The Underground Library
In a bleak future, literacy is illegal, and books are banned. Your protagonist inherits a secret library from their late parent, filled with forbidden knowledge. Detail their transformation from a law-abiding citizen to a leader of the underground literacy movement, all while dodging the 'book burners' — specialized police tasked with eradicating written words.
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.
- Open with the threat already in motion, not the setup.
- Make the person helping your hero the one to worry about.
- End a scene on a phone call, a knock or a name.
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
- The Hidden OasisIn a future where all natural resources are depleted and the air is barely breathable, describe a day in the life of a protagonist who stumbles upon…
- Books Beneath the RuinsIn a world where all historical records are controlled by the state, your character discovers a hidden trove of forbidden books in the ruins of an old…
- The Missed InjectionImagine a society where emotions are regulated by daily mandated injections to ensure everyone remains productive and compliant. Your protagonist, a…
- 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…
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