Breaking the Birth Algorithm
In a society where every citizen's role is determined by a state-run algorithm at birth, your protagonist discovers they can manipulate the system. Detail their journey as they exploit this power to dismantle the oppressive regime they live under, while evading the watchful eyes of a relentless governmental enforcer.
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.
- Let the reader know something the hero doesn't.
- Cut every scene the moment the tension drops.
- Put a clock on it: the hero has until midnight.
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 Drone's Secret FootageThe world is divided into zones based on socioeconomic status, heavily surveilled and controlled by drones. One day, your character, a drone…
- Twenty-Four Hours of FreedomIn a future dystopian city, all citizens wear devices that dictate the path of their lives, from careers to whom they marry, designed to maintain…
- The Missing MemoriesIn a future where memories can be digitally stored and stolen, your protagonist wakes up one day with a critical gap in their memory and a mysterious…
- The Pill That Unleashed EmotionSet in a world where emotions are regulated by a daily pill to ensure a docile population, the protagonist, a government scientist, accidentally…
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