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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#20: Quite the Character

Between 1887 and 1927, Sherlock Holmes appeared in a total of four novels and 56 short stories penned by Arthur Conan Doyle. Since then, the stories have been adapted countless times, earning Holmes a Guinness World Record for "most portrayed movie character." And while Doyle's mysteries were widely lauded, it was the character of Holmes that had readers coming back time and again.

This week, your challenge is to write a story that highlights a single character. The premise is up to you — just give us some small understanding of this character by the end of the story.

This week's prompts

Write a story about a character who starts out as a pessimist and ends as an optimist. (Or vice versa.)

Character – 46 stories

Write a story about a character experiencing anxiety.

Character – 83 stories

Write a story about a character who would be described above all else as "logical."

Character – 31 stories

Write a story about a day in the life of a mother.

Narrative – 55 stories

Write a story about a character experiencing independence for the first time.

Teens – 59 stories

Stories

“That 'Good' True Love” by Tiffy H

Submitted to Contest #20

Love will make you do crazy things, the craziest things. And if you have never had true love before, it can be scary when you finally have it. I did not want to worry about our love; I did not want to panic about losing her, but the thoughts of her leaving me just kept entering my head, making me scared. I panicked. I did the only thing I could think to do to keep our love going. Well, to be honest, we did not have a love at first. It was just me fantasizing about her. I remember how we met. I worked at a company called The Service Cent...

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“Heaven is under mothers' feet” by Ariga Arkian

Submitted to Contest #20

She didn't want to get up, but she had too. All the dishes were piled up since last night. No one had touched them. She folded up her long sleeves and turn the warm water on. The warmness of the water was tickling her acing hands. She had washed her older daughter’s knitwear sweaters by hand yesterday. The water was becoming too hot when the kettle started boiling. She turned off the oven. The youngest entered: Hey mom.-Hey sweety. Sleep well?-Ah not bad, like usual.She was washing the pile of dishes in the sink.-Mom. Let them be there. let’...

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“Knots” by Adriana K. Maxwell

Submitted to Contest #20

He is good with knots. Not tying words together, not putting them so they make sense, not connecting people, nothing figurative or important. But he’s good at knots and string. He makes loops, pulls string through, tightens. Words come thick and fouled like retching molasses.She is looking at him again, tapping her fingers. He knows she is going to call his name.He makes another loop, grasps the string, feeds the end through, pulls it, tightens.When he was young, he was the first to learn how to tie his shoes. He wou...

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“Rainey” by Christopher G

Submitted to Contest #20

Rainey I know people say that becoming a mother changes you, but I really haven’t changed all that much. All the bridges I’ve built upon the years have been charred to a crisp. My recent ex-boyfriend finally had enough of my antics, as he referred to them. I call them the enigma of human emotions. So, what that I lit his clothes on fire and broke his guitar because I found him talking to another woman who isn’t me. But I had to suppress any emotions I had about our squabble aside because my body was numb from the icy...

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“The Adventures of Malachi Norton: A Matter of Vengeance” by Lee Kull

Submitted to Contest #20

There are many fine mysteries I have observed Malachi Norton solve over the many years I have known him. I chronicled several of those cases as you may recall; changing names and places with due respect to the wishes of those concerned, of course. Never a man have I encountered with more formidable mental powers than he, and he never ceased to astonish me with his skills of observation and deduction.He maintained a practice as a private detective for over a decade, and quite successfully I might add. I, as his friend and colleague, accompani...

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“Another five hours” by Marte Van Der Linden

Submitted to Contest #20

The world is ending tonight but it’s no big deal. The clock on the wall says we have five hours until the nuclear warhead detonates. It’s currently lodged near the magma chamber of a super volcano. The explosion will result in a crater the size of a continent. Next, a cloud of flammable gases and particles will engulf the atmosphere. It will ignite a few minutes later. The final result will be like the earth turning itself inside out and catching fire. If you’re a doomsday prepper with a bunker under your house - congratulations, you might l...

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“Reunion Anxiety” by John K Adams

Submitted to Contest #20

“What are you doing here?”“Hi, Mom! It’s been a while…”“Well, you’re here now. Come in. You’re letting out all the dust.”Maybelle stepped aside and opened the door for Tom to enter. She offered her cheek for him to kiss. The house had the smell of home. ‘Only here,’ Tom thought. ‘It never changes.’ His childhood unfolded before him.“Staying for dinner? Might as well.” They went into the kitchen. She called out, “Al, look what the cat dragged in.”“You have a cat?”“Figment of speech. No cat.”Al entered. “Hi, Tom. You drinkin’?”“I’ll have whate...

