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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#131: First Impressions

On the 28th of January 1813, Pride and Prejudice was first published. Originally titled First Impressions, Jane Austen’s most famous work has gone on to be a genre-defining classic — and one of my personal favorites.

To celebrate the anniversary of its release, this week’s prompts explore the themes of Pride and Prejudice, and the slipperiness of first impressions.

This week's prompts

Write a story about two characters whose first impressions of one another are wildly inaccurate.

Fluff – 55 stories

Write a story that includes (or subverts) the enemies-to-lovers trope.

Romance – 25 stories

Start your story with the arrival of a new person in a town full of gossips.

Adults – 41 stories

Write a story about a group of sisters, or a group of brothers.

Vampire – 35 stories

Set your story in a drawing room.

Fiction – 29 stories

Stories

“Foreigners, and Other Cannon Fodder” by Alex Larson

Submitted to Contest #131

“My, my; ain’t he a strange-looking fella,” my Gran whispered to Ma. I looked too, and he seemed pretty normal to me, ‘cept for the dark hair and the way he walked. “Curious gait, don’t he,” Ma agreed with Gran. It’s not that he walked or looked exceptionally quizzically, but the only thing to feed into the rumor mill and gossip well this week was a two-headed snake young Sam Bailey caught playing near Miller’s Pond, and that wasn’t much for the ladies to chew on. Here in Albion, we have a few different means of currency and trade. First, mo...

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“The Belle Isle Boys” by Mary Catherine Kingfisher

Submitted to Contest #131

Gus was lucky in life. He was uncommonly handsome. The clever, likeable sort of guy who always had friends to spare. And, though his parents were poor, they were kind. Gus was the oldest of four siblings, a fact he liked to lord over his brothers and sister, all at least five years younger than him. On most days, when they weren’t working, his parents had their hands full with three young kids at home. And, while he loved his family, Gus enjoyed the freedom his oldest-child status provided. At thirteen, he explored the c...

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“Bad Brad” by Kathryn Gabrielle

Submitted to Contest #131

Once upon a time, there was a cold distant village. It had little sunshine and most of the year was spent trying to get out of the cold, chilly winds. Most blustery winds, I must say! The streets were neat and tidy and the police saw to it that no strangers stayed longer than a week. Everyone knew one another and especially everyone else's business. Good or bad. And there were ways to find out. So most people were fairly predictable.Walking to most any place in this town only took a few minutes. The town square was one solid block of sm...

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“Never Enough Time” by Anne Sellers

Submitted to Contest #131

Grandpa told me the story of his childhood many times. His mother was Native American and his father was White. He said that he never met his father because he died before Grandpa was born. The details of this story were vivid and intense. I remember hearing it for the first time when I was about eight and Grandpa was well into retirement, but agile for his age. We were working in his garden when he began. I can’t remember how it started, but midway through, I had stopped pulling weeds and was transported to the early 1900s. After her h...

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“I CAN SEE YOU” by Darrell Grant

Submitted to Contest #131

They say that bad times can fall on anybody at any time but at this time in my life, I had come to the conclusion that I was a favorite of target of bad times, whenever there was no one else available. Maybe because I chose a life of crime, so I just kept going from committing one crime to another which led to one cell to another. This was the life I was destined to have. At least that's what I thought until one summer day while reading the morning paper an article caught my attention. It was something fantastic. Something r...

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“The Class Project” by Mattea Wise

Submitted to Contest #131

Jade cringed as she walked to the library to meet Marcus. On days like today, everything seemed to make her more irritable. The normal traffic to school and the line at the café made her irritable. The crunching of the dead leaves beneath her feet and the chill of the autumn air made her irritable. Marcus made her more irritable than all these things put together. She slid through the doors of the library like a snake, weaving through other students as they talked about their plans for papers and final projects. Some drank their third coffee...

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“Mr. Pratt's Game” by Chris Campbell

Submitted to Contest #131

Author’s Note:This is a true story. It is told as recounted to me by Mrs. Gladys White – who on this fateful night, danced unseen in the ballroom of the old Tudor Hall house depicted within. The author writes this story, solely in the pursuit of truth, and to dispel any previous inaccuracies published for the sake of selling scandalous newspapers. Anthony Ernest Pratt stood in front of the roaring fireplace, studiously peering through a glass of port held high in front of the flames. At the personal invitation of the distinguished physi...

