Write a story in which a character achieves a new level of clarity about how they’re really feeling.

Posted in Character on Dec 22, 2023

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✍️ 57 stories

“Buried Roots” by Carrie R

Submitted to Contest #230

Wellsboro, Pennsylvania June, 1987 The day was mild. The sunshine was warm, with a soft breeze. Everything took on that golden glow of evening. Carly took a sip of her creamy vanilla milkshake and tasted the salt on her lips from the fries. Her mom and dad leaned back against the picnic tables. They had the park to themselves. Samantha, Carly’s older sister, lay sprawled on the merry go round. Carly loved Friday nights in summer. This was the night her family would pick up cheeseburgers, fries, and milkshakes and head to the town ...

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“Snow Globe Story” by Candace C

Submitted to Contest #230

Snow Globe Story Jack had a difficult childhood. His father was exacting and loud. His ma was quiet and skittish. Jack was small when his ma first noticed him raise his head and look toward the front door just before his father arrived home. She never noticed how he stilled for a second before returning to the block in his hand, the pacifier in his mouth. It was ...

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“Shattered Echoes” by Nona Freudenthal

Submitted to Contest #230

A month has passed since they first moved in from sunny Southern Europe to study and, by now, the mind has already settled into the rhythms of this new lifestyle. Yet, the body remains a passenger lost in unconscious nostalgia. A month feels more like one endless day, like a continuum in the infinite dimension of time.They finally open their eyes to see their blurry-looking body lying on a blue carpet on the floor right next to their bed. Light emerges from all over the carpet and surrounds their body. The urge to rise and escape flutters th...

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“"Harmony Unveiled: A Symphony of Clarity in the Urban Jungle"” by Ellys Watts

Submitted to Contest #230

In the midst of a bustling metropolis, where skyscrapers touched the sky and the city's heartbeat echoed through the streets, Lily found herself at the center of a chaotic whirlwind. Surrounded by the pulse of life, she had always prided herself on navigating the relentless rhythm of the urban jungle. Yet, within the symphony of honking horns and hurried footsteps, a dissonance had quietly settled within her. It all began on a crisp autumn morning, the air tinged with the promise of change. Lily, an ambitious young architect, had just clin...

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“The Son” by Hayley-Jenifer Brennan

Submitted to Contest #230

Mr. Douglas stood in darkness, surrounded on four sides by the walls of the shelter. He was barely able to make out the shapes of the tools and fabrics that stood to attention like soldiers, ready to aid in the renovation of the barn as a wedding place. The troop of construction workers had retired long ago; the decorative white fabrics now hung half mast, the glue guns and nail guns and soldering guns piled into forgotten heaps on the dirty ground. The battle to turn this old place into a beautiful wedding venue was only half over. If a cea...

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“Bert and Ernie Go Skydiving: a Tribute to Salman Rushdie” by Len Rely

Submitted to Contest #230

Bert and Ernie Go Skydiving: a Tribute to Salman Rushdie The only “weather” in the stratosphere is that the temperature is always below freezing (because there is nothing solid to capture the Sun’s rays), and the wind is always moving even on a calm day. So the only question of seasons is whether ice particles will melt and slow down as they descend, like a damaged single-engine plane labeled “Corporation for Public Broadcasting” that has disgorged its two passengers, dropping like a pair of atomic puns over the English Channel. The ...

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“Thank God” by Faith Richardson

Submitted to Contest #230

“Hey honey, can you drive for a bit?” James touched Liz’s knee and she jerked to attention. “I have a bit of a headache coming on and I’d like to close my eyes.” “Of course.” Liz closed the laptop she had perched on her crossed legs as he pulled the blue Chevy Trax into the gas station just outside Childress, Texas. She was so focused on the story she was typing that she didn’t hear his request until she felt this hand on her knee. He stepped out and moved to the back of the Trax to refuel while Liz headed for the bathroom. She returne...

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“Scared Loose” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #230

We’re all scared. We’re scared out of our minds half the time. How do we even sleep, when the only certainty in life is death? I don’t mind admitting to you that life itself scares me. It terrifies me with its uncertainties and its unknowableness. Life is wilful and it has a will to change. It’s a flowing river that no one can stay still in for long. Even the hardest rock gets worn away by the seemingly soft and inconsequential waters of the river. No one teaches you this though. No one admits the terror associated with living. I suppose...

