Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s prompt is about the planets around us.
The planets are all getting together for their annual solar system conference. What they talk about and where they meet is up to you.
However, the only rules…. Venus likes Mercury. Jupiter is grumpy and Neptune doesn’t like Earth (is jealous of earth,) so they can’t sit next to one another.
Tuesday 20th September 2016.
Today’s prompt: Seeing is not always believing.
Senses are obviously very important. Visual is what we most rely on.
For today’s exercise, describe a place of importance but only use smell, hearing, touch or taste.
Anything but visual descriptions.
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s Prompt: Woods for the trees.
What does the picture inspire?
If you need further inspiration, how about this… There are two characters – one male and one female and they are just about to enter the woods. It is up to you whether this man and woman get on and why they are going into the woods. It is also up to you what happens once they go into the woods.

Tuesday 13th September 2016: Setting.
For today’s writing exercise, we’re going to be looking at setting.
Choose a place that you know well. Place your work in progress or an idea you’re thinking about developing into this setting.
Now think of an event that began up to a month before the beginning of your story.
Then, by only describing the place/setting reveal as much as you can about the story and the characters.
Tuesday 6th September 2016: Coming Home
Write a story about a man named Max. He is twenty-six years old. He’s just returned home after a ten year absence. He’s returned for his mother’s funeral.
What is the reaction of the people he returns to? Why has he not been back for so long? What made him leave home at sixteen?
Write in the first person and up to two thousand words.
What if it was a twenty-six year old girl named Rachel? How would the story be different?
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s Prompt: It’s all mythical.
For today, write a story that is based on or uses figures and creatures from mythology. Any time period or culture. Your choice.
For example, what if Thor met up with his best friend once a week at a bar. His best friend is a basilisk by the way.
Novel Kicks Writing Room: Tuesday 30th August 2016.
Today’s prompt is a little different.
Today, jot down ten potential book titles for a current or future work in progress. Once you have ten, pick the one you think is most suitable.
Also write your acknowledgements page and dedication for the novel you’re working on or just about to start.
Once you’ve done that, pick a title and keep that, the acknowledgements and dedication somewhere nearby for when you need a boost and or inspiration.
You can do this!
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s Prompt: A Villain with a Happy Ending.
It’s always good to see things from another point of view. What is the villain in fairy tales got their happy ending? What if they are not evil but been misunderstood. Rewrite a fairy tale from the villains point of view.
What is going on with the evil stepmother? Is she evil or is Cinderella not as nice as she seems? What about the ugly step sisters? What if Gaston told his story? The witch in Hansel and Gretel? How different would the stories be if the villains got the happy ending?
Tuesday 23rd August 2016: Childhood Stories.
Think about a story you used to be told when you were little about something that happened in your parents or grandparents childhood.
Write down as much information as you can remember.
Now take that incident and write about it in the first person and present tense. Who was there? What happened?
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s Prompt: Mythical Creatures.
There is a meeting today. The attendees are a dragon, a fairy, a mermaid, a unicorn and bigfoot. They are all meeting up for their weekly catch up over a drink.
Write about their evening. What would they talk about? Do they get on well? What would their day have been like?
Write up to 1,700 words.
Tuesday 16th August 2016: Magazines Roulette.
For today’s prompt, we’re taking inspiration from magazines.
Try and gather up as many magazines as you can.
Cut out anything that catches your eye; pictures, words, phrases. (If you have no magazines, you could always use what is available online and write down any ideas on small bits of paper.)
Put them all into a bowl. Pick out two or three and write a short story based on each.
Don’t write more than three hundred words per story.
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
I adore reading. I love getting to the stage where I can see where the character has ended up. However, I know I will sometimes read a book and wonder what would have happened had the story gone the way I thought it was going to go and didn’t.
Think about one of the books you’ve read where the ending didn’t finish the way you wanted.
Rework it the way you wanted it to play out rather than how it ended.
Tuesday 9th August 2016: Starting Points
Today’s writing exercise is about (as you’ve probably gathered from the title,) starting points. The idea of the blank page has frightened many a writer.
Write a series of paragraphs using each of the following as a starting point:
I remember when, I guess it all started when, It wasn’t until I was older that I….
What things did you remember or write about? Could they be used as a story? Can everything be merged to form the basis of a story?
Tuesday 2nd August 2016: Opposing Characters.
Today is about creating a brand new character. To do this, use people you know.
Create a character that is based on the personality traits of someone that means a lot to you but has the physical attributes of someone you don’t like.
You could also reverse it…. the physical traits of someone you love but the personality of someone you’re not so keen on.
