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!

#196: In Another Life

Recently, I’ve been reflecting on the way making a single decision, big or small, can cause your life to fork off in an entirely new direction. There are the obvious crossroads, the big life choices, and then there are the tiny ones; ones we fail to notice are taking place every single day. Waiting at the crosswalk instead of jaywalking, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, spending an extra 10 minutes scrolling through social media — even these non-events can make the difference between a life-altering incident happening, or not happening.

But what if we could access those paths we didn’t take? Would we go back and choose a different route for our lives? What if we could sense those “sliding doors” moments as they happened? This week's prompts are inspired by this classic sci-fi dilemma, and by the coulda, shoulda, woulda’s we all live with every day.

This week's prompts

Write about a character unknowingly experiencing a “sliding doors” moment. Write your story in two halves; what could have been, and what actually happened.

Dramatic – 62 stories

Write a story that includes the phrase “Maybe in another life.”

Dialogue – 74 stories

You’re walking down the street, when you spot a familiar figure. It’s another you. And they’ve come from an alternate reality to warn you about something.

Thriller and Suspense – 32 stories

Write a story involving a portal into a parallel universe.

Science Fiction – 61 stories

Set your story in a world where time travel has been perfected, and people can use it to hop between alternate timelines — but at a cost.

Dystopian – 50 stories

Stories

“If there were Two” by Diamond Keener

Submitted to Contest #196

“There are two of them. One of them is already here. And the other one has yet to arrive.” Not said with any hint of mystery. Like she was reading some numbers off a spreadsheet. She squinted at the cards one more time before she gathered them back up and put them in the little paper box. The same one they’d been originally packaged in. She didn’t even let me write down which of them she had drawn. The only thing I could remember was The Tower. I wasn’t even sure what part of my question that applied to. I just knew the card meant tr...

Read story

“Humanity's Sin” by Sammy Courtney

Submitted to Contest #196

John woke up feeling weird. Something felt off about today. He couldn’t put his finger on what it was, but he suspects it was from his dream. He didn’t remember his dream was, but it woke him up in a weird mood. He went through school in regular fashion. Talking with friends, going to class, flirting with girls, the usual. During the last class of the day, he day-dreamt about being a famous filmmaker, an aspiration of his, but one he would never pursue. He left school, sped home, and studied for the SAT, which he was taking in a week. Bein...

Read story

“Purposeful Chaos” by T A Mulder

Submitted to Contest #196

She yawned. The scant sunlight peaking over the city’s skyline was not proving an adequate substitution for the thermos of black coffee she had forgotten at home. She’d once tried to impress an ex by telling her that’s the only way she’d drink it, and while not true at the time, it was a habit that had stuck with her ever since, sheerly on principle. As usual for this time of year, heavy storm clouds blanketed the skies in oppressive shades of gray. While she had once enjoyed these gloomy days, the novelty had long since worn off. She conti...

Read story

“At The Crossroads of Reality” by Josh Zyelinske

Submitted to Contest #196

The city streets swirled with busy faceless people as I ambled my way through the urban maze. The horizon blurred the towering buildings and sky together like a muddy puddle of deception. Each step of my path held a familiar beat in the rhythm of my stride, but today felt different with an eerie sense of anticipation lingering in the air. My gaze was fixed on the path and the world around me seemed hazy and distant. I was a solitary drifter amidst the currents of humanity. As I moved through the sea people, a movement caught my eye. A man ...

Read story

“Krosha” by NNEKA PLUMMER

Submitted to Contest #196

Police and medical officials have strongly advised the public to not leave their homes unless absolutely necessary due to the recent rise in cases... Though it's unsettling to think about what lies in wait for me outside, I find that unemployment and begging for change on the street to be a little more terrifying. Recurring nightmares of homelessness and hardship in the not-so-distant future will do that to you. Despite the fact that I would much rather be curled up in bed with a good book, someone's gotta make ends meet. And as I live ...

Read story

“Beesberries” by Atheism Got Stopped P

Submitted to Contest #196

Beesberries I have this dream every night.I am standing over my father, barely conciseness in a hospital bed. We are in the ICU unit again, and though there were other patients, in my dreams I only see him, laying there frail and weak. He is nearly skin and bones now. He had once been a strong man, muscled like one of those action heroes from those lame movies he made me watch as a kid. His eyes are closed, wrinkles over his face that make him appear much older than he actually is, and his cheeks are sunken in his face. His breath is sl...

