Turn your #IceCreamLove into a bestseller with these 25 cool ideas
Updated: Sep 17, 2021
This Ice Cream Day, use these writing prompts and exercises to give life to your next novel or blockbuster
Image: Hannah Morgan | Unsplash
Do you know July is Ice Cream Month? And that the third Sunday of this creamy, dreamy month is Ice Cream Day?
(If no, here’s the July 2021 calendar you need in life!)
Apart from licking away from your favourite softie ice-cream cone (or letting those velvety waves melt in your mouth and engulf it with a flavourful chill), there are other ways of expressing your love for ice cream on this sweet occasion, which was born from a 1984 decree passed by the then US president Ronald Reagan.
One of them is writing about it.
But what can I possibly write about ice cream, you may wonder. And how can I turn it into a bestselling novel, blockbuster screenplay, or the next award-winning food story?
That’s where these 25 ideas and writing prompts will serve you well.
Make the most of these—mix and match if you want—and you’ll have a power-packed plot or piece in a matter of time, perhaps even before your next Ice Cream Day. I, too, hope to gain from this list—after all, I have PiKu & ViRu 2 to write :) (Buy/download, read, and review P&V1 here.)
For now, here come the prompts.
Invent a new ice cream flavour as a creativity exercise.
Build a scene or story around your new ice cream flavour. It could be a celebrity character endorsing an ice-cream brand, who is asked to take over the menu revamp.
Create an ice-cream billionaire—hero or villain, I leave it to you.
Turn ice cream into a savoury food item. (Ice cream samosas, anyone?)
Try coining another term for ice cream. Maybe your story travels to a place that has never heard of ice cream and the denizens come up with their own term for it. Capture their reactions when they savour ice cream for the first time.
Pit an ice cream cone and an ice cream cup against each other in an epic battle.
Create ice cream out of a savoury food item. Kraft has already done it with their mac and cheese. It could be chole–bhature for you or your character (#justsayin).
Write about your favourite ice cream flavour. It could be your protagonist’s go-to choice.
Write about your least favourite ice cream flavour. This could be an unsavoury character’s preference if you like.
Why not eat ice cream for breakfast and share your first-hand experience with the world? You can even have a character do it and then map out the repercussions of this lifestyle on their storyline.
Let your character test their first dates through their choice of ice cream flavours. Either the character forms an opinion depending on what their dates choose. Or the two “swap” their orders to find out each other’s tastes. Even better, a dating app that matches people based on their ice cream preferences!
Show a house or city built entirely of ice cream.
Do you remember your first ever ice cream? What was the experience like? Import this memory for your character’s backstory.
What’s your favourite ice cream parlour? Make it the setting for an important scene or plot point in your story.
Compile a bucket list of must-try ice creams from around the world—from gelato to faloodeh to our very own kulfi. A multi-location story can emerge from this.
Write a kulfi vs ice cream faceoff or jugalbandi.
What happens when a human character is turned into ice cream? How does it happen? What would their fate be like? Would they return to their human form or get scooped up like ice cream in the end?
Show a political party with an ice cream cone as their symbol. Will they see the success they’re eyeing?
There’s one ice cream between two or more people. How would you resolve this?
How about a Sandman-like character made of ice cream instead of sand?
What about an ice cream that never melts? This could be a sci-fi story idea.
Aim to come up with 100 different chocolate ice cream varieties as a creativity exercise.
Create your own signature version of this “which ice cream are you” personality quiz. It’s an interesting way to map out your characters and their arcs.
Curate your own ice-cream experience list inspired by this. See which ones you’d like to use and incorporate in your stories.
What happens when two characters’ ice cream orders are mixed up? Do we see a romance brewing here? Or is it a thriller in the making? Get your imagination going from this point.
Here’s a list of some of the most iconic Hollywood scenes featuring ice cream. Nothing, however, tempts me more like these clips below, even though neither of these two films has aged well if you ask me.