Gadget Writing Prompt

Worldbuilding isn’t always focused on unique creatures or types of magic. Sometimes, it gets its interest from inventions and innovation in technology, especially in Science Fiction, for example. From gadgets. This gadget writing prompt is designed to help you think of new and interesting technology for your story.

1. Analysis (Optional)

The analysis step is most useful if you feel like the technology you’ve come up with isn’t doing what you want (isn’t interesting or fun enough, for example), or if you’re struggling to even start. It could especially help if you don’t read a lot of gadgetry-driven stories, and you’re trying to write one for the first time. If that’s not you, if you’re ready to dive right in to doing, skip to step 2.

The goal of this step is to look at examples of gadgets from books and movies that you like or that are successful, and analyze what exactly about the gadget makes it successful in the story. Some questions to ask are…

• How does the gadget affect the plot? / What specific to that gadget makes the plot happen the way it does?
• What makes the gadget unique or interesting? Is it the function, the name, the look of it, etc.?
• Is how the gadget works explained? (Not just how to use it but also the tech that makes it work.) If so, does it seem believable?
• Is a specific gadget important to the story, or is a group of gadgets important to the story? (Think James Bond: part of the appeal is that he gets a handful of new gadgets. While each tool usually ends up important to the plot, part of the charm of the series is that each story involves a group of new tech.)

You can learn a lot by looking at books or movies you like and investigating what made their gadgets successful.

2. Pick a Function

Now, you’re ready to make your own gadget. Where do you start? Well, while you can do it either way, I find it extremely helpful to start with what you want the gadget to do. Once you know what the tool does, every other question can be answered based on that function.

Some examples:

• Stunning an enemy (Star Trek Phasers)
• Acting as a sword but with the ability to travel in a much smaller form (Star Wars lightsabers)
• Ability to make anything shrink or grow dramatically (Marvel’s Pym Particles)

3. Decide How It’s Used

You don’t have to be really knowledgeable of science, and it doesn’t have to be believable that it works (Don’t worry about that yet!). Think more about the process of using it than what makes that process work at this stage.

To get you started, here are some common ways gadgets change when used:

• Growing or shrinking
• Separating (part or parts coming off)
• Reshaping (parts swiveling or turning to create a new shape)
• Glowing (in whole or at a focus point)
• Exploding (in whole or at a focus point)
• Making a sound
• Displaying something (on a screen, for example)

You’ll also need to think about what starts the action in question. Common examples include…

• Pulling a trigger
• Pressing a button
• Giving a spoken command
• Removing a pin

And so on.

Note that if you use a common technique, the creative or new aspect of the technology needs to happen elsewhere (such as in what it does). Or the technique can be creative and the function common (new ways of doing old tasks come out all the time). Or both can be creative. My main point is that at least one of them needs to be creative to make your gadget interesting.

4. Design How It Looks

Now that you know what the tool does and the process for using it, decide how it looks.

• Is it shiny or matte? Or invisible?
• Is it worn or carried? Does it have a holster?
• How heavy or light is it?
• How small or large?

The answers not only prepare you for describing it in the story. They also determine ways the tool interacts with the plot. If it’s super heavy, the fact that most people can’t move it could cause a lot of tension in a moment of the plot where they really need it. If it’s invisible, it could get lost. If it’s worn, the person wearing it could get lost, or it could fall off.

There is always going to be some way for this gadget to cause plot problems, but what those problems can be will depend on all the details you’re deciding now.

5. Decide How It Works (To a Point)

Now’s when you think about the science, but don’t worry. You’re just coming up with the amount of explanation you plan to use in the story, and that doesn’t have to be much. Or any at all, really.

If you’re really into science and have a theory you think could actually work, you can go for it if you want to. But you can also be very vague. The only real explanation we get about lightsabers is that they’re made of light. Not how the light becomes a solid cutting edge or why it stops at a specific point. You never have to explain to that level of detail if you don’t want to.

Here’s a Pro Tip: If you want a good reason to not explain how a gadget works, make the characters in the story not know. We all use smart phones – how many of us actaully know how it works? Not most of us. Pretty much just smart phone engineers. It’s very believable for characters to use technology without having any idea how that technology works. You can think about how you would explain how your smart phone or smart watch works and aim for that level of explaination.

6. Share

I know I always say this, but if you finish stories where you used the gadget you made here, please, share them or a link to them in the comments. Especially this time because I’m dying to see what gadgets you come up with!