Creative Writing Prompts Inspired by Literature

Creative writing prompts inspired by literature allow writers to explore the themes, characters, and conflicts of famous texts while developing original stories of their own. This A–Z collection brings together creative writing prompts based on classic and modern literary works, including Shakespeare plays, gothic fiction, and well-known poems and novels studied in classrooms.

Each entry links to a full set of literature-inspired creative writing prompts designed to help students and writers engage with key ideas from the text. These prompts might explore alternative character choices, new perspectives, hidden motivations, or entirely new stories inspired by the original work.

Use the A–Z guide below to find creative writing prompts inspired by specific literary texts, from Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet to gothic works like Annabel Lee and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. New texts and prompt collections will continue to be added as the archive grows.

A young woman in a white dress standing outdoors near a rocky area with trees, illuminated by warm sunlight filtering through the trees, with the text 'Picnic at Hanging Rock Prompts' written at the bottom.
A woman in a historical dress stands outside, facing a large mansion. There is a ghostly image of a man in a window, with the text 'Turn of the Screw Prompts' below
Two characters, a man and a woman, in a romantic, intimate pose with foreheads touching inside a dimly lit stone archway with candles in the background. The image is styled like a vintage Polaroid with the text "Romeo and Juliet Prompts" at the botto
A young woman in a light pink dress with dark wavy hair, and a young man in dark clothing with curly hair, standing back-to-back in a foggy forest.
A person standing by a misty river holding a sword in a dark, foggy landscape with trees in the background.
Silhouettes of three women in flowing dresses against a cloudy sky, with the text 'Macbeth Prompts' below.
A woman in a long, flowing dress standing in the shoreline with dark stormy clouds overhead and waves crashing around her.
A dark painting of a man with long hair carrying a woman in a white dress, with a candlelit background.
A dark, spooky castle on a mountain with bats flying in the sky at sunset, surrounded by leafless trees and mist.
A person sitting at a desk in a dimly lit room, surrounded by books, candles, and a skull, with a ghostly figure behind them, evoking a mysterious or supernatural atmosphere.
A desert landscape at sunset with a giant head of a statue partially buried in the sand, and a person walking towards it.
A dark, mysterious scene from the movie 'Goslin Market' showing a creature with pointed ears and grayish skin holding a red apple in its hands over a bubbling black liquid. The scene is dimly lit with a foggy, overgrown background.
Two hands reaching towards each other with fingers almost touching, seen through a foggy window, with the quote 'Remember Prompts' written below.
A hand with sand slipping through fingers, with the caption "A Dream Within a Dream Prompts."
A dark, eerie mansion reflected in a foggy, still body of water with bare trees on either side, captioned "The Fall of the House of Usher Prompts."
A person walking through a narrow, leafy passageway wearing a flowing beige dress, with only their legs and feet visible.
Red poppies viewed from below with the sky in the background, and text overlay reading "The Wizard of Oz Prompts."

A–Z Guide to Literature-Inspired Writing Prompts

Below is an expanding A–Z collection of creative writing prompts inspired by well-known literary texts. Each entry links to a dedicated prompt collection exploring the themes, characters, settings, and conflicts of the original work while encouraging writers to create entirely new stories.

Use the alphabetical guide to explore prompts based on specific texts. New works will continue to be added as the archive grows.

A

A Dream Within a Dream – Edgar Allan Poe
A collection of creative writing prompts inspired by A Dream Within a Dream, Edgar Allan Poe’s philosophical poem exploring illusion, time, and the fragility of reality. These prompts focus on themes of uncertainty, memory, loss, and the blurred boundary between dreams and waking life, encouraging reflective and atmospheric storytelling.

Annabel Lee – Edgar Allan Poe
A collection of creative writing prompts inspired by Annabel Lee, Edgar Allan Poe’s haunting poem about obsessive love, memory, and devotion that refuses to fade. These prompts explore themes of eternal love, grief, romantic obsession, and the blurred boundary between memory and myth.

B

Beowulf – Anonymous
A collection of creative writing prompts inspired by Beowulf, the Old English epic of heroism, monsters, and legacy. These prompts explore legendary battles, ancient kingdoms, loyalty between warriors, and the enduring struggle between civilisation and chaos, where courage is tested and every victory carries the weight of fate.

