Writers need an idea of some sort to start writing. If you’re fresh out of ideas, here are a few books from my bookshelf that provide story starters.

The Writer’s Book of Matches: 1001 Prompts to Ignite Your Fiction from the editors of Fresh Boiled Peanuts

The prompts are a mix of scenarios and dialogue, and some are very quirky.

Sample prompts:

  • A dairy worker develops an uncanny ability to communicate telepathically with livestock.
  • “Move away from the leopard print. I repeat: Move away from the leopard print.”
  • A bookstore clerk decides to recommend the same book to all customers, regardless of what they ask her.

The Pocket Muse by Monica Wood

Includes writing prompts and exercises, quotations from a variety of writers, mini-lessons on technique and black and white photos, sometimes with a text prompt, sometimes not.

Sample prompts:

  • Write about a person whose reputation rests on the appearance of an inanimate object.
  • (under a picture of two hippos standing in front of a brick building) These hippos are called Dodger and Betsy. Your challenge is to figure out how they got into the parking lot of a Catholic school.
  • Today’s horoscope: Something big is brewing behind your back.

A Writer’s Book of Days by Judy Reeves

The book is divided into chapters for each month, each with a guideline to follow, essays on aspects of the writing life and writing prompts for each day to carry you through a year.

Sample prompts:

  • Write about a secret revealed.
  • “You have stayed too long.”
  • These were the doubts I had.

The Write-Brain Workbook by Bonnie Neubauer

This book has 366 writing exercises to work your creative muscles. The page are filled with photos, graphics and lots of color. If you’re a visual writer, this book is a treat.

Sample prompts:

  • Use all of these in a story: Queen of Hearts, Full Deck, Joker, Deal. Start the story with: The nastiest trick ever played…
  • Finish the story. Start with She Said, “I double dare you.”
  • You look through the peephole of your front door and see a face. Play out the story. Start with: Sometimes I wish I came from a small family…

A Creative Writer’s Kit by Judy Reeves

This kit has a small journal with prompts for each day of the year and space to write along with instructional cards on various aspects of writing (examples: When your writing embarrasses you, transferring real life to fiction.).

Sample prompts:

  • Write about a time someone lost control.
  • If I tell you the truth…
  • Someone says, “Can I see you in the kitchen?”

The Writer’s Idea Workshop by Jack Heffron

This book is intended to help you assess your idea and turn it into finished piece. The prompts at the end of each chapter are meant to be applied to your story idea.

Sample prompts:

  • Change the place where you write for the next few sessions. The shift in geography can supply a fresh perspective.
  • Spend a session exploring a minor character, placing her in the foreground of her own separate story. When you finish, consider ways of creating a subplot to the main story by giving this character greater prominence.
  • After a writing session, write a congratulatory note from your ideal reader to you. The reader should tell you he or she loves your idea.

Know of other writing prompt books? Share them in the comments.