295+ ‘Essence’ Writing Prompts
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Essence Extraction
Imagine a procedure to extract the essence of a person before they become a zombie, to be reinserted once a cure is found.
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Global Celebration Canvas
Explore a global festival celebrated in February and imagine creating an artistic masterpiece inspired by it.
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Expressions of Affection
Explore how Valentine’s Day phrases and expressions of affection would translate into various languages.
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Translating Love
Write a love letter as if you’re a language translator, attempting to capture the essence of Valentine’s day in a language different from your own.
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Retracing Steps
Write about significant places you visited or frequented with your loved one and how each location plays a part in your memory of them.
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Streams of Memories
Write a monologue where an elderly character is reminiscing about their past, recalling both painful and joyous moments.
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Bridging Relationships
Narrate an incident where a relationship in your life underwent a significant shift or transformation.
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Final Stand
Write about a beleaguered group of warriors making their final stand against a much stronger enemy.
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Christmas Wish come true
Generate a story about a lonely individual who writes to Santa wishing for love, only to have their love interest come into their lives.
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Digging the Depths of Experience
Write about an event where you took a meaningful risk, and explore the impact it had.
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Couture Calamity
Describe the unique signature style of your villain that is tied deeply to the chaos they bring.
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Character Collage
Create a collage using various materials that represents a character in a novel or story, then write an in-depth character analysis.
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Show and Tell
Bring an object that is meaningful to you, create a drawing of it, and write a descriptive piece about the object.
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The Gritty Core
Write about an experience that was remarkably difficult, focusing on how this experience shaped your character.
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The Non-Materialistic Proposal
Imagine a Valentine’s Day proposal without any materialistic elements like a ring or fancy dinner.
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The Role of St. Valentine
Write about the role St. Valentine played in the creation of this holiday.
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True Essence of Love
Describe what you think is the deeper meaning of Valentine’s day and the expression of love.
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Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained
Write a fictional piece depicting a dystopian future if Earth Day’s purposes are ignored, and a contrasting utopia where they are embraced.
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The Beauty of Differences
Write about experiencing a cultural tradition foreign to your own and how that has shaped your view of the world.
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Finding Friendship
Turn Emily Dickinson’s ‘The Soul selects her own Society’ into a story about friendship.
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Shakespeare Reimagined
Translate Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 (Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?) into a modern-day love story.
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Autumnal Reflections
Narrate your personal transition from fall to winter as mirrored by the natural transformation in November.
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Political Conspiracy
Craft a tale about a mysterious political conspiracy that shakes the very heart of a nation.
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Forest Visionary
Imagine you’re an artist or a poet, trying to capture the essence of spring in a thriving thicket.
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Hyperreal Dreams
Pen a story revolving around a character who cannot distinguish their nightmarish dreams from reality.
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Essence of Identity
Create a narrative about an invisible superhero who loses their invisibility suddenly.
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Eerie Echoes of Tomorrow
Conjure up a dystopian future where technology has advanced beyond human control.
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Reversed Roles
Write a story where the traditional roles are reversed – the humans are the monsters and the ‘monster’ is the innocent creature.
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The Art of Solace
Imagine a quiet place that provides you comfort, now describe how it feels to let go there.
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The Art of Thoughtful Gift Giving
Write about the process of choosing a thoughtful gift for someone special and the joy derived from it.
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Taste of Radiant Summer
Describe your favorite summer meal, focusing on how it perfectly encapsulates the season.
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The Easter Market Frenzy
Create an opinion-based article on the commercial hype surrounding Easter, contrasted with its religious importance.
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Essence of an Era
Choose a historical event or period you find engaging. Write a flash fiction piece that captures its essence within just a few hundred words.
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A Thousand Words
Write a piece based on a photograph or painting, capturing the essence of the subject, the emotions they evoke, and their potential backstory.
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Journey Through Time
Imagine navigating various epochs of human history with the aid of a time machine.
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Snap of Change
Write a flash fiction piece about a pivotal moment that drastically changes a character’s worldview.
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Time-Stranded Wilderness
Narrate a story about a modern individual who surprisingly wakes up in a prehistoric era.
