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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 – 191 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

“I Hate Myself” by Eve Y

Submitted to Contest #105

August 23, 2020 I hate him. I hate him right now more than I’ve hated anything in my life. I hate him to the core. Today, like every single day in my life, I fought with Nathan, who, by the way, is an absolute asshole. He came home at 8:00 PM, late as usual, missing dinner, as usual. To be honest, by now, I’m used to this crap that he pulls, but today was different, today was Mikey’s birthday, and he came home late. I lost it. I completely flipped out at him, screamed, yelled, and cried, asking him why he was never home for di...

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“The way we handled it” by Scott Skinner

Submitted to Contest #105

"Whistle fart." "What?" "Yea. I thought I had to go, so I sat on the toilet and tried, but instead of anything coming out, it was just whistling." "What?" "Yea, like a mellow breeze." "Why are you telling me this?" My wife doesn't like my jokes. She used to when we were younger, and she was trying to lock me down, but now it's not the same. Humor takes vulnerability; I'm out here talking about how my butt shoots air - really going for the laugh - and she doesn't even crack a smile. Maybe my humor's too blue, but...

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“Just A Bird's Eye View” by Miss Maggie Maria

Submitted to Contest #105

To start my story off- I would like to introduce myself as the character that will be attempted to be seen in a perspective of a person that is unaware of my thoughts and feelings. (But of course- they know best, right?) The two characters do not mesh well- one is Taurus and myself - well I am a Leo. I must say- those two zodiac signs; do not get along.Moving forward - I will go over a short back story to show you a small peek into my life. Not a very miserable one; it could always be worse!But- as a trauma victim (sexually, physically and e...

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“The Gunfight” by Bob E

Submitted to Contest #105

TW: Gun violenceThe car park was dark and something less than half full and the wind blew strongly through the unprotected concrete. It was icy. The weather was turning. Johnny pulled his coat tighter and kept walking. He could hear sirens, faintly, in the distance, and tried to place exactly where they were. Suddenly, there was an engine roar. Johnny turned to meet the oncoming headlights and lowered his head to cut out the beam, thrusting his hands into his coat. He pulled and levelled h...

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“Chipilly Ridge, 1918” by Michael Martin

Submitted to Contest #105

Note: this is based on the true events of August 9th, 1919, in Chipilly, France.*****“Medic! Medic! LT’s down, get your ass over here!”Despite the constant drumroll of machine gun rounds zipping over our heads, I heard the call loud and clear. I looked over to the section of the hastily dug trench where Lieutenant Johnson was barking out orders from just moments before. The only things visible were the fresh speckles of blood and brains on the greyish brown dirt that formed the back wall of his trench.The platoon commander was gone. Our...

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“A Tale Told by Broken Creatures” by Leo Greer 🦅 🕶

Submitted to Contest #105

The snow was gentle on that day. It fell to the ground in lazy spirals, blown about by the remnants of the wind. There had been a tempest last night, but today only a quiet whisper blew through the high peaks of the Tierra Denai. Cold wind. Hard stone. The roar of avalanches and of storms. These were all that the Traveler had known since he’d begun his journey, for it was a dark world. Paths were few, roads fewer. If many traveled, so did many fall prey to robbers and thieves. Yes, the world was a violent place. A place in which the Travele...

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“Sleepy Hallow, New York” by Kira Krieger

Submitted to Contest #105

All you could hear was the faint sound of someone breathing. I kept trying to have the courage to go through, or at least to stop shaking, but that moment never came. Maybe I should start from the beginning. It was October when we got to New York, it has been a long time since we left California to get away from mom’s obsessed ex-boyfriend. But I have to say, it’s been fun meeting the new people and the new cultures in the thirty-plus states we’ve been in since this whole ordeal started. I have no complaints. But getting back to my story, it...

