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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

“Crying in the Food Court” by Jadyn Mccarthy

Submitted to Contest #266

My dad and his 25-year-old girlfriend’s baby woke me up at four in the morning throwing a tantrum, a generous term for those horrifying screeches. As one does, the first thing I did after sighing as dramatically as I could was check my phone for the time, and to my surprise, I had a notification from YouTube. I was so excited I opened it right away: two new comments! When my dad told me he was having another kid, I was able to use it to my advantage and convince him to buy me a real camera to finally start my own YouTube channel. The rule wi...

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“A strange book” by James Little

Submitted to Contest #266

“Jaz! We really should not be here, it’s dangerous!” Aurelia the princess of Decia moaned. Jazcyn smirked and looked back at her friend, as they traversed one of the many hidden passageways within the Royal palace of Decia. A small ball of light floated alongside her, illuminating the dark passageways “Where’s your sense of adventure Auri?! You live in a palace with lots of secrets! We must explore them!” “But there are dangerous things down here! I’ve heard stories of servants going missing! Besides I have to wear this stupid dress! I wish ...

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“Prophetical Coincidence” by Daisy Erina

Submitted to Contest #266

Fingers flew across the silver keyboard, articulating the thoughts that swirled inside Mackenna’s head. She paused for a moment, her right hand reaching out to grasp the handle of her coffee mug, bringing it to her lips to take a sip of her creamed-and-sugared morning beverage. Placing it back down on its coaster, she returned her attention back to her in-progress novel. “Blood permeated the scene before the detective’s eyes. The familiar, metallic scent filled his nose as he allowed his eyes to canvas the parking garage where the bo...

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“Perennial Club” by Linda Olson

Submitted to Contest #266

Carol arrived towing a small trailer full of cuttings, rhizomes, and bulbs, along with all the tools of the garden. The rest of her belongings consisted of clothes, books, and a laptop, neatly fitted in her car.She reasoned her transfer, a downgrade, was actually a good thing. She could pursue her writing with minimum interruption, she thought. A hundred miles from her friends would exclude the time wasting drop-ins insisting, “You just have to come with us, and we’ll have so much fun.” And it was fun, but enough was enough, so she...

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“When Emperors Live” by Sir Suirradel

Submitted to Contest #266

Mac sits at the desk for hours on end. From 4PM to 8PM, he needed to get his project DONE by the end of Friday. Between balancing his work at the security office as well as trying to meet his deadline, his creative cloud of imagination grew stale as time progressed. The ticking of the clock haunting as well as grating his nerves. He groaned as he dropped the weight of his big ol head onto the table. “Oww...” he sighs as boredom strains the back of his neck. 10PM arrives and power begins to flicker. For Mac, he didn’t heed the br...

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“Hoping Against Hope” by Eric Holdorf

Submitted to Contest #266

I’m not superstitious, but I’m smart enough to connect the dots and see a pattern. I don’t know if I’d call it magic, but there’s something in Auntie Au’s sleeping porch. A power for both good and evil. And I got a hold of it. The tricky part - how do you know if there is a good and evil? Although it’s not a trick question, I want to ask some bar fly who’s hoisting beers next to me: “do you know how hard it is to take money from a guy who is living in your old house with your old ...

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“A CHERN for the best” by Nikko DeGoya

Submitted to Contest #266

I stared down at a blank piece of college ruled notebook paper, as my unruly long blonde hair began to tumble over my glasses. The blue and red lines stared back at me menacingly, almost as if they were challenging me. “Fill us up with words, April,” the lines on the page chanted in unison, “Give us life, give us meaning.” Writing. Why did my downfall always come to writing? Even when I was a young kid in elementary school, writing workshops had always been a nightmare. Most, if not all of the other kids had their eyes glued to th...

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“My Experiments With Words” by Vishal KM

Submitted to Contest #266

I sit hunched over my desk in my dim and suffocating apartment, the heavy shadows pressing in from all directions like silent observers. Before me rests my grandfather’s typewriter, an ancient beast of a machine, its iron keys cold and inscrutable under my trembling fingers. The room, filled with the stale odor of dust and neglect, seems to tighten around me as if mocking the dream that has brought me here—the dream of writing something that would make the world pause, if only for a moment or just make me happy because I love writing. But th...

