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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#16: Once Upon a Time

Earlier this week, we published a blog post about modern fairy tales, and it got us thinking about the fact that no genre of literature is without its own set of tropes — and that certain literary tropes we still see commonly today are rooted centuries back.

This week's prompts are all elements pulled from fairy tales — both modern and old. You can feel free to play them straight: in other words, using the trope traditionally. Or you can feel free to twist the trope on its head. That's the great thing about tropes: they might provide you with a foundation that's already well-worn, but the opportunities to make it your own are endless.

🥇 Winner

“The Sackcloth Liar” by Vivien Leanne Saunders

🏆 Winner of Contest #16

There was once a woman who loved to tell stories. She had six children, and every night she would tell each one a different tale. When they were young the stories were short and simple, but as the children grew they became jealous of one another. They pleaded for more details, and demanded that their story should be the most exciting, longest story of all. The woman began speaking every night at sunset, and stopped when the sun rose. Her voice grew so weak, and her walk so weary, that all of her neighbors noticed. They decided that she was g...

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⭐️ Shortlisted

“Little Red Riding Hood” by Heidi Hanson

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #16

I am used to the chemical smell in the air. We all are. We all have to be. It coats our throats and hurts when we breath, but we fight through it. There simply aren’t enough gas masks to go around. We don’t have a choice. We need food. We need wood to keep the furnaces going. Without the precious logs that others bring in, we would all freeze to death in the only thing keeping us safe from the disastrous elements. The bunker. My red hoodie and black gloves protect me from the dangerous plants. Fungi coated in poisonous slime. Flo...

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“The Big Surprise” by Deborah Mercer

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #16

It was one of those days that seemed so close to perfect it was hard to know whether to glory in it or not quite trust it. The mid-morning May sunlight was clear and warm, but there was just a little breeze to stop it being too warm, especially when it was filtered through the burgeoning crowns of the trees just come into full, hopeful, rich springtime leaf and it made little dapples on the sandy paths in the woodland. To the left and right of the paths, in both shade and sunlight, the bluebells clumped together as if rejoicin...

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“Don’t Go Into The Woods” by Barbara Eustace

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #16

You were told, weren’t you? Don’t go into the woods they said. Ah, but the confidence of ignorant youth that ignores the wisdom of knowledgeable age.When you first came to the place, you were told, your parents were told, don’t go into the woods. Don’t go into the woods because it’s easy to get lost. People have gone missing.You look on a map. How silly. The woods are not huge, a scant mile wide at their widest point. How could anyone get lost? Just walk in a straight line, you’d come out somewhere.The...

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“The Three Raccoons and the Stinky Search for Fame ” by Amanda Van Regenmorter

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #16

There once lived three raccoons who were desperate for their own fairy tale. All the most famous creatures in the forest have their own fairy tales, the raccoons complained, and it simply isn’t fair. The three billy goats gruff were famous just because they knocked some old troll off a bridge. The only thing the three little pigs had really done was hide from a wolf. And you didn’t want to get them started on the bears. Seriously, three bears against one little girl? Hardly the stuff of legends, the raccoons thought, and yet, all the same, t...

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“Autumn Was a Time for Mourning” by Sithara Ranasinghe

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #16

Autumn was a time for mourning, and the woods knew that best. The woods that morning teetered on the edge of November. Frost lanced the black barked trees like cobwebs, and the dirt was dark and cold. The air tasted of earth. A low fog hemmed the roots of the trees, slipping between dim briars. Too slow for the eye to catch, under the white autumn sky, the trees stir. Nothing is still in the woods. If you were to listen – really listen – you would hear the choir. The trees were groaning. The leafless bushes creaked, and the fat, blood-filled...

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“This Forest Belongs to the Witches” by Lee Romero

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #16

"Stay away from the forest," my mother cautioned me as a child. "There are witches inside of it, and they eat children." I had laughed, and she chased me around the house, snarling playfully. That was before the lawsuit. Her boss caught her with her husband, and sued. My mother was left poor, unwanted, untouched by any company that could hire her. The first time she got drunk, fully, truly, started-drinking-at-10-a.m drunk, she screamed at me, yelling how worthless and stupid I was. In her hangover, she said she was sorry and that ...

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This week's prompts

Write a story around the theme: Be careful what you wish for.

