#23: Winter Wonderland

By the time the holidays have passed, and the first week of January is in full swing, it's impossible to deny one fact any longer: winter is here.

Shorter days and colder temperatures often mean more time spent indoors writing. This week, we suggest you sit by a window and let the wintery world outside inspire your newest piece of short fiction.

This week's prompts

You go for a walk in fresh snow. Suddenly you realize you're not leaving any footprints.

Fantasy – 128 stories

Write a short story that takes place in a winter cabin.

Winter – 76 stories

A busy city is quieted by a big blanketing of snow. Write from the perspective of two (or more) characters who live there.

Winter – 51 stories

Write a short story about someone experiencing their first winter.

Winter – 31 stories

Write a short story about people stuck in traffic during a blizzard. There's nothing much to do but wait, and talk...

Dialogue – 67 stories

Stories

“Magical snow ” by SC -

Submitted to Contest #23

Roxy is walking down the street to reach the Grocer,it was freezing cold but unfortunately she had no other way and hence had to walk the distance,the roads were empty with just few vehicles and very less people as well due to holiday season and as it had snowed heavily yesterday the people preferred to stay indoors rather than stepping out.She saw few poor kids sitting in the road in such cold weather which would freeze anyone,they were sitting without winter clothes and blanket and nobody bothered to help them,Roxy was helpless as she didn...

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“Trackless across snowbound tract” by Matthew Harris

Submitted to Contest #23

During the next couple of weeks, I will house and pet sit for my lucky parents. They won topnotch prize all expense paid month long getaway. Aforementioned well deserved escapade courtesy me, their aspiring paperback book writing son. No sooner did their plane taxi off the runway piloted toward lost horizon (bound for warmer clime bajillion miles away), then intimations of sadness arose. A sudden pang for their presence to fill immediate profound absence arose. Tears streaming down my face, I sojourned back to 324 Level Road and to keep bad ...

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“Dye Me Dead” by Jay Stempin

Submitted to Contest #23

DYE ME DEADJay StempinChapter 1Michael The tall bookshelf, bookended by dozens of Medusa-haired skulls, squeaked to life by the sound of a tricycle pedaled by a faerie with daisy petal hair. Green skin. Looked like a flower. She skidded to a halt in front of a paperback edition of Bradbury’s The Illustrated Man. “Hey Mike, what’s the deal? Thought we had plans to get rid of him. As you can see snow’s falling hard. We really should get going. You know how I get around wintry weather.”“Name’s not Mike. H...

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“Snowrise” by Michael Mullins

Submitted to Contest #23

It was the type of snow that made noise when it fell. Not the insistent rattle of falling rain that coursed through every nook and cranny, ensuring that all was sufficiently wet. This was a soft tick, easily ignored unless you really listened for it. The rest of the sound outside was muffled, as snow is want to do when it throws its blanket across everything. Michael watched it fall through the front window of his living room. Good packin snow, his father would have said, leaving off the g because of laziness or upbringing Michael woul...

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“A Walking Confession” by Steph Marini

Submitted to Contest #23

I was walking down the street, heading toward the coffee shop. It was dark and the streetlights looked silver. It had not started snowing yet, but it was really cold. At least, I think it was. I had put on quite a bit of makeup. Mostly blush to make my cheeks pink, to make me look more lively. I met Adam inside the shop. He was so nice and was everything I was hoping for. He ordered his coffee black, which I thought was so mature. I ordered earl grey tea and reminded myself to hold the mug by the handle. The base of the mug would have been t...

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“Passing By Carol Coupland” by Carol Coupland

Submitted to Contest #23

The road was windy and nestled on either side by cliffs, which made it gloomy, even in daylight. A light sprinkle of snow was all that could be seen on the main stretch of road, but Tina knew the snowplough would never be able to get down to the track that led to the cabin. She drove for another mile and then saw the heavy laden snow ahead. She remembered how Lewis used to tell her to be careful and always take the safe way out as it was easier in the end. Tina stopped the car abruptly and then thought of what Lewis would say if he were wa...

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“Oh?” by Gen Reyes

Submitted to Contest #23

Funny how I never acknowledge the fact that I make no crunch. Now It's not that I'm dead, merely that I'm not...there, I guess. I simply travel over the snow holding my scythe by my side. Am I a reaper? Not exactly more like Im here as a wandering spirit just like others in a way. There's someone keeping me here that I must take with me to hell. I have never known anger, not since I was alive at least, I died hanging myself. My name is Ash Reyes and I am a wandering reaper/Spirit who doesn't understand why I am still here.I've been here sinc...

