For some of us, blogging is personal. Others are trying to educate or entertain; many more are hybrids. Yet we’re…
For some of us, blogging is personal. Others are trying to educate or entertain; many more are hybrids. Yet we’re all storytellers. Creative Writing Challenges help you to push your writing boundaries, show off your blogging chops, and, hopefully, spark more post ideas.
To participate, tag your post with DPchallenge or leave a link to it in the comments. (It would also be great if you could link to this post to encourage people to take part – the more the merrier!) Your post should be specifically written in response to this challenge. We’ll keep an eye on the tag and highlight some of our favorite posts on Freshly Pressed on Friday.
Big brother keeping an eye on you. Fighting to the death for a live TV audience. Being turned into meaty pellets of goodness when you reach maturity. Struggling through grime and smog while a rich elite quaff champagne and make with their decadent follies. Discovering you’re a robot and that all of your memories are implants. Falling in love and then realising that you’re a clone destined to be carved up for spare body parts.
This week we’re going to rejoice, creatively, in the ways the future can go horribly wrong, by digging into dystopia. “The musical” part is strictly optional, it just sounded good at the time. Here’s your challenge:
The elevator pitch:
Write a short story or piece of descriptive faux-journalism describing your personal idea of a dystopia — a dark future when everything you hold dear is on the chopping block.
The “that wasn’t enough to get my motor running” version:
You’re hit by a car tomorrow and, just like in the movies, they put you on ice and wait for medical science to make it possible to revive you at some point in the future. And revive you they do, some 20, 50, or 100 years later (any later than that is just cheating). Lo and behold you’ve woken up into your personal nightmare vision of the future. Tell us what it looks like.
***SPOILER ALERT***
We encourage you to go hog wild with the prompts above this line, but if you feel like you need an idea boost to get you started, read on:
Here are some things that might have changed since you were hit by that car:
- Relationships: Does love still exist? Are people allowed to choose their own partners? Has the very idea of partnership been replaced by meditating about spoons?
- Privilege: Are some people much better off than others, in terms of their freedom, opportunities, or daily lives?
- Mind control: Do people have the freedom to think for themselves?
- Politics: Have conditions pushed the world in the direction of far-right fascism, wild anarchism, or opulent anything-goes liberalism? Or has politics been superseded altogether in the presence of giant brain eating cockroaches?
- Technology: Have we become more dependent on technology, or has it become useless? How does technology shape the experience of our everyday lives?
- Environment: Have changes in the environment forced us to live in Hazmat suits, or are we all living in brain-wired fantasies of infinite pleasure?
- Gender roles: Has the gender power balance shifted, drastically or less so, in one direction or another?
- Food, water, shelter: Has basic survival become an everyday struggle, or is the entire planet undergoing an obesity epidemic the likes of which we’d never have imagined?
- Post-humanity: Are humans still “on top,” or is the planet now ruled by monkeys, robots, or *gasp* monkey robots?
Remember that beyond the deep dive gloom of it all, dystopian fiction is very often a commentary on the present, or an examination of the things we’d hate most to lose. If you’re still struggling, think about the things you’re most attached to, and how modern life might threaten to take them away.
Bring the darkness and woe to the comments, or, as ever, tag those black-hearted puppies of doom with DPChallenge.
http://tunatroupe.wordpress.com/2012/03/11/an-act-of-defiance/ this is what we feel dystopia will lead to..
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http://mikelamberti.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/12-years-later-dubuque-saturday-still-resonates-at-region-4/
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http://hizzamsblog.wordpress.com/
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The future is already here. My blog is my dystopia.
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This is really good. I will read as many of these as I can when they come out! Unfortunately, with my work schedule this week, I don’t think I can make it to the deadline. 😦
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http://onesahmscrazylife.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/a-bird-in-the-who-what/
a present day dystopia
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I’m in the pingback, but here’s a direct link: http://starvingactivist.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/dpchallenge-what-does-it-all-mean/
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modern fantines
http://wp.me/p6FwZ-YZ
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My first DPChallenge 🙂 http://hayleyvornholt.com/2013/02/25/an-artless-arrest/
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Reblogged this on going to germany and commented:
I’ve had an idea floating around for a while. Maybe I’ll take a stab at this during the week. Maybe you have some ideas, too.
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Developed this one during the work day. Hope some of you like it.
http://backinthecityblog.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/dystopian-calling/
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A piece of poetry inspired by this week’s challenge – http://mihirkamat.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/the-hangman/
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I’m so new at this, not sure I’m doing it right, but I see a world that looks neat and tidy on the outside, and profoundly lonely on the inside: http://lorataber.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/connect-to-the-world-with-global-social/
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I really like the line :
I see a world that looks neat and tidy on the outside, and profoundly lonely on the inside:
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Thanks for saying so. It’s a sentiment I feel some days in the present. 🙂
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Some ideas on a possible dystopian future –
http://artifactsandfictions.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/dystopian-ways/
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A different spin on dystopia!
http://samsonlinejournal.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/weekly-writing-challenge-dystopia-the-musical/
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I have a photography blog here but when i got the Daily Post I decided to have a go at the Dystopia challenge…here’s my scribbles
http://paulscribbles.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/weekly-writing-challenge-dystopia/
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~ Feel free to share. I hope to enlighten souls with this post: http://thelurkerslist.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/dystopia-of-expectations/ 🙂 Cheers!
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Here’s my short story (more like flash fiction), entitled AFTER THE FALL: http://writedly.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/after-the-fall/
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http://unmutethewall.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/how-did-we-end-up-like-this/
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Here goes! http://sinisterpacifism.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/anti-present/
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Dystopia means place where everything is very bad. I believe that even in the most bad situation or place there is something valuable for us to learn for me life is a process of growing & learning.
For today’s challenge I choose DEATH. Hope readers find it interesting & readable thing.
Date with Death
http://hopeoflight.wordpress.com/2013/02…
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Thanks to everyone that took part or left feedback so far!
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Ilya Fostiy. New Life. Part Two .
http://bzebza.com/2013/02/26/ilya-fostiy-new-life-part-two/
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http://randomizeveryday.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/h-a-y-w-i-r-e/
please be gentle with it 🙂
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This is my first ever writing challenge and I have loved it, will definitely been taking be taking part in more 🙂
http://teaandtriangles.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/dystopia-writing-challenge/
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This is my post for this challenge. My worst nightmare.
http://sakshidayal.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/the-afterlife/
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I love this idea. Here’s mine!
https://thelifeofathinker.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/weekly-writing-challenge-placards/
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“Crushed” is short story about all the sudden everything you had is gone.
http://jitterygt.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/crushed-a-short-story/
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Dystopia, communication and finding truth in the clouds.
http://kcaptain77.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/23/
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Hi
I am new around here-so I have a pretty basic question (sorry): when do the posts have to be submitted by? Is it Sunday night-because its a weekly challenge, or is it before the Friday the week the challenge is made?
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I am not sure but I guess before Friday as I saw they put the best post on Friday freshly pressed.
Hope my you find my reply helpful but in my advice try to submit your post as soon as possible
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Thank you, for taking the time to answer my question.
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~ Yep, that’s right. submit before friday. every friday they post the posts they have picked for freshly pressed. cheers!:)
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