Faith in the Plague Village
Portray a family in medieval Europe during the Black Death. As the plague decimates their village, the matriarch of the family relies strongly on her faith to guide and comfort her children. Detail their struggles and the role of faith in helping them cope with the immense losses they face.
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 it as a letter that took weeks to arrive.
- End with a choice that history would never record.
- Let your character believe something about their world that turned out to be wrong.
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 Christian Historical Fiction prompts
- Scripture Beneath the CathedralSet in medieval Europe during the construction of a grand cathedral, your story follows a young stone mason who discovers a hidden scripture buried in…
- The Healing Nuns of SpainWrite a story about a 16th-century Spanish convent where the nuns are known for their miraculous healings. The arrival of a skeptical royal inspector…
- The Scribe of JerusalemSet in the bustling streets of Jerusalem in the early days of Christianity, follow the story of a young scribe who doubts the new faith spreading…
- The Secret Bible ScribeImagine a narrative set during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. Your main character is a scribe who has been secretly copying and translating…
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