Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog

Menu

✕
CONNECT
Editing Design Marketing Publicity Ghostwriting Websites
BLOG
Success Stories
APPS
TOOLS
Book Promotion Sites Book Review Blogs Booktube Channel Guide Book Title Generator Character Name Generator Independent Publishers Literary Agents Literary Magazines Pen Name Generator Plot Generator Publishers Directory Short Story Ideas Writing Contests Writing Exercises Writing Scholarships
ABOUT
About Reedsy Terms Privacy

CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#237: Sugar Rush

As a self-proclaimed hopeless romantic, Valentine’s Day is one of my favorite holidays of the year, and it has been ever since I was young. I can still remember how excited I would get whenever I gave and received candy hearts in class: those heart-shaped chunks of sugar said so much in just a few letters, from cute little confessions to grand decorations of love.


As romance is in the air this month, let’s write some stories inspired by the following candy heart messages: “1 4 3,” “MARRY ME,” “DATE NIGHT,” “LET’S KISS,” and “EMAIL ME.” Whether you write something heart-wrenching and contemplative, or sappy and sweet, is up to you!

This week's prompts

Write a love story without using the word “love.”

Valentine's Day – 102 stories

Write about a successful marriage proposal, or one that goes horribly wrong.

Valentine's Day – 44 stories

Write about a cynical character who somehow ends up on a blind date.

Valentine's Day – 39 stories

Write a story about a first or last kiss.

Valentine's Day – 108 stories

Write a story about two people falling in love via email.

Valentine's Day – 32 stories

Stories

“See with your kiss ” by Lylian Xanakis

Submitted to Contest #237

My wife is my everything. She has a superpower that allows us to have somewhat of a normal life. You see -ha,- when I was just twelve years old I lost my vision. It wasn’t all at once. Nope. It was a slow descent into blindness. First went my left eye, and then slowly, inexorably, my right eye followed. I knew it was going to happen, but you’re never ready to go blind. Truth is, even if every doctor, eye specialist, and ophthalmologist I have ever seen (see what I did there?) told me that I would go blind, in the back of my heart I always ho...

2 comments 2
Read story

“Goodbye Kiss” by Grace Ann Brown

Submitted to Contest #237

"Well. Here we are." I look around the hotel room. It's bigger than where we stayed during our honeymoon, five years before. The expansive windows display a glassy, picture-perfect sea. Dots of surfers, their boards coral-pink or sunshine-yellow, dart across the waves. Their happiness mocks me. "I'm going to shower," I mutter, unable to untangle myself from the dark cloud hanging over my head. Jack nods but doesn't say anything. This is a dance we've danced before: when I get upset or sad or angry, I tend to shut him out. Maybe it's why ou...

2 comments 2
Read story

“Hearts and Kisses” by Sarah Jo

Submitted to Contest #237

Valentine's Day was a silly day to have a first date. It'd been years since we went on it, but I specifically remember thinking that. I was 16, standing in front of my old wooden dresser. My foggy reflection stared back at me from the mirror as I dabbed on red lipstick beneath smudgy, black-lined eyes. I was bright, brimming with life.My dad had been in the family room. He was nestled into velvety orange couch cushions, sipping on a warming Budweiser. Scenes from an old Hawaii Five-0 rerun flashed across our small tube TV as I passed, giving...

3 comments 3
Read story

“Everything in common, nothing to lose” by Paul Simpkin

Submitted to Contest #237

We started to communicate by email just a few weeks after I joined the Facebook group. We just hit it off. We seemed to have so much in common. I knew she was a bit nervous about giving me her email address but I explained that it would be safer and more secure than using the messenger function on Facebook. For me it felt that we were moving to a new stage in our relationship. Friends? More than friends? Friday 6.23pm I had to change a lightbulb this morning. It is the first time since John died. He always used to change the lightbulbs. H...

