101 PROVEN

WRITING
PROMPTS
FOR NEW WRITERS WHO WANT
TO GET STARTED, FASTER

BY BRYAN COLLINS
101 Writing Prompts to
Jumpstart Your Writing Today
Have you ever looked at the blank
page and found it difficult to get
started?

Well, you’re not alone.

It was Ernest Hemingway who

said:

“There is nothing to writing. All you

do is sit down at a typewriter and
bleed.”

It’s no wonder many new writers struggle when they start sitting down in
front of the blank page regularly.

So, what to do?

My name is Bryan Collins, and I’m a copywriter, indie author and former
journalist, from Ireland.

I’ve spent more than my fair share of time looking at the blank page and
wondering what to do next. (Perhaps that goes some way to explaining
my rapidly receding hairline).

Today, I avoid moments like this through the power of writing prompts.

A good prompt will help you start writing when you feel like you’ve got
nothing to say or when you don’t know how to begin your work.
They’re also particularly useful for new writers who want to build a habit
of writing every day but are unsure of what to write about.

Here, I’ve gathered 101 proven writing prompts you can use today.

How to Use These 101 Prompts

These writing prompts aren’t meant as final first lines for your work.

Instead, you can use them as a jumping off point into your work or for free
writing.

In your journal, take one of these lines, write it down, and then write
whatever else comes to mind.

Do this for at least 30 minutes.

This is long enough to accomplish something on the blank page, but not so
long that it feels overwhelming.

Later, when you’ve something more polished, go back and delete the
writing prompt.
101 Writing Prompts
1. “I remember the first time I…”
2. “I remember the last time I…”
3. “The next time I…”
4. “It tasted like…”
5. “It felt like…”
6. “It sounded like…”
7. “We were wrong about…”
8. “We were right about…”
9. “That was the day we…”
10. “This is our new…”
11. “It’s here.”
12. “I learnt that…”
13. “I made a terrible mistake when…”
14. “Nobody expected us to…”
15. “Do you know why…”
16. “It’s always important to…”
17. “Most people don’t know this but…”
18. “I probably shouldn’t be telling you this but…”
19. “Here’s a secret nobody knows…”
20. “I do this because…”
21. “Admit it.”
22. “I found out that…”
23. “He gave us a…”
24. “She took a…”
25. “We found a…”
26. “I was in pain.”
27. “We discovered…”
28. “Today is a good day for…”
29. “Tomorrow is a bad day for…”
30. “This time it will be different.”
31. “We need to talk about…”
32. “You need to face up to…”
33. “Our only hope is…”
34. “On my desk, I can see…”
101 Writing Prompts
35. “Outside the window there’s…”
36. “I ate…”
37. “If I was…”
38. “When I’m…”
39. “Go to…”
40. “Now that we…”
41. “We argued about…”
42. “Being wrong is hard because…”
43. “Being right is lonely because…”
44. “Together we can….”
45. “Apart we are…”
46. “Let me guess.”
47. “If I understand you correctly, you think…”
48. “My friend is…”
49. “I love her because…”
50. “I hate him because…”
51. “We’re going to…”
52. “Let’s take a trip to…”
53. “My favourite…”
54. “I’m lost.”
55. “We want to get to…”
56. “The weather is…”
57. “We’re going to eat…”
58. “Food is…”
59.“Water is…”
60. “Money is…”
61. “Help is…”
62. “Sex is…”
63. “Last night I dreamt of…”
64. “I slept for…”
65. “I’m working for…”
66. “I failed at…”
67. “I succeeded at…”
68. “You showed me how to…”
101 Writing Prompts
69.“He explained that…”
70. “She made us laugh when…”
71. “My hero is…”
72. “My enemy is…”
73. “I regret…”
74. “This time we went too far.”
75. “I told him…”
76. “She told me…”
77. “I looked in the mirror and saw….”
78. “Black.”
79. “White.”
80. “I awoke at 3 am and realised…”
81. “I should have listened.”
82. “He won’t do that again.”
83. “It was the first storm of the year…”
84. “Her eyes are…”
85. “His hands make me want to…”
86. “She tastes like…”
87. “He feels like…”
88. “Danger.”
89. “How can we…”
90. “Open your…”
91. “Keep it safe.”
92. “It’s a new day.”
93. “It’s later than we think.”
94. “If I ever see another…”
95. “The best day of my life was…”
96. “The worst day of my life was…”
97. “When I’m king…”
98. “You could be a queen of…”
99. “Looking back…”
100. “They caught me.”
101. “I was crushed because…”
What to Do Next
Ok, I’ll admit it. My list of prompts works for me… because I wrote it :)

No, that’s not the sound of my over-sized ego banging off the ceiling…

The biggest writing tip I can offer is to create your list of writing prompts
and add to it over time.

Whether you’re writing a blog post or a book chapter, keeping a personal

library of writing prompts will save you hours of wasted time.

Use a notepad. Use a digital app like Evernote. Use the back of your hand if
you have to… but build your library.

Start by taking a great first line from your favourite book, writer or story.
You could go on to record snippets of conversations, headlines you like
and even ideas you come across in great books.

Like coins filling a jar, one day you’ll look into your library and discover
you’re rich with ideas.
Still Need Help? Read This
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Keep Writing
Did you find this list of writing prompts helpful? Please invite a friend to
join Become A Writer Today by visiting becomeawritertoday.com/join
I’d love to know what you’re writing and the one thing I can help you with
today.

Please email bryan@becomeawritertoday.com.

Write on,

Bryan Collins
About Bryan
Bryan is an Irish author and writing coach.
Previously, he worked as a copywriter,
journalist and a radio producer. Before
that, he plucked chickens.

Bryan calls his online home at

www.becomeawritertoday.com. There, he
offers new writers practical advice once a
week. His work has appeared on Fast
Company, Lifehacker and Copyblogger.

He is passionate about helping people accomplish more with their

writing projects and when he's not writing, he's running.

Bryan holds a degree in communications and journalism, a diploma in

social care, a masters degree in disability studies and a diploma in digital
media.

You can reach him on Twitter @BryanJCollins, email

bryan@becomeawritertoday.com or join his Facebook page Become a
Writer Today.

Bryan is the author of:

A three-part series The Power of Creativity

A Handbook for the Productive Writer: 33 Ways You Can Finish What
You Started
The contemporary Irish novella Poor Brother, Rich Brother

He lives an hour outside of Dublin.

Icons by Denis Sazhin via The Noun Project