70 Fairytale Wishes Writing Prompts: Magical Wishes, Dark Bargains & Unexpected Consequences
In fairytales, a single wish can change everything.
A lonely princess wishes to be loved and wakes to find that everyone in her kingdom has forgotten her name. A poor fisherman rescues a creature from the sea and is granted three wishes, each more dangerous than the last. Deep in an enchanted forest, a child whispers a secret desire to a fallen star, unaware that something ancient has been listening.
Fairytale wishes are rarely as simple as they seem. They can bring extraordinary fortune, transform ordinary lives, break ancient enchantments or unleash consequences that no one could have imagined. Some are granted by benevolent fairies, others by mischievous spirits, cursed objects or mysterious beings whose generosity conceals a terrible price.
The most memorable wish stories explore the difference between what a character wants and what they truly need. A wish for beauty might cost someone their identity. A wish for immortality might become an eternity of loneliness. And sometimes, the smallest, most selfless wish has the power to change an entire kingdom.
Whether you're writing a whimsical bedtime story, a dark fairytale retelling, a romantic fantasy or an unsettling tale of magic gone wrong, these 70 Fairytale Wishes Writing Prompts will help you imagine extraordinary stories about desire, temptation, sacrifice and transformation.
You'll discover magical plot ideas, enchanting story titles, intriguing opening lines, unexpected endings, unusual characters, atmospheric settings and picture prompts designed to spark your imagination.
If you're dreaming up a world filled with enchanted kingdoms, mysterious creatures and extraordinary magic, explore our Fairytales and Folklore Hub for more inspiration. You can also discover hundreds of imaginative ideas in our Fairytale Story Sparks collection or browse the Creative Writing Archive for even more writing prompts, story ideas and creative inspiration.
So, if a mysterious stranger offered to grant your heart's deepest wish, what would you ask for — and what would you be willing to give in return?
1. Plot Prompts
In fairytales, wishes can fulfil a character's deepest desires, transform their fortunes, or unleash consequences they never imagined. These ten plot prompts explore magical gifts, impossible dreams, unexpected transformations, and the extraordinary things that happen when wishes come true.
A lonely princess wishes that everyone in her kingdom would love her. By morning, thousands of people have gathered outside the palace, each claiming to be her true love, while the one person she genuinely cares for has forgotten she exists.
A poor fisherman rescues a golden fish that grants him three wishes. After using the first two to bring prosperity to his village, he discovers that his final wish has already been made by someone who has not yet been born.
Every hundred years, a fallen star grants one wish to whoever finds it. When a young shepherdess wishes for her dead sister to return, every person buried in the kingdom rises from the grave, each believing they have been summoned home.
A young prince wishes to understand the language of animals. Soon, birds begin warning him of a terrible event approaching the kingdom, but the creatures disagree about who is responsible and which member of the royal family must die to prevent it.
An elderly woman spends her entire life wishing for the chance to be young again. When a wandering fairy finally grants her request, she awakens as a child in a distant kingdom, with all her memories intact and no way to find the family she left behind.
A village child wishes that winter would never end so her beloved snowman will remain alive. As the years pass, the snowman grows into a magnificent frost giant, while the surrounding kingdoms prepare for war against the village that has stolen spring.
On the eve of her wedding, a princess wishes to know whether her future husband truly loves her. A mysterious mirror shows her seven possible futures, each ending in a different tragedy, and she must choose which one to make real.
A young witch discovers that every wish she grants appears as a new star in the night sky. When the stars begin disappearing, she realises that someone is travelling between kingdoms undoing wishes, including the one responsible for her own existence.
A king promises half his kingdom to whoever can grant his dying daughter's final wish. When she asks to see the ocean, a mysterious stranger brings the entire sea to the palace gates, drowning villages and awakening creatures that have slept beneath the waves for centuries.
A little girl wishes that nobody in the world would ever feel sad again. Her wish is granted, but without grief, people begin forgetting those they have lost, and the girl must find a way to restore sorrow before her own mother disappears from everyone's memories.
2. Title Ideas
A fairytale title can hint at an impossible wish, a mysterious enchantment or the terrible price of getting exactly what you want. Some of these titles are short and intriguing, while others suggest an entire story waiting to unfold.
Wishbone
The Thirteenth Wish
A Crown of Borrowed Dreams
The Girl Who Wished the Moon Would Fall
Three Wishes and a Funeral
Starfall
The Wishing Tree at the End of the World
What the Fairy Forgot
A Thousand Years of Almost
The Last Wish of Princess Elowen
3. Opening Line Prompts
The opening line of a fairytale should immediately draw readers into a world where extraordinary things are possible. These ten opening sentences introduce mysterious wishes, strange discoveries and magical events that could lead to enchanting, romantic or unsettling stories.
The first rule of wishing was never to tell the fairies what you truly wanted.
On the morning of her seventeenth birthday, Princess Isolde discovered that every wish she had ever made had come true overnight.
Nobody in the village remembered planting the wishing tree, although everyone knew whose bones were buried beneath it.
"You have one wish remaining," whispered the creature in the mirror, "and I strongly advise you not to use it."
