first lines for creative writing

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60+ First Line Writing Prompts

Did you know that the opening line of a story is one of the hardest parts of writing a great book? Spark your imagination with these 100+first line writing prompts for all ages! These simple one-liners are the perfect way to get those creative juices flowing and find inspiration for your next big short story or flash fiction . 

We have a mix of first-line writing prompts, ranging from fantasy prompts to non-fictional and realistic events. As well as prompts written in the first and third-person view. The one-line writing prompts in this post are a great way to challenge yourself to write something new. In fact, you can even set yourself a challenge to write at least 300 words every day for each of these cool prompts!

60+ Random First Line Writing Prompts

Here are over 60 one-line opening sentences to help you write your next big story:

•  “Er… I hate this song. Why is it always playing on the radio?”
• Every story has a hero and I’m the hero of this one.
• Thunder rattled outside, as Emily tossed and turned trying to sleep.
• Life wasn’t great at all for Mr Pea. It wasn’t even mildly good. 
• They keep calling me “special”, but what’s so special about me?
• Gavin was always getting the best presents. For once I wish I could be like him.
• Balloons popping, confetti dropping and food flying. That’s how Katie spent her birthday each year. 
• Every night, Peter went out to save the world in his own little way. 
• If dogs could speak, then Spike would be thanking Chris right now.
•  Money is everything. 
•  Was it really Jane’s fault?
•  Every day the same thing keeps happening.
•  For the first time in her life, Janie felt powerful.
•  5 AM and still no phone call.
•  Mom’s always telling me to come straight home. 
•  There’s an old legend that talks about magical fairies living in the forest. 
•  Snow fell, as Clarissa made her way home.
•  After the accident, Nelson never felt safe again.
•  Katie’s living the dream up in the hills of Hollywood.
•  The world seemed like such a big place, until the recent discovery in Antarctica. 
•  “Dear diary, today I learned something about myself…” Katie mumbled to herself. 
•  Blinded by a bright light outside his window, Jake jumped up in horror.
•  Sitting at his computer, Martin noticed something odd about his favourite computer game.
•  Rain trembled down the window, as the car radio played in the background. 
•  “Ready or not, here I come!” shouted Millie in the distance. 
• Once upon a time, there lived a young prince with extraordinary powers. 
•  James had it all, but still, it was not enough.
•  Her red hair glistened in the sun, as she walked across the car park. 
•  Mel was always haunted by her dreams. 
•  “Shhhh! It’s your turn now” whispered Kelly. 
•  The room was a dump, as Jack frantically searched every corner. 
•  This time daddy brought a strange teddy bear home.
•  There’s no cure for a beast like me. 
•  People ran inside their homes, as the alarm rang. 
•  Tracking through the woods, Christian found something strange. 
•  Home. What is home anyway?
•  Legend says that if you breathe in and out ten times in front of a mirror something strange happens.
•  Tick… tock… tick… tock… time was going so slow. 
•  The pain was too much, he had to leave right now.
•  Slipping out of reach, she lost it forever.
•  Money, clothes, food, everything you need for a quick getaway. 
•  In the faraway kingdom of Rainbow Popsicles, everything was sweet, apart from one strange-looking thing. 
•  In the damp streets of Manhattan, there lived a fierce little cat. 
•  Being the ‘odd one out’, the ‘weird’ one wasn’t fun at all.
•  “Ahhhhhhhhhhh!” Shelly screamed in her sleep.
•  Some say the number 7 is unlucky, but to me, it wasn’t.
•  Every Saturday, Joe went to his Grandma’s house, but something was very different this week. 
•  Chores, chores and more chores.
•  For once I wish I could get my way.
•  The sun shone brightly on Oakland farm, but not all was bright.
•  “I got one! I got one!” shrieked Sally, jumping up and down in excitement.
•  She was everything I wanted to be and more. 
•   The same words over and over again scattered all over the floor. 
•  The scariest creatures lived deep in the forest where no-one ever went. 
•  “Abra Kadabra, turn these ripped trainers into the fastest trainers in the world!” exclaimed Victor. 
•  The desert-like sun burned his skin as he lay scorching in the sand. 
•  The sound of rustling leaves turned George’s heart to stone. 
•  Sunny Slimeville was just a normal town with a funny name. 
•  The phone did not stop ringing all week.
•  Another tea party, another game. 
•  How’s a country girl like me ever going to survive the big city?
•  Did you know that not all zombies eat brains?