2 comments 2
Read story

“Programmer of hearts” by Ani Vals

Submitted to Contest #237

He clicked his mouse on the unread letter. It was from her. They'd only seen each other once in the capital, and then she'd gone back to her hometown, and they'd started writing to each other ever since. She felt as if she had known him for several lifetimes. Their meeting had been a mere formality - their bodies had to meet because their souls were old acquaintances. They had so much to say to each other; to recall all the unfulfilled dreams from before and to share the conclusions they had come to in their previous lives. She thought s...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Little Frog ” by Rosa Rodriguez

Submitted to Contest #237

I’m late, again.  But to be fair the train has been known to be quite unreliable lately and okay I might have stopped to get a coffee for me and granddad, so he’ll be less upset with me. I’m running through the large building; the spring air is usually what I wait all winter for but today the sun is doing little to my advantage. I’m sweating like an iced cup on a wooden table, trying to hold our coffees, while my overstuffed tote bag keeps falling off my shoulder in a way that makes me want to scream. “Hold it! Hold it!” ...

4 comments 4
Read story

“Center” by Konstantinos Kontopoulos

Submitted to Contest #237

It was almost sundown and everything was pink and gold when the man awoke to find himself on the roof terrace of the abandoned shopping mall. He was sitting on one of several plastic chairs scattered under weather-worn umbrellas in what looked like an outdoors café. It seemed to him that his rise from slumber happened to coincide with the exact time the street lights came on, their tops being visible just beyond a concrete ledge at the edge of the terrace a few feet away from where he was sitting. The automated bulbs came to life with an imp...

3 comments 3
Read story

“Since Judas.” by Lance Correnti

Submitted to Contest #237

Since the beginning, Elio had been the perfect son. He had been born in the town, he wasn't able to see things on the outside progress. He was told what he was told and he listened. He didn't leave the border, he got good grades, he didn't drink or smoke or cause trouble. His mother told him the Sugar Rush Virus had started in the sugar- that's why nothing was sweet the way it used to be, not that he would know. He was glad he hadn't seen a live one- an infected- never in person. Projectors in school showed them clear as day, but it wasn'...

1 comment 1
Read story

“Bite” by Paul Littler

Submitted to Contest #237

JUNE 1666 LONDON      He had taken a room at the ‘The Town of Ramsgate’ inn, sitting quietly as a commotion raged following the discovery of a young woman’s body in the Thames, mere hours since her arrival from Rotterdam.       He’d disembarked the ‘Gilded Lion,’ a Dutch three masted Fluyte. It had been squalid and uncomfortable, but the young woman he’d made the acquaintance of during the short voyage provided a singularly pleasant distraction. Reading by candlelight, Carsten kept an...

2 comments 2
Read story

“Dear Vera” by Grace Sortland

Submitted to Contest #237

To: veraisverycool@gmail.com From: mabelsyrup@gmail.com Topic: I miss you. Dear Vera,  I don’t even know if you still use this email anymore, but I wanted to try. After having a depressing fit of depression and nostalgia, I want to see you again. But I know I can’t. So, I’m emailing you.               Here goes nothing. I remember when we were young. We first met at our sixth-grade camp, when we were stuck in the same cabin. We were both really awkward, but afte...

2 comments 2
Read story

“Actions Speak Louder” by Spryte Magnus

Submitted to Contest #237

         Jessalyn’s “time of the month” was not the same as that of others, and there was a great deal more danger involved. It had something to do with a dragon who’d taken a humanoid shape and one of Jessalyn’s ancestors who’d begat the bloodline that eventually bore her.         Valora had said she’d known someone once who had similar issues and took a great deal of care making sure she was there for Jessalyn. Even though they both had their own adve...

2 comments 2
Read story

“A Mother's Sacrifice” by Brittany Jung

Submitted to Contest #237

A wretched thing he was. But he gave me my daughter, I can thank him for that. Listen to those people cheering. His soft smile and blonde side-swept hair swooned over the peasants. Clarissa stands in front of him, in front of her father, his non-waving hand on her shoulder.Her soft curls were gently placed down her back, she looked so innocent. One day she would be Queen. This kingdom has not seen a Queen as the sole ruler in a thousand years.I couldn't give him the son he desired, and we could not have any more children. So, these common fo...

