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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

“Imagination can be tiring” by Maureen MacLennan

Submitted to Contest #266

Imagination can be tiringDeirdre strolled confidently down Ash Street, turned a corner at Haight, stopped and waited. She’d been down this road several times before, twice the street signs changed names, and more than once, so had she. So far, she’d been a Heather and a Joy, the author finally settled on Deirdre. She felt a subtle push, so continued down Haight. Her thoughts turned to the date ahead with David, nope that was the last alternative, this was Graham. She daydreamed about his blue eyes, and black curls and hoped they’d stayed tha...

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“It Had to be Me” by Mindy Reed

Submitted to Contest #266

The crumpled computer paper was up to her ankles. “I quit!” Maryann shouted. “The only killer is this mystery is me, killing trees.” She stormed out of the room. The ceiling fan was whirring on the highest speed, causing the balls of computer paper below to rustle across the floor like inner-city tumbleweeds. One ball rolled from under the desk to the opposite wall. The black and while tuxedo cat, Hemmingway, bounced it between its paws, and then, hearing the can opener, scampered out to the kitchen. A man in his mid-thirties emerged and str...

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“Page People” by Sharon Elwell

Submitted to Contest #266

What unwritten people sometimes don’t understand is that those of us who come to life on the page have a much bigger reality than anyone who exists only in flesh and blood. You just have to stop and think for a moment to see that what I say is true. I doubt very much that you can visualize Margaret Mitchell. But Scarlett O’Hara is as real as any of your own relatives. Maybe more real. Mario Puzo? No idea. But Don Corleone you know. And Atticus Finch clearly is more important than Harper Lee. Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy or Louisa May? Frodo o...

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“Writer's Block” by Casey Plazola

Submitted to Contest #266

“You are the dullest man that I have ever met,” he said with a flamboyant shrill. He was tall in my doorway. His curlers, wrapped tightly around his black hair, nearly touched the top of the frame. He had his arms crossed in an accusatory way with a condescending look on his face. His chocolate skin was smooth and his fuzzy pink robe pulled against his muscles. He had matching pink slippers, a size thirteen. He had a square, leather backpack; the straps tight around his shoulders. “Come on honey,” he smacked his lips at me, “We got wor...

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“Dear Author” by Elaine March

Submitted to Contest #266

Dear Author, I suppose I should be grateful you didn't begin my story with waking up. Nor did birdsong factor in. You'd be surprised by the amount of creative pieces that slide across my desk beginning with birdsong. Then again, perhaps the ubiquitous birdsong I suffer at the hands of fledgling writers is your doing. Everything is your doing, isn't it? It wasn't that difficult to deduce, I must say. I've been a disciple of the written word for nearly fifteen years. I have poured over page after page since I discovered a weathered...

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“The Life They Live” by Kyle Kaye

Submitted to Contest #266

Shards of glass fall to the hardwood floor, shattering into smaller fragments that sprinkle across my bare feet. I can’t look into another mirror. Gripping my cleat in one hand, I move to the master bathroom. Before smashing the last reflection, I catch a glimpse of someone else staring back at me. The eyes are mine, but their hair is longer and dark brown. My beard has grown a peppering of grey. A scar appears across my eyebrow. A memory of a fist adorned with rings flashes through my mind, colliding with my face. My life was dark, my body ...

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“Number Five” by James Gideon

Submitted to Contest #266

I’ve been 40 years old for ten years. At least that much was established and remained early on. Life experience is one thing, but this is beyond ridiculous, to be overly qualified with all possibilities in the fray for the future…I really wish this man would finally make up his mind. And it doesn’t help that Deleerius Shaw is a procrastinator, as this only exacerbates his crippling, fearful indecisiveness, undergirded further by a pestering low esteem in his already traditionally published, award-winning prowess. Four acclaimed novels in, an...

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“Rewritten, Rewired and Really Annoyed ” by Lars-Ole Kjæmpenes

Submitted to Contest #266

I’ve been a lot of things in my life: a pirate captain, a pastry chef, an intergalactic spy, and at one point, I think I was a tree. No joke. A full-grown, oxygen-producing, bark-having tree. If you think that sounds ridiculous, believe me, that’s the least crazy thing that’s happened. My life (or should I say lives) have been out of control, and it’s all because of Him. The Author. I know he’s out there, somewhere. Typing away on his laptop or scribbling in some notebook. Second-guessing every decision, tweaking every line, rearranging my e...

