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!

#111: What Endures Through Time

Mary Wollstonecraft was a renowned philosopher and writer who, despite dying at just 38, published works that changed feminist thought and literature forever. Writing as she was in the eighteenth century, Wollstonecraft’s portrayal of unapologetic, strong, intelligent heroines was not only brave, but revolutionary — and today’s writers and feminist thinkers owe a great deal to the groundwork she laid over two hundred years ago.


Since this week’s contest falls on the anniversary of Wollstonecraft’s death, we want to reflect on her remarkable legacy — and indeed on the impact one person can make, even in relatively little time.

🥇 Winner

“Flour and fire” by Charlene 🧙‍♀️✨ Boyce

CW: alcoholism, domestic violence Flour is highly flammable, but maybe you know that. I remember once, when I was a teenager, someone at tailgate party tossed a cup of flour into the air over the fire we'd built. It went "WHOOSH" and lit the sky for miles up, or so it seemed. Thank God there was no wind. It was epic. I had had a few tokes and I was trying to articulate to my friend Clarisse how my mother worked with flour every day, making it into things, and yet, watching it...

71 comments 71 WINNER 🏆
Read story

⭐️ Shortlisted

“The Collector” by Shane Ransom

I’m surrounded by his things. That’s what he’s left behind, things. Well, things and me, I suppose. There weren’t a lot of people at the service. Some neighbors, a couple of old friends, a smattering of relatives. Small but respectable. At least that’s what I told myself when the last of the guests arrived. It wasn’t at all like when Mom died, when the church was packed, standing room only. She had the advantage of dying young, young enough that the sheer tragedy of it compelled people, her people, to converge in th...

21 comments 21 SHORTLIST ⭐️
Read story

“Gift To The World” by Delia Strange

Hors d’oeuvres on silver platters were carried around the room by white gloved hands. Dr Tina Merriman, dressed in a glittering emerald gown and holding a flute of champagne, looked down at the crowd below. Perhaps two hundred people were assembled on the street, punching fists into the air or holding signs with misspelt phrases. Dr Mark Abbot joined her side and glanced at the crowd before tipping his wine glass in her ...

27 comments 27 SHORTLIST ⭐️
Read story

“Eumonia's Monody” by Ashley Slaughter

There is another knock at the door downstairs, but I only play louder. I let the smooth, shrill notes of the violin fill the loft of my little flat as I run my bow across the strings. G, A, E, D, G sharp . . . Closing my eyes, the second movement of my work-in-progress comes together in a string of melodies— The door rattles again, and I squeak out an accidental B flat, derailing my rhythm. An irritated sigh passes my lips as I stand, glaring over the loft railing at the door. I know who it is, of course. I’d open th...

10 comments 10 SHORTLIST ⭐️
Read story

“Bottles” by Ruth Zschoche

 TW: violence, animal crueltyThe bottle was a glass Coca Cola bottle salvaged from the barn that her grandfather had kept in a state of quiet disarray.There was a voice in the bottle. It was soft and low.Soft and rough. Sad and mad.Lorna shook the bottle. The voice sped up and there was a short wail. She stuffed the bottle into her faded and slightly frayed backpack and walked to school.Her science teacher at Redhorn High w...

5 comments 5 SHORTLIST ⭐️
Read story

This week's prompts

An intelligent young girl solves a big problem, but becomes frustrated that no one wants to believe her. Write about what she does next.

Teens – 17 stories

Set your story in eighteenth century London, including a casual reference to something that changes the course of history.

Historical Fiction – 21 stories

Write about a character who wakes up in the future and learns that their legacy has outlasted them — for better or worse.

Character – 34 stories

Write about a child who carries on their parent’s work or legacy in some form.

Teens – 41 stories

Write about a group of friends who hope to use their combined skills to better the world.