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s Prompt: Exam Time
You are one of five candidates for a job. You’re lead to a room where you are told you need to sit an exam. The first person to finish gets the job. You are not allowed to take anything with you. There are five desks, five exam papers but only one pen…
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s prompt: It’s Christmas Day. Your character is a superhero and has gone home to see the family for the day.
Their sibling is also there. This sibling happens to be an evil supervillain. Write about what happens over dinner.
Wednesday 20th July 2016: Musical Inspiration.
Turn on the radio and listen to the next three songs that come on.
Whilst listening, take down as much as you can about the themes of the songs, whether they tell a story and what you think about when you listen to them?
Also think about the subject of the song. For example, if it’s a love song, what about the person being sung about?
Use your notes to begin a short story.
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s prompt:
Your mirror begins to talk to you and tells you that you’re the fairest of them all. You believe it. It also says that it can grant wishes. You get a wish every day. All you have to do is say the words ‘mirror mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all?’
All is going well to begin with but then….
Tuesday 12th July 2016:
Today’s writing group exercise is about introducing something unexpected.
Take something you’re working on at the moment. Make a copy of it (one that you can discard after.)
Now, using that copy, pick a major point in the story and introduce something unexpected into it. If it’s a serious subject, introduce something crazy like a talking animal circus or if it’s a lighthearted plot, introduce something serious into it. What if a unicorn suddenly popped up in a history lesson where your character has just assured the students that unicorns don’t exist?
How do your characters react to the change?
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s Prompt: You wake up one morning to find that your favourite fictional character is your best friend.
What is the first thing you do? And the second etc. You need to fill the whole day. Throw some conflict in there as well.
Tuesday 5th July: Time Line.
Write out a time line of your current WIP. If you can, write each major event on post-its so they can be easily moved around. If you’re a stationary nut then this exercise is a good excuse to go out and buy all different colour post-its.
If you have multiple characters and time lines, use different colours.
Once you’ve done this, put them all out in a line and study it. Does anything need to be moved around, taken out, replaced with something else?
Does anything need to be added or extended on? You can do this with a favourite novel if you’re currently not working on anything.
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
An alien invites you to dinner. You are told you can ask him/her five questions. Using dialogue, create those questions and then get the alien to answer them. What is the aliens reaction to your questions? Is the alien friendly?
Tuesday 28th June 2016: Write Down The Conversation.
Today’s prompt..
Create two characters. One wants to do something and the other one doesn’t. Each decision has consequences.
Each person believes that they have the winning argument.
Write an exchange between these two people showing the conflict and allowing each to get their argument across.
Don’t use anything but dialogue.
Do they resolve things?
Try to write at least five hundred words.
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s Prompt: Fill in the Gaps:
Fill in the gaps in this story. There should be five words (of any length) between each of them and it has to make sense.
….. ….. ….. ….. ….. snowfall ….. ….. ….. ….. …..elephant ….. ….. ….. ….. ….. double ….. ….. ….. ….. ….. massive ….. ….. ….. …… ….. again ….. ….. ….. ….. ….. clown ….. …… …… …… ….. disagreed ….. ….. ….. ….. ….. health ….. ….. ….. ….. ….. travel ….. ….. ….. ….. ….. season.
Tuesday 21st June 2016:
Today’s prompt – One and Then The Other…
Find a news article that catches your eye. This news article needs to involve more than one person. It can be from a newspaper or an online site.
Write 500-700 words about the incident from someone involved. Whether you write in the first or third person is up to you.
Once you’ve done that, write 500 – 700 words again but from the point of view of another person mentioned in the article.
Re-read both of the pieces you’ve written. Are there any differences or similarities?
If you like, you could now merge them together with dialogue between the two.
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s Prompt: Turn to the Right.
Write about the thing you see when you turn immediately to the right. Write down as much detail as you can.
Is it a person or an object? What happens if this object suddenly begins to start moving by itself?
Give this object an actual name.
Tuesday 14th June 2016: Getting Down To Detail.
Today’s exercise: Write about five hundred words about yourself, a friend or someone you don’t like. It can also be about a character in progress. Write about physical appearance, likes, dislikes, hobbies etc.
If you can, once you’re done, try to then leave your writing for twenty-four hours.
Once you’ve returned to it, re-read it. Edit it down. Cut it in half to two hundred and fifty words. Only leave in what is necessary.
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s prompt: Pick a situation from real life experience or from somewhere online like a news article or maybe take a section of your favourite story.
Look at the story from a different angle. Write it as though something in the story happened differently. For example, what if it were the white rabbit just sat there reading and minding his own business outside his burrow in Wonderland and Alice walks by. The rabbit then follows her into our world. What if the villain is really the good guy and vice versa?
Tuesday 7th June 2016: You’re the boss.
Today’s prompt: Write about a day in your life if you were running a country. What would you do if you were in charge for a day?
