June’s Free Writing Prompt
A story-starter pack to download

This week in Behind Your Creative Life, where we offer tips, tricks, advice and inspiration for all things creative, we are giving away a free writing prompt pack.

I have always loved writing stories — or bits of novels — and I have been doing it since I was about eight or nine. But when I was in early high school, I hit the dreaded blank page. I wanted to write, but no ideas were coming.

So I asked my English teacher if he would be willing to write me a list of first lines for stories.

Apart from being a little surprised that a student wanted to do “work” without being made to, I think he had great fun coming up with them. He set about it straight away, and I’m fairly sure I still have that piece of paper with his handwritten lines on it somewhere.

The first line in the set grabbed me instantly, and it has stayed with me ever since. It was the one I used. I wrote an adventure-style story about getting stuck inside a deep cave underground.

Definitely not a great story. Not even an okay story.

But I was writing again, and I didn’t care.

Sometimes all we need is something small to kick-start us. A line. A question. A little nudge in the right direction. And that’s what this week’s writing prompt freebie is for.

For our first writing prompt, I’ve decided to begin with the very same line that got me writing again all those years ago. Thank you to that English teacher for the memory.

Want to join in? Naomi and I would love for you to take up this week’s prompt and see where it takes you. We think it could suit almost any genre — fiction, non-fiction, or even a reflective journal piece.

Below you’ll find two PDF packs.

Pack One is the writing prompt pack.
Choose from a cover-page style or a story-starter style — ideal if you like having the prompt right there on the page.

WRITING PROMPT PACK: June 2026

Pack Two is the lined page pack.
Two styles to choose from. Pair them with the prompt page, and you’ll have a simple little keepsake for your writing. The lined page pack will stay the same, so if you download it once, you can keep using it with future prompts. After that, you’ll only need to download the new prompt pack each time.

WRITING PROMPT PACK: Lined Paper Pack

Naomi and I would love to see what you do with the prompt — what genre you chose, how you interpreted it, or where the first line took you. You are warmly invited to share the first few paragraphs of your piece or tell us where inspiration took you in the comments below.

Who knows — maybe we’ll get a little writing prompt group going.

And if you like the idea, please feel free to share the writing pack or this page with someone else. Or start your own little writing group somewhere. The point is simply to get people writing, because writing is good for us.

If you’d like us to keep going with these prompts, please let us know. Your feedback really does help. Without it, we’re mostly fumbling around in the dark with a candle and good intentions.

So if you love it, comment below or write to us. We’d be so happy to hear from you.

About the Author: Lisa Saul

Fiction writer · creative guide · lifelong storyteller … Lisa Saul writes in the quiet spaces between words and paint. For more than twenty years she has worked side by side with her sister Naomi — shaping novels, illustrations, notebooks, and the little studio world behind this blog. A lifelong maker, Lisa has moved through journalism, photography, editing, watercolour, and award-nominated fiction, always returning to the same thread: story. Whether she’s writing a novel, illustrating a notebook, or sharing a moment from her creative life, Lisa brings a thoughtful, honest voice shaped by imagination, experience, and a deep love of helping others grow creatively.