Fit ten words of dialogue, and no more, into a story of exactly fifty words.Hard part: ten spoken words is two short lines or one long one. Put them at the turn.
Describe a rainy day without using any of the letters R, A, I or N.Hard part: drip, water, storm and umbrella are gone. Still yours: wet, puddle, cloud, soggy.
Write about your day in reverse, from getting into bed to waking up.Hard part: not writing before that in every sentence. Let the clock times carry the order.
Announce a week of school lunches without once using the letter A.Hard part: every day of the week ends in day. Still yours: soup, rice, pie, fruit.
Complain to a restaurant about cold soup in a letter that has no C and no O.Hard part: cold, soup, cook, bowl and spoon are all out. First line: The dish arrived barely warm.
Compose a short poem about winter with no letter W, so the season can never be named.Hard part: snow, wind, white and window are gone as well. Still yours: frost, ice, a cold dark month.
Describe a rainy day without using any of the letters R, A, I or N.Hard part: drip, water, storm and umbrella are gone. Still yours: wet, puddle, cloud, soggy.
Describe the color red without using the letter R, which rules out the word itself.Hard part: red, color, fire, rose and cherry are gone. Still yours: a tomato, a stop light, hot coals.
Describe your morning, from waking up to walking out the door, without using the letter E.Hard part: the, bed, breakfast, teeth and street are all gone. First line: I got up at dawn.
Show all 60 prompts (54 more)
A letter left out, continued
Explain how to make a sandwich without the letter S, which rules out most plurals and the word sandwich.Hard part: is, slice, toast and cheese are out too. First line: Put bread on a plate.
Give directions across a made-up town, from the bakery to the bridge, without the letters E or T.Hard part: left, right, street, turn and the are all out. First line: Go down Main Road, pass a big oak.
Introduce yourself in five sentences without using any letter of your own first name.Hard part: the more letters in your name, the fewer words you have left. A Bob has it easy.
Thank someone for a present you did not want, in a note with no letter I anywhere, so you can never say I.Hard part: gift, like, nice and kind go as well. First line: Thank you so much for the scarf.
Write a lost-pet poster for a dog without the letter O, which takes the word dog with it.Hard part: no nose, coat, brown or collar. Still yours: a furry pet that barks, with a wet muzzle.
Write an advertisement for a lemonade stand without using the letter L.Hard part: lemon, cold, glass, sale and delicious all go. Still yours: a sour citrus drink, iced.
Write an argument between two people who may not use the letter N, so neither can say no, not, never or and.Hard part: refusing without a single no. Still yours: I will do it my way. I refuse.
Write the same four-sentence story twice: once without the letter A, then again without the letter E.Hard part: the second ban takes back the words that saved you in the first. Keep the plot the same.
Write three sentences about a farm in which the only vowel you use is E.Hard part: four vowels are out at once. First line: The seven sheep slept when the bell fell.
Exactly fifty words 15
Describe the room you are in using exactly fifty words, then again using exactly twenty-five.Hard part: the second pass shows which half of your words were doing the work.
Explain the rules of a game you know well in exactly fifty words, so that a stranger could play.Hard part: the first draft will run long. Cut the exceptions before you cut the rules.
Fit ten words of dialogue, and no more, into a story of exactly fifty words.Hard part: ten spoken words is two short lines or one long one. Put them at the turn.
In a fifty-word story, make the last word change the meaning of the first forty-nine.Hard part: the ending comes first. Choose the last word, then build back from it.
In exactly fifty words, describe someone you know well without saying what they look like.Hard part: habits, sayings and what they carry have to do the work of a face.
Persuade someone to try your favorite food in exactly fifty words.Hard part: one reason argued well beats four reasons listed. Pick the one.
Review something that is free, such as a breeze, a shadow or a view, in exactly fifty words.Hard part: staying serious. Give it a star rating and one honest complaint.
Send your future self a letter of exactly fifty words, counting the greeting and your name.Hard part: the greeting and the sign-off are spent before you have said anything.
