Dialog

Pick up any book. Randomly open a page, and write down the first words you see on any part of that page. Put those words in a sentence spoken by a character in the piece you are writing, or use the sentence to create dialog for a new story.

Slash Pile

When you cut lines from a piece (those ones you can't bear to get rid of), write them on cards. When you get stuck in another piece, select cards randomly to trigger new writing.

Globe

Spin a globe with your eyes shut. Place your finger on it until it stops. Open your eyes. Begin researching that place. Select words for a poem, imagine taking a trip there, or write whatever else comes to your mind. Begin at the place on the globe.

Names

Look at name sites on the internet or in baby name books for names that make you feel you know the people with those names. What do the people look like? What are their strengths and weaknesses? What would surprise others about them? What are their biggest struggles? Start a "character journal" where you write as if you were those people. When you discover their stories, you'll know where to start.

Book to Book

Think of two books you've read whose main characters have little in common. Create characters that act like each of these main characters. Put them in a relationship, give them conflicting goals, and watch them interact.

Mission

Have someone send your character on a mission to get something or to get somewhere. They can take a bus, get a ride, walk, ride their bike, or use some other form of transportation. Along the way, have them interact with people at different locations. What happens to keep them from completing their mission? What happens next?

Map

Draw a map of the area where you live. Draw an X on three unique places on that map. Daydream something extraordinary that could happen at each of those places. Write what happens.

Unlikely

Create a picture in your head that combines two or more unlikely items. Then create a character to interact with these items. A football and a tutu being packed in a suitcase, a refrigerator full of moss, a piccolo left on a tractor seat? Make up a list of items if that helps you, and select the most unlikely pair.

Slow Motion

Take a scene you've written, and pretend you can freeze it into a series of several snapshots. Study those pictures. What else is happening? What are your (or your character's) feelings and thoughts? What are you seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, or tasting?

Activities

Give your character a favorite activity - dancing, singing, building model airplanes, soccer, stamp collecting, juggling, riding a unicycle, or anything else you can dream up. When you write their thoughts and dialog, use words and images that suggest that activity, especially when they're not directly referring to it.

Secrets

What's the biggest secret you've ever kept? Change the details and give the secret to a character. Now imagine that the secret gets out. What happens?

Why I Took It

Create a character, or choose a character in a story you're already writing, and have that character steal an object. Write as if you are your character telling what the object is and why you took it. Then write the scene where you are caught.

Atlas

Find an atlas or look at maps. Pick a place and imagine yourself there. You can stay in current time, or travel back or ahead in time. What do you see around you? Do you meet anyone?

Newspaper Story

Pick up a magazine or paper and read a story. Imagine yourself, or a character you create, taking part in that story. Change any or all details as you wish. What happens?

Aha!

You hear people talk about "aha" moments - times when something is revealed or made clear to them. List as many examples of these as you can think of, and use this list to create stories by filling in the activities that happened before and after that moment.

Young Child Photo

Study a picture of a child or a photo of yourself as a young child. What is the child thinking? What is the child's greatest fear? Hope? What does the child want everyone to know? What is the child's biggest secret? Write as if you were that child.

Reframing

What is the quality you least like about yourself? Picture a character with that same quality, but reframe and rename it in a positive way. For instance, instead of "stubborn," use "persistent." Let your character be proud of that quality, and show how that aspect of your character's personality becomes an asset.

Real Estate

Look at the pictures in real estate ads. Create characters who might live in the homes that are listed. Why are they selling their home? What's going on in their lives that they don't want others to know about? What happens when their secrets are revealed?

Shadow

Pretend your shadow can speak. Start a conversation with it. What does it want to say to you? See if you can coax it out by asking it what it has to tell you. Or, create a character who can dialog with their shadow or their reflection.

Shovel

Your character is burying something. It's not a body, but your character still doesn't want anyone to know it exists. What is it, and what happens when the wrong person finds out?

Beginnings

Start with any beginning line - even "It was a dark and stormy night." Write the opening paragraph, and then take out or replace the first line. Sometimes we just need something on the paper to get going.

