Prompt

Prompt

(prŎmpt) adj. -er, -est 1. On time; punctual. 2. Done without delay. --v. 1. To urge to action; incite.
2. To give rise to; inspire. 3. To give a cue to, as in a theater. [<Lat. promptus, ready.]

Writing can be a task when our muses decide to take long naps or go on vacations without letting us know. So sometimes we need to be inspired in other ways... we need to be prompted!
Writing prompts are all around us, disguised as phrases, images, words, and all kinds of other unexpected things.
Keeping a collection of these life savers is always a good idea for the writer, whether it be a journal, a collection of links from the web, or clippings kept in a scrapbook from newspapers and magazines.
With this in mind, and in the spirit of fun, we thought you might enjoy this smattering of writing prompts, from us and from all around the world wide web. Enjoy...

What do you think the world will be like in a thousand years from now? Describe it in full, including the government, economy, environment, etc.
Make a list of ideas, words, and connotations that come to mind when thinking of the word skin.
If you had a magical power, such as flying, mind reading, disappearing, or moving objects with your mind, what power would you choose, and why?
A handful of pine-seed will cover mountains with the green majesty of a forest. I too will set my face to the wind and throw my handful of seed on high. -- Fiona MacLeod
Write something (a poem, story, journal entry, paragraph, etc.) about this picture.
If you were a character on Sesame Street, who would you be and why?
Pretend you are a writer on your favorite TV show and it is your job to create and cast a brand new character. Describe who this new character is, why you've introduced him/her onto the show, and what kind of person you would cast to play this new character's role.
This was our finest hour. --Churchill
Write something (a poem, story, journal entry, paragraph, etc.) about this picture.

Prompts from around the web:

http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/prompts.html

http://www.writersdigest.com/writingprompts.asp

http://www.creativity-portal.com/howto/writing/writing.prompts.html

http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/

http://www.manatee.k12.fl.us/sites/elementary/palmasola/wexpository.htm

http://home.earthlink.net/~jhholly/pnarrative.html

http://ccweb.nsd.org/writingcorner/promptlist.html

http://home.earthlink.net/~jhholly/persuasive.html

http://pages.ivillage.com/writersvision/rose/id18.html

http://www.bhsu.edu/artssciences/writingcenter/writingcenter/indivprompt.html