Every night, the old king wished for his daughter to return, and every morning another stranger appeared at the palace gates claiming to be her.
The star fell into the orchard just after midnight, leaving a trail of silver feathers and a very angry fairy.
For three hundred years, the wishing well had granted nothing but rain.
When the baker's youngest daughter wished for a prince, she certainly hadn't expected him to arrive inside a loaf of bread.
The trouble began when somebody wished that Death would fall in love.
There were twelve golden candles on the birthday cake, but the thirteenth flame belonged to someone who had not been invited.
4. Closing Line Prompts
A memorable fairytale ending might offer a beautiful resolution, reveal the hidden cost of a wish or leave readers wondering whether the magic has truly ended. Use these closing lines as inspiration for the final moments of your story, then imagine the extraordinary events that could lead to them.
And for the first time in a hundred years, the stars began granting wishes again.
She placed the golden ring beneath her pillow, knowing that somewhere beyond the mountains, a prince had finally remembered her name.
The fairy smiled, closed her book of wishes and crossed out the word happily.
Nobody ever discovered what became of the king, although the palace gardens grew a magnificent new rosebush that winter.
"I wish for nothing," she whispered, and the curse was broken.
By morning, the sea had returned to its shores, leaving a single pearl upon the empty throne.
They lived happily ever after, except on nights when the moon was full and the old wishing well began to sing.
The dragon folded its enormous wings around the sleeping child and waited patiently for spring.
At last, she understood why her grandmother had kept the final wish hidden inside a jar of ordinary buttons.
And somewhere in the dark, something ancient opened its eyes and whispered, "Granted."
5. Character Prompts
Wishes reveal what characters desire most deeply, whether that is love, freedom, revenge, power or something they cannot quite put into words. These ten character prompts introduce fairytale figures whose wishes could transform their lives, challenge their beliefs or force them to confront unexpected consequences.
A young princess who has been promised one wish by her fairy godmother but cannot decide what she wants. While her sisters dream of handsome princes and magnificent kingdoms, she secretly longs to become a travelling mapmaker and discover places that have never appeared on any royal chart.
An elderly wish-granting fairy who has spent centuries fulfilling the desires of others but has never been permitted to make a wish of her own. When she discovers a loophole in the ancient laws of magic, she begins planning a wish that could transform the entire fairy kingdom.
A handsome prince who was once an ordinary stable boy until he wished to become royalty. Although everyone now remembers him as the king's eldest son, he is haunted by fragments of his former life and the mysterious disappearance of the real prince.
A mischievous woodland goblin who grants wishes incorrectly, not through malice but because he genuinely struggles to understand human desires. After accidentally transforming a lonely widow's cottage into a magnificent palace, he becomes determined to find out why she is crying.
A beautiful sea witch who collects unfulfilled wishes in glass bottles and displays them throughout her underwater palace. She has become fascinated by a mortal sailor whose only wish is to forget someone he once loved, and she suspects his memories conceal a dangerous secret.
A twelve-year-old chimney sweep who discovers that the soot falling from a particular palace fireplace can grant wishes. He uses his discovery to help the poorest children in the kingdom, unaware that the wishes are being stolen from the royal family's dreams.
A proud and powerful queen who wished for eternal beauty on her coronation day. Fifty years later, her face remains unchanged, but her reflection has grown old, and the woman in the mirror has begun demanding a life of her own.
A shy village seamstress whose embroidery brings wishes to life. Every dress she creates fulfils its wearer's deepest desire, but the magic also reveals secrets that its owners would rather keep hidden.
An ancient dragon who has guarded a wishing fountain for a thousand years and has become thoroughly disillusioned with human greed. When a little girl arrives wishing for nothing more than a friend, the dragon must decide whether to reveal that it was once human.
A wandering knight who has sworn never to make another wish after his first brought disaster upon his family. When he encounters a cursed princess who can only be freed by someone wishing for her happiness, he faces a choice between keeping his oath and saving the woman he loves.
6. Setting Prompts
The places where wishes are made can be as magical and mysterious as the wishes themselves. From forgotten wells and enchanted gardens to celestial palaces and dangerous forests, these ten fairytale settings offer atmospheric locations for stories about longing, transformation and impossible dreams.
The Orchard of Fallen Stars: A secluded orchard hidden among snow-covered mountains, where fallen stars take root as silver trees bearing luminous fruit. Each fruit grants one wish when eaten, but the trees bloom only during a particular alignment of the heavens, and the orchard is guarded by a family of enormous white stags.
The Palace of Unspoken Wishes: An abandoned royal palace where every wish its former inhabitants were too frightened to speak has become a physical object. Unopened letters flutter through empty corridors, forgotten wedding dresses hang in locked chambers, and a magnificent golden door leads to a future that never happened.
The Wishing Well of Seven Sisters: A moss-covered stone well in the centre of an ancient village, surrounded by seven weathered statues of women. According to local legend, each sister grants a different kind of wish, but villagers disagree about which statue represents love, fortune, beauty, freedom, wisdom, revenge and death.