How To Use These One-Line Writing Prompts

There are a number of ways you can use these first-line writing prompts to inspire your story writing , such as:

• Pick one of the opening sentences and free-write for at least 60 seconds. Don’t stop to think, just keep on writing whatever comes to mind! 
• Don’t keep skipping through all of the prompts above. Challenge yourself and give the ‘hard’ or ‘boring’ ones a go! You never know how they’ll inspire you unless you give them a go. 
• Feel free to adapt these first-line writing prompts in any way you like. You can change the character names, point of view and any other details you feel like.
• Explore your imagination. Don’t be afraid to add more characters, add conflict, add dialogue , add anything you like to really have fun with these prompts!

For more inspiration, check out this list of over 150 story starters . Now go and choose an opening sentence from the above list! And if it inspires you to write something cool, let us know in the comments! You can even publish your story online – Just sign-up to create your free account .

Marty the wizard is the master of Imagine Forest. When he's not reading a ton of books or writing some of his own tales, he loves to be surrounded by the magical creatures that live in Imagine Forest. While living in his tree house he has devoted his time to helping children around the world with their writing skills and creativity.

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First Line Generator: 100+ First Sentences to Spark Creativity

• She had never known that a human body could twist into that position.
• The bookcases tilted at a precarious angle over the sleeping infant.
• He was a brave man except when it came to small, tight spaces like the tunnel in front of him.
• The rich couple was never generous, with their time or with their compliments.
• Richard Garlong Champion III believed that though he had never ridden a horse, it would come naturally to him.
• After his seven children had gone to sleep, the father piled the ten puppies into a sack and drown them in the river, but one managed to escape.
• The young couple, who’d just gotten engaged ten minutes earlier, didn’t think the hot air balloon was supposed to make a hissing sound.
• He thought he was the bully online, until a message popped up on his screen one night.
• If her husband had believed her when she said she was getting migraines every day, maybe she wouldn’t have left him.
• She got drunk even before the food arrived.
• He got her alone in his car on the darkened street.
• Everyone said that Amelie was a genius, but Albert never expected what she did one day at school.
• One flashlight flash meant danger, two flashes meant it was safe; but she saw three flashes that night from beyond the bog, and they had never talked about what three flashes meant.
• The new boy liked making tiny little origami weapons — swords, spears, axes — and leaving them on his desk for the next class to find.
• 78 wasn’t very different than 77, Earl was discovering the day after his birthday.
• He would have married her all over again for their ten year anniversary, at least until the morning he discovered the emails between her and his colleague at work.
• I don’t want to work, ever, I don’t want to study, and I refuse to play this little life game that you all have set up for me.
• The best part of hating life is that nobody ever calls you an optimist.
• I wanted to be a winner, and that meant I was willing to cheat. 

[Writer’s note: I used to have 120 sentences, and a computer error erased them. Please be patient — I will rebuild them again.]

Stuck in a writing rut? Or just want to write something outside your normal genre?

This first line generator provides you with hundreds of first sentences to rev up your imagination.

What kind of creative writing prompts are these?

• These first line prompts are written in the 3rd person
• They are mostly realistic, not fantastical
• They are 100% original to Bookfox

Every single one of these first lines should provide you with the energy to create some amazing stories.

4 Ways to Get the Most out of this First Line Generator:

• Write as fast as you can without thinking. Go with the first ideas that come to you.
• If you look at more than twenty, you can start to become a writing tourist, skipping through ideas for the fun of it rather than settling down and committing to just one. Don’t just window shop. Buy one and play with it.
• Do you want the main character to be a woman or a girl instead of a man? Change it. Do you want the tense to be different? Change it. Do you want the location to be different? Change it.

• photo writing prompts
• musical prompts
• creative nonfiction prompts
• first line generators

If you end up writing something from one of these writing prompts, please leave a comment below on which first line gave you the inspiration. And certainly if you end up publishing something based on one of these prompts, let us know in the comment section so we can all congratulate you with some hearty electronic pats on the back.

Co-Authors:

Cassandra Hsiao is a rising senior at OCSA (Orange County School of the Arts). Her work has been nationally recognized by the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards and National Student Poets Program. She has been chosen as finalists of national playwriting competitions held by The Blank Theatre, Writopia Labs, and Princeton University. Her poetry, essays and reviews have appeared in The Los Angeles Times, TeenReads, Jet Fuel Review, Feminine Inquiry, Aerie International and more. She also conducts print and on-camera interviews as a Star Reporter and Film Critic for multiple online outlets.

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11 comments

Really Helpful. Thanks a lot for these.

THIS WEBSITE IS AWESOME!

I think the generator doesn’t work anymore 🙁

yeah. ii didn’t find anything that would work either.

