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!

#197: Fate and Free Will

It’s an eternal question. Are our lives governed by our own actions, or subject to the powers of destiny? Religions, philosophers, writers, and everyday folk have been arguing about it for centuries, and we still don’t have a definitive answer. Stories of heroes locked into tragic fates they can’t escape make up a large portion of our oldest myths and legends. Yet modern stories tend to paint their protagonists as free will incarnate. Even so, there are still plenty that play with destiny.

This week, we want to explore the age-old conundrum of heroes. Are we in charge of our fate? Or is it all in the hands of some unknowable power laying out our path forward?

This week's prompts

Write a story about someone successfully — or unsuccessfully — escaping their fate.

Angst – 107 stories

Write about a god desperately trying to get their chosen hero to follow the path they set out for them.

Fantasy – 61 stories

Write a story that includes the phrase “I’m free!”

Dialogue – 60 stories

Write about somebody who wholeheartedly believes in fate, and views every little thing through the lens of predestiny.

Character – 22 stories

Set your story in a world where everyone’s decisions are made for them. One morning, your character wakes up, and chooses not to go to work. Wait…chooses?!

Thriller and Suspense – 18 stories

Stories

“The Orange Ball ” by Hayden Kanicki

Submitted to Contest #197

A bourbon for dinner, then let it simmer. Down the hatch, it’s all in the past. Be a man and have one with me, my boy! Derek sits at the counter with his girlfriend, hearing her speak but not listening, only staring out of the window above the kitchen sink and hearing his dad garble and jumble utterances in his head. He subconsciously begins to tighten his fingers around his glass, one filled with gin and a hint of soda water, while spinning a steak knife from dinner on the smooth wooden counter with his ot...

Read story

“The Last Adventure” by John-Paul Cote

Submitted to Contest #197

“More iced tea, Mr. Siddiqharran?” The android servant asked. “Yes, that would be fine, Corius.” “Perhaps some biscuits as well?” “Later, thank you.” Corius floated off to fetch the iced tea. Other drones moved about the garden, tending to the flowers and plants and mowing the lawn to a consistent height. The sun shone down. Barely a cloud in the sky. Jacob felt the warmth as he sat in the lounge chair beside the pool reading his book. The transparent aluminum walls kept out the noise of the streets and city life. It was an ideal paradi...

Read story

“Cruise” by Laura Pasek

Submitted to Contest #197

Racing around to different canvases on the lower deck with my five year old was surprisingly fun as a grown woman. Julian and I loved speed drawing so much that we stuck around for the next activity. Egg drop. Peering down four stories in the fanciest part of the ship, I understood why people got swept away by the magic of a cruise. Everything glittered. Double spiral staircases. Endless pastries, unlimited drinks (depending on your wallet). From the top of the balcony, ready to drop our bubble-wrapped precious cargo, I glimpsed her:...

Read story

“Winguard's Tail” by Savanna Chaney

Submitted to Contest #197

Dripping in sweat, Windguard and Jennifer dig at the hole. It felt like years since this caved in, living in a dark cavern with no light, food, water, just each other and Alister. Alister stopped howling a long time ago, he pretty much gave up. So, when light started to pool in, Windguard cackled with glee, “I’m free,” he mutters as the light grows, blinding them. As Winguard and Jennifer step out of the cave, Winguard is taken by surprise at their surroundings. Expecting to see an overgrown forest by a lake, he sees tall p...

Read story

“The Last Job” by Peter Wyatt

Submitted to Contest #197

The Last Job The job posting sounded too good to be true but the price was right, and the work description fell right into George’s wheelhouse. He could do this in his sleep. The online job caption was titled Fast Cash for College Apps and it stated: Looking for Financial Aid Professional to review FAFSA applications during our busy season. Will pay $100 dollars per application reviewed. Work from home with flexible work schedule, management breezy to work with, make friends for life. George did some quick mental calculations and his eyes d...

Read story

“Constraints and Clarity” by Ian James

Submitted to Contest #197

“...Winning this award is monumental not just for me, but for all rural people in Sabah. It reminds us that we're not invisible, that we matter, and that we deserve recognition for our abilities…”For two straight weeks, Principal Chong Shoi Ming of Hock Academy had been queuing up the same inspirational speech on repeat. The video starred none other than Jeffery Gompung, a former student who had delivered a rousing address that had stirred the hearts of all who heard it. What made Jeffery's story all the more remarkable was that he hailed fr...

Read story

“The Story of Everything” by Molly Sickle

Submitted to Contest #197

I stand alone in vast emptiness, a proprietor of knowledge. In my hands sleeps a glowing sphere of pale white electricity, crackling and popping lazily up at me. In my hands sleeps a secret, a secret I guard with what you could call my life. How do you guard a concept? An idea? You hide it. In vast emptiness. I watch with eyes that see everything as the ball wakes and lights the room with hues and colors of a different reality. Synchronicities and miracles engulf me and a sporadic hum of the sound of everything all at once settles ...

