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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

“Made in Texas” by Scout Tahoe

Submitted to Contest #130

There is no snow on the Small Uphill Cemetery in Grand Prairie, Texas. Probably from global warming or something. The long-dead grass crunches under your feet like your abuela’s famous Chocos Fritos, or fried cuttlefish will in your mouth. This salty-fried, home-baked thought caused your lips to tremble and your mouth to water. You’d kill for a good cuddle right now. Your hands are bare and becoming numb, so you cup them around your face and keep trudging beside the graves. The cemetery is empty. Gravestones stand with their porpoise ...

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“Something Domestic” by Amanda Lieser

Submitted to Contest #130

AFREDThe blonde receptionist sitting behind the looming black marble desk is typing furiously. Alfred stares down at the questionnaire on the tablet. Sweat drips down his forehead and pools in the small of his back. He clears his throat while nervously glancing at Angel. She doesn’t look up from her work and casually answers the phone after two melodic tones play, “Seven Year Itch, Angel speaking, how may I help you?” Alfred crosses and uncrosses his legs. He clenches his jaw and unclenches his jaw as he reads through the questions. He finis...

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“Degorath and the Other” by Kevin Marlow

Submitted to Contest #130

CW : {Violence, Language}“What happened to it? The other sexed being that dwells with us?” Brilliant blue tresses were hanging like curtains over fractured purple irises and young almond skin.“Very thoughtful choice of words. It was arrested and is being detained for a hearing.” An older creature, obviously her senior, reached out to brush back the ocean of curls hiding the little one's eyes.“Is it because Malrez is a warlock?”“Shhhh! Dare not speak such heresy!” Her hand reared back, ready to plant it across the tiny inquisitive face.“I'm s...

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“The Locked Door” by Katharine Widdows

Submitted to Contest #130

Mysteries had been presenting themselves to me since I was a child. So, I was hardly surprised when I found one in Mrs Pardon’s attic. And I didn’t intend to attempt solving this one either. The door to my imagination was firmly locked.‘Just bring down my old globe, no need to bother with anything else, Love.’ She’d croaked from her wheelchair as she fingered the black and white picture of her long-lost love. ‘Harry used to tell me about all the places he’d been. You know, in the army and such. Maybe it’ll jog my memory.’I got up from the ki...

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“Cage the Storm” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #130

I liked it better when we were on the bookcase. The titles were all lined up in front of us and we could read them aloud to each other every night. We’d come up with stories and attach them to the titles. The stories would produce other stories with new titles. It became difficult to tell which story sprung from the child of which imagination and how it connected to one of the spines on the shelf. Remember when we lived in that tchotchke shop in the Bahamas? We were just one bottle amongst so many other bottles. The ships were all pain...

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“Bitter Rose of the Sea” by Tommie Michele

Submitted to Contest #130

Luke Reids would never, ever leave Rose. Could never, ever leave Rose. She drew him to her with unparalleled force, and he’d known from the first that the only force strong enough to rival hers was death itself. Even then, that separation would only be temporary.At least, that’s what Luke thought as he walked with her on his arm. Rose—short for Rosemary, although she hadn’t told anybody but him—was the prettiest thing he had ever seen. Her name meant something about the sea, and about a rose. Luke could never remember exactly what, but if an...

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“The Clue of the Forgotten Claw” by Jennifer Chan

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #130

cw: references to WWIIThe hour was late, and although the candle on David’s bedside table was nearing the end of its life, the boy couldn’t care less. It was a Sunday night, and on Sunday nights, Mr. Otto always paid him a visit. Tonight was no exception. “Now what story do you want to hear this evening?” Mr. Otto asked as he pulled up a chair next to David’s bed. He was a tall man, Mr. Otto, David thought. Not that he had met many grown-ups in his lifetime. “We’ve already done Mystery of the Mute Porter and Sign of the Painted Sta...

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“The Locked Door” by Hamzah Malik

Submitted to Contest #130

Note to reader: This short story is about mental health issues, and creates allegories and metaphors to help explain how difficult these challenges can be. Having struggled myself, I've tried to approach this sensitively, while creating a story that is engaging and interesting to read. If anyone reading this needs mental health support, please seek help - no one is ever alone. I pace frantically wringing my fingers, my eyes darting to the clock. They'll be here any moment. I straighten my tie and glance in the large mirror hanging on th...