Solve a mystery in exactly fifty words: something goes missing, there is one clue, and it is found.Hard part: three parts share fifty words. Spend the fewest on the finding.
Tell one event three times in exactly fifty words each: as a news item, a diary entry and a text to a friend.Hard part: fifty words is long for a text and short for the news. Let each form pick its facts.
Tell your whole life so far in exactly fifty words.Hard part: choosing what to leave out. A year can have one word or none.
Write an apology of exactly fifty words that never uses the word sorry.Hard part: without the word, the fifty have to show that you mean it.
Write exactly fifty words about a storm in which every sentence is shorter than the one before.Hard part: two rules at once. Sentences of 20, 14, 9, 5 and 2 words add up.
Write exactly fifty words in a single sentence, with no word used twice.Hard part: the and a may each appear once. After that every small word needs a stand-in.
Write exactly fifty words in ten sentences: one word, then two, then three, up to nine, then a last line of five.Hard part: the nine growing sentences come to forty-five words. The last five have to land.
One syllable only 15
Build a paragraph of one-syllable words in which each sentence is one word longer than the last.Hard part: two rules at once. First lines: Rain. It fell. The street shone.
Cheer up a friend who has had a bad day, in a note that uses only words of one syllable.Hard part: sorry is two. First line: I heard it was a rough day, and I am here.
Describe a soccer goal, from the pass to the cheer, in words of one syllable.Hard part: soccer and keeper are out. First line: The ball came low and fast from the left.
Describe a thunderstorm using only words of one syllable.Hard part: thunder and lightning are both out. First line: The sky went dark, and then came the boom.
Describe the sea to someone who has never left the desert, in words of one syllable.Hard part: ocean and water are out; salt, wave and tide are in. First line: Think of sand, but blue, and it moves.
Explain how to ride a bike using only words of one syllable.Hard part: pedal, balance and handlebars are gone. First line: Push down with your feet and hold the bars.
Explain what a computer is to someone from long ago in one-syllable words, so you cannot say computer.Hard part: screen, keys and code work; machine does not. First line: It is a box that thinks fast.
Give a king or a queen a speech with no word longer than one syllable.Hard part: sounding grand with small words. First line: My friends, the time has come to stand as one.
Give a tour of a castle using only one-syllable words.Hard part: castle, tower and dungeon are all out. First line: This is the great hall, and that way is the moat.
Make a reader hungry with a meal described in words of one syllable.Hard part: most food names are long. First line: Hot bread, thick with cheese, and a bowl of soup.
Say goodbye to summer using only words of one syllable.Hard part: summer is two. First line: The days grow short, and the pool is closed.
Tell a pet how much you love it, in a letter of one-syllable words.Hard part: the pet's name may break the rule. First line: You chewed my shoe, and still I think you are the best.
Tell the story of a lost tooth using only one-syllable words.Hard part: wiggle, pillow and fairy are out. First line: It hung by a thread for a week.
Write an argument about whose turn it is to wash the dishes, in one-syllable words only.Hard part: dishes is out. First line: I did the plates last night, so the pans are yours.
Write the news of your week as a front page, using only words of one syllable.Hard part: no Monday, no Tuesday, no weekend. First line: Dog Eats Shoe, Boy Late for School.
Backwards 15
Begin a story with The End and finish it with Once upon a time.Hard part: the reader meets the ending first and must still want to know how it began.
Run a mystery in reverse: first who did it, then the clue, then the thing that went missing.Hard part: the question is no longer who. Make the reader ask why.
Set down a conversation backwards: it starts with See you tomorrow and ends with Hello.Hard part: each reply comes before the line it answers, and the talk must still ring true.
Start a letter with your signature and end it with Dear.Hard part: the P.S. comes first now. Decide what a reader should know before the greeting.
Take a paragraph you have written and rewrite it so that its sentences run in the opposite order and it still makes sense.Hard part: then, so and after that all point the wrong way now. Each one has to change.
