If you’re feeling tired and out of writing inspiration in the run-up to Christmas, or you have a craving to write a new story but can’t seem to get started with anything, feel free to take one of my Christmas writing prompts and turn it into a competition winning story for the new year (please tell me if you do win a competition, I’d be so excited about that).
I sometimes draw a blank on a plot when I’m trying to think of ideas for short stories and flash fiction. Writing prompts can give me fuel for a new piece of work that I otherwise would not have written. So if you are anything like me, here’s a list of writing prompts I’ve drawn up to help.
I also get shiny-object syndrome for new novel ideas when reading writing prompts. Which isn’t always a bad thing! I hope these get your festive creativity fired up and you get some heart-warming words down before the last weeks of the year are over.
Merry Christmas!
Christmas Writing Prompts
- Over the Christmas holidays, a robin watches through a cottage window and tells the story of the couple within.
- All Emma wants for Christmas is a designer handbag. When she inadvertently befriends a homeless person outside her local supermarket, she discovers the real meaning of Christmas.
- A child wakes at night and finds Santa drunk and miserable on her sofa. Can she save Christmas?
- Tell the story from the point of view of a Christmas tree that comes out of the attic every year and witnesses 40 years of one family’s Christmas.
- A mysterious Christmas card arrives for Jon’s wife. What he discovers changes things forever.
- Irene reluctantly goes home for Christmas every year. This year, when she arrives home she finds her parent’s house empty and up for sale.
- A work Christmas party almost ruins two marriages through accident and misunderstanding.
- Sonny has the best Christmas day he’s ever had – by spending it alone and away from his family.
- Nelly’s heart is broken. When her ex comes back at Christmas she finally realises she can move on without him.
- A mother is in chaos getting everything done in the 24 hours leading up to Christmas day, but she feels love, pride, and relief when she manages to pull it off successfully.
- A purse left on the bus on Christmas Eve brings together two people who would never have otherwise met.
- Ella hates Christmas, but after a snowstorm and a 24-hour powercut she makes friends with her quiet neighbour and it changes the way she sees Christmas forever.
- After snowfall, Graham’s garden reveals a strange impression in the snow. He checks his security camera and can’t believe what he sees.
- Denise receives a parcel containing a gift. When she unwraps it, she finds an old book of spells and no message.
- Annie goes to a Christmas party and bumps into someone who knows a secret from her past.
- Two lone survivors of the apocalypse celebrate Christmas Day together and share Christmas Day stories from their wildly different lives before the end of the world.
- Derek buys the last bedraggled rabbit in the pet shop on Christmas Eve on the spur of the moment, so he doesn’t have to spend Christmas completely alone. When he gets home he is shocked to discover the rabbit is a genie who will grant him three wishes.
- Erica runs a bar. On Christmas day she has only three customers. They each tell her their story and why they have nowhere else to go.
- Louise has to spend Christmas Eve in a foreign city after her flight home is cancelled due to bad weather. She meets a fellow passenger at the hotel and they discover they have a childhood connection.
- Marta bumps into her ex-husband while Christmas shopping. Things have changed dramatically for them both. They end up having dinner together.
I hope you found something to get you writing. I would love to turn every one of these into flash fiction in the new year. Perhaps something to add to my New Year Resolution’s list.
Keep on writing!