Naming

Look around you at the objects, plants, people, and other creatures you see. Pretend you are new to our society or our planet. Give names to each thing you see. Write to your family about them, and the problems they have caused for you.

The Worst Thing

As you work on a story, ask yourself, "What is the worst thing that could happen to my character?" Then, make it happen. Do this over and over as the character tries to solve the "big" problem. We're often way too nice to the ones we create.

Longing

Make a list of lines beginning with "I want ... " and use this list to create a poem, or use the individual lines to help you determine what a character may want. What is getting in the character's way, and how does the character deal with it?

Movie Time

Pretend you are behind the camera during the filming of a new movie. What is happening in the scene you are filming? Write that scene first, and then fill out the rest of the story.

Why?

Make a list of questions that start with "Why." Use it as an idea list. As you write your answers to the questions, find out which ones you want to research and elaborate on for a nonfiction piece, and which ones prompt a story.

New School

Things didn't go well in your old school, and you're excited about the opportunity to start fresh in this new one. You walk into the classroom and can't believe what you see. Maybe you won't be leaving the past behind after all. What did you see, and what happens next?

Three Wishes

It can't be true. Three wishes are for fairy tales, but you just got three wishes granted in a most unusual way. The wishes seem like the answers to all your problems, but they actually cause more. Tell us what happened, and how you solved the problem.

Hobbies

Besides writing, how do you spend your free time? Dream up a character who likes the same activities as you. Now make it difficult for them to do their activities. What or who gets in their way, and how will your character overcome the opposition?

Honesty

You lied. It seemed like the only thing to do at the time, but now everyone found out. What was the lie? What additional problems occured as you tried to get out of trouble? How did you find peace with what happened?

Where am I?

You wake up in a different place than where you went to sleep. Where are you? Who is there? How did you get there, and how do you get back? What problems do you encountering trying to get back?

That voice

There's a voice on your answering machine, and it's leaving a threat for you or someone in your family. You've heard the voice before but can't remember who it is. What do you do to investigate this mystery, and what happens in the process?

Architect

Draw a building for a scene from a story you'll write. It could be a house, museum, school, cathedral, warehouse, gas station, or any other place you can imagine. Put your character in one of the rooms and see what happens next.

Secret Past

If people knew where you were from and what you did in your past, they would be shocked. They're about to find out. What happens when you try to explain?

Wrong

You just accused someone of being wrong about something, but found out you were the one who was wrong. This time it takes more than an apology to fix things. What happened, and what did you do to try fix it?

Trains, Boats, and Planes

You're going on a trip. How will you get there? What unexpected surprises do you find along the way? Someone wants to ruin your trip. Who is it, what are they doing (and why), and what do you do about it?

Camp

You're about to be sent to a camp for a couple weeks, but it's not the camp your parents thought it was. Where did they mean to send you, and what really happened?

Birth stories

In my book, Tell Me My Story, Mama, a little girl questions her mama about her birth. What are the stories around your birth or the time you came into your family? Ask others for details and write your own "Tell Me My Story"

Neighborhood

You have strange neighbors, but then, you come from an unusual family yourself. How do you keep them all a secret from your classmates? What happens when someone finds out?

Telephone

The phone rang. I watched my father pick it up and look over at me. How would I ever explain this to him?

Invitation

What if you could do something all over again, but do it differently? What would it be, and why? What if you did it again and it turned out worse than before?

Do it over

What a strange invitation you got. It's from someone you barely know, and you're not sure if you should go. It sounds intriguing, though. You read it again….

Train

Your character is running to catch the train, glancing back often. Why? Does the train leave with or without your character, and what happens next?

Secret

A friend tells you something that you wish you didn't know, then tells you not to say anything to anyone. What is it you were told, and what do you do now?

Voice

You hear a voice you've never heard before, but you don't see anyone around. What's going on, and how do you deal with it?

Restaurant

You're in a restaurant, but you notice that everyone else is different than you? What is it that makes them different, and how does that become a problem for you?

Amnesia

You lost all your memory and now need to figure out who you are. You're in a place far from your home. What do you do? What happened to you?

