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When to use ‘was’ versus ‘were’

English can be difficult, especially when it comes to words that can be easily confused. A couple of examples would be who vs whom and further vs farther. Another combo that can get confusing is was vs were.

There are several reasons why you might be struggling to decide whether you should be using “was” or “were” in a sentence. The simplest of these is the conjugation of the singular and plural forms of the past tense of “to be.” While this can cause minor problems to those learning English as a second language as they study, first language English speakers usually have few problems with this. The most common cause of debate and confusion is the use of “were” instead of “was” in the subjunctive mood (We’ll explain that below if you aren’t sure what subjunctive mood is.). We’ll cover both past and subjunctive mood topics in this article, and you’ll soon see just how simple it all is.

Singular and Plural

As we’ve observed, this is the easiest of the choices you need to make, but it also gives rise to the problems that so many people have when they begin to use the subjunctive mood.

Singular: I was, he was, she was, it was – BUT you were. (Just to make things more fun!)

Plural: It’s always ‘were’, regardless of whether we’re talking about “they,” “we” or “you.” So far, so easy! But now we’ll examine how this relates to one of the most common errors in spoken or written English: the choice of “was” instead of “were” in the subjunctive mood.

If I were / was a rich man – the famous subjunctive mood

The subjunctive mood is used to describe or speculate on a hypothetical situation, and you’ll hear people using both ‘”was” and “were” in this context. But only one of these is correct. Whenever we’re talking about something that isn’t a reality at the moment, we discard “was” and choose “were” instead. It doesn’t matter whether we are referring to a single person or a group of people. As soon as we cross the border between reality and speculation, “were” is the only word to choose. For example

I was rich and I owned a house at the seaside.
If I were rich, I would have owned a house at the seaside.

He was the captain of the team and he chose a different strategy.
If he were captain of the team, he would have chosen a different strategy.

In each of the pairs of sentences above, the first one refers to something that actually happened in the past, and the word “was” is the correct choice. The second sentence is a wish or a speculation – it refers to an event that did not actually happen, and “were” is the correct choice.

They were the winning team, so they celebrated their victory.
If they were the winning team, they would celebrate their victory.

As we can see, the subjunctive mood doesn’t result in any change in word choice in this example. No matter how many people you are referring to, the subjunctive mood calls for the word “were.” If you’ve been prone to saying the incorrect “I wish I was,” “If he was” or “I wish she was” instead of the correct ‘I wish I were,” “If he were” or “I wish she were,” it will be easy to make the necessary adaptation and correct your grammar.

Look out for the subjunctive mood. As soon as something is a wish or a hypothetical (if) situation, you will always choose “were” over “was.”

It’s a common grammar mistake. In spoken as well as written English, you’ll find that just about everyone from plumbers to presidents is guilty of this mistake. Of course, when presidents make this error, those who know better will laugh at them, so if you’re hoping that what you say will be taken seriously, it’s worth learning when to use “were” instead of “was.” After all, once you understand the basic rules, it’s quite easy.

How Many Words Are in a Novel?

If you have decided this is the year you’re going to write that novel you’ve always told yourself you want to write, one aspect you need to consider when putting it together is how long it should be (if you want the best chance to get the novel published). There are no hard and fast rules on how long a novel should be if you’re writing for your own pleasure. But if you’re hoping to get it into print, publishers have certain expectations. Knowing what these are will give you a goal to shoot for when you plan your chapters and begin to write. Trying to get an unusually short book or an exceptionally long one published is something you should leave until you’ve made a name for yourself.

When considering novels, it’s important to note there are a large variety of genres. As a general guideline, we’ll include romances, thrillers, detective stories and attempts to make a mark in the world of serious literature as the core adult novels. While there are certainly other types of novels (see science fiction and fantasy below), this should cover most of these. So, how many words should there be in a novel you want to get published? Novels should be between 80,000 to 90,000 words.

Publishers like to see 80,000 to just under 90,000 words for the average adult novel. 70,000 to just under 80,000 could be accepted, but might be seen as being a trifle too short. Anything less than 70,000 words is definitely too short. Novels over 100,000 words are getting to be on the long side. Anything over 110,000 words will almost certainly be considered too long by an agent or publisher.

