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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 – 92 stories

Stories

“The Blackberry house” by Lynel Black

Submitted to Contest #217

Our home was on the edge of town when I was growing up. We lived in a new project home in a new development, but our backyard faced bushland. Our manicured garden was hemmed in by a six-foot pailing timber fence which marked the bleeding edge of the modern urban sprawl. Beyond was pristine bushland. My haven of mystery. This is where I would go to meet my friends and where we would get up to all sorts of adventures. One of our favourite places to go was the old Blackberry house. We coined this because of the tremendous blackberry vine whic...

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“The Almost Haunted House ” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #217

Cousin Irving has a reputation for being outlandish. His wife Dottie thinks it’s cute, but the rest of us aren’t always so sure. Well, let me start at the beginning since that seems what most people do. All of the cousins had gathered at Aunt Melissa’s house like we do every month. The conversation is lively with talk about this, that and the other. But I could see by the twinkle in his eye, Cousin Irv had something up his sleeve. Once the main course had circulated the table, Irv clanged his fork against...

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“Libra Jones and the Entry Level Job” by Audrey Knox

Submitted to Contest #217

Libra Jones copied the list of times from email and pasted them into another. She flicked back and forth between the Outlook calendar, her inbox, and the Excel spreadsheet of product updates. Her eyes burned from staring at the small screen of the MacBook Air that her company provided to all assistants. She craned her neck to check the boss’s office to make sure Flannery was occupied with a call, then leaned back in her chair, pinched the air in front of her, and pulled a freshly, unlit Marlboro Light out of the ether and into her fingers. ...

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“Masterpiece of Malice” by Gary Phipps

Submitted to Contest #217

In the bowels of a towering skyscraper that touched the clouds, in a room devoid of natural light, sat Japeth—a man whose fingers danced over the keyboard like a pianist lost in the throes of a concerto. With a pair of silver-framed glasses perched on the bridge of his nose, Japeth peered into the bright screen before him. Surrounding him were his colleagues, collectively known as the "Warriors," each a genius in their own right, defending a massive financial empire from the dark underbelly of the digital world. The company they worked for...

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“Warrior Vidar and Cinnia the Dragon” by Karen Best Wright

Submitted to Contest #217

Laird Gunnvaldr paced the tall stone walls surrounding his castle hidden in the mountains of Sulitjelma. He had ordered his warriors to seek out and kill the mighty dragon named Cinnia. She had slaughtered many of the men he had sent on previous missions. The missions had not been successful. Each attempt to slay the dragon resulted in dozens of his men killed or severely wounded. His warriors were useless to him if they had no legs or arms.Laird Gunnvaldr grew angrier and more impatient with each failed attempt. The dragon needed to be elim...

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“Morticia Hill Mansion” by Jennifer Taylor

Submitted to Contest #217

Theo took his time ripping the skins off blanched tomato meat. It was his obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) that made him lay them in a perfect row at the top of his wooden cutting board. It looked like a cross-sectional view of intestines that he had seen earlier in the day, a single layer of columnar epithelial cells, which made him giggle to himself.The fleshy part of the skins pressed against the wood, where it dehydrated and stuck like a Band-Aid, making it harder for his wife, Abbey to clean later in the evening. The extra effort thi...

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“The Lizard Boy” by Daniel Kleba

Submitted to Contest #217

In a very small house. In a very small village. On a very small hill. A very small boy found a very small lizard. He loved this lizard with all of his heart. He loved how it skittered about on his hand and up his arms. He loved how it flicked its tongue out and sat on his shoulder. The lizard did not tease the boy for his size or push him to the ground. It simply sat and listened as it chewed on whatever bug it had acquired for lunch. He would wander through the village square with his lizard on his shoulder, spewing his latest musings of th...

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“She Consumes Me” by Ron Boyer

Submitted to Contest #217

There once was a warrior who didn't want to kill the dragon, not because the dragon had been his wife before transforming. He would have had every right to refuse the King's proclamation. Nor was it the fact that he, himself, was subject to the same curse that had caused his wife to turn. No, the true reason he didn't want to kill the dragon was simply because dragons are cool as shit—and he rather liked transforming into one and going on rampages with his wife. They would fly over the beautiful countryside and barrel-roll through the...

