Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog

Menu

✕
CONNECT
Editing Design Marketing Publicity Ghostwriting Websites
BLOG
Success Stories
APPS
TOOLS
Book Promotion Sites Book Review Blogs Booktube Channel Guide Book Title Generator Character Name Generator Independent Publishers Literary Agents Literary Magazines Pen Name Generator Plot Generator Publishers Directory Short Story Ideas Writing Contests Writing Exercises Writing Scholarships
ABOUT
About Reedsy Terms Privacy

CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a story about a character who acts like they ‘don’t have feelings’ — except they’re just putting up a facade.

Posted in Character on Nov 11, 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.

Sign in with Google
Sign in with Facebook

Or create a new Reedsy account:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 46 stories

“Simon Says” by Kevin Marlow

The alarm on his iPhone grates and pulses. Simon folds the pillow around his head. The dull ache emanating from where his skull is fused to his spine causes him to fumble for the water bottle on the nightstand. The cell phone is across the room plugged in on the dresser, its intermittent wailing, grinds up the sloshy thoughts in his brain. Sitting up, Simon gulps the water into his dry stinking gullet. Dribblets trickle ...

21 comments 21
Read story

“Resting She-Devil Face ” by Liv Chocolate

Thank heavens you’ve brushed away that nauseating carpet of dust from my face. I can finally breathe again! The only thing separating us now is the thin sheet of picture-frame glass between your gaze and my photograph. Of course, time also stands between us. An entire one-hundred-forty-eight years since my photo was taken—a stretch long enough for fashion, language, and customs to have evolved beyond my recognition. What little I understand of this modern world comes from the conversations I’ve overheard; the little bits and pieces I’ve g...

22 comments 22 SHORTLIST ⭐️
Read story

“The Crafting of Fadhilla - a LitRPG Story” by Scott Christenson

Name: Fadhilla MoshiTime Remaining: 6 minutesA graduate of World Altruism’s Vision program, Fadhilla Moshi, sat in a computer center in Tanzania’s central city of Dar Es Salaam and had only 6 minutes left to live, but she found time for her father.His sad voice came over the line, “I hope they let you return home, someday.”“Probably not anytime soon, Papa. We Chagga are too good at this, and after all, you are the one that sent me here, weren’t ...

17 comments 17
Read story

“Recall” by Sjan Evardsson

Trey’s breakfast was ready a few seconds after seven-thirty; efficiency down 0.002 percent. I made a note of it in my logs and continued to my next task.“Good morning, sir,” I said. “Breakfast is served. I will prepare a warm towel for your shower.”“Schedule?” he asked.“Meeting, nine-thirty to eleven with the board. Lunch date at twelve with Leo.” It was all I could do not to spit out the name. I couldn’t stand the man. “Nothing scheduled after. Will you be returning home early this evening?”“Home at six. I wan...

17 comments 17
Read story

“The Substance of Things Hoped For” by Delbert Griffith

Jolik Corona had seven kills under his belt before he turned fourteen. By the time he was thirty, he had reached triple digits in this area and was a legend on the Temporal Anomaly Force. Still, ninety-seven percent of the population died quietly. Despite their best efforts, the TAF hadn’t found a way to go back in time to stop the scourge of the NCC-1701 virus. No one could find the exact origin of the virus, fo...

28 comments 28
Read story

“A FULL LIFE” by Eileen Turner

A FULL LIFE            Dr. Samuel swished the dividing curtain closed as he left. Nolla straightened the sheets and folded the frail hands over the ribcage. She reached in the bedside table for a comb and tried to arrange the hair. Nolla tidied the bedside area and made the woman’s remains as presentable as possible; it had been a long battle and Mrs. Grant’...

6 comments 6
Read story

“THE BALLOON BOY” by Susan Catucci

Jasper Engstrom frowned as he placed his phone back in the charging station. He crossed the living room to the large front picture window and gazed out at the private road that ran in front of their house. It was a beautiful Autumn day. The trees were in peak form, alive with vibrant splashes of orange, red and yellow. The leaves hadn’t begun to actually fall, so the brilliant green of the well-tended Engstrom lawn completed the perfectly seasonal setting.  Jasper was looking but he wasn’t seeing what was in ...

8 comments 8
Read story

“My Acacia ” by Jennifer Cameron

Mentions of domestic abuse, emotional manipulation, self-harm and suicide references, mental health issues and mild swearing. No one sees the wolf but me; cobalt grey fur and piercing eyes, one blue and one green. She’s gorgeous so it seems fitting that her name is Acacia meaning ‘queen of the wolves.’ Red pearls bubbled up through the tears in my skin, melting and merging into one another to create a cri...

6 comments 6
Read story

“As if I care.” by Tammie Williams

Hmphhh. That was my attitude towards all of them. They didn't care about me, so why should I care about them? Most people see me as a happy go lucky kinda girl. Always the one planning the outings, the one who is the life of the party. If I had a dime for every time someone mentioned how strong I was, and how it seemed I just take everything in stride I might be able to afford the counselor I so desperately...

