You don't need to be a writer to use writing prompts.

You don't need a novel in progress.

You don't need a journal you've faithfully kept for the last 10 years.

You don't even need to think you're particularly good at writing.

Sometimes you just need an interesting question and somewhere to put the answer.

Writing prompts can help you explore your memories, relationships, beliefs, ambitions, fears, decisions, creativity, and the strange little things occupying your mind.

The goal isn't always to produce good writing. Sometimes the goal is simply to see what comes out when you start.

How to Use These Writing Prompts

You can use these prompts however you like.

Write for five minutes.

Write for half an hour.

Answer one question in a paragraph.

Turn a prompt into a story.

Use one as a journal entry.

Or start with the prompt and completely abandon it when something more interesting appears.

There are no marks.

No correct answers.

No minimum word count.

Choose a prompt that produces some kind of reaction in you, then follow that reaction.

Writing Prompts About Your Life

What part of your life feels most important right now?
What does an ordinary good day look like for you?
What has changed most about your life in the last five years?
What hasn't changed enough?
What do you spend too much time doing?
What do you wish you had more time for?
What is going better than you usually give it credit for?
What part of your life currently feels unfinished?
What would you like your life to contain more of?
If you could simplify one area of your life, what would it be?

Writing Prompts About Who You Are

What three words would you use to describe yourself?
Which of those words would other people disagree with?
When do you feel most like yourself?
When do you feel like you're performing for other people?
What part of your personality has changed most with age?
What do people commonly misunderstand about you?
What quality do you value most in yourself?
What part of yourself are you still trying to understand?
What label have you outgrown?
Who are you when nobody needs anything from you?

Writing Prompts About the Past

What childhood memory can you still picture clearly?
What did you believe about adulthood when you were a child?
What did you get completely wrong?
What did you get surprisingly right?
What ordinary thing from your childhood do you miss?
Who did you admire when you were younger?
What decision changed the direction of your life?
What mistake taught you something useful?
What would your 18-year-old self think of your life now?
What do you understand now that you wish you understood 20 years ago?

Writing Prompts About Getting Older

What has become easier as you've grown older?
What has become harder?
What do you care less about than you used to?
What do you care more about?
What have you stopped trying to prove?
What do younger people worry about that you no longer understand?
What did an older person once tell you that finally makes sense?
What part of getting older has surprised you?
What do you hope never changes about you?
What would you like to become better at as you age?

Writing Prompts About Relationships

Who knows you best?
What makes you feel understood by another person?
What makes you feel misunderstood?
What have your closest relationships taught you about yourself?
What do you find hardest to say to people you care about?
What do you need from friendship?
Who has influenced you without realising it?
What relationship are you grateful you had, even though it ended?
What quality makes you trust someone?
What do you wish people asked you more often?

Writing Prompts About Work

What part of your work do you genuinely enjoy?
What part would you happily never do again?
What are you unusually good at?
What kind of work gives you energy?
What kind of work drains you?
If money didn't matter, would you still do your current work?
What does meaningful work mean to you?
What skill have you developed that you once thought was difficult?
What would you like to be known for professionally?
If you started your working life again, what would you do differently?

Writing Prompts About Money and Success

What does having enough money mean to you?
What did your family teach you about money?
What does success mean to you now?
How has your definition of success changed?
What would you do differently if nobody could see your achievements?
How much of what you want is actually about status?
What are you willing to sacrifice for success?
What are you not willing to sacrifice?
What would make you feel that you had enough?
If you became twice as successful tomorrow, what would actually change?

Writing Prompts About Fear

What are you afraid might happen?
What are you avoiding because you're afraid of failing?
What are you avoiding because you're afraid of succeeding?
What would you attempt if embarrassment wasn't possible?
What opinion are you afraid other people might have of you?
What are you trying too hard to control?
What uncertainty are you struggling to accept?
What fear has become smaller as you've grown older?
What fear has stopped you from doing something you wanted?
What would courage look like in your life right now?

Writing Prompts About Change

What do you know needs to change?
What are you reluctant to let go of?
What are you holding onto because it's familiar?
What habit no longer fits the person you want to become?
What would improve if you made one difficult change?
What are you waiting for before you begin?
What would happen if you stopped waiting?
What change have you already made that you're proud of?
What small change could make a surprisingly large difference?
What would the next version of your life look like?

Writing Prompts About Regret

What do you wish you had done differently?
What decision would you make differently knowing what you know now?
What mistake have you been too hard on yourself about?
What regret taught you something useful?
What opportunity do you wish you had taken?
What are you glad you walked away from?
What apology do you wish you had made?
What would you regret not doing from this point forward?
What past decision made sense to you at the time?
What can you still do something about?

Writing Prompts About Happiness

When are you happiest?
What reliably makes an ordinary day better?
What pleasure have you made unnecessarily complicated?
What do you enjoy that you're slightly embarrassed to enjoy?
What did you love doing before you started caring whether you were good at it?
What makes you laugh?
What simple thing do you look forward to?
What makes you lose track of time?
What would you do more often if productivity didn't matter?
What is already good enough?