The Market of Impossible Things: A secret midnight market that appears beneath a ruined bridge once every thirteen years. Merchants sell bottled moonlight, borrowed memories, enchanted names and wishes that other people have abandoned. Nothing can be purchased with ordinary money, and every bargain must be sealed before sunrise.
The Island Where Dreams Come Ashore: A beautiful island surrounded by turquoise waters, where the wishes of sleeping children wash onto the beaches as delicate shells. Mermaids gather them at dawn, while an elderly lighthouse keeper sorts the most powerful wishes into locked wooden chests beneath the tower.
The Forest of Whispering Ribbons: An enchanted woodland where thousands of silk ribbons hang from the branches of ancient trees, each tied there by someone who made a wish. Some ribbons shimmer with fulfilled dreams, others have turned black with regret, and a narrow path leads towards the oldest tree, where the first wish was made.
The Moonlit Staircase: A magnificent staircase of white marble that appears above a mountain lake whenever the moon is full. Its steps climb through the clouds towards a celestial palace where the Moon Queen listens to mortal wishes, although those who reach her throne must surrender something precious before descending.
The Village of Second Chances: A picturesque village of crooked cottages, flower-filled gardens and cobbled streets where everyone has been granted one wish to undo a mistake from their past. The villagers appear content, but nobody is permitted to leave, and the clock in the village square has never moved beyond midnight.
The Garden of Sleeping Wishes: A walled garden behind an abandoned convent, filled with marble fountains, overgrown roses and hundreds of miniature glass conservatories. Inside each conservatory sleeps a tiny magical creature representing a wish that was never granted, waiting for someone brave enough to awaken it.
The Castle at the End of Tomorrow: A towering castle suspended between two mountain peaks, accessible only by a bridge that appears at sunset. Within its halls, enormous clocks show different possible futures, and the castle's mysterious mistress grants wishes by allowing visitors to exchange one future for another.
7. Picture Prompts
Sometimes, the most extraordinary fairytale stories begin with a single image. A princess kneeling before a mysterious creature, a forgotten wishing well beneath the stars or an enchanted object waiting to be discovered can inspire an entire world of magic, longing and unexpected consequences.
The following ten fairytale wishes picture prompts are designed to spark your imagination and encourage you to create your own original stories.
Look closely at each image and consider the characters, setting and magical details. Who is making the wish, and why? What do they hope to gain? Who or what has the power to grant it? And what might happen if their wish comes true in a way they never expected?
Use the images as starting points for short stories, fairytale retellings, fantasy adventures or creative writing exercises. You might write the moment before a wish is granted, explore its consequences or imagine the secret history behind the magical scene.
Choose the image that intrigues you most, and let its unanswered questions become the beginning of your next fairytale.
Go Deeper into Fairytale Wishes Stories
The most memorable fairytale wishes reveal something important about the characters who make them. A wish might fulfil a lifelong dream, expose a hidden fear or set an extraordinary chain of events in motion. Use these five tips to turn a simple magical wish into a compelling fairytale.
◆ Explore the desire behind the wish. Think about why your character wants something so desperately. A princess wishing for freedom, a king wishing for immortality or a lonely child wishing for a friend can each reveal deeper fears, hopes and emotional conflicts.
◆ Give your wishes unexpected consequences. A wish doesn't have to go wrong to create an interesting story. Consider how granting exactly what a character asks for might disrupt their relationships, transform their kingdom or reveal that their original desire wasn't what they truly needed.
◆ Create distinctive rules for wish-granting magic. Decide who can grant wishes, how many are permitted and whether certain desires are forbidden. Perhaps wishes can only be made beneath a full moon, must be spoken in an ancient language or cannot undo another person's magic.
◆ Experiment with different kinds of wishes. Move beyond the familiar wishes for wealth, beauty and love. Imagine someone wishing to understand the stars, exchange places with their reflection, remember a forgotten life or give a magical creature its freedom.
◆ Make the final choice meaningful. The most satisfying wish stories often end with a difficult decision. Your character might sacrifice their own happiness to save someone else, reject the wish they've pursued throughout the story or discover that the greatest gift is something magic cannot provide.
Final Thoughts
Fairytale wishes remind us that even the smallest desire can lead to extraordinary adventures. From enchanted wells and fallen stars to mysterious fairies and magical creatures, the possibilities are endless when characters are given the power to change their destinies.
Whether your story follows a princess longing for freedom, a child wishing for something impossible or a powerful ruler discovering that magic cannot buy happiness, the most compelling fairytales explore what happens when dreams collide with reality.
Use these 70 Fairytale Wishes Writing Prompts to create enchanting adventures, dark fairytale retellings, romantic fantasies and magical stories filled with unexpected twists. Remember, a wish doesn't always need a terrible price — sometimes the greatest magic comes from kindness, courage or the willingness to dream.
For more magical inspiration, explore our Fairytales and Folklore Hub, discover hundreds of imaginative ideas in our Fairytale Story Sparks, or browse the Creative Writing Archive for more writing prompts, story ideas and creative writing activities.
And remember: be careful what you wish for. Your next fairytale might just come true.
Choose Your Next Adventure