Yes or No

Think about the times you said yes when you wished you had said no. Pick one, and think of all the things that could have gone wrong. Write a story about a character who had that experience.

Music

Listen to a piece of music in a style you don't usually hear. World music, classical, rock, rap, country…. Then imagine a character who would be listening to that music. What are they thinking?

Pocketful of Problems

Make a list of everything you might put in your pocket. One of them is going to get you in trouble. Which thing is it, and why?

Excuse

Your character is in trouble and makes up an excuse. Who finds out? What excuse does your character give now? Let your character keep making up excuses until it's too late. Now what?

Travel

Imagine going somewhere you've never been, feeling "at home," and knowing ahead of time where everything is located. What happens to you as you try to find out why the place is so familiar?

Timeline

Have your character create a timeline of events important to that character. Do you notice any similar problems throughout the character's life? What is it that your character wants? What keeps getting in the character's way?

Favorite Words

Pick out words and phrases you like from your favorite books. Turn these into poems or add them to the dialog of an eccentric character.

Remembering Poetry

Write a poem where every fourth line fits this form - I remember ___________, but I don't remember___________.

Phobia

Your character does not want to admit having such a strange phobia. What is it, and how does it get your character in trouble?

Sand

A child digs in the sand. His fingers close around an object and he pulls it up? What is it, and what is he feeling?

Curtain

There's a shadow on the curtain. What is it? Where is the curtain? What happens next?

Word Replacement

Select a piece of writing. Replace all the nouns with other nouns. Then replace the verbs or other parts of speech. You may even want to pick out your replacement words ahead of time. It may become a poem or inspire a new story.

Answering Machine

Someone calls your number by mistake. It's a call they didn't want you to hear. What happens?

Titles

Start a title list. Use it to write stories, poems, or songs. Get a friend to keep a title list, too. Share your ideas and write a story from each other's titles.

Walk

As you walk down a street, describe what you see in a notebook on the left half of your paper. On the right, jot down how your character might interact with what you see.

Assistance

Ask a friend or family member to "give" you sentences or phrases. Incorporate them in your story, or use them for story ideas.

Song

Pick a song. Listen to it several times until you feel you know a character who sings the song, and others who love or hate the song. How does the song tie them all together?

Compare and Contrast

Take two dissimilar objects, events, or ideas and tell how they're alike and how they're different. Then create characters to match each of those items. What problems do they have when they meet?

Jokes

Write a joke. Who is telling it? Who else is there? What is that person's response to the joke?

Hand It Over

What's in your character's hand? Who's is it? Who wants it? Why won't your character give it up?

Smell

What's the worst smelling thing you can think of? Describe a person who would enjoy the smell, and one who would not. Let them have a conversation and see what happens!

Object Memories

Look at objects through your character's eyes. What memories are triggered when your character sees a penny, a hammer, a flashlight, a bicycle basket, a manila envelope, or other objects you may see around your own home?

Music

Select a piece of music for your character or story. As you work on your story, play that particular music. See if the music helps you step back into your writing or allow you to stay with the writing longer. Change the music for each story you write.

Neighborhood

Have your character walk down the street, describing everything they see, hear, and feel. Let us get a sense of who your character is by the words and actions they use in reaction to what they experience on the walk.

Scope it out

Look at a descriptive passage about an outdoor setting in your writing. What happens if you look at that landscape through a microscope or telescope? What would your character notice? How would your character react?

Where am I?

Take a character from a story you're working on. Place that character in a setting from a book you're reading. How does your character react to the new location? What are the problems your character faces in this new setting? Use what you learn about your character to add tension in the original story.

Catalog

Open up a catalog, select clothing, toys, or objects that your character would like or not like, and describe them as if you were your character. Include visual details as well as the emotions each chosen catalog item would evoke from your character.

Not

Instead of describing who or what your character or scene is, try saying what they are not. Your "list" will encourage your readers to come up with their own picture of your character or scene.

Jobs

Select an occupation, hobby, or other activity. Describe someone working at that activity. Let the details paint a picture we can see. What are the steps you see your character taking? What concerns does your character have about the activity?

