essay ideas sad

101 Sorrowful Writing Prompts That Are Sadder Than Sad

The most powerful way to engage your reader is to invoke strong emotion .

Readers who quickly empathize are more likely to keep reading a story that invites them to do just that. 

We’ve rounded up 101 heartbreaking, sad writing prompts to make your job easier. 

And since sad prompts aren’t always enough, we’ve thrown in some story ideas to show how you can spin a few words into a story your reader can’t put down. 

#1 — She never slept in this late… 

#2 — “what would you say if i asked you… “, #3 — the folks at work call me a “cat lady.”, #4 — she took her time choosing the perfect stone for this one. , #5 — he had that luxury., 101 sad writing prompts to inspire your next heart-wrenching story , what are some sad story ideas .

Check out these five sad book ideas, each based on a prompt but taking it a step further.

As you move on to the prompts list, pay attention to those that start developing in your mind into story ideas. Then set a timer for a writing sprint and see what happens. 

But as he rolled out of bed that morning, he seized upon the idea of surprising her with breakfast in bed. It took longer than he expected, and for a moment, he feared she would wake before he brought it to her. 

He needn’t have worried. 

The eggs and toast were cold now on the breakfast tray. He hadn’t noticed the folded letter on the bedside table, which the officer held in her hand as she read it. Then, she looked up at him, her mouth closed and her eyes unreadable behind the reflective lenses. 

“Can I read it, now?” he asked. 

“Asked me to what?” He visibly stiffened in his chair. She took a deep breath. 

“I want you to empty one of the two rooms you’ve filled with your things — and I mean completely empty it, closet and all — by the beginning of summer… Or I’m out.” 

He turned away, but she saw him swallow, heard him clear his throat, and take a deep, noisy breath through his nose. 

Without looking at her, he nodded briefly and said, “I’ll see what I can do.” 

I have two of them. And while my mother had earned a reputation for trapping strays in her house and taking them to the vet to be spayed or neutered, I was nowhere near that ambitious. 

Mischa and Cal just got me. Both were spayed. Both patrolled the apartment with the confidence of creatures whose mere will sustained the universe. 

Right now, they mutually shunned my guest, yowling every time the smell assaulted their nostrils. 

“Patience, kitties. Wait ‘til the embalming fluid does its work. It’s a special recipe. You’ll warm up to him no time.” 

They’d switched to cremation after she lost the first baby. Six more followed, and this one — the one she’d named Hope — had almost survived the ordeal of childbirth. It had started normally, but her doctor had urged an emergency C-section. She hadn’t argued. 

No time for anesthesia. No time to say goodbye to her husband, who told her he would be in there as soon as he could. 

Hope was silent. They tried reviving her, and she… lying on the table with her abdomen cut open, waited, afraid to breathe. 

The door opened then to let her husband in.

The luxury of agreeing to work whatever hours he chose. Not being the family chauffeur gave him a freedom he’d gotten used to. He couldn’t see why none of her interviews resulted in a job offer. 

He was about to learn. 

“Jax and Lily finish school at 2:00. Ben’s done at 3. Then Lily starts her shift at 4 and is done by 7. Jax doesn’t work today, but they do tomorrow. And no, neither of them can cancel last minute.”

“Why not? How am I supposed to get anything done if I’m constantly heading out the door to get them from something?” he asked. 

“Oh… Sorry, does your boss not know you have kids?”

Read through these sad story prompts until you find one you’d like to use, either for a new story contest or for your own creative journaling .

Develop at least one of them into an idea today. Which of these will get you started on your next writing sprint?

1. The lone survivor of an advanced race tells the story of their family’s mission to Earth and what it cost them. 

2. The main character receives a devastating diagnosis and decides to track down and try to reconnect with their estranged daughter and son. 

3. She asked him a question she wished she’d asked him years ago. He reacted much as she’d expected. 

4. One look at his face, and she knew he’d been through a lifetime’s worth of pain but hadn’t been beaten by it.

5. Whose idea was it to add “‘Till death do us part” to the wedding vows? And did only one kind of death matter to them?

6. “How did I not see it in my own daughter? She was dying right in front of me!” 

7. He teased her for not being a “detail person.” But she noticed well enough how he looked at her best friend. 

8. “A hero would sacrifice you to save the world. I’m not a hero.” 

9. They were playing hide-and-seek. She never found him. Until now. 

10. “You’ve had 15 years to notice… It just didn’t bother you enough to do something about it.” 

11. “I was hoping you’d prove me wrong. Being right is the last thing I want to be right now.” 

12. “She gave me one last look before walking out into the storm. No one has seen her since.” 

13. He had no idea how much she already knew. He walked in the door, ready to tell her everything. 

14. “You were angry with me … because I made you look bad to your family. What am I, then?” 

15. I was old enough to remember the day I became an orphan. 

16. “You honestly think this is the first time he’s done this? Where have you been?”

17. “It gets worse at night. We can’t allow anyone into that room with her.“

18. She wanted to marry her best friend. He wanted an idea she couldn’t live up to. 

19. She emptied the hope chest, filled it with potting soil, and, planting it full of cacti, left it behind his car before she drove off.

20. Being depressed is hard enough. Trying to hide it is what led to this moment.

21. “You have no idea how messed up it is that you’re fine with the way things are.”

22. Most of my nightmares are about things that happen when the sun is shining.

23. “I know I need to grieve what I thought I would have with him. But right now, I’m just relieved.” 

24. She gave him her house key and the garage door button with a small smile and nod before walking to her car.

25. “I was a different woman when I married him. And I’ve never been enough. But good Catholic husbands don’t give up, right?” 

26. “I was waiting in the car when the rain started. He stepped out onto the covered porch, looked at me, and shook his head.”

27. “What kind of retreat was this anyway?” she thought. But then she saw it: the perfect stone, worn smooth and darker than its neighbors.

28. She spent the week in bed, unable to do more than sleep between small sips of water. He wasn’t there when she recovered.

29. It was the best part of their usual cycle, but even then, she saw the beginnings of the next stage. Nothing had changed.

30. “It’s not that I’m not motivated to put in the effort to become a saint. It’s that I’d rather be anything else.”

31. His voice brought back memories she wasn’t ready for. 

32. “Don’t wait until you’re ready. No one’s really ready until they have nothing left to lose — and not enough time to enjoy winning.”

33. “One day, when he grows up and tells the church to piss off, he’ll find someone else, and they’ll be happy together. I hope.” 

34. Maybe I’m ready for a job that requires me to shower on a daily basis. Maybe I need that now. 

35. This was the song that was playing when we met. It hits differently, now. 

36. He wasn’t a stranger for long. Something he said within those first few minutes flipped a switch. And just like that, he was my home.

37. “You seriously overestimate my need for certainty.” 

38. All anyone can guess is that she took the wrong prescription by mistake. It was right next to hers. No one knew about the allergy. 

39. One day at a time, she sorted through her things, boxed them up, hauled donations out the door. This time was different. She was ready. 

40. That cat was the only creature who brought a smile to her face. No one’s seen her leave the house since. 

41. He sent her a bouquet of pink Gerbera daisies with a note. She bit her lip as she read it, sighing deeply before looking up.

42. She was the only one putting up signs when the child went missing. No one knew why until the police arrived at her door.

43. The flowers he bought meant something. The ones she bought for herself meant something else. 

44. She never needed the alcohol to numb herself. It just made it easier to stay.

45. Retirement was finally just a week away. The cardiac wing of the hospital wasn’t the vacation spot he had in mind.

46. She listed every item in the donation box, making sure to add a value estimate to every gift she’d kept. 

47. He left a note on the kitchen countertop: “I ate the cake you made for book club. It was dry.” Terrible last words.

48. “You have no idea how little those words mean right now.”

49. He’d forgotten how nice it was when people showed up when they said they would. 

50. The last teddy bear sat on top of the pile, his head bowed. 

51. The best thing about the property was the trees. One by one, they started dying. 

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52. She brewed his favorite tea every morning and started her day with it. 

53. Find a box that will work for my Dell tower, monitor (in a pillowcase w/ padding), keyboard, speakers, and cords. 

54. What could have been doesn’t matter anymore. I’m more interested in what’s next.

55. He interpreted my being demisexual to mean I wasn’t attracted to him. He was right about that — but wrong to think he could fix it.

56. We never needed a perfect dad — just one that kept trying. 

57. The “functional” bit in functional alcoholic is the word we use to trick ourselves into thinking we’re still in control — or that we ever were. 

