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!

#220: Out of Place

The air’s beginning to chill and goosebumps are rising on your skin like mushrooms on a log. With Halloween not far off, everything’s beginning to feel a little… strange. It’s got me thinking about all things odd, and one of the most unsettling sensations of all — noticing something that’s out of place.

From things that shouldn’t be where they are, to protagonists far from home, this week’s prompts explore the bizarre, and the uncanny feeling of things being where they don’t belong.

This week's prompts

Start your story with a character walking through a desert landscape, when they stumble across something unexpected. “That shouldn’t be there,” they muse.

Dialogue – 51 stories

You arrive at a destination you promised an old friend you’d visit after they passed, only to find them there too.

Mystery – 66 stories

As a child you’re helping your grandparent bake. When you’re sent to the pantry to fetch an ingredient, you discover something odd.

Mystery – 41 stories

Begin your story with a protagonist taking shelter under a bridge during a thunderstorm. An animal scurries past which shouldn’t exist. Against their better judgment, they decide to follow it out.

Fantasy – 50 stories

You’re awakened from your nap by someone asking, “Are you hungry?”. You fell asleep somewhere else entirely.

Mystery – 45 stories

Stories

“Cemetery Gates” by Jamie R

Submitted to Contest #220

It’s funny how much more you like people after they die. Sad might be the word most folks use, but let’s be honest: only truly realizing how much you want someone in your life long after that’s a physical possibility is hilarious. Ironic might be the word most folks use, but if irony weren’t funny, it would be considered tragedy. Jemma’s story is not a tragedy. She died doing what she loved best: being a condescending bitch. Maybe she'd still be here if she had just listened when the truck driver told her his semi couldn’t make the full t...

Read story

“Found” by Mike Bangert-Drowns

Submitted to Contest #220

I sat on the rocky cliff, staring out at the surf as it crashed on the rock. Sea foam leapt onto the pink granite, dissolving into a glossy sheen, only to be replaced by the next wave. The process was mesmerizing. Wave after wave, unstoppable, keeping time in a slow and steady rhythm. I felt my breathing slow to match the rhythm of the waves. All around me the world stretched out, smothering me in its vastness. The air was rich with scents, each inhale planting a memory in my mind. The salt in the air brought with it a memory of a boy jump...

Read story

“The Trial of Don Gato” by Michelle Oliver

Submitted to Contest #220

“Please state your name for the record.”“Mi nombre es Don Gato, como estas?”The Don rested in the chair with studied nonchalance, his face impassive, his whiskers impressive. He was very proud of his whiskers and spent many hours of every day improving them. His grooming was impeccable.“Mr Gato-”“Don.”“I beg your pardon?”“Is Don. Señor Don Gato, no’ Meester Gato.”“Yes, well, Señor Gato, please explain in your own words the events that occurred prior to the morning of July 15th this ...

Read story

“Now Here” by A.R. Eakle

Submitted to Contest #220

I was dreaming about something, something that I didn’t know. Something far, far bigger than myself. Or maybe I wasn’t dreaming of anything at all. No, no. That’s not right at all. I was definitely, or at the very least, likely, dreaming of something. But then, maybe nothing is, in fact, far bigger than myself. Bigger than any of us, really. In that sense it is entirely likely that I was dreaming of nothing. But not nothing as in nothing. Nothing as in a vast space of darkness. I suppose darkness is some type of something then, e...

Read story

“Beers at Breckenridge” by Ty Warmbrodt

Submitted to Contest #220

“It’s time we do it.” I look at the face my phone. It’s Steve Mansfield at 6:00 AM. “I haven’t heard from you in four years, and you call me at six in the morning?” “Sorry, didn’t account for the time zone. Living out east these days. It’s 9:00 here, Davie.” “I go by David know,” I tell him as I roll over and put my feet on the floor and push the hair from my eyes. “Well, David, your mom told my mom you just graduated from Oregon State University. It’s time. I already talked to Bobby. He’s excited to see us again.” “Time for what...

Read story

“Nico and the Newly-Deads” by Chloe Pierce

Submitted to Contest #220

(This story discusses the theme of death and afterlife) Nico Nakota’s death was a miserable affair. He marks the day, just shy of his twentieth birthday, as the day death marked him. Now, it lingered around him like an odious smell, creeping into the corners of his vision, like a wisp of something you think you see but there was never anything there to begin with. It followed him into his nightmares, tearing his memories apart so the seams don’t match. Though Nico remembers very little from what came before that night, he reflects up...

Read story

“My Promise To Uncle Nate” by Hannah Lynn

Submitted to Contest #220

We touched down smoothly with a collective sigh of relief from all passengers on board. I let go of Lu’s hand which up to that moment I hadn’t realized I was holding for dear life. I wouldn’t say I’m a nervous traveler, per se, but accidents do happen. Of course, he was on my mind. Uncle Nate was not a ‘blood relative’ but rather my father’s best friend and while I was growing up we added the title of uncle to his name. He never married, never had kids, I’m not sure why. I do remember him being the first and possib...