The reason for the upper limit is that printing costs increase once you exceed that word count. That’s not to say that books as long or longer haven’t been successfully printed, but agents would regard something that ambitious as an epic or a saga, and unless you’re already well known, an overly lengthy book could hurt your chances of finding an agent and getting published.

The lower word count limit is based on reader preferences. Are you giving your reader enough ‘meat’ so they find the book satisfying? Unless you’re producing a very light read, probably not. Once again, trying to push the lower limits for a novel is best attempted once you already have a following and are making your publisher a lot of money.

Science Fiction and Fantasy novels break the above word count rules and can be longer How many words are there in a Sci-Fi or Fantasy novel? Science Fiction and Fantasy books should be 90,000 to 125,000 words.

The acceptance of a more ambitious word count in these two genres is the need to describe whole new worlds and (presumably) original concepts. The issue to remember is the caveat about printing costs. When you’re going into print for the first time, you’re generally considered a ‘bad risk’, so going over 110,000 words might cause your publisher to have second thoughts. For your first Sci-Fi or Fantasy novel, you would do yourself a favor to try and come in on the lower end of 90,000 to 100,000 words to have the best shot at finding an agent or publisher.

(Photo courtesy of Mark Morgan)

What is the Best Business Proposal Font?

Successful business proposals require a huge amount of effort. They may involve the collaboration of several different parties. Business proposals require facts and figures which are backed by solid research. Their tone is formal and content needs to promote the objectives contained therein. A business proposal must look and feel attractive. The golden rule to remember is “first impressions count.”

It’s a great pity that many otherwise fantastic business proposals fall flat. A common theme apparent in the vast majority of rejections is based on the golden rule. The authors of these failed proposals did not make first impressions count, at least not in their favor. And one of the questions that probably was never asked that may have helped was, “What is the best font for a business proposal?”

While the choice of font may seem inconsequential, it does in fact play a very important role. On a sub-conscious level, font tells the reader more about what they are reading. Fonts help set the tone. Consider typical outdoor signage used by a nursery school. The letters are large, simple, bold and contain an assortment of bright colors. Tots and toddlers play school. They give the impression of fun.

Signage outside a lawyer’s office would be noticeably different. The choice of color would be uniform throughout, while the font itself would be smaller. It would imply that this is a business environment. Do not expect to find unicorns dancing on any rainbows here. J S Shark and associates. Attorneys at law.

It should be evident that the font used in a proposal will be very different from that used in nursery school signage. The subliminal message should be clear; this proposal is serious. It means a lot, has been well-researched and contains information of value. It was not banged together using a sloppy approach. It should speak for itself. It needs to say, “I am important. Read me in my entirety. Pay attention to my content. It may lead to a very rewarding experience, benefiting both your business and its clientele.” So what is the best font for a business proposal?

Before answering that question, it is important to distinguish between the different types of fonts. There are literally thousands of fonts available. Some are free, others not. Some fonts are exclusive. They are used to establish or entrench a corporate identity. An example here is the Coca Cola font with its famous curling ribbon.

Fonts such as these may have patents or legal clauses (similar to logos) which prevent their commercial use by unauthorized 3rd parties. Some fonts are all in upper case, and others in italics only. All of these can be classed into two separate categories. Serif and sans-serif.

Serif fonts, such as Times New Roman, have small “feet” at the bottom of certain letters. A further characteristic particular to a serif font is the “curly bits” found at the top and bottom of certain letters. These “frills” cause the eye to travel in a straight line. This means that serif fonts are easier to read when they are printed into document format.

If the proposal is going to be submitted as an actual document i.e., printed and not as an electronic submission, then the body of the proposal should comprise a single serif font used throughout. I tend to stick with what works well. For me, that is Times New Roman. For headings I generally go with a sans-serif font like Verdana or Helvetica. On the rare occasion when I require a large heading which will stand out above the others, then Arial Black is the way to go.

Fonts which are sans-serif do not have the “frilly bits.” They include examples such as Arial Black and Verdana, neither of which has letters with feet or curly bits. These fonts were mostly used to distinguish paragraph headings from the main body of text. With the arrival of electronic communication, it was noted that sans-serif fonts are easier to read on computer screens than the serif versions. With some screens set to a low resolution, the “frilly bits” associated with serif fonts tend to make the font look blurry or out of focus. This would reflect poorly on your proposal.

