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 Family Tree's Final Apple” by Chan Yama

Submitted to Contest #115

The Family Tree’s Final Apple It’s the first Tuesday of October when he finds her on his porch. Sheltering herself, really, from the rain. It’s the first time it has rained since that big storm in July that knocked the power out down his street and the next and even the one after that. And even then this storm is nothing compared to those roaring winds and booming thunders; this is the kind of rain that blends in – the kind of spitting rain that feels more like his late Aun...

Read story

“Connection Lost in my Nightmares” by Rowan Legend

Submitted to Contest #115

CW: mentions blood, mentions suicide victims, mental illness, the word R*pe.They say that in the darkness lies a monster, in the silence lies a demon and in the dreams lies the ghosts. I’m here to tell you that it's true. I’ve been there I saw it and most importantly I’m telling it.“So do you think he’ll ask you out, Jazzie?”“No, he’s with that cheap girl, ya know the one that’s always hanging around that corner by the movie theatre? Yeah, I’m not touching that, but he is nice to look at.”“Girl, if that’s the case you should forget about him...

Read story

“Denial Is Not A River” by ML Biddison

Submitted to Contest #115

Nat desperately tried to maintain control of the motorcycle, now slowing while fishtailing slightly in the sandy loam. The headlights coming at him, one car passing another on the narrow highway, had mandated the desperate maneuver at over 70 mph. He had no other choice but to angle off the pavement and let the classic BMW twin slow itself. Any application of the brakes, front or rear, would likely throw the cycle into a slide he might not recover from. He had no desire to end up bruised or broken in the dark, this far from anywhere. Just pu...

Read story

“The World I Left Behind” by Mason -

Submitted to Contest #115

I had been told that the entirety of my existence was bound to the forest of the North and East and to the sea of the South and West. Never have I passed these two boundaries that seemed to thwart any sparkle of wanderlust that I once felt as a young man. That is until I decided my demise, although unfavorable, was a much better fate than to stay within the claustrophobic borders of my world. The great and tragic irony of the matter was that this was not my world, in fact it was just a village, a village that I will no longer identify with i...

Read story

“Radio Poltergeist” by Catherine Douglas

Submitted to Contest #115

“Why are you here?”The disembodied voice jolted Sergeant Plundell from his sleep. He sat up in his bunk, looking around. The voice sounded like it had come from a radio.But how? The radio had been turned off for the night, so the Germans didn’t find it. Was someone listening to it? It’s past lights-out. No one should be up. Adjusting his jacket, Plundell got out of bed, searching the dark and silent barracks for the radio. It was kept under Private Kesby’s footlocker. Plundell hated touching the belongings of his men without their permission...

Read story

“The Emperor's Jade” by Yel Hipolito

Submitted to Contest #115

Social background was no barrier and many emperors chose concubines from the general public. The women of Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province were no exception to this rule. Even as a town disconnected from the rest of the land, the world even, it holds nothing but the best candidates for the emperors' concubine. People of the mainland may find it weird though how Shijiazhuang only homes women and no men. It was believed that previous kingdoms have fought over the said land for the luscious yet mysterious fruit tree that only grows on its soil. B...

Read story

“I hate the color blue” by Ian Barrett

Submitted to Contest #115

I don’t know when it started. It just happened one night. When everyone woke up it was there. No one knew why or how or what to do. Some people thought it was the government, some thought it was aliens. The blue haze ran along the edges of town. It wasn’t quite a fog but something thicker. If you waved your hand through it it would feel like you were cupping a handful of water in a bathtub, but nothing would come back with your hand. There were a few people who walked into it but were never seen again.&nbsp...

Read story

“The In Crowd” by Jude S. Walko

Submitted to Contest #115

Cheyenne didn’t know why, but she always felt cut off from the popular crowd.Sure she was pretty enough, that wasn’t it. Her mixed ancestry of Thai and Native American guaranteed her high cheek bones, and smooth olive skin. Her piercing hazel eyes and radiant smile made her irresistible. In fact, it was arguable that she was among the prettiest young women at UCLA.But no matter how much she tried it never seemed to be enough. Whether it was binging the latest shows that were all the buzz on Netflix, or the other streaming giants, or buying t...

