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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#119: Listen

It’s November, and with that come some familiar sounds: the pitter-patter of rain, the rustling of leaves, and the hysterical typing of writers attempting NaNoWriMo. This week, let’s throw the windows open and listen closely. And if you need company while you write, join the Reedsy team for a live Write-In on November 10th!

This week's prompts

Start your story with an unusual sound being heard.

Horror – 41 stories

Start your story with a character saying “Listen, …”

Valentine's Day – 57 stories

Write a story inspired by a piece of music (without using any lyrics).

Middle School – 39 stories

Write a story that involves eavesdropping.

Fluff – 34 stories

Set your story in a silent house by the sea.

Dystopian – 61 stories

Stories

“Strange, Young, and Vaguely Inexplicable” by Grady Sullivan

Submitted to Contest #119

What a strange, young, and vaguely inexplicable world.  When she was born, the world stood that way, only it never did evolve into that completed puzzle most children can picture. Nothing, nothing ever, quite made sense. And everything, including her, remained strange, young, and vaguely inexplicable. Well, perhaps not the girl. She was peculiar, old-minded, and generally exhausting to figure out. Of course, nobody tried, for, in truth, nobody ever does. Despite that general knowledge, people like to pretend they will. However, she...

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“Music” by Min Min

Submitted to Contest #119

    Music      I was listening to Chopin's Funeral March on the radio the other day. It brought back my memories.      In 1966, I lived in Shanghai. One of my neighbors was Gu Shengying. She was a distinguished young pianist. I often listened to her music drifting from her window. In my alley, several kids played violins, accordions, and other musical instruments. Whenever she was playing piano, everyone stopped and listened. At the age of 16, Gu performed Chopin's Second ...

3 comments 3
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“Family Holiday Politics” by Lorna JC

Submitted to Contest #119

You read to the girls before bed, it's your turn, and anyway it's nice to get the opportunity to as you don't get to see Ava very often. She's your cousin's daughter and lives in Canada. The two girls have tucked themselves up in a makeshift bed on the pull-out sofa, they've zipped their sleeping bags together to make one giant one, and they are giddy. When you finish the book they don't seem any sleepier, but you kiss them goodnight, switch off the light and leave, then you sit on the stairs just outside the room. You hear the excited low...

5 comments 5
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“The Silent House at Saltmarsh” by Joseph Morganella

Submitted to Contest #119

I had just completed my devotional exercises to Nerull and was entering a meditative state when I felt his presence intrude upon my senses. I rose easily to my full fifteen-foot height, muscles toned and relaxed. “Master,” I bowed, “I am honored by your presence, how may I serve you?” “Mortals have invaded our crypts, even now they break through the secret entrance to my throne. I will alert the others. The steelwing, the cauchemar and my children will engage them, we must reinforce them.” I bowed again, “As you say, ...

2 comments 2
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“This House” by Steve Ryan

Submitted to Contest #119

It’s early in the morning. I can see the ocean through the kitchen window. The water hits the shore forcefully, but the sound is blocked by the soundproof windows we’d put in a few years ago. At this hour, the house is so quiet, you can hear a pin drop. In fact, it’s like this at every hour. Ever since that boat accident last summer. The whole family was there. My parents. My little sister and older brother. Even the family dog, Jackson. We rented a speed boat, something my father had wanted to do for a long time. He liked to think of himse...

4 comments 4
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“The Cottage and the Lighthouse” by Dhruv Srivastava

Submitted to Contest #119

Though the waves crashed against the cliffside and the wind battered the thin walls of the old cottage, Cindy Davis didn’t stop smiling and set the table in her kitchen for one. She couldn’t hear it anyway. The lights had gone out, but she had a plethora of candles just for this occasion. Every time she went out to the market, she bought a few candles, especially if there were new scents out. Something about the dancing yellow flame enchanted her. It was so frantic, so desperate to escape its shackles, and yet so playful. She liked to put he...

2 comments 2
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“The Past and the Present” by Giulia S.

Submitted to Contest #119

The past is the past. You need to let go. How many times have people said that? How many times have you had to listen to those words? At first, it's so annoying. You can't even think about letting go. How could you? How could you let go of part of your life? It seems just impossible. But then something happens. What is it? Well, it's just that. Time passes. Yes, simple as that. That same thing that felt impossible a while back, now it starts to make sense. You can't realize the exact moment when this happens, though. It would be nice to kno...

6 comments 6
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“Kiera and the Sea Dragon” by Annalisa D.

