Chrys Fey’s 30 Day Writing Challenge

A while ago I was trying to find a writing challenge to complete. I scrounged the internet and found a couple, but was not satisfied with their quality, so I created my own!

The goal of my writing challenge is to give you ideas for future stories and characters, but also to get your creative juices flowing by writing about memories and even wishes. The best thing about my challenge is that there are no guidelines. You can write two sentences, two paragraphs, or two pages; whatever moves you! You don’t even have to do the challenges 30 days in a row. You can do multiple challenges in a single day, one once a week, or pick and choose the ones you want to do. 

Shortened prompts that you can save, use, and share on social media.

1. Start a piece with: “Once upon a time…”

2. Open a book at random and pick a line. Use that line as the beginning of your piece and continue writing from where it leaves off. Pen the first thoughts that come to mind and don’t revise it.

3. If you could go on a vacation anywhere in the world, where would you go? Use vivid details and prose to describe the experience you would like to have.

4. Create a character off the top of your head and write a short history about them.

5. Write about a dream or nightmare that you’ve had. Turn it into a short-short story.

6. Start a piece with: “I am standing at my kitchen window…” (Be creative! Make the piece fit a specific genre such as mystery, horror, romance, etc.)

7. What is your favorite season? Use vivid details and even include memories you have of that season.

8. Pick the title of one of your favorite songs and write a piece about it. Give the lyrics meaning by creating a story for it.

9. You’re sitting in a coffee shop when you look up and see _______. Write a fictional piece about what would happen if you saw a celebrity in a coffee shop. (Humorous/suspenseful)

10. Find something that you wrote a long time ago (published or unpublished) and rewrite the beginning. Give it a different tone.

11. Write a short nonfiction piece about your first job.

12. Turn someone you know and love into a character. Write about them. Give them a fictional life.

13. Describe your dream home as if you are living in it now.

14. Recreate the sentence: “It was a dark and stormy night.” Expand it into a paragraph or two if you are so moved.

15. Write about a memory from your childhood. Good or bad. Give it new life and insight.

16. The next time you are eating, write about the food on your plate or in your bowl. Describe every portion. And as you are eating, write about all the tastes on your tongue.

17. What is your favorite holiday? Write a short-short about a character experiencing that holiday and everything you associate with it.

18. Think of your favorite book growing up. Use the title as inspiration for your next piece. What do you imagine when you read that title? Write a poem or a paragraph.

19. What were you like as a child? Describe little you as you would a character in a book. 

20. What is your sun sign? (Aries, Virgo) Use your sign as inspiration for a character (protagonist or antagonist) or setting (world or made-up town).

21. Go outside. Sit on the porch, in the garden, or at the beach, and write about nature.

22. Create a past life for yourself. Who were you? What did you do?

23. Write a journal entry for your favorite fictional character.

24. If you went on a road trip or cruise, describe the experience you would like to have and places you’d like to see.

25. Theme: Water (Write anything that comes to mind involving water.)

26. What do you imagine the future will be like? Write a short science fiction piece.

27. What is your favorite fairy tale? Give it a new ending.

28. What are you like now? Describe yourself as if you were a character in one of your books.

29. End a piece with: "But that wasn’t the end."

30. Write a letter to your muse. (Dear Muse,)

I hope you have fun with this challenge! Thank you for participating!