Write about a character who gets good and bad news in quick succession — not necessarily in that order.

Posted in Angst on Oct 31, 2022

Submissions are closed

Sorry, we are not accepting submissions for this prompt as it is not part of an active contest. Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy Prompts account.

Or create a new Reedsy account:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 46 stories

“The Urgent Escape” by Madeline Honig

Submitted to Contest #155

Jay enters the apartment in a hough. He slams the door behind him, locks the dead bolt and secures the chain. He moves immediately to the blinds and separates them so that he could peer through. “Did you talk to him?” Vanessa curled up comfortably on the couch, suddenly her attention away from The Real Housewives on the tv. Her Lululemon loungewear hugs her small body and her body hugs her tiny chihuahua, Mr. Snuggles. Jay got a whiff of a mix of skunk, Vanessa’s Victoria Secret perfume, and stale beer. He r...

0 comments 0

Read story

“First, The Good News” by Gary Wells

Submitted to Contest #155

Peter Dillon sat in the parlor of the swank offices of Blum, Rottenkirk and Slacke. He was anxiously jostling his knees up and down. He felt underdressed, even though he had put together one of the best outfits he owned – a tan suede jacket with dark brown elbow patches, a clean blue-and-brown plaid shirt, a pair of relaxed-fit jeans he had purchased a few days ago. His brown loafers were kind of old, but not ratty or anything.He wished that he had shaved. The young women he met at bars and social functions tended to like his scruffy appeara...

0 comments 0

Read story

“The Gift That Keeps On Giving” by Susan Dalziel

Submitted to Contest #155

Carly was thirteen years old when her grandfather told her that he would be gone before the next winter's snow; this would be their last summer together. Then he told her about what she had already inherited; her gifts. And how they were going to spend their last summer together practicing, developing, understanding these gifts. There was much to do he said and she had to be brave and listen and concentrate. There, in her grandfather's cabin, where she had spent so many of her happiest summers, she had felt the first piercing ...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Bad Luck Barb” by Jenny Blur

Submitted to Contest #155

Bad Luck Barb just won big. The phone call came in notifying her at 12:01 p.m. as she was getting ready to go to lunch. She could hardly believe it. “Yes, I’m sure,” said the woman on the line from the North Valley Hospital Association. “$100,000, you are the grand prize winner of the hospital raffle this year Barb.” Barb hung up the phone, gripped the winning ticket stub between her thumb and forefinger, then stood up and peered over the top of her cubicle across the expanse of empty cubicles at Orin Insurance Company. Good. Eve...

0 comments 0

Read story

“A Dangerous Punishment” by Marie White

Submitted to Contest #155

She pulled down the sleeve of her sweater to cover bruises she didn’t want the principal to see. The plush leather chair at the desk before her—a gleaming cherry block holding a stack of leather-bound books about bullying, a glass lily-shaped paperweight, a Newton’s cradle, and a gold nameplate that said, “Winona Smitherman, Principal,” as if anyone who ended up here wouldn’t know her position—bore down upon her like a funnel cloud. Despite the cushions beneath its burgundy burlap upholstery, the chair on which she sat felt as if made of gra...

2 comments 2

Read story

“The Notes we Passed” by J.P. Lorenz

Submitted to Contest #155

September 2008 - Senior Year Hey, Why did they choose this year to NOT assign parking spots? Funny how you always manage to grab the one next to me. This year will be so much fun, I can’t wait. See you, Megan Oh hi, I know, school starts too early as it is. Do you sleep? Chase and I think that you and Nicole sleep in the parking lot, it looks like you’re already working on homework by the time we get here at 6:45. I don’t see why this year should be any different than the rest. How are your college applications looking? Anthony Anthony...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Last Flight” by Janet Change Balda

Submitted to Contest #155

Content warning: mental health; substance abuse; physical violence, gore, abuse; suicide, self harm. Maria was having a nice, quiet morning when she heard the car in the driveway. She had been enjoying the way the early sunlight filtered in through the eyelet lace curtains. Even upstairs, she always kept the windows covered so that no one could see in. She put down her cup of tea and opened a sliver in the curtains to look below. There was a black car, and two men were getting out of it. They wore dark uniforms with bright pins on the coll...

0 comments 0

Read story

“189 Downing Street, Little Windsor, Sutton.” by Ann Walker

Submitted to Contest #155

This story contains sensitive content including mild language, violence, and abuse. July 18, 1814Dearest Domonique, Being my most trusted and longest-lasting friend, I thought it necessary to document the events of the happenings here at the estate of Bancroft. Let not cloudiness or muddle headedness interfere with the truth of such events. I would find it unarguable that the “good news” is the easiest to divulge, given most circumstances. The good news, in short, is I am finally free of the wretched company of the Duke of Dradevow, Sir...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Shark Bait” by Danielle Jumper

Submitted to Contest #155

I reached down to grab the man’s hand to pull him out of the boat wreckage. Shark fins occasionally sliced through water ripples just beyond where the man had been floating on wooden debris. I pulled him into my boat. His skin was blistered and oozing. He’d been languishing in the sun without cover for quite some time, I guessed. “Those sharks near the surface usually don’t attack,” I assured him. “Now the ones circling below you, well, those are ambush predators, and they sure looked like they were getting bolder, judging from your toes...

