Write from the point of view of a character writing a letter to their past or future self.

Posted in Character on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 70 stories

“All the Things You Cannot Yet See” by Zack Powell

Submitted to Contest #146

Dear middle school me,Let me spare you the suspense and come right out with it: fifteen years from now, you turn out to be pretty damn boring. Plain. Vanilla. Milquetoast. (But at least you know the definition of milquetoast now.) You're the type of guy to walk into the barbershop, not say a word the entire time, and leave with your usual crew cut. The kind of person whose pizza topping of choice is extra cheese. Hey, don't blame me. It's just the way things go. #sorrynotsorry (Oh, right. Hashtags are a thing now. Don't get too attached to M...

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“To Whom It May Concern” by Thom With An H

Submitted to Contest #146

“What the fuck do you want?”The question Jimmy’s brother asked was straightforward. The answer, however, was not. “My teacher—you see—my teacher, she gave us an assignment. I'm supposed to write a letter or something like that,” Jimmy replied, rambling while trying to maintain his composure. “And I thought you…”“Get the fuck out of here, you piece of shit. I don’t care about your fucking teacher or your goddamn assignment.”Jimmy had thought his commonality with Jamaal would be an asset but, in an instant, he started doubting the ch...

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“FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, JUST DO IT” by Brandi Yetzer

Submitted to Contest #146

WARNING: domestic abuse theme, and a few cuss words.If he says he won’t do it again, don’t believe him.I scroll the letters across the top of the page, biting my fingernail down until the sensitive skin is burning for me to stop. I look down at it and let out an ‘oops’ in surprise. I wipe the small bead of blood on my blue jeans.My attention moves back to the page, and I realize I haven’t addressed the letter to my future self yet. If I’m going to do it, I may as well do it right, eh?To My Future Self, I tap my pencil against the notebo...

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“Whatever You Do Don't Write it Down” by Kevin Marlow

Submitted to Contest #146

CW{Strong Language, Sarcasm}Dear Kevin,It's me Kevin, your actual future self. I remember the summer you are in well. Your air conditioning was not working because the electric company turned you off due to not paying. You were admitted to the hospital due to a bizarre host of episodes that culminated in a weekend in jail and a trip in front of a judge. It doesn't seem like it now, but everything is going to be alright. Being diagnosed with schizophrenia is not a death sentence. Which brings me to the issue at hand. During counseling the nic...

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“We Will Survive” by Simrin Dhillon

Submitted to Contest #146

TW: mentions of death and killing zombies Dear Kayla, First off, it’s important to know that you survive. That’s right, you heard it here first (or...last?) you make it out of this hellish landscape alive. No bites, no scares, no turning points. There’s a lot that I want to tell you but I’ll have to keep it short. We’re packing up to move camp soon due to another horde that’s been spotted along the eastern wall of the sanctuary. You know how these zombies get. So inconvenient. Or maybe you don’t know....

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“Dear Future Me” by Pippin Took

Submitted to Contest #146

*A/N: I just read The Fault in Our Stars...leave me alone lol.* The day she died, I knew I was a lost soul. The moment the last breath left her body, I knew that it was going to be a long time before I loved people again. The second she left, I felt a stabbing pain in my heart, and then nothing. Absolutely nothing. *** I graduated high school with straight A's, even though I never studied for tests. Even though I spent all my after school time with her, running in grassy fields until dusk. After she was gone, I lived life in dull c...

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“Dear Me; It'll Be Okay” by Khloe Briglio

Submitted to Contest #146

Dear Me, It’ll be okay. I know it doesn’t feel like it now, but everything will work out how it’s supposed to. As much as I (you?) hate to admit it, Mom was right on that account. The one constant in life is that nothing ever stays the same. Change is the companion who stays by your side throughout. You will never be the person you were yesterday, and you won’t be who you are today, tomorrow. So, breathe. Sit down. Meditate, if you need it. Listen to everything I’m about to tell you, because everything you’re doing, an...

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“Time Capsule Best Left Burried” by Murray Burns

Submitted to Contest #146

Time Capsule Best Left BurriedLike many children, I was saddled early in life with the burden of “great potential”. The label was first affixed by my presumably well-intentioned father, and later driven deep into my brain by a battery of optimistic educators. Due to the recent chance discovery of an old 10th Grade English assignment, I am now well positioned to evaluate how my actual performance in life stacks up against youthful aspirations.Miss Pischke was an innovator. Her assignment: Write a letter to yourself to be opened in the&n...

