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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#248: From the Top

Often, one of the most difficult parts of writing a story is giving it a name. I've been known to agonize for days over finding the "perfect" title — because, like it or not, we do judge a story by its title. Those few words at the top of the page set the tone for what follows, and picking the right ones matters.


This week, I'm asking you to approach titles in a different way. Rather than writing your story and then choosing your title, we want you to start "from the top" with a just title and see where it takes you. I've selected some evocative titles from literature to inspire you — but don't worry, you don't need to have read the original works to respond to them.

This week's prompts

Write a story titled 'A Tale of Two Cities'.

Adventure – 34 stories

Write a story titled 'Paradise Lost'.

Angst – 70 stories

Write a story titled 'Desperate Remedies'.

Dark – 66 stories

Write a story titled 'The Wind in the Willows'.

Spring – 50 stories

Write a story titled 'Persuasion'.

Funny – 41 stories

Stories

“The Wind in the Willows” by Kay Reed

Submitted to Contest #248

TW: themes of suicide and pregnancy lossThe way to my houseIs always the same but IWho live there am not:A matter beyond controlWhich of me there or missing-excerpt from Complaints and Celebrations, A Collection of Haiku and Tanka, by Alan RileyThere is only one leaf hanging in the maple tree outside my house when the police show up. My mother lifts the blinds at the window, breathes fog onto the glass.“What’s going on out there?” she asks.“It’s probably Alan next door,” I tell her as I upend the shoe bin in search of the panda stuffed anima...

15 comments 15
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“Desperate Remedies” by Jane Andrews

Submitted to Contest #248

Jake had been deputy sheriff for about three weeks when the stranger drove into town. At first, he was puzzled: he’d thought he’d met everyone in this God-forsaken place – hell, he saw most of ‘em in the saloon every night – but this man was unknown to him. And then, as the horse slowed to a halt and long, lean limbs unfolded themselves from the driver’s seat, he realised his mistake. Years of hardship had etched lines on the woman’s face, but he thought she would be beautiful if she ever smiled.       &nbs...

10 comments 10
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“Desperate Remedies” by Kim Olson

Submitted to Contest #248

“Did you ever see the movie ‘First wives club’?” Tiny asked the other two guys seated next to him.Everyone in prison had a nickname. Tiny was so named because of his size. He stood a hulking six and a half feet tall and looked like he could play linebacker for the Green Bay Packers. He and the others were sitting in the day room, shooting the breeze. There was a lot of time to kill when one was in the joint doing time. The day room was surprisingly empty save for their little group. Most of the other inmates had gone back to their cells afte...

9 comments 9
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“Persuasion (or The Art of Seduction)” by PJ Town

Submitted to Contest #248

(contains some sexual references)“Wowza! Will you just look at that!”“I’ll fight you for her.”“C’mon, man. You don’t have the balls.”“You’re right, but just to keep up appearances – you know, with the gang.”“Look, if I fought you, you’d lose the other ear.”“Pardon?”“I said–”“Just kidding! Crikey. When you get horny, your sense of humour goes right out the window.”“What can I say? It’s the chemicals.”“Yep, I remember those days. Before … you know.”“Don’t even mention it! It gives me the willies.”“At least they didn’t take that and all!”“Ha! I...

20 comments 20
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“Paradise Lost” by Katharine Widdows

Submitted to Contest #248

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Abuse, violence, mental health issues. There used to be doves in the sky. Gliding, white-feathered, across blue expanses. They swirled in the air below billowing clouds. I could only follow with my eyes but follow I did, soaring alongside them. They lifted me, raising my spirits with each swift wing beat. I found inspiration in every soft coo. I fed them on the balcony of my lake house in the summer, offering seeds and scraps. I breathed in the freedom they represented, hoping it would energise me. My heaven was a quiet we...

12 comments 12
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“Desperate Remedies” by Orwell King

Submitted to Contest #248

I can still feel the weight of my daughter's frail body in my arms as I trudged through the dark, rain-soaked streets of New Orleans. Her sickness had defied every remedy, every doctor's prescription, every whispered prayer. My little girl, once full of laughter and mischief, had become a ghost of herself, pale and weak, her eyes haunted by pain.I had scoured every inch of this city for a cure, from the sterile clinics of uptown to the dingy bars of the French Quarter where rumours and shadows judged every footstep. It was in those shadowed ...

4 comments 4
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“Paradise Lost” by James Moore

Submitted to Contest #248

As I write this, dear reader, I become acutely aware, that this harrowing tale of hardship and heartbreak, longing and loss, fear and frustration. Intertwined with moments of joy and jubilance, excellence and exultation, sweetness and serenity. May fall on deaf ears, if not read with an open heart and an open mind, one that is prepared to allow itself to experience the full gamut of emotions that I have lived through in my unreasonably extended stay on this earth.To start at the beginning, A good place to start as at the beginning of my tale...

