College Students Nature Writing Prompts

Create a story or poem with the theme of 'Dead Roses'.

Your character runs a successful perfume shop, and one day loses their sense of smell.

Write about how your character would overcome this problem, and how they deal with it immediately after it happens.

Write a Pantoum on any topic you like.

A pantoum is a poem where each stanza is 4 lines, and the second and fourth line of each stanza are repeated as the first and third lines of the next. As this creates a lot of repetition, try to pick a theme that would benefit from emphasis of certain lines.

Describe a common scene (like a busy street or quiet park) in a way that evokes a specific emotion (e.g., loneliness, joy) without explicitly stating the emotion.

Use sensory details and imagery to convey the mood.

Write a simplified sestina with any theme you think fits in the form.

A sestina has 6 stanzas of 6 lines, and the final word of each stanza should be important, and appear in the next stanza along. Begin with these basic rules, but you can also look up and try all the complex rules of a sestina!

Write two contrasting scenes (e.g., a chaotic party and a serene sunrise) and create a smooth transition between them.

Focus on how to seamlessly shift from one setting to another while maintaining narrative flow.

Wanderlust

Write a poem about someone who never wants to stay in one place, and who wants to see the world.

Write a poem that transitions through two or more of the seven stages of grief: denial, bargaining, anger, depression, loss of self, reflection, and acceptance.

Your protagonist hates camping, but begins to see some of its highlights when they are forced on a camping trip with friends.

You could focus on the character's internal monologue, or you could reframe the way you decribe the setting and scenarios to show the character's changing feelings.

Using all five main senses, and any others you think are appropriate, describe a journey down into the depths of the sea.

Consider which narrative perspective you will use for this, particularly if there are non-human senses you could explore.

You are trapped outdoors in a thunderstorm. Write a poem about the experience.

Your character has gone on a solo holiday to an old countryside villa in a secluded and beautiful place.

Create a story about their experience.