Read story

“Meredith Gris is Just Fine” by Madelyn Grace

Submitted to Contest #197

Meredith Gris is born at midnight, beneath a gleaming supermoon. She isn’t breathing. Nobody is prepared for it. Her mother screams to hold her, her hands outstretched, her face flooded with angry tears and exhausted sweat; the midwives rush from one side of the room to the other, murmuring beneath their breaths, ignoring the shrieks. The doctor, hands soaked with blood, doesn’t say a word as she grabs Meredith’s chin, barely gentle, and forces her jaw wide open. For a moment, she just stares, the lines of her forehead creasing her skin ...

Read story

“Obsessively Destined” by Abigail Geurts

Submitted to Contest #197

Meredith didn’t believe in fate until she was in middle school. She didn’t skip class often. She was a good kid, terrified of her parents and the consequences of her actions. She brushed her teeth twice a day, braided her hair every morning, and made her bed before going to school. She did everything that she was supposed to. She had never skipped class before in her life. But one day she just couldn’t drag herself to her math class. The preteen angst was at its peak, and an overly dramatic break up had driven her into hiding in one of the ...

Read story

“Do You Know Your Fate?” by Lizzie Grace

Submitted to Contest #197

(T.W. cults, child abduction, death) Since coming back to visit my hometown, the nightmares have returned. My therapist told me this might happen and suggested writing the entire event down in a journal after the nightmares. She said it would help calm me down, a false lie, but here I am doing it anyways… I was twelve years old when my life ended. I was talking with Emma, who else. She was my best friend, we were born at the same hospital, two days apart. I was shy, quiet, and didn’t know how to talk to others. She was the opposite; it s...

Read story

“Free Will ” by Jennifer Fremon

Submitted to Contest #197

As always, Hallie woke up right before her alarm went off. Despite this, she still set the alarm every night before bed, just in case. You never knew when something that was routine might suddenly change.Although if Hallie was being perfectly honest, not much ever changed around here, not unless there was a accidental bug in one of the Network updates, and even those they usually fixed within minutes.She sat up and slid her bare feet into the fuzzy brown slippers that were always on the floor right by her bed. She then yawned, did a few quic...

Read story

“Go” by Tom Campbell

Submitted to Contest #197

It was the nicest day any April could be expected to come up with. Villagers from all around the province poured into the ancient city of Zhangzhou to barter their millet, barley, wheat, pigs and sheep, for clothing, spices, tools, pottery and strong wine. Striding at the forefront of one such group was a brash young man barely twenty years old who looked neither left nor right at the sprouting greenery nor at the fluffy little clouds that gamboled across the bright blue sky like wayward sheep. The whisper went around that this was Yuan Tsen...

Read story

“Sometimes We Get What We Need” by Webb Johnson

Submitted to Contest #197

Sometimes You Get What You Need I was the only one left aboard by the time the Greyhound’s droning engine throttled down and the passenger P.A. system squawked, “Redding. Last stop, Redding.” I rubbed my eyes, stuffed my dog-eared study manual into my backpack, pulled on my parka, and walked up the empty aisle while checking my phone for the time − 12:08 A.M. The driver said, “Good night. Watch your step.” Inside the terminal, I went to the food counter, but looking over the days-end assortment of wilted sandwiches and stale pastry, I sett...

Read story

“Dragon Stone: Moonstone” by Gary Jefferies

Submitted to Contest #197

Dragon Stones,” Eldritch Mortain began, “are elusive. Scrolls allude to them and yet remain ambiguous.” Arch-mage lecture, An Introduction to Elder Law, Mythical Reality. Naz woke with a head feeling like he'd been on StormBringer the night before. Some fiendish brew Yish suggested he might enjoy back in the days of yore, a time before travelling with the Keep not yet fallen. Naz recalled that it was only a short time after he arrived after a mining disagreement. “Keep the seam tight and dig dee...

Read story

“The Ravine ” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #197

Got my thumb out when a beat up old Ford pick up truck pulls off the side of the road. “Thanks.” I toss my duffle bag in the back. “Where ya headed to, son?” A grizzled old man asks as I climb into the cab. “Anywhere. Away from here.” I answer. “You runnin’ from that rehab place?” I can barely see the smile covered by a snowy gray mustache. “Yaw ain’t the first fella I picked up from that place.” “Milton Barkley Ten Step Program?” I bow my head ashamed that I had made up my mind to give up on my chance to walk the straight a...

Read story

Load more stories

$250

Prize money

268

Contest entries

100

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - May 12, 2023 EST

Won by HR Pinches 🏆

Title: The Fate of Customer 12

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 ⭢