Writing Prompts About Beliefs

What do you believe strongly?
Why do you believe it?
What belief have you changed your mind about?
What might change your mind about something you currently believe?
What belief did you inherit rather than choose?
What do people around you believe that you've never really questioned?
What do you believe about yourself that may no longer be true?
What do you wish were true?
What do you suspect is true but don't want to admit?
What opinion would you struggle to defend?

Writing Prompts for Self-Discovery

What do you want that you rarely admit?
What are you trying to prove, and to whom?
What makes you feel significant?
What criticism affects you more than it should?
What compliment means the most to you?
What do you envy in other people?
What might that envy tell you about what you want?
What do you pretend not to care about?
What part of yourself do you protect most strongly?
What are you beginning to accept about yourself?

Writing Prompts About Decisions

What decision are you currently avoiding?
If you had to decide today, what would you choose?
What option do you secretly hope someone else tells you to choose?
What are you afraid each option might cost you?
What happens if you make no decision?
Which choice fits the person you want to become?
Which choice would you make if nobody else knew?
What information do you actually need before deciding?
Are you waiting for certainty that may never arrive?
What is the smallest reversible decision you could make?

Creative Writing Prompts for Adults

Write about someone who receives a letter addressed to them 30 years in the future.
Two strangers discover they have been having the same dream.
Someone finds an object they lost as a child in a place it could not possibly be.
A person wakes up to discover everyone remembers an event that never happened.
Write about someone who accidentally becomes famous for something they didn't do.
A family has kept one ridiculous secret for generations.
Someone discovers an old photograph with themselves in it, taken before they were born.
A person decides to tell the absolute truth for one entire day.
Two people meet again after 25 years and remember their friendship completely differently.
Someone receives a phone call from their younger self.

Funny Writing Prompts for Adults

Write a formal complaint about something completely ridiculous.
Invent the worst motivational speaker in history.
Describe a terrible business idea as though you're pitching it to investors.
Write a breakup letter to a household appliance.
Invent a self-help book that would make everyone's life worse.
Describe your morning from the perspective of your coffee cup.
Write instructions for doing something everybody already knows how to do.
Invent a completely unnecessary luxury product.
Write an argument between two objects in your house.
Explain modern life to someone from the year 1820.

Writing Prompts for When You Feel Stuck

What exactly am I stuck on?
What am I making harder than it needs to be?
What am I waiting to feel before I begin?
What would the bad version look like?
What could I do for just 10 minutes?
What am I avoiding admitting?
What would I do if I couldn't overthink this?
What is the smallest useful next step?
What would happen if I simply started?
What am I really afraid of here?

Writing Prompts for Gratitude

What ordinary thing would you miss if it disappeared tomorrow?
Who has made your life easier?
What problem do you no longer have?
What ability do you take for granted?
What part of your home makes your life better?
What small kindness do you still remember?
What do you have now that you once wanted badly?
Who deserves a thank you they haven't received?
What went right this week?
What is better about your life than it was 10 years ago?

Writing Prompts About Meaning

What makes life meaningful to you?
What deserves more of your attention?
What deserves less?
What are you building?
What do you want to leave behind?
Who benefits from the way you spend your time?
What would make the next decade worthwhile?
What do you hope people remember about you?
What matters even if nobody applauds?
What would still matter if success disappeared?

One-Word Writing Prompts

Choose one word and write whatever it brings to mind.

You don't have to define it.

Write about a memory.

An opinion.

A person.

A question.

Follow the association wherever it goes.

Questions to Keep Yourself Writing

If you begin answering a prompt and run out of things to say, don't immediately stop.

Ask another question.

Why?
What else?
Why does this matter to me?
What am I assuming?
Is that actually true?
What would the opposite look like?
What am I not saying?
What is underneath this?
What would I tell a friend?
What do I think now?

Often the first answer is the obvious one. The interesting answer may be two or three questions deeper.

Try the Same Prompt at Different Ages

One of the interesting things about writing prompts is that the questions can stay the same while you change.

Consider:

What does success mean to me?

Your answer at 25 may be very different from your answer at 45.

And your answer at 65 may be different again.

The prompt hasn't changed.

You have.

Repeating important questions over time can show you how your values, priorities, and understanding have changed.

You Don't Need to Answer the Prompt

This sounds strange, but it's important.

If the prompt asks about work and your first sentence reminds you of your grandfather, write about your grandfather.

If a question about fear makes you think about something funny that happened 15 years ago, follow it.

If you disagree with the premise of the prompt, write about why.

If the prompt annoys you, write about the annoyance.

The prompt exists to provoke writing, not control it.

Pick the Prompt That Makes You React

Don't necessarily choose the prompt that seems easiest.

Notice the one that makes you pause.

The one that makes you curious.

The one that annoys you.

The one you immediately know the answer to.

Or perhaps the one you don't particularly want to answer.

Set a timer for 10 minutes.

Start with the question.

Then follow your mind wherever it goes.

A good writing prompt gives you somewhere to start.

The interesting part is discovering where you end up.