#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 Sixteens” by Carmen Olekas

Submitted to Contest #23

A forest in the winter is among the most beautiful picture the world has to offer. Tall trees with their majestic branches draped in blankets of thick, powdery snow reached towards the soft grey sky, and the almost unearthly quiet that wrapped the forest and everything in it in a peaceful embrace. Then the silence shattered like glass as a shower of bullets passed over our heads as we ran out from under the cover of the trees, towards a tiny fishing cabin sitting in the center of a small clearing. The tallest of my companions, a tall figure ...

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“A storm and a fear” by Amira Gilbert

Submitted to Contest #23

Buffets of wind pummeled against the wooden paneling of the aged and timeworn timber cabin. Nothing could be observed through the whirlwind of snow rapidly rushing to and fro in the silky blackness of the dead of night. The torrent of the blizzard engulfed the diminutive structure, drumming against it with a violence unto its own.Inside the cabin and distant from howling gale that raged on, in the intersection between floor and ceiling sat a woman. She was situated upon a stout stool hollowed out from a tree stump, long intricate grains and ...

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“Changing Spaces” by Tanya Larsen

Submitted to Contest #23

They stared each other down. Blue eyes met brown with a fierceness that could cut glass. How had they ended up in this predicament? Enemies for longer than they could remember, relying on one another for survival. Joe's knowledge of all things survival made him invaluable in their current situation. Manni's supplies, cabin and only water supply gave Joe a leg up in this crisis that he was not willing to sever.Basic words were the key, at this point. A series of grunts and acknowledgments were all that had passed between them for the three da...

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“Can You Hear Me?” by Amber Louise

Submitted to Contest #23

Christmas time can shift spirits, sometimes in strange ways. This is especially true for the younger dwellers of the world, and even more so for two little sisters with nothing but each other - and the cabin they stayed in for the winter.Christmas Eve was a fun day for Sara and Dana, but it passed by quickly. The two girl children, aged eight and six respectively, spent most of the day playing outside in the snow, next to the frozen river. They competed to see who could build the tallest snowman without it crumbling; neither girl could build...

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“A Stranger in the Snow” by William Elbert

Submitted to Contest #23

The cabin sat abandoned in the woods for decades. It was once a haven for weekend fishing trips and annual hunting retreats but now just collects dust and dead leaves. It was not a grand cabin; rather the opposite. It was only three rooms. Sizable by some cabin standards, but this was the Appalachian mountains after all, where money flows as freely as the lakes and is as deep as the cave systems. This cabin, in particular, was an original homesteader trapping cabin and thus held the title of being ingrained in local history and is even ...

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“Blooming Hydrangeas” by Adriana Ricciardi

Submitted to Contest #23

"Tell me," she asked one warm night by the fire, "how do you humans express this 'love?'"Nearly asleep, the quirks in her speech pattern brought me to life, and I looked over at her with a resound curiosity."What makes you so curious?" I replied back. The unfamiliar topic of human emotion never interested her before, perhaps because the thought of something she couldn't understand intimidated her.The blanket draped over her shoulders was beginning to fall loose around the corners. Instinctively, I leaned over and wrapped it tighter around he...

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“The Cabin” by Charlotte Geddes

Submitted to Contest #23

The thermostat by the bedroom door reads 71°F but the bitter winter weather still permeates the thin windowpane as you stand by the heater, stuffing plaid shirts into a worn-out hold-all for the trip ahead to the log cabin in Wisconsin. In a short let-up from the sharp rattle of hailstones upon the roof in dire need of repairs, you can hear squealing tyres and a wheezing car engine struggling up the snow-ridden driveway of your ailing father’s dairy farm.You drop the sweater in your hands, nudge your boots out of the way, and venture to the ...

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“Different (A Post-Aesop Fable)” by Samantha Hartford

Submitted to Contest #23

Deep in the woods, among standing pine and cedar, a squat cabin lay. Its chimney slouched, its once-snug windows now let the wind sigh through; in its heyday this cabin had been the sort of place where people came together and learned and loved, but now no voices disturbed its slumber. Such was the case until a deep new blanket of snow gave the bristling forest a chance to reawaken.In their nests on the empty sills, the dark-hooded juncos watched the flakes continue to fall. From time to time, a voice from the southeast sill, or the wes...

