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!

#212: Signed, Sealed, Delivered

I don't really exchange letters with anyone, but if I did, I'd receive them with great anticipation. There's something very unpredictable about a letter: it can provide insight into a person's most private feelings, make a public statement, or share news of events big and small, from historic events to everyday gossip. You just never know until you open it.

This week's prompts are inspired by all things epistolary.

This week's prompts

Write a story in the form of a letter, or multiple letters back and forth.

Short Story – 147 stories

Write an epistolary story set during a major historical event. The event may be the subject of the letters directly, or be referenced in the background.

Historical Fiction – 30 stories

Write a story about a pair of pen pals.

Character – 26 stories

A mysterious letter is delivered to your character's home. It's not addressed to them, but they can't resist peeking...

Mystery – 65 stories

Set your story in a post office.

Fiction – 36 stories

Stories

“Dear Magic Genie Inc.” by Teté S

Submitted to Contest #212

Dear Magic Genie Inc.,I am writing you about my extreme discontent with your service. I have been on the waitlist for over three years now.It was my friend Elisabeth Cahill who first referred me to you. She explained to me that you could grant me three wishes, in exchange for the purchase of the medium golden lamp model #385227. Naturally, I didn’t believe her, until we saw each other again. Suddenly, her husband George, who had been bald since he was thirty, had a beautiful mane of hair. As for her, all the weight she had tried to lose sinc...

Read story

“Base A: The Post Office at the End of the World” by Jonathan Page

Submitted to Contest #212

The icy waters crackle as the cruise ship enters the harbor off the notched and ragged coast of Port Lockroy. There is a hectic roo, roo, roo from the calling Gentoo penguins, and there is a fussy cow, cow, cow from the snowy sheathbills as they tap the windows of the Post Office. It is ironic that we are located out on the polar shelf—literally set apart from the whole world, and yet, the world comes to us daily. I rise from my bunk drenched in sweat. My veins ache as if tensed by electric current. My head is burnin...

Read story

“The Christmas Truce: Letters from the Western Front” by Jonathan Page

Submitted to Contest #212

The Christmas Truce[Christmas Truce of 1914 (World War I)]“The thing started last night – a bitter cold night, with white frost – soon after dusk when the Germans started shouting 'Merry Christmas, Englishmen' to us. Of course our fellows shouted back and presently large numbers of both sides had left their trenches, unarmed, and met in the debatable, shot-riddled, no man's land between the lines. Here the agreement – all on their own – came to be made that we should not fire at each other until after midnight tonight. The men were all frate...

Read story

“Everyone Needs A Friend” by Will Driver

Submitted to Contest #212

Situated in a rural landscape is a lone house sharing miles of roadway between neighbors. A single mailbox rests at the beginning of a winding driveway that leads up to a house in the distance. Its two-story architecture affords it an odd angled shingle-fitted sloped roof, with windows spaced accordingly throughout its sides. A rather quaint farm-style home by most anyone’s standards, but for all of its tranquility it holds an eerie ambiance even on this nice morning. Scanning around his room, Sylas takes pleasure in the vario...

Read story

“Parallel Problems” by Fryashti Mishra

Submitted to Contest #212

“Alright, move the sofa to the left of the coffee stand,” Adam commanded the movers. His voice had a hint of authority, one he was surprised by himself, that filled up the spacious but empty living room. He had moved in just a day ago, but he wasn’t the kind of person to procrastinate through things that need to be done. Spending most of his time bouncing in the foster system didn’t let him relax. He had to be at the office for his first job the very next morning, so getting everything where it belonged wa...

Read story

“A modern Echo-Nadia” by Alexandra Noir

Submitted to Contest #212

"Kiss me and take me somewhere beautiful... where neither of us will know who you are or who I am.. we will know that we are just in a beautiful place and we will kiss each other childishly. I will blush and you will smile beautifully at me like a young person without hope."***Dear father,Life among strangers is getting harder and harder! We have to pay the rent and none of us is working! No one is helping us with anything. You don't know how hard it's been so far, hiding from you, not letting you know anything about him. Maybe it will seem ...

Read story

“In A Coconut Shell” by Khadija S. Mohammad

Submitted to Contest #212

Dear Humans, Maybe you were alarmed when you found broken glass, upturned tables and no physical being in sight, instead of the scientists and test animals which you wished to find. Maybe you believed your scientists to have been visited, abducted or even exterminated, perhaps, by aliens. Maybe you are right. You have often thought my people akin to aliens. I could end this letter here, by assuring you that your people have come to no harm; While they no longer live in the same atmosphere as you do, they still live. I also assure you that th...

