Write about a character who goes by many different names throughout their life.

Posted in Character on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 50 stories

“Festival of the Bear's Hand” by Zilla Babbitt

Submitted to Contest #26

I am the woman who sits at the café edge, the one with bluish curled hair, the one who writers her Ls all cursive, the one who only loves men named Martin. I am she. I sit. I watch. The café belongs to me within my soul. I live here. I sit under a viney shade with a cup in my raw-rubbed fingers, blue curls hiding my eyebrows, sitting, watching. They call me Mademoiselle Sorcière. The witch-lady.I do this every day, here in this café. I drink the same tea, smile the same smile, sit in the same place. But the people that I watch are different....

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“Dead Name Alicia” by Paige Leppanen

Submitted to Contest #26

My birth parents named me Joy. They always said it was because they were so happy and excited about becoming parents for the first time. That excitement apparently wasn’t enough. At seven years old I was in my first foster home, unable to sleep in a strange bed, wishing that my parents had named me “Crystal” because I heard them talk about her a lot. I cried for hours because I figured they loved her more than they loved me.I didn’t talk much in that first home. I missed my family and my stuffed animals and my friend next door. The second ho...

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“Found” by Whitney Trang

Submitted to Contest #26

For those lucky enough to meet me, I always ask them the same question: will it be worth it? They usually answer yes, thoughts of their wildest dreams being fulfilled blind their rational mind. But since they gave me their consent, I grant them. It’s what I was made to do. Sometimes it turns out good, other times… not so good. I don’t stick around any more to see which outcome they receive. Based on past experience it doesn’t matter what happens, they always come back to me. They want me to fix their mistake or exploit my ta...

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“Here Lies Kateri Tanis Stuart” by Lily Kingston

Submitted to Contest #26

When my parents first named me Kateri Tanis Stuart, I don’t think they would have ever imagined how little people actually used it. In fact, I’ve only ever been referred to by my full name once. But, that’s a long time from now.I was born in my grandparents’ winter cabin up in North Dakota. It wasn’t my mother’s wisest decisions to spend the weekend there when she was already a week overdue. They said I was a miracle child. Born from a desperate, formally-infertile mother (she went through a LOT of fertility treatments). Only under the starl...

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“Anonymous Donations” by Kat Gruszka

Submitted to Contest #26

Dear Ms. Thumbern, we are holding this year’s gala in your honor. We would be thrilled to have you attend. Your considerable donations for the last 20 years have been extremely generous, and we would like to recognize you… She didn’t need to read the rest; she knew she couldn’t attend. Yet, she had worked hard for this. She could not imagine another place more deserving of her money. Actually, their money. “Ms. Bloom?” She hadn’t even heard the first grader walk up to her desk. She casually put the letter back into her purse, “Yes, Mich...

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“The Patron Saint of Lost Things or Lost People ” by Emily Sperber

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #26

For the longest time, I didn’t know what my name was. That is the thing you should know when you don’t know anything else. But I didn’t mind it. I could tell when people were talking to me and when they weren’t. My mother called me Honey, Sugar, Pumpkin, Gum Drop, Caramelo when she slipped into her Spanish. I grew up thinking I was the derivatives of sugar. I was the ingredients that went into making a cake. My father called me son. His voice the way I read italics in books. It made me believe I was the yellow ball of fire in the sky.&...

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“Better Left Behind” by R. K.

Submitted to Contest #26

We are always on the move, we never stay somewhere for very long. My Mother is constantly changing the schools I go to. I doubt I have been to the same place for longer than three months at a time. I think she's embarrassed by us, her children. There are two of us, both boys, I am the oldest. She doesn't like people to get close and realize what a disappointment she is as a mother for not being able to raise us the way she should have.Me and my brother, we are very different. He is three years younger than me and scrawny. He's so thin and sm...

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“Skinned Self ” by Emma-Grace Clarke

Submitted to Contest #26

Identity is difficult.At least that’s what I’ve found. Bernard Stiegler, a preeminent philosopher, has dove into the way it’s forged or weaved. The way it actually happens is fuzzy, philosophers don’t seem to deal with the practical just the theoretical. Which I respect. The practical is difficult. He defines the creation of identity, also known as individuation as such: · The I, as a psychic individual, can only be thought in relationship to we, which is a collective individual. The I i...

