September 2020 Writing Challenge Prompts

This series of September 2020 Writing Challenge prompts is inspired by the challenge hosted last month by @ryan.ewing.writing on Instagram.  I liked using it to get to know my characters and develop my understanding of how they would react in surprising circumstances.

Don’t forget to check out the August 2020 Writing Challenge Responses for Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, and Week 4, and Week 5 blog posts.

The following writing prompts are for creative writing and character development for your fiction work in progress. If you are looking for a different type of prompt, try the Self-Care September Journal Prompts, where there are 30 daily prompts for stress relief and mindfulness.

Week 1

1.Who do your MCs view as teachers or mentor figures? Why?

2. Your MC’s house is burning down and they only have time to grab two things.  What do they grab?

3. What pet would your MCs adopt? Why?

4. Your MCs have the chance to learn one skill. What do they choose to learn? Why?

 5.Your MCs carry a small trinket with them. What is it and how did they get it?

Week 2

 6.Write a scene: Your MCs and their mentor get in an argument.

 7.What historical figures (in reality or in your story) do your MCs admire? Why?

8. Your MCs encounter a herd of a legendary species long thought to have been hunted out of existence.  What do they do?

 9.How would your MCs react to finding out they’d passed an important test or challenge?

 10.Write a Scene:  Your MCs are stuck inside on a rainy day and someone knocks on the door.

11. How would your MCs escape from prison?

 12.Who would challenge your MCs to a fight or duel? Why?

Week 3

 13.Your MCs encounter a downed Starship.  What do they do?

 14.What would your MCs do during an invasion by a foreign country?

 15.Write a Scene:  Your MCs are required to attend a dance or school function.

 16.How would your MCs react to traveling on a sailboat?

 17.Your MCs encounter a conflict between protesters and police. What do they do?

 18.If your MCs could choose to receive a message from one dead person, who would it be, and why?

19.How would your MCs react to waking up in the middle of the forest with nothing but their normal clothes and what they carry on their person?

Week 4

20. Write a Scene: Your MCs have the perfect opportunity to take revenge on a bully.

 21.Your MCs see someone steal and swap packages with an unwary bystander.  How do they react?

 22.If your MCs became teachers or instructors, what subject would they teach?

23. Your MCs have the chance to erase one memory from their minds.  What memory would it be and would they erase it?

 24.What are your MCs most afraid of? How would they react this fear being revealed to an enemy?

25. Write a Scene: Your MCs have to move residences with very short notice.

 26.Your MCs just found out they have a new allergy. What are they allergic to?

Week 5

 27.Your MCs were invited to shadow a detective for a day.  What do they learn?

 28.How do your MCs react to their plans for the day being disrupted?

 29.What is your MCs favorite holiday? Why?

 30..Write a Scene: The moment Your MCs realize their lives have changed forever.

These are the 30 prompts for creative writing and getting to know your characters a bit more. Please check remember to check out the Self-Care September Journal Prompts as well.