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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#266: The Write Stuff

Hello, fellow writers! Before diving into this week’s contest, I have an exciting announcement to make: the Reedsy Book Editor, our beloved (and free) writing app, is now Reedsy Studio! This cozy space is designed to be your creative haven, where you can make boards to sketch out your wildest character ideas, set goals to help you reach the finish line, export your stories with beautiful, customized typesetting, and so much more.

Studio is a gorgeous, functional book editor where your creativity can truly flourish… which brings me to the focus of this week’s contest. If you’re an aspiring author like me, you’ve probably experienced writer’s block at least once in your life — not to mention all the distractions life seems to perpetually throw at you. So, this week, let’s write stories inspired by artists and the creative process. Whether you’re the world’s biggest procrastinator or have been waiting for inspiration to strike, there’s bound to be a prompt below that speaks to you!

This week's prompts

Start your story with someone who wants to give up on their career right before their big break.

Short Story – 39 stories

Your protagonist discovers that everything they type comes true. What happens next?

Short Story – 54 stories

Write from the POV of a character in a story who keeps getting re-written by their second-guessing author.

Short Story – 92 stories

Your protagonist has the perfect day scheduled — but things don’t go according to plan.

Short Story – 40 stories

Write about someone who summons the creative muse through a convoluted ritual or method.

Short Story – 57 stories

Stories

“ Sixteenth World ” by Nerin Naidu

Submitted to Contest #266

Sixteenth World by Nerin Naidu It appeared in a tattered old, cardboard box, stained with a rust-red blot along the left side. The contents considered worthless by the cleaning staff who resealed it haphazardly as if the anaphylactic contents would spell their doom if left exposed. It was discarded along the regular route the garbage collection truck took every single tedious Monday morning . Jimbeam, yes Jimbeam as he was christened by his always inebriated mother, pulled distractedly at the left edge of the discarded package. He ...

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“Click.” by Dreux Long

Submitted to Contest #266

Click. The tactile sound of a letter being input on a typewriter. The clicks were what drove Joseph mad being raised by his Grandmother. Joseph’s grandmother was a retired secretary who just couldn’t kick the habit of using her old Olympia typewriter around the house while he was growing up. With his parents killed in a car accident as an infant, his Grandmother was all he knew. But he hated her. And that’s why he hated the Click. One could imagine how the news of Joseph’s Grandmother being diagnosed with dementia would l...

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“I don't find your sick sense of humor amusing...” by Jeff Meade

Submitted to Contest #266

Chloro Phil was in big trouble. He had traveled south from his adopted community at Chama in search of someone named “Maxwell.” The boy, still unidentified as far as Phil knew, was, as far as Phil knew, still in a coma. The boy had whimpered “Maxwell needs help,” and Chama’s Council of Elders had decided to send Phil to follow the scrap of paper the boy had in his pocket. This scrap of paper had a line drawn on it, like a map, with three X’s marking locations. One of the X’s was circled, and Phil had discovered that it was an abandoned campg...

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“Between the Lines” by Becheru D. Dan

Submitted to Contest #266

I was following Mr. Jules in the heavy rain, in New York. The city was drowning under a blanket of relentless gray, the kind of rain that soaks you to the bone no matter how fast you walk, run, or how well you cover up. I knew it would rain. The clouds were heavy with it, threatening to burst from the moment I stepped out of my office this morning. Yet, here I was, without an umbrella. Why the hell didn’t I bring one? A detective should be prepared. Always a step ahead. But not today...The thought gnawed at...

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“Sun shining in the night. ” by Anonymous Morningstar

Submitted to Contest #266

I was created a week ago. Or at least, I think. It’s not so easy to keep track of time when you’re just a character in a book. Especially when your creator second-guesses every single thing He writes...and keeps re-writing just about everything. Have you ever had your own free will taken away from you by someone who’s supposed to cherish you? If the answer is yes, then you can imagine my entire existence. For what I know He started this book a week ago and we’re still at the first chapter. I mean, I’m not even one of the main...

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“Quod Facis, Bene Fac” by Robert Ryan

Submitted to Contest #266

Okay. So I’m this 5th grader who has no idea what he wants to be when he grows up. Not bad. My parents had very little education. They’re in the working class. But they consider true class to be shown by your integrity, not what you do for a living. They brought me up to value good character above everything else.But it’s not that my parents are contemptuous of the upper classes. They still consider getting a good education to be the road to a better life, including a prosperous career. It’s just that they only consider you to be a good pers...

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“Lance & God” by Carrie Shemanski

Submitted to Contest #266

I do what God tells me to do and try not to ask questions. After all, She created me. Without God, there’d be no Lance Sheldrake. That’s me. Sometimes, God can’t make up her mind. She had me try several careers in rapid succession. Stockboy at an organic grocery store. Drive-thru window at a vegan fast food restaurant. I even worked at a makeup counter at a high-end department store for about a week, but it didn’t stick. (God doesn’t know much about makeup, I don’t think.) Each job was a bit too on-the-nose if you ask me. Wow, a gay guy who ...

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“Oh, Come on, Not again!” by Pete Gautchier

Submitted to Contest #266

Prompt: Write from the point of view of a character in a story who keeps getting re-written by their second-guessing author. Oh, come on, not again! “Hey man, I am no Pinocchio and you are no Geppetto, so loosen up the puppet strings on my story, stop this madness,” as I shouted from the pages of my author’s tablet journal. There was silence. Outside the realm of the journal pages an introduction began. “My name is Buddy and I am a figment of my author’s imagination who calls himself Harry. But I know differently. If given the chan...

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“A Million Different Ways” by Sophie Goldstein

Submitted to Contest #266

My name is Joanna-Joan-Jacob-Rory-I have no name-They call me Bernard-Barbara-Barbara.My name is Barbara.If you were to have told me yesterday that I’d be dead-That I’d be married-That I’d be standing on the edge of a cliff-That I’d be erased from the universe because I can’t complete a sentence-That I’d be dead.Dead.Dead as a doornail.Dead as Jacob Marley-If you were to have told me yesterday that I’d be standing over Marley Jacobson’s dead body, I honestly wouldn’t have been surprised.Marley was a piece of shit.I don’t mean to be crass or ...

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“It's Her Birthday” by Elena Balaguer

Submitted to Contest #266

My eyes snap open. It’s her birthday. The sun is barely rising as the early morning dew starts to eviscerate from our fogged-up bedroom window. I glance askew and see her, still fast asleep. She is the living example of an oxymoron—such a spunky firecracker when awake and such a beatific creature when asleep. Everything about her is a stark contrast. Just on cue, she wakes up. “Happy birthday hun. Thirty-two!”, as I give her a flurry of kisses, counting up to thirty-two. “Huh? Oh… thanks,” rubbing her eyes and still visibly in her realm of d...

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“What makes a person happy?” by Katya Worton

Submitted to Contest #266

I’ve always had the habit of trying to figure out if people are happy. Not through conversations, but purely by examining a person’s mannerisms or hints of expression. Sometimes it can just be from looking at someone’s face, scanning each detail and wrinkle for a twitch of truth. Or tuning into a sigh and waiting for a little whisper of help to seep through. Its not usually someone close to me either. I’ve crossed paths with people on a street, or served a customer at some meaningless retail job, and tried figuring out what or whose fingers ...

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“Ring of Love” by Brigid Hanes

Submitted to Contest #266

Brian stood at the altar awaiting his bride’s arrival with his 5 groomsmen behind him; Jason, Michael, Jaxson, Lennon, and Craig. They all had several drinks before the wedding rooting on Brian and giving him courage. He was occasionally swaying slightly but still managed to hold himself straight. On the opposite side, in the Bridesmaid area, there were Jenna, Alyssa, Terese, Belinda and Christine. Of course Jenna, Brittany’s sister, had to be the maid of honor. She threw a fit until Brittany agreed, but this was supposed to be Brittany...

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“The Couch” by Delsin Jagr

Submitted to Contest #266

Chuck sat in his car. Lost in thought. Enjoying the cool breeze coming from the vents. Then his phone rang. A quick look at the caller ID. Ignore. With a sigh, he exited the car, trading the air-conditioned comfort of his leased luxury SUV for the sweltering summertime heat of South Carolina. In an instant, sweat began to bead on his forehead. He hustled across the parking lot towards the cluster of condos.By the time he reached the front door, sweat had soaked through his t-shirt. He hurriedly looked through messages on his phone. Looking...

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“Writer's Blockade” by K CT

Submitted to Contest #266

The smell of coffee beans, nestled into his mustache. Click-clack, click-clack, click-click-click-click. The, all-too-familiar, sound of the backspace key being pressed repeatedly. The early morning gray, the midnight black. Heavy eyes, aching fingers, growling stomach, jumbled head. A not-so-young, down-and-going, writer struggles to put his brain to his keyboard. His ideas are always amazing, in theory. His concepts have the potential to be fantastic stories but as soon as he begins to write, he can't figure out how to bring it together. T...

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“Fairest of my Muses” by Ann Marie Kalus

Submitted to Contest #266

I had all of it laid out: my Phrygian cap, the Golden Fleece, the epic poetry tablets of Calliope, the sacred laurels of Apollo, fragrant incense, milk, and honey. Desperately, I chanted her name over and over, my words lost to the rustle of leaves. Everything I had, and everything they ever required, lay before me on the grass as my full offering.But she wouldn’t show up. Nobody had truly done it before, yes. But nobody who’s ever tried has ever been her son. Surely, she wouldn’t turn me down. Minutes passed, and I grew restless. Would a so...

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$250

Prize money

282

Contest entries

108

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Sep 06, 2024 EST

Won by Derrick M Domican 🏆

Title: inspirAItion

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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