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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 – 244 stories

Write about a character with an unassailable moral compass.

Character – 34 stories

Write a story about someone losing faith in an institution.

Angst – 120 stories

Write about a mysterious figure in one’s neighborhood.

Horror – 205 stories

Stories

“The Fallen Star” by Tangled Lassie

Submitted to Contest #102

I caressed my cheek to wipe the fall. The glistening drops of tears fall like a cascade in an enchanted forest. It looks painfully beautiful. I looked up preferably, dreaming to witness the alluring beauty of the atmosphere.The sky is so tragically glamorous. The somber lacquer of the sky with its gleaming light would fascinate everyone’s mind aesthetically, but no matter how bewitching it is, it still is the gravestone of the stars. The pastel shades coated in the sky with glistening diamonds would enchant humans but it brought throb i...

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“Mother” by Jessica Adams

Submitted to Contest #102

Because we are creatures of habit; Sam watches her mother paint her nails.Green. Like a dirty lake. Where summer goes to stagnate. To rest in a grave of moss, and murky water. In the deep, where the light can’t reach. Where the plants are pale and the fish are grey. She paints her nails the same shade. Every time.Sam wrinkles her nose. The smell burns the back of her throat and tastes like soap; but she doesn’t mind. It masks the stench of her mother’s perfume: roses and rainwater. Or something like that.The chair creeks as she straightens h...

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“Christmas of 1910” by Cindy Calder

Submitted to Contest #102

“Yes, Lizzie? What was that, dear?” Lizzie’s ninety-two old grandmother, Sarah Lois, looked up at her granddaughter and asked as she sat rocking before the warmth of the fire. Her gnarled, arthritic hands were busily at work on an afghan that was to be a wedding present for Lizzie’s older sister, Suzanne, who was to be married in the spring. “Please, Grandmomma, tell us the story. You know how much we love to hear it!” Lizzie begged, her blue eyes full of anticipation. Her grandmother smiled and quietly placed the crochet needles and afghan ...

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“Mendez'” by Fletcher Al

Submitted to Contest #102

“Fishes know when to blink, but scales alone can never swim. Birds know when to smile but feathers alone can never fly. Always, always thank the heavens for being a synecdoche.”“What’s he talking about?”, little Jen whispered to Anton.“I don’t know, either”, little Anton whispered back to Jen, albeit airier.Mr. Aurora Bernard bowed and left the podium. Applause slowly filled the small hall. As enthused the children have become during Recognition Day, nothing else is more exciting than eating again at their favorite restaurants in the city. F...

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“Human Nature” by Scarlet Scribe

Submitted to Contest #102

Tempskya is a true and natural child of the soil. Gaia is her mother. She is not a cultivated weed of the ancients worshiping non-existent gods because she is older than these humans. She is aware that human nature is disorderly but she refuses to accept it cannot change. Humankind continues to destroy the very earth that has nurtured it for millennia. It is time the planet protects itself before its very existence is no more. She began to send messages far and wide to every living thing through Gaia. Her words of warning reached every plant...

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“Finding Yourself” by Virginia Parker

Submitted to Contest #102

Outside snow comes down heavily through the dark. Falling gracefully down, its slow dance-like descent only made visible by the orange light of the streetlamps that permeated the night. Inside an office building a man is finishing up his work. He glances at the clock to see that both the needles are facing the ceiling; midnight 12:00 “Guess it's Sunday now.” He says out loud to himself. He’s the last one there. He turns off the computer and picks up the folders of paper he'll be taking home with him and puts them into his briefcase. “It's a ...

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“Worlds apart” by Fiery Red

Submitted to Contest #102

I dash across the street, half panting and hand raised — a gesture for the bus-man to stop. The bus makes a great screech and comes to a halt a little beyond the depot, the passengers lurching forward muttering under their breath. I push through the door and sandwich myself between the angry horde. The bus is packed till the hilt; the passengers stand like figurines none changing their posture. The only disturbance comes when the bus stops for the passengers to get down. My stop comes after about an hour and a half’s ride. I jump down the bu...

