Menu

Prompts

Contests

Blog

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.

🥇 Winning story

“The Sackcloth Liar” by Vivien leanne Saunders

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 dec...

33 comments 33 WINNER 🏆

Read story

This week's prompts:

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

General – 86 stories

Write a story that involves love at first sight.

Romance – 97 stories

Write a rags-to-riches story.

General – 20 stories

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

Mystery – 108 stories

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

General – 35 stories

Stories

“The Sackcloth Liar” by Vivien leanne Saunders

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 dec...

33 comments 33 WINNER 🏆

Read story

“Little Red Riding Hood” by Heidi Hanson

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 fro...

Read story

“Warm embrace” by Abigail Airuedomwinya

It was a very cold night. Earlier in the day, Mr. Lance had wrapped himself in a frail-looking shawl and a poor piece suit as he made his way to the dock. The people at the dock were all busy, handling the day's activities, loading, and offloading goods. Too busy in fact that they had not noticed the man standing close to the edge of the river bank. They should have noticed he wasn't smiling as he watched the seagulls sway; chuckle as a little girl push past angry busy men. But the morning was unusually busy and the men were flowing with ...

Read story

“Forests of Bone” by Joshua Insole

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...

Read story

“The crush” by Abigail Airuedomwinya

You begin your transition with a taut smile. The room is filled with paintings of people you don't know. But you've stopped caring the moment you walk into the room the second time, ready to tell your story and stalling at the unsaid words as he made tea for the session.He tells you to lie back on the soft couch while he settles on a chair, a note pad and pen in his hands. Before you start you see him twirl the pen in his tanned fingers, see him slowing the pace of the discussion, see the tea-growing cold.Now he says you can...

Read story

“katherine” by Pareesa K

rain pours down on us as fiercely as my feelings for her. wet and cold, alone and vulnerable. we are all the things we tried so hard not to be. there she stands, this tall, pronounced, beautiful woman. her red curls dampened to a light brown, her pink, accentuated nose pointing upward, her full lips protruding outward, the freckles scattered across her face barely visible. I know who she is, I have heard of her spirit, h...

Read story

“Fairies tell no truth” by Miles Gatling

"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 mat...

Read story

“Cuts” by Renée Chatelain

I’m a really good guy, through and through. It sounds a little self-conceited, but I really am. But in my family, that’s not good enough. You don’t meet people like me around here anymore. I don’t expect to meet someone like me either. If I’m lucky, maybe another nice person will cross paths with me. Alm...

Read story

“The dark side” by Mariyam Ghafar

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 ...

Read story

“Devora Who Lives With Wolves” by Zilla Babbitt

I was lost that day. Walking in the woods on a snowy evening, dreamily composing a lyric poem about death, I was lost.She found me sleeping in the crook of a dead tree, tears frozen to my face, blue lips chapped, and fingers bleeding from gripping my arms in an effort not to shiver.She woke me with a nudge. I started and looked at her. She had thick black hair and webs of scars etched on her face. When she spoke her lower lip contorted to accommodate ...

Read story

“The Diamond Pond” by Renée Chatelain

My people fear the forest. Why? I don’t know. No one in the village or in my family has ever told me why. All they say is “do not venture past the forest’s edge,” or “your fate will meet you if you traverse the forest’s domain.” Sometimes they simply say “you will die if you dare enter the forest; do not...

Read story

“Seeing Blind” by Jayden Foster

Seeing Blind She gripped the basket in her left hand and held her coat closed with the other. The wind always picked up on her way home, she could hear it rustling through the trees. The path beneath her feet was overgrown, created only by her feet. No one traveled through the forest, especially these days. Rumors of angry beasts and cruel men who lived in the ...

Read story

“The blue-haired witch” by Marte Van der linden

Grandma used to tell me all sorts of stories before she fell ill. She told me about the witch who lived far away in the deep dark woods and would grant wishes. But only if you completed the tasks she set you. If you failed, she would cook you and eat you.I loved listening to those stories. Once, when I was about six, I declared that I would go and find the witch and ask her to give me wings so I could fly. But grandma grabbed my shoulders with her bony fingers and shook me until my teeth rattled. “Never do that!” she said. S...

Read story

“Homeless” by Melody Davidson

The old man sat with his dog, the warm wind tickling his skin. Wearing only denim shorts he looked out at the waves and waited for the next ship to come. Beside him, his dog rested by his side and whimpered. The man rubbed his ears giving the dog a look only it could understand. The man then stood up and walked around, picking up scraps of fish and chips along the peer. Sitting back down he smelled the food and tried to remember the last time he ate, but instead of feeding ...

Read story

“Morris Cupcake the Sandwich Boy” by Rhondalise Mitza

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 name...

Read story

Load more stories

$50

Prize money

388

Submissions

Ended on 22:59 - Nov 22, 2019 EST

Won by Vivien leanne Saunders 🏆

Title: The Sackcloth Liar

Winning stories will be featured on our website and in our weekly newsletter. For more information, please consult our terms of use.

Submissions will be approved and published within 7 days of the contest closing.

Please keep your submission between 1,000 - 3,000 words.

Any questions? Check out our FAQ