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“In an Unseen Lens” by Tiana J. Raini

Submitted to Contest #217

“Hey, is this thing on?” Michael tested his lavalier near the zip of his hoodie, casting a glance at the analog camera pointed at him. “Yeah, you’re good to go, Mike.” His camera guy, Cameron, chimed from the seat beside him. “Yeah? Okay, sweet.” Micheal rubbed his hands together looking up expectantly at the camera and waited. “Um, it’s recording–” “What’s up, guys?” Michael sprang up. “It’s your boy, Michael, and welcome back to CitySeekersTV! So, my girlfriend, Lily, is driving us to this creepy forest, and… it’s actually 6:00 P...

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“Missed Connection: NYC Ferry, Astoria Route” by Jake Varrone

Submitted to Contest #217

I was the guy on the upper deck with the charcuterie board. You were the woman who slid over and asked why I brought so much meat and cheese on the ferry. I said, “I have a big meeting later, but my interns are sick, so I picked up the appetizers.” You said I was full of it. Then I said, “Try this prosciutto with gouda and grapes, and tell me I’m full of it.” You leaned in, and stopped, and asked if you would get me in trouble, to which I replied, “I live for trouble.” Then you laughed. You took a bite. You made a face like you had an orgasm...

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“Knight for Hire” by Eric Smith

Submitted to Contest #217

A sword hung from the knight’s waist. He wore a brilliant suit of armor. With a mallet in hand, the knight nailed a sheet of parchment in the center of the town’s notice board. Knight For Hire Ogre Eviction- 200 Gold Pieces Werewolf Taming- 100 Gold Pieces Bridge De-Trolling- 100 Gold Pieces Dragon Slaying- 500 Gold Pieces Contact Sir Ronald The Brave No one took notice of him. The town’s folk went about their business. They’ll read it later, he thought as he mounted his noble steed. Noble might not be entir...

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“Tainted Love” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #217

They say that there is someone for everybody, and this may be right, but sometimes the planets don’t quite align and those eyes do not meet and so two people who were meant for each other spiral away on the paths of their existence, never to meet and never to explore the special life that they could have had together. Sometimes Destiny slips up and what was meant does not come to pass. There is no denying that and there is certainly no going back to put it right. You can never go backward, only ever forward. That is the nature of o...

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“r/relationship_connect Searching for Inna” by Kat Z

Submitted to Contest #217

r/relationship_connect Jiaxu_0325 I am looking to reconnect with someone. Her name is Inna... She should be around 22 at the time of me posting this. I received the following letters. She sent one more on July 20th 2023. Please Inna if you are seeing this reply with the last letter. I know I am late but I only got the letters now. It's not an excuse but I promise I will explain everything. If you recognize the handwriting or the letters please tell Inna. June 30th, 2022 Dear Jiaxu, I truly don't know what you did to me but you are consta...

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“The Mansion and the Visitor” by Charlotte Suarez

Submitted to Contest #217

Sarah had been walking through shrubbery for a short while. There is a mansion at the end of her trail, one that she intends to explore. A mansion that is part of an abandoned of town that was now overgrown with wildlife. Where the bodies of buildings once were, now only skeletons remain, the rest of now crumbled on the floor into a mixture of soil, drywall, and concrete. But the old mansion still stood, its body still stands in one piece, though not without a few scratches. It stands there, waiting for someone to give it energy and life aga...

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“Terrarium” by Ian Patterson

Submitted to Contest #217

Isaac saw the peasant running towards his horse before he even saw the village. He had smelled their hearths since he’d left his camp at dawn’s light, and traveled towards it. The man running towards him was squat, broad-shouldered, and had hands like giant shovels. Isaac continued on at a trot on the back of his horse, warily watching as the peasant ran towards him shouting and waving. “My good knight, good sir, please wait.” The peasant shouted as he closed the distance, panting to catch his breath. “Sir, pl...

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$250

Prize money

284

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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