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!

#115: Connection Lost

It’s hard to imagine our lives without the constant presence of social media: it's a place to mingle, a source of news (however unreliable), and a form of entertainment. The jury’s still out on whether this omnipresence is good or bad, but what’s undeniable is that when a social media giant like Facebook goes down, as it did earlier this week, many of us feel as if we’re cut off from something. Taking inspiration from the recent blackout, the prompts for this week’s contest are all about connections, and what happens when they’re broken.

This week's prompts

One moment your character is talking on the phone with a friend, and the next, the connection is lost. Write a story about what follows.

Thriller and Suspense – 42 stories

Set your story in a town disconnected from the rest of the world.

Dystopian – 36 stories

Write about a character who feels like they're cut off from something.

Angst – 54 stories

Start or end your story with a character scrolling (or doomscrolling) through social media.

Adults – 14 stories

Write a story where a device goes haywire.

Science Fiction – 29 stories

Stories

“The Sound of Desolation” by Maureen MacLennan

Submitted to Contest #115

The Sound of Desolation The sunsets were absolutely amazing here, everyone said it even those that weren’t tourists. Oh, to have tourists again! It had been two long years since the world stopped coming to Powell River. All the local restaurants had closed their doors in response so people in town started co-ops, some grew fruits and vegetables, some had farms where they raised animals for butchering. A town on the ocean with an abundance of lakes as well would always be able to fish, harvest shellfish and seaweed but the locals ...

Read story

“THE MASS GRAVE IN CHINATOWN” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #115

THE MASS GRAVE IN CHINA TOWN It was when in the evening they turned on the lights of their houses that the inhabitants of Candia realized that there had to be something wrong. In fact the lights did not turn on, they were completely in the dark. Indeed they could have noticed it even when, almost before the lights in the houses, the streets lamps , which were supposed to light up, had not lit up. Oh, but the people who ( had) passed through those streets, did so in cars or o...

Read story

“The Cruise Ship That Never Ports” by Nancy Donovan

Submitted to Contest #115

As I stare out of my panoramic, floor-to-ceiling windows all I can see is the Atlantic Ocean. I hear the fierce, powerful waves that can take one's life in the riptides. I wanted this. I wanted the adventure of leaving my family, my friends & 20-year job to hop on a plane with only two suitcases, and my "forever" fiance to move to Puerto Rico.It has been two and a half years that we have lived here. I promised myself that I would never become bored. I was going to acclimate beautifully into a new culture. There was no doubt in my mind th...

Read story

“FORSAKEN” by Joan Wright

Submitted to Contest #115

"WHORE! Tramp! Traitor!" Screamed Tina hysterically. The words echoed down the quiet street. Neighbors stared in paralyzed disbelief. The next sound was the slap that Tina fired at Judy's face. Judy gasped as the intensity of the slap knocked her off balance. Tina and Judy who had been best friends since third grade were at war. Well, at least Tina was at war. "Roger and I are going steady and everyone knows it, especially you." Raged Tina. "Please, let me explain, Begged Judy, holding her hand over her reddened cheek. You don't know the who...

Read story

“The Tribulations of a Young Whelk Fisherman” by Benedict Pignatelli

Submitted to Contest #115

Tom had awoken early but refused to move. His ear-shattering twin-bell alarm clock had jerked him awake, inducing the minor heart attack he had come to accept first thing in the morning. Again whelks had followed Tom into his dreams; he could not remember the last time he had dreamt of anything else. They were like a taste lurking at the back of his throat that refused to disappear. He had accepted their residency in his mind. The apartment was so cold he could not face getting out of bed. During the night he had pulled off his woolly Aran...

Read story

“Allana ” by Avery Nelson

Submitted to Contest #115

After I remember watching from my bedroom window as she walked away. I remember she was angry. I remember she wasn’t planning on coming back. She got her wish. Now I’m getting ready for her funeral. I’m wearing a black dress, black tights, black socks and shoes, black black black. Allana hated black, so I don’t know why we’re wearing it. It seems disrespectful that we aren’t wearing yellow or hot pink, or some other outrageous color she loves. Loved. “Mina, are you ready?” Mom calls up the stairs. “Just a minut...

Read story

“Hatred, Misery and Suffering” by Linda Hackett

Submitted to Contest #115

CW: antisemitism/Nazi mention, Holocaust, gore, violence, death.Hatred, Misery and SufferingThe old man stood staring out of the window at the lengthening shadows with a smile of wistfulness on his face. He knew he was going to die soon but it couldn’t come soon enough for him. He very much doubted that people would believe the things he had done and seen throughout his lifetime. A life of torment and suffering, of agonizing decisions, nothing had ever been done on impulse. He had learnt from a very early age not to ...

Read story

“Follow "Threw"” by Penni Warford

Submitted to Contest #115

It's been nineteen years since I lost my independence.Sixteen years since I got punched in the gut by a phone call. In 2002 I brought my granddaughter home from the neonatal ICU. She was 10 days old. For almost three years I took her to specialists at top hospitals in search of answers. The experts relentlessly poked and prodded, but a clear diagnosis eluded them. We ran the gauntlet called diagnostic odyssey, yet no one considered the possibility of a faulty gene, passed from mother to child, from my daughter to my granddaughter.I...

Read story

“The Promotion ” by Vance Conkle

Submitted to Contest #115

THE PROMOTION BY P.V. Drumm Damon’s shirt is crisp and clean. The suit, he borrowed, but it fits him. It fits him so well no one will know. The promotion that Damon worked on for two years is waiting for him atop a desk, on the fifty second floor, in his downtown office building. He went to bed early last night. He ate a reasonable breakfast. He was easy on the coffee, to avoid jitters. He kissed his wife goodbye, but she doesn’t know yet. She doesn’...

Read story

“Rumbling of the Ruins” by Luke Schumacher

Submitted to Contest #115

CW: Bruises, dead bodies, blood “C’mon, man,” Jenna mocks, laughing over the phone. “It can’t go that bad.” “It will definitely be ‘that bad,’” I mumble, looking at the vivacious classroom ahead of me. You may be wondering why I’m using a phone in a classroom, let alone calling my girlfriend. To most people, that’s unheard of. That’s not like my school, though. In short, it’s more like a university. I thought getting sent to a private school would be a bad idea. At first, it definitely was. Leaving all my friends to go to some ra...

Read story

$250

Prize money

175

Contest entries

118

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Oct 15, 2021 EST

Won by Alex Sultan 🏆

Title: 28 Letters

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 ⭢