#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

“Memory Falls Silent as Snow” by John K Adams

Submitted to Contest #23

Adam stepped into the cold morning air dressed for frigid temperatures. The secrets of survival in the cold were now old lessons, learned the hard way. He never lost a toe to frostbite, but the nerve damage lingered. Being impervious to the elements is a fantasy born of childish bravado. ‘Get tough or die’ was his youthful motto. The days of venturing out in winter weather, with no hat or gloves were long gone. It began to snow in big, heavy clumps. There is something so wondrous and fantastic seeing those swirling flakes descending. Soon, c...

2 comments 2

Read story

“story that takes place in a winter cabin” by Sadia Imtiaz

Submitted to Contest #23

The greyed eyes wide opened like a fish jaw when it is without water. I hands up to him Under my gun. he looked up. He was sweating badly.‘’What do you want’’ I asked him setting gun in my hand. He shook his head. ‘’Nothing… just-food’’ he blurted.I frowned. I could not believe what he just said. He dangered his life just the seek of food in this snowstorm in a winter cabin.I removed my gun. And leaned toward an American style kitchen. Which was entirely made of wood. and came with some sausages and mushrooms curry with bread. He hurriedly s...

3 comments 3

Read story

“Lost and Alone” by Akito Yu

Submitted to Contest #23

"Hey mom, where's my breakfast?", I called out from the kitchen.Mom popped her head out from my brother's room, "I'm sorry honey, I've been cleaning all morning, I didn't have any time to prepare breakfast for you.""Now what am I supposed to do?", I grumbled, rolling my eyes."I'm so sorry honey, you know I love you but your younger brothers are quite a handful", Mom tried for a smile, but I turned around and ignored her."What about my coffee? My morning coffee?"Mom froze and put her hand in her head, "I'm so sorry honey, but I can only do so...

0 comments 0

Read story

“TRACKS NUMBER SEVEN: TRACKLESS” by Andrew Grell

Submitted to Contest #23

TRACKS NUMBER SEVEN: TRACKLESSBy Andrew Paul Grell"Ras, whaddaya mean Bretton Woods is off? So far it's forty kay hauling the equipment around the White Mountains and putting up the crew at in-season rates. People love Bretton Woods, it's where they figured out what money is." Erasmus Foyer could practically hear his agent's already irregular heartbeat shift into free-form jazz rhythm. "Bill, we're just moving it up a few miles. I'm telling you, Coös County is perfect for the shoot. We owned a house here, ...

3 comments 3

Read story

“The colours of snow” by Marte Van Der Linden

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #23

With the first snowflakes came a heavy silence. The city hunkered down to weather the storm. Flurries of snow shot down the alleyways and settled in thick piles in the parks. Andrew stood at the window of his apartment on the sixteenth floor and watched the view disappear into a swirl of white. Lena watched the same snowflakes from her apartment, also on the sixteenth floor, but in the tower block on the other side of the street. They both stood in silence as the world shrank down to the size of a window and filled up with snow.The storm ble...

2 comments 2

Read story

“From Mountains of Sunflowers” by Adriana K. Maxwell

Submitted to Contest #23

Lovely grew up in terraced mountains yellow with Christmas sunflowers. “It’s kinda funny,” Amanda said, as they walked the SM mall together. “What?” Lovely asked. “The song,” she said.Lovely didn’t understand at first. Perhaps it was the timing. Christmas music started in August. Amanda waited unti...

5 comments 5

Read story

“Leaving Footprints” by Keri Dyck

Submitted to Contest #23

I love the sound of fresh snow crunching under my feet. The way the cold smells, the way the wind bites my face, the way Rosie (my dog) smiles at me… what is there to not love about taking winter walks? Every time I go, I wonder why I don’t go more often. My foot catches on a disguised root, and I land awkwardly, smashing face first into the wet white stuff. Spitting out snow from my mouth, I scramble back up to my feet. Continuing on! Braving the elements with my valiant tiny ...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Concerning Lambs” by Arthur Tiberio

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #23

Smog diluted the orange lights, giving them an eerie tint. The motor-coach rattled over the uneven stones, alone in the reaches of the night. From far away came the singing of drunks, riding erratic eddies of the wind.It is dark, and Thaddeus Grey watches the moon.He has never considered himself a man of mystery, for the very simple reason that men of mystery tend to know what it is that they're doing, and to an extent, why. Eccentricity, he has long ago decided, requires a good amount of sanity to count for anything. Else you're just a schm...

