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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#171: Wanderlust, Wanderlost

If I can paraphrase In Search of Lost Time, Marcel Proust once said that “the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” This idea of travel has always been popular in literature: most notably, as a way for authors to explore a character’s internal journey through their encounters with the external world. After all, our interactions with people and places are what shape our perspective on things.


Taking inspiration from the idea of the solo voyage — whether it be a big trip around the world, or simply a leisurely walk around an unfamiliar neighborhood — this week’s prompts invite you to hone in on drifting, wandering, and exploring on your own.

This week's prompts

Start your story with someone looking at a breathtaking view and getting emotional.

Dramatic – 64 stories

Write about two solo travelers who keep bumping into each other in the most unexpected of places.

Romance – 21 stories

Write about a character who is trying to leave something or someone behind — only to realize they carry it with them.

Sad – 72 stories

Write a story where someone decides to take the long way home.

Adventure – 37 stories

Your character is about to embark on the journey of a lifetime. The story takes place during a long-haul flight, with an open return-date. What happens?

Adventure – 10 stories

Stories

“Fire Eyes” by Andrew Evans

Submitted to Contest #171

Fire Eyes - Chapter : Unknown After i had come round from my concussion, I just stared at these utopia-like surroundings. Azure blue sky permeated only by scudding cotton wool clouds. The sun, warm, pale yellow and shimmering as it began to recede. Readying to swap with the moonrise. It was hard to tell, from my vantage point, where exactly the plane had come down. I certainly did not know how on this earth i had survived, nor if anybody else did. What was certain was this, i was alive, and in a lot of pain and with the coming onset...

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“Seneca has a Date” by Delbert Griffith

Submitted to Contest #171

He who spares the wicked injures the good. Seneca – ancient Roman philosopher JUNE 13, 2011 Seneca stared out of the window of the train, calculating how fast the train was moving. It was an easy calculation to make since the telephone poles were exactly 88 feet apart. This mental activity palled after the ten seconds it took to work this out. Her dad came to mind after this; he was always good at mental math, even if he was a terrible person. This thought led her to Ned Chalmers, the man she had killed three days ago. He had been a terr...

14 comments 14
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“Lotus” by Michael J. Conroy

Submitted to Contest #171

I see him – my father. I see him through badly drawn smiling faces and matchstick people on a canvas of condensation. I watch him poke and prod his lips until he hits the target with what he thinks is his second last cigarette. I watch him follow the young couple up the steps and through the doors of the Pilot's Diner. I watch him idle by the same door, only now it's closed, scratching his brain, wondering what to do next. Finally, I raise my hand and reluctantly summon him while I lower my head and lean into the menu. With any luck, the ol'...

10 comments 10
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“Whatever You Do, Do Quickly” by 𝔊𝔲𝔞𝔡𝔞𝔩𝔲𝔭𝔢 𝔗𝔢𝔩𝔠𝔬𝔫𝔱𝔞𝔯

Submitted to Contest #171

Spotlights glared down, and a huge fan spun sluggishly on the ceiling. As two velociraptors fought around and around the fenced enclosure on the warehouse floor, spectators booed and cheered, though it was difficult to tell the calls apart. Cuss words were embedded in every shout. Sorely in need of money, but banishing the thought from his mind, Xavier stood silent amid the clamor, arms folded. For the first time since he’d come here, he wasn’t watching the behavior of the animals. He was looking at everything else.The fight ended, and ...

10 comments 10
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“Daffodils: Twice Trampled” by Jacob Brown

Submitted to Contest #171

Time is not an arrow, it’s an incomprehensible line that curves smoothly in some places and bends sharply at others. There are intervals where it moves slowly at first and then accelerates to catch up to itself. Time is fickle, it doesn’t like to do the same thing over and over. Sometimes it darts onward into the future, sometimes it curls and burrows into the present, and sometimes it loops back and intersects itself in the past. Sometimes it rides alongside itself asymptotically, getting arbitrarily close but never reaching itself. Other t...

4 comments 4
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“MARSHMALLOW SKIES” by Susan Catucci

Submitted to Contest #171

Melody skipped down the pebbled pathway, stopping occasionally to collect a flower that caught her eye, anything she thought her mama would like. She was in the most beautiful botanical garden she’d ever seen. The colorful perfumed surroundings made her nose tickle in the most delightful way, and the hum of the busy bees buzzing about made her feel as though she were visiting in a fairy tale. It was all so perfect. She wore a white lace dress with a pink sash and a ribbon to match that was braided in her hair. The sh...

