#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

“The Soaking of Snow” by Elizabeth Pasquale

Submitted to Contest #23

“That's right folks, it's gonna be another cold one! Plus 3 feet of snow! Careful driving out there, the roads are already covered!” The weatherman bellowed on the 6 o’clock news. More snow. More unique flakes cascading through the air, banding together to create mountains. Each flake had its own shape, the frozen water branches out into different directions. The beauty should take your breath away, instead the cold air shows us our breath, small clouds forming around our lips. The only downside is when the cold air stings your face like tin...

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“Crossing Upon Lachaise Knoll” by Crystabel Lynx

Submitted to Contest #23

My room seemed brighter when I awoke on that last morning in November. I pulled back the curtain to behold a landscape transformed. Brilliant white swathed every surface, and as it did each year, the first snow shocked and enchanted me. Pulling on my sweater, pants, boots, and coat, I clambered outdoors. The new-risen sun cast a rosy glow, and silence lent a surreal ambiance. The familiar fields cascaded like an ermine cloak, and my nose tingled from the chilled air. The calf-deep drifts were more sugary than stiff, not at a...

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“No Footprints in the Border Woods” by Domonique Kendrix

Submitted to Contest #23

When I stood outside, I could actually say the snow seemed pleasant. I wasn’t really fond of snow, since it didn’t snow where I lived, but a visit to my grandmother’s house in winter usually meant it was unavoidable. The house had been in the family for generations, but I had never lived in it. It was where my family liked to gather for holiday events. Family gatherings meant heated debates and sibling rivalries and I wanted no part of it, so I decided a short walk in the little patch of woods would be nice. To the big rock and back wo...

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“Summer Snow” by Naomi Brode

Submitted to Contest #23

Where am I? I wake up and look around. For miles and miles all I can see is snow. I start to walk with no goal in sight. How did I get here? The last thing I remember I surfing with my friend Lissa at the beach. We were on vacation… + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + “Laney, wake up,...

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“A Place Without” by Kimberly Harness

Submitted to Contest #23

There are a lot of ways to spend a carefree winter Saturday. A hot drink and a good book, friends and a movie, or solo binge-watching the classics are among my top five. But on that morning, when I woke up to see the world covered in a blanket of white for the first time this season, none of these usual favourites were going to cut it for me.In the grey midmorning light, I threw my hair into a bun and bundled up for the cold temperatures outside. Even in my cozy apartment, I could feel the cold seeping in from outside through the old window ...

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“Dead People Don't Feel Cold” by Bailey Sullivan

Submitted to Contest #23

The night was one of those ones that make you feel cold and hollow. Four a.m. in the city will do that to you, though. The streets were dead and quiet, and the sky was hazy and starless, and my fingers were numb lumps of flesh at the ends of my hands. I’d have killed for a warm bite to eat, a hot cup of tea at that moment. Anything to thaw me out a bit from the trudge home in the snow. But home was still far away, and I didn’t have money for a cab. I had about $15 left in my wallet and I’d have to stretch it for next week’s groceries. I’d ha...

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“Yeah. Write.” by Nivedita Shori

Submitted to Contest #23

The smell of pinewood through the walls, the sound of the boiling kettle and the sight of fir trees for as far as she could see through the windows— what was this if not heaven? It had taken her a long time, a lot of wishful thinking, calculating, building resilience and finally, a stroke of luck to get to this spot. A cabin in the middle of the forest. Her writing cabin! The honking city life had given way to the sounds of nature from the moment she opened her eyes in the morning. She could go for a walk in the woods whenever she pleased. S...

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“A Knight in No Armor” by Eric Maier

Submitted to Contest #23

When I was a young girl, my dad bought a log cabin up on a mountain. It was nestled among the trees and near a small fishing lake. He spent almost every weekend for a year working on it before we, my brother and I, were allowed to go. I still remember that first trip as clear as crystal. We drove for several hours until the road shifted upward and twisted like a snake up the mountain between the trees. After a while, the road turned to dirt and we were followed by clouds of dust. Only a little further on, the road dead-ended in a small ...

