The Mars Artifact
During humanity's first trip to Mars, the astronauts discover an ancient artifact buried beneath the red dust. The object has inscriptions that suggest it might be a communication device. Write about their attempts to understand and use this technology.
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.
- Tell it from the point of view of someone who thinks this world is perfectly normal.
- Shrink the stakes to one family, one street, one night.
- Choose one ordinary object and show how this world changed it.
Writing science fiction
Change one thing about the world. Follow it all the way.
Science fiction asks what happens to people when science, technology or contact with something new changes the rules. The spaceships are optional; the question is the point. The best of it says as much about today as it does about the future.
What readers expect
- An idea that drives the plot
- Technology or science with consequences
- Futures, other worlds or alternate presents
- Big questions about being human
A tip before you start
Show how your big change reshapes ordinary life: what people eat, fear and joke about. Scenery alone isn't world-building.
More Space Exploration prompts
- Diplomacy on the Strange PlanetDetail the first manned mission to a newly discovered planet that was believed to be rich in resources but is found to be teeming with strange…
- The Cartographer's Wormhole MemoriesIn a future where planets are connected via wormholes, a cartographer is tasked with mapping these new corridors of space. However, each journey links…
- The Farmer and the CouncilIn a galaxy where each planet's government system is determined by a universal, sentient council, a farmer on a remote agricultural planet stumbles…
- Judgment at the Edge of SpaceOn a remote outpost at the edge of the known universe, the crew discovers a signal indicating they are not only being watched, but judged by a vastly…
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