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!

#177: Found in Translation

“Every act of communication is a miracle of translation.”

– Ken Liu, The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories

Communication is the cornerstone of all relationships. A complex combination of sounds, words, gestures, and written symbols help us navigate the world and get our intentions and feelings across. It’s remarkably efficient, but sometimes, regardless of how clearly you thinkyou’re expressing yourself, things get lost between sender and receiver.

Inspired by the act of translating thoughts and feelings into words and actions — and the things that can get lost (or found) in the process — here are this week’s prompts:

This week's prompts

Write a story about two or more characters who don't speak each other's language (literally or metaphorically), but still find a way to communicate.

Dialogue – 54 stories

Set your story in a meeting where a professional interpreter takes some liberties, with major consequences.

Funny – 12 stories

Write about someone who is slowly forgetting their mother tongue or losing their language.

Character – 22 stories

Lost in a foreign city where they don’t speak the language, your character uses a translation app to get around, but constantly runs into problems.

Adventure – 9 stories

Write a story about a character who struggles to translate their thoughts and feelings into words and action.

Angst – 53 stories

Stories

“SOS” by Mathic M

Submitted to Contest #177

Markus laid on his bed, flipping through the pages of his fathers children's book. He was wearing his favorite matching pajamas, keeping him warm and comfy. The lids of his eye felt heavy, so focusing on the pictures was nearly impossible. A kid his age needed rest. He wanted to reject what his body was telling him, but his arms slowly drifted toward his body. He was about to doze off before he heard a knock at his door. He quickly jolted his chin up, the voice of his mother called out to him. “Marcus, baby. Are you asleep yet?” She asked, w...

Read story

“Found in Translation” by Marc Audet

Submitted to Contest #177

Roberta Verbosa sat at her desk on the 13th floor of the Van Pyur State Building in lower Manhattan, across the corner from Dante Circle, where you got off if you were taking the uptown trains from Brooklyn Heights. It was Friday morning and the phone had not rung all week at the Van Pyur Translations Agency, where Roberta was President, Senior Translator, Director of Sales and Marketing, and the IT Technician. Roberta created these titles in the hope that one day, her business would grow and she could hire real people to fill most of the po...

Read story

“The Lost Queen” by Natalie Minaker

Submitted to Contest #177

As my Uber crunched to a halt on the driveway, I saw Euphrates House for the first time. It was not visible from the main road, and after cruising for an age through gardens and woodland, I understood why. It would be unfitting for a house of this stature to be situated roadside where familiarity would demote it to nothing more than a motoring landmark. With its marble frescos, looming colonnades and humbling size, Euphrates needed to be glimpsed, admired, and fondly recalled. Anything more felt like theft.It was with a sense of disappointme...

Read story

“Losing My Religion ” by Ashley Smith

Submitted to Contest #177

I remember waking up, and thought it was a bad dream. I yelled for Ima, meaning mom in Hebrew. “My poor little baby.” She was sobbing. I was feeling upset, as Ima’s tears were dripping slowly onto my blue shirt. Slowly Ima was trying to say something, but it was hard for her to get the words completely out with all the tears and sadness she was feeling. Then, Ima took a breath, and stopped crying for a second and spoke, “my poor baby, we were forced to pack up and go to a prison, because we were Jewish, we weren’t all...

Read story

“Chirps and squeaks” by Lex Castanheira

Submitted to Contest #177

His hands clutched on his knees and his breath a bit shorter than usual, Noah was having a harder time recovering from this eight-mile run than he usually would. His half marathon was about two months away and clearly, this wasn’t the best way to prepare for it. He still had plenty of time to get back in shape, but he needed to cut down on his business travels and happy hours, if he wanted to finish the race. The orange and red colored lines on his running app were only adding to his frustration, confirming and reminding him of his painful ...

Read story

“Camarones With The Crocodile: Tinkering Part 2” by Martin Ross

Submitted to Contest #177

Disclaimer: Strong language, violence, and the aftermath of sexual abuse. 2015 San Ignacio, Sinaloa, Mexico The Crocodile was rapidly becoming the stuff of legend. A regionally popular band was making the charts with a driving narcocorrido about "Los Dientes Del Cocodrilo," and his bloody exploits on behalf of the Cartel de Sinaloa. The rising star of Mexico's Golden Triangle thus had bristled about meeting in this filthy side-street marisqueria in the tiny backwater of San Ignacio. He preferred the gran entrada -- the splashy entrance, t...

Read story

“Actions and Results” by Alexander Hanna

Submitted to Contest #177

Lying in bed alone in his childhood room, the young man sulked over what he felt was his disappointing life. He was twenty-five years old, and he felt dull. He did not have any friends or a significant other. He simply worked online from home and saved money. In his free time, the young man watched television and surfed the internet. His lack of experience outside the house made him afraid to meet new people. He knew that, at some point in the small talk, people would ask, “What do you do for fun in your free time?” and he would be emba...