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“Wood never rusts” by Sam Kirk

Submitted to Contest #23

Only two things ever happen in a winter cabin. People either hooked up, or they got killed. Sometimes, it’s both. Since this was not his first rodeo, Edward knew that firsthand.He met Becky, a green-eyed girl with chestnut hair, in the summer of 2008 when she was only 12. Her family bought a cabin not too far from where he lived after they saw a “For Sale” ad in a travel newsletter. They have been looking for a place closer to nature and farther away from all the hustle and bustle of a concrete jungle they called Salt Lake City for well over...

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“The Happy-Go-Lucky Snow Bunny” by Perry Terrell

Submitted to Contest #23

The Happy-Go-Lucky Snow BunnyBy Perry Terrell Snow Haven got its name way back in the 1800s. At least, that is what Craig and Lacy were told when they were buying supplies for their winter vacation in the High Sierras. They had seen pictures online of the cabins in that area, and they picked out the one they felt was most isolated. They wanted to be totally alone so ...

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“CRUNCH!” by Rachel Sloan

Submitted to Contest #23

BANG! I awoke hastily as the door opened, jolting against the kitchen bar, followed by the stomping of feet as intruders entered my cabin. Without wasting a moment, I moved as quickly as I could and hid in the closet. Rarely used, bulky items filled the oversized, walk-in closet, which allowed for easy concealment in a dark corner. I positioned myself behind the vacuum cleaner and quilts. I didn’t think moving to another room was prudent nor was trying to escape. I didn’t like to leave my room much less consider squeezing out a wi...

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“You Never Know” by Beth Ketterer

Submitted to Contest #23

Jimmy and I had been neighbors for about three years, but we never said much more than hello, or good morning to one another. He seemed like a nice enough guy, but I worked odd hours, and he was strictly a nine to five person, so our paths didn't really cross all that much. We lived on a pretty busy street in an otherwise quiet neighborhood, and the people living in the houses around us pretty much kept to themselves. There weren't a lot of backyard cookouts, and I'm not sure that anyone had any kids. If they did, they weren't noisy. Of...

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“THE TWO LOVER BIRDS IN THE BLANKET. ” by Ifeoma Favour Simon I

Submitted to Contest #23

Often times l look at the sky. I feel the rhythm of the beating heart. At the moments the sky pours down its glory whitening salt from heaven l feel the joy from the couple's heart. Have you wondered why we have most of our kids born in winter?The flame of the taste of this season yields incomparable results of the glittering feelings being shared under the blanket. The sunset is got: The cities are free of many busy minds in a busy world labouring day in and day out!As brighten the trees and ground are covered up with the whitening snow dri...

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“A Silent City of Sparkles” by Madison C.

Submitted to Contest #23

A Silent City of SparklesMegYou would think that it would be the car engines or my alarm clock that woke me, the sound of an irritated New Yorker, or the neighbor next door’s alarm blaring five times each morning through the wall, but instead it was the silence that woke me. New York’s sounds had become a comforting white noise, but it was silent. I sat up slowly, unsure if I was still in New York. Maybe I was home on my family’s farm. That was the last time I had been able to simply hear myself breath, but there it was, my constant in-out b...

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“Gas station snow retreat ” by Layla Wright

Submitted to Contest #23

Harold Winter. A word often associated with playing children, icy snow, and Christmas cheer. All things that I hate. The children and Christmas cheer cause too much singing and screams of “Joy” but worst of all is the snow. Snow causes traffic, traffic causes me to be late to work. In preparation for the lovely snow I woke up at 5:30 AM and skipped my morning coffee to get out of the house early, but it seems the traffic will not cease. I Sit back in my seat, pulling out my phone. I dial my boss, he answers on the first ring. “Hello?” ...

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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...

Stories

“The Soaking of Snow” by Elizabeth Pasquale

“Crossing Upon Lachaise Knoll” by Crystabel Lynx