Stop staring at the blank page.
With four different categories—Character, Setting, Event and Challenge—the creative combinations are almost endless. That means the cards stay fresh, whether you use them once a term or every week..
Turn “I don't know what to write” into “What happens next?”
I’m not sure I believe in writer's block – or at least I’d call it something different: blank-page paralysis.
It can happen for all kinds of reasons –
Decision overload
Feeling like every idea you have is predictable
An attack of imposter syndrome because nothing you write will ever be as good as (insert famous author here).
Just detesting the idea of writing anything today.
And I’m sure every English teacher knows this moment:
"Miss... I don't know what to write."
I remember one Year 10 boy who sat staring at a page for nearly twenty minutes.
"I'm just not creative," he finally said.
I knew that wasn’t true – his oral language was great. He really just needed to get over the hurdle of that blank page.
Why I Created Them
For me, one of the hardest parts of teaching creative writing, as a classroom teacher, was getting the students going. During my thirty years in the classroom, I became slightly obsessed with finding better ways to get reluctant writers started.
I collected postcards, bought prompt books, spent hours creating writing starters.
Sometimes I came up with something brilliant in the heat of the moment – and then couldn’t remember it later when I went to write it down.
I filled folders with ideas and bought lots of products. Some worked beautifully. Many didn't: some only worked for individual students, others required lots of preparation, or needed dice, or were impossible to find storage for, or had complicated rules.
Some gave students far too much freedom, while others boxed them in so tightly there was nowhere interesting to go.
When I left teaching and started to work as a writing coach, I realised I still hadn't found exactly what I'd been looking for. Eventually, I realised something.
The problem isn’t a lack of imagination - the problem is making too many creative decisions at once.
We tell students - or ourselves - to "be creative", then start with a blank page and unlimited possibilities. For many of us, that's paralysing. What we actually need isn't more freedom. We need one small place to begin.
I've come to believe that the right constraint doesn't limit creativity.
It unlocks it.
Who are the Creative Writing Prompt Cards For?
Teachers wanting:
Five-minute warm-ups
Group story building
Extension activities
Early finishers
Reluctant writers
Homework
Narrative assessments
Writer's block
Cover lessons
But also:
people returning to writing
people trying to build a daily habit
memoir writers wanting to loosen up
writers' groups
journal writers
anyone stuck halfway through a story
Four kinds of prompt. Thousands of possible stories.
The hardest part of writing is often choosing.
Most people assume creativity means complete freedom.
I've found the opposite.
When we remove every boundary, our brains tend to wander back to the familiar—to the same plots, the same characters and the same comfortable ideas we've used before.
A carefully chosen constraint does something remarkable - it forces us sideways.
But give yourself one intriguing limitation...and suddenly your brain starts solving problems instead of searching for inspiration.
That's why I've come to believe something that sounds completely backwards:
Constraints don't limit creativity. They release it.
They ask us to solve a creative problem, instead of searching endlessly for the perfect idea.
For example:
A character constrained by a scar. Is it physical? Emotional? Visible? Hidden?
Or a setting that is organised.
Immediately your brain starts asking questions: where are we? What does this organisation look like? Who’s organised it? Why? Do all the characters like it this way? Why/why not?
Instead of facing an empty page, you're solving an intriguing puzzle.
And puzzles are surprisingly good at unlocking imagination.
What's included?
Creative Writing Prompt Cards
40 cards
10 Setting
10 Character
10 Event
10 Challenge
free download of ideas
$22 + tax.