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“Famous” by Cassia Y

Submitted to Contest #26

The train horn blares as the doors slide shut and it slowly trundles off, wheels rumbling on the tracks. The whole station seems to shake as it speeds up into a blur and shoots away, leaving everything in its dust. The boy waits until its noise is reduced to a mere echo at the end of the tunnel, then bends down to readjust the bag of coins on the ground and gives his guitar a few test strums. There's already a group of people hanging around nearby, watching him from a distance. An engaged couple so captivated by his previous song they don't ...

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“A force of nature” by Marte Van Der Linden

Submitted to Contest #26

The lecture hall at the Academy of Sciences had never been so full. A great man of science was due to lecture on the latest scientific marvel, which was rumoured to be a newly discovered force of nature. Among the earnest young women and the gentlemen in powdered wigs sat a man who was so ordinary and average-looking that he seemed out of place. Grey eyes, brown hair, average height, simple clothes. His hands were folded in his lap and he was looking at the stage with a mild curiosity that was very different from the feverish excitement arou...

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“Say my name” by Sam Kirk

Submitted to Contest #26

Woken up by loud voices in the distance, I slowly opened up my eyes. None of the voices sounded familiar, and I could not make out what they were shouting about. The ringing in my ears was not helping. I blinked twice, but the fog in front of me did not dissipate. “Have I finally gone senile?” – I asked myself, unable to recall anything from the previous evening.A pounding headache might have suggested that I had been on a drinking binge, but I put those days behind me over a decade ago. “Sir?” – a voice close by asked, and a blurry face app...

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“STAYING A HALF STEP AHEAD” by Andrew Grell

Submitted to Contest #26

STAYING A HALF STEP AHEADBy Andrew Paul Grell“This dive? Are you sure?”“Woof. Woof, woof. Yodel.”“I’ll take your word for it. Good boy, Bruce. Let’s see if they go for it.” Annie didn’t feel the need to tie Bruce up. In fact, she wished she could bring him in. You never know what to expect from people getting plastered at three in the afternoon. Bruce, a Decker Rat Terrier, put his forepaws on the ukulele case, almost entirely covered in checked baggage stickers, and trained his eye on the entranc...

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“There's a Catch” by Kris Simonian

Submitted to Contest #26

"Of course, but there is a catch."It's a phrase I've said a thousand times to a thousand different people about a thousand different things. Sometimes the people actually HEAR the catch and walk away. I can't waste my time thinking about what could've been with them - only that I need to keep going. Sometimes they're ready to sign on the proverbial dotted line when some long-dead animal instinct kicks in and they run away. But sometimes they sign and those times are the best times.Who am I? What do I offer? It all really depends on where we ...

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“Real Sick Of Myself” by Grey Oberst

Submitted to Contest #26

“Nicholas Martin Hall, get down here right now!”Nicholas froze as his mother called out for him. His brother, Malcolm, just started laughing at him.“You’re in trouble!”“Shut up!”Trying his best to ignore his brother’s mocking, Nicholas left their room and quickly hopped down the stairs. Their mother sat in the kitchen, glaring at thick piece of paper. Nicholas could see the red marker bleeding through to the other side of the page. As he approached her, his mother lowered the paper onto the table, spinning it so that Nicholas could read it. ...

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“What’s in a name?” by James Offenha

Submitted to Contest #26

I started out as Fluffy. When I was born, my first owner called me Fluffy. i was born in a puppy mill. They put an ad in the paper and I waited. The people who put me in the box with the other puppies kept telling me, “You’re a good dog, Fluffy,” and when I had accidents in the box, they’d clean the box with wet paper towels. I’m with all my brothers and sisters though. One day, a young boy named, Paul, came to the pet store and petted me and my ...

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Write about a character who goes by many different names throughout their life.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 50 stories

“Festival of the Bear's Hand” by Zilla Babbitt

“Dead Name Alicia” by Paige Leppanen

“Found” by Whitney Trang

“Here Lies Kateri Tanis Stuart” by Lily Kingston

“Anonymous Donations” by Kat Gruszka

“The Patron Saint of Lost Things or Lost People ” by Emily Sperber

“Better Left Behind” by R. K.

“Skinned Self ” by Emma-Grace Clarke

“Famous” by Cassia Y

“A force of nature” by Marte Van Der Linden

“Say my name” by Sam Kirk

“STAYING A HALF STEP AHEAD” by Andrew Grell

“There's a Catch” by Kris Simonian

“Real Sick Of Myself” by Grey Oberst

“What’s in a name?” by James Offenha

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a character who was considered a prodigy when they were young.

Write about a character who was raised in a musical family.

Write a story about a musician struggling to find work during wartime.

Write a story about a character obsessed with one of the long-dead “greats” in their profession.

Contest #26

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

226

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: