Dreams of the Ancient Planet
The new planet promised a fresh start for all; free from the Earth's turmoil and strife. However, upon arrival, settlers find the landscape strangely familiar, and start to experience shared vivid dreams about the planet’s ancient civilization. Delve into what they uncover about the planet's past and how it affects their future.
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 ordinary object and show how this world changed it.
- Start in the middle of the strangest moment, and explain nothing for a page.
- Write it as a document from the world: a letter, a field report, a warning sign.
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 Space Exploration prompts
- Stranded Beyond the WormholeHumanity's first experimental jump through a newly discovered wormhole goes awry, stranding a group of scientists in a distant part of the universe…
- The Engineered ExoplanetYou are the youngest crew member on a space station orbiting a newly discovered exoplanet. Anomalies in the planet's atmosphere suggest it may be…
- The Mars ArtifactDuring humanity's first trip to Mars, the astronauts discover an ancient artifact buried beneath the red dust. The object has inscriptions that…
- Diplomacy on the Strange PlanetDetail the first manned mission to a newly discovered planet that was believed to be rich in resources but is found to be teeming with strange…
Fifteen minutes in? Keep going.
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