58. He had what he said he’d always wanted. It wasn’t enough. 

59. They told her to choose between her own life and that of her unborn child. He chose for her. 

60. After years of waiting for him to see what this was costing her, she finally told him. 

61. Her leash and collar still hang on the hook by the front door.

62. He meant well. But he shouldn’t have used their daughter’s dead guinea pig as his first taxidermy project. 

63. The child had a habit of eating houseplants, and his mother, the “salad queen,” was distracted. 

64. She named her house “the Owlery” and started collecting them on her front porch, one cage at a time.

65. She folded the clothes and gently laid them in the donation box. These were for the woman she used to be. 

66. Ankle-length skirts, demure necklines, muted colors… they no longer had a place in her wardrobe. She smiled and closed the box. 

67. She paused just outside the door, hearing the dance music playing inside. She caught her reflection, and her shoulders sank.

68. She wasn’t used to being missed. So, she hadn’t called to let her parents know when she’d need a ride. 

69. For years he would ask for it, teasing her one day and then resorting to guilt. 

70. She’d burned a CD with his favorite songs, including some he’d introduced to her. She gently laid it near his cold hands. 

71. Every time she heard a dog bark, she’d freeze, waiting to hear it again. 

72. “Why are you grieving? Isn’t this what you want,” she asked. It is, now, I thought. But it wasn’t always.

73. If she were a house, her doors would be locked. But there might still be a way in for someone determined to find it. 

74. Her interview was tomorrow. The clothes would arrive next week. 

75. If there was ever a time for expedited shipping, this was it. She clicked on the box, wincing at the price. He would know.

76. I hadn’t known I was pregnant when I went out that night. 

77. She would have chosen her child. I would have chosen her. The virus chose for both of us. 

78. “Yes, beauty is fleeting,” she said. “But it’s right in front of us, now. Why not enjoy it?”

79. The flowers she’d bought the day before lay wilting on the sidewalk. 

80. “You don’t know how hard I looked for it,” he said. “It wasn’t there.” 

81. The rain and wind suddenly fell silent, and her eyes turned toward the deck window, her face paler than I’ve ever seen it.

82. She rubbed the lotion into her hands absent-mindedly, her fingernails shorter than they were before the movie started.

83. She held her doll to her face while her mother scooped her up and headed out the door. 

84. The dog stood patiently by the door as he always did, waiting for his return. 

85. Our cats all end up in the same place eventually. It’s a busy road. 

86. She’d made her famous noodle casserole for every family that came to hire her husband. This one was different.

87. The phone rang five times before the seven-year-old picked it up. “No one’s here,” he said. 

88. “The only apples that grow on those trees are half-eaten by worms by the time they ripen. You want applesauce? Buy some.”

89. I’d seen him chase her down the road, carrying something and yelling at her. The cops found them both an hour later.

90. They thought he would come when they sent word of his mother’s illness. Only after she passed did they learn the truth.

91. He had the best balance of all of us — and the least fear. 

92. No one could see that he was actually suffocating until he passed out. 

93. The box was empty. All of them were. She looked up with tears in her eyes.

94. Seconds before he pulled the trigger, I realized I was the villain in this story. 

95. Now that I’m leaving, he won’t have to worry about renting storage space for all the things he wants to keep. 

96. I could see that the front door was ajar when I pulled in. I left the engine running. 

97. The curtain fell, and behind it, so did she. 

98. She wasn’t trying to be the perfect mother. She was just trying to get through the day. 

99. She trimmed the crusts off his sandwiches and brought them to his bed. 

100. He has no idea most people aren’t born that way. No one’s told him. 

101. Someone had left the starving animal chained to a fence post in the middle of nowhere. 

Now that you’ve looked through all the sad story prompts and story ideas in this post, we hope you found at least one you’re itching to write about today. Jot it down, along with any ideas that come — snippets of dialogue, setting details, etc. 

Then pick a time and let those words flow. 

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135+ Sad Writing Prompts to Stir Deep Emotions in Readers

By: Author Hiuyan Lam

Posted on Last updated: October 20, 2023

Categories Writing Prompts

The benefits of using sad writing prompts

Unlocking creative depths.

Enhancing writing skills

Exploring emotions and improving mental health

Sad writing prompts to unleash creative depths

Exploring health challenges and personal struggles.

Tackling social challenges and environmental crises

Delving into personal relationships and trust issues

Artistic expressions of emotions

Sad writing prompts to develop students’ writing skills

Addressing academic pressure and anxiety.

Understanding family dynamics and common issues

Confronting bullying and peer pressure

Navigating friendship and unexpected setbacks

Sad writing prompts to facilitate emotional expressions and personal growth

Facing anxiety and fear.

Examining loneliness and isolation

Reflecting on regrets and mistakes

Dealing with loss and heartbreak

Unraveling betrayal, conflict, and misunderstandings

Do sad writing prompts have to be with a sad or tragic ending?

Conclusion: Gateways to emotional depth, imagination, and transformation

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Sad Writing Prompts: Over 50 Ideas That Are Complete Tearjerkers

• July 14, 2022

Strong emotions make for great story-telling. 

Sadness is one of those emotions that pulls on the heartstrings and makes a story engaging and memorable. 

The saddest stories make us cry and even summon a tear when we remember them long after we first heard them.

Even though sadness is a complex emotion, it’s part of life. 

Each of us will face feelings of sadness at some point in our lives. 

When it comes to story-telling, exploring sadness offers some benefits.

It allows readers to connect with the characters on a deeply personal level and can be incredibly cathartic. Catharsis is the purging of emotions through storytelling.

We’ve got you covered if you’re a writer and want an idea for a sad short story. 

This article has over 50 sad writing prompts to help you get started. 

The prompts below include general sad story ideas, sad opening lines, and suggestions for sad dialogue. 

We’ve also included sad lines and quotes from world-famous novels to inspire you further.

50+ sad writing prompts

Check out the 50+ sad story prompts below to inspire you!

Ideas for sad short stories

The main character is diagnosed with a terminal illness. Write a story about their attempts to reconnect with distant family members during the short time they have left.

A couple who lost their child to an illness years ago adopted an orphan. Write a story from the parents’ perspective as they learn to love this adopted child.

Write a story about a teenager trying to get through high school while also battling her depression. Explore her background, trials, tribulations, and the main character’s rocky relationship with herself.

Write a story from the perspective of a dead person who watches over their loved ones from the afterlife.

One of the last remaining members of an animal species is caged in a zoo. Write a story about their memories of life before the zoo, how they got caught, and their thoughts and sentiments today.

A couple about to reunite after ten years has their plans thwarted by a global pandemic. Write a series of letters between the two lovers yearning for each other during this unprecedented pandemic. For extra drama, add a conflict to the correspondence. Does a letter go missing? Is there some vital information revealed in one of the letters, something that might change the relationship?

An older, overweight woman just wants some love and affection. Her size and the amount of time since she was held by someone make her believe she is unlovable. One day, an old friend from school shows up to ask how she is. They spend time together, have lots of fun, and make lasting memories. Our main character develops feelings for her old friend, but he won’t be around forever.

A young boy is destined to become a superhero and save the world. To fulfill his destiny, he must leave his friends and family behind without telling them and enter a strict training regime in a secret location. Write a story from the perspective of his friends and family members who believe their loved one has gone missing.

A young high school couple decides to try a long-distance relationship when high school ends, and both go to different states for college. Write a letter from one partner to another explaining why they think they should break up—include memories and sentiments from the relationship and important last things they say to each other.

Write a story about a young girl whose cat was run over on the road outside her house. Explore how her parents teach her about death and grief.

An old man slowly dying in a hospital bed recounts the story of his life to his young grandson.

A father’s alcoholism tears a family apart. Write a story from the perspective of a daughter who needs her father, but his addiction makes him indisposed to help.

In high school, all the girls receive Valentine’s day cards from the boys in class. All but one. Write a story about the girl who doesn’t get a card.

Two young lovers are forbidden from seeing each other. Yearning for each other’s company, they sneak out of their respective homes. Knowing that their love is forbidden, they never return home.

A woman whose husband is killed in war dreams about him every night and wakes up alone every morning. Tired of the pain of waking up alone, she tries to go to sleep forever.

An old man and his dog are best friends and have only had each other for years. When the old man dies, the dog is left alone. The man’s relatives take the dog into their home. Every day, the dog runs away and sits on his former owner’s grave until his new owner comes to bring him home.

Sad short story opening line prompts

When I was a child I always wanted a dog, and I had one. The three months I spent with my dog was some of the most fun I’ve ever had.

Maria couldn’t cry. She was sad and angry but tired, and crying required far more energy than she could summon.

One morning, Brian woke up alone. He was surprised until he remembered that his dream life was a dream.

The best way to break a person’s heart is to pretend that you care about them.

I loved her, and she loved me. Now I’m a stranger, and she’s a memory.

