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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#106: Periergia

Ever found yourself experiencing a newfound appreciation for something you see or do every day? Maybe you think fondly of how many people have stood on the same street corner as you, or appreciate the centuries of craftsmanship that it took to develop the humble coffee mug you hold in your hand.

When you feel like waxing lyrical about the everyday, you might call it periergia — using flowery language to describe something trivial. While this is usually a writing no-no (purple prose, anyone?), there's something irresistible about romanticizing the mundane once in a while. So this week, we’re looking for beauty in unexpected places, whether that’s a character, something they see, or anything in-between.

This week's prompts

Start or end your story with a character noticing the beauty in something they've seen hundreds of times.

Fluff – 74 stories

Write about a character who’s known to be a cynic, but secretly romanticizes everything.

Valentine's Day – 15 stories

A mundane ability suddenly becomes a superpower. Write about someone or something affected by this.

Middle School – 26 stories

Write a story about a character who takes nothing for granted.

Teens – 21 stories

Write a story about a character who’s secretly nobility.

Thriller and Suspense – 16 stories

Stories

“Lost Heritage” by Marc Graziadei

Submitted to Contest #106

Lost Heritage Among all of my genealogical studies; I had always enjoyed learning about my past. As far as listening to all of those family yarns which I had often heard from my elders about being directly descended from the famous historical figures which are readily mentioned in the media and Historical references. These namedroppers assume that they are more important than most people. Once, their loud and arrogant behaviors are quickly justified as charlatans; they begin to reveal their own insecurities. In just such...

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“Westdonian Bridge is Down” by Katharine Johns

Submitted to Contest #106

Stephen was just your ordinary thirty-two-year-old bachelor living in the modern Republic of Gadstonia. He woke up most mornings in his townhouse situated in the capital city, had himself coffee and cooked his breakfast, went to work as an operations assistant at a local baseball field, engaged in several sports and social hobbies in his spare time, and was friends with the Dukes of Cambridge and Sussex… Attended both of their weddings, in fact. Just your ordinary guy. Stephen’s life had silver spoon perks and obligations. Even “ordi...

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“I Am Hope” by Karen Lankford-Carnes

Submitted to Contest #106

I Am Hope By Karen Lankford-Carnes From the day I met her, I knew she was different. Not in a bad way, but just...different. She carried herself with a certain sort of grace. She fairly glided rather than walked. Tori was envious. Tori was always envious. She never dared believe that she would amount to much. Her step-father made sure she knew she was useless, hopeless and in the way. Tori never knew her real, as in biological, father. He was a painter, and he fell from a ladder while working. By the time anyone found him, he'd bled out. H...

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“The Veins Inside” by Ava Angeleski

Submitted to Contest #106

The veins inside but not the blood. The water’s surface but not its depths. A sky in summer but not at night. The blue flame but not it’s smoke. These were the things Ursa thought of when she stared into the alluring eyes beneath her. She removed her gloves to trace over the cheekbone, gliding across the pale jaw. The skin was colder than the snowflakes around her. The eyes never flinched. Though swirled within the iris’, there were touches of hazel brown softly arching through the vibrant blues. “Anný,” Ursa sighed, “Elskan mín.” ...

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“Her Eyes” by Destinee Soto

Submitted to Contest #106

The bell rings, and everyone rushes out of the school building. Except me, I was the only one that was stuck in detention. At least I thought I was. I look over as I hear the doors slam open, and jump at the echoing sound. Then she walks in. That girl, the one who makes my heart skip beats when I see her. She looks at me and our eyes meet, it seems as if the whole world slowed down when I catch a glimpse of her eyes. Her glare is intense, but it doesn't matter to me, those eyes are the reason why I fell so hard for her. "Willy, Leo, take you...

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“Her Sense of Beauty” by Noelle C. Lee

Submitted to Contest #106

Morning arrives. Sunlight spots a fracture in which it can poke through the blue and white linen curtains. It highlights several bottles of prescribed medications atop a painted white nightstand. A carafe of water within reach, with the flowered glass fitting over the carafe’s top. From my garden, I place freshly picked red roses in a mason jar and tie a red satin ribbon in a bow, around its center. Will she notice? Probably not. All that I do has been for her, but it soothes my discomfort and offers her an opportunity to feel the beaut...

