The Map of Lost Worlds
Write a story about an apprentice cartographer who is granted an ancient map that reveals hidden portals to lost worlds. When one of the portals transports them to a city where time flows backwards, they must navigate through historical secrets to find their way back home.
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.
- Let the hero's plan work, and make that the problem.
- Tell it from the point of view of someone who thinks this world is perfectly normal.
- Shrink the stakes to one family, one street, one night.
Writing fantasy books
Magic is real, and it costs something.
Fantasy builds a world where the impossible works: dragons, spells, gods who answer back. It might be a whole invented continent or one enchanted door in an ordinary house. Either way, readers come for the wonder and stay for the people paying the price for it.
What readers expect
- Magic or the supernatural, with limits
- A world that feels lived in
- Quests, wars or a power worth fighting over
- Myths and history under the surface
A tip before you start
Give magic a cost. Readers believe in a power when they can see what it takes from the person using it.
More Science Fiction and Fantasy prompts
- The Elevator Between WorldsA city floating in the sky has been isolated from the earth below for centuries. When a curious teenager finds an ancient elevator connecting the two…
- The Collective PlanetWrite a story set on a distant planet where the indigenous species has evolved to communicate, learn, and make decisions collectively. What happens…
- The Reality DetectivesDevelop a tale about time travelers who operate as reality detectives, fixing paradoxes and errors in the timeline. Their newest case involves a…
- The Dreamless DreamerIn a future where dreams are mined like resources, write about a character who has never been able to dream. One night, they start having vivid dreams…
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