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!

#209: Road Trippin'

The open road is a beacon of possibility. Who knows what you’ll discover as you navigate across boundaries, familiar and unfamiliar: maybe it’s the world’s biggest ball of twine, a hidden gem of a diner, or a new truth about yourself. Whatever it may be, a road trip provides the opportunity to indulge your curiosity, going wherever the wind may blow you. There’s no limits or obstacles, only what you’re willing to do.

After all, road trips are hardly ever about the destination. The journey is what matters most, and what you discover along the way, whether you're taking a vacation or setting out into the unknown. This week, we want to explore those unique feelings that only a good, long road trip can conjure.

This week's prompts

Set your entire story in a car.

Dramatic – 96 stories

Write about two strangers who are both heading to the same destination and agree to do a long distance drive together.

Character – 32 stories

Write a story about someone going on a life-changing journey.

Adventure – 57 stories

Write a story about someone getting lost, but discovering something they didn’t expect along the way.

Dramatic – 35 stories

Start your story with someone walking into a gas station.

Dialogue – 53 stories

Stories

“The Light in Your Eyes” by S.N. Beale

Submitted to Contest #209

“Flamboyant ClairvoyANT.”"What?""Lord, I can't repeat myself again. They were a flamboyant clairvoyant by the same name.""So they could tell you your future. I don't see what's so special-""No, they could only see into the past to see which one of your ancestors was gay.""Wait-""See, there was this baron with a side piece and a gambling debt to said side piece, but there was no proof that said baron - who was separated but still entangled with his wife and grown children – who had kept secrets to his grave – was ever in the "lurid" arrangeme...

Read story

“Leaving Paradise” by Kevin Elias Kaye

Submitted to Contest #209

Bobby had no memories of leaving Paradise. He had only just taken his first steps when they left, but to hear his mother tell the story of their exodus he had been tramping around the pine needle blanket in the front yard just waiting for his dad to notice. “Your father,” she told him, “didn’t even have a car seat in the truck for you. So I put you in a box with blankets and slid you on the little jumpseat behind Jack. Jack always sat in the passenger seat like your dad had trained him. That dog went everywhere with him, and he abandoned hi...

Read story

“Senior Skip Day” by Xander Blue

Submitted to Contest #209

Macey leaned toward the vent until her hair was wafting with the breeze. “Why is the AC blowing hot air?”Austin put her hands over the side and middle vents in the dash, then turned off the AC. “Maybe if we, you know, give it a break for a little while it’ll work later? I don’t know, I’m not a car expert.”“Well what are we supposed to do, Austin? It’s a million degrees outside and we’re out of gas and now we are out of AC.” “The car says it’s 112 degrees outside, not a million.”“Yeah, well I say it’s a million. Just look at the road. Yo...

Read story

“Stuck” by Tessa R

Submitted to Contest #209

“Aaaand… we’re back in the Netherlands”, he says, and we both do a little cheer. We’ve been on the road for about 10 hours today, driving back from Italy. It almost immediately starts to rain. “It’ll be good to be back home, won’t it?”, he says. I nod, it will be. The weather will be worse, though, and I have to start work again on Monday. There’s a container of food I left in the fridge when we left for our holiday two weeks ago, and my stomach turns a bit thinking about it. Still, there’s a feeling of relief, I can tell that he feels it to...

Read story

“Water Rises” by J. W.

Submitted to Contest #209

The yum of the car was the sound that woke him. Blind, tugged tight across his face, the ever stagnant drone -- yum -- of the car, and the oncoming air pushing, gushing through the slipstream shield of breaking speed. A facsimile of falling in his mind, a drug wear-off, falling deeper and deeper, and the voluminous light erupting through the clouds below -- yum -- and day is there on the other side, coffee-filter-esque through the spattered bugs on the windshield. And a shake -- yum -- and another and the slipping throttle of an engine stuck...

Read story

“No Visible Threats” by Kate Abbasi

Submitted to Contest #209

“Safety is not the absence of threat; it is the presence of connection.” -Gabor Matė-They drove to the highlands of Pennsylvania on a two-lane country road. People said Ohiopyle is peaceful in late spring. She offered to drive but he insisted on staying behind the wheel. A man and a woman in a relationship often find it easier to live within the established social norms despite proclaiming their distaste for traditional gender roles. She did not demand to be an equal driving partner; she was happy to gaze at the combed ribbons of soil e...

Read story

“Please Don't Bury Me” by Marshal Streigh

Submitted to Contest #209

Content Warning: This story contains material concerning suicide, sexual harassment, and physical violence. *** Charlie plucked a fry from the floor mat. Taking his eyes off the road, he studied it for contamination, gave it one long blow, and bit down. The car slanted right and hit the rumble strips. Francis hated watching Charlie eat, so she stared out her window and looked into the sun, flexing her ear muscles, attempting to blot out the lazy wet drumbeat of the horse-like chewing. Grandma sat in the middle backseat, her body fillin...

