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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#203: Back to Basics

If you’re signed up to the Prompts newsletter, you’re probably interested in writing short stories — and love getting emails from people called Laura. With that in mind, I have a recommendation for you...

Editor Laura Mae Isaacman offers a free, 10-day email course on How to Craft a Killer Short Story. She has edited literary giants like Noam Chomsky and Joyce Carol Oates, and her course breaks down the principles of short story writing into manageable chunks.

This week’s prompts take cues from Laura’s tips and examples, taking us back to the basics of storytelling, and can help you brush up your short story skills alongside the course.

This week's prompts

Write a story during which two conversations happen simultaneously.

Dialogue – 28 stories

Write about how a single event affects a seemingly unrelated area of a character’s life (their friendships, career, romantic relationships, etc.)

Character – 35 stories

Write about two friends getting into a fist fight.

Angst – 31 stories

Write a story that experiments with tone — perhaps a difficult subject dealt with in a playful way, or an ostensibly happy scene that hints at darkness lurking beneath.

Short Story – 63 stories

Start your story in the middle of the action.

Short Story – 69 stories

Stories

“Just Keep Breathing” by Erin Barker

Submitted to Contest #203

Reese’s eyes popped open. She froze, staring into the darkness. Her heart pounded against her chest and heat flushed her body. Beneath the covers, she slid one hand to her swollen belly and waited, not daring to breathe. There. A slight tightening of her lower belly held for just a moment before releasing. She tapped the screen of her watch and stared at the minutes. Almost ten minutes passed before her uterus contracted again. Reese exhaled and tapped her watch back off. She quietly turned her head to look at her sleeping husband. She stret...

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“Everything is alright.” by Arter Grim

Submitted to Contest #203

I will always be grateful to my parents for providing me with an adequate education. I realize only now, after having my dear Daniel come into this world, just how difficult it must have been to get up every day and do the same old routine just to have a decent life. Nowadays, it’s rare to hear the alarm bell disturb Daniel’s sleep. I don’t even know why I still have it set up, but I guess old habits die hard. I get up slowly from my bed, put the blanket back on Daniel, and kiss him on the forehead. I don’t know why I feel ashamed for doing ...

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“Malicious Designs” by Emma Kansiz

Submitted to Contest #203

Malicious Designs Emma Kansiz 1815, South England As I have been telling friends and associates since the ruinous day he moved into the manor directly across from mine, I have been completely out of sorts. This man, this ball of conceit they call Walpole Collingwood, has offended me on two counts. I will now elaborate upon these assertions. Before I learned of his identity, I already nurtured a certain distaste for the man. Firstly, Collingwood bought a manor that I, myself, had in my sights. It was a tale as old as time: he beat me to...

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“Crash and Burn” by Kevin Kenealy

Submitted to Contest #203

FADE IN: EXT — NIGHT A raging fire consumes a large residential home in the Chicago Beverly neighborhood… EMILY MURPHY, 35, sits on a curb across the street, staring in horror at the flames engulfing her home. The middle-aged housewife flips her auburn hair to the side with her ashy fingertips. She twirls her burned wedding wing around her delicate finger and sighs as plumes of smoke billow out of the upstairs windows. Firefighters try desperately to save what’s left of the housefire. Neighbors gather across the street, ...

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“The Red Phone Booth” by Kai Moon

Submitted to Contest #203

John ran as fast as he could through the dark and cold night trying to swallow him whole. The barrage of raindrops soaked his jacket and jeans, and his hood wasn’t helping much, for the rain always had a way to attack one’s face, even with an umbrella. The water covering the ground like a plastic wrap dirtied his white sneakers with each splashing step he took. His breaths were becoming rapid and white. His eyes were locked onto the end of the alleyway, the colorful neon lights. He needed to escape this alley first. That was round one. Joh...

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“Since When Was 30 Seconds Forever?” by Zoe Zarubin

Submitted to Contest #203

**This story contains descriptions of a traumatic event. Reader discretion is advised.**My toes gripped the edge of the diving board. I shivered as the early morning air rushed past me, daring me to dive in like my friends who stood behind me. I glanced over my shoulder at my four partners in crime, all giggling in anticipation. This was what I got for sticking ice cream down James’ back. I smiled. It was worth it. I was to race my brother, who was five years my senior, down to the bottom of the pool and hold my breath for thirty second...

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“Eternal Seconds” by Alyssa Mamuszka

Submitted to Contest #203

A broken pipe dripped onto the unforgiving concrete floor nearby. I hoped the echo would somehow mask my labored breathing. That the cavernous building would capture the sounds of old pipes, innocent breaths of wind, scurries of hidden rats, before it would project my nervous shuffling. He must not hear, I must stay quiet. I swallowed nonexistent saliva. My back ached from crouching behind the rusted boiler. The dirt and dust from years of neglect coated the insides of my nose like hot, suffocating cotton. The gash above my left eyeb...

