Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Directory
Contests
Magazine
FAQ

Write a story about someone who realises the story of their life has been pre-determined — until they decide to divert from the expected path.

Posted in Character on Jul 19, 2024

Submissions are closed

Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy account.

Sign in with Google
Sign in with Facebook

Or use an email address:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 31 stories

The Lighthouse Keeper

Shortlisted for Contest #260 ⭐️

A Lighthouse On a small island in a large ocean, morning mist rolls down the slope of a single hill which emerges from the rocky beach. Atop the hill is a lighthouse, dutifully warning passing ships of dangers lurking beneath the waves. This lighthouse has no human keeper, but it is not uninhabited. Robot comes to life in the morning. That is how Robot thinks of it. Robot does not wake up in the morning, ease into his day with a coffee. Robot does not sit at a computer to check headlines. Robot does not require any further stimulus than his ...

37 likes 29 comments 29
Read story

Rewritten

Submitted to Contest #260

       I can’t sleep tonight. Tossing and turning out of my half-dream, I eventually become aware that Dimitri’s not beside me. I sigh: I told him to try to get some sleep. Then again, I can’t really blame him. Kicking my feet into slippers in the dark, I fumble downstairs. I find him sitting at the kitchen table in the dark: eyes closed, chin propped up in his hands, face buried under flat bangs that drape limply over his cheekbones.            “H...

27 likes 17 comments 17
Read story

Stowaway on the Ship "Destiny's Dreams"

Submitted to Contest #260

In the summer of 1898 the sleek vessel called Destiny's Dreams glided over the ocean waves off the western coast of South America.Deep in the shadows of the cargo area there was a secret passenger.A figure was curled up in a corner, rocking with the bobbing of the boat.The dark form began crawling across the bottom of the ship, swaying with the hull's movement over the waves.The stowaway began talking to herself to break up the silence and comfort herself.“We have chosen happiness,” Isabella whispered, while she moved across the ship's ribbe...

19 likes 22 comments 22
Read story

Well, Sh*t. I'm Dead

Submitted to Contest #260

So, I died today. Yeah, shitty I know. I was pissed. Wear a helmet they say, it’s the law they say, it’ll save your life in a crash they say. Yeah, but what they don’t say is that it’s not going to do diddly shit if you have an undiagnosed brain aneurysm during your morning commute and it goes Mount Vesuvius right when you’re coming up to a stop light behind a bus. I didn’t try to hold in a sneeze or anything! Just “pop” lights out. Okay, it wasn’t instant lights out. Honestly, it was kinda cool. First, I felt real tingly. My limbs went numb...

17 likes 16 comments 16
Read story

Everything

Submitted to Contest #260

In the distance sat an immense forest. A woman, beautiful as can be, walked by the old stone entrance to the path into the woods. Thick greenery covered the old stone entrance and beckoned the woman daily. Everyday she made the conscious decision to stay on track. She had materials to care for and felt there was no time to focus on her individually. In fact, that is utter nonsense and she is not important enough to think she could take any time for it. The only way to stay within societal expectations is to numb yourself to the what ifs. Act...

14 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

A Fish Tale

Submitted to Contest #260

“Now I know how a pinball feels.” Joel shot his hands out this way and that.“You do?”“Yeah, no personal autonomy. Always reacting to this flipper, that bumper… and don’t forget gravity.”“Gravity’s a bitch.” Keith laughed.Joel Fitzhugh was talking to his father.“And why do you feel this way, Joel?”“Everything in my life. You and Silvana always nudging me in opposite directions… Work is demanding…”“Work does that...” Amused, Keith had heard this before. “How is Silvana? Haven’t seen her.”“Oh, we broke up. She left.”“What! The wedding’s off? Wh...

14 likes 14 comments 14
Read story

Guardian of Death

Submitted to Contest #260

"Are you listening to me, Steele? I swear, sometimes you're the worst for-" I continue to tune my mother out. Yet another lecture on the proper way the prince should act was not high on my list of priorities. My mother puts her hand on my shoulder, finally drawing my attention.  "I know you have other things to worry about, son. But these guests are important. When the next Guardian is chosen, it'll signify an era of peace for Kalioss. You know that." I sigh as my mother sears into my soul with her cobalt blue eyes. Eyes she p...

12 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

Rituals & Regrets

Submitted to Contest #260

 It was supposed to be the happiest day of his life.  Or at least, that was what Prince Harlowe Eadwig Graemes Everlye IIII had envisioned his entire life. A glorious day of celebration, feasting, and most importantly, love. It was what he had been promised. But instead today, with it’s perfect cloudless blue skies and blossoming trees, he was cursed to walk down the aisle towards a woman he hardly knew, for a land he had never visited, and for a throne he no longer wanted.   Prince Harlowe thought all of this as he slipp...

