The Atlas of Lost Places: A Free Creative Writing Resource to Unlock Student Imagination

If you're looking for a creative writing resource that actually inspires students—not just fills time—this one’s for you.

The Atlas of Lost Places is a free 7-day set of picture-based writing prompts, created as a sneak peek into the style and structure of my upcoming Daily Writing Prompts subscription (launching August 1st). It's designed for secondary English teachers, creative writing classes, and students who struggle to start with a blank page.

Each day includes:
◆ An engaing image
◆ A themed title
◆ An opening line
◆ A closing line
◆ A full story prompt
◆ Writing tips + 5 discussion questions for classroom use

It’s flexible, atmospheric, and surprisingly effective for building confidence and fluency in creative writing, whether you teach high-achieving students or a mixed-ability class that’s still warming up to creative work.

How I Use These Prompts in the Classroom

I’ve already written a full blog post about why I use daily writing prompts, but here’s the short version: they work.

I use The Atlas of Lost Places in lots of different ways:

◆ As bell-ringer or starter tasks
◆ As a low-stakes way into high-quality writing
◆ For practising structure without over-explaining it
◆ For paired work, oral storytelling, and creative confidence building
◆ To show students that writing can be strange, beautiful, and theirs

It’s also perfect for the end of term, when you need engagement without having to put a ton of effort into planning.

Where to Get It

You can download The Atlas of Lost Places for free in my store. And if your students love it as much as mine do, make sure you’re on the daily prompts waitlist - where you get a month’s worth of prompts completely free.

Creative writing doesn’t have to be chaotic. Sometimes all it takes is one image, one line, and one idea to unlock something brilliant.