And they lived happily ever after...
and other creative writing
story starters

Doesn't sound much like any of the creative writing story starters you expected to find here, does it?

The trick here is to read past the ordinary meaning of this sentence as an ending, and re-imagine it as the beginning of your very own story, poem, essay, or other work you're writing.

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Story starters don't have to be your ordinary, run-of-the-mill, fairy tale beginnings. "Once upon a time" is all well and good, but the reason they are called creative writing story starters is because they seek out that creative, imaginative factor that only you - the writer - can add to them.

Beginning with an ending will not only surprise your readers, as I hope I surprised you when you arrived at this page, but it will entice them to read on and see what possible path you took to take an obvious fairy tale ending and give it a unique and fresh twist.

Look outside the box. Read between the lines. Capture the possibilities that these creative writing story starters offer you.

Maybe the whole story will be a flashback leading up to their happily ever after.

Or maybe you'll explain their happily ever after. Where did they go? Did they have children? Pets? What did their house look like? There are a million questions and only you know the answers to them!

Now can you see how this ending would make a good beginning? I bet you've already thought of at least one possibility of how you would continue this beginning. Go for it. Write it down. If you thought of two, three, four, or five, write those down, too. All of your ideas have merit. Practice with them all and you'll soon make your choice of which is your favorite. It is in this way that you will separate your good work from your better and best.

Read on to find more story starters and some examples of how I've attempted some of them myself.

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