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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

“Can You See What I See?” by Kathleen March

Submitted to Contest #105

How much better is silence; the coffee cup, the table. How much better to sit by myself like the solitary sea-bird that opens its wings on the stake. Let me sit here forever with bare things, this coffee cup, this knife, this fork, things in themselves, myself being myself. – Virginia Wolf, The Waves “I’m indecisive because I see eight sides to everything.” – April Kepner The show has been successful, or at least tonight's opening has been. The show itself will be up for two months. It’s not the quality of the hors d...

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“The Pearl Necklace” by Blue Green

Submitted to Contest #105

JacobI lift the heavy brass knocker and announce my presence three times, rat tat tat, then step back to wait, my mind alternating between the theme for my sermon tomorrow evening and the glass of sherry which sits undrunk on the little table next to my armchair. A man of God stands in the service of his parishioners and it is his duty and pleasure to serve, I remind myself, so I push back against my feelings of irritation about being called out at such a late hour, and focus instead on what on earth could have caused Sir Charles to call me ...

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“Roses For Memories” by Sabrina -

Submitted to Contest #105

I stand in front of your grave, I’m the only one who comes to see you aren’t I? I’m the only one who recognizes your lasting impact. Your tombstone has aged quite a bit. It’s begun to crack. The tones and atmosphere of this place are dull, reminiscent of death. Perhaps it is because of the winter sky, or maybe it is because you were never fond of bright colors. Even though it is a contradiction, I place yellow roses on your grave. I caress your name that’s been etched into the surface of the granite. Memories begin to flood i...

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“All That Money” by Graham Kinross

Submitted to Contest #105

I’ve robbed a millionaire before but never a billionaire. My apartment has several perks. It’s rent-controlled, therefore cheap. The views of the city are breath-taking. The balcony has space for my aviary. It can see three ATMs directly through my telescope, all of which are far enough away that I can avoid suspicion. This morning I saw a man in a fine suit at the ATM outside the bank four blocks away. My pigeons were waiting atop lampposts nearby ready to get to work when I knew the guy’s pin. Out of his pocket came an expensive lookin...

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“First day in the college” by Spondon Ganguli

Submitted to Contest #105

They say that this world is a big stage and we all are the performer here. I also agree with it but want to add one more thing, that each scene is a one take act. Sometimes when we look into our past memories, we find many moments where we acted so immaturely out of confusion and that resulted in humiliation. One such situation I remember was my first day of my college attending the first class there. It was such an embarrassing moment but thank God it was not dragged on further. I was in fear about so many things at a time altogether tha...

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“Three in a Row” by Moon Fox

Submitted to Contest #105

Today would be the day. I, Leland Caraway, being sound of mind and body, will ask Tiffany Halls to the school dance. She’s in the drama club, but never notices me. Today will change that. Hopefully. Maybe I hate Mondays. Every week I wake up hoping to smell pancakes cooking, to hear my dad laughing with my brothers. But I don’t. I wake up remembering that dad’s away, off in some foreign country. I miss him a lot. So Mondays suck. At least I have drama. She stood me up! That was the thought that struck my mind. My bestest friend in all of...

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“Lessons from TCU (The Corner University)” by Andrea Magee

Submitted to Contest #105

Me, Boodle, Dirty Money, Mongrel, Fatback and Rocket Man, were all chilling on the corner of Kerr and 9th Blvd. Rocket Man was on the phone talking to Dollarz; telling him that the new foot soldiers better be ready by Thursday afternoon. A fly shorty wearing a green and yellow Allen Iverson basketball jersey, black Nike leggings, and a pair of Dark Mocha Jordan 1 Retro's, came walking up and says she's looking for somebody."Hey which one of you is rocket man?" shorty asked."Who wants to know?" I say."I don't have time for games. I need to kn...

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“Extra-Ordinary” by Jillian Oakes

Submitted to Contest #105

Dear Diary, Why are heroes so destructive, and why is insurance so hard to get these days? I feel like the two are connected. Seriously though, it’s frustrating. While they fly around, smashing into buildings, throwing away bystanders' lives like worthless trash, the rest of us are left with physical and financial reminders of our average-ness. Yeah, I get it, Spectacular-Man. You can shoot lasers from your eyes and I can’t. Did you really have to slice my aunt’s car in half, though? Was that really necessary? My mom suggested I start ...