Scenery

Begin a story with a description of the setting you are in. Look around you and describe fully what you see using all possible senses. Create a character who is at home in that setting. Now imagine a surprise guest who enters the scene and interacts with your character.

Kindness

Think about a time someone was kind to you. Use that scene as the opening for a new story, or for the beginning of a new chapter in a current project.

Talking to the Sun

Take a walk outside and find an object in nature - a rock, tree, flower, or a body of water, the rainbow, stars, or a mountain. Imagine your object having a conversation with another object or with animals. Is there a disagreement? What happens?

An Open Book

Open a poetry book and randomly select a poem to turn into a story. Try this a few times, combining a couple that interest you, discarding only one.

It's a Dog's Life

Your dog or cat has a big secret they've been hiding from you. Pretend they can talk. They confess the secret and ask for your help. Why do they ask you to not tell anyone about the secret or their ability to talk? Write your conversation.

Ouch!

Pretend you just injured yourself. Where are you? What happened? Is someone there to help you? What happens when you try to get help?

What a Thought!

You wake up one morning and discover that you're not only thinking your own thoughts, but you now have a sibling's thoughts going through your mind. How does this affect you, and what do you do to get back to normal?

Nonfiction to Fiction

Get your story idea and research completed at the same time! Read a nonfiction magazine article or book. Plant a person in it to turn it into fiction. Imagine yourself or a character in that setting or working with that topic.

A Rose By Any Other Name

You're starting a new school, and you decide it's time to go by a different name. What's your real name? Why do you want to change it? What problems are caused by your name change?

It's Better to Give Than Receive

An anonymous gift is delivered to your door. When you open the package, you think it might be a strange looking radio. Describe it. What happens when you press a button?

What's in Store For You?

You're walking down the street and see a store that interests you. On the door, under the store's name, your name is listed as the owner. You go inside. What do you discover?

Play it Again, Sam

The concert is over and the musicians have gone home. The instruments, however, are not done yet. Imagine what they say about the concert, the people who played them, and what they want to do differently. What happens at the next concert?

Cave Art

Your character, while playing at a grandparent's farm or cabin, discovers a cave. The inside cave walls are filled with primitive drawings. What happens when your character tries to learn about the drawings and the people who created them?

Alien Eyes

Pretend you’ve never seen Earth before. Walk around, notice details, and describe what you see with alien eyes. How is it different than where you live? Why are you here? What problems have you encountered?

Curiosity

What do you wonder about? What did you wonder about when you were younger? Create a character who wonders about the same things you do or did. How could their curiosity get them in trouble?

Public Places

Go to the mall, a waiting room, a library, a restaurant, or other public place. Write detailed descriptions of interesting objects in that setting. Listen for an opening line from your imagination or the people around you. Use the setting and line to start your story.

Telephone

Browse through a phone book to select names for your characters. Then go to the yellow pages to find locations and problems. When you find your story idea, let your character’s phone ring. Who’s calling?

Comfort Zone

Create a character who is good at many things, but who avoids one particular activity at all costs. Put your character in a situation where there is no choice except to participate in that activity. What happens?

Growing

Select one of your favorite picture book characters. Write a story about them as an older child with the same struggles, but in a new situation.

Cookbook

Pick a recipe and write a story about a kid trying to make it for a special occasion. Think about all the things that could go wrong, and how it will turn out okay in the end.

Newspaper Stories

Look through a newspaper for interesting headlines. Do not read the articles. Instead, write your own newspaper stories based on the headlines you choose. You may read the real articles when your own paper has gone to press.

Pick a Pet

Think of a unique pet – a tarantula, iguana, ferret, slug …
Write a description of the pet you choose. Then write a description of its owner, using many of the same words you used to describe the pet. How else are they alike?

What’s your earliest happy memory?

Try that question on people you see this week. See if any of their answers give you a story idea, or a scene idea for a story you’re already writing. Maybe one of the answers is the “happy ending” for a story you write from end to beginning.

Say Cheese!

Pick up a camera and look through the view finder. What do you see? Pretend you’re a photographer. What are you trying to capture on film, and why? Start your story.

