20 Random Ideas For Starting A Short Story

Every writer or blogger has moments when they feel completely void of ideas and drained of inspiration. Here we have complied a short list of starting points for short stories. Hopefully they will help kick start your writing.

This list of creative writing prompts and tips does not claim to be the ultimate cure for writer's block but it is a good start. It is nothing more than a taster and its purpose is to stimulate your appetite and make you crave more. Creativity is like a virus, it can be addictive.

1. Invent a new species of extraterrestrials. Give them a name and write a detailed description of their appearance and habits, of their planet and its position in the universe, of their language, history, values, thinking patterns, ultimate goal, etc.
2. Go through a list of phobias and choose the most interesting and unusual ones. Create a few imaginary characters and make them suffer from those phobias. Pick your favourite one and write a story about him/her.
3. Explore the concept of synchronicity. Follow two or three threads at the same time. Reveal the strong connections between people who don't appear to be directly linked and disclose the set of coincidences that brings them together.
4. One morning you wake up with a radio station in your head. Describe it in detail and emphasize the impact it has on your life.
5. One morning you look in the mirror and realize you've grown a pair of horns. Write a story in which you depict your struggles to cope with people's prejudices and your efforts to adapt to this new situation.
6. You join a religious denomination that sends its members back in time to convert the bloodiest and most cruel figures in history. Pick your own historical character and give him a chance to choose another path.
7. You go swimming in the sea and you are kidnapped by a lonely mermaid who wants a friend/lover.
8. A nice quiet weekend in the countryside. Nothing can go wrong. Or can it?
9. Your house turns into a palace over night. Any logical explanation?
10. A spider suggests you switch places for one day. Don't you like spiders? How about a bat then?
11. Rewrite Snow White from one of the seven dwarfs' perspective.
12. The most unpopular girl/boy in your school becomes obsessed with you.
13. You eat a raw egg (they've been telling you it's good for your voice) and three weeks later you discover you've got a chicken growing inside your tummy.
14. Explore the butterfly effect and how making different choices can alter the course of the future.
15. If I were an inventor, the first thing I would invent would be...
16. Write a story that starts like this: "All I've ever wanted from life is..."
17. Write a story that starts with the following sentence: "I knew somebody had been secretly reading my manuscripts."
18. Write a story that begins with the words: "I promised myself I would never tell anyone about this."
19. Check out the weird news section of the online newspapers to get ideas for new stories.
20. Start a contest for the most fascinating character. Create a few characters and make each of them write a letter to expose the reasons why they think they should win the competition. Pick up the winner and reward him/her with a leading role in your new story.