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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

“White buds” by Arch R

Submitted to Contest #131

Lucy looked at her watch for the third time in under a minute. It wasn’t midnight yet. She took another gulp from her glass of steaming liquid and paced toward the window. She peered out, her eyes catching the fullness of the moon. Her street was as still as a lake on a windless day. She could hear her own heartbeat in the silence. She glanced back down at her watch and sucked in sharply seeing the two hands pointing toward the top. It was time. She straightened her lilac dress dotted with white buds that she had bought for this occasion a...

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“Piles of Ashes” by Bella Baillargeon

Submitted to Contest #131

It was noon when the knock at the door came.I had just finished setting the end table with the proper amount of teacups and saucers. I smoothed out the wrinkles in my pale pink dress and measured my steps to the front door.I opened the door, allowing a smile to light up my face, and slightly bowed my head at the guests, my dirty blonde hair falling in front of my face.My mother, after hearing the knock and the door open, approached me from behind and likewise smiled.Our three guests, the newest neighbors in the town of Boston, were a family ...

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“The Drawing Room” by Shirley Brand

Submitted to Contest #131

The drawing-room had once been his wife's. Carolina's, he claimed it after her death, so many years ago. During childbirth. Once it had been a place to gather, chat, laugh, enjoy. At the moment he felt very much alone. The door opened, Martha entered carrying a tray with light lunch, soup, a sandwich, coffee. a piece of ginger cake. She set it on a table that was set between two chairs. "Will there be anything else, Sir?" "No, thank you, Martha." She backed out closing the door behind her. Glancing up and down the empty hall, as if t...

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“Running Again” by James Grasham

Submitted to Contest #131

Note from the author: This story contains a term referring to a mental disability that some may find offensive. The character who is thinking at the time has zero understanding of disabilities, physical or mental. * = 576A2 is a commonly used abbreviation of the date in the three kingdoms. Written longhand it would read “The five hundred and seventy sixth year of the second age.” Sir George had led them to a fine mansion in Dalanor’s merchant district. Surrounded by stone walls eight feet high and vast snow-covered gardens, it was the pe...

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“It's nothing personal ” by Gary Phipps

Submitted to Contest #131

It was about a quarter until six as the Duke impatiently glanced at the grandfather clock against the wall. It was a gift to his grandfather from the duchess of Spain some time ago. The Duke, being nearly 60 years of age, can't remember a time when that old clock wasn't in that exact same spot. He loved the nostalgia that it brought him, but part of him also resented it because he usually only looked at it when he was impatient or not looking forward to a particular moment or engagement. This was one of those times. After already having di...

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“Blindsided” by A. Lee

Submitted to Contest #131

CW: Strong language“Winter Blue Baker?” Professor Riley calls out from the front of a classroom lined by black tables and cold, plastic chairs. There’s a whistle from the back of the class. Everyone turns, and the perpetrator grins wolfishly. “Crazy name,” he says. A girl from the front of the room, ignoring the outburst, raises her hand and says, “Here.” The students that border her gape for a moment, then the nuances of her name wear off as the professor continues roll call. Winter is used to this response after years of bei...

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“Afterthought” by Brooke Woodworth

Submitted to Contest #131

(Non-explicit sexual content, mentions of suicide, a racist character) As far as first impressions go, he struck me as incredibly kind. I was a barista; he was a barista. A romance waiting to happen. We worked at the same shop. I hadn’t considered him as a romantic interest until my manager, Geraldine (who goes by Gerry), suggested that we might make a good couple. She didn’t even like him as a person. He’s the kind of person who preps food with one hand and goes really slow to milk the clock, and that’s something a manager notices before an...

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“Mallen Streak” by Lynn-Marie Reed

Submitted to Contest #131

Liz has this long curly hair that looks so delicate and soft, like not even trampling fingers through it could disturb the appearance. She dyes it a different color once or twice a year. When I met her it was red and now it’s a deep shaded purple. Somehow, all the colors manage to suit her. Her face is shaped like an almond, speckled with light colored freckles on her cheeks and a soft pointed chin. Maybe without the colored hair she would blend in a little more, but I have doubts. She’s someone I can talk to for hours without pause. To a ...

