5 Creative Writing Prompts for Classroom Use

1) Have the students randomly choose two nouns, two verbs, two adjectives and two adverbs. Write these eight words on the board. Tell the students to use all eight words, along with any other words, in either a poem, an essay or a short story.

2) Hand each student a slip of paper with a single word on it. Have the students write a story working that word into the story somehow. Sample word list: air alligator ball boy cat dog daisy dreadlock elephant eagle frog freedom giraffe gym handcuff horse ice cream igloo jeans jar kite kindergarten love life moon movie nest night ocean oil path palace quiet queen race roof safe spirit taxi tie unhappy ugly vacation vegetable watch whale x-ray yard year zipper zoo

3) Imagine you are alone on a desert island. What would you do? How would you live? Who or what would you miss from home? Write a story or a poem about your adventure.

4) Have each student choose something in the room and then describe it to the best of his or her abilities. Then, if that inanimate item could speak, have the student describe what it would say.

5) Write one short sentence per piece of paper with enough pieces of paper for each person in the class. Have the student who has been handed the sheet of paper first add another sentence. Then rotate the pieces of paper around the room, with each person first reading what others have written and then adding one sentence of their own. Read the results aloud.

Jill L. Ferguson is a writer, editor, public speaker and professor of creative writing, literature and communication. Hundreds of her articles have appeared in print in national magazines and newspapers. Her first novel, Sometimes Art Can't Save You, was published by In Your Face Ink (http://www.inyourfaceink.com) in October 2005.