Menu

Prompts

Contests

Stories

Blog

Menu

✕

CONNECT

Editing Design Marketing Publicity Ghostwriting Websites

BLOG

Success Stories

APPS

TOOLS

Book Promotion Sites Book Review Blogs Booktube Channel Guide Book Title Generator Character Name Generator Independent Publishers Literary Agents Literary Magazines Pen Name Generator Plot Generator Publishers Directory Short Story Ideas Writing Contests Writing Exercises Writing Scholarships

ABOUT

About Reedsy Terms Privacy

CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#11: Childhood Meets Adulthood

Hello, writers! My name is Aja Pollock, and I’m a developmental editor and copy editor. If you’ve ever wondered what Neil Gaiman, Bruce Springsteen, Isabel Allende, and Ron Burgundy have in common, the answer is: me!

You can check out my Reedsy profile here.

My theme for this week is "childhood meets adulthood." Childhood often seems to me like a puzzle that could unlock your understanding of yourself — if only you could solve it. Whether it’s truly possible to solve that puzzle is an open question, but whenever we can fit a piece into place, there’s potential for big insights. Hopefully, these prompts will inspire you to explore what childhood can tell us about adulthood. Happy writing!

This week's prompts

Write about how a person’s perspective on an event from their childhood shifted in their adulthood.

Adults – 31 stories

Write about someone who returns as an adult to a place they last visited as a child.

Adults – 83 stories

Write about an adult event or gathering from the point of view of a child.

Kids – 15 stories

Write about a parent who sees pieces of a family member’s (or their own) personality in their child — whether that brings them comfort, terror, or something in between.

Adults – 20 stories

Write about the moment a child (of any age) first comes to view a parent as a three-dimensional human being, and not just a parental figure.

Teens – 23 stories

Stories

“Loved or Feared: Preschool Edition” by Cleo Wolff

Submitted to Contest #11

I received my first death threat at age 4 and ⅙. I suppose I was what you would call the “Godfather” of Westside Montessori Preschool. I knew the kindergarteners who shared our playground. I was on good terms with the teachers. I even smuggled in my stuffed penguin, Penguinian, ⅗ days a week. Everyone wanted to be my friend to avoid the dismal converse. And what is a mob boss without her most trusted comrade? My favorite minion: Vera. She was the perfect alliance. She was small with auburn hair and freckles and the chubby cheeks that adults ...

Read story

“Heart of Stone” by Daniel Brown

Submitted to Contest #11

I stare into the crowd of familiar faces, scattered laughs rising from their throats as they tear into some blackened chicken, hot dogs, and beans over conversations ranging from scandalous to flat-out boring. Everyone is having a good old time of course and I make a conscious decision to cut through the ocean of family and friends to greet Mom. Of course, my body tenses up, my heart races and my hands turn clammy instantly at the sight of Aunt Malina stepping through the sliding doors to the backyard to nurse a beer beside her. As dizz...

Read story

“The Red Shoes” by Barbara Ivanov

Submitted to Contest #11

The house was deadly quiet as she looked through her books. She loved the smell of that big edition of fairy tales. It had a large font and colorful, detailed illustrations, not simplified, as in most kids’ books with huge-headed characters, but realistic and shimmering with ornaments. In a few, there were moving elements, like a window that could open or a clock with a moving pendulum and Mary was mesmerized by them.Cheerful, happy world, dangerous, but in its dangerousness a perfect, logical world of excitement and clarity. If you love, yo...

Read story

“it hits the same way” by Mal Evie

Submitted to Contest #11

You know how it feels when you're a kid and then you're given the toy you always wanted? Or your favorite ice cream flavor when you did good? There's always this feeling of immense joy and excitement when you unwrap it- hastily or carefully. There's also this thought that you don't deserve it or you don't need it but accepts it anyways. Evie remember when she used to unwrap presents from her adoptive parents, always being thankful that she's been saved from the wretched place she used to call home. Being a kid and having a ...

Read story

“What Goes Around” by Ann Hunwicks

Submitted to Contest #11

What Comes Around Jake stood in the middle of the aisle, hanging onto the handle of the stroller. The empty stroller. A few minutes ago, it held two and a half year old Trevor. He scanned the floor of the department store. Any direction he looked, he saw clothes hanging from circular racks. Dresses, blouses, slacks and sweaters were grouped according to sizes stencilled on large tags mounted above the circular tubes. Women browsed, admired and touched the displays. Approaching noon, the large department store bustled with shop...

Read story

“Dream of a Soldier” by Kylie Mullins

Submitted to Contest #11

Scars. A terrifying word to some, to others a trophy, tattooed onto their skin as a sign of strength. That’s what I had thought. A young, foolish woman she was, slinging a bundle of clothes over her ridged shoulders as the pride of stepping away from her childhood home sparked a defiant grin within her heart of stone. I rocked back in the antique chair, groaning with the little pressure it had to hold up. The silence hung heftily over the eerie creak of a wall somewhere in the vast hallways. My rocker moaned again. &nb...

Read story

“The endearing enthusiasm of the inexperienced” by Dario Garcia

Submitted to Contest #11

Dark clouds loom ominously over a hill, a cottage, and a chestnut mare. A masked man treads stealthily across the roof, arms outstretched. He has a rose between his teeth (but if he were to speak, he would sound Mediterranean). He somersaults, lands noiselessly onto a balcony and smiles. He lives in a remarkable world of sword fights, adventure, and intrigue, and he has finally reached his destination. This is a familiar story, but it is not our story. Our story is set in Wootton Bassett, population 4,401, ten-mile stretch of drive-through...

