Action!

Love a good action movie with lots of shooting, lots of fast cars, and lost of high stakes? Odds are that if you’re looking at this list of prompts, then that’s the case! Before we go on, this list of prompts mostly involves shoot-’em-up storylines.

This list of story prompts can be used to get your mind out of creative deadlock. Maybe you’re just starting your first story. Maybe you’re stuck on an idea for your third. Maybe you’re halfway through a book and got stuck. Whatever boat you’re in, you can use these prompts however you so please! But, I will admit that I’d love for you to share that story here on InklingsFiction.com!

Here’s a video where I walk through a few of these prompts!

Here’s the best action story prompts that I’ve got:

1. You’re on a team of ex-Seal Team 6 soldiers. You’ve never seen action, you’re the computer guy. You and your team are working to bring in a major human trafficking ring.
2. You’re a spy for a nation whose government has collapsed. Everything that was once at your disposal is now gone. Do you try to return home? Do you make a new life for yourself? Can you survive the attempts on your life from the enemies you’ve made over the years?
3. You’re the bodyguard to someone who told you that they were a low-level celebrity. You were stupid enough to believe them. Then an army of at least a hundred people strike on your watch. Can you hold them off? If not, then can you save your client?
4. Your nation has fallen into a civil war thanks to widespread fraud, bribery, and government overreach. The people have had enough. You, unfortunately, are well known as a government agent. Do you join the rebels despite their hatred of you? Do you fight for the government, even though you’re sure they’re about to lose?
5. You’re on an oil tanker, this has been your job for years. One day, several small skiffs full of armed climate activists board you. They’re on edge, they’ve already killed two of your crew. Now what?
6. You go to Thailand to celebrate your honeymoon. As you’re there, war breaks out, more specifically, China declares war on the West. The Chinese invade Thailand in a bid to secure their border. Very few people speak English, you know your life is now on the line. It looks like you might have to fight your way out of this one.
7. You’re in Hawai’i just outside of Pearl Harbor. You’ve visited the memorial many times and can’t help but leave feeling more patriotic and more sober every time. One day, you wake up to the sound of air raid sirens. Looking out your window, you realize that Pearl Harbor is under attack once again…
8. You’re on a humanitarian mission in Iraq, the people are lovely, everything seems a lot better than the last time you were here. The last time you were here, you were a Marine. Now you’re just providing security for a group of do-gooders. Suddenly, you sense that something is wrong, you’ve seen action, so you know the feeling well. Spinning on your heels, you look eastward. As far as the eye can see, missiles are inbound from Iran. It seems World War Three may be about to start. By the looks of it, you’re not going to survive the first salvo.
9. You are an ex-CIA agent who quit before you got too far in. You had a friend in the agency who was in a lot deeper than you and he’s dead now. You know the CIA killed him. Now you’re pumping gas. Life is simple. At least until the friend you thought was dead drives up…
10. You’re on a US carrier that’s navigating through the Strait of Taiwan. Everyone is at their battle stations and you’ve got birds (fighters) in the air. The whole carrier strike force is closely hugging the carrier. As soon as you loosen up and think it’s over, you spot the telltale sign of a handful of torpedoes heading straight toward you.
11. You’re an investigative journalist. Have been ever since you got back stateside after your time in Navy intelligence. Your latest piece got you death threats, you’re fairly certain that the people who wrote these letters mean it.
12. You’re camping with a large group of friends in southern Arizona near the border. Last night, you and your friends were joking around and making bets on who was courageous enough to cross the border. That next morning, dozens of trucks and at least a hundred people storm the border heading straight for you. They’re with the drug cartel. Their mission is to kill everyone they can to show the US government that the war on drugs was about to get a lot more serious.
13. You’ve spent your whole life trying to get to this moment–you’re finally going to meet the president. Problem is, it seems you’re going to have to kill him. It’s amazing what time does to your ideals, rather than look up to the position, you’re about to take the man in the seat down.
14. You’re a security guard at a factory overseas. You were hired because you’re good with guns and had a short stint in the Army before you were kicked out. Now you’re here. The job is easy enough, nice, and mind-numbing. Well, it used to be… now the factory is under attack.
15. You were dispatched alongside at least forty other Marines last night to some country in Africa. You all parachuted in out of a Hercules and were fortunate enough to get a few pallets of gear dropped with you. Your mission is to end the genocide that has just begun. Problem is, your translator is late and you’re not sure if they’re going to come at all.