Great Gatsby Inspired Writing Prompts

Great news, old sport! The Great Gatsby is now in the public domain! You know what that means… you can technically publish your fanfiction and not have to worry about copyright claims! 

But since not everyone has something like that waiting to be submitted, here are five writing prompts inspired by The Great Gatsby! You can use these prompts to start a new story, flesh out some character motivations for a work-in-progress, or just to write purely entertaining fanfiction.

  1. You move to New York City and your new neighbor throws the wildest parties. What are they like?
  2. You go to visit some richer cousins that you haven’t seen in a while. How does it go?
  3. You leave for five years and when you return, you find out your lover has married someone else. What is your reaction?
  4. Write about the craziest party you’ve ever been to!
  5. There’s a green light on the other side of the lake. Why are you drawn towards that?

Whether you’ll use these prompts for your own work, or for making Jay Gatsby vampire like author Kristen Briggs did, we hope this inspires you to face the blank page!

Happy writing!

About the Writer:

Claire Misfeldt is a WB intern and a senior at Southwestern University, majoring in English and Communications Studies. She is originally from Houston and interned at the NASA Johnson Space Center during the summer of 2020. Her favorite stories have always been science fiction and she is constantly on the look-out for more books in the genre. These days, she cooks delicious pasta recipes, watches giant monster movies, and practices her own science fiction writing.