#sfwc "relying on technology

[shortfictionweeklychallenge]

Searching...

So many prompts to choose from. What can we find in the archive today?

Relying on Technology: regardless of setting, our characters rely on technological innovations. In a fantasy setting, those might be cunning spellwork or finely-crafted weapons. The far future could have memory-dubbing and cybernetics. In any setting, food production, travel, and medicine often employ technology we barely acknowledge. What technology in your character’s world do they absolutely rely on? What can they not get along without? Do they even realize how much they need it? What happens when something goes wrong in the way it functions? What if it breaks and can’t be repaired, or at least not easily or quickly? How much trouble do they have when the things they expect to work just...don't?

[shortfictionweeklychallenge]

Short Fiction Weekly Challenge

Time for a new prompt from the Short Fiction Weekly Challenge, tumblr edition.  Let it spark your imagination.  Any character, any fandom, any original world.   Reblogs welcome!

Post your story to your blog and send the link to Short Fiction Weekly Challenge!  The link will appear in our feed and the site index, and your blog will be listed on the Participating Blogs page.

This week’s SFWC prompt:

Week of June 2, 2023

Relying on Technology: Whatever your setting, fantasy to sci-fi to modern world, your characters use technology. What’s most crucial to them? Their ship? Their everburning torch? Radio? What, if any, changed during their lifetime? Are they early adopters, picking up the new shiny as soon as it's available? Are they curmudgeons, sticking with the tried and true? What happens when they have to change because their favorite thing is no longer available or isn’t working reliably? In what way does your character rely on technology?

Feel free to continue submitting stories for any prompt.  A masterpiece missed the deadline?  Don’t let it gather electronic dust.  Submit it anyway and Short Fiction Weekly Challenge will publish it.  

This week’s featured previous prompts are:

Frustration: Sometimes events (aka the writer) conspire to thwart your character. It might be a series of minor things--the coffee machine broke, the bus was late (so they caught it but were late anyway), and to top it off all the good donuts were gone at the meeting...where the project no one else wanted ended up in their lap. Yay. Maybe it's a repeated error: the food stall never gets their order right, the clerk always mispronounces your character's name. This week write about someone or something getting on your character’s last nerve.

Persuasion - A salesman, a con artist, a propagandist, an advertiser. But also a lover hoping their beloved feels the same, a scientist with a new theory, a lawyer defending their client or prosecuting the law, a child wanting to keep the cat that followed them home. Persuasion is all about convincing someone and bringing them over to your side of the argument. It doesn’t have to be successful! Some characters never agree, but they do like to argue.

Got an idea for a prompt?  Submit it here.

[shortfictionweeklychallenge]

Short Fiction Weekly Challenge

Time for a new prompt from the Short Fiction Weekly Challenge, tumblr edition.  Let it spark your imagination.  Any character, any fandom, any original world.   Reblogs welcome!

Post your story to your blog and send the link to Short Fiction Weekly Challenge!  The link will appear in our feed and the site index, and your blog will be listed on the Participating Blogs page.

This week’s SFWC prompt:

Week of August 12, 2022

How Did I Get Here?: What chain of events led to your character’s current situation? Do we get to see it, or only the result? Did they make reasonable decisions but the outcome was unrecoverable from the beginning? Did they choose exactly the wrong approach, guaranteed to make things worse? Did they misread the situation and stumble? Did they know exactly what they were doing from the get-go and end up precisely where they wanted to be? This week, have your character ask themselves how did I get here?

Feel free to continue submitting stories for any prompt.  A masterpiece missed the deadline?  Don’t let it gather electronic dust.  Submit it anyway and Short Fiction Weekly Challenge will publish it.  

This week’s featured previous prompts are:

Relying on Technology: regardless of setting, our characters rely on technological innovations. In a fantasy setting, those might be cunning spellwork or finely-crafted weapons. The far future could have memory-dubbing and cybernetics. In any setting, food production, travel, and medicine often employ technology we barely acknowledge. What technology in your character’s world do they absolutely rely on? What can they not get along without? Do they even realize how much they need it? What happens when something goes wrong in the way it functions? What if it breaks and can’t be repaired, or at least not easily or quickly? How much trouble do they have when the things they expect to work just...don't?

Bingeing: A character can binge on nearly anything: shows; music; information; books, stories, or poetry; or yes, even food. A first cousin to obsession, to binge implies something more primal. Whatever your character is binging on, it's likely something they enjoy and are almost powerless to stop without outside interference--say, running out of episodes. Write about a time when your character or someone they know binged on something.

Got an idea for a prompt?  Submit it here.

[shortfictionweeklychallenge]

Short Fiction Weekly Challenge

Time for a new prompt from the Short Fiction Weekly Challenge, tumblr edition.  Let it spark your imagination.  Any character, any fandom, any original world.   Reblogs welcome!

Post your story to your blog and send the link to Short Fiction Weekly Challenge!  The link will appear in our feed and the site index, and your blog will be listed on the Participating Blogs page.

This week’s SFWC prompt:

Week of May 1, 2020:

Relying on Technology: Regardless of setting, our characters rely on technological innovations. In a fantasy setting, those might be cunning spellwork or finely-crafted weapons. The far future could have memory-dubbing and cybernetics. In any setting, food production, travel, and medicine often employ technology we barely acknowledge. What technology in your character’s world do they absolutely rely on? What can they not get along without? Do they even realize how much they need it? What happens when something goes wrong in the way it functions? What if it breaks and can’t be repaired, or at least not easily or quickly? How much trouble do they have when the things they expect to work just...don't?

Feel free to continue submitting stories for any prompt.  A masterpiece missed the deadline?  Don’t let it gather electronic dust.  Submit it anyway and Short Fiction Weekly Challenge will publish it.  

This week’s prompt not for you?  Look for something more to your taste in the Prompt Archive.  Consider all the prompts active and waiting to inspire you.  

This week’s featured previous prompts are:

Obsession: Everyone has interests.  Occasionally, they devolve into fandom, or even obsession.  What things obsess your character?  Is it a favorite holoshow?  A musical group?  Perhaps swoop racing or huttball?  Maybe something more esoteric--akk dog breeding, archaeology, perfume making, fine-tuning hyperdrive engines, or something else.  Love feels a lot like obsession in the early infatuation stage.  Or might it be a true obsession: intrusive thoughts or actions your character can’t ignore.  Write about some of them and how they affect your character.  

Look Behind You: What’s behind your character, literally or figuratively? Where did they come from? What did they leave behind to get where they are now? A village, town, city, or planet? Family, lovers, friends, rivals, or enemies? Ideas or beliefs? Do any of them catch up or are they forever in the past? How does your character feel about that?

Got an idea for a prompt?  Submit it here.