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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#105: Gaining Perspective

Selecting which point of view to tell their story from is one of the most crucial choices an author can make. Whether you opt for the intimacy of first person (“I”), the directness of second person (“you”), or the versatility of third person (“they”), this decision is critically important in creating a story that resonates with readers. Identifying your POV characters is also of the utmost importance: a story might actually be more interesting when told not from the perspective of the action hero, but through the eyes of their overshadowed, long-suffering sidekick.

With this week’s prompts, I’d like you to consider your choice of perspective, and maybe try something new! Put yourself into the shoes of an unexpected character — or ask your character to consider another’s point of view. How meta!

Like I mentioned, we’re currently working on some big changes to Prompts. With that in mind, we’re asking again for you to submit your stories 24 hours earlier than usual, to make those changes possible. The deadline for submitting a story to this week’s contest is 11:59PM EST on Thursday, August 5th. Stay tuned!

This week's prompts

Write a story from the point of view of three different characters.

Character – 190 stories

Write about a person trying to see something from another’s point of view.

Nonfiction – 92 stories

Write your story from the perspective of a side character.

Character – 143 stories

Write a story that switches between first person and third person point of view.

Kids – 100 stories

Write about a character who can suddenly see through another person's eyes — literally.

Adventure – 131 stories

Stories

“The Bread Aisle” by Harlow Jones

Submitted to Contest #105

“Hi, I’m Taylor. It’s nice to meet you. Too boring. I’m Taylor. It’s nice to meet me. Too cocky.” Taylor turned around and grabbed two more loaves of bread and nestled them in their spots on the shelf. “Hi, I’m Taylor. Are you ready for the best date of your life? Too desperate.” He looked at his watch. His boss said he could leave once he finished stocking the bread. He had two boxes and twenty minutes left. Things were looking good. “Johnny, will you stop for a second and listen to me?” “I am listening.” Taylor looked over his shoulder ...

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“Mother's Instinct” by Bhaswati Bose

Submitted to Contest #105

The phone call comes just after I put the cake in the oven. My heart beats in tandem with the buzzing, hard and demanding. I know the ring tone playing- a silly song Ruby chose, smirking. "This way you'll always know it's me." I put the phone to my ears, wishing it wasn't her. Her calls always mean one thing- danger. Not mine. Hers. "Hey ma." My daughter's voice comes in, panting. She just breathes into the mic for a while, catching her breath from what I know is probably chasing her. "Prophecy stuff. I'll be a bit... late for lunch...

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“From the Other Side of the Bar” by Ashton Newland

Submitted to Contest #105

We met for the first time when I came crashing through a glass window. Well, we didn’t really meet, I saw him, but he was talking with his friends. That is ok. Going unnoticed is my role, my gig, or my trademark you can say. I am a side character, not the protagonist, which means I slide under the radar to help those that need guiding. Back to him though, his patterns are basically the same each day. He grabs a tea, goes to work, takes a lunch break and sometimes follows his legs into the corner bookstore where a book is always purchased, he...

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“A Sideview on Love” by Anna Wood

Submitted to Contest #105

I was still stuck in the time when we were running through the rain, laughing, as I awkwardly stumbled on the sidewalk. That was the day that the rain smelt like lavender, as I watched, you smiled and ran, a new feeling arose in me. I would go home and question the feeling, as I only felt it around you. It felt as if I were safe, calm, and fulfilled. When you left I would get tingling feelings of this tenderness in my heart, is that why the rain smelled like flowers around you? In school, I would be one of the few to sit in the bac...

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“Butterflies” by Arnetta Freeman

Submitted to Contest #105

Butterflies by A.L. Freeman “Hey Babe, wassup.” (It was more of a statement than a question.) Kevin walks into the room and greets me like nothing ever happened, closing the front door behind him. “Hey,” I say softly, lowering my head, until he comes over to the couch where I am sitting and takes a kneel, grabs ahold of my chin with his fingertips and lifts it upward gently to meet him face to face. I still couldn’t look at him directly. He might take it as a sign of disrespect and we’ll start the process all ...

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“Stardust” by Moonlark S.

Submitted to Contest #105

Stardust: The purest of all elements; the life force. The only thing keeping me alive. *** {Narrator} The world is made up of stardust. It is the blood in the veins of the universe. It is also nearly completely depleted. Exhausted. *** I am the only remaining source of stardust. The only souvenir of the Ancients’ War. *** {Narrator} The Ancients’ War was eons ago, centuries of light years past. The war started when the oligarchs began to confiscate the bottles of stardust, the most important medicine on Baex. The world descended into chaos...