One day I woke up, and she was gone. No text, no note, nothing. Just the smell of her hair on the pillow and my loneliness were all that was left.

You never know how much you love someone until they’re gone. That was one of the hardest lessons I ever had to learn.

Have you ever loved someone so much that it broke your heart?

When I was younger, I thought love was about butterflies, smiles, holding hands, and being happy forever after. Now that I’m older, I realize how much pain it causes. Still, that doesn’t mean we should stop loving.

The day the doctor told me I was sick was the first day of the rest of my life.

Looking back on my life before I died, I realize that there were so many things I could have done differently. All the worry, the procrastination, the pointless arguments, what a waste of time!

I’m done with love. Over. Never again.

Sad short story dialogue prompts

‘No, I won’t let you go!’

‘I love you.’

‘I’m sorry, but I have to leave.’

‘I was waiting for you.’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘I wish you told me how you felt before today.’

‘I understand if you never want to see me again.’

‘Can we just talk?’

‘I don’t love you anymore.’

‘I heard this song, which made me think of us.’

‘Loving you is the best and worst thing ever to me.’

‘Is there someone else?’

‘I have some bad news.’

‘How could you do this to me?’

‘I need to tell you something.’

‘I have to go, and I don’t know when I’ll be back.’

‘I really thought things would be different this time.’

‘I can’t help myself.’

‘I hope you never miss someone as much as I miss you.’

‘Words can’t describe the pain I feel right now.’

‘I’m worried about you; call me?’

‘All I want is one more moment with you; is that wrong?’

‘I know you don’t want to talk to me anymore, but I just want to thank you for making me a better person.’

‘I thought you would notice, but you didn’t.’

‘How can I possibly trust you anymore?’

‘I’m not mad at you, but I’m very disappointed.’

‘One time, I would have screamed and argued with you, but now I just don’t have the energy.’

‘I heard you’re happy now.’

‘All of this hurt, all of this pain, and still I love you.’

‘I never realized loving you would hurt this much. Still, I don’t regret a thing.’

‘I dreamed we were still together, you and me.’

Sad lines and quotes from literature

“Beautiful things grow to a certain height, and then they fall and fade off, breathing out memories as they decay.” F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned

“Time was passing like a hand waving from a train I wanted to be on. I hope you never have to think about anything as much as I think about you.” Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

“If you have a sister and she dies, do you stop saying you have one? Or are you always a sister, even when the other half of the equation is gone?” Jodi Picoult, My Sister’s Keeper

“There are a lot of children in Afghanistan, but little childhood.” Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner

“I know so many last words. But I will never know hers.” John Green, Looking for Alaska

“I have scars on my hands from touching certain people.” J. D. Salinger,  Raise High the Roof Beam

“I hid my deepest feelings so well I forgot where I placed them.” Amy Tan, Saving Fish from Drowning

“You see I usually find myself among strangers because I drift here and there trying to forget the sad things that happened to me.” F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

“The heart dies a slow death, shedding each hope like leaves until one day there are none. No hopes. Nothing remains.” Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha

‘I think everyone feels alone in their sadness, and there’s a certain value to hearing other people’s sad stories.’   Brandon Stanton, American Novelist

Sad stories evoke difficult emotions. 

All of us have some sadness in our lives somewhere. Such is the nature of human life. 

Many of us would rather avoid sadness altogether and only allow ourselves to feel positive emotions. 

However, integrating and accepting sadness is essential for living a life of emotional stability.

Sad stories, though emotionally heavy, can help us process our own sadness. 

American Novelist Brandon Stanton believes that hearing others’ stories is valuable. We experience catharsis, the purging of emotions through experiencing them vicariously through fictional characters . 

Sad stories also help us feel sympathy, empathy, and compassion for others.

For writers, sad stories pose a challenge. 

It’s essential to approach sad scenes and themes with authenticity and honesty. 

At the same time, one shouldn’t indulge in sadness. It should exist as a theme as a by-product of the natural unfolding of events in a story.

So, if you’re a writer and you want to write a heart-heavy, tear-jerker story, use any of the prompts and ideas outlined above. 

Feel free to chop and change elements of each prompt to suit you. 

Take inspiration from one or several of the prompts above and craft your unique story that will bring a tear of sadness to your reader’s eye.

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Home / Book Writing / Sad Writing Prompts: 50+ Ideas to Get Your Started

Sad Writing Prompts: 50+ Ideas to Get Your Started

One of the reasons stories of all kinds are so popular — and have been for thousands of years — is that they help us process real-world emotions. We'll all have to deal with grief, sadness, heartache, depression, and negative thoughts at some point in our lives. And sometimes, one thing that can help us get through tough times is a story where fictional characters go through something similar.

That's why we've developed this list of sad writing prompts for your next journal entry, short story, or novel idea.

• Sad Book Genres
• Tips for Writing a Sad Story
• Sad Writing Prompts

Table of contents

• Where Do Sad Stories Fit?
• Tips to Help Your Sad Writing
• Planning for Publishing Success

One of the things we talk about here at Kindlepreneur is writing to market. That is, writing something you want to write that also intersects with an existing marke t. Preferably one with hungry readers. And as you surely know, there's no such thing as a “Sad” book genre. But that doesn't mean that sad books don't fit nicely into some existing genres . They do. And here are a couple to keep in mind:

• Literary Fiction – These kinds of books don't fit neatly into other popular fiction categories like mystery or romance. This is where you'll often find books of a sad nature, dealing with loss, depression, interpersonal relationships, and overwhelming feelings.
• Romance – There are often some seriously strong emotions in romance stories. And sadness is chief among them. But the thing to remember about the romance genre is readers expect a happy ending. So, not too much sadness!
• Drama – There's not really an official drama category in most bookstores. Amazon certainly doesn't have a drama category for Kindle books. But thinking about sad, dramatic films is a good way to categorize your story, at least in your own head.

Formatting Has Never Been Easier

Write and format professional books with ease.  Never before has creating formatted books been easier.

If you can write a book or story that evokes strong emotions from your readers, then you'll likely have a good career as an author. Provided, of course, those strong emotions are the ones you intended to evoke. No matter the genre, a good story relies on character development , conflict, and rising stakes. For this reason, there’s really only a handful of story structures out there. And if you familiarize yourself with these story structures , you can write a compelling story that people will enjoy.

The big difference between most popular fiction genres and a sad book in a genre like literary fiction is the type of stakes. In a thriller, the stakes may be death. Maybe for the character. Maybe for the whole world.

In a dramatic book, the stakes will be mostly emotional. Often love or enlightenment . If your main character doesn't get what she seeks, she'll remain lost in her life. Or he'll break down and will no longer be able to function. Or the love of her life will slip away forever.

So as you write, keep the stakes in mind. And try to keep raising the stakes as you move toward the climax . This is what readers expect. And while there's a little bit of leeway in the literary fiction genre, the climactic story structure is so ingrained in our cultural psyche that you ignore it at your peril.

Now, on to the creative writing prompts!

The following writing ideas can be used as a jumping-off point or merely for inspiration. If you like a story starter as it is, start writing and see where it takes you. Or change the writing prompt however you see fit and let the inspiration take over!

1. Write about a mental health professional who is afraid one of her patients may hurt himself.

2. Write about the grief a young character experiences when he loses a close friend.

3. Explore how social media negatively affects one young person's view of the world. Write it from the young person's perspective using first person POV .

4. Write about a young woman reading a love letter and crying. What's in the letter that's making her cry?

5. Write about two characters who speak different languages coming into conflict with each other because of their language barrier.

6. Write about a character who receives a terminal diagnosis. What does he do with the time he has left?

7. There's something wrong with your main character's sister. She begins acting erratically and saying very strange things.

8. Write about an unlikely friendship that develops between a hospice worker and a patient.

9. One high school is thrown into turmoil after a terrible bus accident takes the lives of many students.

10. Start your story as a diary entry written by a character who's contemplating suicide.

11. Think about your happiest childhood memory. Identify a few things that helped you feel that happiness. Now write a story about a character who never had those things in her life.

12. Write a story from the perspective of someone battling depression and overcoming anxiety.

13. Start a story in which one character lets anger take control. He says or does things that he'll find hard to take back when he calms down.

14. Write a story in which a small town or village is destroyed by deforestation or another environmentally questionable practice.

15. Write a story in which a woman gets convicted of a crime she didn't commit.

16. Detail one family's struggle to survive during a catastrophic natural disaster.

17. Explore the feelings of a young character dealing with rejection.

18. Write about a character who is orphaned when he loses his only family member. Will he find a new family?

19. Explore the terrible things that can happen when a loved one is afflicted with a drug problem.

20. Have a character look back on something bad that happened to their younger self. Have them use that incident to overcome their biggest challenge as an adult.