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“Crisis of Lust” by Kate Winchester

Submitted to Contest #130

***Author's note*** In my story, Annabeth, she tells a story about one of her EMS calls. This story is the story behind that call. Trigger warning: This story contains sex scenes. Twenty years of marriage and three kids later, the Daughtler’s intimacy was parched, as in dryer than the Sahara. They didn’t even sleep together most nights because one of them always fell asleep in their daughter’s bed. If they did end up together for the night, one of them would inevitably fall asleep instantly. That’s not to say they didn’t hav...

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“Do Not Go Gentle (The Gift)” by L.A. Ruel

Submitted to Contest #130

I gasp hard, one quivering breath after the other. My chest clenches like it’s crushing inward because there is not enough air to fill the lungs. The spacesuit keeps me swaddled in like a cocoon, only two inches away from becoming one with nothingness. It is too tight. I can't feel my fingers.“Oxygen level at 35%.” eUDORA's soothing voice inundates the limited room around me, but my ears are still buzzing. I blink to clear up my vision and try to focus on the helmet’s HUD data when the whorl of contorted metal passes briefly in front of...

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“Long Before Dawn” by Elisa T-K

Submitted to Contest #130

[CW: non-graphic discussions of kidnapping, attempted murder, and implied suicide (it's pretty light-hearted, but better safe than sorry)] Isaac does not have enough time to knock before the door swings open, and he is quickly swept inside. The door snaps shut behind him, and suddenly he has an armful of Cass. She hasn’t grown any taller than when he’d last seen her, and she has to stand on her toes to press her face against his neck. He drops his bag with a solid thunk, and wraps his arms around her waist, lifting her slightly as he press...

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“I Dreamt of Heaven” by Zack Powell

Submitted to Contest #130

I know what you're thinking, Mrs. Galloway. I imagine you rolled your eyes when you read the title of this personal essay. Maybe you sighed and shuffled my paper to the bottom of your grading pile. I wouldn't blame you. You told us not to squander these essays writing about our dreams, to use them only to reflect on stuff that actually happened to us—I know that, I do— but please make an exception. Just this once. This dream of mine happened last Friday, the day after my weekly therapy appointment. To tell the truth, I forgot that I even c...

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“The Gift Master” by Katharine Widdows

Submitted to Contest #130

TRIGGER WARNING: Animal cruelty.‘Welcome, welcome. Leave your bag at the door. Don’t be shy. Come on in.’ The Gift Master fiddled with his gunslinger moustache. ‘Every guess is a good guess, and the right guess buys your freedom. Do you need me to tell you the rules?’ He towered above Anna, muscular form filling his tailored black suit.‘Yes Sir, yes please.’ Anna brushed tendrils of greasy hair behind her waxy ears.‘Your token, please.’Anna Bunn reached into the pocket of her threadbare tunic, grubby fingers grazing past the hole developing ...

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“Lytton Blood” by Ann Martin

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #130

LYTTON BLOOD Ann Martin My publisher told me it would only be a small print run and she wasn’t kidding. But at last I found it. Are Those Skeletons in My Closet? Written and illustrated by Pansy Lytton-Fosse. Not one, but six copies, in a tiny bookshop attached to a café just a couple of streets back from the seafront. It was under Humour and I’d been looking in Biography. When I thought about it, that made sense. I gazed with a motherly pride at my own cartoon cover of assorted eccentrics, con-artists and fruit loops peering out from ...

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“Unfinished Projects” by Casey DeYoung

Submitted to Contest #130

That damn storm door. Always catching on – what? Nothing. Air maybe. The door itself. But never closing all the way. A damn nuisance, good for nothing but frustration. Over a year that she’d lived in the house, with grand plans to replace the storm door. And that sticky sliding door in the back of the house. The one that doesn’t lock, so it’s got two security bars to keep it closed. Never mind the fact that it was almost 3 months into living there before she discovered the faulty lock. And the popcorn ceiling she swore she’d take down ...

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$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!

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