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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

“Simone” by Emily Farr

Submitted to Contest #257

“Simone?” The Reverend looked at her, and she looked up from her tissues. Jerome practically lifted her up from the pew. It seemed like she had lost muscle along with her mind that day. Nobody in Savannah expected the valedictorian to show up this way - a crumpled version of a once hailed future leader of this town. The last time she took the podium was a lesson in strength and grace. She made the paper that day. Six months later, her mom would be in it, too. “Simone?” Jerome placed his arm on the small of her back this time, gently pu...

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“Greetings, Old Hoss” by Michael Jefferson

Submitted to Contest #257

Utica, Wyoming1891 Seneca Welch reaches under the bar for his shotgun, pointing it at Buck Savage, the acknowledged leader of the quartet of saddle tramps harassing him. A former boxer, the burly bartender with the handlebar mustache still has an intimidating physique that ripples with muscles, and he can still wipe the floor with any man brave enough to challenge him. Tall with curly hair and mysterious dark eyes, forty-two-year-old Buck Savage’s swarthy looks belie his quick, felonious mind. He keeps company with twenty-four-year-old Swed...

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“O ROMEO!” by Mario Chioldi

Submitted to Contest #257

O ROMEO! Ophelia drowned. Red and blue flashing lights unsettle the dark silence when the rescue team arrives and surveys the scene. They create a perimeter and work through the mist that formed over the murky water but her tangled garments hold her under. And the receding tide washes away any clues. Her secret was safe. At least for now. No shots rang out. There were no screams. The old man had dozed off by the time they arrived. Though it couldn’t have been long. Their calm was unnerving. A life had been lost but no one was ...

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“Rom and Jules.” by Julie Grenness

Submitted to Contest #257

It was fascination, flawed by teenage human nature, taken to the max. Rom had walked to his bus stop as normal, clad in his very expensive private Christian school uniform. He had always been a bit of a loner, but played the game. Top student in final year, expected to excel in his mid-year exams. He continued on as vice-captain of the football team.But he had become fascinated by Jules, as her friends called her. She was only a couple of years younger than him, yet a fully formed young woman. Her dark flashing eyes had captivated this teen ...

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“A Midnight Insomniacs "Dream" - Smoke and Caffeine” by Taz Dunstan

Submitted to Contest #257

"Oh to sleep." - by the light of the moon... Alas the Midsummer moon has come and gone many, many moons ago and now... now the sky it wretched. A deep, deep darkness has consumed the night...so unnerving, one dare not close their eyes for fear of never opening them again. "Oh to dream." - the thought, so rebellious, one gasps in surprise at the mischief of even imagining such luxury. "No, there is no dreaming." That ship sunk long, long ago- besieged by pirates, with pens in pin striped pants, destroying the sails they swung from with fire ...

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“A 'Liv' by Any Other Name (Romeo and Juliet)” by W. H. Goodwater

Submitted to Contest #257

I took a careful sip from my chamomile tea, still steaming as tiny tendrils wafted around my nose, then set it down gently on the side table and flipped to the next page in my book. Exhaustion from all that social interaction earlier had my eyes finding difficulty focusing on the letters on the pages, but I was unable to rest just yet. The soft glow of my book light cast a small shaft illuminating my precious pages in the darkness of the moonless night. From my balcony, I could hear the distant hum of crickets and the occasional bark from a ...

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“Rosemary's Remembrance - A Meditation on Hamlet” by E.G.H. James

Submitted to Contest #257

At one point there were four in the house. Then there were three. And when the fourth, the father of the three, drew his last, sputtering breath, each was moved, as if by the sea, to their own bereaved contemplation. The man who died was loved by all his children: two daughters named Alquila and Cereta and a son named Saevius. I have that within which passes show, these but the trappings and the...

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“A Problem With The Database” by Jake Fordyce

Submitted to Contest #257

John woke up and checked his phone. It was 8:11 a.m. If he hurried, he could still make it to work on time. He skipped his morning shower, threw on some clothes, and hopped in his car.At work, John waved to his coworkers on the way to his desk and they waved back. Some frowned at him, which was confusing. When he got to his cubicle he was surprised to see someone in his chair.“Hi. One minute,” the man said. He clacked around on the keyboard, but failed to login.John was still tired, and wasn’t sure why the man was there. He scanned him and s...

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“A Tragic Hero?” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #257

It was time in town for the election of the mayor and the regional representatives. The mayor had significant power over the elected underlings in this town. One main reason for that was that the family that owned by far the largest factory in town, the Montagues, who employed over 150 people, also pretty much owned the mayor as well. They had a method of doing this which had long been foolproof. They would sponsor a meeting in the largest room in their factory, in which those wanting to be elected to the position, would ...

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“The Honor of Death” by Brandon Cox

Submitted to Contest #257

Kai emerged into the stifling heat to a reluctant applause from what he guessed was a middling crowd, but when he spared a sour glance up into the rows of stone seating, he found the colosseum brimming with patrons. He pulled on his tattered gear, peering up to the top levels to find tiny figures of men milling about in a rush beneath the crimson royal banners. “Damn them and the king’s bloody games,” he muttered into his shaggy beard, already growing tired of the festivities. His head slumped back down to study the sands shifting beneath hi...

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“A Drop of Sunshine, A Tear of Sadness” by Maunikha Rasineni

Submitted to Contest #257

Joy. Cheer, jolliness, delight, enjoyment. So many words to describe one feeling. Happiness. Yet none of those describe what I’m feeling now. I sit in the back of the carriage, feeling lonely and claustrophobic, with the carriage's natural darkness doing nothing to stop it. Theo, my brother, snuggles close to me for warmth from the winter air - he’s probably terrified too. I hear his small voice echo in the crowded carriage, “Valley, why are we going to Windsglen?” Windsglen, the capital of the country: the most populated, the plac...

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“Reluctant Happiness, Resilient Joy” by ♡ Tana ♡

Submitted to Contest #257

I didn’t want to save you, Papa, I hope you know that. On that beautiful summer day, August bursting into September with all the fanfare of goldenrod, I was truly happy. I ran up your cracked steps, skipping the silver lines like a child mindful of my mother’s back, feeling lighter than I had in years.I was about to tell you that you were going to be a grandfather, that Julian and I were going to move to your neighborhood, that you would be able to come over for barbecues and pool days and first toddling steps. I was about to tell you t...

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“Too Like the Lightning” by Cristina Otero

Submitted to Contest #257

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of plague, it was the age of plague, it was the epoch of no sword control, it was epoch of no gun control, it was the season of theater box-office hits and flops, it was the season of movie theater box-office hits and flops, it was the summer of my love, it was the winter of our discontent, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we had made substantial progress, we had made no progress—in short, it was modern times and Elizabethan England and we were all goin...

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“The Midwinter's Nightmare” by WD Rose

Submitted to Contest #257

The city of Sicilia wore winter like a shroud. Gray clouds hung low, their somber weight pressing down on slate rooftops and neon-lit streets slick with half-frozen rain. In this concrete maze of shadowed alleyways and towering office blocks, Detective Leo Winters was a golden boy - a rarity as bright and unexpected as sunlight breaking through the perpetual gloom. Leo's laugh rang out in the precinct, a sound that turned heads and softened the hard edges of seasoned cops. He leaned against his desk, case file in one hand, the other gesturin...

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“The Ghost in The Black Box Theater” by Kacie Foos

Submitted to Contest #257

It was a warm sunny day in London. I had just left a market and had my sandwich in hand and script in the other. I made my way up the street to my theater school nervously repeating my lines in my head.Today was my final rehearsal of 'The Scottish Play', known to most as 'Macbeth', with my scene partner Houston, and my Drama Teacher, who shall be known as D.T. We had been assigned the schools Black Box theater as our rehearsal space. This was an area of the school I was not familiar with.The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art was a large school f...

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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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