21. Sometimes what seems like the worst thing in the world can actually be a good thing. Write about how good things come from unlikely places.

22. Write about a character who has a hard time dealing with emotion. When things are bottled up, they can often come out in other ways.

23. Write about an old married couple who thinks they can no longer stay together. What are their final days before the divorce like? Do they end up falling back in love?

24. Abuse comes in all shapes and sizes. Write a story about a character finally getting out of an abusive relationship.

25. Write about how the world always seems to take the good ones away first.

26. Explore a character who ventures to meet her biological mother for the first time. The meeting is nothing like what she expected.

27. Explore the struggles families go through when dealing with a family member with a mental health problem.

28. She always wanted a child. But now that she has one, she feels like something is missing.

29. The grass always seems greener on the other side. But when you get over there, it rarely is. Write about a character who seems to burn every bridge in search of greener grass.

30. Write about a character learning to live again after suffering a debilitating injury.

31. People express their feelings in different ways. Explore a character who expresses her feelings in a way that makes people think she's abrasive.

32. Hate is a strong emotion. But so is love. Explore two characters learning how to stop hating and start loving.

33. “All I want is to find something to fill that hole inside me. But I don't think it exists.”

34. She just left the bathroom for a minute to answer the phone. There were only a few inches of water in the tub…

35. He could still feel the painful wound in his hand. This time, he managed to look into the mirror without punching it.

36. She tried to see the beauty in everything. But after the funeral, it seemed impossible. She thought all the beauty had been sucked out of the world.

37. He watched the storm coming slowly closer. The sky looked exactly like this when his life was torn apart.

38. Explore how one seemingly insignificant choice can change a life for the worst.

39. He saw the homeless man every day on the way to work. One day, he decided to call in sick and help the man.

40. Write a story about a character who must deal with a narcissistic and extremely manipulative father.

41. It feels too good to be true. Has she finally found love, or is she being manipulated?

42. He's the most in-demand actor in Hollywood. So why does he feel so empty inside?

43. Write about a character who has a bad day and is rude to someone at a coffee shop. They feel bad, but soon find out the person they were rude to is out for revenge.

44. The new marriage is exciting, but something isn't quite right. Could it be that the perfect relationship is anything but?

45. She's poor until she receives a large inheritance. But with the money comes a whole new set of problems.

46. His brother has always been a lot to handle. But on this trip back home, the sibling does something truly terrible.

47. Her favorite thing in the world is her music. But a freak accident causes her to go deaf.

48. As a writer prepares to take his final breaths before his assisted suicide, he laments those things he didn't do in his life.

49. When a young man experiences some bullying at his new school, he's heartbroken. But he could never have guessed what would happen to his bully. Or why everyone would suspect him.

50. As a godmother to her best friend's child, she never thought she'd actually have to raise the kid. But a horrible accident makes her an adoptive mother. 

Whether you use one of these sad writing prompts as a story starter or a journal prompt doesn't matter much. What matters is you sharpen your story-writing skills with practice. Whether the story is novel-length or simply a short story, you'll still enjoy the practice that comes with executing a character-driven plot .

But what if you've written a sad book and you'd like to put it out in the world to make some money from it? If that's your goal, then it's good to have a plan. 

The most successful indie authors have a plan in place before publishing their books. And part of that plan means looking at the market to find readers who are interested in their books . There’s more than one way to go about this, but only one way that doesn’t take hours of mind-numbing research.

With Publisher Rocket , you can get data in seconds that would otherwise take you hours if you were to comb through Amazon yourself . The main PR tools allow you to:

• Learn what keywords Amazon customers use to search for books like yours — and how many searches a given keyword (or phrase) receives per month.
• See what's working for other authors in your genre with data on book price, monthly sales, ranking, and book cover styles.
• Find niche categories with the right amount of demand and competition for your books.
• Gather keywords to use in your Amazon Ad campaigns.

Check out Publisher Rocket here to learn more.

Jason Hamilton

When I’m not sipping tea with princesses or lightsaber dueling with little Jedi, I’m a book marketing nut. Having consulted multiple publishing companies and NYT best-selling authors, I created Kindlepreneur to help authors sell more books. I’ve even been called “The Kindlepreneur” by Amazon publicly, and I’m here to help you with your author journey.

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50 Sad Story Ideas That Will Leave Your Readers Shattered

What is it about a sad story idea that’s so appealing?

I mean, it seems weird, right—the things readers want us to put them through? And it might be even weirder that we fulfill their requests so eagerly.

Maybe it’s because a book is a safe space. Sad stories give us an opportunity to explore difficult topics and our own capacity for sorrow without enduring real-life trauma.

Or maybe it’s that, like a sad song, a devastating story is cathartic. If we could use a good cry, a heart-wrenching book will get the job done.

Or maybe—and this is my favorite explanation—it’s the connective experience of seeing our own familiar pain reflected in an unfamiliar life. What reveals our common humanity more than our shared knowledge of loss, rejection, heartache, and isolation? 

And what’s more reassuring than our ability to hurt because someone else—even a fictional someone else—is hurting?

Of course, in order to pull any of this off, you’ve got to know how to use your sad story idea well . You need to know how to write a tearjerker without leaning on clichés or accidentally exploiting real-life trauma.

Fortunately, you’re about to learn exactly that. I’ll also share 50 sad story ideas you can use to write a novel your readers will never get over.

Let’s get started.

How to Evoke Emotion

The key to evoking emotion is to make your story feel real for your readers. Help them forget they’re reading fiction.

Now, a carefully crafted plot and fully developed characters will go a long way towards accomplishing this goal. But you’ll need a few nuanced moves to really drive those big feelings home. Moves like this:

Create Context

A little context helps your reader not only connect with your character’s sadness but also understand the depth and complexity of their sadness.

It’s one thing for your protagonist to lose their beloved dog. It’s another for them to lose the dog that sat loyally at their feet for every AA meeting when they were at the lowest point in their life.

Creating context can be as simple as adding a couple sentences or as revealing a full backstory through flashbacks . Either way, help your reader understand what this harrowing situation actually means for the character. 

Keep It Real

Our hungry little author brains devour all the tricks and maneuvers other writers use to spark emotions. Then, sometimes, we accidentally regurgitate those strategies onto the page (gross), using them as a sort of shortcut to accomplish what those other writers did.

That’s how we get clichés —characters sobbing into pillows and punching walls and saying “Don’t you die on me!” 

To avoid this, key into your own emotions and life experiences. 

How does loss feel in your body? What mannerisms do you observe when your romantic partner is angry? How would you describe the sounds and smells of a hospital if you’d never read another author’s description?

By all means, notice when another author’s story puts the sting in your tear ducts. But ask yourself why you feel so connected to the story. Is it the characterization? The sensory details ? A vivid metaphor?

Take the lesson and make it your own.

Show, Don’t Tell

If you’re not already familiar with this popular piece of writing advice, here’s the gist:

Great writing shows the reader what’s happening rather than explaining the scene.

For example, this is showing:

“So many times my eyes in the mirror were vacant or bruised with sorrow. Tonight they are clear and kohl lined, seemingly darkened by mystery and secrets, a cat-eyed stare shining with anticipation.” – Before I Let Go

This is telling:

“I’m used to seeing myself look sad in the mirror. Tonight my make-up looks good and I feel more alive.” –Me, ruining the line from Before I Let Go

Help the reader experience the moment for themselves. If you could use some help building your “show, don’t tell” muscles, we’ve got worksheets for that exact purpose.

At some point in your writerly life, you’re going to have to write about a trauma you have not experienced yourself. When you do, a strong imagination and deep sense of empathy can get you pretty far. But it won’t be enough.

Take some time to research the experience you’re writing about. Find articles about the psychological effects. Listen to podcasts in which specialists or survivors discuss that particular kind of trauma. Read the memoirs of people who’ve been through similar struggles.

(Little tip: we’ve got a couple articles to get you started on respectfully writing depressed and abused characters .)

It may also be a good idea to hire a sensitivity reader who can review your next-to-final draft and make sure you’re representing that experience respectfully.

This extra effort can help you…

Stay Out of the Exploitation Zone

There are two big things you want to look out for when you brainstorm sad story ideas.

First, notice if you have a character who’s defined exclusively by the sad thing that happens to them. 

For example, do you have an abused character who’s got nothing else going on other than being victimized? Or do they also experience joy and hope on occasion? Do they look for ways to find some sense of control?

As tragic as a character’s situation may genuinely be, painting them with one big trauma brush flattens them. They become sadness caricatures and the reader becomes super aware that the author’s trying to make them cry.