2 comments 2
Read story

“Caged Birds” by Fern Everton

Submitted to Contest #237

CONTENT WARNING: This piece includes mentions and descriptions of physical and sexual violence towards children. It deals with trauma. If you are uncomfortable with the aforementioned topics, please do not proceed. Reader direction is advised. This will be your only warning. One night, I wanted a bird. I wanted to buy a shiny silver cage so it couldn’t escape. I wanted it all to myself. Several nights later, I gazed blankly at the shafts of moonlight that filtered through a grimy, broken window, its glass scattered on the rotting wooden flo...

9 comments 9
Read story

“Can I Have This Dance?” by Carolyn Hawkins

Submitted to Contest #237

Everyone would think he had lost his mind and he was rushing into things, but Jake had thought it through. He may be crazy in other people’s eyes, but he knew he was just crazy in love. Nothing had ever felt so right as it did now with Maya in his life. He knew it was sudden, but he also knew his heart. He couldn’t stop thinking about her smile, her bright, lively eyes, and the way that everyone in a room would take notice when she entered. He felt in his soul that she was destined to be his wife.  There was nothing more satisfying tha...

2 comments 2
Read story

“Engaged in Riddles” by Joseph Ellis

Submitted to Contest #237

Alice felt a twinge of suspicion from the start. Their big London trip finally came, and Michael insisted on spending the first full day on activities from her wish list. That meant afternoon tea at Twinings, How You Like It at The Globe Theatre, then pints and people-watching at a two hundred-year-old pub. Michael put on a good face throughout: eye contact, bright smile, consistent enthusiasm, plus supreme politeness with the servers and ushers. He must have tipped every street performer they passed, even the living statue. But Alice knew h...

4 comments 4
Read story

$250

Prize money

324

Contest entries

132

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Feb 16, 2024 EST

Won by Eliza Levin 🏆

Title: Love.edu: Courtship and Coincidence in Modern Academia

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!

Prompts | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

Join our weekly contest

Get 5 new writing prompts every Friday. Write and submit a story for a chance to win $250.

NEW VIDEO COURSE 🎉

How to Write a Novel

Join Tom Bromley for a writing master class and finish your first draft in 3 months. Learn more →

Explore more writing prompt ideas:

Adults Writing Prompts ⭢

Adventure Writing Prompts ⭢

Angst Writing Prompts ⭢

Character Writing Prompts ⭢

Christmas Writing Prompts ⭢

Dark Writing Prompts ⭢

Dialogue Writing Prompts ⭢

Dramatic Writing Prompts ⭢

Dystopian Writing Prompts ⭢

Fall Writing Prompts ⭢

Fantasy Writing Prompts ⭢

Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Fluff Writing Prompts ⭢

Funny Writing Prompts ⭢

Halloween Writing Prompts ⭢

High School Writing Prompts ⭢

Historical Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Holiday Writing Prompts ⭢

Horror Writing Prompts ⭢

Kids Writing Prompts ⭢

Middle School Writing Prompts ⭢

Mystery Writing Prompts ⭢

Narrative Writing Prompts ⭢

Nonfiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Novel Writing Prompts ⭢

Poetry Writing Prompts ⭢

Romance Writing Prompts ⭢

Sad Writing Prompts ⭢

Science Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Short Story Writing Prompts ⭢

Spring Writing Prompts ⭢

Summer Writing Prompts ⭢

Teens Writing Prompts ⭢

Thanksgiving Writing Prompts ⭢

Thriller and Suspense Writing Prompts ⭢

Valentine's Day Writing Prompts ⭢

Vampire Writing Prompts ⭢

Winter Writing Prompts ⭢

Prompts | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

Join our weekly contest

Get 5 new writing prompts every Friday. Write and submit a story for a chance to win $250.