Novel – 79 stories

Write a story that involves love at first sight.

Romance – 88 stories

Write a rags-to-riches story.

Novel – 20 stories

Write a story in which characters are warned not to go into the woods.

Mystery – 98 stories

Write a story about a character on a quest, trying to "prove themselves."

Adventure – 30 stories

Stories

“The Sackcloth Liar” by Vivien Leanne Saunders

🏆 Winner of Contest #16

There was once a woman who loved to tell stories. She had six children, and every night she would tell each one a different tale. When they were young the stories were short and simple, but as the children grew they became jealous of one another. They pleaded for more details, and demanded that their story should be the most exciting, longest story of all. The woman began speaking every night at sunset, and stopped when the sun rose. Her voice grew so weak, and her walk so weary, that all of her neighbors noticed. They decided that she was g...

Read story

“Little Flower Girl” by Maybe Jupiter

Submitted to Contest #16

There was a crowd of people in front of the stadium again. It was the perfect chance to make some money.I could hear the screams and cries of the helpless prisoner, and the unforgiving laugh of the people around him. They were almost bloodthirsty, and I felt myself shiver.“Flowers for a shilling! Flowers cheap, for only a shilling.”Nobody looked around at me. They were focused on the hanging. I raised my voice.“Flowers for a shilling! Anyone like to buy? Flowers for a shilling!”Still no one.I felt my body tense and I quivered, hopeless. Nobo...

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“Little Red Riding Hood” by Heidi Hanson

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #16

I am used to the chemical smell in the air. We all are. We all have to be. It coats our throats and hurts when we breath, but we fight through it. There simply aren’t enough gas masks to go around. We don’t have a choice. We need food. We need wood to keep the furnaces going. Without the precious logs that others bring in, we would all freeze to death in the only thing keeping us safe from the disastrous elements. The bunker. My red hoodie and black gloves protect me from the dangerous plants. Fungi coated in poisonous slime. Flo...

Read story

“Don't Go Into the Woods” by Janetra Waters

Submitted to Contest #16

Eldmere, Finland"Äiti, why can't we go into the woods again?" a small seven-year-old boy asks, voice curious, as he gets into bed. He pulls his covers over him as he lays down. The boy's mother gives him a small smile and helps him settle in. The moonlight casts a soft glow through the window."The woods are very dangerous." she answers him, sitting on the bed. "And holds a great evil within that preys on people." the boy looks at his mother with curious yet confused eyes."The Näkki live there." she supplies at his look."The Na-di?" he asks c...

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“Morris Cupcake the Sandwich Boy” by Jubilee Forbess

Submitted to Contest #16

Sandwiches, I have decided, are the best thing to ever grace the planet. People have come to me from all over the world to tell me otherwise, but at the end of things, I will always win. They (the sandwiches) are such a piece of beautiful soul mate that I have no desire to see other people. Unless, of course, they are the sandwich boy named after his great grandfather, Morris Cupcake. Morris Cupcake is the only person alive I’ve ever wanted to see more than once. I live and breathe sandwiches, so it only makes sense that Mo...

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“Fairies tell no truth” by Miles Gatling

Submitted to Contest #16

"That's what I have to do?""Yes, a small offering, and your biggest desire shall be fulfilled." Crystal stood there twiddling her thumbs, eyeing the sparkling fairy. All of a sudden the act itself frightened her. "What's the matter? Don't you trust me anymore?" "Oh but I do. I just-" "You built my fairy house and invited me to stay," the flying creature told its host. "I thought you wanted my friendship and company." "Oh I do!" The young woman rushed to cup the little thing's feet. With tears in her eyes, holding on ...

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“A Lifetime with Her” by Alexi Delavigne

Submitted to Contest #16

The second he had stepped through the door into the coffee shop, Jackson’s gaze had been drawn to her. Now he sits one table away from her, and still his gaze is pulled towards her as if magnetized. She is beautiful, but then a lot of girls were beautiful. There is something different, something special, about this girl. She sits alone in front of a laptop, a mug beside her filled with a steaming beverage. Jackson ponders whether she prefers tea or coffee, or something more adventurous like apple cider.She types something on her laptop...