2 comments 2

Read story

“selective hearing ” by Violetta Salabay

Submitted to Contest #155

My grandfather , or as I like to call him Paps , was one of a kind . He had big floppy ears that stuck out and ceased to work , every year they grew bigger and bigger .Paps also had too much pride to wear hearing aids , he noted that he didn't like how he looked with them and they made him hear weird stuff . He had humongous bushy eyebrows ,each of which he could raise up and down and he always had that one long brow hair sticking out of place . Paps had grey eyes that turned light blue in the sunlight , and a clean shaven beard....

2 comments 2

Read story

“The Journeys West” by A.T. Westbrook

Submitted to Contest #155

Once in my travels, I came across a great walled city, a place of shelter and safety in an otherwise harsh desert. I entered through what I came to know as the West Gate and walked the stone-laid streets. I had spent weeks crossing the sands, surviving well enough on the supplies I carried with me, but both my horse and I welcomed the refuge. Away from the wind and under shade from the sun, I saw the people of the city presented in all manner of appearance and speech; no one characteristic seemed to unify them. Some wore little more than t...

0 comments 0

Read story

“The Battle for Rosewood” by Michael Jefferson

Submitted to Contest #155

The good news for Hector Bestwick was he was in line to inherit Rosewood. The sad news was his father would have to die for him to get it. Rosewood was his grandparent’s cozy two-story colonial home, so called because of the prodigious rose bushes that grew on both sides of the house. His grandfather, Priam (known as Billy), had planted the rose bushes. A former shipyard welder, Billy was a little under five and a half feet tall, but he was James Cagney tough - quiet, and hard, with a talent for keeping his emotions in check. Matti...

1 comment 1

Read story

“Highs and Lows ” by ER Castaneda

Submitted to Contest #155

Trigger warning: alcoholism; eating disorders In the brief period of time she could stand, she looked in the mirror at herself, naked and shivering, taking in her protruding collarbone, her thin thighs that could no longer support her standing body for more than 60 seconds, her concave stomach, her eerily defined ribs, grayish and yet still red and splotchy, angular face, her skeleton-like arms. No longer would she have to use seat belt extenders or bear the stares of those who looked at her in disgust when she waddled through the groce...

1 comment 1

Read story

“Two goodbye's” by Matilda Sundqvist

Submitted to Contest #155

2013"Mom, please don't leave me"Clara looked into her mothers ocean blue eyes which were shining in the sun. Her mother was the most beautiful person Clara knew. They had the same big, blue eyes and brown, shiny hair, but Clara still thought that her mother were way more beautiful than she was. They had gotten a lot of comments about how similar they looked, but Clara didn't really see it."I don't want to start at this new school" Clara said with a voice that sounded both sad and scared at the same time to her mother."Clara, please give this...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Delayed” by Madeleine Cary

Submitted to Contest #155

Selena Myers knew that today was going to be a nightmare as soon as she got out of bed. Truth be told, she hated traveling because of stuff like this, and today only added fuel to the fire. First, she burned the ever-loving sweet Jesus out of the blueberry muffin she’d been saving, next the Uber was late, and now the train was, well, somewhere in maintenance limbo. It was supposed to only take 30 minutes, give or take, to get from Boston’s South Station to Providence, Rhode Island. Now, thanks to the traffic and train gods, it was going to t...

1 comment 1

Read story

Load more stories

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with a character facing a situation that isn't awful, but isn't great.

Middle School – 34 stories

Write a story that includes a character using the phrase “swings and roundabouts.”

Thanksgiving – 37 stories

Write about a character who is pathologically ambivalent, until something shakes them up.

Narrative – 33 stories

Set your story in a kids’ playground, or at a roundabout.

Kids – 44 stories

Contest #155

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: Swings and Roundabouts

$250

Prize money

194

Contest entries

78

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jul 22, 2022 EST

Won by Lonnie Russo 🏆

Title: Someone Has Died

View details

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

We'll send you 5 prompts each week. Respond with your short story and you could win $250!

Menu

CONNECT

BLOG

APPS

TOOLS

ABOUT

Write about a character who gets good and bad news in quick succession — not necessarily in that order.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 46 stories

“The Urgent Escape” by Madeline Honig

“First, The Good News” by Gary Wells

“The Gift That Keeps On Giving” by Susan Dalziel

“Bad Luck Barb” by Jenny Blur

“A Dangerous Punishment” by Marie White

“The Notes we Passed” by J.P. Lorenz

“Last Flight” by Janet Change Balda

“189 Downing Street, Little Windsor, Sutton.” by Ann Walker

“Shark Bait” by Danielle Jumper

“selective hearing ” by Violetta Salabay

“The Journeys West” by A.T. Westbrook

“The Battle for Rosewood” by Michael Jefferson

“Highs and Lows ” by ER Castaneda

“Two goodbye's” by Matilda Sundqvist

“Delayed” by Madeleine Cary

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with a character facing a situation that isn't awful, but isn't great.

Write a story that includes a character using the phrase “swings and roundabouts.”

Write about a character who is pathologically ambivalent, until something shakes them up.

Set your story in a kids’ playground, or at a roundabout.

Contest #155

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

194

Contest entries

78

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: