Are you looking for a fun creative writing story prompt? Here’s a tried and tested one, with an example of how it’s done.

This is an exercise we’ve done a few times at the Young Writers Group.

It involves looking through the books on your shelf. You take the first line of one story and the last line of another. The task is, to write a story, or compose a piece of writing, that fits between these two lines.

Here’s one example of how to use a story prompt like this..

First line: Carrie had always dreamed about coming back.
Last line: Not till the swallows fly.

This is the resulting piece of writing written by Ellen, aged 10:

Carrie had always dreamed about coming back. She loved the farm, especially the old barn because every year, the swallows came and nested in it. With their glorious blue, red and white plumage, Carrie loved watching them. But this time the swallows didn’t come. A few weeks went by, but still they did not turn up. Finally, they came and they were beautiful.

As always, they laid eggs and had chicks, but by the time it came to fledging, the chicks didn’t fly. That’s odd, thought Carrie. These swallows should be gone by now.

After what seemed like forever (which was in fact only three days), the chicks hadn’t fledged. As the summer flew by, Carrie became more and more anxious for the chicks. It was the last day at the farm and Carrie didn’t want to leave.

“It’s time to go, Carrie,” said her mother.
“Not yet,” she replied. “Not till the swallows fly.”

Try it for yourself. It’s challenging because you’re setting paramters for your writing, which you need to stick to if you’re going to make it work. What I find by doing this, however, is that those paramters provide a focus, which works well for children, particularly those who find writing a struggle.

For other creative writing prompts, please refer to the blog.