11 comments 11
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“The Wind in the Willows ” by Daniel Legare

Submitted to Contest #248

When he found me, I was too weak and too hungry to run. I pushed myself up with trembling arms and slowly got up from the cold concrete floor of the barn and started putting the small towel away I had in my bag, asking him not to call the cops. The old man approached me from the doorway as a shadow from the early morning light creeping across the sky. He stopped about six feet away from me and slowly placed a tray on the ground. Then he turned and got a hoe from the wall and grabbed a bag of seeds and went back outside. On the tray was a bo...

3 comments 3
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“Desperate Remedies” by John K Adams

Submitted to Contest #248

Joaquin found himself in an unfamiliar neighborhood. Late for his meeting, attempting to avoid a clogged freeway, he took an exit. Now he was in it deep. Food trucks and sidewalk vendors lined the congested street. Brake lights glowed. Small time entrepreneurs moved from car-to-car hawking food, flowers and souvenirs. Colorful flags snapped in the breeze. A busker played an accordion. The mood was festive. Joaquin wasn’t in the mood.His autodial called the office where his meeting awaited. Project developers wanted his input. And dollars.The...

11 comments 11
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“Paradise Lost” by Rania Hellal

Submitted to Contest #248

- Paradise Lost-  « My Thoughts….they feel like little worms trying to crawl out my head...that’s why I write.... to trap them somewhere” He looked at me uninterestedly with two pale blue eyes then sucked over his cigarette and continued puffing out smoke as he spoke:“You know... like a little vivarium, a place for them to grow , live and reproduce” I imagined the little  brown creatures with their thin, ringed bodies slithering out his ears and mouth and him swallowing them back to keep them inside.There was a curious ai...

9 comments 9
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“The Wind in the Willows (My true friend, Lily)” by Julia Zhipa Philippova

Submitted to Contest #248

It's so quiet here, isn't it? I can't even remember the last time I was here. The willow trees have grown so much since I was a little girl. I used to visit my grandmother in her little house here in the middle of nowhere. I get chills now; it feels like I'm finally home. I've spent so many years wondering what I wanted to do with my life, where I should be. Society puts a lot of pressure on us, you know? But here, where I'm alone in the willow forest, I can finally find my peace. No pressure, no gossip, no people always telling me what to d...

12 comments 12
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“Desperate Remedies” by Robert Pyke

Submitted to Contest #248

Diffident knuckles rasp at a hospital room door already ajar. A black, wrinkled hand pushes the door open. A hoarse whisper, “Willa?” A slow step, almost a shuffle, into the room. A wizened face pokes through the doorway, a mix of curiosity, anxiety, and guile. “Willa?” Willa, wasted, charcoal gray face leached of its former ruddiness, shuts her eyes, recognizing the voice. “What do you want, Bitsy? Missing that alimony?” Bitsy lowers his gaze and, with an apparent effort, brings it back to her face. “Just wanted to see you, baby.” Willa sta...

1 comment 1
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“Paradise Lost” by Olivia Bennett

Submitted to Contest #248

Joan had lived in the cottage for as long as she could remember.  Each morning she’d wake up to the pink sun streaming through her window, the soft curtains that framed it billowing in the sea breeze. She’d stand, stretch, grab coffee, and lounge on her porch for a majority of the morning until Evelyn woke up. Then Evelyn would join her, pressing her lips gently to the apple of Joan’s cheek, and smile softly in a way that caught the light of the sun just right.  They’d walk hand in hand on the beach, pressing their toes firmly into...

8 comments 8
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“Desperate Remedies” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #248

Norman was the first up. He was always the first up and also the first downstairs. This was his routine and in the solitary minutes afforded to him as he made his mug of tea and toasted his bread, he could taste the flavours of another life dancing upon his forlorn tongue. Mug in one hand. Half remembered buttered toast in the other, he stared out into the world and wished himself just a few yards hence. That was all it would take. To step through the prison of glass before him and be swept up and away by the wind. A fallen leaf carried off ...

10 comments 10
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“The Wind in the Willows” by Khadija S. Mohammad

Submitted to Contest #248

I would lay flowers on the grave, if I could. You would like that, wouldn't you? You might be a little surprised... but you shouldn't be. You know I'll always put all my effort into making you happy.And that's why it happened, isn't it?I'm standing by the willow that lies by the grave, talking to you. I know you can't hear me, but I'm talking anyway. Besides, it sometimes feels as if you can hear me. The wind in the willow sends whispers that remind me of you. They sound like your voice. I wish I could hear it one more time – maybe I'll have...

21 comments 21
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$250

Prize money

261

Contest entries

97

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - May 03, 2024 EST

Won by Honey Homecroft 🏆

Title: Paradise Lost

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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