Make your protagonist go through a rite of passage.

Posted in Character on Jun 30, 2023

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✍️ 54 stories

“The Celestials of Turing” by Dhruv Srivastava

Submitted to Contest #205

Small towns like Turing are littered across the United States. Well, not exactly like Turing. There are any number of towns with a low populations and with just one set of shops in the town square, none of them having another branch. Many towns had just one elementary school which was also the middle school and high school. However, even though perhaps ten thousand such towns existed in quiet innocence around the continental US, there were none exactly like Turing. There were none that did things quite like they did. This little speech was e...

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“Evermore” by Ava Black

Submitted to Contest #205

Sensitive Content Warning: Abuse; Suicide; Mental Health EVERMORE April 4th, 2030 I wish I could tell Mom and Dad the truth, but it would kill them. The truth is so stupid, too! I hate painting! There! I said it. Especially with Mom. Today, I picked purple instead of red for the flowers I drew. This made Mom cry because Cassy’s favorite color was red. Mom cried so much Dad had to put her to bed. Cassy’s birthday is soon; last year, it stressed out Mom so much that she was hospitalized. Her birthday is the same day as mine because, l...

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“Huntress” by Emily Marcus

Submitted to Contest #205

Every scent is an omen. We read the air and the trees, asking nature to pull us forward or send us home. The sun, finally sunk, inks out her last exuberant display on the dusted sky (one day I hope to be the type of person whose presence is still felt after she leaves a room). The bike path is nearly empty by the time we meet, our laden backpacks speaking mid-Autumn myths of two middle-school girls heading off to finish school projects and study sessions to the few passersby. When we return, empty-handed, it will be too dark to notice us, an...

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“Metamorphosis” by Gillian Story

Submitted to Contest #205

"You have to." "But I don't want to." The chant starts up again. You're a baby scaredy cat. You're a baby scaredy cat. "I am NOT a baby scaredy cat!" "Are too." "Am not." "Then why won't you do it?" Choruses of yeahs follow like a pack of hyenas. "Because." "Cause what." "Because…” Draw it out long, turn the word into 5 syllables rolling around your tongue. "Because my mom said I had to be home." "Liar, you don't even know what time it is." "Do too. My mom said to be home in 30 minutes." "Liar. Baby scaredy cat." The ...

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“Prom” by Ashley Sawh

Submitted to Contest #205

Slight language usage. “Come on, Ari.” Kai said. “You can’t just not come to prom.” “Watch me.” I shut the door behind me and walked down the stairs to one of the science wings. I heard him open the door again and go after me. “Just leave me alone.” “Ariana, c’mon.” He ran in front of me. “You can’t just not go to senior prom.” “I don’t want to go.” “Too bad, you’re going-” “I don’t even have a dress.” I interrupted him. “Therefore, I’m not going.” Kai smiled and walked off, which meant that he either had an idea or he just wanted t...

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“Manhood” by JJM Gudde

Submitted to Contest #205

I was fourteen years old when I first went to a brothel. The name of the place is still etched in my memory: The Crowing Cock. I vividly recall the growing anxiety that consumed me as we drove to the place at two in the morning after a party. I wasn’t anxious because I was underage. It also had nothing to do with our drunkenness, or with the fact that I was still a virgin. It was something else. There were four people in the car that night, all older than me. My cousin Mike was nineteen, while Pedro and Doug were eighteen. They had exp...

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“Peregrine White - Part 2 ‘Rite of Passage’” by Amanda Rantanen

Submitted to Contest #205

[The story is based on real people and true historical events. The narrative is fiction.] Susanna and her five year old son, Resolved, stood on the deck of the Mayflower as they watched her husband, William, and several of the other men row to shore in the schloop. The men were going to the mainland to decide where to build houses. It was a chilly November day in the harbor at Cape Cod. Susanna wrapped the shawl around herself and it barely covered her protruding belly. She felt a hard kick that took her breath away and felt as though it ...

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“Foretold” by Echo Anon

Submitted to Contest #205

“…and the first will bring the Light, and the second the Strength. Then Darkness will fall upon the crest of day and there will be a third and she will be the Foretold.”He spoke her name in whispers even inside his head, in the night which was her namesake. He heard it in the rolling waves of the sea beyond his window as if she murmured it to him across the water.I’m here.Don’t forget me.How could he? She came to him in dreams, in quiet moments. He felt her in the power which thrummed between his palms. They said it was she who held him back...