Write from 8am until 23.59pm. Write in the first person.
Include as much as you can about your surroundings, how you feel, who you work with and what you have to deal with.
What kind of leader are you? Continue reading
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s prompt:
Grab a blank piece of paper and a pencil. Fold the piece of paper in half or draw a line through the middle. Using one of the prompts below, start playing word association with yourself until you’ve filled both columns.
Elephant
Ticket
Extend
Dishonest
Snow
Thursday 28th April 2016: Everything has changed.
Today’s prompt has your character lose themselves.
They get up, they get washed and dressed, grab their things and walk out the door.
When they get outside, their car isn’t there. After they call the police, they walk to work.
They walk in the reception area and apologise for being late and yet, no one knows who they are. Carry on the story….
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s prompt is about transformation.
Write a story in which something transforms into something else. What happens once this transformation occurs? What is it that has transformed?
What are the consequences of this transformation and can things be changed back?
Wednesday 30th March 2016.
Today’s prompt is about using pictures. Look through the internet (Pinterest and Tumblr are good for images.) Find pictures that inspire or interest you.
Taking each one in turn, note down what you like or don’t like so much about the image. What drew you to it and whether it inspires anything.
Does anything inspire a story? Using the image that you’re drawn to or inspires you the most, begin a short story.
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s prompt is about animals.
Your characters all share a house. They don’t always get on but are forced to interact. Your characters are a cat, a dog, a hamster and a snake. Your first line is ‘I can’t live with him anymore.’
Tuesday 22nd March 2016.
Today’s prompt is all about starting at the close.
Take your current work in progress or an idea to which you have an idea of a beginning, middle and ending.
Pick a section or write a small section. Rewrite it or start it from the end and work your way backwards.
As always, if you’d like to share your work, put it in the comments section below.
Friday 18th March 2016: The Round Table.
Today’s prompt, as you’ve probably guessed centres around a round table. Your character has been taken by a group of people and put into a white van.
The character, male or female are driven to an unknown destination and shown into a dark room.
There is a round table in the centre with six chairs. Your character is told to sit in one of the chairs. Five people occupy the other seats.
Who are they and why has your character been brought here?
Tuesday 15th March 2016: Freestyle.
It’s all about just letting yourself write today. Set a timer for ten minutes.
Using the word ‘block’ as inspiration, write solidly for ten minutes. Don’t think, just write.
It’s up to you whether you read what you’ve written once you’re done.
How did that go?
Friday 11th March 2016: Stranger Than Fiction
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s Prompt: Pick a book you’ve recently read. It doesn’t have to be one that you liked. The plot of this book has suddenly become your character’s reality. What is your character like, how do they react and what happens to them?
Tuesday 8th March 2016: Working on Plot.
For today’s writing room, write down eight major plot points on your current work in progress, (you can use a published novel if you prefer,) onto individual cards and lay them in the current order.
Once you’ve put them in order, spend five minutes moving them around and putting them in different orders.
Has this improved the plot sequence of your novel/story? Is there anything you need to add or take away?
Friday 4th March 2016: Genie in a Bottle.
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s Prompt: Your character finds a genie in a bottle. He is granted the usual three wishes. He can only spend the wishes on himself and he must make them. He can’t just decide to change his mind and put the genie back in the bottle. However, there is also a further catch. For every piece of fortune your character bestows upon himself, it means misfortune for someone else.
Tuesday 1st March 2016: Looking Back.
Today’s workshop is going to be using dialogue. Pick one of your characters from your current work in progress. It doesn’t have to be the main character. It can be the villain. If you’d prefer, pick a character from one of your favourite novels. Using just dialogue, have this character have a conversation with their younger self. Think about the circumstance in which they meet – setting etc. What would they talk about?
If you feel like you want to share your work, post in the comments below.
Friday 20th February 2016: Knowing Your Enemy.
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
For today’s prompt, write about when your character swaps places with an enemy and they have to work together to get swapped back.
Tuesday 23rd February 2016: Betrayal.
Today’s prompt: There are two people sat at opposite sides of a table. The setting and whether there are people around them is up to you. One of them has betrayed the other. Write 300/500 words from the person who has been betrayed and then do the same but from the other persons point of view. Do the accounts differ in any way?
Friday 20th February 2016: Overhearing
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s prompt:
Your character suffers severely from OCD. After hitting his/her head, he/she discovers that they can hear other people’s thoughts and they accidentally hear plans for an upcoming alien invasion.
Tuesday 16th February 2016: Introducing your characters.
Today’s Prompt:
Something I am realising as a first time author is getting to know your characters is really important before sitting down to write. Today, write down five facts about your character and use these to write a bio about them. Write it in the first person as though they are telling someone about themselves. Make the facts go beyond their physical features. For example, what song do they like? What’s their earliest memory etc.
