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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#217: Tropes

Last week, we revisited the old “show, don’t tell” rule. This week, let’s throw out the rulebook and have some fun.

In your reading, you’ve probably come across some recurring tropes. In romance, we’ve got star-crossed lovers, fake relationships, enemies-to-lovers, and happily-ever-afters. In fantasy, we’ve got Chosen One protagonists, reluctant heroes, and wise mentors. In mystery, we have unreliable narrators, jaded investigators, locked rooms, and remote settings. It goes on.

Subverting these tropes can be fun, but the tricky thing is that you need to do it for a reason, and in a way that enriches your story. Can you do it?

This week's prompts

Write a story about two characters who like each other but don’t get a happily-ever-after.

Romance – 91 stories

Set your story in a creepy mansion — except nothing horrifying takes place in it.

Horror – 64 stories

Write about a person who's been called to mentor someone in a special skill, but doesn't really want to.

Adventure – 27 stories

Write about a sleuth who’s a little too keen, but not because they have a traumatic past they won’t talk about.

Mystery – 10 stories

Write a story about a warrior who doesn’t want to kill the dragon.

Fantasy – 91 stories

Stories

“The Reincarnation of My Failure” by Abigail Hope Sundahl

Submitted to Contest #217

Over the years, I have trained many, but boys like him rarely appear in a millennium.“Master Muida, we need you!” The part when they call me “Master” always makes me want to run. To direct them to any other powerful being that is more skilled, more qualified, and much more refined.It’s the part when they say “We need you” that makes me stay.But this time, I’m not sure I can.The tawny youth knelt outside my door. He resembled a man I’ve not seen in a thousand moons, yet one I will not forget after thousands more cross the sky.Years have made ...

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“Bottom of the Bottle” by Rado Randriamamonjy

Submitted to Contest #217

Guilt cascades through Detective Nguyen like hot embers down a meat chute as the tequila trickles down his throat. The sizzle of the booze is familiar. It's laced with equal parts relief and shame. He taps on the bottle. Several taupe-colored, worms squirm and wiggle inside. The detective, a stout man of Vietnamese and Irish descent, shakes his head and sighs.This is gonna kill me. He returns the bottle to the inside pocket of his over coat and wipes his mouth dry. The man drops a handful of Tic Tacs in his mouth and emerges from the stall. ...

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“The Knight who killed The Dragon” by Amirkhan Ideluly

Submitted to Contest #217

Everyone heard the tale about the Knight who killed the Dragon. But did anyone actually see him? Well, the people of Chinnon certainly did! A small town, governed by a tampered relative of the monarch, was prized not only for its outstanding wine and women… Every three days or so the folk would all gather around the gates as there was a sight to be seen! A glorious Dragonslayer—a member of a knight order where people are raised to fight the flying creatures—he would exit the gates in his noble-looking armor to hunt on those spawns of Satan!P...

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“Ygnacia’s Hoard” by Cindy Strube

Submitted to Contest #217

Ygnacia’s Hoard “They’re mine! You can’t have them!” Ygnacia shrieked, striking viciously. “Owww!” The Littlest Giant sucked the back of her hand, whimpering. “Did she get you? I’m sorry, Dumplin’! Move away from her… Yggi, you’re being naughty!… She’s a dragon, that one! Look at her, guarding her treasure. She can’t even cover all of it!” “A-a dragon?” The child-giant’s mouth made an O. “Yes, lately she’s turned into one.” Mouth still agape, the youngster took three more quick backward steps and bumped into the far wall....

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“Trapped.” by Christopher B.

Submitted to Contest #217

“I’ve been a trapper most of my life. It was good money,” he says to someone off camera, “too good, really. On a bad month I could bring in five thousand, a good month, forty.” His smile is embarrassed, a swirling mix of nostalgia and misgivings. He wears a green jacket, dark brown pants, and heavy worn-out boots. His hair is thinning on the top, a riot of black and grey and white all fighting for dominance. His beard is full and long, without any hint of the black that still resists above, wiry and forgotten. The creases on his tanned face ...

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“A Trace of Love” by Will Johnson

Submitted to Contest #217

A Trace of LoveBefore my castration – years before – I fell in love with a girl.I was fifteen, she was sixteen, a prefect (a short step from perfect, which I thought she was). I was on my way to Biology - I wanted to get there, because I liked Biology - and she stopped me at the top of the Science corridor. She tapped her prefect badge, which sat on the rise of her left breast, and said, “Science corridor's one way now, new rule.”I looked over her shoulder through the glass of the new double doors. The corridor was empty. We were the same he...

