Some mystery writing prompts that you can try:
- A small town vanishes without a trace—almost. Write about the journalist who discovers the one remaining clue and decides to follow it.
- An office party takes a dark turn when the company president is found dead, and the eccentric attendees become prime suspects.
- Start your story during a full moon night.
- A housebound individual begins observing their neighbors through a window to pass the time. One day, they notice something suspicious.
- Write a story where someone sees the shadow of someone standing behind them.
Use Quillbot’s Grammar Checker to polish your prose and heighten the suspense in your mystery.
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Some creative writing prompts for journaling that you can try:
- Write a letter to your future self.
- Recount a time when you faced failure.
- What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
- Finish this sentence: “My life would be incomplete without …”
- What difficult thoughts or emotions come up most frequently for you?
Having trouble putting your thoughts into words? Quillbot’s Paraphraser can help you refine your letter to your future self.
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Here are some writing prompts to give you ideas about your next poem:
- Write a poem that uses the abecedarian format. Begin each line or stanza with the first letter of the alphabet and continue with the next letter until the final one is reached.
- Write a haiku about your favorite season.
- Pick a book and circle some random words on the page without thinking too much about it. Use those words to write a poem.
- Write a poem about numbers that have special meaning to you.
Want your lines to flow flawlessly? Quillbot’s Grammar Checker can help so that your syllables shine without errors.
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Below are some writing prompts to get you started with your next short story:
- Think of an event from your life. Write about what happened to you, but from the perspective of someone else who was also there.
- Pick your favorite story or fairytale from your childhood. Rewrite it with an alternative ending.
- A middle-aged woman discovers a ghost in her bathroom.
- Write a story that includes a character wearing a disguise or costume.
Use Quillbot’s Grammar Checker tool to ensure your story reads as smoothly as it unfolds.
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Spring writing prompts can be used as daily journal entries or creative writing prompts at school or home. Here are some examples:
- Write about the perfect spring day. What would the weather be like? Where would you go? What would you do?
- Would you rather go to the beach or the mountains for Spring Break? Give 3 reasons for your choice.
- If you were a flower, what kind would you be? Why?
- List 5 things that you can do in spring that you can’t do in winter.
- Imagine you are in charge of a school or community garden. What plants would you grow? Why?
- A lot of people like to do “spring cleaning.” What is your least favorite chore to do? Why?
You could also choose a spring quote and reflect on what it means to you.
Looking for even more spring writing prompts? Give QuillBot’s free writing prompt generator a try.
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The lines below are an example of a stanza. In Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare, the final two lines form a couplet, which is a two-line stanza:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
A stanza is a group of lines that forms the basic unit of a poem. In a sonnet, there are typically four stanzas: three quatrains (four-line stanzas) and a concluding couplet, like the one shown here.
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The length of a stanza can vary as there is no set rule for it in poetry. It depends on the poem’s form and style, and the poet’s intention. A short stanza might consist of just two lines (called a couplet), while a longer stanza, such as those found in epic poetry, can span ten or even twenty lines.
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The word “strophe” is often used as a synonym for stanza to describe a collection of lines that function as a unit in a poem.
In poems with consistent line lengths and regular metrical patterns, “stanza” and “strophe” can be used interchangeably. However, “strophe” is the preferable term for poems that are written in free verse and do not have a regular meter, rhyme scheme, or a consistent set of lines.
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A characteristic of iambic pentameter in Sonnet 29 by William Shakespeare is the number and pattern of stressed or accented syllables in most lines. Each line typically contains 10 syllables, alternating between an unstressed and a stressed one. For example, “That then I scorn to change my state with kings.” While most of the sonnet is written in iambic pentameter, there are some variations, including instances of trochaic meter.
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An unrhymed iambic pentameter is called “blank verse.” The term describes poems that do not rhyme but follow an iambic pentameter pattern: Each line comprises five pairs of syllables alternating between an unstressed and a stressed syllable. The most famous example of a poem written in blank verse is Paradise Lost by John Milton.
Continue reading: What is an unrhymed iambic pentameter?