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“Delete” by Rita West

Submitted to Contest #266

Oh, for fuck’s sake, not again. I looked down and my pants were gone, in place of them was a tiny denim skirt. You would think someone could at least make up their mind about what I was going to wear. It’s a date, a casual one at that. It doesn’t even matter anyway because she intends to have him ditch me halfway through the meal because he is bored with our conversation!My author is a hopeless romantic, she is awful when it comes to procrastination and decisions. I started out with a short blonde pixie style haircut, went to a luscious dark...

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“The Woman in the Woods” by Siana Crawford

Submitted to Contest #266

In my lifetime, I’ve been a witch, a goddess, a hunter-gatherer and now a… I’m not sure who I am now. The emotional whiplash of my character has been disturbing. But this story isn’t about me. It’s about Emily. I’ve always known her, for she was my creator. Em, Emily, Emily Greenhouse. When we first met, she was a greenhouse: warm, bursting with sunshine; a hub of life and growth. In time, she swiftly decayed into winter. Barren, fruitless, and clouded. Like a withered white birch, peeling in curls of battered bark that fall to the uncaring ...

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“The Amazing (Curious?) Life of Brian (Bill?) Lelland (Smith? Note: Maybe Too Generic)” by Joseph Gordon

Submitted to Contest #266

The timer on the microwave beeped after four minutes, precisely how Brian Lelland enjoyed his French pressed coffee. Two tablespoons of ground, water boiled in an electric kettle, then wait. If it gave a little resistance when he pushed down the plunger, he knew it'd be perfect. It was his measure of how the day would go, a little superstition in a life of cold reality: numbers, cash, meeting room deals. Being a CFO wasn't easy, especially when the company you worked for had their hands full with a series of recalls on parts that turned your...

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“On the Existence of Authors ” by Tom Harvey

Submitted to Contest #266

I had long suspected my thoughts were not my own, nor my actions, and I had pondered deeply on the nature of life and the possible existence of someone or something beyond. It was like I was not wholly myself anymore, and that no matter how I tried to nail down some aspect of myself that was truly me, I could not find that essence of self at my core. And try as I may, I could not pinpoint exactly how I felt. It was like being too many selves in one body, with too many conflicting desires and emotions. Too many people I wa...

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“Sonder” by Logan Vardeman

Submitted to Contest #266

A man strolls into a coffee shop alone, taking a seat in the quiet back corner.That man is me and this was no random coffee shop. Or maybe it was, being that it sells books, records, comics, and coffee. If you’re into pinball they have that too. When I come here though, I never buy a single thing. Sitting in the back quiet corner reading a book of my own is all I had ever come here for ever since I was 10 years old. Today my corner was not so quiet. Today, there was a couple arguing about nonsense, an aspiring writer tip tapping aw...

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“A Murdered Story” by Charlie Christmann

Submitted to Contest #266

Charley the Clown pushed open the door to his trailer, the rickety thing creaking like an ancient circus elephant's knees. He kicked a stray juggling ball out of his path, muttering to himself about the perils of living in a mobile home with insulation thinner than a tightrope walker's leotard.Great, Charley thought, another night in the world's most depressing clown car. At least I'm not packed in with a small army of seltzer-wielding buffoons.The faint sounds of the circus winding down echoed through the thin walls—the roar of the lion bei...

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“The Wandering Arab” by Bushra Mutlq

Submitted to Contest #266

It was a sunny afternoon. The heat escaped me, but I could somehow sense its presence, like the pain of a lost limb. That being the only knowledge the world left me with, my mind wandered. Unknown, unseen, I started to doubt my own existence. It’s hard to sympathize with one’s self when it is out of reach. The world has turned its back on me in the purgatory where I now abide. Even in emptiness, traces of a former life resides, haunting me, prying on my peace of mind for what seemed like an eternity. A body resembling mine lay on the floor, ...

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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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