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“A Real Boy” by Ian Patterson

Submitted to Contest #230

Pinocchio was born into the simulated universe on a Sunday. This was an exceptionally good day to greet the universe, and his parents were in awe that The Great Program had shown such favor to them. What a profound addition to the code he would be, they were certain of it. But also if he wasn’t, well these sorts of things were really out of everyone’s control, so no one would feel too poorly. Above his bed was stitched a personalized creation story that his mother had sewn. It read: :function (create new) if ...

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“Marrow” by Stevie Dalzell

Submitted to Contest #230

Dullsville, a sleepy place nestled between monotonous hills and mundane valleys. And in the midst of this unimaginative banality lived Forbes Pritchard, a man who found himself at that time in his life where events tended towards him settling down, even though he was of the mind that he was not at all ready to settle down. He chafed against the binding forces that life stealthily applied but had, nevertheless, recently acquired an old house on Crooked Lane, a peculiar place, what with its warped timbers and crooked chimney. A more ’settling ...

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“The Woman and The Girl” by Izzy Wilkinson

Submitted to Contest #230

She flies in through the door with snow on her boots. Her face is flushed. Her hair is a mess. She looks around the room for me, eyes landing in the corner. A small creature. Her gaze softens. She kneels down before me, her cold hands on my face. Hello, she says through a laugh of disbelief. I smile back at her. Sorry, she pulls her hands from my skin. That must be cold. I nod. Her face has creases. Her hair is thick. This is all rather strange, isn’t it? I nod, again. How old are you? Ten, I respond, straighten...

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“I am Free.” by Samantha Turrell

Submitted to Contest #230

The skies open up and water surges menacingly on the ground. So perfectly timed with my entrance, it almost feels like a message just for me. The one day that I forgot to bring an umbrella, and the world wants to get smart with me, and impart wisdom on me in a disparaging way. It seemed to be raining quite a bit lately. I open the door to the office and I am met with empty chairs and desks. Silence crept and it was almost eerie, as the typical environment was people bussing around too busy to even stop to have a conversatio...

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“The Tides of My Heart” by Simeon Bingham

Submitted to Contest #230

The first traces of his message came in early spring. I was tending to my garden, tilling the soil. The winter had scarcely gone, but I was eager to get ahead on my work; the sooner the seeds of my herbs were nestled into the ground, the sooner I could restock my apothecary. Then, I heard it.It started as a faint murmur in the wind. I had ignored it as best I could, busying myself with casting growth spells, weaving tapestries of sunlight, completing prayer rituals, and even sacrificing the first lamb of the season. Still, the murmur li...

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“People I like” by Janet Severn

Submitted to Contest #230

I don't like Billy. Billy always says "thank you" to the waiter at the restaurant. After every sentence. What would you like to drink? Just a glass of water, thank you. How would you like your burger cooked? Medium rare, thank you. I think Billy should walk around in a clown suit.I don't like Alec. Alec gives big tips. He understands how hard people in the labor industry work. And he feels he needs to do his part to help them out.I like Ricky. I was walking behind him and he opened the door and just let it close in my face. He knew I was the...

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“Tandem” by Naomi Brown

Submitted to Contest #230

If I survive… Mollie pushes the morbid thought out of her head. Of course, she will survive. She survived the turbulent sixties when all her friends either got strung out on dope or— literally or figuratively—they lost their heads in Vietnam. She survived her abusive ex-husband slamming her head into the wall so hard it left a nose-shaped dent in the plaster. She survived two C-sections, one that left her hemorrhaging for almost a week. Most recently, she survived Covid, the dreaded plague that claimed the lives of much younger and healthier...

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Write a story in which a character achieves a new level of clarity about how they’re really feeling.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 57 stories

“Buried Roots” by Carrie R

“Snow Globe Story” by Candace C

“Shattered Echoes” by Nona Freudenthal

“"Harmony Unveiled: A Symphony of Clarity in the Urban Jungle"” by Ellys Watts

“The Son” by Hayley-Jenifer Brennan

“Bert and Ernie Go Skydiving: a Tribute to Salman Rushdie” by Len Rely

“Thank God” by Faith Richardson

“Scared Loose” by Jed Cope

“A Real Boy” by Ian Patterson

“Marrow” by Stevie Dalzell

“The Woman and The Girl” by Izzy Wilkinson

“I am Free.” by Samantha Turrell

“The Tides of My Heart” by Simeon Bingham

“People I like” by Janet Severn

“Tandem” by Naomi Brown

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story framed by a single scene: something happens, a flashback or inner monologue intervenes, and then the story ends with the rest of the original scene.

Start your story with someone uttering a very strange sentence.

Write a story that hides something from its reader until the very end.

Write a story in the form of a list.

Contest #230

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

362

Contest entries

108

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: