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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

“A Tale of Two Cities” by Ashley Sawh

Submitted to Contest #248

People always say that they want to turn back time, that they wished that they had the power to do so. It was stupid, it was so utterly stupid that I could just throw up. I told myself that wanting to turn back time would be the last thing that I wanted. At least I thought it was the last thing I wanted. I never thought about it until now, until I met her. Her name was Violet, and she was the best thing that ever happened to me. My life growing up wasn’t the best. Between my dad being out of the picture and my mom working a...

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“Paradise Lost” by Rozmarin Ideas

Submitted to Contest #248

Fierhen was a small fishing town, not far from the northern coast of Sweden, yet very far from everything else. It was founded a mere eighty-five years before its last inhabitant died, by a small group of settlers that had been driven out their homes by a tempest.The storm had been of such magnitude and violence that it was more akin to a scourge, a typhoon with all the fury of a scorned goddess. It tore down houses and ripped trees out by their roots, making mockery of all that stood to oppose it. The survivors never forgot that rage....

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“Desperate Remedies” by Rachel Henry

Submitted to Contest #248

When the bombs hit it was nothing like what we were told it would be. We had been raised preparing for the day the world went up in flames and became uninhabitable, but the bunkers we had been instructed to build collapsed around us. Heavy soil filled my mouth and nostrils.I couldn’t tell which way was up and which snapping sounds were the shelves or the bones in my body and those of my loved ones. I clawed my way through the dirt that threatened to suffocate me and the skin on my hands began to blister, as did every inch of me as I got clos...

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“Paradise Lost” by Fern Everton

Submitted to Contest #248

CW: Light profanity, descriptions of a car crash, and themes of death (very literally) Contrary to popular belief, being Death isn’t rocket science; a mortal reaches their time, you collect their soul, figure out where they’re supposed to go, and move on. They cry, scream, curse you out, but it dissolves into white noise over the millennia. You’re not all too special when you’re dead; you’re just another corpse in an overpriced box. “Cristelle Tren, 26, dead via a car wreck on the Garden State Parkway.” I mutter the name off my endles...

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“Persuasion” by S.d. Schwarz

Submitted to Contest #248

*** story contains themes of sexual assault, mental health, suicide, and self-harm***“Come with me,” he said, holding a hand out, palm up, “and you’ll never have to live through this again.” His vocal cords made music with the words he spoke.I’d been warned of him before: the man with a steady voice and alluring tone. The man who shielded his features beneath a black hood to contain all the madness that swirled around in his head. The man who lived by night and fled by day. Not quite a wolf in sheep’s clothing, but a Devil on the shoulder po...

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“The Wind in the Willows” by Kacie Foos

Submitted to Contest #248

The willow trees banked the length of the back of our property. Only a fence and those huge willow trees stood between us and the country club. Our horses used that area to graze on the grass on those hot summer days. I'm sure the golfers enjoyed peaking through and finding our four horses often stopping by to watch their games and pay a hello.Our home was a sanctuary to wildlife from a variety of birds that drew in bird watchers from far away. We had deer, moose, bald eagles, blue herons, beavers, pheasants, turkeys, raccoons, turtles, fox,...

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“Desperate Remedies” by Jennifer Luckett

Submitted to Contest #248

I wanted to stop, but a voice in my head shouted, Don’t stop. Every part of my body ached. Throbbing temples, stiffness traveling from my neck, with its destination my lower back, raging flames in my throat, needles piercing my calves and feet begged me to end this torture. My mind wanted the pain, needed the pain to cure the weakness. I had been running for three hours, ignoring the intense early morning heat to finish the ten mile loop I began in darkness. This was day 5...

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“A Tale of Two Cities” by Sam Sak

Submitted to Contest #248

Dearest Percy,I have begun to work with the clockmaker. I am just cleaning, of course, but I have been taking the scraps. You won't tell, right? Since Collie worked in the bookstore, we access to reading material that tells us how to make you a pocket watch. A fine young man such as yourself needs a fine watch, after all. Love you always,Annie and Collie "Who's Annie and Collie?" Percy observes the watch. It's not fine like Fathers, with silver and sleek edges. It has its own charm, though, with the way it clicks as the seconds pass in an al...

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“The Wind In The Willows” by Heidi Boyer

Submitted to Contest #248

People tell you that everything will be okay, that those little special moments will stay in your heart forever but their memory will slowly fade away. As you age, you forget, and everyone else around you dies until you die yourself, leaving a tombstone alone and forgotten. Why couldn't their memory live on? Why did we only live in the past, present, or future? Why was it one or the other when we can have it all at one time? Maybe it was too much for the human mind to handle, but for me it was the perfect balance. To bask in the sun for eter...

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“Persuasion. ” by Randy Miller

Submitted to Contest #248

BOTH MY HANDS clenched into fists as I pushed up against my antagonizer, Danny, who straddled my back. His towering presence felt like a suffocating weight, his large right hand against the back of my head forcing it down to the unforgiving ground. The coldness of the water in the puddle filled my mouth with bitter taste and gritty mud. I spat and sputtered, desperate to break Danny's hold. “Give up you little wus?”, his lip snarled. With a surge of adrenaline I managed to twist my body sideways using the slippery mud to my advantage as...

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“Paradise Lost in Middle Earth” by Philip Alexander

Submitted to Contest #248

It was a damp night in the village of Bree, the moon shone brightly in the west casting a light over the crown of Weathertop, which was drenched in rain and mud. All of the inhabitants of Bree, men, and hobbits, slept quietly like gravestones except some who snored raucously, and hardly cared whether they woke up the neighbours or the fattened ponies in the stables. The village was bordered by overgrown hedges protecting the sleepy inhabitants from unwanted visitors, one of which, s...

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“Paradise Lost” by Paul Littler

Submitted to Contest #248

Please be aware, this story contains references to the aftermath of natural disasters. NowDavid Brevda paced the polished marble floor of his East 79th Street gallery. Huge sheets of paper, taped to the towering plate glass windows, shielded him and Marina Anderberg’s new works from the gawkers. She hadn’t yet arrived, and tonight, of all nights, he needed her in the flesh. He checked his phone, nothing. He could feel the ulcer gnawing away at his guts. Why...

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“Desperate Remedies” by Ralph Aldrich

Submitted to Contest #248

A dry desert wind blows across the surface of planet Argot. Thick dust clouds fill the air, twisting and turning, constantly changing the appearance of the dunes. Its citizens have moved underground centuries before. Argot was one of the first planets in all the galaxies to produce life after the Big Bang. Over millions of years, its population had used all its elemental resources. Their scientists worked hard to solve the dilemma but with little success. They eventually achieved a momentous victory when they le...

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“Persuasion” by Keelan LaForge

Submitted to Contest #248

“Could I persuade you to have another glass of gin?” asked Fred. He had just met Stella and he was a bit pushy for her liking, but in the spirit of the party, she agreed. “If I must. I’ve never loved gin.” “Well, why are you drinking it, then?!” he asked, in jest. “Because I don’t drink wine, I don’t like any other spirits and whenever I asked for a coke, the lady serving the drinks grimaced at me like I’d asked to drink out of the toilet bowl.” “Fair enough – gin it is. With tonic?” “Yes, it makes it slightly more drinkable – only slight...

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“Desperate Remedies” by Tunay Tokmak

Submitted to Contest #248

She stands still on her couch in a dimly lighted room. She feels her fingertips are uneasy. She listens to time. E-mail notifications barely make the song of time audible. Tick tocks stir a sense of urgency, and this sense of urgency builds a nest on her fingertips, making her unable to tame time. Paralyzed by the uneasiness, she promises to take control of her life and falls asleep. Tick tock, tick tock, quarter past six, half past six. Beep-beep-beep. Brush and flush, brush and flush, ninety seconds. A tram every ten minutes. Jack Daniels,...

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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!

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