Free Creative Writing Prompts #17:
Heaven and Hell
These free creative writing prompts are about the concepts of heaven and hell. I was extremely fortunate in college to take a seminar my first semester called "Visits to Hell" with one of my favorite professors, Thomas Stumpf. We had the opportunity to analyze famous literary visits to hell such as Dante's Inferno, The Epic of Gilgamesh, and The Oddessey. This gave me a great perspective on the classical views of Hell and a slight window into the views of Heaven as well. So many books, movies, and plays have had an appearance from the Devil and the forces of hell or Angels and the forces of Heaven that I figured it'd be a great topic for a set of story starters. Now, you no longer have to sell your soul for a great idea :). Sorry, had to go there. Enjoy!
Free Creative Writing Prompts: Heaven and Hell
1. You have just gotten into heaven. What's it like? Is it everything you dreamed of? Who is there that you know and what do you learn now that you're in the afterlife?
2. You have just gotten into hell. Crap. What's it like? Is it everything you feared? Who is there that you know and what do you learn now that you're in the afterlife.
3. Dante was busy, so you and Virgil go walking through hell, purgatory, and heaven, seeing all of the people who ended up in each place and learning a lot of life lessons along the way. Who do you see and what does Virgil tell you?
4. Your loved one was accidentally killed and sent to hell. It's up to you to bring her back. How do you get down there and what do you tell the Devil to get her out of there?
5. Do you believe in a heaven and a hell? Why? Because my religion says so is not a complete answer, by the way. Go into extreme detail.
6. You get to Heaven and it turns out all religions were right! Right enough to get up to heaven at least. What is it like talking with members of other religions that once fought each other down on Earth?
7. You get to Hell and it turns out all religions were wrong! What is the right choice in this reality and is there any way to undo what has been done?
8. You have gotten into heaven and you get to see all of your deceased loved ones. Who are you most excited to see first? Who are you least excited to see? Go into detail.
9. You are given a choice. Go to hell for 20 years, with the ability to be re-incarnated on Earth at that time and get another choice at the end of your life. Go to heaven for eternity. What's your choice, why, and describe your first week of the choice.
10. Create a story of hell coming to Earth and heaven battling them for control of the planet. Yeah, it's a little sci-fi, but it'll at least have a lot of action. Go for it!
Ah, these wonderful thoughts of the afterlife. Gets you thinking that you need to start really living your life on Earth, no? Well, if not, you still should. The truth is that we don't know what's going to happen after we kick the bucket, so you might as well do a whole lot of writing and get remembers forever. K? Feel free to fill out one of these free creative writing prompts about heaven and hell in the space below. Happy writing!
Bonus Prompt - You get into heaven and G-d calls you into his office. He tells you that you have been chosen to help re-model Earth. What do you do first? Do you abuse this position at all while standing right next to the big man?
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Written by Bryan Cohen
Bryan Cohen is the author of more than 30 books, many of which focus on creative writing and blasting through that pesky writer's block. His books have sold more than 20,000 copies. You can find him on Google+ and Facebook.
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