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“The Broken Strings” by Mike Fry

Submitted to Contest #131

The Broken Strings by Mike Fry Stands a steep earthen ledge near a scrub oak woodlands, crumbling, looking down its nose on the summer-narrowed South Canadian River. It’s close to Overton Hill, where Schrock’s Ferry once crossed and old Camp Kickapoo near Mustang. The cliffs rise sheer where post-Oklahoma-land-run dugouts were carved into the red dirt. That town’s not on any present-day map, nor can you google it up. It seems to never have existed. The cliffs show skeletal roots, reaching into space for life-giving water. The loos...

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“Where Legends Go to Die” by Kyra Temple

Submitted to Contest #131

“I’ll have a Bud Light,” I hear a man tell the bartender.OK, frat boy.I lift my martini glass to my lips, the first sip of vodka cleansing my hectic week at the office. As I turn to face away from the bartop, my eyes scan the dance floor expecting to see my best friend, Keri. She and I meet at Legends at the end of every work week. I routinely come straight here after closing out the week’s emails, while she usually stops by our apartment to “freshen up”. Keri’s Friday night interests vary slightly from mine, if you catch my drift. The ...

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“Adam and Akachi” by Aquilla Achu

Submitted to Contest #131

Week 1 Akachi “Do they have these back home?” Did he really just ask me that?’ I thought. There's no way he could have been serious. They had warned me that people in the states tend to think immigrants are lacking knowledge, but this couldn’t be real. I give time before responding. He could have been joking. But I sat there with a slightly dumbfounded face long enough for me to know he was not joking, and for him to think I didn’t know what he was talking about. “Do we have…restaurants?” I asked “Yeah um, I mean like these, sit do...

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“Icy Velvet” by Kevin Schenk

Submitted to Contest #131

The restaurant was busy and there were many patrons. It would have been hard to an amateur with limited memory skills to find the target in such a place. But this place was no match for her. She had been trained since she was a young woman to become what she is now. A world class spy. Maybe even solar system wide class? No, that would be pushing it too hard. She smiled to herself at her own modesty. She truly was an achievement of society. The waiters seemed to swim by as they expertly navigated quickly lifting elderly women, fast-paced re...

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“Garden of Dreams” by Danielle Azoulay

Submitted to Contest #131

“Girls, girls! Please come to the parlor at once!” I watched patiently as my sisters scurried into the house. Today, I will take my time. The sky was a bright, cerulean blue and the sun was friendly, embracing my pale, rosy skin with a refreshing touch of warmth. I drew delicate lines across my sketchbook, envisioning a bright, beautiful escape of marigolds and long, tall grass ruling the pages.“Rayna!,” Mother’s shrill tone quivered through the wind.I stumbled into the parlor, nearly losing my balance at the door. ...

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“Then the Rumors Started” by Kjanela Fawcett

Submitted to Contest #131

Mina Monksbarn was a wanted fugitive. Here in the borderlands on the outskirts of the kingdom, that didn’t matter quite as much as it might elsewhere. There were plenty of wanted fugitives here, and her crime was hardly of the violent or dangerous sort. She may have liberated a few books and artifacts from a few disreputable sorts, but that was all. That those disreputable sorts happened to be the Head Sorcerers of the Land was neither here nor there. But all that summed up to say that she was a wanted fugitive, but not the sort that mo...

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“Left for duty ” by Lilla Toth

Submitted to Contest #131

Instead of the breathtaking coastal scenery, he fixated on the road. He was afraid to speed up in case one of the wheels fall of the car in the feet-deep potholes. That’s when he realised that he should have hired a pickup truck, instead of this fancy 4x4. He convinced himself that even potholes were part of this adventure and so he decided to embrace all it. His psychologist advised him to get away for a couple of months. She said that studies had proven that a change of environment was best to move on after a stressful event. The L...

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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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