Creative Writing Prompts for Students

This long list of 30 topics comes from http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/. Keep picking them up as per time and mood, and sharing your essays, stories by droping them into my mail box. I'll go on uploading them here. Happy writing!

1. Imagine you had a hundred dollars, but you couldn't keep it. You had to give it away to a person or charity. Who would you give it to? What would you want them to do with it?

2. Describe one time when you were brave.

3. If you could cook any meal for your family, what would you cook? Describe the meal and tell how you would make it.

4. Imagine you woke up and saw a dinosaur in your backyard. Write a story telling what you see and do.

5. Imagine you opened your own restaurant. Tell the name of your restaurant. Explain what the restaurant looks like, who works there, and what you serve.

6. Describe your favorite character from a book, a movie, or television.

7. Write a story titled, "My Journey on a Pirate Ship." You and your friends can star in the story.

8. If you could have any animal for a pet, what would it be? Describe the pet and how you would take care of it.

9. Do you have any brothers or sisters? If you do, tell what they're like. If not, tell whether or not you would like to have a brother or sister.

10. If you could have lunch with any famous person who would it be? What would you talk about with this person?

11. Write a story titled, "The Bat Who Couldn't Fly."

12. Imagine you were a wonderful painter and your parents would let you paint anything you wanted on your bedroom walls. What would you paint? Use lots of details to describe your artwork.

13. Describe the oldest person you know.

14. Describe the youngest person you know.

15. Do you think a monkey would make a good pet? Explain why or why not.

16. How old were you four years ago? Describe some things you can do now that you could not do then.

17. Imagine you worked at a football stadium. What would your job be? (examples: quarterback, cheerleader, coach, referee, ticket seller) Describe what you would do while you were on the job.

18. What do you like best about your home?

19. If you could be on any game show, what would it be? Describe what happens when you're on the show.

20. Describe your favorite season (fall, spring, summer, or winter). Tell what kinds of things you like to do during that season.

21. Write a story titled, "The Baby Dragon."

22. Describe several ways a person your age can earn money.

23. Would you want to visit the moon? Why or why not?

24. If you could spend an afternoon with one member of your extended family, who would it be? Tell why you chose this person and tell what you do together.

25. Which superpower would you most like to have-- invisibility, super strength, or the ability to fly? Describe what kids of things you would do with your powers.

26. Think of a time when you've won something. Tell what you won and how you won it.

27. Invent a new kind of sandwich. Describe what is on it and how you would make it.

28. Describe one thing you're really good at.

29. Imagine you were twenty feet tall. Describe what life would be like.

30. If you were a doctor, what kind of doctor would you be? (examples: children's doctor, veterinarian, eye doctor, dentist) Tell what your job would be like.

A piece of writing, which really is a PIECE, profusely laden with relevant vocabulary, supremely fine structured sentences, excellent coherence exhibited in ideas, marvellous portrayal of the setting - authored by a boy who I call ‘our writing genius’ – Usama Gohar of AS Level – the guy who’s pen is profusely laden with venom capable of splitting your peace apart with its deadly effect. Read this. See the flight of imagination. You would feel as if you are watching this setting most literally with your own pair of naked eyes. What else do you look for in a writer for calling him a ‘prolific writer’? Even if he’s not, he’s very much on his way to becoming one. Happy reading! (Humayun)

Q. Write a detailed description of a setting which helps create the atmosphere for a ghost story.  - A question from A' Level past papers (Cambridge)

The wind blew through the barren gardens keeping alive the otherwise dead air. The silence was penetrated occasionally by the wind making its way through the weeping willows dotting the extravagantly elegant, yet dead, ground and the distant howling of a lone wolf lost as the souls of the departed that continue to wander the earth. Once every hour, a faint chiming would rustle through the air, as if warning a wanderer not to come here. Watching over all this stood the ever silent moon, as if his wisdom were far too great to be conveyed through words. Amidst all this, stood a solitary mansion, dark and silent as the night itself. Every broken window of the mansion held secrets deeper than the abysses of hell itself and every broken door held even more.

The rotting wood and the creaking hinges did nothing to improve the horrifying image of the mansion. Inside the first door was a great lobby, one whose hustle and bustle must have been the boast of the hamlet at the foot of the hill over which the mansion stood. Now its only brag was the dusty floors and cobweb-ridden chandeliers. Two chandeliers and a half-broken mosaic of a shepherd tending his herd were all the decors left. The lounge gave way to long hallways and corridors, with doors on both sides. Now stripped off their beauty, these hallways had once bore the most magnificent decors.

Apart from its outer beauty, the house had also bore witness to some of the most inhumane atrocities; cruel enough to make one remain silent even after death. Most of these atrocities had been long since buried; both in the pages of the past and in the graveyard behind the mansion.

According to local lore, the whole mansion is, in fact, haunted. One reason for this rumor is the queer mystery of the grandfather clock in one of the hallways with its strange hourly bell that still works, twenty years after the mansion was fully abandoned. Another reason could be the cries following every rogue wolf's howl. Once inside the premises of the barren old building one is always accompanied by a watchful eye that often makes the hair on one's neck stand.

It is often said that ghosts are souls that have been stuck between two realms, torn between two dimensions, and only people with a sixth sense can feel them. In this case, the portal between the two dimensions is the great manor. Almost anyone can sense the presence near every willow. Their silent screams leaving every one's blood curdled, their penetrating gaze leaving every hair standing. Once every while, a lone figure can be seen wandering through the cemetery with a lantern in one hand and roses in another, drapes covering its floating form as it treads over its sleeping comrades without awakening any.

The little hamlet sits in a remote part of the Alps, surrounded by fog, snow and darkness most of the years. The only means of communication being a monthly mailing service through which come mostly letters from old inhabitants who have moved away either because of the mansion's reputed horrors or because of employment. The remaining population tends to keep its distance from the house as not even exorcisms have helped to calm down the horrors.

Usama Gohar
AS Level Student
PakTurk Schools
Islamabad Branch