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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write about a character who treats everything like a game and struggles to be serious when they most need to, or vice versa.

Posted in Character on Apr 12, 2024

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.

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✍️ 17 stories

“Sammy Freeberg: His Mother Loves Him” by Michael Ginsberg

Submitted to Contest #246

Warning: This story contains some inappropriate humor, but it should not offend, in contect. "Ms. Lefkowitz, you know about the Jew who married a Catholic?" "No, Sam. What about the Jew who married a Catholic, and what does it have to do with our Torah lesson?”"They both go to Confession, but they bring a lawyer." Ms. Lefkowitz didn't laugh. No one in my religious school class laughed. Rabbi Stein didn't laugh, but I could tell he wanted to. "Sam, Sam Freeberg,” Rabbi said, sitting behind his desk and shaking his head. "Three times this...

12 comments 12
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“A Whipped Dwarf” by Daniel Rogers

Submitted to Contest #246

"Stop shaking and just throw," Flimlet said.Gormick, a nervous black-bearded dwarf, ignored his dwarf comrade and continued shaking his fist full of five coins, "Four dragons! Four dragons! By Xer-Bane! Give me four dragons!" He released the coins into a walled square wooden game board. The coins bounced, spun, and fell – two dragons and three kings."Yes! Ah ha! Got you!" Flimlet slid a large pile of coins towards him. "All mine!""You're a butt hole," Gormick shook his head and laughed. "But a richer butt hole than me.""Sorry, Gormick," Flim...

12 comments 12
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“Mike Buford's Last Life” by AR R

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #246

I’m standing on the corner of 48th and 8th outside of Duffy’s Ale House, waiting for Buford to light a cigarette, knowing that, like most things he attempts, eventually he’ll succeed. But it won’t be easy. Not because it’s complicated, but because Buford complicates the uncomplicated. He creates pitfalls and snags and obstacles if only because Buford won’t attempt anything unless it’s handled like one exhaustive, endless, mind-numbing game.“You have to fuck them to win, Muck,” Buford says, cigarette dangling from his rubbery lips. And they a...

7 comments 7
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“Cue the Neighbor” by Joe Smallwood

Submitted to Contest #246

Oh, you could talk me out of it if you seriously tried. I’m half expecting it. It’s a sideswipe away.As in something you never seriously do! Don’t you get it? Why do you always look at me that way? Like I don’t know what I am doing. Be serious for once!Systems analysts could problem-solve everything in half a second. Like I’m doing now. Whether they are human or not doesn’t matter. I don’t even know half the time!But look at it this way: you want a payoff, right? An Elationship? Perfect.Wuz! Slow tech! Five seconds till the sim payoff, and I...

10 comments 10
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“Beachside Banter” by Marianne Knight

Submitted to Contest #246

Ropes snaked along the arrivals gate; a crumpled sign read Mr Hugh Jarse. Britt craned her neck, tiptoeing to see over the crowd.“Very funny,” Britt turned to see Max smiling in amusement.“My original version said I have herpes, and you might too,” she said shoving the crumpled paper into her pocket and throwing her arms around his shoulders.“Always a charmer.”“You love it. That’s why we’re friends.”Fighting through the crowd, they weaved their way through the airport. Britt stole a look at Max who’d filled out a little since the last time s...

12 comments 12
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“Red Puddles and People, December 23rd of 1948” by Jeffery Young

Submitted to Contest #246

Reverend Hugh Gregory and Doctor Malone Trenton stood upon the docks, huddled in a circle around a twisted lump. In their companionship was a distraught Sheriff Boris Osipov, hands clasped firmly behind his back as he viewed the lump analytically. His blue coat and hood were soaked like sponges, his brow furrowed over beady eyes. Another person, the town’s medical practitioner/postwoman, Iris Henness, was crouched over the lump. She mumbled to herself incoherently, her deep blue eyes and sharp features cutting the drizzle as it found her. Th...

4 comments 4
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“The Resurrection of JD” by Nan Qu

Submitted to Contest #246

It has been almost three years since his mom passed away. Two and a half since the miscarriage. And two since the separation. If the miscarried baby were a girl, it would be three generations of women leaving him. He chuckled at the realization. Half a year ago, the same thought would have sent him into a spiral of despair. It had been an improvement—an achievement even—to rise from the pit, a place in pitch darkness where his cry for help couldn’t escape and only traveled inward and rattled more damage. Now he was back. John ...