If your proposal is going to be submitted electronically, then the body of the proposal should comprise a single sans-serif font, to be used throughout. Verdana or Helvetica are excellent choices for the digital layout and are making their socially acceptable appearance in some printed formats too.

Headings or the introduction of new ideas should differ from the main body of text. Most people agree that a simple Arial Black or Verdana as a font for headings will give your proposal a clean and professional look. Avoid “loud” fonts such as Goudy Stout. Also avoid “hand-written” fonts or fonts that are childish or too “busy.” By busy, I mean overly elaborate fonts which contain elements of advanced calligraphy.

Again, choose only one font for headings and stick to it throughout. Having different headings in different fonts, using various sizes and colors, while alternating between bold and italics does not work. Don’t do it; just don’t! Your proposal will end up looking like a ransom note from a cheesy B grade movie, rather than the slick and professional business proposal you need to deliver.

(Photo courtesy of FontFont)

Does Donald Trump Really Speak at a Fourth Grade Level?

There were a number of articles that made the claim that Donald Trump spoke at a fourth grade level. They made this determination by running the different candidates presidential announcement speeches through the Flesch–Kincaid readability test. The problem with using a prepared speech is that there’s a good chance that a speech isn’t how the candidates actually talk. There’s even a good chance the speech was written by a speech writer instead of the candidate. A better way to determine the speaking level of the candidates would be to analyze them talking in a non-speech setting.

To do this, I decided to run the GOP’s last debate (March 10, 2016 in Florida) through our word counter using this transcript to see the speaking level of each candidate. WordCounter uses the Dale–Chall readability formula to determine reading level.

It should be noted there are some limitations to the speaking level designations found below. The Dale–Chall readability formula gives a general approximation to the candidates’ speaking level, but it isn’t conclusive. The candidates likely move among levels depending on where and when they are speaking. This was also a single debate where many of the topics use words outside the 3,000 core words that are the foundation of the formula. If the candidates were speaking about everyday events, their speaking level could be much lower than was found in this debate.

These were the results:

Donald Trump Speaking Level

Donald trump ended up with a 7th to 8th grade speaking level which is better than a 4th grade level, but it was still the lowest of the four candidates. He also spoke the most words during the debate (5,520), but used the fewest number of unique words (933). Ted Cruz spoke the fewest number of words (3,831), but had 70 more (1,003) unique words than Trump. John Kasich had almost the same number of unique words (940) as Trump, but spoke over 1,500 fewer words than Trump did during the debate.

Ted Cruz Speaking Level

Ted Cruz spoke the fewest number of words during the debate (3,831), but had the highest speaking level (11th to 12th grade) of the four candidates. The length of his sentences were also the longest at 16 words (tied with Kasich).

John Kasich Speaking Level

John Kasich just barely spoke more words than Cruz during the debate. He had 3,852 words compared to 3,831 for Cruz. These were both over 1,600 words fewer than Trump. Kasich’s speaking level came in between Trump on the low end and Cruz at the high end with a 9th to 10th grade level.

Marco Rubio Speaking Level

Marco Rubio ended up speaking the second highest number of words during the debate. He clocked in with 4,969 which was 551 words fewer than Trump. He, like Kasich, ended up with a mid speaking level at 9th to 10th grade.

Even though these stats show Trump uses higher than a 4th grade speaking level when his speeches aren’t prepared, he does speak like a junior high school student while all the other candidates he’s running against speak at a high school level.

Free Word Count Tracker for Your Blog or Website

One of the popular features on WordCounter is the goal setter (button right above the text input area). This allows users to set a word count goal which allows them to see their progress toward that goal as they type into the text area. What a lot of people don’t notice is that there is actually a way to embed this counter into a website or blog allowing others to also see how you’re progressing on your word count goals.

To embed the free word count tracker, all you need to do is click on the earth icon to the right of the tracker once you have set a goal. Hovering over this icon, you’ll see the words “Embed this!” Once you click on it, you’ll be given a couple of choices on the appearance of your word count tracker. You can choose the size (small, medium or large) and the color (blue, red, green, yellow, pink, cyan, brown, purple or orange). Once you’ve made these two choices, you simply click on the “save and get code” button. This will give you code that you can then place on your blog or website.

