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!

#130: What's in a Name?

This week, I’ve been thinking a lot about names: our names, and the names we give to stories, and the way they shape people’s expectations. So I’ve decided to try something new: as you’ll see, two of this week’s prompts let you play around with our Title Generator and Character Name Generator to spark ideas — and the rest explore what the implications of titles and names can be. Have fun!

This week's prompts

Create a title with our Title Generator, then write a story inspired by it.

Teens – 97 stories

Write about a character whose name you got from our Character Name Generator.

Character – 46 stories

Start your story with someone finding an object labeled with their name.

Horror – 37 stories

Set your story in a nameless world.

Kids – 27 stories

Write a story titled ‘The Locked Door.’

Dark – 77 stories

Stories

“Something Gained” by Alicia Griffin

Submitted to Contest #130

Alyssa curled up on the corner of the couch in her pajamas - a glass in hand filled with water while an Alka-Seltzer fizzled in it. The hangover couldn’t have been more prominent, but it was well deserved. Alyssa couldn’t keep her emotions at bay last night after the betrayal she’s been feeling. She looked like an absolute mess. Her eyeliner and mascara smudged down her eyes from sobbing during the late hours of that unforgiving night. How many times do I have to go through this? Alyssa seemed to be pensive, yet she had no legitimate answe...

Read story

“A Strange Thing” by Caleb Goehring

Submitted to Contest #130

It’s a strange thing to be asked to investigate a killing when you’ve never investigated anything before. Where to start? Search the scene? Talk to family? Neither of these were viable options. Darren Cohen washed up onto the river bank, carried by winding, rushing water, potentially coming to rest miles from the scene. As for family, he had none. I was his only employee. He said he came to Cliffton five years ago to build a new life after the war. A skilled mechanic in the military was an asset to a small town that had just begun to expand,...

Read story

“Lament” by Catherine Douglas

Submitted to Contest #130

The two German soldiers in the back of the truck had struggled to keep their prisoner under control for the last half-hour they had been riding through the snow-covered forests of southern Germany. The tall, imposing, but lean man wearing a British uniform was covered in bruises and blood, but much of the blood wasn’t his own, as seen with the bandaged bitemarks on the neck of one of the Germans. At least, to their relief, the man wasn’t a vampire or werewolf. They still put a makeshift muzzle on him when it became clear he was going to figh...

Read story

“Oath of God” by Candace Shattuck

Submitted to Contest #130

Today was the day. The day that the world would come to an end. Lisa Spencer woke up that morning ready to make it happen. Her mother had made the order. Humanity had grown arrogant and self-serving. They no longer remembered the old ways so it was time to eliminate them. She stared in the mirror. Her clothes looked plain enough but they were crafted in the heavens and would work better than any armor the humans would have. She took her sword and left. It was time to begin. The trip to Earth was shorter than she had expected. When she ...

Read story

“Ancestry.com” by Ray Maher

Submitted to Contest #130

Ancestry.com The last school research project Earc Hendric wanted was an ancestry assignment. “It sucks!” Earc complained, but no one listened to him. His dad had said to him without a grain of compassion, "Everything sucks for you, Earc; just do it and quit your whining and grow up.” His mother had said to him, “You may enjoy it, Earc; we have told you that your name is an authentic Celtic spelling of Earc, not Eric. Your roots on your father’s and my side are Celtic. You may find some interesting family history in your research that ...

Read story

“What IS in a name AND a little box” by Valerie Preston

Submitted to Contest #130

I couldn’t wait to escape from the office. I watched the big hand hit the twelve; the small hand was between the five and six. I almost sprinted towards the door. Shouting goodbye to the only person I really connected to in the building I rushed through the double glass doors – spotlessly sparkling as usual – and reached my car in record time. As I went to shut the car door I looked down as something caught my eye. A small box sat on the ground, all on its own with nothing next to it. It looked as if it was made of tin or some sort of metal ...

Read story

“What's in the package” by Perillai Perillai

Submitted to Contest #130

Peter gasped when the doorbell rang. He was startled by that sound when he was pacing the perimeter of his bedroom. He exhaled with his mouth and tried to open his bedroom door, but he was unable to grab it. He kept trying to get hold of the doorknob, but his hands went through it and came out."Wait! I am now a ghost. So, I can go through the walls!" Peter shouted looking at his lifeless body lying on the floor of his bedroom.He took two steps back and walked towards the door. Just as he was about to hit it, he stopped abruptly as his human ...

