Write a story about a character who tries to control their life down to the most minute detail — but has to learn to let go.

Posted in Character on Nov 8, 2022

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✍️ 25 stories

“Crack of Dawn” by Paula Feldman

Submitted to Contest #170

I have everything I ever wanted, so why am I not happy? I have a gorgeous wife with bleached blond hair and a hot body, two boys who I can dress however I want. I even dye their hair to match their mother’s. We are the perfect family! Everyone sees us on social media and envies us. You see, I know how to have fun! It’s simple, you make a big deal out of everything possible! Trips, cruises, Disneyworld. Parties for every occasion. Live for the moment, they say! Work hard, play hard. I met my wife Pam in high school and we ha...

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“Written” by Sky C

Submitted to Contest #170

If you love someone, let them go. My life is in pages—planners, books, graphs, charts. Paper reminds me of the world right before a storm, quiet and heavy with impending chaos, like knowing what will happen before you turn the page. The delineating lines in my planner are a comfort, a reminder that I have a tomorrow, and a next week, and a next month. Every page is nearly the same, every day in existence because I made it so. I can’t die on Wednesday if I have to fold the laundry, right? Curves are somehow less formulaic than the lines of my...

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“Jimmy Learns to Let Go” by Dave West

Submitted to Contest #170

“Hey, you guys, how about we go for a hike up in the Tararua Range”, Jimmy says while he and his younger brother Trevor and their friend DeeMac are cleaning up after an afternoon exploring the local hills, a mixture of plantation pine trees and some regenerating native forest. “Yeah, that’s a good idea,” says DeeMac. “But it’s tough country up there, my dad says. He won’t take me up there on his hunting trips. He says I need to be older and stronger, and I should go on properly organised club trips first.” “I think I’d agree with that,...

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“Cybil Sets the Scene” by Eleanor Cosmos

Submitted to Contest #170

She’d gotten good enough at it after so many years. The writing was getting tighter, her voice finally distinct, the allegory true to life. Each Friday evening, she sat at her Olympia, the typebars slapping the page as her fingertips punched the keys. Her Persian cat, Smitten, stretched her white paws upon being woken following a particularly violent smack of the parchment. The cat’s blue stare bore into Cybil with the unflappable criticism of a creature not finding much sense in any activity other than steadfast rest. The record player in t...

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“If you love something...” by Simone Moores

Submitted to Contest #170

The figure was just visible through the darkness. Josie watched, breath bated, as it moved slowly, meticulously, through the garden and towards the house. She perched on the kitchen side in the pitch black, eyes wide, like a cat guarding the house. Any light would only make her a target. What did it want? They didn’t have much worth taking, though there was plenty of Paul’s stuff she wouldn’t mind being stolen… But didn’t burglars normally work in groups? Yes, she was sure this figure was after something far worse. Her heartbeat increased. S...

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“Two for One” by B Easton

Submitted to Contest #170

“Two please.” I handed the clerk my money, and with a confused stare, he retrieved my tickets. “You know the train is about to leave. Whoever you’re waiting for better get here soon.” “Let me worry about that.” Every day I’d gotten different responses, but my answer was always the same. Walking past the clerk, I handed my tickets...

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“The Forbidder” by Marie White

Submitted to Contest #170

Twenty-four hours, on the dot, after he’d last seen his daughter, he entered the office of Detective Aaron Grant. He fell rather than lowered himself into one of the burgundy burlap-upholstered chairs before the bulky cherry desk. His stomach knotted, and he dug his nails into the arms of his chair; the only way he could think of to keep himself from bolting. * * * &...

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“Alex: Senior Poop Picker-Upper” by Rachel Bronca

Submitted to Contest #170

In my hoity-toity neighbourhood, everyone picks up their dog’s poop whilst on their evening stroll. Albeit, with a cotton-gloved hand and a bio-compostable, tangerine-scented bag. There is a level of unspoken trust and pride in the air, which is justified by the price of the townhouses, that one ‘leaves it as one finds it’. The most common dog breed is poodle, or something-‘oodle’, whose poop only needs one delicate, pinky-lifted pinch to scoop up. After the sun has winked and tip-toed off to bed, and dusk has sauntered into the crisp suburb...

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“Let Me Be Your Dog” by Michael Jefferson

Submitted to Contest #170

The stocky, fortyish Black man walked toward the elderly couple. Regina Beckwith smiled neighborly at him. Checking her watch, she let out a hearty laugh. “Ten-thirty on the nose,” she said. Barton, her husband of fifty years, grinned placidly. “Yep. Right on schedule. I swear I can set my watch by you.” Starling Coyle took great pleasure and pride in compartmentalizing every aspect of his life, beginning with his morning walk through the Dobbs Ferry Town Park. Starling had no family and he liked it that way. His mother had been a bitte...

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“You're not a failure” by Kashish Nandwani

Submitted to Contest #170

“Everything, every small thing has to be perfect!” yelled Celina at the maids. Celina was an event organiser and had gotten a really big contract. She was worried but what troubled her even more was the glimpses of the past events in her life. “Nothing can go wrong in this event. Mr. Danes has put a lots of money and trust in this event.” Celina told her assistant. Liza, her assistant replied, “Don’t worry ma’am. Everything is gonna as per mr. danes’ and your requests. I promise.” It was 3 in the morning, but Celina was still working on this...

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Write a story about a character who tries to control their life down to the most minute detail — but has to learn to let go.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 25 stories

“Crack of Dawn” by Paula Feldman

“Written” by Sky C

“Jimmy Learns to Let Go” by Dave West

“Cybil Sets the Scene” by Eleanor Cosmos

“If you love something...” by Simone Moores

“Two for One” by B Easton

“The Forbidder” by Marie White

“Alex: Senior Poop Picker-Upper” by Rachel Bronca

“Let Me Be Your Dog” by Michael Jefferson

“You're not a failure” by Kashish Nandwani

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with the line “I’ve got a plan”.

Write about a plan that goes wrong, for the better.

Write a story that involves the architectural plans for a building.

Fly by the seat of your pants and write a story without a plan.

Contest #170

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

202

Contest entries

125

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: