The Regency Attic Diary
Imagine a character who finds an old, dust-covered diary from the Regency period hidden in the attic of their new home. As they read through the pages, they uncover a tale of lost love, scandal, and betrayal that mirrors challenges in their own life.
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.
- Give the hero a rule of the era they have to break.
- Choose one real detail of the period, like a price, a law or a song, and build a scene around it.
- Keep the famous event offstage and show its ripples.
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 Regency prompts
- A Secret at the Regency BallImagine a story where two characters from vastly different socioeconomic backgrounds meet at a lavish Regency ball. Detail their clandestine…
- The Regency LettersImagine a Regency-era scholar who uncovers correspondence between two famous historical figures. As the scholar delves deeper, they realize that these…
- A Secret in Regency SocietyWrite a story about a young lady introduced into Regency society, but she harbors a scandalous secret that could ruin her family's name forever. How…
- The Manor's Hidden HeirWrite from the perspective of a servant in a grand manor during the Regency period who uncovers a scandalous secret about the noble family's lineage.…
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