Menu

Prompts

Contests

Stories

Blog

Menu

✕

CONNECT

Editing Design Marketing Publicity Ghostwriting Websites

BLOG

Success Stories

APPS

TOOLS

Book Promotion Sites Book Review Blogs Booktube Channel Guide Book Title Generator Character Name Generator Independent Publishers Literary Agents Literary Magazines Pen Name Generator Plot Generator Publishers Directory Short Story Ideas Writing Contests Writing Exercises Writing Scholarships

ABOUT

About Reedsy Terms Privacy

CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#168: Choo Choo!

The concept of train travel has always been a powerful motif in story telling. Train wagons can be a great setting for serendipitous love encounters, like for Jesse and Céline in Before Sunrise, or mysterious murders, like in Agatha Christie's classic Orient Express.

On a train, the mind wanders, time shifts, and life… unfolds. We hope that these train-inspired prompts will put you on the right track to writing some great stories.

This week's prompts

Start your story with someone looking out a train window.

Middle School – 98 stories

Write a story about a character who is moving on, literally or figuratively.

Narrative – 58 stories

Make a train station an important part of your story.

Narrative – 74 stories

Write a story about a character who misses a train, for better or worse.

Adults – 33 stories

Write a story that includes someone saying, “Bon voyage.”

Adults – 17 stories

Stories

“To Hell on a Handcart” by James Hees

Submitted to Contest #168

Edvard Munch could have been inspired by Sully’s silent scream as he surveyed the looming bloodbath on the other side of his windshield. His shrieks were muted by the deafening hum of his diesel locomotive.Plaid clad grunts from an extra gang were on a handcar on the main rail line, headed toward his freight train. They had just finished a day of cutting down trees growing beside the tracks. It was done to prevent sparks train wheels produce from starting a forest fire. After a day of preventing one kind of tragedy, they were on the verge of...

Read story

“Suffocating” by Tiffany Marshall

Submitted to Contest #168

Tayah looked out the train window, not really seeing the beautiful Pennsylvania landscape roll by. It was 4:00 in the afternoon and the 9:00 in the morning phone call that she received that morning did not feel like only seven hours ago. It felt like an eternity ago in another dimension. Everything changed in that moment. Her and her husband, Danny, were still laying in bed, awake but not ready to get up. They had stayed up late the night before watching movies. At...

Read story

“The Train to Hope ” by Amanda Huggins

Submitted to Contest #168

Dasha stares out the train window and reflects on the last two years, wondering if life will ever be the same again. She packed everything she owned in the small suitcase stored above her seat and spent her last dollar on the train ticket to Poland. She leaves behind death, destruction, poverty, and war in exchange for uncertainty, hope, and a potential future. When the Russians invaded Ukraine, they demolished buildings, killed civilians, and wreaked havoc on every aspect of everyday life. For a long time, she felt like she would be able to...

Read story

“A Different Visit” by Cassie Varney

Submitted to Contest #168

I stared out of the large windows, hoping this uneasy feeling would pass soon so I could enjoy the long ride. For someone who rode the line more than a thousand times and hopped freight trains nearly every day, this particular train ride was causing anxiety. I chose to sit in the observation car, thinking the views would put me in a better head space. My mom was the one who forced me on the Amtrak, I insisted I would get to her my own way, but she refused. Mom and Dad supported my decisions but when it came time for visits, they always paid ...

Read story

“Unscheduled stop” by Hazel Turner

Submitted to Contest #168

The train lurched to an abrupt halt. No screaming, no squealing of brakes, no almighty bang. None of the chaos or bedlam you’d imagine if you were in a rail accident. Just an unexpected, unusual, unscheduled and, for some, bloody inconvenient, stop. “Déjà vu” I thought, memories of a younger me flitting by as if someone had hit the rewind button on an old video, pausing for a moment on a delayed train journey in the past. On that occasion, a neighbour had kindly offered to pick me up at the station. As I made my way onto the platform clutchi...

Read story

“Ephemerality ” by Wyatt W. Krauklis

Submitted to Contest #168

This story is dedicated to the idea that one day I’ll get on that train, and I’ll go far far away.Beta read by my russian mother herself, she approves.I live far away from my friends. I have the tendency to visit my friends. I miss who I was before I grew up.The grass couldn’t be mowed that year because the old man doing it was horribly sick, he’d gotten a severe infection of his airways so he was staying at home so he wouldn't exhaust himself trying to fix up the big field. Normally they would assign someone else to mow it but because it wa...

Read story

“Wounded Butterflies” by Fatimah Gomez

Submitted to Contest #168

“Elior?” A petite dark-haired Lisa approached my father’s new ‘75 SS Chevelle. “I thought your mom was coming.” Thunder rumbled across the sky like bowling pins clattering loudly as angry droplets fell. “She’s outta town,” I leaned over and unlocked her door. “Get in before you’re all soaked.” Her backpack went in the backseat and she climbed in the front. “Sorry. I’m a bit wet.” “No kidding,” I muttered. Why did my cranky neighbor have to ask me to pick up her thirteen year-old daughter? “This is your dad’s ca...

Read story

“The Awakening” by Anita Ojukwu

Submitted to Contest #168

Chapter 1 As she stared out the window, her face was blank with no expression. The room was dark, unlit on purpose. What was the point of lighting the room, her whole life was dark, her marriage shrouded in secret, multilayered veils. “Are you okay?” a small voice pierced through her muddled thoughts. She glanced at him and turned again to the window. It was her son, small and innocent, she did not have the words to answer him. He stood there for a while, frightened by her silence, then left to find his twin. She always gave them atten...