Hungry?

Write a simile or metaphor for each food item at your next meal. Add lines at the beginning about how it looked and smelled, and one at the end about how it tasted. If you like, include recipes and start your own poetry cookbook.

Where am I?

Create a character by describing everything you can about them - looks, ambitions, interests, personality. Then place them in a setting that doesn't fit who they are. What happens? What causes tension? Humor? Surprises?

Tools of the Trade

Think of a profession or hobby for your character, or a person in your character's life. Make a list of the equipment and skills needed for that activity. Write a scene showing the character's profession or hobby without directly telling what it is.

Pick Three

Shut your eyes, open a book, and point. When you open your eyes, find a word or phrase near your finger that appeals to you. Write it down. Do this two more times. Then write something using all the words and phrases you selected. Try this activity a few more times until you find one you want to keep writing.

Mixed Senses

Let your senses switch places and see what happens. What does a rainbow sound like? Can you smell snow? Or taste your grandmother's name? Think of a topic and imagine using the least likely sense to describe it. Is your creation the inspiration for a poem or story?

What Really Matters

Start a sentence with "What really matters ..." and see where it leads. When you don't know what to write next, start again with the same line. Read what you've written. Is it the beginning of an essay, a story, a poem?

Listen for Laughter

Pay attention to what makes you and others laugh. Start a list of funny situations and incidents. Ask people to tell you about the funniest things that ever happened to them. Can you use any of these laughable moments in a story?

Unique Settings

Where your story takes place can be as important as your character. Think about a setting you'd like to use, and see if it gives you ideas for a character and plot. It could be a desert, the moon, a jungle, a city, a farm, a swamp, the ocean, a mountaintop, or an imaginary setting. What year is it? Describe it in detail using your senses. Who might live there? How does the setting affect its inhabitants?

Start Here

Make your own list of first lines using the phrases below. Lots of ideas can begin with the same prompt. Pick one to get you started:
   I wish I remembered …
   It all started when …
   All (name) wanted was …
   (Name) should have listened ...

Cause and Effect

Try this as a first line: I can't believe I did it! What is the effect from what you did? What happens next? Keep thinking about cause and effect and how each action leads to another. You're on your way to writing a new story!

Two Steps

"Two steps forward and one step back" is a popular phrase for explaining what often happens when we strive to reach a goal. Your character wants something. Try having them take two steps toward their goal and one step back. A character needs to struggle to keep your readers interested, but your reader also needs to feel like it's not impossible for your character to achieve the goal.

Mix and Match

Remember toys where you pick a head, match it up with a body, and choose from a variety of legs and feet? Let's try that strategy to create a story. Make a list of character traits, a list of problems, and a list of settings. Mix and match them. When you have a combination you like, start your story!

Pick an Adult

Think about an adult you know and imagine what they were like as a kid. Make up a story about them getting into trouble. Or, ask an adult about a time they got into trouble and write it as a story about a child today.

In the Closet

Children's author Paula Danziger suggested "looking into your characters' closets" to learn about them. To do that, first create a character and pretend you are that person. What do you see when you peek into "your" closet? List what you find until you discover your character's story. Remember - your character needs to struggle with something. Keep your list handy in case you get stuck later in your story.

Word Basket

I collect words and phrases I enjoy. It may be the sounds, the meanings, or the "surprises" that attract me to these words. Purple plums, The truth is, riverbed, ginger, wistful… My students love dipping into my word basket. Go on your own word hunt. Collect your treasures on pieces of paper and put them in a special container. Draw out a few at a time whenever you need a new idea or feel stuck in your writing. A word basket can work like magic. Keep it handy!

Photo

Select a photo. For some people, it works better if you don’t know the person. Others like to use photos of themselves or people they know. Study the person in the photo and use your imagination to answer the following questions. What are they feeling and thinking? What just happened before the picture was taken? If they could have anything in the world, what would it be? What is their biggest secret? Pick your most intriguing line as the opening sentence.

Weather Report

Create a weather report with words that aren't typically used to describe weather.

