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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#242: Fine Art

Museums are magical places. There’s something so special about admiring art in sacred, silent spaces, together with complete strangers. In museums, time is suspended; you can forget about the outside world and lose yourself in the paintings, sculptures, and other artwork around you.


This week, let’s write some stories inspired by art and museums. Think about some of your favorite galleries, or consider creating a brand-new museum the world has yet to see. Let your imagination run wild, and maybe even try writing in a new genre. For this contest, the sky’s the limit!

This week's prompts

Write about a gallery whose paintings come alive at night.

Fantasy – 66 stories

Write about someone who accidentally destroys a museum’s most valuable artifact.

Funny – 31 stories

Write about an art thief who is struggling to commit the perfect heist.

Adventure – 31 stories

Write about two characters who meet and/or fall in love in a museum.

Romance – 98 stories

Start or end your story with a character who gets trapped inside a museum overnight.

Thriller and Suspense – 38 stories

Stories

“Visions and Vendettas” by Veronica Quinn

Submitted to Contest #242

The chimes of the tower's bells echoed across the city, heralding the genesis.Tonight was the night. Casimiro inhaled deeply as he knelt on the bench of Seville's most illustrious cathedral. The air was laden with incense, intertwining with the aroma of ancient wood from the pews. His gaze fixed upon the Retablo Mayor, a grand woodcarving altarpiece, noting the finer details and stories of Jesus’ life while the priest droned on about some detail or another. Casimiro had spent over four weeks devoting himself to the boredom of daily masses an...

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“Museum of souls” by Judith Green

Submitted to Contest #242

What a beautiful day to have off! It's a good day to take a stroll, something I don't often get to enjoy. I was walking down the city streets of downtown Charleston, South Carolina with nowhere in particular to go when I stumbled across the International African American Museum. I had been hearing about this place often but had yet to visit. The rectangular building was surrounded by bright green grass, palm trees, and had a sidewalk on either side. It looked very inviting. I take a step inside and am awed by the photographs and rich history...

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“Superstuff!” by Julie Grenness

Submitted to Contest #242

It was that time of the school year. Year Seven was winding down, right in time for their vacation. Kai had made it through, he was being promoted. So were all the big bully boys in his class, Year Seven D. None of them were too bright and sparky at their schoolwork.Mr. Niroshi had been substituting as their English teacher. He had a very sad emoji face, trying to get his class to write a decent essay. But this week's lessons had been more fun. The students had to design a comic book.Kai was the star at this form of English. He invented his ...

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“Chiaroscuro of the Heart” by J.B. Redel

Submitted to Contest #242

ALEXBold strokes of vibrant color popped forth from a flat black background. The colors swirled, crossed, and cut back, all without blending. Each stroke was individual, its own being, yet part of the whole, only complete when combined with the rest. The painting was beautiful. Masterful, even. But what does it mean? What was their motivation? Alex thought to himself as he stared at the painting. The placard under the spotlighted painting stated the piece was titled Influx. He stepped away from the piece, even more confused.He...

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“Do Dinosaurs cry?” by Jim Gray

Submitted to Contest #242

Marjorie was content around dinosaurs. They were as much a mystery as men, she had to admit that to herself, yet Sammy the stegosaurus, the colossus that stood proudly in front of her now, wasn’t going to let her down the way men usually did. Sammy was Marjorie’s name for the beast. She guessed that he had a much more fancy Latin name that the caretakers of London’s Natural History museum used, but what did they know? Sammy he would stay. Sammy and Marjorie had been seeing each other every weekday for three years now. With an hour to kill be...

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“All Will Be Forgiven” by Alison Garcia

Submitted to Contest #242

I enjoy losing myself in a world someone has created, everything is up for interpretation. Art shows are a way out, a fleeting escape. Colors that shouldn’t go together can fit just right if the artist so chooses. Temporarily, I can be free from the headache that is my day-to-day in exchange for the company of mounted canvases and intentional brush strokes. Though I am surrounded by others in this building, all walking the same hardwood floor, under the same fluorescent lights, not one person will understand the works the same as I do and vi...

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“Unlocked Lips” by Lisa D

Submitted to Contest #242

“You never told me your secret.” We walked through the vacant halls of the Louvre, golden light streaming through the skylight glass panes and illuminating Mona’s curious amber eyes. “Well I have no secrets anymore.” She raised an eyebrow, prompting me to continue. “Does it matter if it’s not my secret anymore?” She stopped walking and turned to me fully, no hint of her usual mischievous grin. A soft smile graced her face as she gently grabbed my arm.  “Tell me anyway?” I looked down, her piercing gaze too much as I bore my soul out to ...

