The Samurai Scroll
Craft a narrative about a group of teenage friends in 16th century Japan. They stumble upon a mysterious, ancient scroll that leads them on an exhilarating adventure filled with samurai, shoguns, and hidden rebellions.
Suggested length: A short story: 1,500 to 5,000 words, or flash fiction under 1,000
Start the clock
Pick a sprint, press start and keep going until it stops. Momentum beats polish on a first draft.
Make it yours
Three ways to take this prompt somewhere nobody else will.
- Let your hero make a big mistake for a reason the reader understands.
- End with a choice only this hero would make.
- Make the adults well-meaning but wrong.
Writing young adult books
Ages 12 to 18: firsts, identity and everything at stake.
Young adult fiction is written for teens, with protagonists usually 14 to 18. Every genre lives here, from fantasy to thrillers to romance. What makes it YA is the voice: immediate, intense and inside a teenager's head.
What readers expect
- A teen protagonist
- An immediate, close voice
- Identity and independence
- Big feelings, taken seriously
A tip before you start
Write from inside a teen's head, not from an adult looking back. That immediacy is what separates YA from an adult book with a young hero.
More YA Historical Fiction prompts
- The Samurai's Peace TreatySet your story in medieval Japan, where a young samurai-in-training must journey across dangerous lands to deliver a peace treaty. Along the way, they…
- Voyage by Stars and SeaSet in an ancient Polynesian tribe, a young warrior is chosen to embark on a sacred voyage across the Pacific. Tasked with finding a new island to…
- The Cartographer's StowawayImagine you're a young apprentice to a famed cartographer during the Age of Exploration. You stow away on a ship bound for uncharted territories…
- The Apprentice's Lost Kingdom MapIn a bustling medieval market, a young apprentice discovers a mysterious map tucked inside an ancient scroll. The map points to a forgotten part of…
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