Word Survey

Ask five people to "give" you a word. Write a poem or paragraph that uses all five words.

Who's That?

Imagine that you look in the mirror one morning and you have a new face and hair. What happens? How do you become yourself again?

Menu

What's your favorite food? Use all your senses to describe it. Write a poem about it. Add more if you like and create a "menu" of poetry.

Sleep-overs

When I was an elementary student, I used to imagine what it would be like to spend the night at school. Pretend you spend the night at school or inside a library, grocery store, pet store, zoo, or other place of your choosing. What happens?

First Times

Complete this line: "The first time I ·." When you get stuck, write the line again and complete it in a new way. Continue adding "first times" until you've covered many of the "firsts" in your life. Arrange them in an order that appeals to you, and add an ending.

Nursery Rhymes

Select a nursery rhyme and extend it. What happens to Jack and Jill? Does Little Miss Muffet ever get over her fear of spiders?

Random Kindness

Imagine doing five acts of kindness for others. What would those actions be? Who would receive your acts of kindness? Then pick one action and do it. What happens? Try more of them and write about the experience.

Favorite Books

Choose a favorite book and write a poem about it. Keep adding more poems about books until you have a collection to make into a book of your own. Share copies with your friends, class, or local library.

New Colors

Invent a new color. Name it, describe it, and tell where you can find it. Add other colors until you have a boxful! What will you do with your new colors?

Life Goals

Think about the goals you have for your life. Think big! Don't cross any out! Write an article or interview of yourself as if you had already achieved all those goals. What are your next goals?

Object

Pick up any object – a rock, kitchen utensil, shoe, coin, candle, anything! Describe it. Does it make you think of anything? Imagine what it may have experienced. Now imagine it in a different setting. If it could talk, what would it say? What does it know? Write about it from the object’s point of view, or write a conversation between two different objects.

Colors

Many people say different colors represent different moods to them. (You might want to read My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss before or after this activity.) Place a piece of colored construction paper in front of you and write down any memories, feelings, or thoughts that come to you as you look at the color. You may write about objects, people, places, and events, or it may be more abstract. Try a different color. You might want to create a book of several color poems.

Simile Walk

Take your notebook outside and look around at the scenery. Study the trees, grass, plants, sky, water, soil, wildlife, insects, or whatever nature has to offer where you live. Compare them to something else using “like” or “as.” (The dragonfly darts like a kite.) Choose similes that sound like they’ve never been heard before. Stay away from ones that have been used so much that they’ve become cliché’ (as blue as the sky). Later, add more similes, play with the order, and delete any lines that aren’t fresh and original. What’s left? A nature poem!

Haiku

You’ve probably written haiku – the Japanese poetry form that may or may not follow a pattern of three lines -- 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables. A haiku is usually about nature, but feel free to try a new theme. How about friendship, boats, kitchens, space, dinosaurs, holidays, or vegetables? Collect your poems in a booklet to share with friends and family, or ask them to contribute some of their own for an anthology.

People watching

When you’re in a store, restaurant, playground, park, or other public place with lots of people, pick out a kid your age or younger to watch. What are they doing? Can you guess what they’re thinking about? Make up a name and history for them. Imagine they have a big problem. How will they solve it? Now write your story!

First Lines

Look through several books until you find a first line that really pulls you in. Instead of reading more, use that line to start your own story. Remember not to solve your character’s problem too quickly. When you’re done, change the first line. Read the original story. What did you do differently than the author of the book?

Quirks

Think about people you know. What are their quirks, the little things about them that make them unique? It might be repeated actions, sayings, or how they dress or eat. Start a list of quirks and pick a few for a new character. How would others react to your character? What is your character’s biggest weakness, and how does it get your character into trouble? Who doesn’t want your character to get out of trouble, and why?

Character File

Collect pictures of people from magazines and catalogs. Pick only the ones that appeal to you. When you’re ready to write a new story, look through your collection to find a character. First, write a character sketch. Start with “I” and speak as if you were that person. Find out everything you can about the character. If you get stuck, think of a question to “ask” your character and write out the answer. You’ll be surprised at what you learn