Second, be extremely careful about sad story ideas that are basically just “the protagonist is from a marginalized community” (assuming it’s not your community). 

For one thing, there’s a risk of portraying someone else’s entire identity as inherently sad. In no universe is that a good thing. 

And for another, marginalized voices are only beginning to get a shot at the spotlight. They’ve endured generations of watching writers from outside their community tell their stories with very little effort to get it right. 

I personally believe that when it comes to the identity-specific challenges of a marginalized demographic, it’s best to let the people who’ve lived it tell their own stories. 

50 Sad Story Ideas

Now that you’ve had a quick lesson on devastating readers both effectively and ethically, let’s get those wheels turning.

Here are 50 sad story ideas spanning five different topics.

Purpose and Identity

• After a crushing loss, a talented artist struggles to regain their creative spark.
• A serious injury forces a young athlete to end the career they’ve built their entire identity around.
• When a grandparent is diagnosed with dementia, they invite their adult grandchild on a cross-country roadtrip, hoping to connect on a deeper level before their condition progresses.
• A struggling musician plans a final performance before giving up on their dream.
• A military chaplain experiences a crisis of faith after witnessing atrocities on the war front.
• While working with a therapist to process a friend’s death by suicide, an emotionally avoidant person confronts their own mental health struggles.
• Unhoused for the first time, a middle-aged person navigates the challenges of life without a home.
• After spending the first part of their life as “the only one of their kind,” an adolescent “extraterrestrial” embarks on a mission to find their planet of origin, only to learn they were made in a lab. 
• A teenager is forced to rethink everything when they realize the “religion” they were raised in is actually a cult.
• A person finds themselves feeling trapped and unhappy in their “idyllic” life, realizing for the first time that they worked hard to build a life that would spark everyone’s envy but their own. 

• The accidental loss of a cherished family heirloom sparks a long-overdue family feud and unearths old grievances.
• A couple considers divorce when they reach an impasse about how to handle their fertility struggles.
• A young adult goes on a mission to find their twin who went missing as a child. Along the way, they’re forced to confront their resentment over a childhood that was always about the sibling who wasn’t there.
• Parents fight to get their kidnapped and adopted child back from the adoptive parents. (Or the reverse perspective: parents learn that their adopted child was kidnapped—not orphaned—and the birth parents want the child back.)
• A peasant child adopted into a royal family feels trapped between worlds.
• Two siblings who had very different experiences in the foster care system struggle to find a connection as adults.
• A stray dog goes on a journey to find a loving home.
• A single parent struggles to rescue their adult child from a cult.
• Conflict arises when an economic crisis threatens the survival of a 90-year-old family business.
• After stumbling on a family secret they were never supposed to know, three cousins carry the burden of deciding whether or not to reveal information that could destroy their family.

Relationships

• An elderly couple struggles to stay connected after their different medical needs force them to live in separate care facilities.
• Lifelong friends find themselves on opposite ends of the political divide, both sucked into social media rage culture and ultimately unable to find their way back to one another.
• Two teenagers struggling with anxiety and isolation during the pandemic discover a deeper connection in their virtual study group.
• After spending a decade together, a once-in-a-lifetime job opportunity forces a couple to navigate a long-distance relationship. New opportunities and experiences cause them to question whether their relationship allows them to be their true selves.
• Young lovers are torn apart when one becomes the accused in a literal witch trial. 
• After fighting with their neighbor/friend, a person leaks a rumor about the neighbor that has more devastating consequences than they expected.
• A young, orphaned wizard discovers their adored mentor has been luring them towards danger this whole time.
• Now in danger of losing their house, a newly unemployed person discovers their best friend is to blame for their firing.
• A divorced couple reunite after two years of not speaking to put their cat to sleep together. They spend the remainder of the day hashing out what went wrong in their marriage.
• An engaged couple begins to question if love really is enough as they endure the painful process of planning a wedding that doesn’t involve their disapproving parents.

• A soldier returns home to a changed world.
• After accidentally starting a destructive wildfire, a former #vanlife influencer struggles to forgive themselves even as they try to make amends with the communities they’ve hurt.
• A family is separated while fleeing war and must find their way back to one another.
• Questioning the accuracy of their own recollections, the witness to a violent crime grapples with the power of their testimony to destroy the defendant’s life. 
• Having recently witnessed a mass shooting, a student struggles to find a sense of purpose or hope as they begin their first year of college.
• A general makes a seemingly minor error that results in a devastating attack on their utopian kingdom.
• A teacher must keep their students safe after an earthquake leaves them trapped in their classroom.
• When severe drought causes a lake to shrink, an unidentified body surfaces. A detective works tirelessly to determine who the person is and provide closure for the family.
• After being seriously injured in an avalanche, a skier must come to terms with the loss of their Olympic dreams.
• A child tries to find their way home after being swept away in a flash flood.  

• Still grappling with their own mortality, a heart transplant recipient decides to honor their donor by completing the donor’s unfinished bucket list.
• A hospice nurse is at a loss when the time comes to guide her own father through his final days.
• As their single parent battles a terminal illness, a young teenager has no choice but to serve as primary caretaker.
• After losing their mentor in a diving accident, a deep-sea diver confronts their new fear of the ocean by taking on a dangerous cave diving expedition.
• A widow(er) learns their late spouse committed a heartbreaking betrayal. Now they must grieve not only their partner but also the person they believed their partner was.
• After the death of the family dog, a child seeks the answer to whether there’s an afterlife for pets.
• Unable to move on, a widow(er)/scientist keeps traveling back in time to relive their best days with their spouse. Meanwhile, their current life is crumbling due to their neglect.
• Now able to see and understand their loved ones on a deeper level, the ghost of a recently deceased person feels regret for the way they handled their relationships in life.
• A person with a terminal illness seeks to make amends with an estranged relative before it’s too late.
• A teenager grapples with survivor guilt after a close friend dies saving their life.

Craft Your Tearjerker With Dabble

Hopefully a few of those ideas spoke to you or inspired some of your own. And now that the sad story ideas are coming in hot, you’re gonna need a place to store and organize your brilliant brainstorm .

Allow me to suggest Dabble . From Story Notes and the famous Plot Grid to co-authoring and commenting, Dabble has everything you need to stay organized through the entire writing process.

Plus, you can access Dabble on any device, online or off, and never worry about losing a word of genius thanks to autosave. 

Want to try it for yourself? Snag a free 14-day trial by clicking this link .

Now get there and utterly destroy your readers. In a good way.

Abi Wurdeman is the author of Cross-Section of a Human Heart: A Memoir of Early Adulthood, as well as the novella, Holiday Gifts for Insufferable People. She also writes for film and television with her brother and writing partner, Phil Wurdeman. On occasion, Abi pretends to be a poet. One of her poems is (legally) stamped into a sidewalk in Santa Clarita, California. When she’s not writing, Abi is most likely hiking, reading, or texting her mother pictures of her houseplants to ask why they look like that.

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15 Emotion-Based Writing Prompts For Digging Deep

• Post author By Marisa Donnelly
• Post date May 8, 2018
• Categories In Creative , Writing Inspiration , Writing Resources
• 1 Comment on 15 Emotion-Based Writing Prompts For Digging Deep

It’s one thing to write efficiently, it’s entirely different to write effectively , but neither of those would be possible (for creative work) without writing emotionally. These fifteen emotional writing prompts will help you to dive into your feelings, challenge you to think deeply about some of the more personal topics in your life, and bridge the gap between your experiences and the characters on the page.

Prepare to be pushed into a more vulnerable realm of thinking and creating. 🙌💡

2. Write as if you’re seeing someone in your life for the very first time.

What do you notice about them? What are you drawn to? Now write from your current perspective of knowing and seeing them all your life. What do you appreciate/notice that differs from your first impressions? Can you highlight their uniqueness, their attributes that identifying them as who they are?

3. Write to, or about the last person you kissed.

You can do this one of two ways:

1) Write to that person first as if you were to give them this paragraph/piece as a letter. 2) Write about this person as if he/she is a character in a story. You can add yourself as a character, too, if you want to keep some distance from the story. You can also write in total third person, where both characters are written about more objectively.

4. Listen to an old song and write the emotions that come forth.

This can be a breakup song, love song, favorite song, childhood favorite song, etc. Whatever you choose, pay attention to the emotions you’re experiencing. Can you describe them? Can you describe without any characters at first? Then add characters, can you show how you/the character is feeling in listening instead of telling the reader?

5. Consider what you would change in your life, write a letter to your younger self based on those things.

Then, to challenge yourself, incorporate this letter into a monologue between characters (first, second, or third person).

6. Write a stranger’s story.

Find a place where you can (inconspicuously) people watch. Pick a stranger and write his/her story. Where did he/she come from? What’s his/her background, fears, present thoughts, love life? Embellish into a short story.

