#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

“Familiar Cold” by Laura Atherton

Submitted to Contest #23

It was early January and it had been snowing for a few days now. The city had been forced to a standstill. Chaos around every corner. But here…it was so peaceful. The snow in the city was mushy, tarred, treacherous. Here it was crisp, shimmering, pure. The whole forest around me was covered in it – glistening elegantly in the moonlight. The gleam reflected off my pale skin making me look glowing, almost ethereal. The skies were so much clearer here. I could even make out constellations. Something I can never see from the tiny balcony of my f...

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“Cold” by V M

Submitted to Contest #23

Cold. That was the first thing Isaac thought of. His eyes were shut, but he could hear the window shutters slamming frantically as the wind rushed into the small cabin. Isaac reached for a blanket in an attempt to fall back asleep, but the cold air flying in kept him from his slumber. Isaac soon realized he wouldn’t be able to lay comfortably anymore, so he arose, blanket wrapped tightly around his shoulders, and he lazily dragged his socked feet to the windows. As he closed them, he pondered as to why they were open in the first place. He l...

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“Wandering Spirit” by Isabel Hand

Submitted to Contest #23

I left no footprints in the snow. “I don’t know, Emma, that’s life,” Alice slurred later in the bar. “Isn’t it? I mean like, think about it. Really think about it,” she paused mid gesture then dropped her hands. “What was I saying?” “Life and footprints,” Jeremy snorted, face flushed next to the pyramid of empty beer bottles stacked haphazardly at the edge of the woo...

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“Scenes in a cabin” by Michele Duess

Submitted to Contest #23

He’s going to make himself sick. “Alex, make sure you eat some fruit too. That is an awful lot of fondue you’re eating.” He doesn’t eat enough fruit and vegetables so adding cheese doesn’t always help his system. It was Christmas Eve and we were at a party. It was me, my two boys, my parents, my brother, his daughter and wife. That was our side. On her side were her parents, her niece and nephew, and her sister. My brother, Mike, had invited us to go up to his winter cabin in North Carolina. In these stories, cabins are always in the middle ...

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“Gone Forever” by Gabby Smith

Submitted to Contest #23

Everyday seemed the same. I worked my boring 9-5 job answering phones at our local insurance office. I didn't enjoy it, but I needed money because my mother was in the hospital with cancer. We had no other family and I was all she had.I hated the small town in Colorado that we lived in too. I wanted to leave years ago, but that got put on hold for multiple different reasons. Now I need to stay here for my mom.When I left my house I could feel that the weather outside was turning colder and colder by the day, it was in the air that it was goi...

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“Walker” by Nathaly Galvan

Submitted to Contest #23

It was a cold winter night, and I was driving home from my friend's house. Diana wants me to stay because she was scared I would get hurt on the icy roads. I told her “not to worry I only live ten minutes from here,”. Diana sighed and told me to text her as soon as I got home so that I won't worry her. I was two minutes from my house, stopped at a stoplight. When I blanked out, it was dark but bright at the same time. I didn't see anything or anyone. Suddenly, there was a loud sound. I woke up in a sweat. I was freaking out, how did I end up...

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“The Snow That Didn't Show” by Zoey Robinson

Submitted to Contest #23

Its 6 am on a normal Tuesday in Downtown Denver. There’s the usual traffic sounds right outside the window. The wind whipping the trees right outside my apartment and the soft crunching sound of snow made by the early commuters. I sat up in bed and pulled on a sweater before heading down the hall. I stepped into the white-tiled bathroom and rubbed my face. Something looked different but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I pulled my long dark hair into a slick ponytail and looked back in the mirror. I went back down the hall and flung open the ...

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“Lilith” by Liu Mok

Submitted to Contest #23

LilithBy: Liu MokSnowflakes fell profusely. Each winter in Terranova was an exact replica of the previous one. The same amount of snow, on the same days and storms on the fifth and twenty-third day of the year. That morning of the sixth day, everything went as usual, an overwhelming quiet after the ferocity of the previous day. Only the snowflakes disturbed the prevailing calm.Lilith woke up like every morning at seven, and prepared for her daily routine. The first indication that something was wrong was in the kitchen: t...

