The table below has 100 prompts divided into 10 columns: character, location, problem, a fact, a word to use, an object, a genre, a sense, stylistic choice, emotion. You can use the links below to go to a specific column or click here to go to the start of the table.
Character
Location
Problem
A fact
A word to use
An object
A genre
A sense
Stylistic choice
Emotion
a secretive woman in her 50s who loves refinishing furniture |
a camping site under pines |
birds the size of houses |
snakes can predict earthquakes |
alexithymia |
a compost bin |
comedy |
sight |
present tense (I, me) |
hopeful |
an ambitious child who loves financial planning |
an industrial harbour |
adrift in a boat |
epiphytic plants live off air |
thaumatrope |
an old tin in a workshop |
romance |
sound as colour |
past tense |
nervous |
a foolish woman in her 20s who loves public speaking |
a rooftop in a city |
beautiful but seen as ugly |
honeybees can recognise faces |
coquecigrue |
a wooden artist's figurine |
crime |
sound |
future tense |
determined |
a lonely man in his 20s who loves painting |
a network of caves |
allergic to rain |
tears contain a natural painkiller |
astragalomancy |
a plastic chandelier |
historical |
sound as touch |
one-syllable words only |
envious |
a charming man in his 70s who loves crocheting |
a tropical jungle |
a natural disaster |
live geese were used to sweep chimneys |
gamboge |
a telescope |
fantasy |
taste |
very formal |
curious |
a cruel man in his 40s who loves making chilli sauce |
a submarine |
unrequited love for their enemy |
the shortest war was 38 mins |
saltimbanco |
a blackboard |
thriller |
taste as shapes |
very casual |
confused |
a rebellious woman in her 40s who loves shooting/marksmanship |
a run-down cinema |
somebody's died |
Scots has 421 words for snow |
zymurgy |
a money cat |
experimental |
smell |
dialogue only |
excited |
a decisive woman in her 30s who loves creating family trees |
a bridge |
have to keep a secret |
space smells like searing steak |
lecanomancy |
a ball of wool |
literary fiction |
words as tastes |
first person |
suspicious |
a generous teenager who loves sudoku |
a village museum |
struggling for money |
the Loch Ness monster legend dates to 565 AD |
toadstone |
a circuit board |
horror |
touch |
third person (he / she) |
lustful |
an easy-going man in his 60s who loves coloring |
a rocky island |
no-one believes them |
nutmeg can be fatal |
anosognosia |
a thumb tack |
science fiction |
sound as smell |
second person (you) |
shocked |
Page and prompts created by Megan Kerr, www.thewritersgreenhouse.co.uk.