7. Make a ‘happy moments’ list and write a scene from one of those times.

Sometimes to get inspired we simply need to create or remember a situation. On a blank sheet of paper, create a list of favorite memories (aka: your ‘happy moments’ list). From that list, select one at random and write either your story of being at that place, a loved one’s perspective, or create a story with characters in the third person. Really describe the scene so that the reader can engage and picture where you are.

8. Write to or about your fears.

If you wrote a letter to your fear, what would you say? Can you incorporate these thoughts into the inner monologue of a character in a story? Into a poem? Etc.

9. Write a third person scene in which you are apologizing to someone in your life indirectly.

Sometimes we fall into first person habits because they’re easier. Challenge yourself to write about something present in your life (a person you’ve hurt) but in a way that creates distance between you and the characters. Have one character apologize to the other through your use of third person pronouns and setting up a scene. (Tip: Challenge yourself by switching the sex of the person apologizing to the opposite of you for even more distance between your emotions and what you’re putting on the page.)

10. Write a letter to your body.

Do some self-reflection. What are things you love, change, working on. Can you craft these introspective thoughts into a character? (Tip: Challenge yourself to do the reverse, too. If you’re very insecure about your legs, can you build a character who is super confident? Can you create an insecurity in a character that you don’t possess.

11. Write about a character with a secret.

12. Write about a conversation you’re longing to have.

What is something you wish you could say to someone? Create a scene in which you (or a character) is having this conversation. Use both dialogue and nonverbal cues as well as build the scene around the characters to make the moment more believable.

13. Write a poem about sorrow.

Incorporate vivid language, detail, and figurative language to create a mood rather than outright saying words like “sad,” “pain,” or “hurting.”

14. Write a love story that starts with a very strange opening line of dialogue.

15. Pick sides on a controversial topic and write from a character who strongly believes that side, or the opposing side.

Challenge yourself to create a believable character from either end of the spectrum. Provide the scene, situation, and background to make that character dynamic and interesting, even if the reader may not agree.

Featured Image Credit: Gabi Nehring

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Sad Writing Prompts

By: Author Valerie Forgeard

Posted on September 6, 2022

Categories Writing , Inspiration

Sad writing prompts are a great way to stimulate your creativity and get you in a reflective mood. Whether you’re writing down your feelings, telling a story, or working on song lyrics, sad writing prompts can help you get started with inspiration and feel confident!

• Write about the last time you cried in public.
• Your first romance breakup.
• The moment you knew it was over for you and your partner.
• The worst thing that ever happened to you.
• The worst day of your life
• The worst year of your life
• The most depressing person you’ve ever met
• A time when you felt completely alone in the world and felt like no one understood you or even cared about you (or vice versa).
• What makes you feel the loneliest in this world?
• How much do you miss a close friend or family member or a place that no longer belongs to you?
• The time you were most afraid of losing someone you cared about, or the time they left forever without saying goodbye (or both).
• How much it hurts to be misunderstood by someone you care so much about, and how long it takes for him/her to realize what he/she’s lost through ignorance; write about how that person asks for forgiveness and how long it takes to forgive him/her (and you).
• How hard it’s to be on this Earth, with so much pain and suffering around us – how can we go on? How can we stay positive? Why do we even bother trying anymore? What keeps us going when everything seems so difficult?
• What’s the saddest thing that’s ever happened to you?
• What do you think happens after death? Do you believe in life after death?
• Do you think it’s possible to feel too much happiness? What about too much sadness?
• What is the favorite thing from your happiest childhood memory that you miss?
• Is there anything that makes you long for your teenage years? If you were to go back to high school, would you do anything differently?
• What would it be and why if you had the power to change one thing in the world and make it better?
• You’re too tired to get up, but you know if you don’t get up now, it’ll be another day before you do anything productive again.
• You wake up in the morning, and all your plants are dead.
• It’s a memory you’ll never forget because it was so tragic.
• Write a letter to someone who made you sad.
• The saddest place you’ve ever been and how you felt when you were there.
• That time someone was mean to you for no reason, and how you felt for weeks afterward (if ever).
• A story about someone who’s sick
• A time when you were going through mental health challenges like anxiety or depression
• Write a letter to yourself describing your life as you’d like it to be.
• Why the rain makes you sad
• Where do you go when everything gets too much for you?
• Write about a time when someone left without saying goodbye
• A story about someone who wants to die because they miss their deceased loved one so much.
• A story about someone who had an abortion and feels guilty about it
• Imagine the story of a homeless man. What did he go through to become homeless?
• The story of a child growing up in a landfill
• A soldier who’s afraid to go to war
• A forced marriage
• Write a list of the things you’ll miss most when they’re gone and why you miss them
• A natural disaster and how people are affected by it
• The Apocalypse
• A dystopian future
• A wounded animal
• Write about why you think life is much harder today than when our parents were alive (although they’d it rough too). If you can’t remember, you may find a journal prompt in an old diary entry if you’ve always been journaling.
• Write about a situation where a close friend or family member betrayed your trust and took advantage of your kindness. What strong emotion did you feel? Did it end your friendship?
• You wake up one morning to find that all your memories have been wiped out. What are your first feelings? Anxiety? Sadness?
• What was the hardest thing you ever had to do? Why was it so hard? Do you think you’ll ever have to do something like that again? If so, what’ll happen?
• What’s one thing about you that sometimes makes you sad but also makes other people happy (or vice versa)?
• The worst advice someone has given you, and you wish you’d listened to your gut
• Make a list of your failures
• Write down what you regret and why
• Write a letter to your younger self

How to Write a Unique Story

To write a unique story, you need to know what makes your story unique.

What’s the one thing you can’t find anywhere else? What’s the one thing that no one else has written about the way you want to write it? What’s the one thing that no one else has thought of?

Once You Figure That Out, Make Sure It’s the Focus of Your Story. Make Sure Everything in the Story Points Back to It

If your characters want something unique, you need to make sure they want that thing (your uniqueness). If someone says something, it must somehow relate to that uniqueness. If there’s conflict in the story, it’s related to your uniqueness – and if there’s no conflict, figure out how to create one!

If you’re having trouble making your uniqueness clear or linking everything to it, go over your notes repeatedly until they’re clear and seem obvious. Then you set the notes aside for a few days – or even weeks – and come back when you’ve completely forgotten about them! That way, they’ll feel fresh again when you return to them later.

12 Creative Writing Assignment Ideas

• Writing prompts are the perfect way to start your creative writing project. They can inspire you, help you find your voice, and often give you a writing idea of the kind of story you want to tell.
• Here’s how to choose the right creative writing prompts for you
• Think about your mood. If you’re feeling happy, choose a happy writing prompt. If you’re sad, choose a sad writing prompt.
• Think about the mood you want to convey with your writing. If you want to write something funny, choose a funny prompt. If you want to write something depressing, choose a prompt with a depressing mood.
• Think about what kind of story you want to tell with your writing prompt. Do you want it to be realistic? A little realistic, but mostly magical? Or completely magical? Choose accordingly!
• Write about something that happened during your day.
• Think of a time when something went wrong and how it made you feel.
• Think about your experience last year, this year, or ten years ago.
• Choose something that made you feel uncomfortable.
• Choose an idea or topic that’s completely foreign to you.
• Choose an idea or topic that triggers a strong emotional response in you – whether positive or negative!
• Choose something you need to research to learn more about it as you write.

Don’t Overdo It

Writing the story starter can be the biggest challenge.

It’s probably one of the hardest things to do. But if you want to connect with people and impress them, it’s worth it!

So don’t overdo it. Be authentic. The most important thing to remember about writing is that you don’t have to be perfect. It’s better if you’re not. It’s okay to make mistakes, and it’s okay not to know the answer to everything.

And if you want to connect with your readers, you must write as you are. The best way to do that’s to use your voice – the best way to connect with other people is through their words!

Length of the Story You Want to Write

When you’re looking for a writing prompt, there are two important things to keep in mind:

The length of the sad story you want to write and the mood you want your prompt to create.

If you want to write a short text, you should use a writing prompt that’s only one sentence long. This way, you’ll be forced to be brief and write a compelling story in just a few words.

For example, if we want to write about “sadness,” our writing prompt could be, “It’s raining on my birthday.” This simple statement might inspire us to write an essay about how much we wish our family would remember our birthdays and send us cards or how sad we feel when they forget.

If you want to write something longer than a short story, such as a long compelling story in an essay or a book chapter, you should select writing ideas with three to five sentences. That way, you’ve more space to explore the story or argument in the prompt. For example, if we want to write about the theme of “love” in Romeo and Juliet (a well-known Shakespeare play), our writing prompt might be, “What does love mean?” On the other hand… maybe not!