C

D

Dracula – Bram Stoker
A collection of creative writing prompts inspired by Dracula, Bram Stoker’s iconic gothic novel of ancient evil, shadowed castles and creeping supernatural dread. These prompts explore themes of fear, secrecy, obsession, forbidden knowledge and the unsettling sense that something monstrous may be hiding within the ordinary world.

E

F

The Fall of the House of Usher – Edgar Allan Poe
A collection of creative writing prompts inspired by The Fall of the House of Usher, Edgar Allan Poe’s haunting Gothic short story of madness, decay, and psychological fear. These prompts explore themes of family decline, haunted spaces, unreliable perception, and the unsettling relationship between mind and environment.

Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
A collection of creative writing prompts inspired by Frankenstein, Mary Shelley’s influential gothic novel of dangerous ambition, scientific discovery and the unsettling consequences of creating life. These prompts explore themes of isolation, responsibility, moral consequence and the fragile boundary between human curiosity and destructive obsession.

G

Goblin Market – Christina Rossetti
A collection of creative writing prompts inspired by Goblin Market, Christina Rossetti’s richly symbolic poem of temptation, desire, and dangerous indulgence. These prompts explore forbidden bargains, uncanny marketplaces, sisterhood and sacrifice, and the blurred line between pleasure and harm, where sweetness conceals consequence and every choice carries a hidden cost.

H

I

J

Jekyll and Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson
A collection of creative writing prompts inspired by The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson’s gothic novella exploring dual identity, hidden corruption, and the darker side of human nature. These prompts explore themes of secrecy, moral conflict, transformation, and the unsettling possibility that darkness exists within us all.

K

L

M

Macbeth – William Shakespeare
A collection of creative writing prompts inspired by Macbeth, Shakespeare’s dark tragedy of ambition, prophecy, and power. These prompts explore themes of fate, moral corruption, guilt, and the destructive consequences of pursuing power at any cost.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – William Shakespeare
A collection of creative writing prompts inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare’s magical comedy of love, illusion, and transformation. These prompts explore enchanted forests, chaotic romance, mistaken identity, and the strange forces that disrupt the ordinary world.

N

O

Ozymandias – Percy Bysshe Shelley
A collection of creative writing prompts inspired by Ozymandias, Percy Bysshe Shelley’s iconic poem about power, legacy, and the inevitable decay of empires. These prompts explore themes of human insignificance, the passage of time, the illusion of permanence, and the tension between ambition and oblivion.

P

Picnic at Hanging Rock – Joan Lindsay
A collection of creative writing prompts inspired by Picnic at Hanging Rock, Joan Lindsay’s mysterious novel about disappearance, landscape, and the unsettling power of the unknown. These prompts explore themes of mystery, isolation, unexplained events, and places that seem to hold secrets beyond human understanding.

Q

R

Remember – Christina Rossetti
A collection of creative writing prompts inspired by Remember, Christina Rossetti’s reflective poem on memory, loss, and letting go. These prompts explore themes of love, absence, emotional restraint, and the quiet tension between holding on and releasing what can no longer remain.

Romeo and Juliet – William Shakespeare
A collection of creative writing prompts inspired by Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare’s famous tragedy of forbidden love and family conflict. These prompts explore themes of loyalty, fate, secrecy, and the powerful emotions that can both unite and destroy.

S

The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
A collection of creative writing prompts inspired by The Secret Garden, a novel of growth, healing, and quiet transformation. These prompts explore themes of nature, isolation, friendship, and renewal, encouraging writers to develop atmosphere, symbolism, and emotional change through hidden spaces and gentle discovery.

T

The Turn of the Screw – Henry James
A collection of creative writing prompts inspired by The Turn of the Screw, Henry James’s unsettling gothic novella of ambiguity, perception, and psychological tension. These prompts explore haunted estates, ghostly figures, unreliable narration, and the fragile boundary between innocence and corruption, where truth is never fully certain and fear may come from within.

U

V

W

The Wizard of Oz – L. Frank Baum
A collection of creative writing prompts inspired by The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum’s iconic story of journey, illusion, and self-discovery. These prompts explore themes of identity, courage, friendship, transformation, and the search for home, alongside the tension between appearance and reality in richly imagined, magical worlds.

X

Y

Z