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“The Last” by Leslie Cieplechowicz

Submitted to Contest #242

The Last By Leslie Cieplechowicz    She perched as she always had, her dried toes mounted to a fading branch, peering out into the illuminated hall. Voiceless. Longing. Alone. Waiting.    Crowds of humans shuffled past, their fingerprints leaving greasy stains on the glass separating her from them. An endless stream for as far as her glassy eyes could see, crowding the room, noisy and naked. Two teenagers paused. One wrinkled his nose, “This is so boring. I can see pigeons on the street.” He sneered at her drift...

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“MADAME X” by Lincoln Howes

Submitted to Contest #242

Over the course of my 45 years, I’ve fallen in love three times. Once in high school, once with my wife Angela. And then, last night at the Met. I’m still not sure how it happened. Or even, if it happened. That’s why I’ve decided to create this record in my diary. Partly to get the sequence of events clear in my mind. And partly so I will remember every detail…of her. Virginie. Those eyes, deep enough to drown in. The toss of her head when she laughed - a sound like a delicate wind chime. The charge that ran through me like st...

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“Shadows of Persistence” by Ellie Mae

Submitted to Contest #242

Ella, though not her real name, was a skilled agent operating under the guise of an ordinary woman, parked her car outside the Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. She glanced at the clock on her car’s dashboard and exhaled a sigh of relief as it read 2:02. Still twenty minutes early, she had time to assess the situation before her mission commenced.The museum was unusually quiet for a Tuesday afternoon, but Ella didn’t mind. Dressed in nondescript black pants and a purple blouse, she blended seamlessly into the surroundings. Her...

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“The Museum of Love” by Candy Grace

Submitted to Contest #242

Almost there. I’ll meet you inside. Skye rolled her eyes at Julia’s message. This was exactly why she didn’t like making plans with her younger sister. Julia had fun ideas, but participating in them didn’t matter as she was chronically late to every single event. Skye switched off her phone and looked up at the top of the building in front of her. The tan building had a wooden sign that read, “The Museum of Love.” She wasn’t completely sure why Julia had picked this place, but something about the place’s name intrigued her. Most museums had ...

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“Drawing Together” by Paul Crehan

Submitted to Contest #242

Drawing Together By Paul Crehan “Do you think things work out for the best?” “Sorry?” she said, removing an earbud and turning his way. “People say that,” he continued, “but I wonder if it’s true. Maybe it’s just some comforting thing we tell ourselves.” If he were hitting on her, this was the weirdest hitting-on she’d ever encountered. But maybe he wasn’t talking to her, but to someone in his ear? Unless—was he crazy and talking to himself? He turned to look at her directly. He looked…benign—but crazy people often did. He was waiting pati...

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“Fine Feathers” by Weronika L

Submitted to Contest #242

He’ll come once or twice each week, an hour or two before closing, sit gaze and shoes perpendicular to the bench with a dark coat or jacket or mouth cracked open, and see you for all you are.All you are is a lifetime of forethought, a line of a feather-brush, a landscape of finity. You came with purpose and you stand with purpose, wield the shovel only you could lift from the stone-turned soil — if you wanted to and you don’t, won't; you’re the centre piece, piece de resistance, you’re the woman you’ve never seen, the black-chipped crow, the...

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“Tyrant King” by Cade Holter

Submitted to Contest #242

The skeleton of the Albertosaurus was displayed such that it loomed over the smaller dinosaur beside it. It wasn’t quite a T-Rex, as the client had desired, but Rick wasn’t sure of what difference it would make. He couldn’t see a single difference between them. Truthfully, he’d never even seen a T-Rex skeleton before today outside of movies, and he’d Curtis not never been inside the Royal Ontario Museum— The ROM— before.Not that it made any difference to him whichever way, he was just here for scouting. It’d be a tight fit, but they’d have t...

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“Shanghaied on Dry Land” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #242

               He opened the heavy door and saw a long, dark corridor bringing him to exhibits on sailing and piracy on each side. Strangely, the only thing lighting the way to each exhibit was a series of book lights, one every few feet.     Exhibits in the newly-opened Delmarva Maritime Museum had begun mapping out the story of ancient seafaring commerce and raids by buccaneers traveling along the Eastern Shore.    John h...

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$250

Prize money

264

Contest entries

118

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Mar 22, 2024 EST

Won by Niamh O'Dea 🏆

Title: Do Not Touch

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

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