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“Melting December” by Sierra Meckes

Submitted to Contest #266

Hello! My name is Ash- no… Cameron! Ugh, that's wrong too. How about… December. Does December work? No second guesses, I guess it works. Now to get on with our story. One Tuesday… Thursday afternoon, I was walking — no, biking though a park- forest- city. Sigh, sorry, I meant park. I was pedaling up a hill, so I shifted to my lowest gear so pedaling would be easier — but there was a problem. The chain popped off!It was absolutely tragic- catastrophic- awful. …Before I knew it, I was rolling backwards, uncontrollably, and I crashed into a ben...

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“Rough Draft” by Hannah Rose

Submitted to Contest #266

I’m an Aries. Well, technically a Gemini. But actually a Sagittarius. You know what? Forget horoscopes. I was born...once...when the sun was shining. But it was also snowing. Which is a paradox, yes, but stranger things happen, right? 20 or 40 years ago...ok, ok, a solid 31 years ago, classic rock blared from the boom box that my mom had insisted upon lugging into the hospital delivery room. And perhaps in premonition of the chaotic energy I would inflict on the world, just as AC/DC’s first thunder struck, I came screaming into my fath...

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“Second Draft” by D.C. Reed

Submitted to Contest #266

“Jake? Is that you Jake?” The weathered bartender of Kill Your Darlings, said through squinted eyes as he welcomed who he thought was his regular Jake Mathist, into the bar. “Onix. Onix Rock Harden, now my friend.” “I’ll get you a tall one. Maybe two,” “Sounds great,” Onix said, because it was the only thing to say. Onix didn’t know if he would like the coming stout beer. Once Jake, Onix, came in to have a draft of his favorite light beer only to unearth a new gluten intolerance. “Who writes allergies into a character?” Onix asked, ...

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“Edge of Nothing” by Fi Riley

Submitted to Contest #266

Yesterday I died. It was a sad, sombre affair. I was alone. Except for Joel. Joel, who was always with me. Even at the very end. Or, I suppose, especially so. Facing death held a magnificent horror for me. Most people either have faith or don’t. Think they’re worm food or else are going to meet their maker. I was on close personal terms with my maker. I knew the end was the end. Whenever he was brave enough to see it through. But it was done. It was over. I could let go. At least, that’s what I thought. Joel had other ideas. It was he who ne...

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“Make Up Your Mind” by Micah Woodbridge

Submitted to Contest #266

“Young man, destiny has chosen you for greatness!” Llwyd looked up from his mug to see an old man with the longest beard and the bushiest eyebrows he had ever seen was looking at him. “Are…are you talking to me?” Llwyd asked hesitantly, looking around the tavern. There must be a mistake. Why would anyone talk to him? He was just a humble farmhand from the backwater village of Burr, the smallest village in the land of Made-Upia. “Yes,” the old man crowed, “my boy, our kingdom is in danger! The princess has been kidnapped by the Evil Lord of ...

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“Ardent Cosmonaut” by Daniel Coniff

Submitted to Contest #266

I distinctly remember mining for gold on Mars at the young age of 8 when an uproar blasted throughout the cave walls. Or maybe I was cleaning the toilets at Grand Central Space Station… No, I was definitely mining for silver. Gold, I mean. The year was 2256. Somebody shouted, “It’s happening! It’s happening!” The next thing I knew, a stampede of men, women, and children - most of the children were older than me - flew out of the tunnels in droves. I was downright perplexed at this strange sight because mass exodus on this scale only took pla...

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“Deja Vu” by Nina Shylo

Submitted to Contest #266

This story is set in a war zone. There's some swearing and a brief episode of gore. I crouch low behind a pile of rubble barely big enough to protect my ass, let alone the rest of me. I aim to get all the vital bits tucked in and lay low—trying to make it damn near impossible for the sniper to get me with a one-and-done shot. Where the hell is he sitting? I scan the decimated buildings around me for any sign of my nemesis. A flash of sunlight off metal, a shadow that doesn’t quite fit in—but the rubble, the dark empty holes in the walls and...

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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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