How to Write a Tragic Ending

It’s not easy to write a tragic ending, but if you want to write a compelling story, you may need one. It’s especially important that your audience can relate to the tragedy – that it’s real and not just something that happened in a distant land or time. So how do you ensure your audience feels the emotional impact of what’s happening?

First, Think About What Constitutes a Tragedy: Loss, Failure, Grief, and Sorrow

All of these factors must be present for your audience to feel the emotional weight of what’s happening. And then you’ve to portray it authentically. That means you don’t beat around the bush – you want to hit them immediately with the full force of what’s happened and leave them emotionally devastated by what they’ve experienced.

You can also use dialog to get at these feelings. For example, “I’m sorry,” she said as she took his hand in hers and squeezed it gently before letting it go. This shows us what she’s feeling without having to say it explicitly – we know she’s sad because we see it in her eyes and hear it in her voice when she says those words.

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Home — Essay Samples — Life — Life Experiences — Sad Story

Essay Examples on a Sad Story

What makes a good sad story essay topics.

When it comes to writing a sad story essay, choosing the right topic is crucial. A good sad story essay topic should be thought-provoking, emotionally engaging, and unique. It should elicit empathy and evoke strong emotions in the reader. In this section, we will discuss What Makes a Good sad story essay topic and provide recommendations on how to brainstorm and choose the perfect topic.

To brainstorm and choose a sad story essay topic, it is important to consider your own experiences, emotions, and the impact you want to make on the reader. Reflect on personal experiences or observe the world around you to find inspiration. Consider the emotions you want to convey and the message you want to communicate through your essay. It is also important to think about the audience and what topics may resonate with them. A good sad story essay topic should be relatable and have a universal appeal.

When choosing a sad story essay topic, it is important to consider the depth and complexity of the subject matter. A good topic should allow for exploration of deep emotions and meaningful insights. It should also provide an opportunity for personal growth and self-reflection. Additionally, a good sad story essay topic should be original and unique. Avoid clichéd or overused topics and instead opt for something fresh and unexpected.

In summary, a good sad story essay topic should be emotionally engaging, thought-provoking, and unique. It should elicit empathy and evoke strong emotions in the reader. When brainstorming and choosing a topic, consider your own experiences, emotions, and the impact you want to make on the reader. Also, think about the depth and complexity of the subject matter, as well as the originality and uniqueness of the topic.

Best Sad Story Essay Topics

• The Unspoken Grief: Coping with the Loss of a Loved One
• The Heartbreak of Betrayal: A Story of Love and Deceit
• The Weight of Regret: Living with Unfulfilled Dreams
• The Loneliness of Longing: A Tale of Unrequited Love
• The Pain of Goodbye: Navigating the End of a Relationship
• The Burden of Guilt: Confronting Past Mistakes
• The Despair of Isolation: A Story of Solitude and Alienation
• The Anguish of Addiction: Struggling to Break Free
• The Agony of Rejection: Overcoming the Sting of Disapproval
• The Sorrow of Injustice: Fighting for Equality and Fairness
• The Torment of Illness: Coping with the Ravages of Disease
• The Melancholy of Memories: Navigating the Pain of the Past
• The Desolation of Displacement: A Story of Homelessness and Displacement
• The Heartache of Unfulfilled Ambition: Chasing Dreams That Never Materialize
• The Misery of Loss: Coping with the Absence of Something Precious
• The Desperation of Poverty: Struggling to Survive in Adversity
• The Agony of Betrayal: Coping with the Pain of Deception and Disloyalty
• The Grief of Unrequited Love: A Story of Longing and Heartbreak
• The Despair of Failure: Confronting the Demons of Defeat
• The Pain of Silence: Navigating the Emptiness of Unspoken Words

Sad Story essay topics Prompts

• Write a sad story about a character who loses everything they hold dear in a natural disaster.
• Craft a story about a person who discovers a long-hidden family secret that changes their life forever.
• Tell a tale of unrequited love and the emotional turmoil it brings to the protagonist.
• Create a story about a person who must come to terms with the consequences of a life-altering decision.
• Write a sad story about a character who struggles with the burden of an unfulfilled dream and the impact it has on their life.

Choosing a good sad story essay topic is essential to creating a compelling and emotionally engaging piece of writing. By considering the emotions you want to convey, the impact you want to make, and the depth and complexity of the subject matter, you can select a topic that will resonate with your audience and evoke strong emotions. Additionally, by opting for original and unique topics, you can create a sad story essay that stands out and leaves a lasting impression on the reader.

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52 Argumentative Essay Ideas that are Actually Interesting

What’s covered:, how to pick a good argumentative essay topic, elements of a strong argumentative essay, argumentative essay idea example topics.

Are you having writer’s block? Coming up with an essay topic can be the hardest part of the process. You have very likely encountered argumentative essay writing in high school and have been asked to write your own. If you’re having trouble finding a topic, we’ve created a list of 52 essay ideas to help jumpstart your brainstorming process! In addition, this post will cover strategies for picking a topic and how to make your argument a strong one. Ultimately, the goal is to convince your reader. 

An argumentative essay tasks the writer with presenting an assertion and bolstering that assertion with proper research. You’ll present the claim’s authenticity. This means that whatever argument you’re making must be empirically true! Writing an argumentative essay without any evidence will leave you stranded without any facts to back up your claim. When choosing your essay topic, begin by thinking about themes that have been researched before. Readers will be more engaged with an argument that is supported by data.

This isn’t to say that your argumentative essay topic has to be as well-known, like “Gravity: Does it Exist?” but it shouldn’t be so obscure that there isn’t ample evidence. Finding a topic with multiple sources confirming its validity will help you support your thesis throughout your essay. If upon review of these articles you begin to doubt their worth due to small sample sizes, biased funding sources, or scientific disintegrity, don’t be afraid to move on to a different topic. Your ultimate goal should be proving to your audience that your argument is true because the data supports it.

The hardest essays to write are the ones that you don’t care about. If you don’t care about your topic, why should someone else? Topics that are more personal to the reader are immediately more thoughtful and meaningful because the author’s passion shines through. If you are free to choose an argumentative essay topic, find a topic where the papers you read and cite are fun to read. It’s much easier to write when the passion is already inside of you!

However, you won’t always have the choice to pick your topic. You may receive an assignment to write an argumentative essay that you feel is boring. There is still value in writing an argumentative essay on a topic that may not be of interest to you. It will push you to study a new topic, and broaden your ability to write on a variety of topics. Getting good at proving a point thoroughly and effectively will help you to both understand different fields more completely and increase your comfort with scientific writing.

Convincing Thesis Statement

It’s important to remember the general essay structure: an introduction paragraph with a thesis statement, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. A strong thesis statement will set your essay up for success. What is it? A succinct, concise, and pithy sentence found in your first paragraph that summarizes your main point. Pour over this statement to ensure that you can set up your reader to understand your essay. You should also restate your thesis throughout your essay to keep your reader focused on your point.

Ample Research

A typical argumentative essay prompt may look like this: “What has been the most important invention of the 21st century? Support your claim with evidence.” This question is open-ended and gives you flexibility. But that also means it requires research to prove your point convincingly. The strongest essays weave scientific quotes and results into your writing. You can use recent articles, primary sources, or news sources. Maybe you even cite your own research. Remember, this process takes time, so be sure you set aside enough time to dive deep into your topic.

Clear Structure

If the reader can’t follow your argument, all your research could be for nothing! Structure is key to persuading your audience. Below are two common argumentative essay structures that you can use to organize your essays.

The Toulmin argument and the Rogerian argument each contain the four sections mentioned above but executes them in different ways. Be sure to familiarize yourself with both essay structures so that your essay is the most effective it can be.

The Toulmin argument has a straightforward presentation. You begin with your assertion, your thesis statement. You then list the evidence that supports your point and why these are valid sources. The bulk of your essay should be explaining how your sources support your claim. You then end your essay by acknowledging and discussing the problems or flaws that readers may find in your presentation. Then, you should list the solutions to these and alternative perspectives and prove your argument is stronger.

The Rogerian argument has a more complex structure. You begin with a discussion of what opposing sides do right and the validity of their arguments. This is effective because it allows you to piece apart your opponent’s argument. The next section contains your position on the questions. In this section, it is important to list problems with your opponent’s argument that your argument fixes. This way, your position feels much stronger. Your essay ends with suggesting a possible compromise between the two sides. A combination of the two sides could be the most effective solution.

