Looking for creative nonfiction essay prompts—not argumentative, not persuasive, just interesting.

[Tebberty]

I’m so tired of argumentative essays. I don’t want to prove anything. I want to explore something.

I found this book coming out in 2026 called Teaching the Anti-Essay by Wesley Phillipson . It’s for secondary teachers, but the concept is exactly what I need: 18 creative nonfiction prompts that treat writing as “thinking on paper” rather than winning a debate .

Examples of what I mean:

• Write like a journalist profiling a subculture.
• Write like a professional blogger reflecting on a mundane object.
• Write like a creative nonfiction essayist finding meaning in a failed experiment.

Does anyone have prompts like this for college level? Not “what is your opinion on X.” Just “here’s a lens. go look at something.”

I’ll start: “Write about a piece of technology you trust—and why you trust it.” (Inspired by Harvard’s AI satisfaction research .)

Drop your favorite creative/exploratory prompts below.