Open Mind Day
Imagine a world where everyone in the city can hear each other's thoughts for one day every year, known as "Open Mind Day". Write about how this day affects the relationships, crime rates, and personal secrets in an urban community.
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 what the hero wants and what they need in tension.
- Tell it through the messages, notes or voicemails the characters leave.
- Write the scene everyone else would skip: the morning after.
Writing contemporary fiction
People like us, now, in trouble we recognize.
Contemporary fiction is set in the present day and deals with life as it's actually lived: families, marriages, friendships, work, loss. It sits between literary and commercial fiction, often shelved as book club or upmarket fiction.
What readers expect
- A present-day, realistic setting
- Relatable, flawed characters
- Emotional stakes over action
- Issues readers face themselves
A tip before you start
Today is your setting, so use it: the group chat, the parking ticket, the brand of cereal. Specifics make it feel true.
More Urban Fiction prompts
- Farms Above the CityA young entrepreneur decides to bring farming into a bustling city by creating micro-farms on unused building spaces, like balconies and empty lots.…
- Three Days Without PowerDescribe the intertwined lives of residents in an urban high-rise during a citywide blackout that lasts for three days. Explore their interactions…
- The Garden's Buried MapAn urban gardener discovers an old, encrypted map buried in a communal plot in a city park, suggesting a hidden treasure or a forgotten piece of the…
- The Corner GroceryCraft a story set in a gentrifying neighborhood, centering around a small, family-owned grocery store struggling to stay afloat amidst the changes.…
Fifteen minutes in? Keep going.
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