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- March 23, 2025 Writing Prompts for the Week
March 23, 2025 Writing Prompts for the Week
Happy Sunday! In the hemisphere I happen to be in, we’re officially in spring! PHEW. So here’s a question for you:
In the spirit of spring cleaning, what are you removing from your creative, writing, and/or reading habits? What have you been doing that just isn’t working for you or what’s wasting time or energy that you don’t have to waste?
While you’re thinking on that, let’s take a look at some writing prompts, shall we?
This Week’s Prompts*
She saw the glob of peanut butter ooze down the front of her shirt as if in slow motion.
"This is WBBB Channel 6 News, coming to you live from the site of the largest avocado oil spill this town has ever seen."
"That's not the way it was supposed to go," she said casually to her mailman as she fanned her face with the flyer.
Write a scene that explains why a camp would be silent in the height of summer—and where all the kids are.
Describe the smell of burned popcorn and the unique reason it came to be burned.
As he approached the back gate, he turned his headlamp off, just in case Old Man Jordan was up feeding the chickens.
The bartender was weighing if this would be the first night she had to cut her best customer off.
*How to Use These Prompts: The italicized prompts let you create your writing entirely from scratch; the non-italicized prompts are intended as your first line and jumping off point. But, at the same time, there are no rules. Write on!
Book(s) We’re Reading This Week
The Wildes: A Novel in Five Acts by Louis Bayard
I’m only a bit into this one, but I’ve enjoyed a few other books by Louis Bayard and this one’s premise is promising. The novel explores the relationship between Oscar Wilde and his wife and children before and after his conviction and imprisonment in 1895 for “gross indecency” which, in this case, meant homosexuality. I’m always a touch hesitant with historical fiction, especially fiction about people that actually existed, but I’m giving it a shot, nonetheless. So far, so good!
Grab it on Bookshop.org (and support local bookstores!)
Grab it on Amazon
Writing without revising is the literary equivalent of waltzing gaily out of the house in your underwear.
Links We Like (And Think You Will, Too)
📇 One of my favorite parts of writing is naming characters. (Which, yes, does make me a name snob: I’m looking at you, the 60 gazillion modern novels with characters named Chloe.) This site has a random name generator for different countries, medieval societies, and archetypes. A fun jumping off point, at least!
🐌/🐠 I first heard about nudibranchs on NPR’s Short Wave science podcast, which is ironic since one of the coolest things about these sea slugs is how colorful and distinct they are. Give your creativity a little boost by marveling over the kinds of things nature can make.
💻 To use writing software, or to not use it: That is the question. Whether ‘tis nobler to write it on your own or take any help or structure you can get. Dunno; that’s up to you. But if you’re looking for a list of the Top 10 Best Book Writing Software Programs, here’s one for you.
Top (Published) First Line of the Week
Right before my twelfth birthday, my dad, Jules, and I moved into a two-room apartment in a building that we called the Ostrich Hotel.
From Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O’Neill
(I haven’t read it, but what a killer title, too, huh??)
Grab it on Bookshop.org (and support local bookstores!)
Grab it on Amazon
If you had to choose a best friend by profession *only* and they had to be one of these, which would you choose? |
P.S.
If you’re at all interested in getting into copywriting (aka, marketing and advertising writing) you might want to take a look at this free bundle. It’s got six templates and checklists to help make starting (or scaling) your copywriting career fast and easy. Not too shabby, eh?
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