Set your story at a large entertainment venue, after the show has ended, amongst the discarded plastic cups and confetti.

Posted in Adults on Jun 2, 2023

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✍️ 53 stories

“Silent Applause” by Ian James

Submitted to Contest #201

PROLOGUEInspector Nurzalina locks gazes with the silver-haired man. His weather-beaten features can't hide his wealth, an aura backed by the bling on his wrist. "Pleasure, Inspector," he greets, flashing a faux salute.Nurzalina nods silently, struggling to maintain her politeness. It's remarkable how this old man exudes such confidence, showing no remorse for encountering her in such a public setting."I just read the newspaper," he persists. Nurzalina nods again, growing impatient. "Mr. Ho, I've got family shopping to do. Excuse me.""Just Ji...

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“Stage Face” by Brittany Butler

Submitted to Contest #201

“I just need some air. Please.” “Oh my God, fine! Fine! But we’ve already lost half an hour because of this little incident. We don’t have the time, Hyo. You’re holding everyone up, you know that?” “I know. Sorry. I’ll be fast.” “You’d better be.” Hyo held her tongue as she turned around and headed towards the stage. Despite having barely recovered from a panic attack, she still had to spend the better part of ten minutes convincing her manager to let her have just five minutes to herself. She didn’t know what triggered it. One minute sh...

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“Angel Wings” by Ralph Aldrich

Submitted to Contest #201

“That’s it for tonight’s show! Have yourself a safe trip home!” The announcer made that statement about twenty minutes ago, but I still stand here. My ears are ringing from the loud music. The last stanza of the Angel Wings hit song echoes through my brain repeatedly. “Shut Up, Shut Up, Just Shut the Hell Up!” I don’t even like the song. But I’m mesmerized by the cute girls who sing it. I know I’m too old to be following a K-pop group. I think their ages are from eighteen to twenty-one and I...

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“The Last Act” by Angela Early

Submitted to Contest #201

Angela stood in the arena, standing at her seat long after the other attendees had left. Perhaps to continue their celebrations elsewhere. She was stupefied to say the least. Her favorite band, The Epiphanies, long since disbanded, had agreed to perform a series of concerts, never to tour again once they were done. She had never been allowed to attend their concerts in her teens, what with super strict parents. In her early twenties she could find nobody else to go with, she was alone in her love for them. Given that at that age, she would r...

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“A Message from More Than Just a Fan” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #201

A Message From More Than Just a Fan Well, last night’s concert of the Wholly Tearers is now over, and it is the morning after. It is time for me to clean up the mess left by the roaring fans. And because it was a loud rock band, and alcohol was sold by the plastic cup, I have to do a lot of cleaning. The big broom and I will be doing a lot of dancing together this morning. I shouldn’t really complain, though. I got to hear and see a great concert pu...

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“Solo Red Cup” by Angie Ashton

Submitted to Contest #201

She had saved her money for months, pulling extra shifts, doing odd jobs whenever she could, delivering meals to strangers and carting strangers around in her Aunt’s car because her own would never have been approved by any of the ride share apps. Not that her Aunt would have noticed, the regimen of meds she was on these days had rendered her mostly catatonic. Fortunately, her insurance and savings had been enough to have in-home care, including the hospital bed, monitors, and an asso...

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“After The Show” by Kale Gordon

Submitted to Contest #201

Caution: Some fool language is used in this. The polished gray concrete was sticky to the patrons that headed towards the lobby of the large concert venue after the encore had come to an end. The Post-Rock band Ultrasonic Tentacle Monsters had just finished their encore. Very few of the concertgoers stayed in hopes that the band would come on for one more surprise. “One more!” A bearded drunk patron yelled while slinging the clear plastic cup which held his sixteenth cup of beer. The beer sloshed into his face and got on his biker j...

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“K-POP-Brunch” by Scott Taylor

Submitted to Contest #201

Contains strong language. I never expected to feel used after a fling with my assistant Valerie. Still, as our professional relationship grew and distance separated us, our friendship morphed in ways I never imagined. The last thing we spoke of was a call from a client in California. “Sylvia, I don’t understand your connection to a Korean band,” I said. Sylvia was to promote a K-POP band in the US. But her efforts were undermined by another K-POP band allegedly stealing the group’s intellectual property. I watched the tape. A sinking...

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“When The Lights Go Down” by Lynda Baker

Submitted to Contest #201

It was still dark when Mella pulled her wooly hat over her ears and pushed gloved hands into deep coat pockets. "I can't believe you're doing this," Jenny said from under the duvet. "I can't believe you're not!" "Why on earth would I want to see him? When he was famous he didn't want to know us. Now he's hoping half a dozen fans remember him and we get invites." "Because he's our Daddy," Mella said. "It's the first time he's been home in fifteen years, and I want to see him." "So let him come ...

