The Slave and the Emperor’s Plot
Write a story from the perspective of a young slave in a wealthy Roman household who discovers a secret plot against the Emperor. The slave must decide whether to reveal the plot and risk punishment or stay silent and let history take its course.
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.
- Make the dialogue sound of its time without becoming hard to read.
- Tell it from someone the history books ignored.
- Write it as a letter that took weeks to arrive.
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 Ancient Rome prompts
- The Legionary's TavernDescribe a day in the life of a retired legionary who now runs a small tavern near the Colosseum. Explore his interactions with customers from all…
- The Patrician PoetWrite from the perspective of a patrician family's eldest daughter, who is secretly a poet in a society that values martial prowess over the arts. She…
- The Freedman's Roman ArtifactIn the bustling heart of ancient Rome, a recently freed slave inherits a mysterious artifact from his former master. The artifact, rumored to be a…
- The Soothsayer Comes to RomeDuring Julius Caesar's rise to power, an expert soothsayer from a distant land arrives in Rome, bearing prophecies of the future empire’s downfall.…
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