122+ ‘Sadness’ Writing Prompts
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Moving Miles
Write about a time when you had to move to a new home or a new school and your feelings…
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Understanding the Unfeeling
Imagine an AI developing emotions and write about its struggle to truly grasp human feelings.
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Haunting Nightmares
Dive into the emotions and implications of a nightmare that has significant emotional impact.
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Emotional Archiving
Write about a moment when you felt an emotion particularly strongly, whether it be happiness, anger, sadness, or any other…
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Unveiling Emotions
Write a letter to your favorite fictional character expressing how they make you feel.
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Faded Photographs
Write about a character stumbling upon old photographs, triggering memories of an event that significantly impacted their life.
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Hidden behind Photoframes
Choose a family photograph and craft a narrative around it from your younger self’s perspective.
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The Changing Seasons of Emotions
Describe your emotions as changing seasons. What would each season signify?
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The Feelings Behind My Tears
Write about a time when you cried, detailing the emotions that caused the tears.
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Twilight’s Melancholy
Write a poem or a prose piece describing the emotions evoked by a November twilight.
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Riding the Emotional Wave
Transcribe your emotions into stanzas, beginning with the initial pain and ending with peace or acceptance.
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Lament of the Ghost Lover
Write a timeless sad love story between a ghost and a human who can’t reciprocate their love due to their…
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Powerful Emotions
Write about a time when you felt a strong emotion, such as happiness, sadness, or anger.
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Spectrum of Emotions
Choose five emotions and describe a situation in which you strongly experienced each one.
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The Climate Change Dilemma
Describe your understanding of climate change and the feelings it evokes.
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Broken Engagement
Write about a character who plans to propose on Valentine’s Day, but finds out their partner is in love with…
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The Emotional Spectrum
Write a short story or real-life event from the perspective of each of the five primary emotions: happiness, sadness, fear,…
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Highs and Lows
Think of the happiest and saddest moments in your life. Write about them, detailing the feelings and thoughts associated with…
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A Vow Interrupted
Use this tragedy prompt to tell a story of a wedding ceremony which was dramatically disrupted.
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Holiday Blues and Silver Linings
Discuss how you cope with post-holiday blues and spotlight the little things that help.
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The Final Frost
Write a poem about the feelings you experience when seeing the last frost of winter.
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Melancholy and Moonlight
Reflect on a summer night where you felt a profound sense of sadness or loss.
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Loss and Regeneration
Write about a character who experiences a devastating loss and how they piece their life back together.
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Acceptance and Forgiveness
Write a letter to your broken heart, acknowledging its hurt and voicing forgiveness.
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Colorful Feelings
Choose a color that represents how you’re feeling today and write a story about it.
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The Bouquet’s Tale
Picturize a scenario where an aging bouquet tells the tale of a love that was lost.
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Serendipitous Deception
Write a story where you unintentionally betray someone you care about and the process of making amends.
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The Abandoned Castle
Describe a once glorious but now ruined castle and the magical spirits that inhabit it.
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Bubble of Sadness
Think about an occasion when you were feeling sad and share what was going on and how you managed your…
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Validation of Sadness
Write about a time you felt extremely sad and explain why it’s important to acknowledge these feelings.
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Unseen Stagehand
Explore a scenario where a theater has a ghost that continues to help set up and manage stage performances.
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The Mask We Wear
Imagine and describe an emotion as if it were a mask you could put on and take off.
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The Color of Emotions
Imagine if every emotion had a color. Write a story where characters only communicate through these colors.
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Understanding Sadness
Recall a time when you felt very sad and write about what happened and how you dealt with it.
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Experiencing Emotions
Compose a piece where the narrative voice is heavily influenced by the character’s emotional state.
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The Anguish Antidote
Craft a narrative about a time when you encountered deep sorrow or pain, and how you soothed it.
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Sensory Melancholy
Write a brief tale where the character experiences a deep sense of melancholy triggered by one of their five senses.
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Living With Emotions
Write a personal narrative about a time you felt a strong emotion- it could be joy, anger, sadness, fear, surprise-…
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Quiet Quarantine
Considering the impact of the pandemic, write about a solitary November evening spent in lockdown.
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Winter Melancholy
Write a personal essay on your feelings about winter, whether it’s sadness, loneliness, enjoyment or contentment.
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Utopia of the Careless
Develop a dystopian society where human emotions are deemed as inefficient and thus suppressed.
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Lost and Found
Write a story on how you lost your favorite thing in kindergarten and how you found it.
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Loveletter to a Ghost
Write a love letter to someone who has left, making sure to express all unresolved feelings and unanswered questions.
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Innocent Civilization
Create a short story around a civilization of innocent beings discovering human emotions.
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Mapping Mental Health
Highlight moments when journaling has helped you cope with a stressful situation or difficult emotions.
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Spectral Bloom Garden
Picture a garden where flowers bloom at night, a phenomenon caused by the ghost of a heartbroken gardener.
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Melancholy Tune
Write about your character hearing a song that brings up profound feelings of sadness.
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Hidden Realm of the School Bag
Describe a fantasy world inside a kid’s school bag where all forgotten stationery items come to life.
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Blight’s End: The Aftermath
Narrate the immediate aftermath of a Blight’s end from the viewpoint of a commoner.
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The Rejection Letter
Write a letter to the person or group that rejected you, expressing your feelings honestly yet respectfully.
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Living with Chronic Illness
Describe how your daily life has changed since you were diagnosed and what challenges you face regularly.
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Echo Chamber
Write about a situation when you tried to suppress a negative emotion and ended up making it worse.
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Journey of Emotions
Describe a single emotion as a journey, including its high and low points, obstacles and rewards.
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Faces Behind the Anger
Describe a time you felt angry and try to pinpoint the underlying emotions behind this anger.
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Healing Letters
Write a letter to someone who has hurt you, describing your feelings, but that you never intend to send.
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Empowered Emotion Inventory
Document your recent emotional highs and lows and analyze what influenced these feelings.
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Pouring the Heart Out
Write a letter to a person or situation that has caused you distress without any limitation.
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Emotions and The Body
Identify three emotions you’ve felt recently, and write about how each one physically manifests in your body and influences your…
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Palace of Positivity
Write about a time or place wherein despite your sadness, you found a ray of hope.
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Unmasking the Blues
Find a piece of art, a song, or a film that evokes your current feelings of sadness and delve into…
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Embracing the Downpour
Write about a time when it was raining a lot and you found something comforting in it.
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Aura of Sadness
Write about the onset of your depression, visualizing it as a cloud, heavy rain, or a fog settling in.
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Finding Light in the Dark
Pick a time in your life when you felt overwhelmingly unhappy, but now can see a positive aspect or outcome…
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Mapping Your Emotions
Create an emotional map of a typical day, detailing the moments that elicit any strong feelings in you.
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Mapping Emotional Landscapes
Create a visual or descriptive map of your emotions you experience throughout a typical day.
