Story Prompts: Thoughts, Questions, & 10 Favorites

This morning’s post is going to be all about story prompts, including favorite selections from Pinterest. It is also a desperate move made on the blogger’s side to think quickly of a blog post idea the night before the morning it needs to be posted.

It’s very hard on a time crunch. I’m sure we all here understand.

I think one of the main reasons I have Pinterest (besides current Storyboards, blog post promotion, social media goals etc.) is for the GLORIOUS STORY PROMPTS. They deserve much love for all the ideas they spark in aspiring writers’ minds. They must never be underestimated for their insurmountable value; every time I see one that really stands out (which happens a lot), a brand new and very attractive story idea will pop into my head and it won’t go away until I’ve pinned it and told myself for the umpteenth time to focus only on my WIP.

There’s something about these story prompts, however, that always makes me ponder over the legitimacy of their very existance. A very creative, genius someone has to come up with that original idea, but that particular someone also has to be willing to make their idea vulnerable by posting it on the internet, so that hundreds if not thousands or millions of other people on the planet Earth may also view it and, excuse me for the word choice, steal this Someone’s original idea. In an ideal world, is this a good thing, or not?

That’s just something to think about and be mindful of whenever you spot brilliant story prompts. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want to publicize my original story ideas. I’m selfish and possessive and would rather keep my babies to myself.

On the other hand, if each story prompt is vague and general enough, what started out as one single idea can be viewed so differently in the eyes of other people. For instance, if the prompt was, say, a piece of dialogue or a piece of a plot, you could give such a prompt to a hundred different people and they’d all come up with their own original stories based off of that one single, broad idea. I think that the reason for the existance of story prompts is not just to give a writer a story to write, but to inspire a writer to create their own stories, to spark original ideas in each of our very different, talented, creative minds. The question is, do all story prompts do this well? Or do some lay out the whole story for you?

So now I’ll just give you 10 different prompts that are my personal favorites and rave about how beautiful each one is. I also found that Pinterest has embed options, and while they don’t work for pins (at least for me), they do for boards, so I’ll definitely be taking that opportunity. Onwards!

I almost started typing my story idea here, and then realized that not everyone might read it the same way I do. Hehe.

This is just some very clever poetry I found that seemed like some good potential for a plot idea and some serious character development.

I have no idea when, where, or why this picture was taken, but it hurts me so bad every time I look at it. Broken instruments just kill me inside. Even violins with bent or missing strings make me tear up. But there’s some intrigue in this picture. Why and how is this boy raging against an instrument? Either way, I think I’ll make him the villain and have him die a brutal death in the end when he’s older and has killed more than one piano.

So vague and psycholgically strange and interesting. There are so many ideas that could come from this one.

Nooooooo. So good. So beautiful. Must. Write. Story. Now.

This one just opened up a whole new scope of ideas for me. The idea sounds pagan, maybe, but there are so many fantasy worlds I’ve created that really need some kind of spiritual tradition and I feel like this could really come in handy in actually being a main aspect of a plot somewhere, somehow…I must make it work.

I now have an opening for a story and an idea for the protagonist. Little cabin in the woods…

Enter a beautiful sci-fi story in which– *voice is muffled*

This prompt is not as obscure as I’d like it to be, but it’s a funny example of all the different twists you can do with traditional fairy tales. All the comedies!!!

I wish this could somehow be a gospel message somehow portrayed in the relationship between life and death, but this is still beautiful. Perhaps potential for a religion as well.

And that’s all I have for you today. There are so many more lovely prompts I would show you, but I don’t want to throw them all at you in one blog post. Instead, here is my ever growing board on Pinterest of prompts, if you’re interested.

And there you have it! Do you agree that prompts are ideas up for being stolen? Or are they just bits of an idea to help spark an original story? Which prompts are your favorite? Tell me all your thoughts. Thanks for reading and have a lovely Tuesday.