Technology
is a wonderful thing—most of the time. Put a sparkling new gadget in a writer’s
hands and the results may not be a warm and fuzzy tale describing the
enlightened nature of mankind. And if you want the story to engage readers the
exact opposite is the more likely result.
Scientific
journals and magazines are a good source of inspiration for this writing
prompt. Find a new technology or an updated to an existing technology and think
of a way it could be used for evil or misused with disastrous results. It could
even be a matter of unforeseen side affects that threaten to bring ruin. Then
write a story around it.
This can
also be done with recent social trends, such as car sharing, reverse brain
drain, or the development of mega cities as large as some of our smaller
states.
For my
example, I looked at the trend to apply smart technology to everything.
Too Smart – As the man who found a way to link all of the
smart technologies together, Howard is known as the Father of the smart world.
His plans to enjoy the fruits of his labors are disrupted when his own personal
“Smart System” begins to have daddy issues. He must find a way to control his
disgruntled child before he is forced to embrace a non-tech lifestyle in a
remote region of the world.