My English professor posted this as an aid for our “short short” assignment. I’ve tried to open it using 2 separate browsers and it hasn’t worked for either. Think something is wrong with the generator, would have been very helpful though!:)

I loved the way you wrote #19. I might use it.

nothing really sparked for me but they are awesome!

i do this stuff naturally XD i cant believe i do this kind of stuff like just write and don’t think naturally but my biggest problem is creating the first scene , I’ve got the characters, the will and happiness to write but where do is start? i cant start in the middle of a fight because i want to first grow the characters as in why he will jump in front of her to save her life from the thundering bullets . what is their relationship . i rewrite some times , i sometimes even put myself on a cliff hanger .

It was good and my book is almost ready!

Every writer NEEDS this book.

It’s a guide to writing the pivotal moments of your novel.

Whether writing your book or revising it, this will be the most helpful book you’ll ever buy.

50 Creative One-sentence Writing Prompts That Will Make You Want To Write

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Need a few great first lines to get the ball rolling on your next story? Each of these one-sentence writing prompts gives you an opening sentence that hooks readers from the beginning. Have fun with these creative ideas as you craft your next short story or novel.

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. If you click one of these links and make a purchase, we may receive a commission. This commission is paid by the retailer, not by you. Learn more .

Why Use Story Starters in Your Creative Writing Process?

You need a spark of inspiration.

Sometimes, coming up with short story ideas feels overwhelming. Maybe you have an assignment due and you don’t know where to start or perhaps you’re looking to write a little at the end of a long day but your creative juices have dried up. Perhaps you have a standard case of writer’s block.

Creative writing prompts with sentence starters or first lines help you overcome these challenges. Without forcing you into a certain direction, they give your story an interesting starting point. They are the kindle you use to start the fire, but tending it is up to you. Fifty people could take the exact same writing prompt and run with it in different directions, and we’d end up with fifty completely different short stories.

As you read through the list of one-line writing prompts below, don’t overthink it. Pick the one that stands out to you the most, the one that instantly inspires a dozen questions in your mind.

For example, if you read the first one-sentence writing prompt below, The message inside the fortune cookie, which contained only four words, has become my fate, you immediately wonder things like who ate the cookie? where did they get it? who was it intended for? what were the four words? how did they become his/her fate?

If a first line turns you into an interrogator, you know you’ve found an idea worth exploring.

If you still have writer’s block and need some more inspiration, read these narrative sentence examples for suggestions on how to write compelling sentences that develop character, settings, themes, plots, an conflict.

You Want to Try Something Different

Writers often get stuck in ruts. We find a formula that works for us and we repeat it. This can be great for meeting deadlines or selling stories, but it can also be limiting and boring. An occasional venture outside our comfort zones expands us as writers, exposes us to styles and storylines we might not normally pursue, and lets us play around with unfamiliar concepts.

If you’ve never explored science fiction or fantasy before, you might choose a story starter that offers an escape from reality. Or maybe you want a contemporary setting with just a touch of modern realism. Or, conversely, if you’re used to creating complex fictional worlds and magic systems, a realistic setting with a main character who’s just gotten some bad news could be out-of-the-box for you. You may even want to try your hand at writing a melancholy love story with our sad romance writing prompts .

You’re Not a Planner—Or You Need a Break from Being a Planner

I confess: I’m a serial planner. ( This is my go-to guide for novel planning. ) The notes I make before writing a book usually come close to matching the book in length. I like to know everything before I ever write a single word. (This level of planning is probably also a form of productive procrastination).

Planning is helpful, but sometimes it feels like a barrier too. Planners can feel like they can’t write a story unless they’ve done all the planning, and if they don’t have the time or inspiration for the planning, they don’t write. It’s a convenient excuse, but it gets us nowhere.

For extreme planners like me, one-sentence writing prompts permit us to write without a plan. We’re not trying to come up with the best way to lay the scene for the coming action or set the stage for character development. We’re parachuting into the middle of the action and it’s sink or swim.

Those questions we talked about a moment ago? The ones generated by the first sentence? They’re in charge here. They’re calling the shots. Instead of carefully mapping out a series of plot points, we need to figure out the answers to those questions and reveal them to the reader in the most tantalizing way possible.

The questions—and their answers—will take us where they want to go, not the other way around.

I’m not saying this method will make us leave plotting behind for good—perish the thought!—but it does allow us to tackle our writing from a different angle, an experience that will only sharpen our writing skills.