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“Bringo Porkenheimer” by Roha Khan

Submitted to Contest #23

My breath comes out in dense fog as my warm, exhaled air makes contact with the freezing winter. It has been snowing since last night and now the ground is draped in a white blanket; it is breathtakingly beautiful yet just looking at it causes icy fingers to crawl down my back.Stepping into it is daunting as I don't want to mar the pure white with my old boots. I tread softly, gently, trying to minimize the effect of my weight on the snow. Proceeding cautiously, I make my way from the front door to the sidewalk, walking on my tiptoes.I don’t...

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“Snow Along The DMZ” by Tom Moser

Submitted to Contest #23

The DMZ is a miserable place any time of the year, especially in winter. I was an infantry soldier in the U.S. Army stationed on the DMZ in the winter of 1968. The DMZ is a demilitarized zone partly in North Korea and partly in South Korea. The actual boundary between the two countries was in the middle, but nobody explained to us where one country started, and the other ended. Maybe that was the point; the lack of demarcation created plausible deniability. The DMZ is a two-kilometer wide buffer that runs across the Korean Peninsula, from th...

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“A Winter Monologue” by Selim Aydin

Submitted to Contest #23

I know it’s aught to be bitter cold. After all, I’m walking on snow-covered fields. Yet, I feel comfortably warm. This in itself isn't particularly noteworthy considering I have had many winter strolls in my life and as long as I wore a good jacket, I hardly ever felt the cold. But this time it’s different. I’m in my summer pajamas and on top of it I'm barefoot. Despite this, I don't feel the cold. Two questions keep coming up as I continue to my walk. For one, why in the world am I wearing summer pajamas when it’s snowing outside? The othe...

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“The Blizzard” by Terri Ash

Submitted to Contest #23

I could practically feel icicles forming under my nose as the blizzard swirled around me. My knees buckled under me; at least I thought they did. I had lost feeling in most of my body a while ago. My snowshoes hadn’t given up on me yet but they would soon. Just minutes earlier a misstep had plunged me under the ice and into the frozen water. The water had filled my lungs, and, as darkness closed in around me, light rushed into my face. I had somehow clawed my way out of it, but it had felt. . . strange. It was a near death experience, though...

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“A Flight, In Frost” by Sidney Hofmann

Submitted to Contest #23

I awoke, and was instantly greeted with confusion. What happened? Where was I? Blinking a couple of times, I was still seeing double, and recovering slowly from my state of unconsciousness. I remembered that I was in a plane, but aside from that I was completely lost. I took a breath to calm myself, as the world came screaming back to me. The cockpit window was shattered, and sparks were intermittently crackling from the busted instrument panel. It took me awhile to realize that the plane was upside down. It was ge...

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“Winter Wonders” by Mikaela Williams

Submitted to Contest #23

There’s a certain way the world sounds after it snows. It’s like the slight buzzing you hear in a quiet room, but with an echo. Wind shifts the trees causing crystallized water to coat the ground below, a slight rattle with every gust. Maybe off in the distance you hear the faint sound of a shovel against a drive-way; it could be miles away and yet it sounds like it’s your next door neighbor. After it snows, I always feel like I’ve been transported into an alternate reality. My eyes have trouble focusing against the white haze while my boots...

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“killed in the snow ” by Hailey Laliberte

Submitted to Contest #23

*SCREEEETCHHH*That was the last thing I heard before I felt a sharp pain causing me to wake up. Question was, where am I? I woke up in a strange yet familiar place, it looked like the place I grew up, small town called Ashland, Nebraska. It was always snowy, or at least from what I remember of it. The house still looked, and smelt the same. Although the same garlic type smell was there since I was young and the house still had it's rustic yet modern physique, it felt off, as if there was a presence there I couldn't see but I could sense. Onc...

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“Snow Angel” by Isabel Hinchliff

Submitted to Contest #23

It was my third near-whiteout snowstorm, and the beauty and meaning and majesty I remembered seemed to be outside of my 5-foot range of visibility. I wandered nonchalantly through swirling snow that had meant so much more to my younger eyes, when I still fought a heroic battle against the two-pronged assault of condensation and snowflakes on my goggles, trying to keep the flapping blue rag of my father’s jacket from fading and blurring out of sight. From inside the insulated passenger car of my windproof, waterproof clothing, I watched...

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$50

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353

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jan 10, 2020 EST

Won by Angeliki P 🏆

Title: Pied Piper

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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#23: Winter Wonderland

This week's prompts

You go for a walk in fresh snow. Suddenly you realize you're not leaving any footprints.

Write a short story that takes place in a winter cabin.

A busy city is quieted by a big blanketing of snow. Write from the perspective of two (or more) characters who live there.

Write a short story about someone experiencing their first winter.

Write a short story about people stuck in traffic during a blizzard. There's nothing much to do but wait, and talk...