Middle School – 16 stories

Stories

“Flour and fire” by Charlene 🧙‍♀️✨ Boyce

CW: alcoholism, domestic violence Flour is highly flammable, but maybe you know that. I remember once, when I was a teenager, someone at tailgate party tossed a cup of flour into the air over the fire we'd built. It went "WHOOSH" and lit the sky for miles up, or so it seemed. Thank God there was no wind. It was epic. I had had a few tokes and I was trying to articulate to my friend Clarisse how my mother worked with flour every day, making it into things, and yet, watching it...

71 comments 71 WINNER 🏆
Read story

“The Witch Hunter's Grandson ” by Deidra Whitt Lovegren

27 January 1736—London.Matthew Hopkins, III sat stoically with his glass of port at The Prospect of Whitby, a public house on the banks of the River Thames, four short miles from Parliament Square. The pub’s heavy oak paneling was a comfort against the cold, the glass window panes delicately frosted in lacy patterns of ice.Waiting, Hopkins was on edge, eyes unblinking as he looked out on the muddy brown river, its color owing to the riverbed’s silt as well as the filth tossed into it each day. It would be another hundred yea...

26 comments 26
Read story

“Archery Tournament” by Alex Sultan

It’s hard to get a message across when you don’t have much of a voice. Mai Amiel never considered herself a good public speaker. She shuffled from side to side at the edge of the town stage, waiting her turn. Hundreds of people listened to the current speaker. He went on about coal miners needing to work less hours. Good luck.Winds blew past. Chillier than usual, and she pulled up her hood. The crowd, as she expected, shook their heads as the speech ended. Gave their thumbs down. A few drunks yelled out ...

31 comments 31
Read story

“The Collector” by Shane Ransom

I’m surrounded by his things. That’s what he’s left behind, things. Well, things and me, I suppose. There weren’t a lot of people at the service. Some neighbors, a couple of old friends, a smattering of relatives. Small but respectable. At least that’s what I told myself when the last of the guests arrived. It wasn’t at all like when Mom died, when the church was packed, standing room only. She had the advantage of dying young, young enough that the sheer tragedy of it compelled people, her people, to converge in th...

21 comments 21 SHORTLIST ⭐️
Read story

“The Sum Total of a Legacy ” by Beth Jackson

TW: Sexual ViolenceNo Divided by Yes“Don’t be rude, Kimmy. Give him a kiss.” Mum puts her hands on her hips and makes an angry-parent noise.Uncle Brian looms in the doorway, his bulky frame blocking the sunlight. His gut sags over his belt and wriggling chest hairs escape from under his shirt.“A kiss, Kimmy,” he says. “You heard your mother, don’t be rude.” He smells of sausages and shame.He puckers his lips. They’re thick and fat, like...

21 comments 21
Read story

“Human Nature” by Jon Casper

I open my eyes to a sky of impossible blue. It’s cool, but not cold. From the clearing where I lay, I see a few sanguine leaves remaining on the surrounding maples — strange, since it’s the middle of summer.The last thing I remember was walking into Marvin’s lab, waiting for him to wrap up his latest cold fusion experiment. I knew he’d offer a sympathetic yet objective ear for my grim discovery. Then the world slanted and twisted like a whirlpool, and I felt my senses darkening. Now … this.Levering to m...

19 comments 19
Read story

“Gift To The World” by Delia Strange

Hors d’oeuvres on silver platters were carried around the room by white gloved hands. Dr Tina Merriman, dressed in a glittering emerald gown and holding a flute of champagne, looked down at the crowd below. Perhaps two hundred people were assembled on the street, punching fists into the air or holding signs with misspelt phrases. Dr Mark Abbot joined her side and glanced at the crowd before tipping his wine glass in her ...

27 comments 27 SHORTLIST ⭐️
Read story

“Mornings Past” by CJ Rodgers

London, 1861, April 29thIt was a cold gray day. Florence blinked tiredly at the tea set in front of her as she mechanically stirred in too much sugar and only a little cream. She forced down a yawn and accepted a scone from the maid, Emilia. “Is it bedtime yet?” She muttered, reaching for the butter. “Not yet, I’m afraid.” Emilia went to the fireplace to stir it up and add a log. “Your father should be along shortly.”Florence wondered if she could request coffee and have it arrive before he...