50 One-Sentence Writing Prompts

• The message inside the fortune cookie, which contained only four words, has become my fate.
• I’ve walked by that old house hundreds of times in the past two years, but today was the first time I caught the little girl watching me from the window.
• Just when I thought my life couldn’t get any more complicated, my mother decided to open her new business—a coffee shop—in our living room.
• My little sister thought she’d found the best hiding place in the house…until she realized it wasn’t exactly part of the house.
• Susan hadn’t expected the hot air balloon to be filled with two dozen baby animals, but when your great uncle sends you a modern-day ark, you roll with it.
• When I heard that familiar jingle coming down the street, I assumed it was the ice cream truck; I never knew they had mobile deliveries of those.
• The cruise ship was supposed to be the setting for the perfect vacation, and it was—until that stupid movie star showed up and decided we were all going to be part of her game.
• The first step in surviving middle school is easy—always be prepared—but the second rule? That’s not so simple.
• Confused and disappointed, Marcus tossed aside the photo album his mom gave him for his birthday but when voices started coming out of it, he decided to pay attention.
• “Don’t look at me, I thought we were going for tacos.”
• Late for work, I throw open the front door and find myself face-to-face with a UPS driver standing next to the biggest box I’ve ever seen.
• You know that dream where you’ve gone back in time and you’re reliving the craziest moment of your entire life?—I’m living it.
• The house shook with a violent surge like a hurricane had whipped right through it and, just as suddenly, was still.
• We danced until the sun went down and the floor gave way beneath our feet.
• Professor Soto said the assignment would be easy; he never mentioned we’d have to do it on a roller coaster.
• The old man in the seat next to me on the train speaks loudly on his cell phone; I’m pretty sure he wasn’t supposed to let that information out.
• Joanna’s favorite band is playing a sold-out show tonight but thankfully, she’s figured out a way to get in.
• When Jaden and his best friend took the blank page out of the notebook and drew their map of Ancient Egypt on it, they had no idea of the chain of events they’d set in motion.
• “Pick a number, any number,” she said, her voice a taunt, “And I’ll show you your future self.”
• Constance was planting daffodil bulbs in her flower bed when her trowel struck a most unusual object in the soil.
• “In other news,” Zach leans over and whispers to Marie, “they’re expecting you to go up on stage and resign in about, oh, sixty seconds.”
• Hup two three four, hup two three four—wait, shouldn’t we have been there by now?
• Why did she burst through the door like that if she wasn’t going to tell me the truth?
• Though Evie knew the dog was special, she’d never realized he was magical.
• The return address on the gold envelope is in Greenland—had they really tracked me down from the other side of the world?
• I always thought good historical fiction should transport you to another time and place, but when a man in a waistcoat and a top hat enters my room, I realize the book I’m reading has taken that to a whole new level.
• The checkout line at the grocery store wouldn’t have been my preferred place to “be discovered”—fluorescent lights and all—but who am I to say no to Elizabeth Van Zee?
• Is it even worth showing up here again if nobody’s ever going to come and answer my questions about my grandma?
• I can’t justify the crimes I committed, even though they saved lives.
• “Does this purple shirt make me stand out?” asked the giant one-eyed cat.
• I wish I could tell you that everything went as planned, and no one got hurt, but that would be a lie.
• They found my mom’s ratty ball cap by the edge of the creek around a month after she went missing; I wish they hadn’t.
• She’d eaten a lot of pie during her career as a restaurant critic, but never before had she tasted one quite like this.
• It was no problem catching the thief; he left his fingerprints everywhere.
• I knew Jax was meant to be my best friend, from the moment we met right up until his death.
• My knuckles were white as I gripped the armrests of my seat, hoping desperately that our pilot could get the plane back on course before it was too late.
• Riley Davis always said that I was his whole world, but if that was true, he wouldn’t have destroyed my life.
• I didn’t want to have to hurt him, so I ran away as soon as August got down on one knee.
• At first, I had thought telepathy would be a cool superpower, but that was before I knew of the chaos that lives in every person’s mind.
• “Why do you think you’re here?” Dr. Judy asked when I took a seat in her office.
• I had just finished crocheting the small grey elephant for my nephew and was placing it in a gift bag when it let out a little trumpeting noise.
• Teddy had always known there was something fishy about that new girl, and his suspicions were confirmed as soon as he saw the live salmon in her backpack.
• She was on the hunt for a way to ease her anxiety, and it didn’t take her long to discover that goat yoga was not the answer.
• I had never taken an interest in Randy until we both attended the teen fantasy club at the local library.
• Beauty is everything, something I learned from a very young age.
• I’ve been to at least a hundred weddings since I began my career as a photographer, each one a reminder of the love I will never have.
• My sister had always loved flowers, and I felt bad for only ever giving them to her after she died.
• When people ask what happened to my wife, I say it was a car accident, because no one would believe the real story.
• I had no idea how big a polar bear’s stomach really was until I was inside of one.
• When I began my study on ducks throughout the multiverse, I had no idea it would later solve world hunger.

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How are you using these one-sentence writing prompts in your own writing practice? Leave a comment and let us know or share a short excerpt from your writing.

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