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100 Creative Essay Topics

An amazing number of writers look for the best creative writing prompts on a daily basis. These could be college students who were asked to write a fictional or narrative essay, published authors looking for their next big idea, or young people who want to explore something inspiring in their future work. Creativity is everything, and the success of any venture depends on the topic you’ve chosen. In 2020, many popular prompts have lost their novelty.

Usual stories about the journey that turned into disaster when you got lost and your things were all stolen, a secretary falling in love with her boss, a ghost-hunting adventure — this is no longer as interesting topic as it was ten years ago. Now, people look for newer and fresher ideas, but the logical question occurs: where to find them? Regardless of why you need creative prompts, we’re prepared to share some of them!

In Search of Creative Essay Topic: Best Tips

Let’s imagine that you’re writing a creative story or an essay. All you need is to trigger your inspiration, but what if today, your fantasy decided to take a break? No worries: there are some tips that could be useful if you’re stuck with picking topics:

Brainstorm with your friends or family. Thinking by yourself could be great, but if it doesn’t work, use someone else’s input. Meet up with friends or classmates and bounce topic ideas back and forth between each other. Maybe one of them will offer stunning creative writing ideas you could use.
Play a game. Close your eyes. Walk somewhere carefully, turn around a couple of times, then open your eyes and look around. Choose the first thing or person and create topic or essay idea around it. Beginners could face some difficulties at first, but the main thing is practice! After several awkward stories, your skill level will increase.
Look through online lists. There are many cool topics you could find online. People have developed lists specifically to satisfy writers’ needs, so check some of them out in our list just below.

100 Unique Creative Essay Prompts

We prepared 100 different topic examples for your future essay. Read through them all or sort them by category — maybe you’ll find something truly inspiring.

Extended Creative Essay Topics on Social Issues

Small tragedies are everywhere, wherever we look. A woman who smiles tiredly could be barely holding back her tears. A running girl is trying to make it home in time to protect her brother from their drunk uncle. Here are some similar ideas.

Addiction : Daughter took her mother to live with her, but it turned out that the woman has serious psychological issues. She’s addicted to alcohol and she keeps bringing rubbish from streets into her room. The story of love and pain ensue.
Euthanasia : Person is dying slowly and they ask their nurse for euthanasia. The laws forbid it, though, and the nurse is getting more and more torn about letting the patient suffer or following the law.
World Chaos : Due to the deadly virus that spread all over the planet, no medicine is available. Character struggles with accepting the idea of this new world and its cruel rules.
Bullying : The bullied girl gets fed up with the world around her, so she takes actions to ensure that nothing and no one can ever hurt her again.
Kindness : The lonely woman has more money than she could ever spend. She decides that doing kind things is the only validation she can find, so she starts trying to make all people she meets happy.
Gossip : Two young men dream about taking part in a reality show, but when it happens, they understand how many ugly lies are beneath it.
Stalking : Man is being stalked by a woman, but no one takes him seriously… until it is too late.
Indifference : A bird is lying in a puddle, dying, as people pass by with no care. Then, a girl notices it, and she takes it home to nurse it back to health.
Discrimination : Young girl thinks she is aromantic and asexual, but her family and friends are all convinced that she just hasn’t found the right person yet.
Harassment : Old but enthusiastic employee starts a new job, and he doesn’t understand why his boss hates him & tries to humiliate him at every turn… until he suddenly remembers about their shared past.

Creative Fantasy Essay Ideas

Some of the best creative writing assignments fall into fantasy category.

World Peace : Something happened that resulted in peace all over the world. People are happy, animals are healthy, and there is no anger or hatred left. But something is not right, and slowly, unexpected problems begin to emerge.
Prophesies : A woman named Julia desperately wants to become the president. She learns of the prophecy claiming that her country will be saved by the woman, but the problem is, the prophecy woman’s name is Hannah. Determined to make herself fit, Julia officially changes her name.
Reincarnation : Two people in love keep being reborn. One of them remembers everything, but another one remains ignorant.
Soulmates : People dream about their soulmates even before they meet them. Character A meets Character B, but while A is happy, B prefers to ignore him.
World End : Terrible monsters are crawling all over the planet. The man not interested in survival survives, but when he is saddled with an orphaned child, his life suddenly gains new meaning.
Time of Death : People know how soon they’ll die from the moment of their birth. Some of them accept it; others fight it.
Secrets Exposed : Woman can tell people’s secrets just by looking at them. Sometimes it’s a blessing; other times, it is a curse.
Divine Punishment: Psychopath loses one of his senses every time he acts on his dark impulses.
Forever and Ever : Character lives forever. At first, it was exciting, but now it is weighing heavily on them.
Predictions : Whatever prediction this person makes, it comes true. Can they resist such terrible power?

