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!

#118: Metamorphosis

Whichever way you look at it, fall is a season of change. The trees are changing color, the waking hours are getting shorter, and the days are growing colder. It also happens to be Halloween, meaning we might need to gear up for some spooktacular supernatural transformations too… if you believe in that sort of thing!

Whether your characters are enjoying the crunch of fallen leaves, or undergoing a creepy metamorphosis of their own, we hope this week’s prompts help you get the best out of fall this year.

This week's prompts

Start your story with “Today’s the day I change.”

Teens – 54 stories

Write about a character, animal or human, who is reborn as something totally different.

High School – 42 stories

Write your story from the perspective of an outsider watching something or someone change.

Middle School – 45 stories

Your character picks up a fallen leaf and can’t believe what they discover underneath it. What happens next?

Fall – 38 stories

Set your story during a sudden change of season.

Fall – 26 stories

Stories

“I Will Do It One Day” by Valerie Preston

Submitted to Contest #118

How many times have I heard those words ‘Today is the day I change?’ They haven’t always been said in just that particular way….there’s been ‘It’s ‘D’ day for me today’ or “This has to end and today it will’ or ‘I will really try hard this time and succeed’ or ‘I’m in a good head space now so today I start!’ It has been said so many times and in so many different way and for so long. It hasn’t worked. To be honest I don’t believe it any more. Everyone knows it has failed, or rather SHE has failed. She knows, I know, the children know, every...

Read story

“Commuter” by Daniel Holt

Submitted to Contest #118

Trigger warning: violence Today’s the day I change. I am weary from marching through the endless drudgery that my life has become. I wake up in a house of people who don’t really see me, who don’t know who I truly am. Maybe it’s better this way. Maybe it’s better to remain in the shadow of my life and not face the uncertainty of acceptance. This is better than rejection, after all, right? “Good morning, sweetie,” she says. “I hope you slept well.” I hear her voice and smile. I say something in return. What was it? Did I tell her I loved he...

Read story

“A Cat’s Cage” by Vincent Paiement Désilets

Submitted to Contest #118

A Cat’s Cage Whisky taps the window with his paw. It's still there, the invisible barrier that keeps him inside, trapped, that separates him from the animated and lively world flowing before his eyes. Outside, dogs, squirrels, birds, other cats all live their lives. They see things Whisky will never see, taste things he'll never taste. They have access to scents that only come to him in their faintest form, like a hallucination, buried under the smells of moisture and trash ...

Read story

“Sea Glass and a Polarized Star” by Skylar James

Submitted to Contest #118

CW: SuicideThe line that separates the ocean and sky is distant. It’s a soft blue event horizon that grows darker with the night, to the point where there is nothing left but a vortex beyond the cold sand. Space and time and fate feel insignificant at that moment as Ash continues to watch that glistening void swallow the full moon’s light. She listens to the receding tides as they coalesce into great waves, to the water hitting the sides of her docked boat, and watches the moonlight roll over the surface until it ebbs away, as though devoure...

Read story

“Fly Me to the Moon” by Hannah Foligno

Submitted to Contest #118

I had only hap-hazardly packed up my room on the day that I was supposed to leave. I wished that I could slip out without anyone knowing, without causing a scene. I almost got away with it; my dad had only just found out that I was leaving that day. “What?!” he exclaimed, and then promptly went back to his crossword puzzle. And that was that. I could always rely on him for an easy exit. My mom, however, did not offer me the same luxury. Even when I would go spend the night at a friend's house, I would try to sneak out, not because I wasn’t...

Read story

“McCloud's” by Julia Driedger

Submitted to Contest #118

McCloud’s I Peeked through the window of the little bookstore with the word "McClouds" frosted onto it, my eyes sparkled above rosy cheeks, flushed by crisp autumn air. I gazed at the two people inside the shop as they worked. The man sat on the antiquated desk chair, bent over the computer, glasses nearly slipping off his long nose. He had squinty eyes capped by bushy eyebrows and tufts of washed-out hair were combed neatly on his head. The lady stood beside a rolling shelf, packed with books. She had a compact figure with a blunt...

Read story

“The leaf and the prayer” by Ruth Zschoche

Submitted to Contest #118

The lawn was a deep green with the sun creating dark shadows where the trees went over the grass. It was a small patch bordered by the tall row of maples on one side and the house and garden on the other. Further down at the bottom of the lawn was another garden with bushes to hide it. There was a small man-made stream and berries that might be poisonous. A Mother Mary hung for prayers at the center of space in the garden, hidden from view. Benches surrounded this altar. The large eucalyptus tree in a bottom corner waved like a tired lover b...

