Free Fiction Writing Prompts

Create a detailed character profile for a [GENRE] story.

**Basic Information:**
- Full name and any nicknames (with origin stories)
- Age, physical appearance (distinctive features, how they carry themselves)
- Occupation and socioeconomic status

**Psychology:**
- Core motivation (what they want more than anything)
- Greatest fear (and how it manifests in behavior)
- Fatal flaw that could lead to their downfall
- Secret they've never told anyone
- How they handle conflict (fight, flight, freeze, or fawn)

**Background:**
- Defining childhood moment that shaped them
- Relationship with parents/family
- Their biggest regret
- Happiest memory

**Voice & Mannerisms:**
- Speech patterns (formal, casual, regional dialect)
- Physical habits when nervous/excited/angry
- How others perceive them vs. how they see themselves

**Story Potential:**
- What needs to change for them to grow
- Potential character arc trajectory
- Relationships that could challenge them

**Input:**
- Genre: [INSERT GENRE]
- Role in story: [PROTAGONIST/ANTAGONIST/SUPPORTING]
- Age range: [APPROXIMATE AGE]
- Any specific traits needed: [OPTIONAL REQUIREMENTS]

Generate a character who feels real, complex, and has clear story potential. Include internal contradictions that create interest.

Generate 5 unexpected but well-foreshadowed plot twists for my story.

**My Story Details:**
- Genre: [GENRE]
- Current plot: [BRIEF SUMMARY]
- Main character: [DESCRIPTION]
- Theme I'm exploring: [THEME]
- What readers currently believe: [CURRENT ASSUMPTION]

**For each twist provide:**

1. **The Twist:** Describe what readers will discover

2. **Setup Required:** What subtle hints need to be planted earlier to make this feel earned

3. **Emotional Impact:** How this changes the reader's understanding of what came before

4. **Character Implications:** How this affects the protagonist's journey and relationships

5. **Thematic Resonance:** How this connects to the story's deeper meaning

**Requirements:**
- Twists should feel inevitable in retrospect but surprising in the moment
- Avoid clichés like "it was all a dream" or obvious villain reveals
- Each twist should deepen the story, not just shock
- Consider both plot twists and character revelation twists
- At least one twist should be a positive revelation, not all dark

**Rate each twist:**
- Shock value (1-10)
- Emotional impact (1-10)
- Setup difficulty (easy/medium/hard)
- Risk of feeling cheap (low/medium/high)

Write 5 different opening hooks for my [GENRE] novel.

**Story Details:**
- Genre: [GENRE]
- Protagonist: [BRIEF DESCRIPTION]
- Setting: [TIME/PLACE]
- Central conflict: [MAIN STORY PROBLEM]
- Tone: [DARK, HUMOROUS, LITERARY, FAST-PACED, etc.]

**Each opening hook should:**
- Grab attention within the first line
- Establish voice and tone
- Raise an immediate question in the reader's mind
- Ground us in the world without info-dumping
- Introduce conflict or tension

**Generate 5 different approaches:**

**1. Action Opening**
- Start in the middle of something happening
- Immediate stakes and movement
- Reader asks "what's happening?"

**2. Voice Opening**
- Strong narrative voice that hooks through personality
- Reader is charmed/intrigued by how they tell, not just what
- Character is instantly distinctive

**3. Mystery Opening**
- Raise an intriguing question
- Something is off or unexplained
- Reader must keep going to understand

**4. Image Opening**
- Striking visual that sets mood
- Symbolic of themes to come
- Sensory and immersive

**5. Dialogue Opening**
- Conversation that reveals conflict
- Character dynamics immediately clear
- In medias res through speech

**For each: Write the full opening paragraph (100-150 words) and explain why it works for this story.**

Rewrite this dialogue to make it more authentic and revealing of character.

**Original Dialogue:**
[PASTE YOUR DIALOGUE HERE]

**Character Context:**
- Character A: [NAME, PERSONALITY, WHAT THEY WANT FROM THIS CONVERSATION]
- Character B: [NAME, PERSONALITY, WHAT THEY WANT FROM THIS CONVERSATION]
- Relationship: [HOW THEY KNOW EACH OTHER, ANY TENSION]
- Setting: [WHERE THIS TAKES PLACE, TIME PRESSURE?]
- What's NOT being said: [THE SUBTEXT, SECRETS, FEELINGS]

**Apply these dialogue principles:**

1. People rarely say exactly what they mean
2. Each character should have a distinct voice
3. Subtext is more powerful than text
4. Include speech patterns, interruptions, trailing off
5. Add micro-actions (what characters do while talking)
6. Show power dynamics through who asks questions vs. who answers

**Rewrite the scene with:**
- Enhanced dialogue that shows character through word choice
- Beats and micro-actions between lines
- Subtext beneath the surface conversation
- Distinct voices for each character

**Then provide:**
- An explanation of what each character is REALLY saying beneath their words
- Notes on where the tension/conflict lives in the scene
- Alternative lines if the scene needs more conflict

Create 5 different scene transitions between these two scenes.

**Scene A (ending):**
[DESCRIBE HOW SCENE A ENDS - THE LAST IMAGE, EMOTION, ACTION]

**Scene B (beginning):**
[DESCRIBE WHAT SCENE B NEEDS TO ESTABLISH - NEW LOCATION, TIME JUMP, DIFFERENT POV?]

**Transition needs:**
- Time gap: [MINUTES/HOURS/DAYS/WEEKS]
- Location change: [SAME PLACE/DIFFERENT PLACE]
- POV change: [SAME CHARACTER/DIFFERENT CHARACTER]
- Emotional shift: [FROM WHAT FEELING TO WHAT FEELING]

**Generate 5 transition types:**

**1. Hard Cut**
- End Scene A strong with a definitive image/line
- Start Scene B with contrast or continuation
- The gap does the work

**2. Thematic Bridge**
- Connect scenes through repeated imagery or motif
- End on an image, begin with related image
- Creates unconscious connection

**3. Emotional Continuity**
- Link the feelings between scenes even if content differs
- Character carries emotion across the cut
- Internal state bridges external change

**4. Sensory Transition**
- Use a sense (sound, smell, touch) to connect
- Sound from Scene A carries into Scene B
- Or contrast (silence to noise)

**5. White Space Transition**
- How to use chapter or section breaks effectively
- What to leave out entirely
- Trusting the reader to fill gaps

**For each: Write the last 2-3 lines of Scene A and the first 2-3 lines of Scene B, showing the transition in action.**