Submitted to Contest #119

CW: Abuse, Sexual Violence, Trauma        To escape the anger that burned through my veins with debilitating power, I fled to the silent house by the sea. Silence was all I had. Only the noise of waves crashing against the black rock lined shore interrupted my peace, but that sound didn’t bother me. It fueled me.             As I sat on the shore, letting icy wind pierce through my soul, I noticed a large cave carved in the sea cliffs a mere walk...

5 comments 5
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“The Treadmill on the Beach ” by Chris Riffle

Submitted to Contest #119

Tom dreams.  He won’t remember the first dream or the second one. The third may come through only in flashes. The fourth and fifth will meld themselves together to create something odd and mystifying.  In this narrative nightmare of a dream Tom is running a marathon, right foot forward, left foot forward, sweat dripping, in need of a cup of water. Only he’s not running, is he? He’s lying on the beach, a woman and a child playing next to him in the sand.  He’s reading a book of poems and stories by Edgar Allen Poe. A...

2 comments 2
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“Spiders Creep” by Tanya Humphreys

Submitted to Contest #119

The girl on the deck in the floppy sun hat was afraid to open her eyes. She’d been awakened by a sound. One that had followed her from her nightmare. The noise was a clicking, skuttling sound, not unlike tap-dancing feet, but far more sinister. Breathe held, Weechoo Soo opened her eyes slowly while peaking from her splayed fingers…the enormous spiders were still there, only three feet closer than when she’d first seen them.  They surrounded her on three sides, at her back was the glass patio door. ‘Oh, fuck me.’ Sh...

2 comments 2
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“Bubbles and Wind Chimes” by Evelyn Griffith

Submitted to Contest #119

The sound was like far off wind chimes, but unnatural and unfamiliar. It was like someone had taken the time to make the individual chimes clink together in such a way that only sung minor keys. Something told her it was going to be more trouble than it was worth to figure out who, or what, was making it. Still, she forced herself to pick her feet up and place them in front of her.It was her duty.The hallway was barren. There were no people milling about in clothes that were much too tight and revealing, about to head to parties. There were ...

0 comments 0
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“"Peace"” by Cindy Hinds

Submitted to Contest #119

“Listen,” He whispered to me, “just listen.” “I am listening and I hear too much!” I answer desperately, hopelessly. “I am tossed on a violent sea of words, an ocean of phrases and utterances. On the horizon I see a billowing hurricane of political buzz words, cultural accusations, and inhumane testimonies tossing the sea, making huge waves across the dark depths. Each rotation of the massive word storm feeding on itself as it fights to stay in power, to stay relevant, to grow larger, and to wield more terror.” “Listen?” I ask? “All I do is ...

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“Saturday Night” by Mo Ferdause

Submitted to Contest #119

(Writers note: 1 night, 6 POV)Kids are a handful. I am struggling to raise two of my own lately. When I see someone with a half dozen kids at a supermarket, I laugh inside. You should've thought about going on birth control, lady! I say it quietly under my breath. I do my own thing and keep my rascals under a short leash. For the most part, they are all well behaved kids. Occasionally the little one will throw a fit if she doesn’t have it her own way, but that lasts only a few seconds. She knows that if she keeps it up, she will be in a...

1 comment 1
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“They're Calling Off The War” by Deborah Landers

Submitted to Contest #119

("Mars" by Sleeping At Last)*"Did you hear them say the war's supposed to be over now?" Private Rodriguez whispered.Gina Sullivan couldn't help but groan into her pillow. "They've always said that, kid," she muttered. "We're still here and about as front-line as they get. If it were actually over, I feel like we'd be the first to know.""But what if it is?" Apparently the kid couldn't take a hint. Not even an explicit one, like shoving her head under her pillow. "What if they reached an agreement and now we get to go home?"Gina actually felt ...

1 comment 1
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“A lost friend” by Isla Brown

Submitted to Contest #119

Let’s start at the beginning, in the last few months of third grade I became friends with a boy named Scot. We bonded over the fact that we both liked history and filming. Scot and I started really writing and coming up with scripts in fourth grade. At recess we would plan a show we wanted to make, drawing and writing in my notebook and talking about things we knew we couldn’t do with the ten dollars we both had.  Scot and I hung out a lot in and outside of school. I had bought a camera so on days that worked I went home with him and ...

3 comments 3
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$250

Prize money

232

Contest entries

160

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Nov 12, 2021 EST

Won by Rachel Dzengelewski 🏆

Title: Suzanne

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!

Prompts | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

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Prompts | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

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