Writing Prompts by Joe Mashburn

1. Construct a story with absolutely no characters. This includes animals, trees, imaginary people, or a main character.

2. Set a scene for a short story without using adjectives. Description of the surroundings is prohibited.

3. Write a story from a bee’s perspective in which you sting a person you know is allergic. Why would you do this? What made you so angry?

3a. You can actually extend this further, and turn Winnie the Pooh into a not so loveable bear…

4. Write a story from the view point of a child. By child, I mean infant. And by infant, I mean no words or movement. I suggest studying babies before attempting this prompt.

5. Describe a hockey game. However, do not describe the game. Describe the fan you are sitting next to who believes he is the announcer and has a smart comment about every player on your team.

6. Use your most boring day to make the best piece of writing you have ever created.

7. Write about the girl you are madly in love with. However, write from the point of view of your other best friend who is a girl to whom you have ranted about all your issues throughout your past.

8. Write a poem without using punctuation or line breaks. However, the speaker of your poem is from a foreign place, so he/she will not know the correct words for some of the things he/she is attempting to describe. Go crazy with this one.

9. Write a story about an alien species that takes one earthling every year. Write it from the perspective of the mechanic for the space ship.

10. Write a first person story with a third person narrative. [Joe explained this one to me and Farsh, but I fell asleep. I think Farsh started behaving in the way described by the assignment, though, so he may have understood what was going on.]

11. Write a story where your character flies. Write it from the perspective of the bird that is flying next to him/her.

12. Write a story in which the main character has a storm cloud over only his head. Write it from the point of view of the storm cloud. Swearing at the character is encouraged.