One of the advantages of this word count tracker is you never have to manually input the number of words you have written to update the counter. As you add words to your writing in the text area on WordCounter, the tracker will automatically update. This allows others to know how you’re doing in real time toward your writing goals.

There are a couple of ways you might want to use this. For example, if you write blog articles and you have a daily goal of writing 1000 words a day, you can begin writing each day and people will be able to see where you’re at during the course of the day (and whether you meet your goal). Then you can begin from zero the next morning and continue to repeat day after day.

If you have a longer piece of writing, you can set the goal as much larger. For example, maybe your goal is to write 50,000 words for a single project. You can set up the tracker for this amount and everyone will be able to see how your are progressing toward the longer-term goal.

No matter how you choose to use the word count tracker, it’s a great way to keep you accountable to the writing goals you set for yourself. Stating your writing goals and placing them out there so all can see is a great way to keep yourself honest, and it can be a great motivator to write on a daily basis. If you truly want to get a good amount of writing done daily (or over a longer period of time) using one of these trackers is an excellent way to do so.

I usually have a minimum writing goal of 500 words a day, although I sometimes increase it for certain periods when I need to be extra productive. You can see the tracker I use below.

Just go to the main page to get started.

What Is a “Dime” in the NBA?

When it comes to basketball, it’s not always obvious how some of the terms they use came about. A good example of this is why the Golden State warriors are called “the Dubs” as a nickname, but this isn’t the only confusing term in basketball.

If you listen to a National Basketball Association (NBA) game on television or the radio, there’s a good chance that at some point during the telecast, you’ll hear the announcers say that a player is “dropping a dime” or some similar variation of that sentence. You can sometimes see the reference in commercials with basketball players as well. For those who aren’t familiar with its meaning, it sounds strange and out of place — and the chances are you have absolutely no idea what they are talking about.

What is a “dime” referring to in basketball?

A “dime” in basketball is the same thing as an assist. For those unfamiliar, a basketball assist occurs when one player makes a pass to a teammate which leads that teammate to score a basket. By making the pass to the teammate, the player has “assisted” in the making of the basket.

Usually, an assist is recorded when a pass is made to the teammate and the teammate then shoots and makes a basket without dribbling the ball, but this isn’t a hard-set rule. While this is the case most of the time, there is some judgement involved when considering whether an assist has been made or not. For example, a player who passes to a teammate who is breaking toward the basket and that teammate dribbles once while continuing the cut toward the basket would be given an assist even though the player dribbled.

Assists are an important statistic kept for basketball players during each game. Assists are one of the big four statistics (assists, points scored, steals and blocks) tallied each game. They’re also recorded on a career level as well as career assists. The statistic is important and valued in basketball because setting up teammates with good passes can lead to easier baskets than for the player to try to score all on their own.

Why is an assist called a dime?

The origin of a basketball assist being called a dime isn’t readily known. There are a variety of theories, but the most common assumption is that it came from earlier times when pay phones were available across the US. When payphones were most popular (long before cell phones were the norm) it cost a dime to make a phone call. If one needed to make a phone call, it was common for that person to ask, “does anyone have a dime?” In this sense, “dropping a dime” or giving someone a dime was assisting someone to make a phone call. Most people believe this phrase ended up transferring over to the NBA as helping a teammate make a basket.

Although “dropping a dime” is considered a positive move for basketball, it doesn’t always have positive connotations when used in other circumstances. For example, “dropping a dime” is a way to label a person a snitch or someone who tells on another person. Again, the reference to making a phone call is used as when someone tells (calls) authorities to inform someone has broken the law, thus snitching on them.

Another popular theory is that it comes from the phrases “dropping it on a dime,” “turning on a dime,” “at a drop of a dime,” and “stopping on a dime.” These phrases all refer to precision, doing it quickly and without hesitation — all characteristics of most assists in basketball. A quick pass right on the mark to a teammate will assist that teammate in scoring.

(Image courtesy of Voldy Morton)

How Many Pages Are There in the Bible?

