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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#208: Come On Barbie, Let's Go Party

The wait is finally over: today Greta Gerwig’s Barbie(™) movie hits theaters and I, for one, couldn’t be more excited! Blonde and big-busted, this by-now classic doll has often been associated with negative stereotypes of womanhood. But it’s also true that, when you played with Barbie as a child, she could be anything you liked: a firefighter, a flight attendant, a teacher, or even an astronaut (Barbie went to space 4 years before Armstrong did). The possibilities were endless, allowing young people to envision new futures for themselves.

This week’s prompts take inspiration from Barbie and her pink, plastic world, asking you to play with the idea of puppetry, childhood memories, and shiny surfaces that hide potential darkness.

This week's prompts

Write a story about someone living vicariously through someone else.

Character – 32 stories

Write a story where the characters start to realize that they are, in fact, just characters.

Character – 49 stories

Write a story about a character who finds a childhood toy that brings back memories.

Character – 70 stories

Write a story about someone who is constantly being put into a box by others.

Angst – 40 stories

Set your story in a rosy-pink world where everything is rainbows and unicorns… until it isn’t.

Dramatic – 47 stories

Stories

“Party Time” by Parul Shah

Submitted to Contest #208

On the day of her flight, Sarlaben set out on the same morning walk to the Radha Krishna temple she’d taken for the past 43 years. Her driver, Santosh, could have been called to the bungalow early in order to drive her there. But no, Sarlaben relished the feeling of freedom as she unlatched the gate of the family compound and allowed her feet to chose their path through the streets of her Mumbai suburb. Shall I take the winding Dixit Road or the more direct Station Road? Did she have time to stop and admire the orchids growing in the arms of...

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“Breaking the chains” by Banana Graham

Submitted to Contest #208

Nikki sat in the dimly lit room, surrounded by the shadows of her past. As they reminisced about their childhood the walls seemed to whisper secrets of a life she once thought was perfect. But the truth was unraveling. Nikki glanced at her reflection in the mirror. She saw a young woman who looked strong, but the pain in her eyes revealed a different truth. Kelly saw it too, and she wondered if she appeared the same. Nikki could no longer ignore it. Kelly stood nearby, filled with a mix of pain and determination. They had been through so muc...

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“Complying in their Strangeness” by Luca King Greek

Submitted to Contest #208

TRIGGER Warning: This story contains every kind of horror, ancient and contemporary, including sexual violence, violence to children, bestiality, incest and more. I hang my head in shame.GenesisTheir creator reimagines the world before time, before good and evil, when men were chattel of the Gods, living in awe and constant fear, and when stories were carved in stone.At birth they will be helpless mammals by his design, protected by coats of fur or hair, feathers or scales, but in the third moon they will transmogrify, revealed in their vari...

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“Rain Bear” by Theo Benson

Submitted to Contest #208

Rain fell in torrents against the small countryside house as Gladys shuffled around her kitchen. She took a tarnished kettle from her old stovetop and filled it at a nearby sink.“Gramma!” Her arms shook as she held the kettle. Fingers that carefully gripped its worn handle were wrinkled and spotted, her knuckles bulging under the skin despite efforts to calm the ever-growing arthritis. Gladys sighed, replacing the kettle on her stove. “Gramma!” The voice yelled again, this time louder. It came from the ceiling. Gladys winced. ...

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“Stuck in a Smile” by Retro Bolic

Submitted to Contest #208

I’ve heard when a doll looks just like you, there’s a small chance the doll becomes you, and you become the doll. Only if the hair is the same, the color of the skin, the expression on the face. If everything matches, and you pose next to your doll just how they’re posed, in their colorful outfits, you might become plastic. That’s why I got my doll when I was a child. I wanted to become plastic. How wonderful a thought, it appeared to me, that I might be stuck forever in a wonderful smile. That’s why I purchased a happy doll, with a short ...

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“Looking Toward Offspring” by Christa Fletcher

Submitted to Contest #208

As I sit at my computer, I await results. The cursor on my screen blinks like the numbers flitting by on the timer for my pregnancy test. Expectantly, I start to write. Who will she be? What will I name her? A lawyer, a teacher – will she want to be a mother just like me? I begin to type. She awakens in my mind, with blue eyes, creative and confident, bolder than me. Unafraid to have a voice. She’ll never apologize out of habit. She will build a full life. Tap, tap, tap. I feel time tick by and an ache in my lower back as I type. She is ...

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“"Realization"” by Miranda C.

Submitted to Contest #208

Recently, I’ve been having moments in my life where I forget things. Important things, the parts that make actuality concrete and certain. I become aware of the unstoppable cycle in life that we do not pay attention to, or care about. And there is not much to it, you’d think about it, maybe for a second, and you stop because that is just the way of life. There is nothing to seek for or think about if there is nothing there. That’s how it’s always been, that’s the normal. There are unchangeable patterns in how we live that make up reality. Y...