13 comments 13
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“Not Spy Material” by Jim Firth

Submitted to Contest #171

CW: Mild swearing and mild sexual referencesI want you to think of an object and write it down.A guitar?Okay.Now think of a different object.A melon?Fine.Please—put that cigarette out! You cannot smoke here. I don’t care if it relaxes you and helps you think.Now—imagine all the possible ways that a melon and a guitar are alike. I’ll give you a few minutes to jot your answers down. Remember, we are looking for quick, lateral thinking. This can be the difference between life and death in the field. If you do actually intend on graduating from ...

8 comments 8
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“Have You Met Me? ” by John K Adams

Submitted to Contest #171

Between gigs, I found myself in a foreign country, free to discover what I’d never seen. Enjoying the sounds and smells of an urban marketplace, I sampled exotic food at different stalls. The people were friendly. They smiled while describing their wares. But I didn’t know the language. It sounded like chatter. I spotted a fellow American approaching. His head bobbed over the sea of humanity. I often encountered countrymen when traveling abroad. Careful to avoid fast friendships, I’d found developing trust demands an investment of time. But...

2 comments 2
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“Only the Moon” by Sarah Rich

Submitted to Contest #171

The moonlight cascaded onto the midnight hue along the ocean. Navies, blacks, royal blues with hints of white smiled at Noah in a blurry gleam. Tears slipped from his eye rims and danced along his jawline. He’d never witnessed a view so unique. “It’s only the moon,” he whispered to himself. Sand tickled between his right fingertips as his left arm wept at the wetness on his face. Though many survived the sun’s fading without explanation, no one knew how long lives would continue absent of its benefits to life. Noah overheard experiments un...

2 comments 2
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“The Fox and the Bear.” by Eric Falvey

Submitted to Contest #171

I remember the first time I saw her with a sharp, vivid fondness. I was on the train on my way to a job interview at just 20 years old. At one of the stops, she climbed on. She was wearing a royal blue dress with golden yellow sunflowers on it, which I would later learn were her favorites. Her beautiful chocolate skin glowed with a type of intense energy which I had never experienced before. The way her curly hair bounced up and down against her shoulders with every step, mimicked the beat of my beating heart, which was pounding in my chest ...

2 comments 2
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“Last Exit to Eden” by Delbert Griffith

Submitted to Contest #171

Jordan always took the long way home after he did his weekly shopping in Hico. It was soothing. Until today, that is. Today he was abducted by three men. Jordan spotted the first man, about three miles off of the main highway. He was standing in the middle of the road with his right hand up. Jordan stopped. He had to, otherwise, he would be running over the man. Jordan got out of his pickup and two other men appeared behind him. Without saying anything, the men motioned for Jordan to follow them. He didn’t want to do that, but he felt a stra...

5 comments 5
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“A Taste of Home” by Jayde Trilo

Submitted to Contest #171

     He had not expected to meet another human at an ammonia bar on an ice-ball moon near the galactic core.She had purposely gone to this remote, silicon-based place to avoid meeting other humans.              They didn’t even see each other at first, with their environment suits hiding their figures enough to blend into the crowd of large, shaggy people that called this place – both moon and dark circular tavern - home. He was ushered towards her...

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“The Cowboy” by Marty B

Submitted to Contest #171

I got eyes in my head, and been behind this bar long enough to know when a somebody has dynamite with a lit fuse inside of them.I know I don’t look like much, my grey beard is too long and my belly too big to do much besides pour whisky for drunks. But I knew the Cowboy was trouble, though of course I couldn't tell how. Hot as a two-dollar pistol, the air was thick with the stink from the cattle yards. The street sounds were drowned out by Joe singing in the corner like he did when the drink got to him, toneless Irish songs in his stron...

13 comments 13
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“Don't Take the Teleporter” by Os Cole

Submitted to Contest #171

It’s almost time to leave the office for the day when your coworker approaches. The one you don’t like because they seem to know everything and have a holier than thou attitude about it. They are constantly on the prowl at the end of the day looking for some poor colleague to distract for the last 15 minutes of the workday to ensure they can’t finish whatever they were working on before quitting time. Today that person is you.             They lean into your cubicle with a cold cup ...

1 comment 1
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“Black Friday” by Nikki Potgieter

Submitted to Contest #171

My father is dead. When I found out, I felt nothing. Isn’t there supposed to be something? When I think back, I’d always imagined feeling relief or satisfaction or freedom or… something. Instead of pondering about what he was, what he did, who he was supposed to be, I imagined that I’d be able to think about him dispassionately, without remembering… without subconsciously touching my tongue to the inside of my lip, feeling one of the many scars he left. There were so many reminders of him around me, on me, in me. It’s more than just the face...

6 comments 6
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$250

Prize money

204

Contest entries

79

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Nov 11, 2022 EST

Won by Thom With An H 🏆

Title: Silence

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!

Prompts | Many Hands | 2024-09

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Prompts | Many Hands | 2024-09

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