The Scribe and the Pharaoh
You are a young scribe in the time of Pharaoh Akhenaten. Tasked with recording the controversial changes Akhenaten enforces on the religious practices of Egypt, detail your internal conflicts as you grapple with tradition and innovation, all while a secretive group plots to overthrow the Pharaoh.
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.
- Tell it from someone the history books ignored.
- Write it as a letter that took weeks to arrive.
- End with a choice that history would never record.
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 Egypt prompts
- Building the Great PyramidWrite about a day in the life of a builder working on the Great Pyramid of Giza. Explore the complexities of their relationships, the technological…
- The Navigator’s WarningEnvision a scenario where a famed Egyptian navigator returns from a voyage to lands unknown with exotic goods and fantastical tales. However, amid…
- The Priest of RaA priest of Ra, the sun god, experiences a crisis of faith following a series of natural disasters that lay waste to his city. Write about his quest…
- The Nile's Uncertain FloodImagine you are a farmer living on the Nile River during the inundation period. Describe a year where the floodwaters rise significantly higher or…
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