11 likes 6 comments 6
Read story

From Inside the Boogie Man

Submitted to Contest #260

My reflection is me; my reflection is you, sharing a moment in time that is both present and past. Suspended in a mirror that neither of us share but both of us are. A mirror we share, a mirror we are. It’s a tale as old as time—that of a mother and daughter. One soul split in two; whatever are they going to do? A near-perfect replica, two women with brown eyes—eyes I couldn’t meet in the mirror for a decade. It was always you reflected back at me. I saw you for so long that I forgot my own face, not seeing the monster that took its place. D...

11 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

My Path is My Path

Submitted to Contest #260

Inside the PrognoTek cafeteria, the usual blended smells of cheap food, cleaning chemicals, and waste wafted through the air. After 18 years in The Program, Joshua became almost fond of it. The cafeteria was a place for decompression and somewhere to break up the monotony of attending classes, practical lessons, and training sessions densely packed throughout his minute-by-minute schedule from sunrise until lights out. You lived your days from meal to meal: a familiar phrase spoken by the participants of The Program. Not surprising, given th...

10 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

What if all the You’s were Different You’s?

Submitted to Contest #260

Chapter ? The Middle.“When you are married your happiness is doubled and your sadness is cut in half.” It was the most heartfelt message I received in my wedding cards. The rest were platitudes and generic well wishes. It was so simple yet moving. I wish that it had been true. ——Instead, days turned into years turned into resentment and hurtful words, and pain that wouldn’t resolve on its own. You were lost in a world that no one can reach, not even yourself, it seems. And I, unable to reach you, and no longer in touch with myself ...

10 likes 8 comments 8
Read story

On the Power of a Name

Submitted to Contest #260

Katarina Ysabella Lynch had too many letters to herself. It just wasn’t fair to the Jon’s and the Meg’s and the Ruth’s that she should own twenty-one letters and seven vowels when most people could barely claim half that. She blamed her parents for this selfish part of her character, and she felt the need to share with people who learned her name that if she could have, she would not have picked something so grandiose. Katarina learned how to spell her name when she was four years old, a whole year before she went to kindergarten and wo...

10 likes 7 comments 7
Read story

Feelings of Self Abandonment Throughout

Submitted to Contest #260

Dawn scooted into her place at the table in the prayer room, careful not to smoosh her two year-old’s legs. She liked attending prayer circle, but having two young children made it a challenge. The three women surrounding her at the small, round table were all older, their thinning hair trimmed to their ears. Sweet though they were, they didn’t abide disorder, reserving their disapproval with tight smiles.  “As you know,” Shirley said, “We’ve been asked to host the Proverbs 31 Woman Benefit Dinner this year. I’d like it to be particular...

10 likes 8 comments 8
Read story

Twice Fractured Fairy Tale

Submitted to Contest #260

Once upon a time, in a kingdom most absurd, lived a Princess named Unrelia who possessed the power of the fourth wall. So whenever her parents, the King and Queen Narrat, tried to betrothe her to some goodly prince, she would turn to an oblique angle and say something like “Can you believe this folks? My parents are positively medieval!” as if there was an audience just out of sight, invisible to everyone else. Such was her confidence in these pronunciations that no one ever challenged or interrupted her. And those good princes, and their fa...

9 likes 10 comments 10
Read story

Casanova's Fling....

Submitted to Contest #260

Ashley checked her makeup and stunning blonde hair, smiling at her reflection in anticipation of the summer days and nights ahead. Her teen sweetheart was coming home for his holidays from that final year at college. Ashley had her expectations of Calhan, the tall blond sporting hero.Ashley and Calhan had been titled "The Twins." At the time, they dressed in similar clothes, laughed at the same jokes, kissed together, had explored their earlier fumbles together. They were expected to marry when Calhan graduated as an architect, when he retur...

9 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story with a big twist.

Dramatic – 188 stories

Write a story in which a character learns something unexpected about someone they thought they knew well.

Mystery – 63 stories

Write a story that includes the line, "I didn't see that one coming."

Dialogue – 41 stories

Write a story using the most clichéd twist of all; it was all a dream.

Narrative – 103 stories

How to Write a Novel

Join Tom Bromley for a writing master class and finish your first draft in 3 months. Learn more →

How to Write a Novel