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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#120: Nostalgia

Do you ever get a warm, fuzzy feeling when eating a favorite childhood meal or meeting up with an old friend? On the other hand, maybe you’ve revisited something you were nostalgic for, only to find it wasn’t quite what you remembered. Or perhaps you’ve found yourself longing for a time before you were even born...


This week’s prompts encourage you to write around the bittersweet feeling of nostalgia, and imagine the different ways your characters might confront memories from the past.

This week's prompts

Write about a character who yearns for something they lost, or never had.

Angst – 111 stories

Start your story with the line ‘Back in my day…’

Adults – 28 stories

Write about two characters’ different perspectives of the same past event.

Middle School – 36 stories

Start your story with a character looking through an old family photo album.

Fluff – 44 stories

Your character has always viewed the past with rose tinted glasses. Write about what happens when they’re finally confronted with the truth.

Angst – 25 stories

Stories

“We Have to Move” by David Ader

Submitted to Contest #120

           Phillip turned the car into the gravel driveway comforted by the grassy hump down its middle, the part that car tires hadn’t trampled down. The hump had grown since he was a child. He’d always thought it looked like something you’d find at an English country home. Maybe in the Cotswolds, though he hadn’t ever been there.            The old man sat on the porch staring out at him, a curious look that might have been mistake...

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“Escape from the Yukon” by John Minnaar

Submitted to Contest #120

My first introduction to the area was during my school career. It was one of the thoughts that flashed through my mind as I surfaced on this cold, autum morning. The other was the dream I had just managed to extricate myself from - the way things were – in the days of yore. There was something missing in my life and when I reviewed how I felt – I was happy to be in the country and rough it in Nature but the modern world had disintegrated all my dreams of those wonderful thoughts right there with my waking musings on life. I had spent that ...

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“Rose-Colored Memory” by Debra Birdwell Winkler

Submitted to Contest #120

Rose-Colored Memory By Debra Birdwell Winkler When I received the invitation for our 20-Year High School Class Reunion, I was skeptical. I hadn’t made it to our 10th year because my husband was in the hospital having been diagnosed with cancer. I was going to pass on this reunion, but my daughter convinced me that seeing old classmates might be fun. I thought about it and decided it might be a breath of fresh air for me, especially if the boy I loved all through high school was there. He probably wouldn’t remember me. Then, I don’t think h...

9 comments 9
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“My First Fish” by Janis Van Meter

Submitted to Contest #120

My family gathers every few years in a central location convenient to all of us for a reunion. We are direct descendants from our Paternal grandfather’s side of the family since we are children of his five children. Our parents along with our grandparents have all passed away.We are first cousins. Now, we are all older, senior citizens. At first, there were seventeen cousins. Now, sadly, we are down to eleven. Although just ten of us attend the reunions. Our youngest cousin was placed up for adoption when she was only seven. None of our fami...

3 comments 3
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“My twinflame bruise” by Valentina Nigrinis

Submitted to Contest #120

CW: Death, grief, loss of a loved one.The stars no longer shine since you’ve been gone. They hide behind the clouds and twinkle faintly, like the fire in my heart, which sputters and dwindles. Your absence is more noticeable with each passing day. The bookshelves that once held your favorite books are now empty, and I no longer see your favorite mug lying around with a drag of coffee still in it. Your clothes I keep still, but they lie untouched in the bottom drawers, where I hope they will retain your scent.The nights are cold without you t...

1 comment 1
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“Red Album” by J. W.

Submitted to Contest #120

It was a hot summer day when when Terence Hall found a photo-album. He had come across this collection of photos when clearing out his mother's estate. She had died of a blood clot travelling to her heart shortly after a knee surgery. Eleanor Hall was found unresponsive, laying in her bathtub, her head poking barely above the surface of the cold water, her lips blue with sadness and her eyes shut in peace. "What do you have there?" Clara asked. Clara was his wife and his best friend. She had agreed to come along and help him with this. Al...

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“Learning to Swim” by Todd Crickmer

Submitted to Contest #120

Learning to Swim By Todd Crickmer               Back in my day … though it is now hard to believe, racial segregation was not just a social norm, it was literally the law of the land. I was reminded of this shameful fact of American history while traveling a Kansas interstate, late one night while traveling from one business meeting, to another early the next morning. I was struggling to keep my mind active and facing an unpleasant appointment awaiting me the nex...

