Letters from the Western Front
Pen a series of letters between a soldier on the Western Front and his lover back home. Explore how their relationship evolves with every letter, against the backdrop of the war’s progression and its impact on their respective views and morals.
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.
- Choose one real detail of the period, like a price, a law or a song, and build a scene around it.
- Keep the famous event offstage and show its ripples.
- Make the dialogue sound of its time without becoming hard to read.
Writing historical fiction
Step into another time and feel what it was like.
Historical fiction is set in the past, usually at least 50 years before it was written. Real events and people often appear, but the story belongs to its characters. Readers come for the immersion: the smells, the rules, the dangers of a world that's gone.
What readers expect
- A vivid, well-researched setting
- Real events as backdrop or engine
- Characters shaped by their era
- Details that feel lived, not looked up
A tip before you start
Research deeply, show lightly. One telling detail in a scene beats a paragraph of facts.
More World War 1 Historical Fiction prompts
- The Wounded Childhood SweetheartDescribe a day when she receives a severely wounded soldier who turns out to be her childhood sweetheart. How does she handle the professional duties…
- The Frontline Field HospitalImagine you are a nurse stationed at a small, makeshift hospital near the front lines. Describe a day when a group of severely wounded soldiers from…
- The Journalist in the TrenchesDescribe the emotional and mental journey of a journalist assigned to cover the war from the trenches. Focus on their struggle to maintain objectivity…
- The Frontline NurseWrite a story from the perspective of a nurse working in a makeshift hospital near the front lines during World War I. Show how she keeps going, and…
Fifteen minutes in? Keep going.
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