70 Urban Fantasy Writing Prompts for Teens: Story Starters, Characters, Settings & Visual Ideas
Urban fantasy blends the familiar grit of the modern world with the strange logic of magic. Think hidden covens behind coffee shops, enchanted public transport, and supernatural politics tucked between skyscrapers. From Percy Jackson and The Mortal Instruments to Shadowhunters and The Magicians, teens love this genre because it feels close enough to touch — a portal hidden in plain sight.
This collection of 70 urban fantasy writing prompts is designed for teen writers who want to explore magic colliding with modern life. Inside you’ll find plot hooks, title ideas, opening and closing lines, character sketches, atmospheric settings, and picture prompts. Perfect for classrooms, clubs, or independent writers, these prompts explore identity, secrecy, power, and the rules we break to protect the things we love.
1. Plot Hooks
Magic thrives when it disrupts the familiar — here are ten hooks that drop the uncanny into everyday life:
Write about a teen who discovers that their city’s graffiti artists are actually spellcasters marking territory.
Write about a coffee shop that only appears after midnight and serves drinks that change memory.
Write about a school where detention is run by frustrated ghosts.
Write about someone who can see magical creatures in reflections, but not in real life.
Write about a city-wide blackout caused by a magical creature feeding on electricity.
Write about a delivery driver who accidentally transports enchanted items for a secret guild.
Write about a teen whose phone keeps receiving texts from someone claiming to be their future familiar.
Write about a subway station where passengers vanish if they board the wrong train.
Write about a healer working undercover in an overcrowded city hospital.
Write about two rival magical families that run competing restaurants on the same street.
2. Title Ideas
Urban fantasy titles often fuse the mundane with the mystical:
Neon & Nightshade
Shadows on Sixth Street
Under the Electric Moon
The Midnight Market
Ghosts in the Metro
Blood & Bookstores
City of Silver Bones
Arcane Suburbia
The Mirror District
Sparks Beneath the Pavement
3. Opening Lines
Urban fantasy depends on instant atmosphere — these openings drop readers straight in:
“Magic was banned years ago, but someone on our street didn’t get the memo.”
“The bus was late again, which would’ve been fine if it wasn’t being chased by a dragon.”
“I never believed in curses until my phone started predicting deaths.”
“The alley behind our school wasn’t just a shortcut — it was a border.”
“He looked like a regular customer, until his shadow whispered back at him.”
“It was my turn to close up the shop when the runes on the door lit up.”
“Nobody noticed the wings at first — just the feathers in the hallway.”
“The city slept. The magic did not.”
“I used to think the library was boring, until the books started arguing.”
“The first rule of the metro: never make eye contact with the mirrors.”
4. Closing Lines
These endings leave readers with awe, unease, or a sense of new beginnings:
“The city didn’t need saving anymore — just understanding.”
“We stepped back onto the streetlights and pretended nothing had changed.”
“The magic was gone, but the city wouldn’t let me forget.”
“Maybe I didn’t choose the familiar — maybe it chose me.”
“The last train vanished, and with it, our only way back.”
“Everyone else went home. I stayed, watching the runes fade in the dawn.”
“The curse broke at sunrise, but we hadn’t counted on what came next.”
“The city took a breath, and so did I.”
“No one believed us, which is exactly how the council wanted it.”
“The world didn’t end — it just expanded.”
5. Character Ideas
Urban fantasy thrives on secret identities and hidden worlds:
A barista who can read destinies in coffee foam.
A witch raised by scientists who rejects superstition.
A ghost who refuses to haunt and instead works as a private investigator.
A runaway familiar searching for a worthy partner.
A healer with the ability to transfer pain into plants.
A young mage banned from spellcasting but addicted to magical adrenaline.
A sentient library book disguised as a human student.
A city bus driver who transports magical beings between districts.
An empath who absorbs other people’s nightmares.
A potion dealer who hides ingredients in a corner store.
6. Setting Ideas
These locations fuse contemporary life with the uncanny:
A 24-hour laundrette where clothing gains personalities.
A metro line that runs on both electricity and emotion.
An abandoned mall repurposed as a magical black market.
A high-rise rooftop garden tended by invisible caretakers.
A school basement storing confiscated magical relics.
A cemetery where the statues move when nobody watches.
A minimalist apartment filled with protective runes instead of furniture.
A community centre offering spellcasting workshops disguised as yoga classes.
A high-tech hospital treating magical injuries alongside mundane ones.
A public library with restricted floors that only appear after dark.
7. Picture Prompt Ideas
These images lean into neon, shadows, street magic, and liminal spaces — perfect for urban fantasy.
Final Thoughts
Urban fantasy lets teens imagine a world where magic hides in plain sight — in subways, coffee shops, rooftops, and alleyways. These 70 prompts encourage young writers to explore secrecy, identity, and power within the familiar structure of city life.
Perfect for creative writing classrooms, book clubs, or teens inspired by Percy Jackson, The Mortal Instruments, or Neverwhere, this post offers dozens of imaginative entry points into the genre.
For more ongoing inspiration, check out our Daily Writing Prompts, where new story starters, settings, and character ideas arrive every day.
