Writing Characters Who Are Siblings (+ FREE Writing Prompts PDF)

Hello everyone!

Today I have another gift for you guys.

(Just kidding. It’s not an avocado.)

Recently, I’ve been writing a lot of happy, fluffy stories. And after living through The Year that shall not be named, I think I need to take some time and learn how to write light-hearted stories again.

Enter the sibling fic.

Maybe you’re writing a story about a family, and you need ideas for a family-centered plot.

Or maybe your character has siblings, and they need to be in the story, but not take over the main plot.

In my quest for a happy, light-hearted story, I started writing a drabble about a fictional family. I planned for the story to last about 2,000 words max, but then I kept writing, and in less than a month, I’ve written over 12,000 words. It’s so much fun to write about these siblings!

So anyway, I’ll be brief. Just a few quick pointers, and then we’ll get into the prompts.

Writing Siblings: Points to Remember

Everybody wishes they got along better with their siblings, and almost everybody thinks, “My family is so different than other families. I wish I had a normal family.”

Newsflash– there is no such thing as “normal” siblings. So don’t be afraid to make your siblings emotionally distant if that’s what you want their family to look like.

Also, not all siblings should be close. If one sibling has done horrible things and should be in jail, don’t feel like you have to give the other characters a bunch of happy times with their criminal sibling.

If your main character wants to fight the dragon, her siblings would probably say she’s an idiot. They might not be interested in helping her on her quest. And that’s okay.

Teenaged siblings will still fight, but hopefully by that point, they have a better understanding of their sibling’s boundaries and how to dissolve conflict.

By the time they’ve grown up, most siblings who got along as kids will get along even better as adults.

Some of the birth order stereotypes are true. Most first born children are likely to be bossy. Middle children usually don’t get as much attention. The youngest child is often attention-seeking and unruly.

(A great place to check out some birth order traits is at this website: https://www.parents.com/baby/development/social/birth-order-and-personality/)

However, some stereotypes about birth order can be mixed around.

What if the youngest child is the introverted one? What if the oldest child is the most irresponsible? Play around with some stereotypes you’ve seen in other places and see what comes up.

And Now, The Prompts

Without further ado, here are 50 writing prompts for your fictional siblings!

Download the free PDF here:

If you have trouble accessing the PDF version, here is the full list:

1. Siblings gang up to prank their parent(s) on April fools day.
2. On a car trip to the store, nobody can agree on what music to listen to.
3. Siblings find a kitten on the side of the road.
4. It snowed the night before, and now the siblings are outside building snowmen. The snowmen get more and more hideous, and after each one, one sibling says to the other, “look, it’s you.”
5. The classic “get out of my room” squabble.
6. One sibling is getting married, but on the day of the wedding, something goes horribly wrong. The other siblings must work together to fix what happened and keep the bride or groom looking good for the ceremony.
7. One sibling gets sick at a fair or other public event. The other sibling is embarrassed, but has to take care of them and make sure they’re okay.
8. Two or more siblings fight over the remote, and it turns into an ultimate fighting match.
9. Two siblings have a crush/fall in love with the same person.
10. At a crowded store, the siblings wander off and lose track of their parents.
11. The whole family decides to bake a cake from scratch. None of them are good at baking.
12. Alternatively, they have to renovate a house, but none of them have ever held a screwdriver before.
13. War breaks out, and two of the siblings choose opposite sides.
14. One sibling is injured and becomes bedridden for a week. The others see this as an opportunity to pester them.
15. The oldest sibling(s) put a new sign on the treehouse: “[younger sibling] not allowed.”
16. Siblings start a sword fight/nerf gun battle, and things get a little carried away.
17. Two or more siblings band together to find the cookie jar that the parents hid from them.
18. Alternatively, they might see the cookie jar, but it’s on a very high shelf and they need to figure out how to reach it.
19. It’s Thanksgiving, and one sibling refuses to shut up about politics.
20. One sibling plans to run away from home, and tries to convince the others to join them.
21. Alternatively, one sibling plans to run away and the other siblings have to stop them.
22. Apple picking.
23. Someone in the family struggles with a mental disorder, and all of the siblings have very different ideas of how to help them feel better.
24. Siblings who were separated for five years are finally reunited.
25. One sibling gets drunk while the other is the designated driver. (Bonus points if the drunk sibling is usually the responsible one.)
26. Blanket forts. (It may be a community blanket fort shared by the whole family, or it may be two blanket forts that are mortal enemies and eventually break into war.)
27. Two siblings bicker about what movie to watch for a movie night, and the third sibling has to sit through it.
28. All of the siblings decide to play “how far can we push things before a parent gets mad.”
29. Teaching the youngest sibling how to swim.
30. Alternatively, the younger siblings teach their older sibling, who is scared of the water and never learned how to swim.
31. A surprise party!
32. One sibling is arrested for a very unexpected crime, and the others plan to break them out.
33. Siblings go to the store and try on ridiculous outfits together.
34. A younger sibling tries to copy something that the older sibling does, but they fail miserably.
35. When the parents aren’t home, the oldest has to separate the younger siblings every time they fight.
36. While telling a bedtime story, one sibling accidentally/“accidentally” makes it way too scary. Now the others can’t fall asleep.
37. Two siblings have a disagreement, and they both pressure the third sibling to take their side.
38. One sibling lost their favorite possession and is convinced their sibling stole it— but their sibling has no clue where it is.
39. A sibling is trying to be funny, but takes a certain joke too far.
40. The family drops off one kid at school/work every morning, and the other siblings in the car know exactly how to embarrass them.
41. A bully or a bad ex is mean to one sibling, so the whole family gangs up for revenge.
42. During a game of Monopoly, everyone gangs up on the middle child.
43. The siblings undertake a massively dangerous experiment in the name of scientific research.
44. Siblings get caught by the parent as they frantically try to wash blood stains off of something.
45. Painting their nails. (Bonus points if the girl paints her brother’s nails and he puts up with it for the rest of the story. Extra bonus points if he decides he loves getting his nails done.)
46. One sibling has a summer job at the mall, and their siblings come bother them there as much as possible.
47. Picking blueberries in the early summer, and they end up eating most of them by the time they get home.
48. Two siblings play rock paper scissors to decide who gets to sit in the bean bag chair.
49. In the family group chat, one sibling refuses to check their messages and ends up missing some vital information.
50. One sibling teaches another sibling how to ice skate.

I hope you enjoyed this list of writing prompts! Thanks for reading, and I will be back soon with another new blog post.

Have a great week!

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