Are you writing an urban fantasy story, but haven’t got an idea yet for an overall plot?
The 15 original urban fantasy writing prompts below will provide you with some inspiration!
The following prompts have been split into three parts.
Part 1: Masquerade
In these prompts, the fantasy world is hidden from the normal world, in a type of masquerade.
1. A famous theatre group is made up of members with different magical powers: one can levitate, another can wield fire with their hands, a third one is a literal ghost, a fourth one is immortal (a vampire/demon/faery) and can die convincingly on stage, and so forth. Their director is a regular human who was adopted into the group as a kid. One day, during a play, the immortal bursts into flames and disappears into ash. The audience think it’s a great trick, but the police come knocking on their door, looking for the now disappeared team member. Fortunately, the human director has tracked down the immortal’s twin to – somewhat – fool the police. Together, the human and the twin must find the immortal – if he is even still alive – before the police do.
2. A witch with a knack for potions runs her own bar and tries to live a quiet life. Her patrons are both normal humans and other magical species: witches, faeries, trolls, and other mythological beings. A glamour spell at the entrance of the bar ensures everyone looks human. One night, she prevents a fight between two magical patrons and kicks them out. But then, some of her human patrons go missing. One of the magical patrons is back, claiming the other one is kidnapping the humans in revenge. The witch chooses to help him investigate the matter, abandoning her quiet life.
3. A seemingly mundane veterinarian is running a normal clinic out of the front of her house. In the back, however, she is an animal witch and treating a menagerie of magical animals. One day, a human child comes with a sick cat, only the cat is not a cat at all, but a mythical being of mysterious origin. She must discover the real species of the mythical beast before the animal dies – all the while trying to detract the precocious child from spending time at her clinic.
4. A faery who has run away from one of the courts in the faerie realm is trying to live a normal life while running a bed and breakfast for magical patrons. One day, another faerie arrives and asks for refuge. The next day, a whole group arrive. Before long, the bed and breakfast has become a refuge for faeries running from some kind of danger in the faery realm. But, the danger has followed them to our world, causing havoc that almost reveals the true nature of the bed and breakfast to the outside world. The owner must find a way to eliminate the danger so that the refugees can go back to their world – before their real identity as faery royalty gets exposed.
5. A vampire who has been entombed for nearly 500 years wakes up in our modern world. Seeking to create a normal life, they get a job at a local museum. All is going well until a dead body shows up at the museum, and it seems like it has been drained of blood. The police are on the case, and though they don’t believe in vampires, one of them is convinced the vampire is the killer. Then another person dies in the same way. The vampire has to solve the case before their identity is exposed to the world and they become a test subject in a government lab.
Part 2: A discovery of the masquerade
In these prompts, characters discover the masquerade.
6. A normal human gets a new job as an assistant at a flower store. Only, the store is visited often by mysterious people whom the owner sees in the back. They always come out with merchandise the assistant never gets to see. One day, the owner of the shop goes missing. The police get involved, but there are no clues to follow. Then, a mysterious person shows up at the shop, and the assistant is flung into a world full of wonder – of magical herbs, flowers that never wither, and a lot of danger. Together with the mysterious person, they embark on a journey to find what happened to the owner.
7. A normal woman has a strange dream of being chased by a tiger, which bites her right before she wakes up. She goes on with her normal life, but then she starts to have weird cravings for raw meat, and a feeling like she will burst out of her skin. One evening, while out on a stroll, she changes shape to a tiger, and attacks another person, almost killing them before running away. She is then found by another tiger shapeshifter, who teaches her all about shapeshifting, the other magical tigers, and their dangerous enemies. Flung into a world beyond her imagination, the woman has to learn to adjust to her new life if she is going to survive.
8. A man has been brought up by his mother, and he never met his elusive father. Upon his death, he inherits the family house, and goes there to handle the estate. Only, the house seems to be haunted: he hears strange whispers, footsteps when no one is there, and is afraid of going into the basement. Then, a woman knocks on the door of the house and tells him she is there to replenish the wards in the basement: the wards keep the doorway to the demon world shut. The only problem is, the door has been opened and several demons have escaped. Together, they must hunt down the demons and banish them before they kill too many people.
9. A detective is given a difficult case: a woman has seemingly disappeared into thin air in her own apartment. Searching for clues as to where she might have gone, the detective stumbles upon another woman, who claims she is her sister, and that they are both witches. She asks for his help to find the woman, and he agrees. Together, they must solve the mystery before the missing woman dies.
10. An antiquities dealer is offered the object of a lifetime – the real Holy Grail – and tasked with selling it. He hosts a private auction with several exclusive client representatives. All hell breaks loose when real angels show up to claim the object, for drinking it can give a demon immunity from angels, meaning the angels would no longer be able to protect humans from demons. Unfortunately, someone has stolen the Holy Grail in the commotion. The man must work with the angels to find it before it’s too late.
Part 3: Urban fantasy world
In these prompts, there is no masquerade and magic and the supernatural are part of the normal world.
11. Anyone who has any kind of magical power is registered with the government, and then they are put to work in different places, from hospitals to being in the front lines in the country’s wars. An unregistered healer is hiding her powers to retain her freedom and not get drafted into work. When her coworker almost dies, however, she heals them on the spot, but they report her for use of magic, and she becomes a fugitive.
12. The police in a big city have a department dedicated to crimes of supernatural origin. A person with seer magic joins the force to help with solving crimes. However, their magical power is minimal, as they only spout world-changing prophecies instead of seeing the future clearly, and they must use the power of deduction and instinct to help solve a case, lest they are exposed for a fraud.
13. An empathic psychiatrist, who works in psychological evaluations of criminals, is given a subject who almost kills her in their first session by engulfing her mind in his and draining her life force. She is unable to determine the person’s sanity, but warns the authorities that maximum force should be used to contain the person. They do not listen to her, however, and he escapes before long. The psychiatrist must deal with the criminal before he ends up killing her too.
14. Due to the existence of magic, the world has become chaotic and justice is not always served through the normal legal system. A person with the power of tracking other people and objects works as a mercenary and sells their services to anyone who can pay enough. One day, they are asked to find and kill a person, but upon finding the place, they discover the person is dead but a baby has been left behind. The mercenary must protect the baby from their ex-client.
15. In a family full of people with magical powers, the youngest son was born without any magic. Growing up, he becomes diligent and hardworking to compensate the lack of magic. When the head of the family dies some twenty odd years later, it is revealed they were killed using magic. The only person who is not a suspect is the kid – now an adult – who has no magic. However, the person is discovering that their magical powers are finally waking, and they are the same powers the old head of the family had. So, he becomes a prime suspect for the murder, and must find out which family member killed the old head of the family before he ends up in prison.