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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#102: To Kill a Mockingbird

This Sunday (July 11th) marks sixty-one years since To Kill A Mockingbird was first published. For over six decades now, Harper Lee’s groundbreaking Great American Novel has been taught in schools, stocked by the dozens in bookstores, and devoured by adults and children alike. And despite its age, many of its themes remain deeply relevant today: the damage done by judgment and discrimination, the loss of innocence as one grows up, and the vital importance of standing up for what’s right — even when everyone else is against you.

To commemorate this classic, this week’s prompts are inspired by its characters, plot devices, and most enduring lessons. Whether To Kill a Mockingbird is a distant English-class memory or your favorite book of all time, these prompts are sure to spark a few story ideas — one of which may even lead to your own literary masterpiece.

This week's prompts

Start your story with a metaphor about human nature.

Fiction – 109 stories

Frame your story as an adult recalling the events of their childhood.

Adults – 243 stories

Write about a character with an unassailable moral compass.

Character – 34 stories

Write a story about someone losing faith in an institution.

Angst – 119 stories

Write about a mysterious figure in one’s neighborhood.

Horror – 205 stories

Stories

“The Dead Shall Rise” by Poweful Music

Submitted to Contest #102

Please, tell me more about that night. What really happened?"...Serenity disguises. In the silence of a cemetery and harmony like a united people, grows tall and green grasses petting snakes; lifeless but not dead. They talk to each other and we hear. But we mustn't allow them to utter in our listening. We mustn't keep schtum when we hear their hisses.I didn't like visiting the countryside; pretentious relatives, no service or network for days; unreliable solar electricity-- full-blown boredom. So when my parents peacock proud announced that...

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“Program Fluffy activated” by Clinton Siegle

Submitted to Contest #102

The year?I suppose it depends on which Space Time timeline you are on. Reagan or Nixon was president.The objective? To defeat the coming UFOs? Or giants? Or demons? Seemed viable.However, it was not. Mine. This reality is not mine.I was aide-de-camp for three of the last of the ten generals. Laughter. To think they thought they could defeat heaven or UFOs whichever you prefer.What is heaven? It is a Dyson sphere that has been held back by satellites for well that is hard to say. You see, each spin of earth’s plural meaning many the multivers...

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“Princess Justice...more like Princess Stupid.” by Penny Polendina

Submitted to Contest #102

Sometimes, bad things just happen. Sometimes, dreams will never rise. Some lives end much too soon. Some evil will never ever die. Not all wars end in peace. Not all heroes choose the right side. The world is not a happy place. There are hardships and struggles. Every now and then, every day just feels like another day of torture. But people move forward, keep on going with their lives and do everything they can...

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“The Librarian's Court” by Jenny Grinwis

Submitted to Contest #102

The Librarian’s Court – a mostly true; short-story by Jenny Grinwis Library-Mary was no Atticus Finch. She wasn’t – not if you mean that she spent her time shooting rabid dogs and being the moral defender of the Boo Radleys and Tom Robinsons of this world. No, she wasn’t Atticus Finch in that kind of sense. Mary was the moral defender of the library. One day, as a newcomer to our small town, I waited patiently to enroll myself and my four children to the self-same library, while Mary, on the other side of the book-returns counter was g...

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“The Final Fragment” by Neri Sompanos

Submitted to Contest #102

"...It will be held in three days, so you all may be excused from your jobs and responsibilities until afterward," the royal herald finished from his long speech about Maxith, who was the rightful heir to the throne after his mother and father succumbed to the darkness. Maxith was known for his charity work and kindness to everyone in the kingdom that he ruled over and beyond. Or at least... he had been kind. I didn't know what to believe after a set of horrible tricks were played on me and my family. I didn't know if I trust...

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“Nowhere really changes.” by Annabel Anniebelleapara@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #102

“Not everything remains the same” I say staring outside the rain-stained glass window, as the rain fell drumming in perfect rhythm, and I talked to no one in particular. “What?” I heard behind me as I stared into the cold blue eyes of the nun. “I was just talking to myself” I say quietly but loud enough so I know she could hear me. “You know what I always say child?” She asked with that mischievous smirk she always wore on her thin lips. “What?” I asked politely as I tried not to look at her dry, stony face while I also avoided any punishme...