What may appear to be a relatively simple question has, in fact, no single answer. For those looking for a general answer to the question, “How many pages are there in the bible?” the answer would be “The average bible has around 1,200 pages.” This is a general approximation and there are a lot of factors which can make the number of pages of a particular bible be much less or much more than this number. Anyone seeking a definitive answer to the question of the number of pages in the bible needs to realize that a combination of variables can come into play.

What books of the bible have been included?

If one were to take a look at the Catholic bible, for example, the additional books of the Apocrypha (religious texts not found in most bibles) would have to be included. The Apocrypha alone would add a substantial number of pages when compared to a standard bible, such as the King James edition.

While most bibles do not include the Apocrypha, they are at least comprised of both the New and Old testaments. Unfortunately, the rule does not apply to The Living Bible. This version of the bible only includes the New Testament. A bible of this nature would end up having far fewer pages. Since different bible editions include different writings, each edition differs in the number of pages it has.

The format of the bible

Bibles with no pages are more common than you think. In some circles, bibles with no pages are quite the rage. Electronic or digital versions of the bible, without any physical pages, can be easily acquired be being downloaded from the internet or shared via memory cards, CD’s etc.

But there are other factors that influence the number of pages found in any bible. Font, spacing, page width and height; margins and other print related issues would most certainly cause variation in the number of pages in a bible (and why most teachers make assignments by word count instead of page count). A large font, typed in bold and with double spacing would obviously require more pages. The opposite approach, using a small font with single spacing, would require fewer pages. The exact same bible with the exact same number of words will often have a different number of pages depending on how the publisher took these into account.

The specific version of the bible

Certain languages and translations will also impact on how many pages there are in the bible. Great discrepancies can occur even among similar versions. The King James Version of the bible may have more pages than the Revised Standard Version or the New American Standard Version.

Because the number of pages in different bibles varies so dramatically, the name of the book in the bible being referenced, the chapter and verse number help us to be “on the same page” when discussing a biblical text. Biblical scholars realized that different versions and translations of the bible could impede research. Page 20 of my King James Version may be completely different to page 20 of your more modern version. This would lead to confusion.

By slicing the bible into chunks, research can be more accurate. In fact, you can go to an exact phrase in the bible. It’s a system applauded by scholars.

On average, how many pages are in the bible?

If you took a run of the mill, everyday bible, and you managed to count all the pages, you would have the following:

The Old Testament has 929 chapters. It has 23,214 verses which comprise roughly 622,700 words. The New Testament consists of 260 chapters, divided into 7,959 verses or roughly 184,600 words. This would give our typical bible 1,189 chapters. These are made up of 31,173 verses and using a rough word count, this amounts to 807,370 words, although the King James Authorized Bible has 783,137 words.

Using a standard font, the average bible has around 1,200 pages. As a book, the bible is as thick as “The Lord of the Rings” and similar fantasy novel epics. The difference is that the bible contains history and philosophy, and can be used for spiritual guidance. And that, I believe, is the best answer you will ever get to this question.

(Photo courtesy of Ryk Neethling)

10 Ways to Write More Each Day

One of the things most writers would like to be able to do is to write more on a daily basis. While the obvious answer to this problem is to spend more time writing, that’s not always an option. If you like to write or you have a book project brewing in the back of your mind, there are some steps you can take other than to spend more time which has the potential of helping you to get more words down on paper each day.

Set goals and stick to them

If you’re writing a book, you should have an outline of your plot and your chapters in advance. How far do you want to get this week? What should your daily progress be? Set a realistic goal and stick to it even when the going gets tough.

Set milestones, and decide how you’ll celebrate them. Turn it into a game or a challenge. If you know how much you’re progressing every day and want to up the ante, ask a little more of yourself. Are you writing 1,000 words a day? Push it to 1,250, it only takes a few minutes longer, but in four days you’ll have gained an extra day’s worth of progress. Researchers say that we can boost our productivity by as much as 25% just by setting goals.

Use your most productive working time

Many of us find that we progress fastest with our writing in the mornings. Your brain’s still half asleep, but somehow it’s still fresher and you get more writing done. Other people like to write after everyone has gone to sleep. Try writing at different times of the day to determine your most productive time of day and plan your writing time around that.

