Fiction Creative Writing Prompts
- Write a story about a world where everybody has the same name. If that becomes too much of a challenge, perhaps everyone in the world only has about 10 or so names to choose from. A name is given to them based on their personality and such.
- Write a story that includes a character who has a compulsion to change his name every year. How does this name change affect his relationships, career and general quality of life?
- Write a story that begins with a character relocating to another country. She decides to change her name entirely and give herself a new identity. What happens next?
- Write a story where an outside force can hijack people based on their names. In other words, an outside force (supernatural being, government, extraterrestrial) can for a few minutes control everyone named Sally and then at another time controls people named Jack.
- Your character wakes up somewhere unknown and can’t remember his name or identity. Write a story about this character’s rediscovery of himself and his name.
- Write about a world where the day someone dies, no matter what age, that person starts slowly losing their memory about themselves. The last information this person loses is their name.
- Write about a society that allows people to choose their names at different stages of life such as when they are 10, 20, 30 and so on. Follow the life of a character who goes through different stages of her life and has to choose a name based on that stage. How does her name evolve and mature as she does?
- Write a story about a character who decides to give a new name to every being (plant, person, animal) in his city.
- Write a story that begins with character who is struggling with the title of something very important to the world like a cure, book title or the name of a new technological system.
- Write a story about a character who is tasked to name the next god.
Poetry Creative Writing Prompts
- Write a poem where each line starts with a unique name.
- Research the meaning and history of your name. Write a poem about the meaning of your name.
- Write a funny poem about the name that strangers might give you if they had to guess a name for you.
- Many people change their names for an assortment of reasons. Write a poem about an interesting story you have heard about a name change.
- Write a poem about a hilarious or unfortunate name that you know a baby has been given recently by a celebrity, friend, family member or someone you barely know.
- Names can have powerful associations. A name can remind you of something bad, good, a prior partner, can elicit feelings of resentment or can make you very happy (such as reminding you of your lover or child). Write a poem dedicated to a name that elicits powerful emotions from you.
- Write a poem with the following words: meaning, life, identification and obsolete.
- Write a poem that includes the different pronunciations and spellings in other cultures.