The Diplomat's Secret Talks
During the tense days of the Cuban Missile Crisis, a young diplomat finds themselves accidentally entangled in backdoor negotiations. Create a story where each decision made by this diplomat could alter the course of history, exploring the psychological and emotional pressures in the world of international politics during the Cold War.
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.
- Keep the famous event offstage and show its ripples.
- Make the dialogue sound of its time without becoming hard to read.
- Tell it from someone the history books ignored.
Writing historical fiction
Step into another time and feel what it was like.
Historical fiction is set in the past, usually at least 50 years before it was written. Real events and people often appear, but the story belongs to its characters. Readers come for the immersion: the smells, the rules, the dangers of a world that's gone.
What readers expect
- A vivid, well-researched setting
- Real events as backdrop or engine
- Characters shaped by their era
- Details that feel lived, not looked up
A tip before you start
Research deeply, show lightly. One telling detail in a scene beats a paragraph of facts.
More 20th Century Historical Fiction prompts
- Siblings at the Berlin WallSet in the backdrop of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, create a tale of two estranged siblings from East and West Germany who coincidentally meet…
- A New Orleans Musician in HarlemSet during the bustling Harlem Renaissance, follow the life of a jazz musician who has recently migrated from New Orleans. Dive into their struggles…
- The Hollywood Spy RingIt's 1942, and your character, a young but shrewd detective in Los Angeles, stumbles upon a letter revealing a hidden Nazi sympathizer ring in…
- Shanghai Street VendorSet in the bustling streets of Shanghai in the late 1930s, follow the story of a young Chinese street vendor who befriends an American journalist.…
Fifteen minutes in? Keep going.
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