Read story

“So much for Home” by AnneMarie Vlaic

Submitted to Contest #11

“Splashing. I remember splashing in the cold, wet water. Shivering but not giving a care in the world. Having fun. Those were the fun times. I wish I could revisit them. Well, maybe I can. -Karly.” I had always kept a diary of my thoughts, since my mother had died at least. I had always talked to her about everything, you name it. Boys, school, drama, everything I was feeling. But when she was gone, I felt lonely. Lonely was always the horrible feeling of the black pit inside of you, that overwhelms and eats you whole. It was horrible in sho...

Read story

“Smile Pretty Mount Hatton” by SJ Hunter

Submitted to Contest #11

Scorch marks wormed their way up the side of the Mess Hall walls, the lumber that was harvested from the Mount Hatton Camp trees accepted the branding. Like ink it stained deep, seeping into the good spots, into the nooks, into the crevices. Fouling it. The fireplace itself – the carved stone - was still intact, still holding strong. Flames reached out, trying to scorch more, burn more, pervert more. It was still the same. Above the fireplace was an array of camp photographs: sepia toned smiles. There was one particular one that Aimee had al...

Read story

“the painting” by Rosario Yap

Submitted to Contest #11

The Painting By Rosario Patino-Yap The last of the moving van left. I had spent the morning running around the bungalow that had been home to Harold and me. I wandered through the house to see if anything precious was left behind. No, nothing was forgotten. Except for the potted mums that lined the curving pathway. They were newly-watered and weeded. Looking up the heavens in colorful blooms. My “sunny side up” house echoed in silence. The sunshine yellow house earned that monicker because of ...

Read story

“Thomson Island” by Nia Zylstra

Submitted to Contest #11

I walked up to the plane. The best feeling came to me as I my seat, it was like I was going home! When I was 8 my parents took me to an Island in Canada, we sailed there on a rented boat, and hiked to the very top of the little island. My parents told me before hand that there was no reception or electricity, so it would be good time to take a break and spend time in nature. That is the exact I am going back now 30 years later, I'm all about work on my laptop at home, this trip will help me remember to take a break. I would take the plane to...

Read story

“Bedtime Brats” by Chastity Rylan

Submitted to Contest #11

“Come on little ones!” Their mother calls through the hallway. “Time for bed!”The two girls run through the house and hides. You can hear their snickering echoing because of the walls. Hearing the two girls playfully laugh in the same house that she grew up in brings a smile to her face.“Mommy, why are you crying?” My youngest daughter asks me in a quiet concerned voice.“Just thinking about all of mommy’s memories here.”“What memories,” my older daughter chimes in.“The tales of two sister Gemini’s. They were thicker than thieves. Inseparable...

Read story

“Tears on a Tombstone” by K. M

Submitted to Contest #11

This is it. I sat in my car and took a deep breath as I promised myself to keep a calm composure. I couldn't make a habit out of crying, no matter how badly I needed to. I looked out of the window at the rusty, metal sign that read Northern Hills Cemetery. My mother wanted to bury him in a Catholic cemetery, but she didn't know my brother like I did. Although twin telepathy isn't real, it may as well have been, because there wasn't anything we kept from each other, and I knew he always preached about his belief in Atheism. I broke out of my ...

Read story

“Crybaby” by Rei Torres

Submitted to Contest #11

Euden felt a lump form in his throat as he stared at the large rusted steel door in front of him. He was barely eleven years old when he last saw it. Beaten and caged like an animal, he had vowed not to come back here; but fate always liked to watch him writhe. Pressing his palm onto the cold steel he pushed the door open with a loud screech. He was instantly greeted by the scent of rot and decay mixed with the smell of blood and urine. A scent that he had grown familiar with years ago. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He could fee...

Read story

“The Concert Hall ” by Catherine Kennedy

Submitted to Contest #11

It was the first Sunday in October. It was crisp but sunny; a typical fall afternoon in the Midwest. We had moved north to the city a few months ago. My father’s transfer had given my mother the chance to accept a position with a large symphony. My mother had taken a train to the city this morning. My father had parked our car blocks away from the concert hall. As we walked the distance, the wind turned my cheeks as red as apples and tugged at my dress. I walked with my hands pinned to my sides to keep my dress from blowing upward...

Read story

Load more stories

$50

Prize money

172

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Oct 18, 2019 EST

Won by Lee Witkowski 🏆

Title: The Tree

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!

Explore more writing prompt ideas:

Adults Writing Prompts ⭢

Adventure Writing Prompts ⭢

Angst Writing Prompts ⭢

Character Writing Prompts ⭢

Christmas Writing Prompts ⭢

Dark Writing Prompts ⭢

Dialogue Writing Prompts ⭢

Dramatic Writing Prompts ⭢

Dystopian Writing Prompts ⭢

Fall Writing Prompts ⭢

Fantasy Writing Prompts ⭢

Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Fluff Writing Prompts ⭢

Funny Writing Prompts ⭢

Halloween Writing Prompts ⭢

High School Writing Prompts ⭢

Historical Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Holiday Writing Prompts ⭢

Horror Writing Prompts ⭢

Kids Writing Prompts ⭢

Middle School Writing Prompts ⭢

Mystery Writing Prompts ⭢

Narrative Writing Prompts ⭢

Nonfiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Novel Writing Prompts ⭢

Poetry Writing Prompts ⭢

Romance Writing Prompts ⭢

Sad Writing Prompts ⭢

Science Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Short Story Writing Prompts ⭢

Spring Writing Prompts ⭢

Summer Writing Prompts ⭢

Teens Writing Prompts ⭢

Thanksgiving Writing Prompts ⭢

Thriller and Suspense Writing Prompts ⭢

Valentine's Day Writing Prompts ⭢

Vampire Writing Prompts ⭢

Winter Writing Prompts ⭢