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“A Melody of Love” by Fryashti Mishra

Submitted to Contest #208

It was finally Monday, June 15th, the day of Sarah’s mother’s funeral. The thought of burying her beloved mother in the cold ground was something Sarah could never accept. She wasn’t ready. She never would be. The grief of her mother’s death was tearing Sarah apart; its heavy weight stopping her from letting go. It was too unbearable for her to part with her mother. But deep down, Sarah knew that it had to be done. She desperately hung onto the memories of their times together as tears flew down her cheeks...

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“The Room With No Doors” by Len Rely

Submitted to Contest #208

I was seduced by the woman in the dark red gown in the painting that hangs in the first room above the mahogany sideboard with the reclining marble nude upon it. It was she who had me on the floor where I lie still, immobilized, staring only at the undecorated ceiling, because the painting was the first thing that came into my view. I lay there for several days, only aware of her visage and the chandelier above the very dark table and chairs, and a very faint tapping sound like a dripping candle which I occasionally felt very lig...

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“The Enchanted Jester” by Courtney Caruso

Submitted to Contest #208

Once upon a time, in a cozy little house filled with love and laughter, there lived a sweet little girl named Courtney. Courtney's mother and father, Mr., and Mrs. Brennan, were kind and loving parents who always smiled and often joined in our games, pretending to be a part of our little circus party. I was usually a stand in on family game night when Courtney’s silly big sister was too cool to play Scattergories with us and would go over one of her girlfriend’s houses for a sleepover. Either that, or her sister thought I’...

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“Wyoming Style” by Sue Leather

Submitted to Contest #208

Friday nights, the diner filled up quickly with locals in from the week’s work. Melissa didn’t mind it; the time went quickly, and the tips weren’t bad. ‘Give me a beer and one of those rib eyes, Melissa.’ ‘Sure thing, Don.’ Melissa wrote the order down on her pad and walked towards the kitchen, high heels clicking on the tiles. Melissa had been a server at the Buffalo Diner for two or three months now. It wasn’t bad as jobs go, and at least it was paying for some of the treatment. It was an expensive business, the hormone therapy, bu...

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“Landed On Freespace” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #208

I got the call when my sister Marsha passed away. “Daryl, I hate to bring you bad news…” My mother’s voice faded. “What is it, mom? I’ve got a meeting in fifteen minutes.” I looked at my wristwatch. “Your sister has passed away.” She sounded as if she had been crying. “Marsha?” I gasped. “You have another sister?” She said with an edge to her voice. “Oh God, this is horrible.” I shook my head. “She was having trouble with her sobriety since Brian left a few months ago.” She said with a sniff, “I have the ...

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“What Do You Wear To An Affair?” by Ken Cartisano

Submitted to Contest #208

The tiny little plastic phone rang. He picked it up. “Ken?” “Speaking.” “It’s me, Barbie.” “Oh. Hi Barbie. What’s up?” “Have you got a minute? It—it sounds noisy. I called at a bad time, didn’t I? I should just…” “No, no, no. Don’t be silly. Hold on a sec.” After a minute of mumbled confusion he came back on the line. “Okay, that’s better.” “Really Ken, if this is a bad time…” “No, no. It’s just, I’m, I volunteered to help coach the Lego team in the upcoming Toy-Olympics, and…” “Really! That’s wonderful Ken. What are they c...

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“Normal, as Defined by Her” by Sierra Wilson

Submitted to Contest #208

My dad always told me, “Jessie, no matter what people tell you or how you are judged, you are normal.” I was his perfect little daughter, the star student, faultless. The first time I felt different, I was in middle school. Her name was Claire, a new girl. She was beautiful. Short, a round face, the perfect image of someone who could break my heart. When I came home and told my dad, he shrugged it off. “Jessie, it’s just a silly school crush, you’ll grow out of it.” But the next day, the first time Claire held my hand, I tingled. I f...

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“Retro” by Raven West

Submitted to Contest #208

Jenny Reed and Johnny King had once been the top radio personalities at KKTM in Los Angeles. For four decades their on-air partnership and eventual marriage were the talk of the industry. But what was the top 100 hits in the 70’s had become a faded nostalgic memory to their ever decreasing listening audience, so when the network offered to buy them out, they both agreed it was time. After collecting all her memorabilia from more than forty years co-hosting Red Wine for Breakfast, Jenny took one last soulful look around the control room and ...

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$250

Prize money

238

Contest entries

85

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jul 28, 2023 EST

Won by Ian Gonzales 🏆

Title: That All Important First Scene

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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