Read story

“Going, Going, Gone.” by Raffik Lopes

Submitted to Contest #168

The smoke permeated everything. Doors opened. Then shut. The conductor stomped by, his shell-toed shoes banging down like a gavel as he flogged his feet down the stairs, judging every last one of us – the final car passengers imprisoned on his train. The A/C rattled above me (I was sitting right below the whole unit) like a pair of keys that I heard clanging from the conductor’s hip, and it seemed to have the paradoxical power of blowing not just cold air but his hot breath straight into my face. “Hey! Can you read? That seat’s taken!” the...

Read story

“Ash and Silence” by Paige Ladd

Submitted to Contest #168

The silence bothered me. The gloom gathered more thickly, and her breathing became more labored. If I told her to take the rag from her nose and mouth, she would bring ash into her lungs with each breath. Although we held hands, the sweat of our palms made the grip slippery with mud. The powdered rock continued to fall, and though it was mid-day, all signs indicated it would get worse.“Pliny,“ she said huskily, “You must go on without me. Your survival is all that matters. I promised your father.”Beneath her coating of ash, I knew that her s...

Read story

“Train Ride to New Life” by Valerie Preston

Submitted to Contest #168

Chugga chugga, chugga chugga and then a sharp toot pierced the quiet air. Her head bobbed up and down as it slowly drooped, as if hypnotised by the sound and rhythm of the train. She felt herself dozing off until the horn sounded. Barbara turned and looked out of the dusty window, not knowing if the train stopped at the next station or keep going right past it. She didn’t know which stations were for pickups between the beginning of her journey and the end of it. It didn’t matter to her. This was a train journey from one life to another. Wh...

Read story

“Moving On” by Ky Lee Fong

Submitted to Contest #168

On the way to the station, the bus rocked down the path of stones and stomped-on twigs and the house with the brick-red roof. There was no one on the porch waiting to see the bus pass, waiting to glimpse Anna’s face in the passing windows, no light or hole in the curtained windows. Beside the curtain stuffed into the side of Anna’s seat, her one eye turned. She dropped the curtain, frowning.She passed 99 Speedmart, green, a copy-paste of a heartless franchise, but misty with the memories of running in and out as children. On mornings when sh...

Read story

“Moving on” by L.L. Williams

Submitted to Contest #168

Claire had been dreading this day for weeks. She knew what she had to do, but that didn’t mean she wanted to do it. But she had promised herself that today was the day. Today was the day she would tell her husband she was in love with another man. Claire was headed to their standing Tuesday lunchtime date. She drove through town, gripping the steering wheel tight, leaning forward, and taking slow deep breaths. She wasn’t paying attention to the radio, or else she would have heard that her favorite song had come on. “I can do this,” s...

Read story

“Lucille Takes the Super Chief” by Jill Koenigsdorf

Submitted to Contest #168

Lucille Takes the Super Chief Immediately after boarding the train, Lucille climbed up the steps to the domed observatory and ordered a scotch and soda to calm her nerves. Even as The Super Chief lurched away from its pause in the rococo splendor of this Midwestern Union Station, and began its steady labor towards Los Angeles, part of Lucille still remained unconvinced that armed police would not burst through the doors and haul her off the train. It was not common in 1959...

Read story

“Maybe in another world...” by FabWritesStuff -

Submitted to Contest #168

The full moon glowed brilliantly in the night sky. As Amelia gazed at it from the window, she couldn’t help but groan. Of course the moon looked beautiful. Of course it was a beautiful night. Of course there wasn’t a single gloomy cloud in the sky or any lighting bolts ready to strike down below. Of course such a beautiful night was going to lead to an even more beautiful day tomorrow. Tomorrow would surely be a beautiful day for a wedding. She felt bad that she was having these thoughts. Only a truly selfish and despicable...

Read story

Load more stories

$250

Prize money

280

Contest entries

105

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Oct 21, 2022 EST

Won by David Sweet 🏆

Title: SOUTHBOUND

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!

Explore more writing prompt ideas:

Adults Writing Prompts ⭢

Adventure Writing Prompts ⭢

Angst Writing Prompts ⭢

Character Writing Prompts ⭢

Christmas Writing Prompts ⭢

Dark Writing Prompts ⭢

Dialogue Writing Prompts ⭢

Dramatic Writing Prompts ⭢

Dystopian Writing Prompts ⭢

Fall Writing Prompts ⭢

Fantasy Writing Prompts ⭢

Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Fluff Writing Prompts ⭢

Funny Writing Prompts ⭢

Halloween Writing Prompts ⭢

High School Writing Prompts ⭢

Historical Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Holiday Writing Prompts ⭢

Horror Writing Prompts ⭢

Kids Writing Prompts ⭢

Middle School Writing Prompts ⭢

Mystery Writing Prompts ⭢

Narrative Writing Prompts ⭢

Nonfiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Novel Writing Prompts ⭢

Poetry Writing Prompts ⭢

Romance Writing Prompts ⭢

Sad Writing Prompts ⭢

Science Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Short Story Writing Prompts ⭢

Spring Writing Prompts ⭢

Summer Writing Prompts ⭢

Teens Writing Prompts ⭢

Thanksgiving Writing Prompts ⭢

Thriller and Suspense Writing Prompts ⭢

Valentine's Day Writing Prompts ⭢

Vampire Writing Prompts ⭢

Winter Writing Prompts ⭢