3 comments 3
Read story

“Epilogue - This is the One I Choose” by Kevin Marlow

{CW : Mental Illness}It was the last thought I had. Maybe if I had a child it would not have to be like this. Oh well, it's all in motion now. When someone commits to things the way I do, there is no room in your life for friends or family.Family. Mine was the laboratory full of chimpanzees that we used to test our treatments. We gave them names, implants, euthanasia. I liked Sally, the way she grinned at me with her yellow teeth when I jabbed needles in her arm. She was like me, she knew how to handle pain.

6 comments 6
Read story

“The Word Collector” by S. Thomson

ㅤAlice sat on her hands in her father’s office, looking out over the chimneys of Holborn.ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤCHIMNEY. n. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ1. The turret raised above the roof of a house, for conveyance of the smoke.ㅤShe had been given strict instructions not to touch anything. Around her, thousands of slips of paper lay on writing desks. Each bore a word and a definition. In this cramped attic above a London townhouse, six men were writing a dictionary.ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ...

5 comments 5
Read story

“Chosen” by Phil Manders

Warning: This one is nasty. Grey, lifeless water slid silently beneath her in the darkness. The lights from the village, where she used to play, blurred hazily on the horizon, merging with the inky sky. Her mind, unlike the numb air that clung to autumn cobwebs, had never felt more alive, more awake. The cold ironwork of the bridge felt like it had electricity running through it. Her feet dangling, she slipped off her shoes and watched them drop, drifting away into the ...

9 comments 9
Read story

“The Mother Goose Murders” by Katharine Widdows

TW: murder, injury.The coffee was going cold in his hands but the conversation around him was starting to warm. Mr Williams shook the wide, white, frill of his cuff as it escaped the edge of his black legal robes. He lifted a brown cup to his lips, drained the final, lukewarm dregs and looked up.Mr George was pushing his way through the coffee house door, removing his hat to reveal his neatly tied-back hair. The bright yellow thread detail, contrasted against the dark green of his tail coat and caught t...

23 comments 23
Read story

“Eumonia's Monody” by Ashley Slaughter

There is another knock at the door downstairs, but I only play louder. I let the smooth, shrill notes of the violin fill the loft of my little flat as I run my bow across the strings. G, A, E, D, G sharp . . . Closing my eyes, the second movement of my work-in-progress comes together in a string of melodies— The door rattles again, and I squeak out an accidental B flat, derailing my rhythm. An irritated sigh passes my lips as I stand, glaring over the loft railing at the door. I know who it is, of course. I’d open th...

10 comments 10 SHORTLIST ⭐️
Read story

“To Boldly Go...” by Jude S. Walko

John and Sarah Burroughs beget David, who beget Tyler, who beget Abner, who beget George, who beget Edgar. It sounded like some humdrum bible verse; the kind a monotone Quaker preacher might drone on with to his congregation, in a musty Massachusetts one-roomed church house, during the dead heat of summer. Sweltering humidity and palpable boredom lay about heavily.But it became a mantra for little Edgar; one that he would recite his entire life. It helped ground him in reality, in that it reminded him from when, and...

6 comments 6
Read story

“A Future Wisely Sea-shelled” by J. Storbakken

She awoke, and plugged in the MacBook. The screen lit up, and she opened the file she had to re-check. The old list of pregnancy tips, the one which she once used four years ago when she was pregnant with her first child. James and Paola were, at the outset of this story, about to celebrate their fourth marriage anniversary. They were getting ready to take a short vacation to Naples, and Paola was riddled with a nervousness about the idea of traveling, thinking about her pregnancy. On the way: her second child: on the way to a new life he...

2 comments 2
Read story

$250

Prize money

129

Contest entries

117

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Sep 17, 2021 EST

Won by Charlene 🧙‍♀️✨ Boyce 🏆

Title: Flour and fire

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 ⭢