Read story

“Real is Relative ” by Myranda Marie

Submitted to Contest #196

Addie woke thirty minutes before her alarm was set to chime. She sighed deeply, leaned back on her pillow and tried closing her eyes again. She was in no hurry to begin another day exactly as the last. Addie wanted nothing more than to use her thirty minutes to fall back to sleep and resume her recurring dream. She lived for the nights her subconscious transported her to a life without worry and routine. It seemed like a cruel joke the Universe decided to play time and again, showing her the perfect existence just to have her wake into the m...

Read story

“The Hole” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #196

“Don’t ask me how it works, it just does OK?” I can see she doesn’t believe me. She’s angry and her anger blocks everything out, other than the accusation she has levelled at me. Her anger is the righteous judge, she is the appalled jury. I can see my execution looming. “Why can’t you be honest with me!?” she wails this with an anguish that tells me everything I need to know. I have lost her and there is nothing I can say to change this loss. I consider the situation. I already know my current odds are so slim that they are skeletal....

Read story

“A journey through the Skies ” by Dr Zayn Khizar

Submitted to Contest #196

Once there was a man pretty rich looking for a way to reach to a new universe he searched the requirements needed to create a portal that could take him from the Earth to the nearest black hole after so many efforts and learning from scientists he succeeded in creating that beautiful portal system so that people could travel interplanetry distances like to the moon jupital or mars but the real target was black hole which was really far away almost more than 1500 light year meaning that the speed of light which is almost 300000ms-1 would take...

Read story

“Door Bee” by Andrea Ben-Yosef

Submitted to Contest #196

Lila drove into the drive-through line of the coffee stand. She was late to work again but she didn’t care. This job was the same as any other job, a low-paid, dead-end gig with a jerk of a boss who would probably fire her soon anyway. Which meant that she wasn’t going to skip getting her favorite coffee just because she was a few minutes late. The coffee stand was in the middle of a parking lot behind a store that had gone out of business. Even though it was hidden behind a building, there was always a steady stream of customers. As she d...

Read story

“The Parallel Worlds” by Elma Quddus

Submitted to Contest #196

When he regained consciousness, he looked around. Understand that he is in his machine. I was talking about Hasnat. He built a machine to control time. The problem is the machine didn't want to work. However, after so many years of research, he was finally able to build a machine. But he did not know that his machine could not control time. Rather, it will take him to a different world. No one has ever come to this world except him. The machine does not want to work at first but starts to run in a hurry. He loses consciousness due to exces...

Read story

“Second Wind (Dorothy, the Sequel)” by Cassandra Adams

Submitted to Contest #196

Dorothy awakened early, as always, and took her place by the window with her coffee and pocket-sized Cairn terrier. Wistfully, she scanned the sky. The cacophony of robins and mockingbirds in the old oak told her that today would not be the day. Everything was as it should be. “God’s in His heaven. All’s right with the world”, she thought to herself. And, yet, the longing persisted. Some days, she could almost make out a foreboding hint of bile-green within the clouds. Then again, all her life she’d been accused of nurturing a vivid imag...

Read story

“Sentinel Island” by Joe Smallwood

Submitted to Contest #196

A single act of violence. Imaginary destruction.“Do you want the job or not?”Such a question always had only one answer. Funny how that goes, you think you have choices in life, but how often is that really the case? He’s got me where he wants me.“Of course,” I coughed, clearing my throat. Such dim lighting in this room, I’m thinking. Perfect for diodes and lights, monitors, and readouts. No one else is paying attention, all hunched over their consoles. Hardly right that. I knew what they were thinking.He’s in the hallway, my chief tormentor...

Read story

“Eve and the Snake” by Estee Kitelinger

Submitted to Contest #196

We all know the story. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Then somewhere along the line he decided to make snakes (one of God’s less inspired ideas, really). Then he made Adam, which was fine. Finally he made Eve, and that’s when things really started to go downhill for this God individual. Eve met a snake. The snake convinced her to disobey God. And just like that you have war, syphilis, and 30-day return policies. The downfall of humanity, in an instant. That’s the story you know. What you don’t know is that in a ...

Read story

“Safely Insane...Or Not” by DeAnna Myers

Submitted to Contest #196

“Dreams allow us to be safely insane every night of our lives,” I murmured to my friend, Julia, as we walked along. We were on our daily morning walk and she just got done telling me about the dream she had last night. “You know,” I almost whispered as if talking to myself, “there’s a great deal of truth to that statement if you really think about it.” “I agree,” Julia answered thoughtfully, “because if you actually remember your dreams, they can be pretty insane.” “Well, I wasn’t going to say anything because when it comes to be...

Read story

Load more stories

$250

Prize money

279

Contest entries

149

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - May 05, 2023 EST

Won by Delbert Griffith 🏆

Title: The Bullet that Esther Stopped

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 ⭢