Read story

“Sean, Jasper and Rian” by David Ajala

Submitted to Contest #118

“Today is the day I change” I looked for any reaction from my one person audience but Rian barely even moved, her nose remained firmly buried in her book. “Are you even listening to me?” I asked her. “Nope” I deflated a bit but I couldn’t blame her. I had said it over a million times but saying was the easy part. I actually had to do something about it. And that was the difficult part. “You know maybe a little positivity would go a long way. How does anyone expect me to change if my closest friend doesn’t even think I can?” Rian sighed...

Read story

“A Workers manifesto ” by Kentric Coleman

Submitted to Contest #118

Todays the day I change, I have been in a dark for sometime now, constantly be-raiding my self on what haven’t been accomplished. All of the failed projects all of the dreams I let drift into an abyss never to be seen again…no more, no more feeling less than no more putting myself down god gave us the capabilities to accomplish ever goal we can envision so what’s stopping me? Somewhere in my journey I became so insecure about the abilities god gave me I started to believe I had none, todays the day I change. Maybe if I say that enough I...

Read story

“PAPER WINGS” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #118

PAPER WINGS Tommy stood softly, comfortably curled up on the high red armchair, where he had taken an afternoon nap…And as if he was enjoying it, sunk in that delicious softness, something that made his moustache tremble for emotion and contentment. There was no one at home, neither the dark faced woman nor her terrible little girl, nor that very big man , who came every now and then to visit them. Ah, that there, that very big one, with his big belly and his big ass ( butt), he always chased Tommy from the ar...

Read story

“The Happiest Days Followed By the Darkest” by Eoghan Ricci

Submitted to Contest #118

The wood; so tame, peaceful to what things are today. I remember what happened like it was yesterday. I went into the wood at around age 18 where I lost myself in the natural wonders of the world. I learned to survive off the land and nothing but. I learned when to bend a knee to mother nature. And I learned when she should bend hers. I worked the land in the summer to pay for it. I worked it for fur, crop, and meat. The original landowners said when I was about halfway with the payment. That I had earned my share of the land. And that...

Read story

“When What The Hell Happens” by Julie Hall

Submitted to Contest #118

I grabbed the door handle with a little tension in my stomach, expecting that I would be greeted with a scowl and the ever-so heralding “why are YOU here?” But to my surprise, after taking the time to enter as discreetly as humanly possible, there was no one sitting there to curse my arrival. The living room was empty. Not only was it empty, but it was EMPTY. It was sparkling clean. Where was all of the mess? You could see the hardwood floors. I didn’t trip on anything trying to get inside and find the space to take my shoes off. The black l...

Read story

“For Angel ” by Alexis Jones

Submitted to Contest #118

The air outside was different this morning. It was as though he had smelt it for the first time. As if it was the first time he had ever really breathed it in. He thought he must of still been a bit high. A cop car pulled up to the Emergency entrance. A man wearing half a torn t-shirt, blood, boxers and handcuffs was lead inside by a man wearing a vest and a gun and a badge. They both look tired. Only one of them looked ashamed. They both looked defeated. Every thing was still so quiet. The light of the day was just making itself kn...

Read story

“The Roses That Bloomed in Auschwitz” by Penni Warford

Submitted to Contest #118

The Roses That Bloomed In AuschwitzSavoring a moment of solitude, I meandered along the park’s edge admiring the luscious layers of color that bulged like impasto paint on a canvass. A blanket of leaves covered the sidewalk like a mosaic of golden honey and rotting lemons woven into a patchwork quilt that warmed the earth below. As I kicked at the decaying beauty that swallowed up the path beneath my boots, a solitary burnished red maple leaf caught my eye. It was out of place amid the golden blanket of American Elm leaves and the glowing tu...

Read story

“A SECOND CHANCE” by Julia Corliss

Submitted to Contest #118

The storm had been fierce. All about trees both large and small lay upon the earth like fallen soldiers on a battlefield. All over the village itself leaves were thick upon the ground. Yet, the stone houses of the villagers were still standing intact. Every edifice of wood was blown to bits. Slowly the villagers emerged from their stone houses to greet the new day that had dawned revealing to them the changes wrought upon their corner of the world. Generations ago the Elders had shared a prophecy about just such a storm that would come one...

Read story

Load more stories

$250

Prize money

205

Contest entries

140

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Nov 05, 2021 EST

Won by Myia Melendy 🏆

Title: beneath the quaking aspen

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 ⭢