Fiction Topics

How about creative writing topics in the genre of monster hunting or dark romance? Many writers find it fascinating because of the challenge involved. Here are some good prompts.

Serial Killer : After hunting numerous victims down, a killer is stopped short by a red-haired girl he sees. He begins to stalk her, and in this process, he falls in love.
Beloved Pet : Imagine you’re a pet living in the family who loves and coddles you. How does that feel?
Unhealthy Relationship : Two narcissists hurt each other, and yet they can’t live without each other.
Complex Relationship : Character A destroyed the life of Character B’s parents. Years later, they fall in love.
Age Difference : Being in love with someone older hurts.
Social Difference : He is rich, she is not. He’s ready to ignore the difference, but she isn’t.
Taboo : An orphaned boy is adopted by new doting guardian, yet the feelings he develops for them are far from appropriate.
Abduction : Two girls are abducted during New Year. They don’t know why they were taken, but gradually, they realize that they have a chance to start the whole new life.
Unexpected Bonding : Two students are stuck in detention for fighting each other. But feelings start growing before they know it.
Beauty : She was the definition of beauty, yet the more she loved, the more her beauty was destroyed.
Toys : Child is sure her toys are dancing at night.
In a Movie : Boy falls into the universe of his favorite movie.
Rocks : You’re the rock that existed for centuries. What do you see?
Speaking with animals: The day you started understanding your pet.
Love Hurts: It causes physical pain.

Creative Journal Prompts for Essays

Basing your ideas on notes in journals is both creative and realistic.

Character lost in the forest is trying to survive by writing.
A journal is found on an empty island.
From first love to disillusionment.
Watching seasons change.
Saving up for an expensive purchase.
An imagined year of life day by day.
Message to your future self.
Description of nightmares.
Every message sent to you on Facebook.
Observing your love interest.
Describing every hobby you ever had.
Finding yourself in the past & writing about it.
5 awkward speeches.
Watching your child grow.
List what you’d buy if you had a million dollars.

Creative Humor Essays Topics

If you have great humor, take a look at these fun creative writing prompts.

Write a tragedy made of random sentences from your online messages.
Meeting your real muse: awkwardness ensues.
Hiding your golden finger from everyone to avoid turning them into gold.
Love letter for the first person you see.
Meeting TV character.
Interview that goes very wrong.
The most shameful moment from your life.
Stealing a painting & finding out it’s a copy.
Being accidentally turned into a Barbie.
Write short story where every word starts with the same letter.

Creative Essays Topics About Death

Death is painful, but it gives birth to many ideas for creative writing. Your essay will be engaging with these topics:

Losing the loved one never gets easier.
Keeping ashes of the deceased beloved close.
Characters realize they are doomed to die every day.
Character is preparing to commit suicide and is saying goodbye to family.
A bloodthirsty creatures entices people to kill themselves.
Speech on the grandfather’s funeral.
Living in an empty apartment where happy voices of a family can still be heard.
Every loss feels like dying: family, friends, pets.
Character embraces death and cries happy tears upon being reunited with people they loved.
Character gets tired of living and tries to die & discovers they are immortal.

Health and Medicine

Healthcare could be a category with lots of creative writing prompts for adults. Nail your essay with one of this topics.

OCD woman tries to make sense of her life.
Man with amnesia starts each day as a new life.
A ghost haunts the hospital for a decade and observes what they see.
Each time this girl recovers from panic attack, she feels like she was reborn.
Create unique disease for your character & describe their life.
Narrator reflects whether it’s better to live with pain or not live at all.
A surgeon describes her surgeries & acknowledges she needs nothing else.
A paranoid patient is convinced he’s dying and refuses to listen to doctors.
The blind person seeing colors for the first time.
Person fears being kidnapped & looks for poison just in case.