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“The Big Book.” by Rima ElBoustani

Submitted to Contest #20

I live inside my little world, where knowledge is imbibed, inscribed from alchemist to man, and I read my big Book of Human Bodies with a keen and able heart. I glance at the pages, as my childhood companion turns them over, one by one. The crisp, clean paper makes noiseless progress as it evokes efficiency and imparts the knowledge printed on its white pages. I’m eager for every word I read. I especially love those pages ripe with information on the body and on medicine. We pore over the text, chatting as we do. There are images of the...

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“A Case Study” by Kyle Johnson

Submitted to Contest #20

Alexander R. Turkington. “The Turk.” I remember him. When I was a middle school boy, saying the name––those two simple syllables––was enough to evoke awe in our Southern neighborhood. The town was home to the University of Kentucky, and a hunger for national titles manifested itself in the prospect of cultivating a local high school player who would be sent into the powerful, lucrative machine of college basketball. In addition, ours and surrounding counties contained the feeder schools responsible for producing lifelong fans, devotees, and...

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“Mummy-in-hiding” by Suzanne Kiraly

Submitted to Contest #20

"Mummy, where are you?" my five-year-old whines. I lay low, silently guarding my sanity within the confines of the toilet, a secret place in which they never think to look for me. I am not sure why? Perhaps they can't imagine that mothers ever use the toilet. A bit like the queen never farting, I suspect.I hold my breath as my toddler passes by. I can see the shadow of his footsteps under the toilet door. Just a few more minutes of solitude. That's not a lot to ask, is it? "Muuummmyyyy..." the voice is insistent now and g...

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“The Lonely Hermit ” by Kaysie Davis

Submitted to Contest #20

June 21, 2020 I think I am the only person left alive. Maybe just in my city, it could also be that I am the last person alive in the world. I have decided that I am going to make a record of what happened. How the world came to an end. Maybe this is just so I don’t go crazy from loneliness, perhaps it is for other people that might still be alive and will find these journals someday. My name is Olivia Reid. I worked at home as a website designer. I never would have thought that being a hermit would have helped save my life. The end of th...

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“Nature and Nurture” by Tori Routsong

Submitted to Contest #20

“Mother?” The mother swung her head down, making eye contact with the large black goggles that engulfed the majority of the little girl’s head. She shifted the basket of laundry from her left hip to her right. “Brenna?” “Are we going to get dinner soon?” “It’s barely even—” her mother checked the broken clock on the wall before remembering it hadn’t worked in years. “It’s not even six yet. Are you hungry? I just gave you a snack.” Brenna shook her little head, the goggles wobbling comically. “No, I just wanted to know when we could get dinne...

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“The Problem with Eyes” by Clementine Beck

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #20

Once you begin to strip off, everything becomes okay. You do it systematically, layer by layer: first the cashmere sweater, brown and low-hanging; then the black cotton jeans that hug your skinny legs and always, always feel just cool enough against your skin. After that, off come all parts of your underwear, and the knee-high woolly socks. There. You pull a thermometer out of the bathtub. Thirty-eight degrees? You decide it’s perfect for today. Steam is tickling you face, just the way you like it. The surface of the water is almost glassy, ...

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“The Escapist Society” by Natasha Arnold

Submitted to Contest #20

The spotless lamb slumbered into silence. A pale blue teacup had pricked the pure lamb red. Gushing blood soon followed, streaking through the evening, bleak sky, and pitter-pattering down the cobble road. The little, pretty dying one did bleed, and never before had his shepherdess which it had been her own. Eloise Clary, the shepherdess, would have stained the countryside black if given the choice. In curses and tears, she cried out to the skies for her own life to be taken. The winds were her sole answer. If she had not loved the lam...

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“A Perfectly Normal Thought Process” by Keri Dyck

Submitted to Contest #20

I wonder if anyone else thinks like I do.Of course, thought processes are different in every person because of external reasons, such family, age, and gender. “And sometimes I speak.” I laugh at myself in the mirror, sticking my tongue out at my reflection. Girl, you look good today! Some things could be improved. And my eyes are still too small. Don’t get cocky. A knock sounds on the washroom door. “Keri, are you almost done? You’ve been in there for ages already.” Ugh. Can’t he be more patient?Of course not. He is ...

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$50

Prize money

274

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Dec 20, 2019 EST

Won by Amy St. Pierre 🏆

Title: At Home

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!

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