Creativity

40 Creative Journal Prompts

These creative journal prompts are for anyone who likes to make things, used to make things, or wishes they did. You do not need to call yourself a writer or an artist. If you have ever doodled in a margin or invented a story on a long drive, you already have what you need.

Some prompts are small games: a six-word story, a holiday that should exist, a tree described as a character. Others ask about your creative life itself, such as when ideas tend to arrive, what stops you from starting, and what you have been saving for someday. Many people find that a few minutes of play loosens things up, and that writing honestly about a block can make it feel a little smaller.

Treat these pages as a sketchbook, not a test. Spelling, neatness and good ideas are all optional. Write badly on purpose if it helps. The point is to spend a little time making something just because you can.

All 40 prompts

Each prompt is marked quick (2 to 5 minutes), reflective (about 10 minutes) or deep (20 minutes or more).

  1. Pick an object on your desk and give it a name, a job and one secret it keeps from you. quick

  2. Describe today's weather using only sounds. quick

  3. Invent a holiday that should exist. What is it called, and how do people celebrate it? quick

  4. Write the first line of a story that begins in your kitchen. quick

  5. If your mood right now were a color that does not exist yet, what would you call it and what would it look like? quick

  6. Describe the last thing you ate to someone who has never tasted food. quick

  7. Make a list of ten small things you could make this week with what you already have at home. quick

  8. What is a sound from your street that could be the start of a song? quick

  9. Write a six-word story about your morning. quick

  10. Imagine tonight's sky is a painting in a museum. Give it a title and write the small card that would hang beside it. quick

  11. Describe a tree you pass often as if it were a character in a novel. quick

  12. What did you make as a child, just for fun, that you would like to make again? quick

  13. What if gravity took Tuesdays off? Describe how your town would prepare. reflective

  14. Write a short letter from the house you might live in someday to the person you are now. reflective

  15. Describe an ordinary place you visit every week, noticing five details you have never written down before. reflective

  16. Choose a stranger you saw recently and write a small, kind story about where they were going. reflective

  17. What is a rule you follow without thinking? Write a scene where a character breaks it. reflective

  18. When do your best ideas tend to show up, and what are you usually doing at the time? reflective

  19. What creative thing have you been saving for someday? Write down what the first small step could be. reflective

  20. Describe your ideal place to make things: the light, the table, the noise, the smell. reflective

  21. Write a conversation between two objects in the room where you sleep. reflective

  22. Retell a small thing that happened to you this week as a fairy tale. reflective

  23. Which people in your own life make things in ways you admire, and what do you notice about how they work? reflective

  24. What kind of making leaves you feeling most like yourself afterward, and why do you think that is? reflective

  25. Imagine you have one free afternoon with no plans and plenty of supplies. Walk through what you would do, hour by hour. reflective

  26. What first made you believe you were or were not a creative person? Write about where that idea came from. deep

  27. What stops you from starting a creative project? Name the thought you hear just before you put it off. deep

  28. Describe a piece of work you abandoned. What would you tell it now if you could pick it back up? deep

  29. When was the last time you made something no one else ever saw? What was it like to make it only for yourself? deep

  30. If no one would ever judge, grade or praise what you make, what would you try first? deep

  31. Write about a time you felt completely absorbed in making something. What was around you, and what helped you stay there? deep

  32. What do you worry people would think if they saw your rough drafts? Write about where that worry might come from. deep

  33. Write a short story about a version of you who said yes to a creative path you once turned down. deep

  34. Which parts of your daily life are already creative, even if you have never called them that? deep

  35. Write a story set in the place you grew up, but change one important thing about it. What does the change show you? deep

  36. What would you like your creative life to look like a year from now? Describe one ordinary day in it. deep

  37. How do you treat your own ideas when they are new and unfinished? Write about how you would like to treat them instead. deep

  38. Imagine your creativity as a companion who has been waiting for you. Describe them, and write what you would say to them today. deep

  39. Choose something hard you have lived through and tell it through an image, an object or a small invented world instead of directly. deep

How to use these prompts

Start with whichever prompt makes you curious or makes you smile, since that spark is usually a good sign. The quick prompts take two to five minutes and work well with your morning coffee or on a lunch break, while the deeper ones near the end deserve twenty minutes or more when you have some quiet. Set a timer and keep your pen moving until it rings, even if you are writing nonsense. If you feel stuck, make the task smaller: write one sentence, list three words, describe one thing you can see, or answer the prompt as a character would. You can also skip a prompt entirely and come back another day.

Questions

Do I need to be a good writer to use creative prompts?

Not at all. These prompts are for play and practice, so messy, odd or unfinished answers count just as much as polished ones. Nobody else needs to read what you write.

What should I do if my mind goes blank?

Write down exactly what you notice, even if it is that you cannot think of anything. Often a plain list of what you can see, hear or remember gets the words moving again within a minute or two.

Can I use these prompts for drawing instead of writing?

Yes. Many of them work just as well as a sketch, a collage or a quick map. Use whatever way of making feels most natural to you that day.

How often should I do a creative prompt?

There is no right schedule. Some people enjoy a quick prompt every morning, and others pick one up on a quiet weekend. A rhythm you can keep without pressure tends to work better than an ambitious one.

Joy

40 prompts