Australian & Oceanian writing prompt
The Telegraph Line
Craft a narrative based on the building of the Overland Telegraph Line in the 1870s Australia. Follow an Aboriginal Australian worker's perspective, exploring their thoughts and feelings about the changing landscape, the technology being introduced, and their interactions with European Australians.
Suggested length: A short story: 1,500 to 5,000 words, or flash fiction under 1,000
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Three ways to take this prompt somewhere nobody else will.
- 1Choose one real detail of the period, like a price, a law or a song, and build a scene around it.
- 2Keep the famous event offstage and show its ripples.
- 3Make the dialogue sound of its time without becoming hard to read.
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