The Missed Injection
Imagine a society where emotions are regulated by daily mandated injections to ensure everyone remains productive and compliant. Your protagonist, a government enforcer, accidentally misses their dose and begins to experience feelings long forgotten, leading them to question the very fabric of this society.
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.
- Put a clock on it: the hero has until midnight.
- Trap your hero in one place they can't easily leave.
- Raise the stakes from personal to public halfway through.
Writing dystopian fiction
A society gone wrong, and the one person who sees it.
Dystopian fiction imagines a future (or alternate present) where society has failed: surveillance states, ruined planets, systems that crush the people inside them. It's usually a warning. The hero's choice is whether to survive the system or fight it.
What readers expect
- A society with a dark logic
- Control, scarcity or surveillance
- A hero who starts to question it
- A warning about today
A tip before you start
Build your world from one fear of today, pushed too far. The more recognizable the root, the colder the chill.
More Dystopian prompts
- Disappearances Under the DomeAfter global economies collapse, cities are sealed off under domes run by different corporations. Your protagonist is a detective in one such city…
- Water from the WastelandEnvironmental disasters have turned the world into a wasteland, and water is now more valuable than gold. Your character, once a hydro-engineer, now a…
- The Memory DealerIn a future where personal memories can be bought and sold, the wealthiest citizens are able to erase their darkest experiences and live in blissful…
- The Feelers' RevolutionIn a world where emotions are regulated by the government through daily injections, your protagonist discovers an underground group of rebels known as…
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