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“Snow Angel ” by Casey Mullins

Submitted to Contest #23

Dani and Chris have been dating two summers back. They met when her parents needed help with keeping their land and Chris answered that call. Now seventeen both seniors. It’s the last class of the day. Dani fell asleep drifting off to a winter wonderland behind her parents farmhouse. It’s five miles from the pond they play at during the summer and another five miles from the four lane where she gets dropped off from the bus. Her parents own ten acres of flat land and it’s breathtaking when the fresh snow lays softly covering everything ...

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“M25” by Pamela Saunders

Submitted to Contest #23

“Bye then” waved Nikki and John as they left the home of their friends, Julie and Chris. John drove away down the road towards the M25. For the last hour or so before they left, it had been snowing, and they wanted to get back before dark, and before it had a chance to settle and freeze over.Actually, it was beginning to blow a gale and the snow got thicker so that visibility was terrible. The wipers were working full time and John had to drive at only 20mph to be safe. Everyone needed their lights on but those really didn't seem to make a l...

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“Sunrises with Shay” by Josiah Chia

Submitted to Contest #23

As fresh snow blanketed the towering pines and the winding streets, I stared out the window, desperate to get myself a slice of that ivory heaven. I had spent countless winters in the Adirondacks, a short drive from my hometown of Toronto, and the mere sight of acre after white-washed acre never failed to steal my breath away. The winter wonderland exuded a serenity that was majestic yet humbling, like the entire stretch of paradise was mine to revel in despite my relative insignificance. In my youth, feeling the rush of wind again...

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“When Opposites Attract” by Ellie K

Submitted to Contest #23

I woke up to utter silence, no cars honking, no sound of pedestrian walkways beeping outside my apartment window. In the place of those noises, there was only emptiness. And I felt a pang of dread, a feeling driven from some lost instinct, drawn deep down from the depths of my soul. With increasing dismay, I pried open the curtains with my fingers. Outside, I saw only blinding whiteness. I saw the snow, and I heard nothing. White and silence, a stark contrast to the colorful, strikingly noisy city I normally resided in and relished. In my mi...

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“Snowy Hallucinations” by Kia Ambrose

Submitted to Contest #23

"I'll be back soon!" I shouted out to the empty house, which replied to me in silence.I closed the old, wooden door behind me and was welcomed by the flat white platform of snow. Small flurries calmly floated onto the ground while others swirled around and lightly stung at my face like insects.Merely looking at the sight brought back a childhood memory of when I was at in this exact position of watching the snow fall and letting it melt in my hands within seconds. My face was red with astonishment, and in that moment, it felt like I was on t...

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“Dead People Don't Talk” by Kaitlynn Flint

Submitted to Contest #23

Dead People Don't Talk 1/7/20Dead people don't talk. Or, at least that's what Robert McVan thought. He's worked for a funeral home, driving around the hearse, for more than three years- and not once has a dead person spoken to him. They're dead! They aren't supposed to talk. Did a dead person ever talk to you before? Exactly, dead people don't talk! But boy, was he proven wrong. It all happened during the worst blizzard in New York City traffic. He was driving to a funeral, coffin in the back, millions of family and friends fol...

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“Fall Away” by Claire Spina

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #23

When Issa arrives to the cabin, the only car there is her brother’s, and that’s enough to make her want to turn around and leave. It’s not that she wanted to be there at all, really, but when their parents had asked them to come it hadn’t really been a question. It’s just that Maximillian Lacey was a difficult person to be around in the best of environments, and this certainly wasn’t one of those.She turns her car off and sits there until the heat dissipates. Too soon, she’s shivering too hard to stay, and she’s forced out into the snow to g...

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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...