0 comments 0

Read story

“When I Die...” by Lily Kingston

Submitted to Contest #23

Ten. Six. Five. Two. These numbers have no pattern. Only an individual meaning. In the middle of February, I was skiing across the mountainside when I fell into a ten foot pile of snow from a cliff of height only god-knows. My body sank six feet into its fluff. My five-foot figure was practically buried. It took forever to climb my way out. My fingers had turned a dangerous shade of blue by the time I was free. I gazed at the sky overhead. It was a fiery shade of red. Dusk was settling in soon, ready to cover the skies with its blanket of da...

5 comments 5

Read story

“Transience” by Mia Hunter

Submitted to Contest #23

A spine chilling breeze swept into the living room when Berry opened the door. As far back as she could remember, Januaries had always been odd in this place. Then again, what did she know about January? She had never even left the house! But from what she had seen on television, this place looked different from other places during winters.Even with the fat blankets of glistening white weighing down the black branches, in this place, life thrived among death. In winters, lands in other cold parts of the world would be covered in smooth snow ...

6 comments 6

Read story

“Onwards, Towards the Witch” by Joshua G. J. Insole

Submitted to Contest #23

I see you, child.The words slithered into her brain, as if they were her own thoughts. The world flashed a momentary red. And then they came again.I see you, child.Monika’s eyes snapped open, immediately awake. “Who’s there?” she demanded of the darkness, leaping the chasm from sleep to awareness in an instant. “Who speaks?”There was no response.“Answer me!”The silence was stifling and somehow mocking. Monika could feel the very air vibrating with tinkling laughter. Had she imagined it? Conjured up the voice out of nothingness? Had she final...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Winter In A Day” by Brittany Gillen

Submitted to Contest #23

Experiencing winter sounded like a good vacation suggestion. The word winter literally had the word “win” in it, so it had to be fantastic. The only decision left to make was where? I remembered from my science class that every part of the Earth experienced some form of winter during the year. Winter was really just a word that meant the opposite of summer, and I had experienced plenty of summer in my three decades of life. I wanted to experience winter in all its traditional glory. Cold...

5 comments 5

Read story

“The Winter King” by Bruno Lowagie

Submitted to Contest #23

Ice flowers were growing on the window of the attic bedroom.“We can’t pick those flowers,” Helena explained to Mister Rabbit, “And even if we could, we’re not allowed to do so. The Winter King would come and catch us. He’d lock us up in his cold palace.”Mister Rabbit only listened with half an ear. He was hungry. He wanted breakfast.“Do we really have to get out of bed already?” Helena moaned in reply, “It’s so nice and warm under our blanket.”But Mister Rabbit insisted, and Helena felt an urge to pee coming up.The splatter of her water was ...

2 comments 2

Read story

“A Very Merry Cretaceous Christmas” by Charlie Murphy

Submitted to Contest #23

I walked across the snow as I dragged the pine tree behind. The freezing wind blew my green scarf over my face. Thick snowflakes fell from the gray sky as I made my way to the cabin. Freezing wind blew on my face, making the tip of my nose numb. Almost there! Then I can have a nice warm cup of cocoa. I looked behind at the tree. Yep, you’ve outdone yourself this time! As I stepped up to the porch, I heard barking coming from within the cabin. I opened the door, and Spock jumped on me. “Well, hi, boy,” I said. My Scottish terrier wagge...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Axiom the Fourth” by Arthur Tiberio

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #23

The problem was their clothes. Everything else was just downright freaky, but wearing the thin cashmere and cotton of the desert, while four feet of ice covered the dunes? Blackened appendages were only the beginning. Horrible things happened to people who strayed too far from the fires, which had begun to tax the endurance of the man who was supposed to maintain them. Coleman eyed him with more than a trace of concern, up there at the head of the marching order. From beside him came a nudge."How much longer, do you think?""Days. Maybe week...

1 comment 1

Read story

Load more stories

$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!

Menu

CONNECT

BLOG

APPS

TOOLS

ABOUT

#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

“Memory Falls Silent as Snow” by John K Adams