3 comments 3
Read story

“INNER BEAUTY” by BRUCE MARTIN

John Stenheimer wanted to kill someone. And not just anyone. He wanted to kill a Black man or a Jew. Either one would do; it didn’t really matter. As the leader of a local neo-Nazi group in a Southern state, he had to set a certain example for his followers. He had just earlier given a powerful, riveting speech to his acolytes, leading them in the chant, “Blood and soil! Blood and soil! Jews and Negros w...

8 comments 8
Read story

“Green tea” by Marija Rozman

It is 6:00 am, no one is at work for another hour, except for me and a few others who were sent here to serve. I go to the room where morning meetings occur and I start my cleaning immediately, I sterilize the surfaces, vacuum, put new flowers, I even start on the morning coffee. Here at firm, everyone has their own preferences and it is quite complicated: black coffee, coffee with sugar and milk, cinnamon, pumpkin spice, the list goes on. However, there is one cup of green tea I serve every morning and it is for her...

2 comments 2
Read story

“Crying Count” by Marie Riley

“Maria Lobell, it’s your turn,” a tall woman announced from the doorway. My hands gripped tighter to the satchel I was carrying. It’s now or never, I thought. I had been out of work for months, barely scraping by in dad's basement.  The smiling lady held the door open as I stepped into the carpeted room. Three cries, that's it. No wonder this woman has such a high position here; she is...

4 comments 4
Read story

“the effigy” by Aza P

I'm a rock. At least that's what I tell myself in my head. Over and over. Sometimes I like to believe it’s the truth. I’m a rock. Not “I feel like a rock” or “I’m like a rock.” Just “I am a rock”. A creature carved from hardened magma, trapped indefinitely in a moment that will never exist again. I am made of stone and nothing can hurt me.  I am heartless. Capable of vapid ...

3 comments 3
Read story

“You know it to be true” by Nikki Potgieter

Sometimes I feel like a foreigner in my own mind, or like my mind is the foreing place in and of itself. I often feel lost. Everyone else instinctively knows what is expected of them, how to feel and how to react. It’s as if they have a knack for life that some of us will never master. Do you know how often I find myself apologising for something, not knowing what exactly I’m apologising...

2 comments 2
Read story

“The Witches Contract” by Laura Ethington

Her wicked eyes brimmed with angry tears as she put the final nail into the door, sealing it shut. The entrance of her home. Or at least what she called home for the last blissful two years. She was tired of running. Tired of creating another version of herself. Or at least a version of herself she wouldn't be able to touch for two hundred years or so. She usually had fifteen to twenty before people started staring at ...

0 comments 0
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Set your story in a world devoid of logic, where feelings govern all decision-making.

Angst – 23 stories

Write about a character who must confess their true feelings by midnight, or risk losing it all.

Romance – 37 stories

Write about a character reminiscing over something they should have said, and how their life would be completely different had they said it.

Sad – 69 stories

Set your story in an unfiltered world, where people are always honest about how they feel.

Dystopian – 24 stories

Contest #172

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: Feel the Feels

$250

Prize money

199

Contest entries

96

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Nov 18, 2022 EST

Won by Lisa Lange 🏆

Title: Apples and Trees

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!

Tired of MS Word?

Join the revolution and write your book in a tool designed for authors. 🙌

Includes FREE typesetting to print-ready PDF & EPUB files, track changes and collaborative editing.

Explore more writing prompt ideas:

Adults Writing Prompts ⭢

Adventure Writing Prompts ⭢

Angst Writing Prompts ⭢

Character Writing Prompts ⭢

Christmas Writing Prompts ⭢

Dark Writing Prompts ⭢

Dialogue Writing Prompts ⭢

Dramatic Writing Prompts ⭢

Dystopian Writing Prompts ⭢

Fall Writing Prompts ⭢

Fantasy Writing Prompts ⭢

Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Fluff Writing Prompts ⭢

Funny Writing Prompts ⭢

Halloween Writing Prompts ⭢

High School Writing Prompts ⭢

Historical Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Holiday Writing Prompts ⭢

Horror Writing Prompts ⭢

Kids Writing Prompts ⭢

Middle School Writing Prompts ⭢

Mystery Writing Prompts ⭢

Narrative Writing Prompts ⭢

Nonfiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Novel Writing Prompts ⭢

Poetry Writing Prompts ⭢

Romance Writing Prompts ⭢

Sad Writing Prompts ⭢

Science Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Short Story Writing Prompts ⭢

Spring Writing Prompts ⭢

Summer Writing Prompts ⭢

Teens Writing Prompts ⭢

Thanksgiving Writing Prompts ⭢

Thriller and Suspense Writing Prompts ⭢

Valentine's Day Writing Prompts ⭢

Vampire Writing Prompts ⭢

Winter Writing Prompts ⭢