Embrace Your Comfort Zones: 50 Prompts for Writing What You Know

I know I’m always saying writers should get out of their comfort zones, but today I want to take a slightly different perspective.

While I firmly believe it’s essential to try new things, experiment with your voice and generally widen your writing horizons, there’s also a serene beauty in writing what you know.

You’re constantly surrounded by springboards for stories. They exist within the experiences you have every day, the memories you hold from yesterday, the things you’ll see tomorrow.

I believe you can happily embrace the things you know while still giving yourself the opportunity to try new things.

Stop and think whether there might be a story in some of these everyday prompts:

1. How you came up with the name for your first pet
2. Why you hated your Kindergarten teacher
3. Rivalry with a sibling
4. Where you thought babies came from
5. Your first haircut
6. That time you fell off your bicycle
7. What you took when no one was looking
8. Your first crush
9. What you had hidden in your bottom drawer
10. The secret you never told your best friend
11. The book you read and re-read as a kid
12. Where you went the first time you skipped school
13. The moment when everything in your world changed
14. How you felt when you went away to summer camp
15. What you’re like when you get angry
16. Who you think you really are, or could be
17. What you sing when you think no one is listening
18. What you were feeling when that photo was taken
19. Where you go to be by yourself
20. Who you secretly dislike
21. Who you secretly love
22. The person who meant a lot to you but you’ll probably never see again
23. What you would do differently next time
24. What you’d be ashamed to tell your parents
25. How you really feel about your job
26. What makes you the happiest
27. Who you will be ten years from now
28. Who you were ten years ago
29. Your deepest fear
30. What you heard out the window
31. What you heard when you were eavesdropping
32. What you most resent in life
33. What you believe in
34. Your greatest talent
35. Your biggest weakness
36. The place you’ve always wanted to travel to
37. The person you find most difficult to understand
38. The story your grandfather always told you
39. What makes you the most embarrassed
40. How you really feel about your friends’ kids
41. The greatest disappointment of your life
42. How other people would describe you
43. What you hate most about the holidays
44. The gift you were given that you pretended to like
45. What you will always consider to be your home
46. The song you listen to on repeat
47. What you think about when you’re driving in your car
48. What could have happened if you’d taken a different path
49. Who loves you more than anything else in the world
50. What you hope no one ever finds out about you

Of course, probably none of these would make good stories on their own, but they’re starting points. All you need is one open-ended thought to trigger the imagination.

Do you prefer to write about what you know, or do you like to challenge yourself to write on subjects you need to research?

How often do your stories arise out of something you’ve personally experienced?