Use down-time to think things through

Use times when you’re not writing to think about what you’re going to do next. Stirring a pot in the kitchen doesn’t occupy your brain, so use the time to think about where you’re going with your writing. Generate ideas as you sip your morning coffee or while you’re driving around town on errands. Even if you don’t record your thoughts, you’ll have a greater sense of purpose when next you sit down to write.

Don’t try to perfect your writing when you’re in an inspired space

Nobody can be inspired all the time, but when inspiration hits, the faster you can get your ideas down, the more you’re going to get out of the moment. You can always go back and correct things later on, but your inspiration won’t last forever. So write. Be fast. Be furious. Be glaringly inaccurate. You can fix all of that when your brain reverts to plodding along.

Use writing prompts

If you’re blogging, journaling or just writing for fun, getting ideas for something to write can take nearly as much time as the writing itself. There are tons of weird, wonderful, interesting or inspiring writing prompts available online. Pick one at random and go crazy. The creative challenges will sharpen up your thinking, and all that writing practice is sure to improve your skill.

Take breaks

Spending hours at a time hammering away at your writing might not be the best way to boost your productivity. Take breaks every 25 minutes or so, even if it’s just getting a glass of water or looking up from your work and doing a few stretching exercises. It’s a scientifically proven fact that people who cut themselves some slack in the form of short breaks are way more productive than the constant plodders.

Don’t dump your workout

Forget the stereotypes of lumbering (and slightly dim) muscle men and ditzy ‘gym bunnies’. Getting exercise improves your circulation and gets extra oxygen into your bloodstream. And that goes to your brain, helping you to think more creatively and effectively. A study on creative thinking showed that people who did exercise, even light exercise, fared better at a task set to measure creative thinking.

Figure out how you waste time

Relaxing is important, but a lot of the unproductive things we do in our free time aren’t really relaxing. We get annoyed with our TV shows, we aimlessly search the net or we engage in less-than-meaningful interactions on social media. Remember, if it relaxes and refreshes you, it’s productive. If it doesn’t, it might be that cutting out that activity will give you more time to boost your writing productivity.

Shut out distractions

Do people ping you on Skype while you’re writing? Do you have your Facebook tab open and peep to see what’s going down every time you hear a notifier? You could be losing hours of productive time just attending to these ‘little’ distractions. When you return to your work, you have to compose your thoughts all over again, and that wastes time too.

Drink lots of water

This might sound like just another of those ho-hum health tips, but it really works. Think about it. Your body consists mainly of water, and your brain has an even higher percentage of water than the rest of your body. If you’re dehydrated, which many of us are as a matter of course, how can you expect your brain to function at its best? Keep a glass of water handy, and keep on sipping!

(Photo courtesy of inthepotter’shands)

Publisher Word Count for Magazine Writing

When you write an article or manuscript for a magazine, you’ll usually be asked to hit a predetermined word count. There would seem to be nothing complicated about this. It’s the exact reason we created WordCounter. You place your writing into the text area and you instantly know the number of words you have typed. One would assume that magazine editors and other publishers wouldn’t have any issue with this number. The problem is that they likely will.

Why is an accurate word count not useful to many publishers? There is a simple reason that may not seem obvious at first, but it makes a lot of sense once it’s pointed out. Below is the reason why we decided it was important to include a publisher word count in the details section for those who will be submitting their writing for publication.

Word Length

Word Counter counts the individual words written. “He is at a big park” is six words. “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” is one word. The problem for publishers is the six words take up 19 character spaces (20 if you place a period at the end) while the single word takes up 34 character spaces. While the length of the words will even itself out to a certain degree over the length of one’s writing, each writer will still produce different length articles even when they have the same word count.

When a publisher asks for a certain number of words, they are doing so in anticipation the writing will be the length needed to fill the space allotted for the article. It’s the space the article fills which is of the utmost importance to the publisher, not the actual word count. The problem is that explaining to the writer the exact length can be complicated, so they give a word count and hope that produces writing that fills the space allotted for the article. An article with unusually long words would likely go over the anticipated length, while an article with many short words would fall short of the length needed by the publisher.

To help make things a bit more accurate, there’s actually a publisher’s specific word count. Instead of counting each individual word, publishers have agreed upon the definition that a “word” is six characters long including blank spaces. This solves the issue of words being different lengths and gives a much more accurate estimate of space an article will use as compared to simply counting individual words. Using this definition, “He is at a big park.” would be three and one-third words (including the period). On the other hand, “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” would be five and one-third words.