6 comments 6
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“Oh, Cecilia!” by Naya's A Writer

Submitted to Contest #246

Nobody likes Cecilia. She sits alone on her desk at school, eats alone at the cafeteria, and lives alone. She wears small glasses, set on her even smaller nose, that always slips and she has to push it up every five minutes. She's the weird kid who somehow managed to get all through the tests and examinations and due-soon homework. She's the nerdy kid who wears a too-straight outfit and has a button-like nose. Even the school bullies don't think she's worth bullying. The teachers shake their heads at her, and she's the only kid that was brav...

7 comments 7
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“It isn't all about winning” by Barbara Myatt

Submitted to Contest #246

 All Fun and Games : Prompt 5                         It isn’t All About Winning Andrew loves to play Scrabble at the club for people like him, who have physical disabilities, which he attends each week. He is not greatly disabled but with increasing age, and following a stroke a few years ago, he has been finding walking increasingly difficult.The aim of the club is twofold – to give the disabled person a little ...

1 comment 1
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“Dream On” by Christine LW

Submitted to Contest #246

                                                         DREAM ON.      Amanda Oates the daydreamer would go into her world of make believe. Her teachers would notice Amanda staring through the classroom window. Mr Jones the ma...

2 comments 2
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“This is the Takedown” by Daryl Kulak

Submitted to Contest #246

“I apologize profusely for everything’s that’s happened,” the moderator said into the microphone as he stepped around some broken glass. “This was not something we expected nor desired. I hope you will not let this reflect poorly on our conference. Mr. Schlupus, the conservative panel member, and Mr. Dolderman, the liberal panelist, are in the custody of the police so no one is in any further danger. I suppose the best option for us now is to release all of you to an early lunch,” as he checked the time on his phone.I raised my hand.“Madam,”...

2 comments 2
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“It's the Little Things” by Emily M. Reiser

Submitted to Contest #246

Over the years I’ve learned to be careful. I am good at what I do and I cover my tracks. I pull off my jobs and I take special care to not draw too much attention to myself.  But eventually, despite all the planning and the caution, there comes a time when you need somebody to do you a favor. The caveat being that you then owe them one in return. Being in somebody’s debt creates an itch under my skin that never goes away until I can look them in the eyes and shake their hand.  I am not necessarily a woman of my word, but I know the...

2 comments 2
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“The Politics of Duck-Duck-Goose” by 𝔊𝔲𝔞𝔡𝔞𝔩𝔲𝔭𝔢 𝔗𝔢𝔩𝔠𝔬𝔫𝔱𝔞𝔯

Submitted to Contest #246

Blue sky with barely any wisps of cloud stretches above me. But it doesn’t stretch forever. There are hills where I live, always going up and down. And on almost all of those hills, there are trees. So if you get to a place where there aren’t any buildings in the way of your eyes, you won’t see a horizon. You’ll see hills and trees. A field where we can play is never flat. There’s always a little slope, if not a big one. Go far enough in a straight line, and you’ll have to walk either up or down a hill, even a little one. The summe...

3 comments 3
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““Scales of a Surgeon”” by Brandon Cratch

Submitted to Contest #246

In the hushed corridors of St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, where the air was thick with the scent of antiseptic mingled with quiet hopes, Dr. Alex Freeman was a burst of unexpected laughter. As a pediatric surgeon, his presence was like a ray of sunshine in the often-somber environment. His scrubs, festooned with cartoon characters, and his stethoscope, which he called “Mr. Whiskers,” rarely failed to draw a smile from his young patients. Alex had grown up as the only child of two renowned surgeons. From a young age, he was steeped in an atm...

4 comments 4
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“Clowning Around” by Elizabeth Cat🌟

Submitted to Contest #246

(The vice versa option)I cover my ears as I rush out the school doors at the end of the day. There’s kids talking on the phone. Other kids yelling. Playing music. It’s chaos.I’m reaching for my bicycle when someone grabs my shoulder.“Hey Trent, guess what?!”I turn around fast, a stiff frown forming on my lips. “What?”It’s Jacob. He’s always screwing around so much that he’ll never get a grade higher than a c. And he has a really messy, goofy afro.“I was gonna tell you a time traveling joke, but you didn’t like it.” He’s smiling so hard that ...

1 comment 1
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🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story that includes the phrase “It’s all fun and games…”

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Contest #246

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: All Fun and Games

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Ended on 23:59 - Apr 19, 2024 EST

Won by Sarah Coury 🏆

Title: Hearts Are Trump

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