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“Jack's Death” by John Hanna

Submitted to Contest #131

Jack opens his eyes with a start. Everything is at once strange and yet familiar. He doesn’t feel bad but he doesn't feel right; like clicking off a checklist he senses the quick adaptation, the focus adjustment. Now, he never felt better, his mood had never been more optimistic, his muscles hummed with health, his heartbeat is a pulse of wellbeing. He is sitting in a 19th-century Victorian armchair with a carved crest and a needlepoint seat facing a nondescript man in the same. “Where am I?” Jack asked. “You’re in the drawing-room,” the m...

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“Paramour” by Abbie Shelton

Submitted to Contest #131

This all started as a joke. Alice sat at the foot of my bed, the same place she sat every time she had visited for the past 6 years, and she had said. “What do you even use that thing for anyway, just to look cool?” I remember glancing at my telescope, laughing at her impromptu accusation. “It was a gift from Dad. I told him once that I liked the stars… I meant in magazines, of course, but he always overdoes it.” She stood up suddenly. She stopped laughing, but her face was still wide in a smile, her hair flowing wildly behind her as...

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“From the Shadows” by Cindy Calder

Submitted to Contest #131

His ice blue eyes reflected his anticipation, deepening to nearly black as he lingered from the shadows of the veranda, silently awaiting her arrival. ****************Adrienne stepped to the open window in ...

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“G-I-R-L” by Lisa Turlo

Submitted to Contest #131

In 1968, Greg, Mike, Dave and I set off to hike to the top of a mountain west of Borrego Springs Campground. This mountain rose a thousand feet from the desert floor. We thought it would be a nice trek to the top of the hill, not really understanding just how big a hike it really was. We did not go on a trail, scrabbling instead across the hills, avoiding cactus and scrubby chaparral. Our Mom packed us a brown paper sack lunch of soda pop, a baloney sandwich, and an apple. We had two canteens of water to share. As I look back on it, I ...

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“Sunday's at Nana's” by W.D. Pierce

Submitted to Contest #131

Have you ever spent too much time in the card aisle of a pharmacy? Rifled through the cheesy designs and the overused well wishes, trying to find a decent note for a celebration? And by some miracle, did you strike greeting card gold? Because for one time & one time only, I found a card for my Nana that fit her absolutely. It said, "Grandma always made you feel she had been waiting to see just you all day, and now the day was complete." - Marcy Demaree The quote rang true of my Nana, who I always felt was waiting on us. Every S...

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“The Longest Five Minutes” by Caroline Jenner

Submitted to Contest #131

The itch is there, I imagine it almost before it becomes a reality and I know that soon it will spread deeper. Not wider or further around my thigh, but deeper, moving in towards my groin begging to be rubbed, scraped, excoriated until it has been completely erased. Apart from the scratching sound of pencil on paper the room is quiet and unbearably warm, all heaters turn towards me, as you’d expect, seeing as I am the only one with no clothes on. Six pairs of eyes look at me, well not really at me just parts of me.&nbs...

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“The Beauty Salon” by Lori Clark

Submitted to Contest #131

Maggie's was the place. What it was the place for was up for debate. Today, I was there for a much-needed haircut. I'd planned weeks ago to grab that coveted first appointment of the day. Get in, get out, and avoid the regulars, the ladies who stopped by nearly every morning. Maggie's was the place to go for the latest news, aka Gossip. I had lived in the same small town my entire life, except for seven years, which I still referred to as the greatest brain fart I'd ever had. Not because I'd left town, but because of him. The reason I'd l...

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“A Walk in the Park” by Craig Westmore

Submitted to Contest #131

The morning gloom had lifted and the day turned a shade of blue that made me want to run and play. The breeze smelled of hay from the stables, lilacs from the botanical gardens and the sweet grass that lay before me. Blankets stretched out on the lawn with picnic baskets and coolers and more food than anyone could possibly eat. Two guys tossed around a frisbee but one of them should really throw it out so the other could chase after it and impress the people sitting on blankets. A hint of cologne wafted by from an old man who sat on a bench...

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$250

Prize money

185

Contest entries

128

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Feb 04, 2022 EST

Won by Zack Powell 🏆

Title: Love Ain't Blind, Grief Is

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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