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“Cold Respite” by Scott Clarke

Submitted to Contest #23

My time in Kirketsville is, and was, something of a romantic getaway. That is, however romantic such an excursion can be when it is taken in isolation. The destination of my winter getaway was often the subject of scrutiny among the others in my profession. While taking time to “get away from it all” was hardly unheard of, if not downright common, the customary locations for these retreats were more often to warmer climates. In this way, writers can be compared to birds -- warming up their feathers and finding their way south for the winter....

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“Bobo's Cabin” by Rudy Uribe

Submitted to Contest #23

My neck and shoulders tensed as I navigated the icy road. The snow pelted my windshield. The wipers were ineffective, and my view was limited to the twenty feet illuminated by my headlights. “Slow down,” my wife urged, “If the car skids, we could go over the cliff.”“That’s just what I need,” I said, “more pressure. I’m going fifteen miles an hour. Any slower and we could walk there.”“I’d rather walk than die.”I sped up to thirty-five to show her who was in control. The car fishtailed, and my wife screamed. I applied the brakes, which made it...

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“Alone” by Jacob Morrison

Submitted to Contest #23

He'd been alone a long time now. What was it now? Ten years since she had passed? He'd stopped counting the days a long time ago. Now he spent most of his time in the woods, alone. He sipped his coffee, eyeing the winter chill that had just made its way onto the window panes during the night. "I don't feel lonely," he thought as he watched the snow fall silently to the ground outside.But he was lonely. He knew that much at least. he wasn't sad, not really. He was sad of course, just not a moaning, wailing kind of sadness like he us...

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“Protecting Callista” by Teresa Reitnauer

Submitted to Contest #23

Callista woke up groggy, taking a moment to assess where she was. The last thing she remembered was walking to the restaurant to meet her boyfriend, William. She parked in the rear parking lot and traversed around to the side. As she rounded the corner, someone grabbed her from behind, and she felt a tiny prick on her next. Now, she was waking up in a strange cabin. Her hands and feet tied to a chair. Nobody appeared to be with her. A fire in the wood stove radiated heat, keeping the cabin warm.She tugged on the ropes around her hands. The r...

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“Two-Thirds Darkness” by Walter Treat

Submitted to Contest #23

In the summertime, I always clung to the precious few hours of nighttime with selfish devotion. For two-thirds of each day, the sun hung overhead, and its unstoppable warmth and light sapped the energy of everything in the forest. I would at times retreat to the shade of my porch and wait there until the sun went down, so I could go breathe cool air and stare up at the stars in peace. As the months went on and summer crumpled up into the past, sunlight grew rarer, and I realized that winter would bring the opposite problem. By late December,...

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“The Cabin” by Annaleigh Taylor

Submitted to Contest #23

I wake up in the cabin. I see the ice has started to fall, I see the windows frosted, and as I watch the evergreens through the window I see a blue eyed figure in the edge. I always used to see him, when I came here with my father to fish, he always spoke to me, trying to convince me he was human. I always knew deep down he was one of them, one of the ones whom nested under the ice, but I always smiled and would say, "Yes, what else would you be?" He would smile back and kind of chuckle saying, "I don't know, but you look at me as if I am ...

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“Whilmhelm” by Weston Peno

Submitted to Contest #23

The wind was whipping about and off in the west dark clouds clung to the horizon. The cold was sharp and unforgiving. It was late January and weeks had already passed since Tolliver arrived at the cabin. The cabin was nestled against a sloping hill and only stone throw away from Lake Blackwood. Inside of the cabin, a warm glow and fanatic flicker of light from the fireplace and the oil lamp placed on the table, caused shadows to brilliantly dance. Scattered throughout the cabin were scraps of food, whiskey...

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$50

Prize money

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...