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Creative Essays Ideas About Dreams

Our dreams are a mix of reality and fantasy. These writing prompts for creative writing reflect it.

Mother dreams of reuniting with her missing child. Years later, her dreams is realized.
What you dreamed about yesterday will come true tomorrow.
Contacting people through dreams.
As soon as you have a dream, you know the opposite will happen in reality.
A killer learned how to kill people via dreams.
A person’s biggest dream is about realizing what their dream is.
Having dreams costs money. Who will agree to have them?
Only people who share dreams are allowed to get married.
Life is fair: happy people only have nightmares while unhappy people have happy dreams.
Cure against dreams: who would take it?

Creative Education Topics

A million creative writing essays topics could be based on education.

Story of how time in college was the happiest in one’s life.
A bully falling in love with their victim and trying to earn their forgiveness.
What character sacrificed in order to afford tuition.
After all she has been through, she finally got into the university of her dreams… and she hates it.
A heartbreaking choice between working & studying.
A teacher saying to a successful student: “I haven’t graduated with honors, so you won’t either.”
School and I: it was hatred from the first sight.
The time I fell asleep during my lesson.
Having a crush on your teacher & coming to realize why it’s wrong.
You are the director at made-up university: how would it look like?

Have Fun Writing With Creative College Essay Topics

If you’re having a bad day and cannot summon even a spark of creativity, we’re here to help you! Use an idea we offered above — just give it a good title. If you like it, then it is all that matters — you’ve already crossed half of the way toward absolute success. In case having a prompt is not enough and you still feel no inspiration, you could always leave it to us.

We have amazing specialists whose creativity knows no boundaries: they could write a short fictional story, craft a quirky essay, or develop some personalized creative prompts for you. Share your request with us, supply us with all details, and we’ll make sure to fulfill every one of them. There is nothing wrong with asking for help, and we are always happy to provide it.

Can’t come up with a topic for you paper? We’ve prepared a collection of essay topics for you

Want to write a winning essay but lack experience? Browse our free essay samples

100 Creative Writing Prompts for Middle & High School – 2024

April 15, 2024

creative writing prompts for high school and middle school teens

Some high school students dream of writing for a living, perhaps pursuing an English major in college, or even attending a creative writing MFA program later on. For other students, creative writing can be useful for school assignments, in English and other subjects, and also for preparing their Common App essays . In a less goal-oriented sense, daily freewriting in a journal can be a healthy life practice for many high schoolers. Not sure where to start? Continue reading for 100 creative writing prompts for middle school and high school students. These middle/high school writing prompts offer inspiration for getting started with writing in a number of genres and styles.

Click here to view the 35 Best Colleges for Creative Writing .

What are Creative Writing Prompts?

Similar to how an academic essay prompt provides a jumping-off point for forming and organizing an argument, creative writing prompts are points of initiation for writing a story, poem, or creative essay. Prompts can be useful for writers of all ages, helping many to get past writer’s block and just start (often one of the most difficult parts of a writing process).

Writing prompts come in a variety of forms. Sometimes they are phrases used to begin sentences. Other times they are questions, more like academic essay prompts Writing prompts can also involve objects such as photographs, or activities such as walking. Below, you will find high school writing prompts that use memories, objects, senses (smell/taste/touch), abstract ideas , and even songs as jumping-off points for creative writing. These prompts can be used to write in a variety of forms, from short stories to creative essays, to poems.

How to use Creative Writing Prompts

Before we get started with the list, are a few tips when using creative writing prompts:

Experiment with different formats : Prose is great, but there’s no need to limit yourself to full sentences, at least at first. A piece of creative writing can begin with a poem, or a dialogue, or even a list. You can always bring it back to prose later if needed.

Interpret the prompt broadly : The point of a creative writing prompt is not to answer it “correctly” or “precisely.” You might begin with the prompt, but then your ideas could take you in a completely different direction. The words in the prompt also don’t need to open your poem or essay, but could appear somewhere in the middle.

Switch up/pile up the prompts : Try using two or three prompts and combine them, or weave between them. Perhaps choose a main prompt, and a different “sub-prompt.” For example, your main prompt might be “write about being in transit from one place to another,” and within that prompt, you might use the prompt to “describe a physical sensation,” and/or one the dialogue prompts. This could be a fun way to find complexity as you write.

