Collaborative Stories for the Collective Imagination

Story Prompts

January 2025

Every month, we release new creative writing prompts to help you launch your next collaborative fiction journey.

This month’s theme: P H O B I A

1

Write a story or poem inspired by anatidaephobia, or the fear that a duck may be watching you.

• Contributed by Switch-Lit
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2

Write a story or poem inspired by philophobia, or the fear of heartbreak and falling in love.

• Contributed by Switch-Lit
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3

Write a story or poem inspired by “past-life phobia”, or the fear in a presently living person that corresponds to how they believe to have died in a previous life.

• Contributed by Switch-Lit
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4

Write a story or poem inspired by ephebiphobia, or the fear and loathing of teenagers and youths.

• Contributed by Switch-Lit
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5

Write a story or poem inspired by nomophobia, or the fear of being without one’s smartphone.

• Contributed by Switch-Lit
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You can also continue without a prompt and start a story on your own.

Start without a prompt