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“After We're Done Talking About the Wicked Witch” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #105

Well, now that she’s gone, can we please get back to the matter at hand? I know that was a fun bit of excitement, but we were trying to have a meeting before that house landed. The next thing you know, we have a dead witch, and a girl from Kansas, and another witch, and now half the day is gone. More than half the day. Two thirds of the day is completely gone, and we still haven’t decided whether or not we’re going to build a new courthouse. Oh, I can hear you now. Millicent P. Freybopper, there are bigger things to worry about than a ...

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“Three Faces Have I” by Kathleen March

Submitted to Contest #105

I pretend that I'm carefreeBut what am II pretend that I'm carefreeBut I'm living a lieTwo faces have IOne to laugh and one to cryTwo faces have IOne to laugh and one to cry ~ Lou Christie1.We haven't spoken for over five decades. You hurt me terribly because you did what you did and just walked away. Just walked away.I don't want to tell anybody what you did, so we'll just keep that between us. (Don't worry. I can keep a secret, even if it kills me.) I don't want you to apologize, either, so please don't bother. Please don't. Moo...

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“I and You Are We” by Kathleen March

Submitted to Contest #105

Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight Come out tonight, come out tonight Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight And dance by the light of the moon (Old minstrel song, perhaps) Pilar and Lavinia are in O Toural, a central yet free-flowing litttle plaza in Santiago de Compostela. They have been discussing the new film coming to Numax and how they ought to go because it's had great reviews. "I hear the actors aren't professionals. They all come from the rural area where it was filmed. That creates an impact." Lavinia says, and knows ...

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“Siblings” by Melody Frost

Submitted to Contest #105

Help. My mom never asked me to help her out. "You don't have to, Michael. The best help you can do as a son for me is to study and make me proud," she said with her deep brown eyes that showed the warmth of an everlasting hearth as if they were the wood that could burn with golden flame yet be forever perfectly entire. Maybe if I had given her a hand and ignored her only request, she wouldn't have passed away like that. She wouldn't have suicided. She wouldn't have left my sisters and me alone. I did try to open her heart so that...

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“En Mission” by The Manticore

Submitted to Contest #105

Darin was not the sort to cry.When he’d stubbed his toe as a child, he’d never bawled nor even whimpered. As a teenager, heartbreaks hadn’t drawn a single tear from his eyes. He'd always closed his heart to things he knew would potentially break it in the future. His mother was positive that Darin had been born without tear ducts, and had even taken him to the doctor to examine him.She was wrong.Today, a beautiful sky-blue summer day, his nineteenth birthday, Darin cried.He staggered through the narrow streets, cluttered with old rags and de...

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“The Returned (Highmast series)” by Lizzy Duffield-Fuller

Submitted to Contest #105

Calli Calli had never believed in ghosts until now. She stared wordless at the arrogant reprobate silhouetted against the open door of the underground Rat’s Nest lair they lurked within. Micah Dawlish. Of all the men to come crawling back here now, of all times…but then that was Micah all over, wasn’t it? Always where he was least wanted at the most inconvenient times. She’d flown halfway across the fire-lit room before she knew what was happening. Micah slipped into a defensive stance, his weight sliding to his back foot, as she threw her...

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“Universal Appeal - The Meeting of Songwriter X & Z'Orion the Wizard” by Jude S. Walko

Submitted to Contest #105

Songwriter X hadn’t been in the Kingdom of X23 all that long. In fact, he didn’t really know how he ended up here in the first place. One minute he was shooting YouTube videos with his self-proclaimed “Skeleton Band”, deep in the bowels of his makeshift garage turned music studio, and the next he had literally fallen from the Sky and washed ashore on some salty beach which he was unable to recognize.He knew right away this wasn’t Earth anymore. He could tell by the metallic taste of the air, that he was a very long way from Whittier, Califor...

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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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