51 Writing Prompts 2019-2020

These are prompts I came up with in my fourth year of judging "The Writer's Cramp" . You are free to use any of them if they will help you in your writing:

1. Please write a poem or short story that incorporates these four phrases bolded anywhere within the text:

melody of spring
measured in moments
lost roses
field of larks rising

Given April 9 - April 10, 2019 = 3 Entries


2. Please write a poem or short story that incorporates these four phrases bolded anywhere within the text:

promises and lies
mirage
reflection of doubt
final cost


Given April 16 - 17, 2019 = 5 Entries


3. Please write a poem or short story that incorporates these four novel titles bolded anywhere within the text:

grapes of wrath
the sun also rises
this side of paradise
as I lay dying


Given April 23 - 24, 2019 = 5 Entries


4. Please write a poem or short story that incorporates these four song titles bolded anywhere within the text:

more than a feeling
helter skelter
nowhere man
low rider

Given April 30 - May 1, 2019 = 2 Entries


5. Please write a poem or short story that uses this quotation bolded anywhere within the text:

"Mozart is sunshine."

Antonin Dvorak

Given May 7 - 8, 2019 = 6 Entries


6. Get inspired by this quote and write a poem or short story. You do not have to use it in your story or poem, just get inspired by it.

"I refuse to join any club that would accept me as a member."

Groucho Marx

Given May 14 - 15, 2019 = 3 Entries


7. Use this quotation, bolded as the beginning OR ending line of your short story or poem. Please select the "Romance" genre as one of your genres and have fun!

"Love, when so you're loved again."

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Given May 21 - 22, 2019 = 2 Entries


8. Use this quotation, bolded as the beginning AND ending line of your short story or poem. Please select the "History" genre as one of your genres and have fun!

"People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them."

James Baldwin

Given May 28 - 29, 2019 = 6 Entries


9. Use this quotation to get inspired to write your short story or poem. You do not have to include the quotation Please select the "Writing" genre as one of your genres and have fun!

"Surely it was time someone invented a new plot."

Virginia Woolf

Given June 4 - 5, 2019 = 4 Entries


10. The genre is entirely up to you. Begin AND End your short story or poem with this line bolded

"There was nothing there to see."

Given June 11 - 12, 2019 = 7 Entries


11. The genre is entirely up to you. End your short story or poem with this quotation bolded ~

"No good deed goes unpunished"
Claire Booth Luce

Given June 18 - 19, 2019 = 3 Entries


12. The genre is entirely up to you.

Write a story or a poem about a single high heeled shoe found under a table in an Italian restaurant.

The title of your story or poem should be:

"The Shoe"

Given June 25 - 26, 2019 = 9 Entries


13. Pick history as one of your genres and set your story or poem in the summer of 1969.

Write a story or a poem about someone getting ready to attend Woodstock - the outdoor music festival in upstate New York that attracted nearly half a million participants that summer.

The title of your story or poem should be:

"Summer of Love"

Given July 2 - 3, 2019 = 4 Entries


14. Pretend today is your birthday. (Today really is my birthday, it's where I got the idea.)

You have been granted the wish of meeting and going to eat (and/or drink) with your favorite author. It can be a living author or one who is not with us anymore. If it were me, my favorite is Ernest Hemingway and I would title it Lunch With Ernest or Scotch with Ernest, something along those lines. If you picked Jane Austen, you might call it "Tea with Jane", or something even more clever.

Write a poem or a short story about the experience. You may pick the title and the genre. Have fun!

Given July 9 - 10, 2019 = 3 Entries


15. Choose "Romance" as one of your genres. Write a poem or a short story that starts with this sentence bolded:

"Love found me under a summer sky."

Given July 16 - 17, 2019 = 10 Entries



16. Write a poem or a short story set in a lunch counter of the 1950s or 1960s.

There is one requirement. The title of your story or poem should be:

"Spinnaker's Lunch Counter"

Given July 23 - 24, 2019 = 3 Entries


17. Please END your short story or poem with this line, bolded for judging convenience:

"We danced in the rain that July"

Given July 30 - 31, 2019 = 8 entries


18. At the door to an Italian restaurant, the proprietor keeps a stand full of umbrellas to loan to his customers in case of a sudden rain. Write your story or poem from the point of view of one of those umbrellas and its journey on a day when the weather changes rapidly from sunshine to pouring rain. The genre is up to you. Who ends up with the umbrella? Again, that's up to you Have fun!

Given August 6 - 7, 2019 = 1 Entry


19. Write a story or a poem and title it, "The Last Telephone Booth." Please select History as one of your genres.

Given August 13 - 14, 2019 = 5 Entries


20. Write a short story or poem that BEGINS AND ENDS with this line, bolded for judging convenience:

"I remember candles in the garden that August"

Given August 20 - 21, 2019 = 7 Entries



21. Write a short story or poem that ENDS with this line, bolded for judging convenience:

"That cruel August day, they tore her heart to pieces with words."

Given August 27 - 28, 2019 = 3 Entries


22. Write a short story or poem with these two lines at the beginning, bolded:

"I yearn for the land where I should be
And the wind is calling from home."

The genre is up to you.

The quote comes from "City Sorrow"  by Bandit's Mama , who was killed in The World Trade Center, 94th Floor of the North Tower on 9/11, eighteen years ago this week.