• Is the death penalty effective?
• Is our election process fair?
• Is the electoral college outdated?
• Should we have lower taxes?
• How many Supreme Court Justices should there be?
• Should there be different term limits for elected officials?
• Should the drinking age be lowered?
• Does religion cause war?
• Should the country legalize marijuana?
• Should the country have tighter gun control laws?
• Should men get paternity leave?
• Should maternity leave be longer?
• Should smoking be banned?
• Should the government have a say in our diet?
• Should birth control be free?
• Should we increase access to condoms for teens?
• Should abortion be legal?
• Do school uniforms help educational attainment?
• Are kids better or worse students than they were ten years ago?
• Should students be allowed to cheat?
• Is school too long?
• Does school start too early?
• Are there benefits to attending a single-sex school?
• Is summer break still relevant?
• Is college too expensive?

Art / Culture

• How can you reform copyright law?
• What was the best decade for music?
• Do video games cause students to be more violent?
• Should content online be more harshly regulated?
• Should graffiti be considered art or vandalism?
• Should schools ban books?
• How important is art education?
• Should music be taught in school?
• Are music-sharing services helpful to artists?
• What is the best way to teach science in a religious school?
• Should fracking be legal?
• Should parents be allowed to modify their unborn children?
• Should vaccinations be required for attending school?
• Are GMOs helpful or harmful?
• Are we too dependent on our phones?
• Should everyone have internet access?
• Should internet access be free?
• Should the police force be required to wear body cams?
• Should social media companies be allowed to collect data from their users?
• How has the internet impacted human society?
• Should self-driving cars be allowed on the streets?
• Should athletes be held to high moral standards?
• Are professional athletes paid too much?
• Should the U.S. have more professional sports teams?
• Should sports be separated by gender?
• Should college athletes be paid?
• What are the best ways to increase safety in sports?

Where to Get More Argumentative Essay Topic Ideas

If you need more help brainstorming topics, especially those that are personalized to your interests, you can use CollegeVine’s free AI tutor, Ivy . Ivy can help you come up with original argumentative essay ideas, and she can also help with the rest of your homework, from math to languages.

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Everything Sad Is Untrue

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Compare and contrast the opening memory of Baba Haji with the version that Sima recounts to Daniel at the novel’s end. How are they similar and different? What does this say about the theme of storytelling as remembering and surviving?

What role do myths and legends play in this story? How does Daniel’s understanding of them change over the course of the book? Use at least three examples to support your argument.

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Dream up a secret library. write a story about an adventurer who discovers it. what’s in the library why was it kept secret, write a story about a future academic (or another influential person) “rediscovering” a book that, in its time, was dismissed. the book can be fictitious or real., your protagonist is a writer who discovers a new favorite author. how does their writing, or even their own personality, change as the protagonist falls under the writer’s influence, write a story about discovering a lost manuscript. it can be from a famous (or infamous) author, or an unknown one., subscribe to our prompts newsletter.

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Creative Writing Prompts

When the idea to start a weekly newsletter with writing inspiration first came to us, we decided that we wanted to do more than provide people with topics to write about. We wanted to try and help authors form a regular writing habit and also give them a place to proudly display their work. So we started the weekly Creative Writing Prompts newsletter. Since then, Prompts has grown to a community of more than 450,000 authors, complete with its own literary magazine, Prompted .  

Here's how our contest works: every Friday, we send out a newsletter containing five creative writing prompts. Each week, the story ideas center around a different theme. Authors then have one week — until the following Friday — to submit a short story based on one of our prompts. A winner is picked each week to win $250 and is highlighted on our Reedsy Prompts page.

Interested in participating in our short story contest? Sign up here for more information! Or you can check out our full Terms of Use and our FAQ page .

Why we love creative writing prompts

If you've ever sat in front of a computer or notebook and felt the urge to start creating worlds, characters, and storylines — all the while finding yourself unable to do so — then you've met the author's age-old foe: writer's block. There's nothing more frustrating than finding the time but not the words to be creative. Enter our directory! If you're ready to kick writer's block to the curb and finally get started on your short story or novel, these unique story ideas might just be your ticket.

This list of 1800+ creative writing prompts has been created by the Reedsy team to help you develop a rock-solid writing routine. As all aspiring authors know, this is the #1 challenge — and solution! — for reaching your literary goals. Feel free to filter through different genres, which include...

Dramatic — If you want to make people laugh and cry within the same story, this might be your genre.

Funny — Whether satire or slapstick, this is an opportunity to write with your funny bone.

Romance — One of the most popular commercial genres out there. Check out these story ideas out if you love writing about love.

Fantasy — The beauty of this genre is that the possibilities are as endless as your imagination.

Dystopian – Explore the shadowy side of human nature and contemporary technology in dark speculative fiction.

Mystery — From whodunnits to cozy mysteries, it's time to bring out your inner detective.

Thriller and Suspense — There's nothing like a page-turner that elicits a gasp of surprise at the end.

High School — Encourage teens to let their imaginations run free.

Want to submit your own story ideas to help inspire fellow writers? Send them to us here.

After you find the perfect story idea

Finding inspiration is just one piece of the puzzle. Next, you need to refine your craft skills — and then display them to the world. We've worked hard to create resources that help you do just that! Check them out:

• How to Write a Short Story That Gets Published — a free, ten-day course by Laura Mae Isaacman, a full-time editor who runs a book editing company in Brooklyn.
• Best Literary Magazines of 2023 — a directory of 100+ reputable magazines that accept unsolicited submissions.
• Writing Contests in 2023 — the finest contests of 2021 for fiction and non-fiction authors of short stories, poetry, essays, and more.

Beyond creative writing prompts: how to build a writing routine

While writing prompts are a great tactic to spark your creative sessions, a writer generally needs a couple more tools in their toolbelt when it comes to developing a rock-solid writing routine . To that end, here are a few more additional tips for incorporating your craft into your everyday life.

• NNWT. Or, as book coach Kevin Johns calls it , “Non-Negotiable Writing Time.” This time should be scheduled into your routine, whether that’s once a day or once a week. Treat it as a serious commitment, and don’t schedule anything else during your NNWT unless it’s absolutely necessary.
• Set word count goals. And make them realistic! Don’t start out with lofty goals you’re unlikely to achieve. Give some thought to how many words you think you can write a week, and start there. If you find you’re hitting your weekly or daily goals easily, keep upping the stakes as your craft time becomes more ingrained in your routine.
• Talk to friends and family about the project you’re working on. Doing so means that those close to you are likely to check in about the status of your piece — which in turn keeps you more accountable.

Arm yourself against writer’s block. Writer’s block will inevitably come, no matter how much story ideas initially inspire you. So it’s best to be prepared with tips and tricks you can use to keep yourself on track before the block hits. You can find 20 solid tips here — including how to establish a relationship with your inner critic and apps that can help you defeat procrastination or lack of motivation.

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Shania Twain Admits She’s ‘Sad’ for Ex-Husband Mutt Lange for Cheating on Her: ‘A Great Mistake That He Has to Live With’

The "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" singer opened up about forgiveness and the other feelings she has about her ex-husband, following his affair

Shania Twain   opened up about her feelings about her ex-husband  Mutt Lange  over 15 years after they split following his affair with her then-best friend  Marie-Anne Thiebaud . She discussed her feelings about the split all these years later in an interview on the  Great Company With Jamie Laing,  on Tuesday, May 28. She admitted that despite the affair, she doesn’t “hate” Mutt.

The country star, 58, was married to Mutt, 75, for 15 years, beginning in 1993. They have a son  Eja , 22, together. The pair split up in 2008, after Shania learned of the famed producer’s affair with her friend. Following the split, Mutt remained with Marie-Anne, and Shania connected with her friend’s ex-husband Frederic  Thiebaud . The pair ended up getting married in 2011, and they’ve remained married ever since.

When asked about Mutt on the podcast , Shania admitted that she doesn’t harbor any resentment towards him. “Do I hate my ex-husband for making a mistake? No. It’s his mistake. Not my mistake,” she said, via  People . “So sad for him that he made such a great mistake that he has to live with. And I don’t know what that is, but it’s not … That’s not my weight.”

Earlier in the conversation, Shania opened up about her personal approach to forgiveness. “Forgiveness is in the family of letting go. But forgiveness, more specifically for me anyway, is not about forgetting necessarily. It’s about understanding the other person, and that might mean that they’re wrong,” she said. “Maybe you believe forever that whatever they did was wrong.”

Back in 2023, Shania revealed what her relationship with Mutt was over a decade after their split, admitting that they co-parent despite not really speaking to one another during an appearance on the  Armchair Expert  podcast. “Mutt and I parent well together for people who don’t talk to each other,”  she said. “We both love our son so much, so we don’t play any games like that. We have the same priority, we share spaces for him. No nonsense there.”