writing prompts

2. Synesthesia is a
neurological condition
in which elements
normally perceived
with one sense are
perceived with two or
more senses. This leads
to people tasting
colors, seeing sounds,
or hearing flavors. Use
poetic language to
describe a color in
terms of sound, a taste
in terms of color, or
music in terms of
flavor.

3. What’s the best
word ever? Create
a word bracket
for the top
coolest words in
the world and
then have them
fight it out. When
it’s over, write the
championship
word’s
celebration
speech.
from Ted McCagg’s blog Questionable Skills

8. Tell
this
Story

12. Recently, scientists got together to determine what the
worst sounds in the world are. What do you believe
are the 5 worst sounds in the world? Why?Use a
metaphor to describe the sounds.
On a more positive note, what are the five most
beautiful sounds in the world?

14. Describe or imagine a
time when you got
caught, you got caught
doing something that
you weren’t supposed to.
Maybe you were
dishonest, maybe you
cheated, maybe you
took what wasn’t yours.
Convince the person who
caught you not to bust or
punish you too badly.

16. Tell
this
story

19. Tell a story or describe a time where someone had to wait for
someone else...in the rain...for far too long.

21. If they only realized that the
killer was there...in the crowd!

24. Franz Kafka wrote
“The
Metamorphosis”
about a man who
wakes up as a
cockroach
and struggles with
how to break the
news to his parents.
!
Write your own
metamorphic
story where a
character wakes up
as something and
attempts to deal
with the
consequences.

25. It’s a New Year! Make some fearless predictions
about the future. What will happen this year that
no one expects?

26. After graduation from High School, you leave Shoreline, WA and
you don’t come back. Twenty years pass and you come back.
Describe what you see, how you feel, and who you are.

27. During the Presidential campaign, President Obama
was asked an interesting question (which his
advisers hid from him) on the internet forum
Reddit. Would you rather fight a horse-sized duck or
100 duck-sized horses? Well, what would you do?
Explain as ridiculously as possible.
or

32. All of the following items were left in UK hotel room
recently...
a bucket of live crabs !
a horse costume!
a winning EuroMillions ticket!
a £50,000 Rolex watch!
a set of four Power Rangers costumes!
a pilot’s training manual !
a spare car wheel!
the keys to a Bugatti!
a stamp album worth £250,000 !
a Persian Chinchilla kitten !
a food processor,!
a set of false teeth!
a collection of 200 masks !
depicting the Queen, !
a diamond encrusted iPhone
Tell a story that explains how one of more came to left
behind.

33. What scares you
that doesn’t scare
other people? What
doesn’t scare you?
Why?

34. Make Shorewood Green
Brainstorm as many ways as
possible to increase the
number of living things on our
campus.

35. What Should be illegal for the
olds?
Teenagers under 18 can’t
legally smoke, drink, vote,
rent cars, sue people, join the
military, consent to medical
procedures, make wills, enter
contracts, or get married.
To be fair, what should we
prohibit adults from doing?
Starting at what age? Why?

36. Plan B: Internet
Scammer
In all likelihood, this whole going-to-college-and-getting-a-good-
job thing is going to work out for you, but it’s always
good to have a backup. Do you have what it takes to be a
good internet scammer? How can you use email, twitter,
Facebook, or other modern tools to separate people from
their money? Describe and Explain.

37. PET Advice Columnist
Your job is simple. Pets
have problems. They
write to you--Mr./Mrs.
Pet Smart--for advice.
You give it to them.
What problems do pets
have? How should they
solve them?

38. Suppose there were an experience machine that would give you any
experience you desired. Superduper neuropsychologists could
stimulate your brain so that you would think and feel you were
writing a great novel, or making a friend, or reading an interesting
book. All the time you would be floating in a tank, with electrodes
attached to your brain. Should you plug into this machine for life,
preprogramming your life experiences?...Of course, while in the
tank you won't know that you're there; you'll think that it's all
actually happening...Would you plug in? Why? Explain your
reasoning.

39. Three What-Ifs...
What if someone gave you $1 mil to leave
the country and never come back?
What if you could be a cartoon character
for 24 hours? Who would you be and why?
What if you could change one thing about
your personality or your physical
appearance? What do you change and
why?

40. Twelve Days of Christmas?
Why is my true love giving me so
many birds? And, seriously, what
am I going to do with “lords a
leaping?” Rewrite the 12 days of
Christmas so that the presents
are presents that people would
actually want. If you prefer a non-
Christmas prompt, rewrite the
Jingle Bells song so that it’s more
modernized.

41. Who should be the
“Person of the Year?”
Nominate three and
explain your
reasoning.

42. Three Holidays are
not enough. Create your own
Winter Holiday complete with
its own traditions, characters,
foods, superstitions, and
activities. To get you started,
try to add in an excuse to
dress in costumes or give
presents to strangers.

43. What if you had
the power to erase the fame
of any celebrity, song, book, or
event? No one dies; they’re just not
famous. Let’s imagine you can only use
this power to eradicate irritations
rather than real tragedies.
Who or what would you
delete?

44. It’s 2014. But
before we give in
to the new year,
let’s look back at
2013 and detail
the numbers of
mistakes we’ve
made. Where did
you go wrong in
2013? Why?
What
implications do
those mistakes
have for your
future?

45. Sudbury High School, in Framingham, MA is a remarkable school. There are no
grades (A,B, C) nor grade levels (Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd) Students “may do and
study whatever they like. They may learn by building robots, or making up role-playing
games with elaborate rules, or by serving on the budget committee, or
by participating in the school administration, or in countless other ways. The
current head of the school—the actual head of school, elected by the community
—is an 18-year-old girl.” What would happen in if Shorewood because this sort
of school? Explain what would happen and what would or wouldn’t work with
this system.

46. Blizzard! Suddenly, without warning, a
massive blizzard hits Shoreline and
leaves you stranded somewhere--at
home, at school, at the 7-11. Tell the
story of how you struggle to stay
warm and sane for multiple days as
the snow rages outside.

47. Imagine you had
a Magic 8-ball
that actually
worked. You can
ask it 5 questions
about your future.
What do you ask
and why?