The Word Counter Publisher Count calculates a word to be six character spaces and applies it to your writing to come up with its total. This isn’t perfect for publishers, but it’s a lot more accurate than counting individual words. If you are submitting work to a publisher, you can ask which of the two methods they would prefer when you attach a word count total to your submission.

50 Creative Writing Ideas and Prompts

When it comes to writing, there are plenty of excuses people use to justify not writing. One of the most common excuses is writer’s block (whether that really exists or not). There’re few things worse than wanting to write but nothing seems to come out. I’ve found over the years that one of the best ways for me to tackle writer’s block is to step away from whatever I happen to be working on at that moment, and just get myself writing again. For me, if I can begin to write anything, then the words begin to flow on the original project where the writer’s block started.

One of the best ways to do this is through creative writing prompts. These appeal to me mainly because they are fresh ideas and I don’t have the inhibition of writing badly since I know I’m the only one who is going to be reading them. The problem is finding new writing ideas to prompt me into writing. With that in mind, and knowing others may also be in a similar situation as I, here are some creative writing ideas to help you beat that writer’s block.

50 Creative Writing Prompts

When it comes to these writing prompts, there are no rules to how you should write. Whether you decide to write a short story, a poem, an essay a haiku or any other form, the main objective is to simply begin writing. Choose ant of the prompts that speaks most to you and let the words begin to flow…

1. Suddenly, I knew…

2. “How long have I got?” she asked.

3. He knew it couldn’t last forever.

4. Suddenly, she began to laugh aloud.

5. Everything had changed, and he knew that he’d have to change too.

6. It had been a terrible year, but at the same time, she wouldn’t have changed a thing because…

7. The old man had looked like an easy victim, but…

8. It was the coldest winter on record, and all the roads were closed.

9. As the storm became fiercer, there was a knock at the door.

10. If my car hadn’t broken down that day, I’d never have…

11. I broke every one of my New Year’s resolutions that day.

12. It was the best summer ever.

13. She could hear the crowd cheering her on.

14. Would you believe that a butterfly could change your life?

15. The traffic policeman scanned the horizon and saw an approaching dust cloud.

16. If only Harry had remembered to close the window.

17. It was the first time I’d ever tried to sail a boat.

18. The world exploded into a rainbow of colors.

19. Sometimes, the wrong thing turns out to be right after all.

20. “You can’t do that!” he exclaimed.

21. I never thought I’d be famous until…

22. It was the most embarrassing moment of my life.

23. Choose a photo and develop your story around the scene.

24. Pick a family anecdote and turn it into an amusing story.

25. Think of a famous person and write a journal entry as if you were that person.

26. Begin with “I used to believe that” and simply write.

27. I never liked a sore loser…

28. The coals were still smoldering long after midnight.

29. She never looked more beautiful than she did at that moment.

30. He fiddled nervously with his phone and wondered about…

31. Everyone was afraid of Mr. Wilkins.

32. Describe a person’s appearance in a way that reveals something about their character.

33. I have never met a cheekier child.

34. Something strange happens every time I hear that song.

35. I had never cooked a meal before…

36. Today, I knew that I needed a complete change.

37. Choose ten clichés or idioms and find creative ways to say the same thing.

38. We didn’t plan to get lost in the woods.

39. The plane was rapidly losing height. He knew he had only one chance.

40. If only I had remembered what my mother always said.

41. It was the most inspiring thing she had ever seen.

42. He never thought he’d end up being a hero.

43. The silence was more powerful than any scream.

44. Aliens? I never believed in them until…

45. They always called him ‘the mad hermit’, but he was saner than any of us.

46. Imagine being caught in an earthquake or a flood. What happens? What would you do?

47. That day, he discovered that magic was real…

48. A desperately poor man finds a priceless artifact. What happens to him as a result?

49. The strangest dream I ever had.

50. Write a witty essay about writers’ block.

Do you have a good creative writing idea or prompt that has helped you in the past? Or have any of the above prompts made you think of new ones that could benefit other writers? Feel free to share any writing prompts you’d like and we’ll add them to this list!

(Image courtesy of Julie Jordan Scott )