Given September 10 - 11, 2019 = 7 Entries


23. Write a short story or poem with this line at the END, bolded:

"That September was different, right from the start."

The genre is up to you.

Given September 17 - 18, 2019 = 3 Entries


24. Write a short story or poem with this line included somewhere in the text, bolded:

"Destiny intervened on that fateful night."

Please pick "Mystery" as one of your genres.

Given September 24 - 25, 2019 = 3 Entries


25. Write a short story or poem that BEGINS AND ENDS with this line, bolded:

Things in October are seldom what they seem.

Given October 1 - 2, 2019 = 4 Entries


26. Get inspired by this quote and write a short story or poem in the Horror/Scary Genre. The quote does not have to be included in the text, just get inspired by it:

"By the pricking of my thumbs,
something wicked this way comes"

William Shakespeare

Given October 8 - 9, 2019 = 7 Entries


27. START or END your short story or poem with this sentence, bolded for judging convenience:

The neighbor's black cat cast a long shadow through time.

The genre is up to you.

Given October 15 - 16, 2019 = 8 Entries


28. 13 Years ago today we (a family) were rescued by a Basset Hound.
Write a poem or short story about an animal (your choice - any animal) who rescues a human or humans.

Please select "Animal" as one of your genres. The rest is up to you.

Given October 22 - 23, 2019 = 2 Entries


29. Write a short story or poem about a Halloween Decoration (or decorations) coming to life.

Given October 24 - 25, 2019 = 4 Entries


30. Make this the title of your story or poem:

"The Year the Leaves Forgot to Fall".

The genre is up to you.

Given October 29 - 30, 2019 = 3 Entries


31. Make this the title of your story or poem:

"November Road".

The genre is up to you.

Given November 5 - 6, 2019 = 3 Entries


32. A black cat runs across a ball playing field and changes everything. Write a short story or poem about it. What changes and is it for the better or worse? What happens to the cat?

Please choose "Mystery" as one of your genres.

Given November 12 - 13, 2019 = 2 Entries


33. Include the following line Bolded somewhere in your story or poem:

"Certain things had moved in the night."

Given November 19 - 20, 2019 = 7 Entries


34. Start your story or poem with the following line, Bolded

"Our thankful light forgot to shine."

Given November 26 - 27, 2019 = 2 Entries


35. Write your story or poem about why - OR why not this holiday season is the "most wonderful time of the year".

Given December 3 - 4, 2019 = 3 Entries


36. Begin your story or poem with this line bolded:

"Snow swept aside our troubles that December."

Given December 10 - 11, 2019 = 3 Entries


37. A holiday gift does not arrive at its destination. Write about the reasons for that and what happens next in your story or poem.

Given December 17 - 18, 2019 = 6 Entries


38. Write about something that makes you or your character laugh and smile about a Christmas Eve Memory long past.

Given December 24 - 25, 2019 = 4 Entries


39. Write a short story or a poem about you or your character's happiest day in 2019.

Given December 31, 2019 - January 1, 2020 = 2 Entries


40. Write a short story or poem using these Beatles song titles, bolded for judging convenience. Please select "Mystery" as one of your genres:

Magical Mystery Tour
Come Together
Rain
A Day in the Life
Paperback Writer

Given January 7 - 8, 2020 = 4 Entries


41. Write a short story or poem using these 2019 movie titles, bolded for judging convenience. Pick History as one of your genres please.

1917
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
The Irishman
Bombshell
Joker

Given January 14 - 15, 2020 = 3 Entries


42. Write a short story or poem STARTING with this sentence, bolded for judging convenience:

"It wasn't about the rain."

The genre is up to you.

Given January 21 - 22, 2020 = 7 Entries


43. Please end your story or poem with the following line, bolded:

A curtain moved slightly in that window one last time.

Given February 4 - 5, 2020 = 4 Entries


44. Choose Romance as one of your genres and please BEGIN your story or poem with the following line, bolded:

All the valentines in the world

Given February 11 - 12, 2020 = 6 Entries


45. Choose Mystery as one of your genres and please END your story or poem with the following line, bolded:

a silky black cat's shadow was the only clue

Given February 18 - 19, 2020 = 2 Entries


46. Please incorporate these six Beatles song titles bolded in your story or poem. The genre and everything else is up to you:

There's a Place
Don't Bother Me
I'm a Loser
I'll Follow the Sun
Rain
Glass Onion

Given February 25 - 26, 2020 = 4 entries



47. Please start your poem or story with this line in bold for judging convenience:

"To always remember today from this window"

The genre is up to you.

Given March 3 - 4, 2020 = 5 Entries


48. Please start your poem or story with this line in bold for judging convenience:

"I'll leave you with just one thing"

The genre is up to you.

Given March 10 - 11, 2020 = 5 Entries


49. Please start your poem or story with this line in bold for judging convenience:

"On St. Patrick's Day, all the pubs were closed."

The genre is up to you.

Given March 17 - 18, 2020 = 4 Entries



50. Please start your poem or story with this line in bold for judging convenience:

"My whole world changed overnight."

The genre is up to you.

Given March 24 - 25, 2020 = 5 Entries


51. Please start your poem or story with this Beatles song line in bold for judging convenience:

"Speaking words of wisdom, let it be."

The genre is up to you.

Given March 31 - April 1, 2020 = 5 Entries