The Animal-Talking Rivals
Two teenagers from rival schools discover they both share a secret ability to communicate with animals. They team up for an interschool competition, trying to keep their powers hidden while navigating the challenges of their newfound friendship.
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.
- Give your hero a secret they're keeping from their best friend.
- Let your hero make a big mistake for a reason the reader understands.
- End with a choice only this hero would make.
Writing young adult books
Ages 12 to 18: firsts, identity and everything at stake.
Young adult fiction is written for teens, with protagonists usually 14 to 18. Every genre lives here, from fantasy to thrillers to romance. What makes it YA is the voice: immediate, intense and inside a teenager's head.
What readers expect
- A teen protagonist
- An immediate, close voice
- Identity and independence
- Big feelings, taken seriously
A tip before you start
Write from inside a teen's head, not from an adult looking back. That immediacy is what separates YA from an adult book with a young hero.
More Teen and YA prompts
- The Teen and the Rogue RobotDescribe a world where every teen is assigned a robot companion on their 16th birthday. The protagonist eagerly awaits their own robot but is shocked…
- The Power to MendImagine a world where every teen gets a magical power on their sixteenth birthday. However, the main character gets a power they initially see as…
- The Book That Makes ThingsWrite about a group of friends who find a mysterious, old book in their school library that allows them to write things into existence. They start…
- Messages in the School LockerWrite a story about a teen who starts receiving anonymous, cryptic messages in their locker. As they try to figure out who is sending them and why…
Fifteen minutes in? Keep going.
Chapterly gives a draft somewhere to grow: chapters, daily word goals, and readers when you're ready.
Plans from $9.99 a month. Cancel any time. Your words are always yours.