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“Forests of Bone” by Joshua G. J. Insole

Submitted to Contest #16

1“You remember where to shoot ‘em?”“In the head! Always in the head!”“Good girl.” He tousled her blonde hair. It was short and cropped so that it couldn’t get caught on anything. Short hair also meant that nothing could grab it very easily, either. “Did you remember to do it?”A guilty silence. Her eyes looked shiftily from side to side. She didn’t know what he was talking about. She’d forgotten. “Lara…” He sighed and started the sentence again, careful to keep the note of exasperation from entering his voice. He was rather new to this whole ...

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“Don't Wish For A Heart” by K. M. Carpenter

Submitted to Contest #16

His eyes were cold and lifeless as he stared at her, as dark as a starless night. "You have no idea who I am, do you?" The lamp slipped off the table, shattering against the stone floor, but neither noticed. She clenched her jaw, tasting blood as her teeth ripped into the inner flesh of her mouth. "Not anymore." Backed against the wall, she slowly reached into her jacket pocket where the comforting handle of a knife slipped into her palm. "It's been three years!" he screamed, his hot breath stinging her face as he drug ...

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“The dark side” by Yoomi Ari

Submitted to Contest #16

They say we all have a beast contaminated in our souls but the beast can come out, like William Golding said, “Evil is written inside of us and society is the only thing that can keep it in.” Nothing can stop it. Basically Good vs Evil, however evil can sometimes overtake.Streaming tears cleansed her red, wind-slapped cheeks. Few droplets remained, forgetting their way as the path was swept from beneath them, consequently blurring Rachel’s vision with waves of sadness only the broken encounter. The salty release calmly flowed into her mouth ...

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“How We Lived Our Lives” by Lily Kingston

Submitted to Contest #16

“I still remember the first time I saw you. It in was second grade during recess. You were wearing a pink polka-dress with ladybug hair ties for your pigtails. You were in the sand box, making sandcastles with a red bucket for your sand princesses. It was adorable. I wanted you to notice me. So I stole your red bucket and you hated me for the rest of elementary school. We were so dumb and naive back then. I miss it. “I was given a second chance back in Ms. Miller’s class in fifth grade. I was assigned next to you in the back row. I would occ...

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“The Time Traveller” by M Daly

Submitted to Contest #16

I have been obsessed with the future for my entire life. I yearn for a time when the roads will be filled with the near silent hum of electric motors, driverless vesicles transporting their load to and from high rises in the city. A time when hospital waiting times are reduced to the time it takes a diagnostic tool to scan your body and dispense the appropriate medication. And a time when any material good would be available almost instantaneously, at the touch of a button.I have read that all of these things may well be achievable in the ne...

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“Don't Go Into The Woods” by Adriana K. Maxwell

Submitted to Contest #16

“Don’t go into the woods,” they said. Do not go under the emerald leaves, do not venture on the twisted paths. Fools see a shortcut; wise men went around. Strange things lurk there. “Stay in the light,” they said. The shadows move. If they catch you, if they touch you, they will steal your shape and leave you flat. “Don’t trust the beautiful,” they said. Don’t look at their faces, beautiful women though they seem, or their eyes will trap you. Look behind. They have no backs. Hollow they are and they are al...

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“The Man in the Woods” by Sarah Kreiger

Submitted to Contest #16

She could feel him out there. No, she couldn't see him, but he was out there in the woods, watching. Standing out on her porch Macy stared out into those woods, holding her mug of tea tight in her hands. She was scanning the area where the trees lined up almost perfectly along her back-property line, searching for any movement, but it seemed even the insects were hiding tonight. This had been the same routine for five years now, except for the absence of the bugs, that was new. Five long, long years. At first it had started out...

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“The Escape” by Melanie S.

Submitted to Contest #16

We lived in a quiet town - a small one too. There were only fifty or so kids in our high school class. Everyone knew everyone; there was nowhere to hide. When they said you could never go into The Escape, you obeyed, no questions asked. The Escape - where do I begin? On the outskirts of town was a large wooded area that paralleled the highway. It was an appealing place for those who enjoyed the outdoors; I often found myself longing to enter its mystery, perhaps take a long hike among the trees. I never knew exactly why The Escape was ...

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$50

Prize money

315

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 22:59 - Nov 22, 2019 EST

Won by Vivien Leanne Saunders 🏆

Title: The Sackcloth Liar

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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