The Teen Who Controlled Time
Imagine waking up in a world where every teenager has the power to manipulate one of the four elements: earth, air, water, or fire. However, on your sixteenth birthday, you discover that your ability is to manipulate time. Write about your first day coming to terms with this power and the consequences it brings to your ordinary 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.
- Write in close first person, as if it's happening right now.
- Put a first in the story: a first job, kiss, loss or lie.
- Raise the stakes until the hero's identity is on the line.
Writing young adult books
Ages 12 to 18: firsts, identity and everything at stake.
Young adult fiction is written for teens, with protagonists usually 14 to 18. Every genre lives here, from fantasy to thrillers to romance. What makes it YA is the voice: immediate, intense and inside a teenager's head.
What readers expect
- A teen protagonist
- An immediate, close voice
- Identity and independence
- Big feelings, taken seriously
A tip before you start
Write from inside a teen's head, not from an adult looking back. That immediacy is what separates YA from an adult book with a young hero.
More YA Sci-Fi prompts
- The Small Change in TimeIn the year 2450, time travel is the latest trend among the youth. But when a teen time traveler accidentally changes a small, seemingly insignificant…
- The Library That Changed RealityOn a distant planet colonized by humans, teenage explorers find an ancient alien library. As they decode the alien language, they realize the books…
- The Career Test GlitchEvery student must undergo a test to determine their career path in a technologically advanced society. When a glitch during the test sends one…
- The Robot's Past LifeIn a world where everyone is assigned a robot companion at birth, you discover that your robot has memories of a past life - memories that could…
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