only I could clean my house with such vigor!
3. 15+ Mystery Story Ideas: Cars – A double-duty blog on characterization and plot… with mystery thrown in.
4. Story Ideas with a Twist: A Meet Strange – Mystery writers love a good twist.
5. 40+ Hauntingly Good Story Ideas – Who doesn’t love a good ghost story?
6. 35 Bookish Story Starters – Funny how many ideas you can get from ONE thing. I had fun with this!
7. Writing Ideas on Horses – This one hit close to home and inspired my latest novel, One Thing Better.
8. 15+ Stuck Story Setting Ideas – Mystery writers love isolating their characters!
9. A Mystery Series Love Story (& Writing Ideas) – Find out where my love for mysteries began and discover some amateur detective ideas, too. This one’s close to my heart.

With more writing prompts to come, surely this list will grow. Never miss one of my idea-fairies by subscribing.

Let your fairies free by sharing them below… the ones you can part with, anyway.