Read story

“I never wanted to speak in public” by X. ENDO

Submitted to Contest #115

(CW - mentions of racism and privilege, as the character comes to terms with an uncomfortable truth about their life) I know when I’m tired by the feeling in my bones, and my eyes. It feels like my whole body is chafed, irritated and aching all at the same time. I know I need to sleep. It's 3.18 am and I know I will be exhausted tomorrow. But I also know that I need to know everything that everyone is saying about me. Why, you ask? Because it is important to know how people see me after what happened last weekend. I need to know ho...

Read story

“The Drop” by Vince Salamone

Submitted to Contest #115

Warning: Contains Langauge, Graphic Violence, Gore. The call came through late, a tone engineered so precisely that no amount of heavy sleeping—chemically-induced or otherwise—could shut it out. Prolonged exposure led to mild nausea and other unpleasant side-effects that all but guaranteed it would be answered… and since the device was embedded into every employee via a terribly invasive and irreversible procedure, it could hardly be claimed that it had been lost or misplaced. Reyna knew she shouldn’t complain; it’s not like the company ...

Read story

“Vacation in Mexico” by Amy Wright

Submitted to Contest #115

Jim stared at his phone. What had Ada been about to say when the connection failed? He dialed her number again and it went straight to voicemail. Jim hung up, then swore and called her again. This time he left a message. “Ada, are you ok? Just kinda worried about you, kiddo. Please call me.” He paused, then added, “It’s your Dad.” Jim put the phone down and tried to read an old issue of Time. He flipped on the tv just for company. His dinner, a cup of instant ramen and two microwaved hot dogs, lay uneaten on the weathered coffee table. A...

Read story

“The Courtyard” by Amanda Lieser

Submitted to Contest #115

The Courtyard is bustling this morning as Sean stares at his phone, scrolling past fake smiles of fake people he used to know. He resists the urge to stare at the little black iron gate. He resists the urge to listen for the creak as more guests shuffle in. His green eyes peek over the bright blue screen of his phone as the waitress with blonde curls tamed into a ponytail that could rival a show horse’s offers a refill on the water glass he hasn’t touched. “Would you like to order, sir?” He waves her away and straightens h...

Read story

“The Flight of Icarus” by Benedict Pignatelli

Submitted to Contest #115

The yacht’s auto steering had stopped working. Ruben had come up from the navigator after feeling the hull lurch suddenly to one side. The fifty foot boat was veering as though manned by some mad captain, steering dangerously close to the rocks flanking his path. Getting the helm back under control Ruben stared, wild eyed ahead of him. His heart was thumping wildly in his chest and he urged it to regain its composure, the irregular beatings made him want to be sick. In his panic he had left his hat and gloves on the desk by the GPS, and ...

Read story

“HOW OUR PATHS ALIGNED By Nkama Chukwuemeka” by Chukwuemeka Nkama

Submitted to Contest #115

Amaka, Ben and I have known each other for six years now. The three of us are best of friends. We’ve all been to camp meetings halfway around the world; in the national theatre; in the national stadium and in church services all together sitting side by side fifteen percent of the times in no particular order, but the usual order has always been me on either side of Ben who always occupies the middle position between Amaka and me. I mustn’t sit next to Amaka if it were possible. We all loved each other but the love between the pair of Amaka ...

Read story

“Another cup, this time sweeter” by M E

Submitted to Contest #115

Another cup, this time sweeter On his 365th day of unemployment, her husband took his coffee, pack of cigarettes and phone to the garden, sat on a chair and did not move for three hours. She knew she would hear all about what he was reading later, in bed, when her day’s work for her employer would be done, the children would be in bed and the house cleaned from the worse of the day. In every spare moment she wished him dead. It’s a healthy reaction to wish somebody dead if you think that your life would be better afterwards, her psycholo...

Read story

Load more stories

$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 ⭢