The Computer Wants to Die
On a distant planet, humanity has finally created the first sentient supercomputer. However, the computer's first request is to be shut down. Write from the perspective of the engineer who must uncover why their greatest achievement wants to end its existence.
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.
- Shrink the stakes to one family, one street, one night.
- Choose one ordinary object and show how this world changed it.
- Start in the middle of the strangest moment, and explain nothing for a page.
Writing science fiction
Change one thing about the world. Follow it all the way.
Science fiction asks what happens to people when science, technology or contact with something new changes the rules. The spaceships are optional; the question is the point. The best of it says as much about today as it does about the future.
What readers expect
- An idea that drives the plot
- Technology or science with consequences
- Futures, other worlds or alternate presents
- Big questions about being human
A tip before you start
Show how your big change reshapes ordinary life: what people eat, fear and joke about. Scenery alone isn't world-building.
More High-Tech Sci-Fi prompts
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- Lives in Parallel UniversesThe first successful time machine has been built, but instead of traveling through time, it transports people into parallel universes. Write about a…
- The AI Who ChoseSet in a world where artificial intelligence governs every aspect of life to ensure maximum efficiency and happiness, an AI psychologist begins to…
- The Ship’s Believing AIWrite about an interstellar ship where the AI system starts to malfunction, slowly adopting religious beliefs. The crew must decide whether to follow…
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