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“Alien Love” by Jfs Sevin

Submitted to Contest #217

My neighbors are aliens. No, not the foreigners from Mexico or Germany but from somewhere else. Somewhere that we've never been. The Gordon family moved in next door in my junior year of college. I think I was twenty-three then. Tommy and I went over to see if we could lend a hand. That was the first time that I met Carla. Being fresh off of a break-up I didn.t believe in love at first sight until that very moment. She was a natural beauty with thick auburn hair, mesmerizing eyes and a laugh that was contagious. As we unloaded the U-Haul tru...

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“Firefly Girls” by Sydney Sullivan

Submitted to Contest #217

We plan a sleepover together, a secret between the two of us. We go, to a home neither one of us belong in but one of us inhabits, dreaming of the girlhood that awaits. You imagine a pillow fight, and I, a make-believe scene where it’s the two of us against the world and there we are in the center of it. We are much too old for our past loves; the fairies in the yard have packed up and gone, and I’ve misplaced the jar for collecting fireflies at dusk. There’s no need for magic, I say, and after all don’t you feel how time stops every...

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“Christmas Temptation” by Madeline Honig

Submitted to Contest #217

Christmas music rang out as Tracy glanced across the room. She caught Oliver’s eye and then glanced away, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear, and continued her conversation with Jill, the company’s head of human resources. Jill was wearing a Rudolph sweater with a large glowing nose that Tracy could not stop staring at when she was not looking around the room for Oliver. What Tracy really wanted to do is walk across the room, grab Oliver by the back of the head, and give him the same big kiss he gave her below the m...

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“Unloved Island” by Simon Kent

Submitted to Contest #217

“To us,” she said. “To us,” he smiled and they clinked their glasses. The sun dipped slowly towards the sea-lined horizon as Isabel and Gavin lost themselves in each others eyes, semi-fuzzed and slightly misted by their half-sipped cocktails. It had been an eventful day. In the space of eight hours they’d arrived, met each other – along with their co-island inhabitants – and orientated themselves around this near-perfect location. Everything was as exceptional as promised. The rooms, the kitchen area, restaurant, bar, social faci...

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“Maroon's Mob” by Patricia Atkins

Submitted to Contest #217

I love her. I love her and she’s going to be mine. Those were the thoughts that tore through my mind when I first saw her. I was at Sarah’s, eating with my mom. We always went to Sarah’s on Thursday nights. It was our little tradition. Perhaps, in reality, it was the only time I suffered the company of my own mother. On the other side of the restaurant sat a loud and obnoxious table full of people I’d never seen before. Most of the customers that went to Sarah’s were regulars, so it was highly unusual to see an entire...

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“The Mystery Archambeau Manor” by Sammy C

Submitted to Contest #217

Where some believe in ghosts and the supernatural wholeheartedly, others are more prone to seek truth and hard evidence. Madilyn J. Harper was of both natures, a seeker of truth as well as a believer of otherworldly beings. Her eyes scoured the computer screen, scrolling endlessly through articles. Today’s topic? The history of the Archambeau Manor. “Maddie?” Madilyn startled, looking up to see her friend Charlotte’s worried face. “Oh, hey Charlie. What’s up?” Maddie pushed up her round purple glasses. “I’ve been looking for you for the last...

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“With Much Anticipation” by Ron Wyatt

Submitted to Contest #217

I cannot recall the exact date, not even the week, but it has stayed with me. My small town, Midwest upbringing was taxed to the limit. It was a bit of a surprise when I announced at the breakfast table, in between passing the butter, and asking for milk, that the small college out east would be where my career preparation would begin. My dad, second generation owner of the Wylie Hardware Store, sat silent. Lorene, his wife, my mother, uttered her oft used “why on earth”?! I was prepared and went down the laundry list st...

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“The List” by Ty Murphy

Submitted to Contest #217

The List "So this is the place, huh," said Clair. Daniel nodded. "Yep. This is it." They stood in the large entranceway of the manor. Cobwebs hung wherever there was a right angle; along wall sconces, from decorative furniture, between bulbs on the chandelier. The smell of stale air and damp, rotting wood was as undeniable as the footprints through the middle of the dust covered floor. The lobby had a ceiling that would have been three stories high in a modern home but was split into two very tall floors. Long corridors extended east and...

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“DIE LAUGHING” by Mark Hordyszynski

Submitted to Contest #217

The trees lining the borders of the property leaned in and hung over—thick and dense— forming a barrier against the outside world and light. One would feel trapped between the imposing and intimidating structure and the wall of towering trees. Dead leaves, piled up over countless autumns and winters, were raspy like old newspaper, dry and brittle. A landscaper or maintenance crew had not stepped foot onto the premises since man stepped foot on the moon; every bush and shrub were overgrown, each ornamental tree was gnarled and arthritic, limb...

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$250

Prize money

283

Contest entries

130

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Sep 29, 2023 EST

Won by Paul Crehan 🏆

Title: Who Are We to Judge the Music of an Octopus?

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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