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Lost Prophecy
The superhero discovers a prophecy suggesting the Apocalypse was necessary for a better world.
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Unexpected Alliance
Write a story where two or more superheroes from different universes have to team up to stop a common enemy.
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The Old Inventor’s Secret
Imagine a story about a revered inventor who hides a dark secret behind his most laudable creation.
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The Shape-Shifter Healer
Write a story where a shape-shifter uses his/her ability to transform and mimic to heal others.
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From Loss to Victory
Write a story about a team that constantly loses but finally wins a game against all odds.
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Unseen World
Describe a world where humans have evolved to perceive reality differently, and how daily life adapts to this new perception.
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Sculpting My Values
List your values in the order of their importance, and describe the pivotal moments that shaped them.
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November Ballad
Imagine you are a musician tasked to compose a song that encapsulates the spirit of November. Describe the process.
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Lost in Translation
Write about a time when a language barrier created a hilarious misunderstanding.
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Alien Yuletide Encounter
A curious alien entity visits Earth for the first time and experiences the unique phenomenon of Christmas firsthand.
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Christmas on Mars
The first colony on Mars is celebrating their first Christmas. Describe their struggles and how they commemorate the day.
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The Alien Companion
Create a story around a human and alien figure falling in love, amidst all their differences.
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Quantum Souls
Write a story where scientists have discovered that every soul is unique due to a quantum signature, and they’ve figured out how to clone souls.
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Adventures in Pastime Paradise
Record an exciting, thrilling or even risky childhood hobby and the purest emotions you experienced during it.
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Santa’s Apprentice
Imagine being chosen as Santa Claus’ apprentice. How would your vision and practices differ from the man in red?
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A Modern Marley’s Warning
Write a 21st-century version of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”, focusing on the haunting visits Marley and the Christmas spirits pay to Scrooge.
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The Christmas We Forgot
Write a story about how Christmas got cancelled one year causing all Christmas movies to be deleted. How do people reclaim their lost Christmas spirit?
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First Time Pumpkin Picker
Write a heartfelt story from the viewpoint of a child visiting a pumpkin patch for the first time.
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Overcoming November’s Gloom
Create a quote about finding joy and positivity amidst the typical gloomy weather of November.
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Autumn End
Reflect on the quote, “November is the last month of autumn, but the beginning of a new adventure.”
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Alien Anthropologists
Write from the perspective of an extraterrestrial anthropologist studying the humans on Earth.
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Are We Too Dependent on Technology?
Present your argument on whether or not society is too dependent on technology.
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Winter Nights Under Blankets
Narrate an experience about curling up on a winter’s evening with your favorite book or movie.
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Love Letters from the Afterlife
Imagine a widow getting love letters, posthumously penned by her departed husband.
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The Jade Emperor’s Decree
Write a story about an order from the Jade Emperor during an ancient Chinese dynasty that changed the course of history.
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Survivor’s Settlement
Detail a makeshift settlement of human survivors. Paint a picture of how they have reconstructed society in a post-apocalyptic world.
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Blood-inked Verse
Create a story centered around a vampire poet who bleeds on his parchment to create poems.
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Visual Poetry
Choose a scene from your favorite place and pen a poem capturing its essence and beauty.
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Underneath the Prairie Sky
Write a letter from the perspective of a homesteader on the prairie to their family back home.
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Emerald Isle Encounters
Pen a poem capturing the essence and beauty of the diverse landscapes in Ireland.
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The Age of Robots
Imagine that robots perform everything that humans currently do. How does your day in this future unfold?
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October in Absentia
A challenge to imagine and describe October to someone who has never experienced it.
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Autumn Essence
Compose a poem capturing the myriad hues and feelings elicited by the arrival of October.
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Invent a Holiday
Imagine you have been given a chance to invent a new holiday. Write about what it would celebrate, when and how it would be observed.
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“Embracing Autumn”
Compose a poem that encapsulates the essence of November in its full autumn glory.
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Secrets of the Necropoli
Imagine discovering an ancient library hidden deep beneath a necropolis that swarms with secrets of long-dead necromancers.