Read story

“Schmallenberg” by Alexey Williams

Submitted to Contest #177

Then there was the sound of the rain slapping against the window. Mrs. Fischer was sitting on the edge of the bed in her bathrobe. I could see that she was speaking, but I couldn’t hear her so I told her that I was mostly deaf. My hearing was particularly bad in the morning. I read her lips. She said: “Don’t you have a hearing aid?” I did have a hearing aid, but it didn’t work well in the morning. There was a doleful silence, and I walked out of the room. It was her house. Her children were sitting in the kitchen when I walked in. They wer...

Read story

“Maria's Bond with a Village” by Robert Rogers

Submitted to Contest #177

Once there was a small village nestled in the mountains where the people spoke a language utterly foreign to those living in the neighboring towns. Despite their linguistic differences, the villagers had always managed to trade goods and services with their neighbors, relying on gestures and drawings to communicate their needs.One day, a young woman named Maria arrived in the village. She had been traveling for months, searching for her missing brother, who had ventured into these mountains and never returned. When Maria arrived in the villa...

Read story

“What?” by Ester Mersuli

Submitted to Contest #177

Students could've talked about anything, literally anything, any topic but one topic remained open for DAYS. The new student topic. He is in my chemistry class and art. He can't hear or talk so he has an adult everywhere with him. She explains in sign language what the professor is teaching the class. Sometimes I get caught staring at him(and I'm not) and my friends tease me all day. I'm not the stalker type of person but I've noticed him go everywhere all alone, with no friends at all. I feel sad for him. Sometimes I feel worried, maybe eve...

Read story

“Alone in the Silence” by Molly Layne

Submitted to Contest #177

I shifted my position slightly and looked up from my artwork. The trees swayed in the breeze, and I watched a blackbird fly in front of me and lite high in a nearby maple. He opened his beak wide, and I tilted my head, watching him. In short order, he was joined by another bird. The breeze ruffled through her sooty-brown plumage as she landed on the branch beside him. They were a pair. They were together. They had each other. My pencil moved rapidly across the paper as I wished, not for the first time, that graphite ...

Read story

“One Hero's Journey” by Cassandra Adams

Submitted to Contest #177

One Hero’s Journey Life changed forever when we moved into the yellow duplex on Holly Street. The whole neighborhood was steeped in magic. Morning glories encircled our yard like an ornate frame around the Kodachrome of my childhood. We had a rubber tree! Imagine that! My Daddy and I would rake the thick, crispy leaves and burn them in our backyard incinerator. Yep, that was long before the EPA. And my mom turned out Rice Crispy treats like they were going out of style. Which they never did. Love them still! I had just turned eleven and...

Read story

“Planet 6768B” by Mahad K.

Submitted to Contest #177

NOTE: Cursing is present. “Commence landing operations…” The intercom sounded in a distinctly female voice as the spacecraft shook in an attempt to land upright. “Extending front and back legs… Twenty meters from surface contact…” It sounded, once more. “Fifteen meters… Ten meters… Five meters…” Then, after a sudden rush of turbulence, the spacecraft made contact with alien soil. “Commander Chase, the spacecraft has landed.” The intercom finally finished, playing an albeit brief but deafening alarm afterward. Quickly, I jolted awake and slam...

Read story

“CASSANDRA IN PARADISE” by J. Singleton

Submitted to Contest #177

Somehow, she’d always known that the world she’d want to live in would not exist until a thousand years after her death; the life she’d want to live would not be possible until ten centuries after hers had ceased. And the man she could love would not be born until she’d been dead a millennium.Now her upper eyelids stuck to the lower rims as though drapes unopened since forever that came to be glued to dusty, sticky window sills. Someone sat beside her. She could feel a presence. When she finally freed her lids with all of the force that her ...

Read story

“Cultural Exchange” by Naomi Krant

Submitted to Contest #177

Cultural Exchangeby Naomi Krant “Let’s talk about time,” Emerson announced, putting extra lilt and drama into his voice as he tapped his smart board to begin the grammar lesson. He strained to radiate charm and above all, the confidence he did not feel. Teaching this class was like singing “The Hokey-Pokey” from the stage of an empty theater. The eleven identical students squatted—if that was the right word—in a group. If they heard him, Emerson could not detect it. He’d taught intensive English to human emissaries from every part of E...

Read story

Load more stories

$250

Prize money

150

Contest entries

70

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Dec 23, 2022 EST

Won by Laurel Hanson 🏆

Title: Colonel Mustard in the Kitchen Without a Hearing Aid

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 ⭢