1 comment 1
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“Center of the Universe” by Gerald Lanning

Submitted to Contest #120

“Woof!” Sarah said, approaching the snarling mastiffs, the huge dogs dwarfing the baby girl. “Doggie…Woof!” Sarah bent hard at the waist as she pushed out the words. She knew doggies when she saw them, and these were the biggest she had ever seen. Their bared fangs glinted menacingly in the sunlight. She was only a few feet from the bronze beasts guarding the house. They were motionless, but poised to attack. The twin statues glared ferociously at the diminutive intruder. Holding onto a metal leg and pushing herself up with her knees...

3 comments 3
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“Overdue Beginning” by Mariah Heller

Submitted to Contest #120

Her form-fitting red wrap dress was designed to be sexy and alluring. She knew she could attract just about any man here this evening but she didn’t care. Monica D'Angelo already knew what, or rather who, she was after. If Logan Carver was married, she’d simply congratulate him and wish him well. Only then, would she know he was never meant to be with her. However, if he were single, she’d lay out the plan she’d spent the last year preparing. She’d increased her visits to the gym, found her center spiritually, w...

3 comments 3
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“In the Darkness, the Light of Freedom” by Robin G. White

Submitted to Contest #120

Back in my day, I remember mornings like this one when an early squall threatened the day and my anguished pleading seemed to fall on deaf ears. Frustrated, I'd watch the ever graying sky, praying for a ray of hope to beam through the dark clouds and save me from what surely would be a tortuous summer day at home with mother.Those mornings though often found hot pancakes dripping with butter and syrup, dotted with the tiniest of flavorful blueberries, picked along the side of the road, or blackberries, culled from under the porch between sna...

2 comments 2
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“Mother and Her Lilies” by Mela Rzepka

Submitted to Contest #120

(trigger warning: hatred, war, death) When she held her hand, she felt the ridges of her palm, the cracks of stories past, of struggles overcome, of pain and love. Her eyes were the ocean sucking her in and welcoming her home. And the creases traveling from her eyes to the corners of her mouth showed the unbridled laughter of years spent living life to an extent few knew how to experience. Until the blood spilled and her spirit went with the tide.  She remembered that laugh, the one she heard coming down from the white house sitting...

2 comments 2
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“The Photograph” by Carolina Garcia

Submitted to Contest #120

Scarlett started flipping through the album when she took a long pause. She looked up at her mother and pointed to a picture of a man. “Is that him?” she asked.Her mother’s face turned from calm to an immediate nervousness. She almost didn’t want to acknowledge the picture.“That’s him.” She finally responded with a haunted tone.Her mother couldn’t tolerate to be in the same room while that picture was present, so she scurried off into the kitchen. “I have to start getting dinner ready.”Scarlett did not look up, she was too fixated on the pic...

4 comments 4
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“My Dear Papa” by Sean Sorce

Submitted to Contest #120

It was the second evening of 2006. The evening was cold and dry. Colder than it usually was during this time every winter in southeast Wisconsin. The snow was light but you can still hear cracking when stepping unto them.    As my brother, mother and I walked on the sidewalk to my grandparent's front door, we were greeted by my dad. Behind the door, my entire family were there all gathered at this one place in Milwaukee. The house had a big enough living room but not quite as much anywhere else unless you got to the basem...

2 comments 2
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“R.T.G.” by Dale Newman

Submitted to Contest #120

Andre Jackson loved life. His apartment was small, but he had everything he needed and everything was of the finest quality. He could dine out at amazing restaurants for every meal every day, and drink at fantastic bars every evening. Since all the manual labour became automated, nobody went without. You could work if you wanted to persun a craft or intellectual pursuit, and of course there were still artists and celebrities, but the hardships and worries of his parents and grandparents generations were consigned to history. "What a time to ...

4 comments 4
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“Different Dimensions” by Linda Steven

Submitted to Contest #120

The cloak of brume was lifting. Once released from its shadows Greta was afforded a clearer view from the dew-damp park bench. Ah! Yes, that’s better. She absentmindedly scratched the ears of the chubby little black and white dog on her lap, her fingers settled upon a gnarly patch of hair. She gently worried it back into smoothness while watching her grandson Dillon’s elastic smile grow wider as he was projected higher and higher by daddy. Observing their game filled her with sunshine. The mood seemed to transfer to Sushi too, who jumping do...

4 comments 4
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$250

Prize money

244

Contest entries

163

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Nov 19, 2021 EST

Won by Rebecca Loften 🏆

Title: Meditation

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 | Many Hands | 2024-09

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