Read story

“The Secret Runaways” by White Buffalo

Submitted to Contest #130

Who is this world wonderful, cascading orange into yellow at the visible horizon-line? Time untethered, who are these things free unruled dancing by the sandy marsh to the music? It seems their games aren't of the judgmental kind, kind greens in their eyes something deeper holding their stare into that orangehorizon-line. I've been here a while, not sure how long. All I know is the rest of the crew is gone, by choice or inability, not sure what, but one of the two.These things dance though to drums their tirades unquestionably safe. They giv...

Read story

“The Second Star To The Right” by Mark Nero

Submitted to Contest #130

Sleep. I had slept for a very long time. Three years to be precise but I was meant to have slept for five, while hurtling through space in the star ship Endeavor before being awoken at New Europa. A colony located on Exoplanet Alpha Centauri A-a, which spun around Alpha Centauri A. Well, that was the official designation, before it was changed to Tera, to help the public get a grasp the fact that it was our new home. For some of us… The mission was to ship supplies to New Europa then on our second run, we could stay. It was the ...

Read story

“The Fire Stone Curse” by Ashley Porter

Submitted to Contest #130

The day I realized I was nothing was the same day I destroyed the one thing I worked my whole life to find.My mind was still foggy, as it had always been. I was still mindlessly working, searching for fire stones, as if nothing was wrong. Nothing had changed, and only then did I realize that nothing ever would.I walked obediently in a single-file line, standing in the very back because I was the smallest, the one least likely to be successful. There weren't many children in our village. In fact, there were three. None were younger than ...

Read story

“The Locked Door” by Murray Burns

Submitted to Contest #130

The Locked Door I like to put the blame on Rachel. I mean, she was already four years old. It’s not like she was just a baby. This position may not score points with the committee reviewing one’s credentials for possible admittance into the “Father’s Hall of Fame”, but I think it’s good to assess culpability where it rightfully belongs. It’s never too early to teach your kid a little personal responsibility. I don’t see how any of this is my fault. In the first place, it was obvious that we needed a larger structure to store our ...

Read story

“The Locked Door” by Kay Lesley Reeves

Submitted to Contest #130

The Locked Door. "Hell's bells!" Margaret swore under her breath. She'd done it again. Her keys and handbag were lying on the kitchen table and she had just stepped into the corridor and pulled the door shut. That was the third time this week. Her dementia was definitly getting worse. " I'll have to go down to reception and ask one of the carers to open the door for me. I hope it's not Tom, that grumpy one. He'll give me a telling off for sure. He might even give me a pinch. My arm's still sore from the last time he ...

Read story

“The Locked Door” by Jay Byrd

Submitted to Contest #130

I’m finally seen!! I was born and raised in the busy New York City. Never had to many friends, was never popular…even in high school. You know, the one no one wanted to pick to be on their team for anything. Yep, that was me.I remember I had a bad crush on Michael Nelson….boy was he fine. Talk, dark and muscles that were visible through his clothes, OH MY. On top of him being the eye candy of my High school, he was very smart, friendly and popular. One thing though……Michael never saw me, just as no one else saw me.Besides the 3 friends I had...

Read story

“The Lock Door” by Melinda Madrigal

Submitted to Contest #130

What's behind the lock door? No one knows. A mystery has been unfolding at 15 market place for the past five years and it's all because of the mysterious lock door. Every family who has lived at 15 market place have encountered the mysterious lock door, but nobody has been able to open it. No reason has been given as to why there is a lock door at this address and now a new family has moved in and this family is a special family with a special child. Bella is the youngest of the Evans family, she loves to draw and write about any topic...

Read story

“The Locked Door” by Rebecca Himmel Glassman

Submitted to Contest #130

The past year has been so difficult. All I want to do is run away. It is almost impossible to deal with the grief, for now, anyway. Would this harsh feeling ever go away? Would I ever laugh again, or even just smile? Would I ever enjoy anything again? Or, would all the small things in life be tinged with bittersweet memories of what once was, or what could have been? My heart is locked up right now. I can’t open that door to other feelings and emotions. I don’t even want to!Here I stand, looking around my apartment. I have to get away for aw...

Read story

Load more stories

$250

Prize money

284

Contest entries

179

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jan 28, 2022 EST

Won by Allie Erickson 🏆

Title: A Man's Man

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 ⭢