Read story

“Road Trip” by Rose Belle

Submitted to Contest #209

“Next time, I’m driving.” Gareth rolled his eyes as the rain drummed against the car. “It was one wrong turn, just one wrong turn.” “You should have looked up directions sooner.” Lucy groaned. “Are we there yet?” “I told you ten minutes ago: we still have three hours to go,” he sighed. “Why don’t you turn on your music or something?” “My phone’s dead. Can I charge it?” “No, we need my phone to find our way back home.” “What if we turn on the radio?” “I need to focus on the roads, especially in this heavy rain.” “You’re no fun.” “I’m...

Read story

“Age of Regret ” by Ilise NW

Submitted to Contest #209

In the deep silence of the night, an old man lay nestled in the back of his antique station wagon, surrounded by the darkness and the weariness of his years. His breathing was steady, a rhythmic lullaby to the world around him. The faint glow of the moon filtered through the windows, casting a fragile light on the memories etched into the creases of his weathered face. A sudden jolt shattered the tranquility, accompanied by the unmistakable sound of his car doors slamming shut. The older man's eyes fluttered open, fully alert to his surround...

Read story

“Along the Western Highway” by Sam Porter

Submitted to Contest #209

Jangling keys. Loaded bags. Thudding doors. Seatbelts on. Handbrake off and the car’s steady acceleration out of the driveway. The engine purred as we drifted down the street. “We’ll meet your mum and sister on the other side of the border. In Adelaide, okay?” my father said, turning his head to look at me in the seat behind. “And we’ll stop at the bakery when we reach Ballarat. You can get anything you want.” I replied with a grunt. The promise for sweets was a cushion, meant to soften the blow of keeping me in the back seat. I was ...

Read story

“"Mandarin House" (Prologue)” by Gennadii Seliverstov

Submitted to Contest #209

"Look, Daddy, look!" The girl in the pink sundress points her finger at a deer that has just disappeared behind the trees. "Daddy, was that a dog?" Teia asks, bursting into wild laughter at her own question. "No, sweetheart, that was a deer." "I'm a little deer," Alexa says, placing two index fingers against her forehead, demonstrating imaginary antlers to confirm her words. Teia smiles uncertainly and asks, "Daddy, are there many deer here?" "Well, we have at least one in our car," the father replies, nodding towards Alexa, then continues, ...

Read story

“Bridging The Generation Gap” by Raven West

Submitted to Contest #209

The District Manager had called a meeting at nine in the morning. Not unusual, but this one was at a new location and I didn't relish the thought of waking up at five in the morning to drive three hours even if was up the majestic California coast. I've never been a morning person, unless it was two or three in the morning and I'd been up all night, but that was a number of years ago. Unlike the other managers who were in their early twenties, my body was quickly approaching...

Read story

“The Marne” by Samuel T. Gregory

Submitted to Contest #209

September 1914. It was a warm September day in Paris, and the Germans were inching closer. I stepped off the train, wearing my Royal Army Medical Corps uniform. I had arrived at the war as a young surgeon bursting with patriotism and naivety.The air around me was alive with the songs of birds and punctuated by the distant thunder of artillery. History would initially call this event The Battle of the Marne. Later it would be renamed The First Battle of the Marne, as it seemingly required a sequel.The streets outside the ...

Read story

“The Men In The Suits” by JD Michael

Submitted to Contest #209

On a road in the midwest, The Man In The White Suit drove. For most, this would be a mundane task. But for The Man In The White Suit, it was anything but. This is because The Man In The White Suit has never before driven on a road in the midwest. In fact, he has never actually driven at all. It wasn’t because he was afraid to drive, or because he didn’t have a car, or because it just seemed wrong for one to trap themselves in a metal box and go careening down a road on which the only thing keeping them from crashing and exploding into nothin...

Read story

“That's Three” by Debbie Dupey

Submitted to Contest #209

Her Dad’s favorite joke went like this: A man is sitting in his favorite chair enjoying a beer. His wife is sitting in her favorite chair. Their little dog is sniffing around, stops and pees on the floor. The man points at the dog and says, “That’s one.” At dinner the dog jumps up to the table to try a grab a chicken bone off the man’s plate. “That’s two.” After Dinner, the man returns to his chair, but sees that the dog is sitting in his chair. “That’s three,” the man says calmly, grabbing the dog by the scruff of his neck, takes him into t...

Read story

Load more stories

$250

Prize money

273

Contest entries

154

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Aug 04, 2023 EST

Won by Kyle Sager 🏆

Title: The Driving Snow

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 ⭢