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“One Corinthians Thirteen” by Deylight Writer

Submitted to Contest #146

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 1st Corinthians 13, The Bible. I was making up the bed the other day and I remembered how when we were first together we did that together. Just the little things like that about you made me even crazier for you. I wondered what ha...

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“No one’s Princess and everyone’s hero.” by Shebana Fakira

Submitted to Contest #146

Dear Princess, Yes, I am speaking to you, the girl who was no one's princess. The one who on a good day was invisible, and on the bad days you were noticed. You felt the purpose of your very existence was to be used to satisfy their anger, lust, wicked desires...the object of their unhappiness. Right now, you think pain is our life and if we learn to control it things would be better. In your mind if you hurt yourself before they hurt you, their hurt would be less painful. This is when you started to burn yourself wit...

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“Radiant Reality” by Sherri Moorer

Submitted to Contest #146

I didn’t think it would end this way. I thought the ability to transcend space and time would elevate humanity to a new level of existence. Now, everything is ending. I don’t know where this message will find me. Perhaps there’s a version of me in these nexus points of reality with the wisdom to learn from these mistakes. Unfortunately, I cannot see the potential of each version of myself. There are countless branches forming the tree of existence that continues to expand from every decision made. It is the balance of reality. It gi...

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“Stranded” by Mary Louise Sammut

Submitted to Contest #146

Stranded The sun is aggressively melting all that is around this ashen landscape which makes my bed today. A breeze blows through the ragged trees and dry twigs shoot from the ground bending to and fro. I’m all alone. Afraid of what may happen in the next hours I decide to hum to myself so I don’t fall asleep and miss an opportunity to be found. Instead of a warm soft bed to rest after the fight, I lay in the hard rocky dirt with little vegetation to shade me from this torturing sun. I’...

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“A Future Ghost” by Rosemary Erickson

Submitted to Contest #146

Dear Past Self, There is a ghost in your life, or more accurately my current life, which is just your future life, and I’m going to try and give you all the instructions I can to keep it out. To keep this ghost from coming in the first place. I don’t know where it came from, so I’ve been carefully compiling a list of all the maybe-ghosts who would want to haunt me, and I think if you are able to follow my instructions, there will be no future ghost. There is a graveyard in the middle of the New Mexico desert where grandma is buried. ...

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“Get Well Soon” by John K Adams

Submitted to Contest #146

Dylan lay in the hospital bed, semi-conscious and in pain. The memory of the purse with a brass clasp hurtling into his face kept flashing in his mind’s eye. ‘Brick? No brick? You decide…’ He still had his teeth. They would release him today. A nurse came to check his vitals. She handed him an envelope from the bedside tray. “This is yours.” “What is it?” “A get well card?” ‘Purse…’ He flipped the envelope onto his lap. ‘Just what I need, badly rhymed platitudes.’ The nurse said, “We’re releasing you. Do you have someone to drive you?” “I’...

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“Past. Present. Future.” by Eric Falvey

Submitted to Contest #146

*TW Language. Depression. Suicidal Ideation. Depression.To: PASTSubject: FUCK YOUSender: PRESENTCC: FUTUREI am writing this letter from a place of anger and disgust. I am enraged when I think about just how much you have robbed from me. I get even more incensed when I realize that you never cared. You never factored me into your decision-making at all. You seemed to just run roughshod over everything in front of you, without any sort of cognitive consideration at all. Who I was to you then, was just fiction. It was clear that you never belie...

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Write from the point of view of a character writing a letter to their past or future self.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 70 stories

“All the Things You Cannot Yet See” by Zack Powell

“To Whom It May Concern” by Thom With An H

“FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, JUST DO IT” by Brandi Yetzer

“Whatever You Do Don't Write it Down” by Kevin Marlow

“We Will Survive” by Simrin Dhillon

“Dear Future Me” by Pippin Took

“Dear Me; It'll Be Okay” by Khloe Briglio

“Time Capsule Best Left Burried” by Murray Burns

“One Corinthians Thirteen” by Deylight Writer

“No one’s Princess and everyone’s hero.” by Shebana Fakira

“Radiant Reality” by Sherri Moorer

“Stranded” by Mary Louise Sammut

“A Future Ghost” by Rosemary Erickson

“Get Well Soon” by John K Adams

“Past. Present. Future.” by Eric Falvey

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a character attempting to meditate or do something mindfully.

Set your story in an unlikely sanctuary.

Write about a character discovering a surprising strength in either themself or another.

Start your story during a team building exercise.

Contest #146

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

215

Contest entries

134

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: