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

“The Station Manager” by Ralph Aldrich

Submitted to Contest #168

I finish my breakfast and hurry down the hall to the front desk of my train station. It’s early yet, so not too many commuters have arrived. I’ll operate the ticket booth until Sue comes to take over. The early morning commuters generally have season passes, so they don’t have to purchase tickets. The shoppers who like to go into town for the day do. Or perhaps folks that are going to the theater or museums. It’s my job to see that everything runs smoothly and, if I can, on time. I am the station manager, a...

Read story

“The necklace” by Dao Huy Kien

Submitted to Contest #168

The platform that afternoon was as busy as other afternoons. Everybody was in a bustle with luggage. Some people ascended the trains, some descended from them, nobody wanted to stay long at the platform except a young couple. “Remember to send me your letters, my love!” said the girl. “Uh-huh”, replied the young man. “You have to write every week, to let me know if you still love me”. “Okay, I have to go now”. The young man did not want to see his girlfriend’s gloomy face and reply to her endless words. He was not in a mood for a farewell as...

Read story

“Luck and Love” by Devin Bates

Submitted to Contest #168

Love is a gamble. There are times it turns out well, living a life of fulfillment and pleasure, and there are times you lose every penny you own and the house in the divorce. But when it came to the Valdez women and love, they had exceptionally terrible luck when rolling the dice. That didn’t stop Mel Valdez from developing the biggest crush on Jack Brunson that had ever existed in the history of unrequited high school love. When she spotted him across the hall in freshman year: his olive skin, big brown eyes, beautiful dark hair, and...

Read story

“Midnight Dining” by Lucky Ooog

Submitted to Contest #168

The train lurched, almost throwing me off my seat, and harshly waking me up. I had a pounding headache and badly needed a drink. Everything was spinning, even while I was lying down. My chin rested on something sticky, I recoiled in disgust and got up after all. I felt the stain with my hand, I must have drooled on the seat cushion while I slept. I wiped my mouth and took in my surroundings. The doors of the train were open and blowing in the cold night air. I had no idea where I was. There were no passengers I could ask in the train wagon a...

Read story

“True Heros” by Nyxlan Marigold

Submitted to Contest #168

Running through the large open fields toward the great forest was like running through the shallow landing of water on a beach. Cosmo needed to get to the train, not just because of the need to survive; but also the need to protect his family and friends. If he could get to London in time, everyone might just survive. If he could make it, then Thistle could live a good life. Thistle is Cosmo's best friend. He was always there for Cosmo and he trusted Thistle with his life, not that there was much to live of it. With Cosmo being 15 and Thistl...

Read story

“Karma” by Ava Black

Submitted to Contest #168

Concealer under my eyes to cover the bags. Visine to clear the red lines. Mascara, even though it will inevitably smudge. The front-facing camera on my phone is broken. I’ll need a pocket mirror to touch up my make-up on the train. I’m tired of being a broke student. But after years of schooling, I scored an interview for one of the best paid legal internships in Vancouver. I glance at the stained walls of my crumbling apartment. Paid. With Grace Wexley, no less. A criminal lawyer famous for defending addicts in the Downtown Eastside. If ...

Read story

“The Good Worst Choice” by Julia Tocarchick

Submitted to Contest #168

I stood there. Knowing the consequences, I still stood. Not moving anything but my mind... but even that was almost still. I am numbing myself from reality. If I choose, I will be held responsible. How can I? How can I hold myself high with confidence when the weight of a decision is pulling me down?I cannot choose to throw away what is good. But am I even choosing to throw it away? Or am I preserving it?We are given opportunities to change and with those opportunities, it almost always seems that the chances are to be hoped for, but what if...

Read story

“The Damned House” by Agris Engelis

Submitted to Contest #168

My name is Steven Prescot. I’m an aspiring ghost story writer. I’ve just finished English literature and was looking for a place to stay online. I found a house, just a couple cities over, that had its price drop quite a lot. After searching around some more, I found out that it was based on several deaths within the premises. I thought it would be a great place to gain inspiration for some stories and maybe ask around about the people who lived in the house. So, I packed my stuff and headed out to the new house. I travelled to the city, or ...

Read story

“All Change” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #168

“It’s awfully dark out there.” John flinched at the sound of her overloud voice. He hated loud people at the best of times, but in the restrictive cigar tube confines of a train carriage it was all too much. He looked around him for the signs that denoted this carriage as a Quiet Zone, but saw none. That was strange, he always homed in on the Quiet Zone. Even when he was dog tired after a long day at work and trudged to the station on auto pilot. Surely he would have remembered the annoyance and disappointment of either the non-existence...

Read story

“Imprisonment via Train” by ER Castaneda

Submitted to Contest #168

She stared out the train window, watching the scenery whiz by quickly as she made her way home. If she squinted her eyes, the trees, dilapidated houses, homeless encampments, and open space all seemed to intersect together into one big blob. Her train rides to and from work and home were approximately an hour and a half long with 10 stops. There was approximately 10 minutes between each stop. Sighing, she wondered why she would endure a three-hour daily round trip commute. Conductor: Now...

Read story

“The Train” by John Lynn

Submitted to Contest #168

THE TRAINGarry Marek sighed as he turned his head to watch raindrops chase each other in frantic loops around the window before being whisked away into the night. Peace reigned at last after a noisy crowd of boarding school boys on their way back to Cornham College had piled off at the last stop. As the train picked up speed on the way down to Riversham, the carriage swayed slightly to the rhythmic sound of the wheels on the rails, and clouds of smoke and steam from the old locomotive billowed past as it was caught by the wind swirling throu...

Read story

“Anywhere But Here” by J L Jones

Submitted to Contest #168

*CONTAINS SENSITIVE CONTENT - DEATH OF LOVED ONES* Grace had no idea where her end destination would be. She just needed to get away. Get away from the whispers. Away from the pitiful looks. Away from this place. She bought a ticket at the station for the next departing train. She didn’t even remember where it was headed. She didn’t really care as long as it was anywhere but here. As she leaned her forehead against the cool glass of the window, she scanned the landscape of the town she had called home for the past seven years. She coul...

Read story

“Miss Delphia” by Connie Hieb

Submitted to Contest #168

Miss Delphia 10.15.2022 As I sit there waking up and looking out the train window. I suddenly realize I am searching, wanting to see anything that looked familiar. Nothing, not a thing, I didn’t know where I was or why I was on a train. I couldn’t recollect how I had even gotten there. Looking down at my clothes, I gasp. This is not what I wear, who am I. My name, I can’t remember even my name. Someone goes by and says Hi! Miss Delphia. That’s not my name, at least it doesn’t feel like it’s my name....

Read story

“FAR FROM HOME” by Otieno Onyando

Submitted to Contest #168

On a different day and under different circumstances, Ross would have found the beautiful scenery of the majestic Polish alps endearing. The icy peaks of Tatra mountains with snow peacefully settling down on them would have made him take a picture to preserve such memories. But there was nothing about this day that he ever wanted to recall. He just wanted to go home. He missed the farm back in Oxfordshire, the cows, the sheep and the smell of the horse stables. Mostly, he longed for his family and friends.He looked at the mountains begrudgin...

Read story

“How it started on a train...” by Leydiana Rui

Submitted to Contest #168

// Trigger Warning: This story includes description of a person’s TOXIC RELATIONSHIP EXPERIENCES and EMOTIONAL ABUSE. // A girl is looking out the train window. She is attractive and nicely dressed. She is young and appears to be in her mid-twenties. She has her hair down and her left ear, which is facing me, is visible since it is keeping her hair back. I have been captivated by her ever since I first saw her. She is sitting in the single-line row of seats on a window seat, and I am sitting exactly diagonally across the aisle on a wi...

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 ⭢