Creative Writing Prompts for Middle School & High School Students (Continued)

Write first, edit later : While you’re first getting started with a prompt, leave the typos and bad grammar. Obsessing over details can take away from your flow of thoughts. You will inevitably make many fixes when you go back through to edit.

Write consistently : It often becomes easier to write when it’s a practice , rather than a once-in-a-while kind of activity. For some, it’s useful to write daily. Others find time to write every few days, or every weekend. Sometimes, a word-count goal can help (100 words a day, 2,000 words a month, etc.). If you set a goal, make sure it’s realistic. Start small and build from there, rather than starting with an unachievable goal and quickly giving up.

100 Creative Writing Prompts for Middle School & High School Teens

Here are some prompts for getting started with your creative writing. These are organized by method, rather than genre, so they can inspire writing in a variety of forms. Pick and choose the ones that work best for you, and enjoy!

Prompts using memories

Begin each sentence or group of sentences with the phrase, “I remember…”
Describe a family ritual.
Choose an event in your life, and write about it from the perspective of someone else who was there.
Pick a pathway you take on a regular basis (to school, or to a friend’s house). Describe five landmarks that you remember from this pathway.
Write about your house or apartment using a memory from each room.
Write an imaginary history of the previous people who lived in your house or apartment.
Write about an ancestor based on stories you’ve heard from relatives.
What’s your earliest memory?
Who was your first friend?
Write a letter to someone you haven’t seen since childhood.
Write about yourself now from the perspective of yourself twenty, or eighty, years from now.
Write about the best month of the year.
Write about the worst day of the year.
Rant about something that has always annoyed you.
Write about the hottest or coldest day you can remember.
Visualize a fleeting moment in your life and as though it’s a photograph, and time yourself 5 minutes to write every detail you can remember about the scene.
Draw out a timeline of your life so far. Then choose three years to write about, as though you were writing for a history book.
Write about a historical event in the first person, as though you remember it.
Write about a memory of being in transit from one place to another.

Objects and photographs as creative writing prompts

Describe the first object you see in the room. What importance does it have in your life? What memories do you have with this object? What might it symbolize?
Pick up an object, and spend some time holding it/examining it. Write about how it looks, feels, and smells. Write about the material that it’s made from.
Choose a favorite family photograph. What could someone know just by looking at the photograph? What’s secretly happening in the photograph?
Choose a photograph and tell the story of this photograph from the perspective of someone or something in it.
Write about a color by describing three objects that are that color.
Tell the story of a piece of trash.
Tell the story of a pair of shoes.
Tell the story of your oldest piece of clothing.

Senses and observations as creative writing prompts

Describe a sound you hear in the room or outside. Choose the first sound you notice. What are its qualities? It’s rhythms? What other sounds does it remind you of?
Describe a physical sensation you feel right now, in as much detail as possible.
Listen to a conversation and write down a phrase that you hear someone say. Start a free-write with this phrase.
Write about a food by describing its qualities, but don’t say what it is.
Describe a flavor (salty, sweet, bitter, etc.) to someone who has never tasted it before.
Narrate your day through tastes you tasted.
Narrate your day through sounds you heard.
Narrate your day through physical sensations you felt.
Describe in detail the physical process of doing an action you consider simple or mundane, like walking or lying down or chopping vegetables.
Write about the sensation of doing an action you consider physically demanding or tiring, like running or lifting heavy boxes.
Describe something that gives you goosebumps.
Write a story that involves drinking a cold glass of water on a hot day.
Write a story that involves entering a warm house from a cold snowy day.
Describe someone’s facial features in as much detail as possible.

Songs, books, and other art

Choose a song quote, write it down, and free-write from there.
Choose a song, and write a story in which that song is playing in the car.
Choose a song, and write to the rhythm of that song.
Choose a character from a book, and describe an event in your life from the perspective of that character.
Go to a library and write down 10 book titles that catch your eye. Free-write for 5 minutes beginning with each one.
Go to a library and open to random book pages, and write down 5 sentences that catch your attention. Use those sentences as prompts and free-write for 5-minutes with each.
Choose a piece of abstract artwork. Jot down 10 words that come to mind from the painting or drawing, and free-write for 2 minutes based on each word.
Find a picture of a dramatic Renaissance painting online. Tell a story about what’s going on in the painting that has nothing to do with what the artist intended.
Write about your day in five acts, like a Shakespearean play. If your day were a play, what would be the introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution?
Narrate a complicated book or film plot using only short sentences.
Read a short poem. Then write a poem that could be a “sister” or “cousin” of that poem.

