Start your story with the line, “That’s the thing about this city…”

Posted in Adults on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 283 stories

“The $20 Poster” by Julia FitzGerald

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city, no one stares or cares. There’s real freedom in that. Want to wear every piece of clothing you own on a muggy summer day? Go for it. Want to sing gospel on the corner? Some may scoff and tell you to shut up, but others may dance. You be you! I didn’t even know I was craving that freedom until my parents drove off and I realized I didn’t know a soul for miles in any direction. Not one. It was glorious. No one to say, “I’ve known you since you were 8 years o...

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“There’s no place like home” by Darcy Bleachwood

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city.... I don’t exist here.They say the city never sleeps, that’s true. 1000’s of people brush pass me everyday but not a single one of them see me. I feel like I’m suffocating. Drowning in a pit of concrete rubble and lost souls. The tall over hanging buildings intimidate me especially when they look down on me. Who am I but a lonely countryside girl. Its my first day living here in New York City. Never ever did i imagine leaving the country but my career dragged me here. I had to be closer so I upped an...

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“That’s the thing about this city” by Ximena Gomez

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city, you never know when it’s going to happen. It’s annoying to know something’s going to happen to you but you never know when. My dad says, for him, it was when he was 18 and my neighbour, when he was 17. It all depends on how strong your self control is but no one has ever resisted yet. I’m 13 years old and I live in Laval, Canada, small city in my opinion. Nothing big has ever happened here before, just the usual, sometimes teens want attention but the police takes that down real quick. My f...

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“Benny's City” by Greg Pierce

Submitted to Contest #85

Benny’s City That’s the thing about this city, Dixon Creek runs thru the poorest neighborhoods. The city owns the land on both sides of the creek, about a hundred yards on each side, until the creek empties its filth into the Pearl River. Old growth trees and thickets surround the creek which twists and turns as it slithers toward the fast-running river. Bike trails, human trails, secret places abound among the thickets and trees. Murders are committed, rapes perpetrated, deals made, and crimes planned along its banks and among the trees. T...

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“Meta Man” by Harrison Cook

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city, normal people don’t survive for long. I don’t remember when I first noticed it, but it must have been sometime around the third or fourth world-ending clash between good and evil. I had been living in Super City for 5 years at that point and was starting to feel it. It turns out that superheroes and supervillains make it way harder to do normal people things like be alive and live and not die. If you are an average person there’s a higher chance you’ll die walking to work than if you’re a hero fighting...

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“Blessing” by Andrea Kepple

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city, business is transacted, neighbors greet one another, the little tasks of each zidan are completed within all-encompassing safety, protected from the army encamped outside the city walls. On that zidan when the Kingdom of Hexeoral, commanded by King Bertramus the Confident, invaded our lands, citizens flooded through the city gates looking for refuge, safety, an oasis of peace, away from the violence and death breaching the border, flooding our land. The protective spell was cast and fully realized, e...

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“Imagination ” by Ryan Johnson

Submitted to Contest #85

“That’s the thing about this city…” Is the words that always ends with a surprising and sometimes violent outcome. Sometimes I even have a very nice outcome too. Why do I always end with that line of dialogue? Hell if I know. That’s not even the only one. Now that I think about it, it’s not even the best one I guess. however, I always felt like it was a good end before that final end kiss, or heroic sacrifice. Two weeks ago I said that line then added “it always keeps you on your toes.” Then I swirled the redhead I just saved from ...

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“The New Neighbor” by Kimberly Hallman

Submitted to Contest #85

“That’s the thing about this city – we take all kinds.” The older man said it with an earnest smile and a tip of his wide-brimmed hat, and I believed him. “I’ve heard that about this place,” I said as I pulled another box out of the rented moving van. “The real estate agent made it sound like a reason to avoid this city, but in my experience, acceptance is usually a good thing.” “I agree, son,” the older man sai...

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“Here There Be...(well, you know)” by Susan D Onem

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city-- dragon turds. Dragon turds are EVERYWHERE. I swear, does no one believe in picking up after their pet anymore? I mean yeah, you might need a drum-liner-sized garbage-bag. You’re the one who bought the extra large dragon, though, aren’t you? Not to mention feeding your extra-large dragon all that junk food. Sheep, cattle, door-to-door serfs, the list goes on, doesn't it? If you'd stuck to healthy servings of dragon kibble, Poopsie wouldn't have tummy issues! You should've taken that into con...