Read story

“The Devil's in the Retail” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #220

All it takes is one slip. Gaps are to be avoided. Gaps are where important things fall. That’s why Mind The Gap resonates like a cattle prod to the temple. There are gaps everywhere and the devil uses details to his advantage and what is to his advantage is to our disadvantage. He’s pretty tricksy like that. It was a buggered detail that led to Thruk struggling his way across a dessert. There was something utterly wrong about this from the get-go, but Thruk was not a thinker, he was a doer and so he trudged and splotched across...

Read story

“Afterparty” by Robert Egan

Submitted to Contest #220

FADE IN:EXT. L.A. RIVER – NIGHTA battered Mini Cooper, headlights off but interior cabin lights on, is parked under the Fourth Street Viaduct. Water curtains both sides of the bridge as the car putters in place.A once-in-a-decade rainstorm is hitting the city, and the L.A. River—nearly concreted out of existence during the last drought—is remembering what it once was. As the water rises under the bridge, the car continues to idle.INT. CAR – NIGHTViolet Caffrey, 29, an old soul trapped in a girlish body, snorts the remaining dot of her latest...

Read story

“Macie and the Goose” by J Lee Bagan

Submitted to Contest #220

Macie and the Goose Macie was five years old and, of course, very smart for her age. Just ask her mother. On Saturdays Macie was scheduled, her mother always scheduled her time, to visit Nana’s house where for a brief spell Macie was gloriously allowed to be messy, bake cookies or such, or do puzzles on the kitchen table. She even had her own apron, a pinafore style made of natural linen with a row of hand embroidered goslings circling the lower edge. Macie could remember when she was learning to count that the number of baby geese seemed to...

Read story

“The Bugbear” by Cemi Jade Weatherford

Submitted to Contest #220

I don't know why I thought it would have been a good idea to take the long way home. Especially this time of the year. Monsoon season. The man on the news said today's forecast was sunny, but partially clouded. As usual, he was wrong. Sometimes I don't know why they even bother trying to predict the weather when they're rarely ever right.I suppose it would have been smart to bring an umbrella along just in case, but much like me, I never think too far ahead. So, I began my walk home from school. There was a path that I like to take home that...

Read story

“The Deal” by Vicki Lynne Ferris

Submitted to Contest #220

“Are you hungry?”“Aww, honey, my favorite!” Kaleb offered up the pomegranate shyly, then clambered up into my bed with me. I breathed in his soft, blond curls as I began to peel the skin from the fruit. The dark red juice dripped down my fingers…“Are you hungry?”The tiny voice seemed farther away, as though through a tunnel.“Are you hungry?”The voice cut through my sleepy fog as I realized I had been dreaming. The afternoon sun peeked through white, cotton curtains as I tried to blink the bleariness from my eyes. The...

Read story

“Adelaide and the Historian” by PM McClory

Submitted to Contest #220

The pantry is home to a troll named Belto. This is something that my Nana seems to forget when she asks me to retrieve the flour. She’s been forgetful lately. So I remind her. “Addie, please,” Nana says. “Can you just get me the flour?” She doesn’t understand how trolls work. You can’t just get the flour. Trolls barter. And Belto is the best barterer of them all, always demanding rare and hard-to-find trinkalets, as he calls them, in exchange for his wares. He once sent me on a dangerous quest to get the Remote of Time Control, and that wa...

Read story

“Rude Awakenings ” by Peter Gerber

Submitted to Contest #220

"Fuck! I can't believe this junk! " Sam's old Tesla kept breaking down for no reason and the weather wasn't helping. Even a blind man could have seen this storm coming, bringing with it strong wind and aggressive thunder. "Hello Triple A?" "Hello this is Triple A. How can we be of service?" "Thank God!" said Sam as his uncontrolled thoughts of dim scenarios quickly came to a halt. "My car broke down. I'm about 200 meters away from Newport. Between old Billy's gas station and Peter's Pinecone forest. I'm stuck in...

Read story

“Eternal Past Time” by Myranda Wren

Submitted to Contest #220

Charles’ legs felt heavy as he struggled to put each foot forward, one after the other. His boots were coated with mud that had dried and hardened into clay and yet still clung doggedly to the boot treads. A remnant of the flash flood which had sent him scrambling up a rock face and left him clinging desperately for a time. The storm of hours before was forgotten in the distance, now suggested only by the hint of dark clouds on the horizon that moved steadily away. The unrelenting desert sun barreled down upon him, and his once damp clothes ...

Read story

Load more stories

$250

Prize money

253

Contest entries

129

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Oct 20, 2023 EST

Won by D. Grimes 🏆

Title: Fae Touched

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 ⭢