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“Guardians Across the Sea” by Opal Knight

Submitted to Contest #102

***Warning, people do die. *** We were told to stay calm. To ignore the waves as the beasts rose from the depths and pummelled into each other. As they hammered against the waters for days. Fluctuations of their fight caused the waves to upsurge and crush our homes. Finally, one fell, the blue waves embracing it and tugging it down further than we had ever gone, down from whence it came. We thought that was the end. We were told it was over. Told we could rebuild the houses battered by the waves and so we did. We tore down trees to fix w...

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“Tuition” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #102

I know Marcella couldn’t pay the tuition this month, but we have every reason to believe she’s good for it. I know with Stephen, it was slightly difficult, because he was already a few months behind, and we were giving him a lot of leeway, and I know that was a controversial decision for the school board and the, uh, the people in charge of the decisions to, uh, make--I know that. But this isn’t that. Marcella is behind one month, but her mother recently got another job at the flea market helping to set up the various stands and she assigns ...

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“Theaterland” by E Moss

Submitted to Contest #102

CW: self-harm, strong language “If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.”–attributed to W.C. Fields Belief, however nebulous, is a truth only cogent enough to serve those who would make the absence of that what is unthinkable to all but themselves. ** Let the viewer understand that this fictitious staging, this gamiture, is only one’s plight who is to be sentenced in that denatured assiduousness for relinquishing themselves to be insubordinate celebrants who think themselves burlesque tragedians, but grew t...

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“When they came. ” by Sarah Swan

Submitted to Contest #102

They told us that they would protect us all. That we would be safe from the upcoming war. They gave us hope and we gave them our trust, our lives, our hearts. But they lied and soon we will all die.We knew the war was coming if you could call it a war. It was broadcasted everywhere around the world on the 14th of April 2022. Every screen, every country, in every language. The New Ones were coming, and they would slay us all. There would be no hope for humanity, no one would survive. We would all perish on the 26th of September 2022.But then ...

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“In who's name” by F.O. Morier

Submitted to Contest #102

War never brings out the good in people. Always the bad! Even after the soldiers are gone… who can tell who really won? Nobody ever wins! Not really. When the euphoria of victory, the frustrations and sense of impotence among people humiliated by their country´s occupation subsides…. all to soon everything returns to “normal”, as in moral confusion and outright hypocrisy. Leonard was in love with the most beautiful girl in the village: Camilla. She had swept him of his feet and stolen his heart. They became an official couple: in secret! ...

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“The academy's secrets” by Michelle Douges

Submitted to Contest #102

My name is Layla and I went to Elodie Academy; a magic school! We didn’t really use magic wands, not yet. By the time being we were in the trainee phase. By which we had to prepare the learner’s room, our immediate supervisors. We had to call it “prepare the learner’s room” when it was just cleaning. We would be severely told off or even punished if we didn‘t do so. In that instance we usually would be punished by the “instructors”. Nevertheless we would call the “learners” as “5th levers” despite the instructors precisely ordering us t...

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“THE FRATERNITY” by Elizabeth Adedokun

Submitted to Contest #102

Maureen is a witch.It was no news, everyone knew. Adults avoided her while children were terrified of her. Maureen lived just at the end of the street on Milk's corner. The reason for naming the street Milk's corner had been forgotten by all, but nobody would forget that Maureen was a witch. Mothers recited stories to their children. Tales of Maureen's life. How Maureen wasn't aging, how her blue tinged hair glowed in the dark and how she flew at night. Children would listen in awe, with mouths open and heart pounding. They would avoid Maure...

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“Free to choose” by Maria Johnson

Submitted to Contest #102

Author note, Trigger warning, explores emotions following a miscarriage. They say third time lucky, but as the survivor of three miscarriages I could definitely bust that particular saying. Is survivor too dramatic a word? No, I don’t feel it is. I mean, no my life hadn’t been at stake, or had it? Maybe not in a physical way, but emotionally it definitely was, as each loss had taken me closer to the brink, I often worried that each loss was erasing a little piece of me, and what would finally be left? And what of the future ...

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“Justice in Vallywall” by Sam Kelly

Submitted to Contest #102

A shadow moved and the chase began. Alec darted from his hiding place behind a battered chimney and dived forth into the night, landing like a cat and immediately springing up after his prey. His quarry – this time a rather plump halfling by the name ‘perrin’ – glanced over his shoulders, eyes wide with fear. Alec was used to this, and held no reservation in using all force necessary to uphold the councils justice. An enchanted obsidian dagger flew from his cloak, burying itself deep in the back of the halflings left Leg, its devilish enchan...

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$50

Prize money

710

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jul 16, 2021 EST

Won by Shane Ransom 🏆

Title: Favorites

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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