Abstract ideas as creative writing prompts

Write about an experience that demonstrates an abstract idea, such as “love” or “home” or “freedom” or “loss” without ever using the word itself.
Write a list of ways to say “hello” without actually saying “hello.”
Write a list of ways to say “I love you” without actually saying “I love you.”
Do you believe in ghosts? Describe a ghost.
Invent a mode of time travel.
Glass half-full/half-empty: Write about an event or situation with a positive outlook. Then write about it with a miserable outlook.
Free-write beginning with “my religion is…” (what comes next can have as much or as little to do with organized religion as you’d like).
Free-write beginning with “my gender is…” (what comes next can have as much or as little to do with common ideas of gender as you’d like).
Write about a person or character that is “good” and one that is “evil.” Then write about the “evil” in the good character and the “good” in the evil character.
Write like you’re telling a secret.
Describe a moment of beauty you witnessed. What makes something beautiful?

Prompts for playing with narrative and character

Begin writing with the phrase, “It all started when…”
Tell a story from the middle of the most dramatic part.
Write a story that begins with the ending.
Begin a story but give it 5 possible endings.
Write a list of ways to dramatically quit a terrible job.
Write about a character breaking a social rule or ritual (i.e., walking backwards, sitting on the floor of a restaurant, wearing a ballgown to the grocery store). What are the ramifications?
You are sent to the principal’s office. Justify your bad behavior.
Re-write a well-known fairytale but set it in your school.
Write your own version of the TV show trope where someone gets stuck in an elevator with a stranger, or a secret love interest, or a nemesis.
Imagine a day where you said everything you were thinking, and write about it.
Write about a scenario in which you have too much of a good thing.
Write about a scenario in which money can buy happiness.
Invent a bank or museum heist.
Invent a superhero, including an origin story.
Write using the form of the scientific method (question, hypothesis, test, analyze data conclusion).
Write using the form of a recipe.

Middle School & High School Creative writing prompts for playing with fact vs. fiction

Write something you know for sure is true, and then, “but maybe it isn’t.” Then explain why that thing may not be true.
Write a statement and contradict that statement. Then do it again.
Draft an email with an outlandish excuse as to why you didn’t do your homework or why you need an extension.
Write about your morning routine, and make it sound extravagant/luxurious (even if it isn’t).
You’ve just won an award for doing a very mundane and simple task. Write your acceptance speech.
Write about a non-athletic event as though it were a sports game.
Write about the most complicated way to complete a simple task.
Write a brief history of your life, and exaggerate everything.
Write about your day, but lie about some things.
Tell the story of your birth.
Choose a historical event and write an alternative outcome.
Write about a day in the life of a famous person in history.
Read an instructional manual, and change three instructions to include some kind of magical or otherwise impossible element.

Prompts for starting with dialogue

Write a texting conversation between two friends who haven’t spoken in years.
Write a texting conversation between two friends who speak every day and know each other better than anyone.
Watch two people on the street having a conversation, and imagine the conversation they’re having. Write it down.
Write an overheard conversation behind a closed door that you shouldn’t be listening to.
Write a conversation between two characters arguing about contradicting memories of what happened.
You have a difficult decision to make. Write a conversation about it with yourself.
Write a conversation with a total lack of communication.
Write a job interview gone badly.

Final Thoughts – Creative Writing Prompts for Middle School & High School

Hopefully you have found several of these creative writing prompts helpful. Remember that when writing creatively, especially on your own, you can mix, match, and change prompts. For more on writing for high school students, check out the following articles:

College Application Essay Topics to Avoid
160 Good Argumentative Essay Topics
150 Good Persuasive Speech Topics
Good Transition Words for Essays
High School Success

Sarah Mininsohn

With a BA from Wesleyan University and an MFA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Sarah is a writer, educator, and artist. She served as a graduate instructor at the University of Illinois, a tutor at St Peter’s School in Philadelphia, and an academic writing tutor and thesis mentor at Wesleyan’s Writing Workshop.