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“The Articles” by Chiara P

Submitted to Contest #105

Life Before - Samuel Eglebert's Flatmate Interviewed7th of December 2020Oxane was interviewed by Louis Gaubert about an incident concerning Samuel E., with whom she shared an apartament. Before revealing what occurred, some information relating to his background was relayed to the interview in order to paint a clearer picture. Oxane: I used to go to school everyday with him. We cycled side by side on the thin bicycle path, pedalling furiously against the whistling wind or sweating profusely under the sun, our sticky clothes heavy on our skin...

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“Liberty in chains” by Shrutika Tiwari

Submitted to Contest #105

Fear. The concept of fear was way too familiar for me given the fact that it was all I knew in my teen years. Being an independent woman of twenty three with a secure job, associate degrees in both technical and creative writing, a place to live, clothes of my own to wear and so on- all of this does nothing to dissipate the fear that still lingers; the fear I carried with me ever since her death. The system failed us, but no surprise there. It often does in a world this big and people too fake. He was a good actor. Referring to him in past t...

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“Smile” by Leeav Quaoar

Submitted to Contest #105

CW: murder, suicideShe looked around her surroundings, the darkness bathing her in paranoia. Each footstep she took vibrated up to her ears, competing with the loudness of her heartbeat, thudding voraciously in her chest.She walked along the sidewalk. On her right side sat a fenced forest, left side a road, and beyond the road stood a long wall that went all way to the neighborhood. Once she got there, she was a free woman. The cat prowled along the long wall, looking at her, and it gave her a start. Then it jumped inside the walled depot.Sh...

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“LUST FOR LOVE ” by Neel Anil Panicker

Submitted to Contest #105

tw:suicideRoy says, girls are untrustworthy creatures. He takes another swig of the beer. "Wouldn't it be great if there was a God that punishes people who break promises?"Yeah, sure man, I respond. That would be great. This world is full of folks who violate others' feelings, breach others' faith. I mean, just look around us_ politicians, rulers, bureaucrats, sellers, marketeers, firms, companies...all stand gulty. And if God were to get busy and set them right, put them in their places, punish them for all their umpteen acts of commission ...

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“It's a Curse!” by Carisse Villarama

Submitted to Contest #105

“Who's that girl?” I asked a seatmate at my 3 o'clock while pointing at the pretty girl who was confidently sitting at my best friend's chair. Huh! The nerve of that girl to sit there, was she a transferee? That was quite impossible, knowing that we were currently in the middle of stressful finals. “We have the same reaction when I entered this room, I first thought that I'm just too stressed not to notice that I was entering the wrong room, but I wasn't! That girl is our classmate, particularly your best friend!” I might look so overr...

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“The Lightness of Friendship” by Gerald Daniels

Submitted to Contest #105

Chris. I didn't want to take Mikey but I owed him and we both knew that. At the end of the day it all boiled down to the fact that he was depressed and depressed people aren't the best company on a weekend away. I would liked to have gone with anyone else but him, but it was too late now to go back on my word as he'd already booked us a couple of rooms in a hotel, and I'd made a promise. ...

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“I Spy A Spy” by Lennox Ducksworth

Submitted to Contest #105

The familiar tingling in the base of his skull made Duncan sigh as he left the soothing waves of unconsciousness and awakened in the conscious world. He turned his phone alarm off and sighed as he quickly left his comfortable bed and headed to the bathroom. He stopped. He searched around his room, darting back and forth. He quickly shut the door to his bathroom then stared in the mirror. “What the-” He searched the empty space again. His curiosity grew as he brushed his teeth, put on his deodorant, clothes, then made it out of his roo...

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“Sweethearts” by Sarah Duffey

Submitted to Contest #105

It was the last day of my life. I was a little piece on the Candy Land board. Around me were colors I didn’t know existed. I followed the signs along the path haphazardly, gaping at the sweet landmarks. There was a snowfield with giant candy canes rising out of it. I swung on the red and white stripes and didn’t need to stop and rest. I never really liked peppermint but licked my hands when I was done. I jumped the spaces on the board until I got to the river of fudge. I dipped my toes in first to, naturally, gauge the temperature. Then I s...

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“From This Side of the Bar” by Ashton Newland

Submitted to Contest #105

It is just after 5 o’clock on an early Friday evening and Felix walks out of his office building. He is greeted by the usual traffic of the Friday commute, but nothing can break his mood. He is looking forward to reading a book, having a beer, and hanging out with his dog. Oh, wait, he may have forgotten about this part. Either way it is warm out, but not too warm to his delight. He sticks the two flexible plastic bits into each of his ears and turns on the current audiobook, “People of the Underground”. There have been times that this book ...

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$50

Prize money

661

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Aug 05, 2021 EST

Won by Vi Bisky 🏆

Title: The Next Good Day

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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