Friday 12th February 2016: Fish out of Water
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s prompt: Your character is usually a confident person. However, they suddenly find themselves completely out of water and in a situation they don’t know how to deal with. Maybe they’ve realised that they can’t speak (the charm of their voice is usually what worked for them,) or they go from being rich to poor or lucky to unlucky. Anything goes.
Tuesday 9th February 2015: Confessions.
Your character is shown into a room. There is a circular table in the middle the room with six chairs around it. Eventually, five other people are shown into the room. These five people along with your character are told to take a seat. They are each told that they are connected and they need to confess what they have done to the people around them. Carry on the story….
Today’s prompt: Fictional World.
Pick a fictional world or a fictional character. When your character wakes up one morning, they find themselves either in this fictional world or sitting next to this fictional character. What are they like? What do they get up to? What happens next….
Friday 8th January 2015: Message in a Bottle
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s prompt: Your character is walking along the beach and cuts their foot on a piece of glass. On closer inspection, they realise that it is from a bottle that is laying nearby. There is a piece of paper with a message on it inside the bottle. Write about what happens next. What’s the message?
Today’s prompt:
Your character works for a secret agency and has a secret identity to match. As a favour, they agree to pretend to be someone’s love interest to help them out at a family gathering and it all gets a little out of hand. What happens? Does the identity of your character get revealed?
Tuesday 17th November 2015: Identity Crisis.
Today’s Prompt:
Your character works as a waiter/waitress in a small greasy spoon in the middle of a busy town. They have no family and only a small group of friends. However, one day a stranger walks into the cafe. They look identical to your main character. Write in third person. Try to write mostly in dialogue. Continue…
Friday 13th November 2015: Another unlucky day
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s prompt:
It is Friday 13th and for some, that is unlucky. How about if your character has to keep reliving it but for every mistake he sees coming, another one soon takes its place. Nothing is the same. Why does he keep repeating the day and what does he have to do to escape it?
Today’s prompt:
There are many stories that begin with an unpleasant thing or event. How about beginning your story with a nice event? Maybe your character sees someone they have been excited to see? Maybe someone gains something they’ve always wanted? Pick a nice event and write from there. Once you’ve finished, have a read through? Did your story remain nice or did something bad or sinister happen?
Friday 6th November 2015: A Picture Paints….
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s prompt:
Use the picture for a story. What does the picture inspire? Maybe your character is meeting someone?
Maybe whenever they take a step forward, the horizon seems to stay at the same distance and everything depends on them getting to the other end?
Where is this? Has your character travelled far to be here?
Have they just appeared here out of nowhere and people surrounding them think they are magic or are they scared of them?
Has your character travelled back in time?
What you choose is up to you. Just have fun.
Today’s prompt:
Find some magazines or go through some online news sites/magazines. Cut out or save any pictures or stories that catch your eye and inspire you. Once you’ve got a few, go through and pick three of the articles/pictures that most inspire you. Try and include these three things in a short story.
Friday 23rd October 2015: Favourite Fictional Character
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s prompt:
Pick your favourite fictional character. You have suddenly found yourself in their world, surrounded by the characters around them. What if you were transported to middle earth or you suddenly find that you are Harry Potter’s best friend? What if you suddenly found yourself in a post apocalyptic world and you had no choice but to have a baby for an infertile couple?
Whatever character you chose, how would you live their story?
Today’s Prompt:
Today is all about changing the tense. Take a page out of your favourite fiction novel. Rewrite the first few paragraphs changing the tense as you go. If it’s past, change it to present and vice versa.
How was it? How has it changed the story. If you want to, try it with a section of a work in progress and see if it helps in any way?
Friday 16th October: Carry on the Story….
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s prompt:
Use the following first line as a starting point and then try to carry the story on as long as you can.
‘Congratulations, you’ve won.’
Today’s prompt:
Begin a story from the last line and work backwards. You can either start something new or use the current project you’re working on (something you’re maybe struggling with?) If you need inspiration for a story, here are some suggestions below:
A wizard, a London flat and the secret of life is revealed.
A gambling addict, train and a character overhears a shocking conversation.
A parent, the dock and a character must tell a lie.
If you’d like to share your work, feel free to leave it in the comments below.
Tuesday 6th October: Continuing the Story…..
Today’s prompt:
Continue on the story by using the following opening line. Also, your two characters are called Charlie and Alison. The setting and when the story is set is up to you. Don’t think about it, just set a timer for fifteen minutes and write. Once you’re finished, edit it and cut the word count by half. If you’d like to share your story then I’d love to see them in the comments below.
Use the following line as your starting point, ‘There are two times when you need to stay absolutely still. The first time is…’