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“Marriage Cans Dangling From the Bounty” by Holden Burkholder

Submitted to Contest #201

The sky shone more and more a deeper and deeper red. It shined, it glistened, it danced across the entirety of North America. It was one in the morning, yet was bright as though the sun were just setting. It was growing brighter. The deeper the red the brighter the shine. The more distorted the shine the closer the star seemed to get. It was no star. No, just a rock of ice. A rock th...

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“Under a Glitter Moon” by Lex Laine

Submitted to Contest #201

Empty venues are a peculiar thing, you know. The applause and adulation echo in a melancholy after all the cheering crowds have gone. But, like a child told it's bedtime, these large entertainment venues can’t seem to stay quiet. They’ve got their own nocturnal life, their own encores that they can't help but perform. Let me take you to an enormous stadium in South Korea, recently graced by a hot-shot K-pop band. Their energy could make even the most stoic guards and dozing ticket-takers shake a leg. But now, the show's over. Confetti, once ...

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“Detritus” by Aidan Kelley

Submitted to Contest #201

NOTE: Sensitive content. Sexual violence, physical violence, gore, or abuse, mental health It begins as a whisper. The familiar tingling along the length of your spring, rattling up past your shoulders to coalesce in the basin of your skull as an unearthly rattle. The sensation, they say, is at once ethereal and unreal. I feel nothing. Where they sense the world and become, I am lost and unsure. The uncertain and unfamiliar tone they say should call to me has never once reached out, has never once found its home in my mind. ...

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“The letter ” by Lyle Closs

Submitted to Contest #201

Other people’s garbage. That’s what I deal with every day. They come into the Job Center and offload their personal share of the pitiful detritus of a creaking society into my brain-pan and leave feeling a little bit better. I, on the other hand, feel worse. There isn’t a single uplifting thing that floats past my eyes and ears in any working day. I get abused at least once a day, but the security guy Hamid is huge, so problems usually disappear quickly. Stamp, arrange, re-arrange, stamp. Next! A few nights a week I help clean the Roundh...

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“Slowly Dying Night” by Ella Akin

Submitted to Contest #201

“Mom, I just- just need a ride, ok? ….No. No, it’s not like that, Mom, please can you just take me h-”The phone beeps twice and goes silent. Holy fucking shit. This cannot“-be happening.” You hear your mom yell at your dad, muffled by the door to your room. It’s seven in the evening. “She cannot go on thinking this is normal-” Lying sideways on your messy bed, you clutch your phone like a lifeline, scrolling through K-pop Instagram until your mind goes blissfully numb. You’re trying not to cry. Something small hits your window, clinking...

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“Swansong” by Barbra Golub

Submitted to Contest #201

Amanda walked over to the stage and sat on the edge. Her legs were like jelly and she could feel the sweat dripping down the back of her tight, cropped t-shirt. Her armor she called it. It was a great show tonight. The crowd was amped up. That electricity always traveled from them into her as she stood on stage behind the microphone. It always took her a little while to come down from the high. For the energy to fade, like mist evaporating from the asphalt after a summer storm. As the tingles dissolved from her fingertips, she looked out ...

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Set your story at a large entertainment venue, after the show has ended, amongst the discarded plastic cups and confetti.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 53 stories

“Silent Applause” by Ian James

“Stage Face” by Brittany Butler

“Angel Wings” by Ralph Aldrich

“The Last Act” by Angela Early

“A Message from More Than Just a Fan” by John Steckley

“Solo Red Cup” by Angie Ashton

“After The Show” by Kale Gordon

“K-POP-Brunch” by Scott Taylor

“When The Lights Go Down” by Lynda Baker

“Marriage Cans Dangling From the Bounty” by Holden Burkholder

“Under a Glitter Moon” by Lex Laine

“Detritus” by Aidan Kelley

“The letter ” by Lyle Closs

“Slowly Dying Night” by Ella Akin

“Swansong” by Barbra Golub

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story from the point of view of a “sasaeng” (an obsessive fan).

Write a story about someone who has put “Blood Sweat & Tears” into getting where they are — only to question whether it was worth it.

Write a story inspired by SHINee’s “Ring Ding Dong”, where someone can’t get a song out of their head no matter how hard they try.

Write about someone who has always done something as part of a group, and is now starting to set out solo, or vice versa.

Contest #201

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

170

Contest entries

94

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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