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“St Mary's” by Susy G-B

Submitted to Contest #106

Today, I've wandered into a small inner-city suburb, one I've driven through a hundred times to get to the nearest Tesco, and as I finally lift my attention away from the document on my phone screen, I turn to see a church. In a moment of quiet, the breeze rustling through my jacket, I slow my walking pace. It’s more peaceful than I remembered. Living in a city is a dreary business, or so I've always believed. True, the lights are always on, music always brash, drivers always angry, but there is something intangibly chilling about how the ...

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“Lovely King” by Jj Gomez

Submitted to Contest #106

“Papa? Why don’t I have any hair?” asked Becky as she was tucked into bed. Her father, Eddie Deschain, a man who could string together a good yarn, thought about it, sat down beside her, and took in a deep breath. “Once there was a prince too curious for his own good. He wandered through his family’s large kingdom, constantly outwitting whatever poor bodyguards the queen and king assigned him. The majority of the common folk grew fond of their little prince, who seemed to come and go without a care. Those with more… malicious intent...

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“FACING THE RAIN” by Day Parker

Submitted to Contest #106

FACING THE RAIN By Day Parker Another summer day in Florida. It is August, the hottest month of the year and the wettest month of the year. It's raining again. Every day or almost every day about four o'clock we get a couple inches of rain. It is constant but refreshing and cools the 90 degree temperatures. The rain is clear but visible. It does nothing more than fall from the sky. It hits the ground and soaks into it. When the earth has had enough, the rain forms little puddles around the yard, edges of the streets, cracks and cre...

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“Cappuccino” by Anna Dunworth

Submitted to Contest #106

The swirl of the cappuccino milk might be beautiful, she thought to herself, the idea vaguely penetrating through the fog of morning. Maybe in a different lifetime, she could stop to appreciate it. As it was, there was no mental room for anything outside of her morning routine: robotic by necessity, dulled and monotone. She drifted through the kitchen, feeling slow but moving fast, fueled by the dull adrenaline of an unknown amount of limited time. Absently, she wondered if she had ever considered the milk in her cappuccino, other than sh...

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“Crossroads” by Sofia M

Submitted to Contest #106

Crossroads The window that I had sometimes looked out of for years, while constantly dreaming of a life beyond the hill our apartment stood on, faced a crossroads. Before today, it never held any special significance for me—well, not in the way Mom saw it. But today, I thought I saw a shade of what Mom had found mesmerizing about the crossroads when she used to stare out of the window for hours and hours, and I, in turn, stared at her. Mom saw in the crossroads a microcosm of life. She thought that she could see lives overlapping and inter...

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“A Look Back at Home” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #106

Alice would wait until Friday to tell the kids. There was no point telling them on a Tuesday so that they could sulk about it all week. If she told them on Friday, and then told them they could have their friends sleep over, there was always a chance they’d forget about the whole thing in an instant the way pre-teens do in between crushes and rocket maintenance. Her optimism was dampened when Ari, her eleven-year-old, informed her in between bites of Moon Mounds at breakfast that he did not remember anything about their last trip. She balk...

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“Dopplegangers at the OK Corral” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #106

A good half-dozen years before the famous Shootout at the OK Corral between the Earp Brothers, Doc Holliday and the Claiborne-Clanton Gang in Tombstone, Az., a tale about a far more unusual gunfight in the nearby small town of Tumble Creek took root in local legend. As the story made its way around the Arizona territory, Tumble Creek and its surrounding towns had become “depositories” for the riches accumulated by many who had found ways to profit handsomely ...

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“The Letter” by Tim O'Shea

Submitted to Contest #106

The year 2060… "Sir! The courier is ready to go!" said the guard. The sound of an aircraft at an incredibly low altitude shook the entire building. The guard stopped holding the rifle slung around his shoulder and braced for several seconds in the doorway waiting for the inevitable explosion of a bomb dropping. It did, but it was several city blocks away. The guard breathed a sigh of relief and thanked whoever was looking down on him from above. He took another look at the person in the small room of the basement. He was an old man, know...

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“The legend of Kapo” by Catherine Tripp

Submitted to Contest #106

May 1, 1850 Dearest Sister Annie, I am writing to you from Kona Hawaii on my third week as governess to her Highness Emma Rooke, whom most people call Emmalani. She walks timidly on the land, almost on tip toes hips swaying gently. I have never seen Emmalani run, at least not on land. She skims from her beach chair to the ocean water, slides in, and then she is simply grace incarnate. Clean even strokes, and at last in the waves, without hesitation she covers miles swiftly and surely. As ...

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$250

Prize money

152

Contest entries

205

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Aug 13, 2021 EST

Won by A.Dot Ram 🏆

Title: I Was Always Good at Taboo

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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