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“Therapy” by Francis Daisy

Submitted to Contest #105

Warning: language! I can edit out if needed!“Can you get me a peach pill? And you might as well get me the white one too. Grab the nitro paste while you’re in there, I’m gonna need it,” Callum says, “Don’t know what this therapy is supposed to be about anyway.” He can already feel his blood pressure rising. Maybe he should also take an extra orange pill too, just in case? Why not, he’s already taken a whole rainbow this morning.Blythe walks back into the kitchen with the pills, nitro paste and patches, and blood pressure cuff. “We tried...

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“The Desk” by Bob E

Submitted to Contest #105

TW: DeathI guess everything was slightly off from the start. Or maybe hindsight overrides the truth. If you choose to, you can see these things clearly when you spend all of your time behind the desk. You can watch things. You can learn to see them, not just look at them. More than that, though, you can learn to seem like you see nothing. Even more than that, you learn not to get involved. That’s m...

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“Hidden” by Kira Krieger

Submitted to Contest #105

With all that has happened these past few months, my life has been the public announcement of a town crier. It’s quite daunting when I think about it. It’s scary living in a glass box. Tessa was the only way I made it through. She’s an open book. Didn’t believe in keeping secrets of her own. Whenever I was blue, she would regale me of a story about her childhood or her fiance or things the boys did before I came. Merlin was limited with his stories. All of them - the few he shared - were before the age of ten and after he went to Camel...

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“SOAR” by Rodrigo Juatco

Submitted to Contest #105

The simple sounds people make, during their day to day lives, tell a tale. Each sound speaks volumes about the activities people are performing; it reflects their mood, their state of mind, and even their relationship towards one another. And so, the story being told about a family of three—a Father, a Mother, and their young daughter—is indicative to what is heard at that moment: the humming of a running engine on cruise control; the jostling and clunking noises made by a vehicle as it speeds down a road; and wind whistling through a partly...

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“Sidekick” by Kyler Mattoon

Submitted to Contest #105

I am a sidekick. I am not the main event, nor am I very skilled in combat. I am there for support, and most of the time I just stand on the sidelines watching. Sometimes I even cheer. I get caught up in the moment, you know? And support is important, as heroes are very fragile, like children. They are very strong children, but they need to be praised and pushed all the time. Most of them couldn’t do it on their own, I think. So that’s where I come in. I am a sidekick. I am there to help the hero up as they fall, pull them out of danger in t...

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“Recur 27 Syndrome” by Andrea Magee

Submitted to Contest #105

Every Tuesday at exactly 2:11 p.m. I die for 14 minutes. I die the exact same way every Tuesday. Of course, it took me several times of dying before I realized what was happening to me. Just like the Tom Cruise movie 'Day After Tomorrow'. I've died at work, at the bank, the dentist, and on the bus to name a few places. I've gotten used to it now. I am able to schedule my death in my list of 'to do' things for Tuesdays.The first time it happened though was insane. I was standing in line at Starbucks. There were 3 caffeine depen...

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“Papa” by Phil Manders

Submitted to Contest #105

“Papa,” whispered Tilly. “Papa, I want us to sit near the front so we can see everything that's happening. Can we do that, Papa? Can we do that?” Tilly’s shiny new shoes squeaked on the stone floor, sending echoes up to the rafters. It felt like everyone was looking. Instinctively, she reached up and held on tightly to Papa’s hand, hiding her face in his trousers. Giving her hand three gentle squeezes, Papa made his way to the front of the church. Tilly smiled. "I love you too, Papa." “Tilly, we are V.I.P Guests. I’ve had them reserve a spec...

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“Living Through You” by Stephanie O'Brien

Submitted to Contest #105

When they put the crowns on our heads, they said I would live through you. Even though the Stillness had killed my mind’s connection to my body, leaving me silent and paralyzed in my quarantine room, it didn’t have to kill my connection with my twin. The mechanical crowns would sustain it. My eyes were blind, but I’d see what you saw. My body was numb, but I’d feel through your skin. I’d smell through your nose, taste our favorite foods with your tongue, and through your ears, I would hear something other than the tubes and machines that k...

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$50

Prize money

662

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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