Tell a race backwards, from the medal to the starting gun.Hard part: the winner is known from the first line, so the tension has to come from how.
Tell the story of a spilled glass of milk backwards: start with the mop and end with the full glass on the table.Hard part: each sentence has to make sense before the reader knows what caused it.
Turn a recipe around: begin with the finished cake on the plate and end with the shopping list.Hard part: un-baking. Each step undoes the one a cook would do next.
Write a poem that reads the same line by line from the top down and from the bottom up.Hard part: the middle line is the hinge. Lines that are whole thoughts turn most easily.
Write a story in which every paragraph happens earlier than the one before, and the last explains the first.Hard part: plan it forwards, as five moments, then deal them out in reverse.
Write about building a sandcastle backwards, starting after the tide has taken it.Hard part: the flat sand comes first. The towers go up one sentence at a time, last to first.
Write about your day in reverse, from getting into bed to waking up.Hard part: not writing before that in every sentence. Let the clock times carry the order.
Write five sentences that work back from an answer and end on the question: Why is the cat on the roof?Hard part: the reader gets every effect before its cause, and the question last of all.
Write the life of a snowman backwards, from the puddle to the first snowflake.Hard part: the hat and the carrot are lying there from the first line. Explain them last.
Write three sentences that still make sense when their words are read in reverse order.Hard part: the meaning flips. Start small: Dogs chase cats. Cats chase dogs.
How this list was compiled: Original list written for Draw This Next on 2026-10-13: 60 writing prompt challenges in four groups of 15 (A letter left out; Exactly fifty words; One syllable only; Backwards). Each prompt is one thing to write under one rule; the line under it says where the rule bites, after Hard part, and where it goes on to a first line or a few words, those keep the rule. The prompts and first lines are our own, though a prompt this simple may have been used somewhere. Three things on the page are stated as fact, and each was read at Wikipedia on 2026-10-13 (text free to reuse under CC BY-SA 4.0). Lipogram (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipogram): a lipogram is writing that leaves out one chosen letter, or several, from start to finish, and it counts as constrained writing; dropping a rare letter such as Z, J, Q or X is easy, and dropping E, T or A in English is far harder, since so many everyday words hold them. Constrained writing (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constrained_writing): writing done under a rule set in advance, one that bans something or fixes a pattern. Reverse chronology (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_chronology): a story told this way opens on its ending and works back, scene by scene, to its beginning. Which words a banned letter takes away, and how many syllables a word has, were checked by spelling each word out. Every prompt was read for fitness for a child, and no real person, book, film or product is named. The rows and the lines under them were compared with every other list on the site on 2026-10-13. Licence: own work
How it works
The line under each of these writing prompt challenges says where the trouble will come: which words a banned letter takes away, what fifty words leave no room for. Many add a first line that keeps the rule.
Read the full guide
Difficult writing prompts: a letter left out
Writing that avoids a chosen letter is a lipogram, one kind of constrained writing. Rare letters such as Z, J, Q or X are easy to drop. Common ones such as E, T or A are much harder, because so many ordinary words go with them. Describe your morning without an E, and the, bed, breakfast and street are all gone.
Telling it backwards
A story in reverse chronology opens on its ending and works back to its beginning. Here a spilled glass of milk is told from the mop back to the full glass, and a race from the medal to the starting gun.
Draft without the rule, then repair one sentence at a time.
Count the fifty words at the end. Counting as you go stops the writing.
Questions and answers
What is a good writing prompt challenge?
One rule, strictly kept, on an ordinary subject. Write an apology of exactly fifty words that never uses the word sorry. Explain how to ride a bike using only words of one syllable.
What are good writing prompt challenges to do with a friend?
Ones you can check for each other. Swap pages and hunt for the banned letter, count the fifty words, or read the one-syllable piece aloud and stop at any word that breaks the rule.
Which are the most difficult writing prompts here?
Those with two rules at once: three sentences about a farm in which the only vowel is E, or fifty words in a single sentence with no word used twice. One story written without A, then again without E, is close behind.