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“Blood for Blood” by Anne Reed

Submitted to Contest #203

The ICU room was quiet except for the rhythmic beeping of the monitor. In the hospital bed was an unconscious man. He had a full head of brown hair, but his skin was paper white and his cheeks gaunt, so that he looked old. Beside him stood a tall woman dressed in pink scrubs, clashing with her orange hair and bright, red cheeks. Her eyes were blue but oddly flecked with purple. She warily eyed the hospital visitor standing at the foot of the bed. The visitor appeared ordinary, close in age to the patient, who was thirty years old. He had...

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“Final Escalation” by William Nguyen

Submitted to Contest #203

Silence is often defined as the absence of any sound, or anything that is loud. However, for the city of Manhattan, nothing could be louder than the silence. A city that was known for being immensely populated, and busy, was now completely abandoned. Buildings that once stood tall and proud, were now nothing more than the rubble that they left behind. Janktrons walked around the city, randomly slashing at buildings, and attacking anything that moved in their vicinity. A man wearing a black cardigan, with a white t-shirt underneath it, ...

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“The Duel” by Marco Damiano

Submitted to Contest #203

Donovan was sitting when Larry came into the gym, his feet crossed, reading a newspaper of some kind in his hand. He barely looked up to greet his friend, choosing instead to finish whatever headline had caught his attention. “So,” Larry began. Donny folded the broadsheet in front of him meticulously and finally straightened, like a cat being roused from its nap. “So?” he intoned in response. Lawrence Jones began to rapidly lose patience, looking around the dusty gymnasium with something bordering on contempt. The center of the space...

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“A Fistful of Therapy” by Ben O'Shannessy

Submitted to Contest #203

Arthur had never been in a fight before. It's was something he’d thought about often. Despite being someone who generally avoided conflict at all costs, he would find himself pondering how he would handle himself should the situation arise, and whether he could hold his own. Part of him wondered whether deep down he wanted to be be in a fight, maybe to prove himself, maybe just to say he had. These thoughts ran through his head as he felt John knuckles connect with the soft tissue below his cheek, forcing his jaw back in the opposite dir...

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“That's Just What Friends Do ” by Ella Bleu

Submitted to Contest #203

Winston flexed his fingers, watching his skin turn white as it pulled taunt over muscle and bone and then reverted back to brown as he relaxed. There was something grounding about knowing his body worked in such a mechanical way. He always did this before a fight. The lanky blonde had been asking for it. All he had done was ask a pretty girl at the bar if he could buy her a drink. She had smiled, but then, all of the sudden, the guy got in his face, told Winston that was “his girl,” and dragged him outside. Apparently, talking to a gi...

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“From the Ground to the Sky” by Anan Hari

Submitted to Contest #203

I dropped my head to my knees and closed my eyes. Tears rolled down my red cheeks. My ears rang with the voice in my head again: “You’re not good enough”, “You have to make your parents happy”, “You’re a failure”. In reality, I just wanted to be heard and loved. My parents never really understood me and thought I had attitude issues. No one understood me. I never had friends who cared about me. They mostly used me and told others terrible things about me. I slowly lifted my head and wiped my tears. My parents never believed sharing emotions ...

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“Graduation Day ” by Kacey Waters

Submitted to Contest #203

“Congratulations Graduates!” Principal Banes’ voice boomed over the PA system. The sound commanded the attention of the teens who had been talking excitedly amongst themselves, seated alphabetically in rows of plastic folding chairs. He gazed out over the gymnasium taking in the bright young faces of his students and their proud parents filling the bleachers in the back. Freshly polished vinyl floors gleamed in the fluorescent lighting, and a red carpet had been unfurled down the aisle for the students to be presented with their new destinie...

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“Realism” by Michele Seidelman

Submitted to Contest #203

"WE NEED TO GO NOW." The panic in his voice echoed through the house hard and loud. He insistently threw random objects into the luggage bag and screamed at me to do the same. Still sobbing hysterically, but obliging his demand, I asked, "What does that even mean?!" He repeated, "WE NEED TO LEAVE, WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE, IT'S NOT SAFE. WE NEED TO GO HOME." Tears unyielding, and voice heaving, I asked again, "Isn't this home?? Where is home?" The journey we took wasn't an easy one. We had just left one state to start all over again in...

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$250

Prize money

226

Contest entries

121

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jun 23, 2023 EST

Won by Kris Hawkins 🏆

Title: Echelon

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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