24 Creative Historical Fiction Writing Prompts

Hooray for interesting historical fiction writing prompts to spark your creativity. Whether you’re a curious student exploring new genres or a writer — of any age or skill level — who wants to expand your writing skills, historical fiction writing is a wonderful way to stretch and grow. Yes!

You see…

In this blog post, you’ll discover some fun and interesting facts and then use them as your story ideas.

Best of all…

There’s something here for everyone. Take a look and get inspired to tell the stories of the past with these historical fiction prompts. Above all, enjoy and have fun playing with these writing ideas.

Table of Contents

A Brief Overview of Writing Historical Fiction
24 Historical Fiction Writing Prompts for Students to Ignite Their Creativity
143 More Free Writing Prompts

A Brief Overview of Writing Historical Fiction

Historical fiction writing prompts allow students to travel back in time and explore fascinating facts about the people before them.

Plus…

The genre of writing helps writer’s improve creative thinking and cognition and encourages them to think outside the box to write interesting fictional stories.

So…

If you’re looking for history writing prompts that are easy to write, fun, and exciting, check out the creative writing prompts below. You’ll find everything from the Victorian Era to the Civil War.

Now, get to it and grab a pen and paper and use these historical fiction writing prompts to get started. I know you’ll be glad you did.

24 Historical Fiction Writing Prompts for Students to Ignite Their Creativity

You’re the owner of a hotel in New Your that is haunted by characters from your favorite horror movie. How will you save your hotel?
Write an essay on a summer camp during the 1970s. Talk about teens of that time and what might write about in their diaries.
You found out that you are a vampire – and maybe a descendant of Dracula.
You are Michelangelo’s apprentice but he always takes credit for your ideas.
You are a time-traveling detective and have to find people with the same occupation as you from different eras to fight a greater evil.
Write a fictional story in which you bought a tree ornament during Christmas and it starts to talk, telling you a story about a different era.
You are an aspiring chef in California during the 1950s, cooking for a famous food columnist. He leaks your secret family recipe.
You are an undercover Union soldier during the Civil War but your family is in danger.
Write a short story about a family picnic that takes place in during the Great Depression.
You get lost in a small town in California in the early 60s. How will you find your way home?
You are the main character of your favorite historical novel; rewrite the plot with a different ending.
You were with Isaac Newton when he saw the apple fall down and you both came up with gravitational theory together.
You find a group of young men who claim that they are from the 16th century. How will you explain a smartphone to them?
Write a short story about a teenager who learns he is a werewolf during a full moon night.
Someone in your neighborhood dies from the plague, but you have no clue what this disease is. What would you do?
You decided to migrate to the United States with your family and have to start a new life there there.
Write a fantasy story set in the early 16th century
Someone you know was traveling on the Titanic. You had a vision that it will sink. How will you save the passengers?
Write about a family vacation to Europe in the early 1990s….or the early 1890s.
You discover a group of storytellers from different time periods. Write a realistic fiction story from each storyteller’s perspective.
You are a new soldier during World War II. Write an interesting story from the first person point of view.
Write a historical fiction story set in Victorian England.
You get a chance to travel back in time. Which year or century would you go to? What would your daily life be like?
You are in high school – and your teacher is Shakespeare.