Dystopian Writing Prompts - New Teen Dystopian Story Starters for Aspiring Writers

More dystopian story prompts:

1.  Shayna climbed onto the Partition first.  "They lied," she repeated as I stood beside her, but as I looked upon Millennia City I already knew the truth.

2.  The outbreak started at Candace's eighteenth birthday party at her parent's cottage on Lake Tranquil.  I wasn't invited.  Funny how the last thing Candace said to me was, "Drop dead."           

3.  The corpses of rats and ravens littered the gymnasium.  This was so not how I imagined prom night.      

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Steampunk Writing Prompts: Need ideas for a Steampunk Novel

This month's writing prompts:

1. Lucinda dreamed of becoming a Treasure-Seeker ever since the day the infamous Jessamine Jones returned from Egypt with an airship full of antiquities.

2. Life had been different in Granville Manor before the arrival of the Metronome.  

3. Knowing he had not long to live, Professor Lamb worked day and night on his final invention: the Reciprocity Box.  His dying wish was that his daughters would reconcile.  To that end, he had already left written instructions with his lawyer to give the box to Octavia, and the key to Violetta.  

4. Victoria’s mother had forbidden her from visiting the Menagerie of Anachronistic Animals, which made her all the more determined to go. 

More Steampunk Writing Prompts

1. "Have you ever flown an airship before?" Collin asked.
    "Of course not, " scoffed Annabelle.  "But how hard could it be?"

2.  Already she had seen more wonders than she thought possibles:  a calculating device powered by sunlight, a doll that talked if you pulled a string on its back and a coin minted in the 21st century.  And this was only her first time attending an Anachronism Society meeting.

3.  If I had a shilling for every time someone tried to replace me with an automaton," remarked the Queen to her adviser.  "The last one didn't even look like me.  My nose is nowhere near that big."
     Unfortunately for her adviser, he did not stifle his laugh in time.

4.  After the third Clockworks Master was killed, the Duke insisted that Inspector Nightjar be assigned to the case.

Steampunk Writing Prompts

This month's steampunk writing prompts:

1. Carmen did not discover her mother was an automaton until she was almost seven.

Questions:

What happened to Carmen's real mother?
How did Carmen discover she was an automaton?
Who else, if anyone, lives with Carmen other than her mother?

2.  "Good lord," exclaimed Professor Hartwell when he finally broke down the door.  He had warned his wife not to buy Edmund that mail order Inventor's Kit, but she had obviously forgotten what happened the last time she had not listened to him.

Questions:

What did Professor Hartwell discover behind the door?
What happened the last time his wife did not listen to him?
Who might Edmund be, other than their son?

3.  Norma denied knowing where Mabel's locket had gone.  True, she had hurled it off the side of the airship's observation deck, but she did not know precisely where it had landed.

Questions:

How are Norma and Mabel related to each other, other than the obvious choices (sisters, friends or rival classmates)?
Other than jealousy, why might Norma have thrown away Mabel's locket?

Steampunk Writing Prompts and First Lines

More steampunk lines to inspire you:

1. Ever since his eighteenth birthday, Jack had a reoccurring dream about dying in a dirigible crash.  Now it seemed his nightmare was about to come true.

2. “I can’t possibly go to the Debutante’s Ball looking like this,” Amelia lamented, pointing in the mirror at the spots of rust on her wings.  

3. She had always wanted to see a real clockwork unicorn before, but not like this     . 

4. The device arrived Museum of Anachronism last Tuesday, but none of the curators knew where it came from, or what it was meant to do. 

5. Her fiancé paled.  “Are you saying your father was a sky pirate?”   

Steampunk Writing Prompts - How would you finish this story?

How would you finish this steampunk story?

     Hours after Emma's sixteen birthday party had ended, one of the maids discovered an unopened present sitting in the foyer.  There was nothing on the pink satin box to indicate who it was from, but there was no mistaking who it was for.

     Emma eagerly untied the white ribbon.  When she opened the lid she paled.  She took a step back and the box fell from her trembling hands, the gift remaining nestled inside.

     Her maid rushed.  "It's so beautiful miss," she gasped as she lifted out the gift.  "I wonder who sent it? And look it comes with a little key.  It fits right in the back."

     And as the maid turned the key Emma's mouth opened in horror but the scream never had a chance to come.

Questions to Consider

What do you think was in the box?

Who do you think sent it?  Why did he/she/it send it?

Why was Emma scared of the gift, but her maid was not?