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“Neck Bones & Chicken Blood” by Denese Wright

Submitted to Contest #205

The following is an excerpt from the upcoming novel ‘Illegally Legal’. Based on true events, it follows Rachel Brown’s journey. The setting is on a farm in a thriving rural township on the island of Jamaica. Rachel is of a middle class family, and they have fallen on hard times watching their patriarch suffer in physical and mental decline. Desperate to find a breakthrough in medicine to reverse the symptoms of his disease or even cure it, Rachel’s mother is introduced to a presumably wealthy businessman from the United States. He promises t...

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“Beyond the Fence” by Faiz Khwaja

Submitted to Contest #205

The tent is sometimes there and sometimes it is not. Its presence is a sure sign that a boy of 18 is about to have his Revelation. Always, it appears in the same spot. I used to frequent it as a boy, sitting on a nearby hill and watching as a boy disappeared inside. I’d wait there for hours to see him come out. Every time I was left waiting, and when the sun set I returned home wondering. It’s been years since then, but today I retrace my faded footsteps.When I left my village, the sun was beginning to rise, with birds chirping their pleasan...

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“Lucy's Birthday” by Alexandra Rose

Submitted to Contest #205

Lucy had never seen so many types of birds in one morning; at least not in the backyard garden, where she spent the beginning of each day observing the animals. She counted them one by one, skillfully identifying each bird as it pecked at the sunflower seeds she had scattered across the ground. A colorful array of goldfinches, orioles and bluebirds fluttered among the groups of red-breasted robins and black-capped chickadees. A bright red cardinal kept watch in the brush above the commotion, its crest of top-feathers rustling in the gentle b...

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“The Wolf of the North” by Gabriel Garcia

Submitted to Contest #205

In the medieval age, the Vikings were known by their enemies as ruthless raiders who pillaged and plundered all along the Franisk and Anglo-Saxon coasts. They were unrelenting in their conquests, with some establishing realms. Yet as time changed, the Viking way of life changed too. They became more like their neighbors, the ones they raided years ago. They became traders, forgo their pagan rituals, and put aside the berserkers they once were. However, only some people remembered. To the south, the Byzantine rulers heard stories from merchan...

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“Liturgy Of Nobility” by Zach Buschman

Submitted to Contest #205

Warning: Scenes pertaining to abusive power dynamics with sexually suggestive themes are present.There Will Be Blood is the title of a movie but only I know that. The man who spoke it to me in the graveyard last night does not because he doesn’t watch movies. None of them do. Preceding this dire warning forecast an address whispered to me was found to be nonexistent.Up until now the addresses or coordinates for the next meet up spot were the last words spoken to me and acted as an adjournment of the meeting. But this last time the man had tu...

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“Those Were the Daze” by Sherry Bazley

Submitted to Contest #205

Possible triggers: military, religion, swearingOf Cats and Mackerel-SnappersWell, it’s Friday. It’s Lent. We eat fish for dinner on Fridays during Lent. And right now, it’s dinnertime.We are sitting at the table. As per usual, I am sitting on Dad’s right, the Place of Honor. “What’s for dinner, Dee?” says Dad, sniffing the air.“Fish, honey,” says Mom.“Uh. Great,” says Dad, sounding disappointed. Fish is definitely not Dad’s favorite. “Pass your plate, Cher,” says Dad. I pass him my plate. He ...

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“A Journey in Brotherhood” by Isaac Leath

Submitted to Contest #205

Leaning back against the damp tombstone, Steven knew he had made a terrible mistake. It was getting late, too late to change his mind now. The full moon shown bright enough to light the entire cemetery. Dark shadows lined the perimeter and cloaked whatever was hiding in the trees. Tombstones of all shapes and sizes cast long shadows carving out black holes in the white light.Steven leaned his head back against the stone and felt the cool dew soak into his hair. It didn’t matter much; he was already sweating from most of his pores anyway. Joh...

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Make your protagonist go through a rite of passage.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 54 stories

“The Celestials of Turing” by Dhruv Srivastava

“Evermore” by Ava Black

“Huntress” by Emily Marcus

“Metamorphosis” by Gillian Story

“Prom” by Ashley Sawh

“Manhood” by JJM Gudde

“Peregrine White - Part 2 ‘Rite of Passage’” by Amanda Rantanen

“Foretold” by Echo Anon

“Neck Bones & Chicken Blood” by Denese Wright

“Beyond the Fence” by Faiz Khwaja

“Lucy's Birthday” by Alexandra Rose

“The Wolf of the North” by Gabriel Garcia

“Liturgy Of Nobility” by Zach Buschman

“Those Were the Daze” by Sherry Bazley

“A Journey in Brotherhood” by Isaac Leath

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story during a full moon night.

Write about a character who develops a special ritual to cope with something.

Make a character perform a ceremony to set something or someone free.

Write about a character who breaks free from a tradition to create a new one.

Contest #205

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

307

Contest entries

130

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: