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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#257: Shakespeare

He's the writer who requires no introduction. Probably the world's most famous playwright and poet, Shakespeare's tragedies, comedies, and sonnets have been studied and performed for the last 400 years. You'll be hard pressed to find someone who wasn't forced to read 'Sonnet 18' in English class, or to appear in a regrettable high school production of Romeo and Juliet. But he's a mainstay of our literary education for a reason. His writing is ubiquitous and seminal, and there's really no overstating the influence Shakespeare has had on art, literature, and even our day-to-day speech.

It's almost unbelievable that, in the hundreds of short story contests we've hosted, we've never dedicated one to the Bard himself — and so, this week is the week...

This week's prompts

Write a story named after, and inspired by, one of Shakespeare's plays. Think modern retellings, metanarratives, subversions, etc.

Narrative – 72 stories

Write your story in the form of a script, complete with stage directions.

Narrative – 33 stories

Write a story in which a case of mistaken identity plays a pivotal role.

Funny – 24 stories

Write a story about a tragic hero.

Dramatic – 57 stories

Set your story during rehearsals for a production of a Shakespeare play.

High School – 29 stories

Stories

“the 3.0 GPA” by James DeMaio

Submitted to Contest #257

Life is pretty short. And in the brevity and idiocy of youth, decisions are made which can have only the direst of consequences. Ideas and ideations that start with the most innocent of desires can have unrelenting and painful ends. In my younger years I spent hours reading a medical encyclopedia at my grandparents’ house. I learned about heart disease, hives, sexually transmitted diseases and types of bone breaks. Later on, I suffered an epileptic seizure which turned me into a patient. I had a spinal tap. I had to take two EEG tests, compl...

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“Dirty Snow” by Anthony Passarella

Submitted to Contest #257

It had been exactly one month since the worst day, and Bobby O’Malley still felt as if it were only a few hours ago that he’d been woken up by his hysterical wife with the news. The dirty, black remnants of a snow storm still blanketed every tiny front lawn on his Bay Ridge street. He always thought that a good snow storm cleaned off the sidewalks and streets, bringing all the shit and sludge down the sewers with it when it melted. Bobby parked the car on the street, and walked the block to his attached Tudor that he and his wife had cl...

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“The Spoils of War” by Grayson Chilcote

Submitted to Contest #257

Dalmani felt his fingertips drown in the blood that flowed its way down the sword pierced through the boy's throat. He clutched the sword at its hilt and drew it back as the child clawed at his forearm in a desperate attempt to deal one final blow to his killer, an attempt that even he knew would be in vain. Dalmani stepped back as the corpse fell to the ground, above all the others. He breathed heavily, exhausted after the week of fighting in the forest. He hadn’t seen the sun in days, as the thick canopy combined with the endless rain kept...

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“Project Goofy” by William Siebold

Submitted to Contest #257

Adelbert Ambros Lajlos stood in silent contemplation at the podium. After a moment he warmed to the receptive audience—a defense industry crowd. His talk was entitled Game Theory and War: The Downfall of the Red Empire. He spoke quietly, confidentially, to these his special friends and colleagues.“It is us or them,” said Ambros. “There is no other way. It is inevitable.” He paused to put on his genuine sadness face. “Millions—no, hundreds of millions—will die. But they are the enemy. We must build this revolutionary bomb, which has been name...

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“Ashes” by Ada Wegner

Submitted to Contest #257

I hate being poor. I hate that we’re always sleeping in homeless shelters and sometimes on the streets. I especially hate how I never had the opportunity to finish high school, let alone go to college. Thrift store clothes, cheapest of the cheap. It’s normal to me now, but that doesn’t mean it’s okay. We pretty much walk everywhere we need to go. School for my siblings, work for me and my mom, the store every once in a while when we can afford it. Sometimes we’ll take the bus downtown for things like doctor appointments. I'm seventeen and my...

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“Never Dark Again” by Madeleine Hall

Submitted to Contest #257

Spring had always been Mara’s favorite season. She liked the warmth and heady happiness of sunlight after a long, dark winter. She liked the subtle feeling of hope and life that permeated everything, that rushed into existence like a breath of fresh air; a reward for surviving the long days of darkness. She liked the bright colors of the flowers, the vivid greens of new leaves. Standing in a large meadow, Mara drew in a deep breath. The breeze was pleasantly cool, the sunlight pleasantly warm. The tall grass around her ran in the wind, whisp...

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“Ghosts Upon The Sea” by Marley Monroe

Submitted to Contest #257

It was all I had left of my mother. A piece of who she was but also the curse that took her from us. Growing up, I never thought a building could hold so much power over a life, but I was about to find out just how far past my limits I could be driven. And all at the hands of a lighthouse. A beacon of hope was to be my undoing. My mother had been a beacon of hope for many in our little seaside town. She was never shy about giving, both of her time and of what little financially we had to spare when it came to our neighbors.Only that gi...

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“Loneliness Kills” by Grace Stone

Submitted to Contest #257

It was a cold blustery October evening and Gillian did not want to be outside. She would prefer to be huddled in her apartment on the upper west side watching the world go by. She had lucked out with her apartment. You couldn’t find a better place to live in New York City. She was close to the 1 train and delicious coffee shops. The apartment itself had gorgeous parquet floors and exposed brick. Gillian will never leave, never leave a cheap apartment in NYC. Even if the loneliness of the city was slowly killing her soul.Regardless how inviti...

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“Teddy's Spot” by Arianna Noelle

Submitted to Contest #257

Three dead men lay bloody and broken, inches from my face, their souls twisting into the air and drifting from their rotting bodies. I shake my head at the rough sketch, ripping off the page and tossing it to the ground. “Makes no sense,” I mutter, wiping my lead stained hands on my shorts. I’ve been up since 4 A.M, sketching, and I’ve come up embarrassingly empty– not a single reference point, nor an outline I feel even slightly satisfied with. I glare at the assignment sheet I’d printed out in my manic procrastination phase of finish...

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“The Boy and the Bushel” by John Marx

Submitted to Contest #257

Joseph was gone; that is, no one could find him. But, what am I saying: it’s not like anyone was looking for him. “Joseph is missing”—that’s all anyone said. You’d wonder what happened that he was missing; or more, what happened that no one cared.Joseph Franklin: 13 years old, 9th grader, smart, reserved, and kind. He didn’t wear glasses (he wasn’t that smart). But he had a problem: he was small. Oh? what’s the problem with that? Well, then he had another problem: he wanted to join the basketball team. Wait, what’s the problem with that? He ...

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“Much Ado About Nothing” by Melinda Angle

Submitted to Contest #257

“NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!” Adrian’s voice came bellowing from the back of the theater and Violet felt her stomach jolt and her heart skip a beat. She knew she was wrong for this part. And not an actress. What had possessed her to even audition?! Her friend Freida had convinced her to sign up for the local community theater auditions and after two nerve-racking callbacks, Violet had won the part of Viola in “Twelfth Night”. Her competition had been a diffident young woman in glasses named Esther. Violet was certain it was only because her name...

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“Die to Live” by Dana Dananevels@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #257

It’s disorientation sickness—throbbing head, ringing ears. Nausea forces my mouth open—I vomit then I spit out the bile. I stand up and take in the massive arena with a Shakespeare in the pit. He is a fairly good replica—same receding hairline, same facial hair. He scans my collar. “Is the disorientation gone?” he asks. I nod. “I recruited you from level 15,” he says. “I was Lady Macbeth in the Scottish play,” I say. “Sorry,” I say nodding to the vomit. “Never mind. Stage Manager will get it.” “Listen, I haven’t had a hit in twenty cycles. ...

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“Freddie Jones and The Price Theatre” by Rachel Valentine

Submitted to Contest #257

My partner, CJ, rolled his big brown eyes as the director of the Price Theatre fluttered her hands like excited birds. As CJ continued questioning the thin woman I turned my attention to the crime scene. Standing on the stage with the bright lights aiming into my eyes I couldn’t see the seats in the theatre, but I could hear the rustling of people and more than a few ghosts tingling my senses. The fuse controlling the house lights had blown earlier in the day. &nbsp...

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“Juliet and Romeron” by Franny Behrman

Submitted to Contest #257

Juliet was walking home through the woods when she heard it---voices and the sounds of a scuffle. The sun was setting and she had to hurry home, for Father had strict rules about her being out after dark, but one of the voices was familiar. “Ian! What are you doing?” Juliet followed the sounds to a clearing, where Ian Bracebridge had drawn a short sword and was standing over a boy Juliet had never seen, who was on his knees in the clearing, his face white with fear. Ian’s frie...

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“THE REAL STORY OF JULIET AND ROMEO” by Julia Corliss

Submitted to Contest #257

Once upon a time in the city of Verona there lived two wealthy and powerful families named Capulet and Montague, who had been competing in business and quarreling with each other for so long that the grudge-pile between them had turned into an ongoing feud. Young men from both families taunted each other whenever they crossed paths on Verona’s streets. They often fought each other with fists, and sometimes, even engaged in sword fights. So far, as this tale begins, no one had been killed. The prince who ruled over their beautiful city w...

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$250

Prize money

215

Contest entries

79

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jul 05, 2024 EST

Won by Keba Ghardt 🏆

Title: Your Animal Side

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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