The AI and the Living Planet
Write from the perspective of an AI tasked with preparing an uninhabitable planet for the arrival of human colonists. As the AI begins to develop self-awareness, it starts questioning the morality of transforming a planet, potentially harming indigenous life forms, for human settlement. Explore its internal conflict and eventual decision.
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 magic or technology cost your hero something they can't get back.
- Give the villain a reason that would convince you, if you lived there.
- Let the hero's plan work, and make that the problem.
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
- The Captain's Last FuelWrite about a first-generation starship captain grappling with the decision to either use the remaining fuel to explore a potentially habitable…
- Coffee at the Edge of SpaceIn a future where space travel is as common as taking a bus, your main character operates a quaint interstellar coffee shop. One day, an enigmatic…
- The Hidden Star MapIn a universe where space travel is accessible but still hazardous, your character, a young, ambitious cartographer, discovers a hidden coordinate in…
- The Forbidden Ocean ExpeditionWrite a story in which humanity has lived in a domed underwater city on a distant oceanic planet for centuries but has forgotten the true reason why…
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