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“The Lost Alpha” by Athena Ember Antigone

Submitted to Contest #102

"Anna hurry up, we're going to be late!" Sall yells. "I'm coming, geez," I yell back. "I don't like that tone, Missie," she says as I run down the stairs. She's already at the door holding it open. Her black veil is blowing in the cold autumn breeze, matching the pace of her dark dress. Not exactly the dress I'd choose to wear to my husband's funeral. With lase more for decoration than coverage. But what do I care, it's not like she does. Out the door, I see the strange-looking figure that has been following me my whole life. Once he s...

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“That Is The Way It Is ” by Philip Ebuluofor

Submitted to Contest #102

Yesterday evening, I got an email from the FDDC the body responsible for economic and financial crime in the country. I have been contacting them since one year now, asking me to reapply for the recovery of the tuition fee I paid to a school in London. In the mail, I was asked to follow application format as if I am in the exam hall taking examination. I just knew what that nonsense instruction means, they were looking tor excuse not to attend to me or one for not contacting me since one year now. Then they ended their diatribe that ...

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“Honor Court ” by Meta M Griffin

Submitted to Contest #102

Honor Court Summer tried to think of the author who wrote a half truth was the worse kind of deception. She re read the quote someone had scribbled in her note book. “Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it, so that when men come to be undeceived, it is too late; the jest is over, and the tale hath had its effect: like a man, who hath thought of a good repartee when the discourse is changed, or the company parted; or like a physician, who hath found out an infallible medicine, after the patient is dead,’ Jonathan Swift. Who ...

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“The Man Across the Street” by Phoebe DeNeve

Submitted to Contest #102

"Why does that man look sad?" I've been asking that question to my friends and family since the man moved to the neighborhood when I was 12. The answer for the question was always the same: "Some people are just sad, Amy." However, no matter how many times I was told that, the answer wasn't enough for me, so I kept asking. I would sit on the book-nook, and peer out the window, trying to catch a glimpse of our neighbor as he walked down the side-walk. The only thing I knew about him was that his name was Mr. Parker. No one else knew much abou...

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“The Hidden” by Nora Sheppard

Submitted to Contest #102

"Why won't you marry me?" "I'm 17, Peter. There are things I want to do before I get married." "Other girls marry at your age, Karin. Don't you love me?" I was an old argument. It seemed to come up every few weeks nowadays. Maybe Warsaw, Poland in 1941 made the young feel they had to hurry with life. Karin's brother, Alex, and his friends already had been declared "ethnic Germans" and drafted to fight with the Nazis. Peter, at 23, was considered a cripple; a childhood injury left him with a limp. He wouldn't be a soldier, but they coul...

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“Lobby” by Manan Suraiya

Submitted to Contest #102

“Bollocks,” exclaimed Beldo, brushing his hand aside. Everyone in the Grand Hall stared daggers at him. The spectacled officer sitting opposite the glass desk frowned.“Mr. Beldo, you are advised to keep your volume down.”White light bathed the marble walls and floor of the room. The soft wisps of mist floating in the room appeared like halos in the glow. Though the room was bright, there was a notable lack of wind. Beldo pulled his tie loose and sighed.“Why can’t we have air-conditioning, Mr. Mace?”Mace peered at him curiously. “Are you seri...

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“Jokes on them ” by TomfliXA Ng’ang’a

Submitted to Contest #102

A stream. Clear water. The laughing hills. Not literally but almost there. Mummy’s and daddy’s mansion at the foot of the hills. The small balcony to the west. Facing a small lake that had no fish. Not a single one. What a wasteland of water if there’s anything like that. My huge room. The ugly expensive chandelier hanging solemnly on the gold painted ceiling. The huge lifeless window. I stood there always lonely. The disgusting king size bed. I didn’t like it at all. Not one bit. I hated it like fuck a guy bad. An organdy oriental rug...

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“Full-Service Saviour” by Jamie Smith

Submitted to Contest #102

John Ryan wasn't a religious man. That's not to say he didn't believe; he just hadn't had any favors in that area that would make him be an active practitioner. No, he believed in God; his dear momma had been faithful to the Lord, going to church every day that service was held, and she instilled that belief in his soul. He knew the Lord was there. He just didn't acknowledge it. When he was a small boy, he went with his mother to that church, dressed in his Sunday best and excited to lean about the man his momma loved so much. He spent...

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$50

Prize money

712

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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