Read story

“Sarah and the Ferris Wheel ” by Lydia Tyburski

Submitted to Contest #212

Sarah Sarsaparilla has been going around in circles. She calls it the merry go round but her mother calls it the Ferris wheel, because she always seems to go up before coming down to earth and crashing. You’ve been working the same job at Bill’s Aquarium for 7 years her mother whines, over another plate of sour potatoes and sour peas. What ingredient makes them sour? Sarah thinks that her mother bottles up all the whining and puts it in a special bottle, then dumps it in every dish she makes. That can only explain the sour taste she adds to ...

Read story

“THE WAR TO END ALL WARS” by Charles Corkery

Submitted to Contest #212

THE WAR TO END ALL WARS August 9th 1914 Xxxxxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxxxx My darling Gertie I write this brief letter shortly before we embark. The two horses are stowed safely. Altogether, there are xx cavalry divisions crossing the channel tonight and conditions are chaotic as you can imagine. God alone knows what part horses will play in this enterprise but the xxx Lancers shall do our very best. Look after our dear boys. You may find this letter heavily redacted as we have been advised that all mail is to pa...

Read story

“HOW WE WHERE MADE” by JarJar Giles

Submitted to Contest #212

I grew up in a little town in rural south Alamba with my older brother and two sisters. Now when we were young, there was no gentle parenting like there is now-a-days. So our father was big in the community, like a dad to everyone or maybe brother, grandpa. You get my drift, anyway the time we had growing up was just terrible. We were raised a certain way, taught to act a certain way and if you didn't adhere to what ma or pa said you was taught a rathe harsh lesson. Being big in a small town it had its pro's but it also had its con's. So our...

Read story

“Love, War, and Carrots” by Anna W

Submitted to Contest #212

***Based on true events*** WESTERN UNIONNOVEMBER 1940SECWAR BY WAY OF ADMIN LT/C JD WALKERWASHINGTON, D.C.OUR NEW IN AIR RADAR TECHNOLOGY WILL ALLOW US TO FIGHT THE GERMANS IN THE DARK PERIOD GERMANS ARE DESPERATE FOR THIS INFORMATION SO WE MUST DEFLECT THEIR ATTENTION PERIOD WE HAVE COME UP WITH TWO EXPLANATIONS FOR THE SUCCESSFUL RETALIATION AGAINST GERMAN NIGHT STRIKES PERIOD ONE POTENTIAL IDEA IS THAT AN INCREASED CONSUMPTION OF CARROTS HAS IMPROVED THE NIGHT EYESIGHT OF BRITIS...

Read story

“Oh, the love lost...” by Cameron Lowwe

Submitted to Contest #212

Dearest Claude,It's been years, hasn't it? How the time flies. I hope you and your mother are doing well. With all my heart I want to be there with you, but I need to finish this project. How is Bella? Are you making sure to give her treats? God, I love that dog. I miss you, Claude. I am so sorry my work has brought me so far, but this is really important. I hope you'll forgive me. I can't wait to see you bud. Love,DadA knock at the door startles Mr. Blanc and he opens his eyes. He sits up from his recliner and stares at the clock for a minu...

Read story

“Bridge of Ink” by Evelina Charles

Submitted to Contest #212

In the quiet coastal town of Bluebell Cove, nestled between rolling hills and the vast expanse of the ocean, lived two young souls who had never met but were connected by the inks and papers that bridged the distance between them. Lily Marshall and James Thompson, separated by hundreds of miles, had been pen pals for as long as they could write. Lily, with her golden hair and a heart full of dreams, resided in a charming cottage by the sea. Her days were spent tending to her grandparents’ garden and capturing the beauty of the world with h...

Read story

“The Secrets Letters Reveal ” by Helen Blunden

Submitted to Contest #212

5 September 2022Dear JeremyDon’t throw this letter away. It’s me. Leonie. Yes, I wrote you a letter. An actual letter.Were you surprised to see a stamped hand-written envelope in your letterbox or has it been sitting in there for days while the snails chewed some of it? Jeremy, you have no idea how long it took me to write this as I’m out of practice but you’re probably wondering what this is about. Let meee e xp….la i iiii n. Argh. Hang on while I find a new pen as this one is scratching the paper. The ink has ...

Read story

“Love, Dad ” by Vince Roman

Submitted to Contest #212

Monticello, Minnesota Tuesday, November 12, 1957 Dear Elmer, I am going to send you a few lines and will write as I think along. I am getting so that the fingers on the left hand are beginning to line-up a little better than they did a while ago so I can peck away today. Yesterday, the 11th of November, it was just three months since I had a little touch of something. It was on August 11th that my right side went on kind of a strike, it was hard to talk or eat and my right hand and right foot did not want to go the same...

Read story

Load more stories

$250

Prize money

304

Contest entries

129

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Aug 25, 2023 EST

Won by Wendy M 🏆

Title: The Last Of The Bright Young Things

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 ⭢