The Coded Treasure Game
Create a story where your main character, a teenage amateur coder, receives strange, coded messages on their computer. As they begin to decode the messages, they realize they are being drawn into an online game with real-world stakes, involving a secret society and hidden treasures.
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.
- End with a choice only this hero would make.
- Make the adults well-meaning but wrong.
- Use the way your hero texts to show who they are.
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 Mystery and Thriller prompts
- The Diary at the CampsiteTwo teenagers camping in the deep woods stumble upon an old, abandoned campsite with items scattered everywhere, but no signs of the former campers.…
- Messages in the MuseumWhile working a summer job at a local museum, a group of teenagers stumbles upon a series of hidden messages scrawled in ancient languages on some of…
- The School Fair FortuneAt the annual school fair, the fortune teller's tent is the main attraction. But when your character and their best friend get their fortunes told…
- The Missing Sibling's ClueImagine your character receives a mysterious letter that contains only a single clue to their missing sibling's whereabouts. As they follow the trail…
Fifteen minutes in? Keep going.
Chapterly gives a draft somewhere to grow: chapters, daily word goals, and readers when you're ready.
Plans from $9.99 a month. Cancel any time. Your words are always yours.