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“The world We Live In” by Parody Loving

Submitted to Contest #85

That's the thing about this city is this week's writing assignment prompt. Today is March 15, 2021, and I moved to Atlanta Georgia at least two weeks ago. Since I've barely lived in Georgia I had no clue how to answer the question. The day went on and my mind was too focused on what my answer would be. I had to present to a class through a zoom class filled with 10th graders and that was already one thing I was worried about. Would I go silent, would I just take a zero, or would I really try to think of a well-thought-out answer? My brain wa...

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“That's this City” by Judith Macha

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city, it’s not called a city by the inhabitants, they call it a village. But it’s still a city, you can’t call a place with more than a hundred thousand inhabitants a village or even a town. But a village sounds better, it gives them a sense of brotherhood, and self-reliance. This is a city that runs for twenty four seven and never stops. Everybody has a designated job, and responsibility. There are actors, artists, writers, musicians, engineers, architects, farmers, doctors, administrators, teachers and a le...

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“Hello Future” by Maddi G

Submitted to Contest #85

Warning: mild LGBTQ+ and mild cursing That’s the thing about this city, it's always alive. Every bit of it. I rush into the graffitied tunnel, going along the walkway apart from the cars. This tunnel has so much personality. And I will stick with it even though I'm not alive because of it. Because opportunities are limited here. It's alive from the nature just at the edge of the city stretching to the mountains, one with a star on top. To the city which Even in the county, where everything seems to be I love this city. I grew ...

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“The Town That Never Lets Go” by Maya Mcalester

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city. No one ever came here by choice. For my father, it was an escape. With cops and lawmen on his tail, he needed a place to hide, to start fresh. And my mother, she had been born here. Like most, she resented it. But she never left. That was the other thing about this city. Once you stepped foot across the boundary, once you passed the faded ‘welcome’ sign decaying on the road side, once you realized just what you’d walked into, it was too late. That was the unspoken rule: never leave. The few who tried had all...

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“Our city is just the way we like it...” by Flora Bell

Submitted to Contest #85

"That's the thing about this city," the man smiled, carefully lowering the shield from above his head. "You don't know what's going to happen next.""That is quite true," the woman at his side said, shaking her leg and making slimy green goo fly everywhere. "Last week it was dragons, the week before that, zombies determined to be Starbucks barista's.""And last month we had a song pandemic!" The man continued. "Caused everyone to sing when they spoke and speak when they sang; it was rather hilarious if I had to admit!""You have to be on your t...

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“Phantomscape” by Amber Zhao

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city…some believe it’s haunted.There are the urban legends that every tough street-smart teen hears, about petrifying phantoms that only weave spells of darkness and enchantment in the inky blackness of night-glimpsed from top-floor casement windows.Here are students who blanch, with faces like undercooked pudding, whenever ghosts are even mentioned, coupled with the name of this mysterious city- Everfall. Some can sense the suspenseful chill in the air and the sense of a supernatural stalker, watching, waiting, a...

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Start your story with the line, “That’s the thing about this city…”

Submissions are closed

✍️ 283 stories

“The $20 Poster” by Julia FitzGerald

“There’s no place like home” by Darcy Bleachwood

“That’s the thing about this city” by Ximena Gomez

“Benny's City” by Greg Pierce

“Meta Man” by Harrison Cook

“Blessing” by Andrea Kepple

“Imagination ” by Ryan Johnson

“The New Neighbor” by Kimberly Hallman

“Here There Be...(well, you know)” by Susan D Onem

“The world We Live In” by Parody Loving

“That's this City” by Judith Macha

“Hello Future” by Maddi G

“The Town That Never Lets Go” by Maya Mcalester

“Our city is just the way we like it...” by Flora Bell

“Phantomscape” by Amber Zhao

🌟 Similar prompts

Set your story in a major city that your character has a love-hate relationship with.

Write a story that takes place in the same building but in two very different time periods.

Write about someone fighting to change their city neighborhood for the better.

Write about someone fighting to keep their city neighborhood the same.

Contest #85

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

671

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: