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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#267: Overcoming Obstacles with Writers Ink

This week’s contest, "Overcoming Obstacles," is hosted by our friends over at Writers Ink, the online mentoring and coaching wing of award-winning magazine website www.writing.ie that’s run by Writing.ie’s founder, bestselling author Sam Blake, and business and mindset coach, journalist Maria McHale. Sam and Maria’s mission at Writers Ink is to help you say goodbye to limiting beliefs about your writing, and give you the training, tools, and support you need to get everything you want as a writer. Members of the Writers Ink community are getting publishing deals and hitting the bestseller lists, and Writers Ink’s free writing challenges have resulted in whole novels coming together. Here’s what they have to say about their chosen theme for this takeover:


Writers Ink is delighted to partner with Reedsy to present this week’s contest! As mentors, we encourage writers to develop their creativity muscles. Muscles are built through exercise; so is writing! One of the main issues we see writers struggle with is mindset. They often have all of the tools to nail a great story — EXCEPT they get hobbled by limiting beliefs like a fear of failure or a fear of success — obstacles!


Most great stories contain obstacles that challenge heroes, but the best characters always overcome them. Share yours using the prompts below...


Special Update: The Results


Writers Ink's top three picks for this takeover were: 1) "One-Mississippi, Two-Mississippi" 2) "The Rag-Man" and 3) "You're Not Even Happy"


Here's what they had to say about the winning story, "One-Mississippi, Two-Mississippi": "We believe this story works on both a metaphorical and literal level. It's an engaging and clever response to the prompt — we get a clear sense of the character, and the use of interior monologue works really well."



Congratulations to contest winner Fi Riley and the runners-up, Richard Stickann and Anna W!


This week's prompts

Write a story with two characters who meet for the first time — and one of them has a secret.

Short Story – 83 stories

Your character overhears something that changes their path.

Short Story – 38 stories

There’s been an accident — what happens next?

Short Story – 70 stories

Write a story set against the backdrop of a storm.

Dramatic – 106 stories

Your character wants something very badly — will they get it?

Short Story – 60 stories

Stories

“RHODI'S ROSES” by J. I. MumfoRD

Submitted to Contest #267

Fairweather skipped down Willow Lane, her uneven pigtails bouncing like springs, eyes wide with wonder at her new surroundings. The quaint houses lining the street morphed in her imagination: a thatched cottage became a gingerbread house, a brick bungalow, a dwarf's underground lair. But it was the house at the end of the lane that truly captivated her - a grand Victorian house, set away from the street, its weathered façade of red brick with black brick diamonds nearly hidden behind a riot of climbing roses and twisting vines. To Fairweathe...

3 comments 3
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“Body on the Gate” by Christina Miller

Submitted to Contest #267

"There's another body on the castle gates." Mellia looked up from the bruised apples she'd been appraising. Bodies hung on the castle gates weren't unusual, but they always elicited a flurry of rumors and curious onlookers. Normally, Mellia wouldn't react to such news at all, especially now, with her impending escape from the city on the horizon. But she hadn't heard from Ivann in two days. And without him, all of her preparations were pointless. But he wouldn't be dumb enough to get himself caught. He couldn't be dumb enough to get himself ...

4 comments 4
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“Life in the Key of Loss” by Scott Taylor

Submitted to Contest #267

It began like any other day, wrapped in the familiar chill of winter, the kind of cold that nipped at your skin and whispered of the mundane. I pulled my coat tighter, oblivious to the tempest brewing beneath the surface of my ordinary routine. But as the frost clung to the windowpanes, I had no inkling that the very weather I took for granted would soon intertwine with the fabric of my fate, setting into motion a chain of extraordinary events that would forever alter the course of my life. Walking from my car to the elevator, the balmy 19-d...

6 comments 6
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“An Ill Wind” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #267

The weather was a fickle beast in these parts. Wayward and cruel. At times, it would create a false sense of security. The sun would shine hard enough to warm the bones and clouds were a thing of distant past memories. But those cruel clouds could swoop in in a matter of minutes though. Carried on freezing winds. It were as though they lay in wait for unsuspecting walkers, intent on catching them unawares and mugging them of their lives. Soaking them, blinding them, draining them of their will to live. Only a fool would be out on the moors i...

6 comments 6
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“I Wish Someone Told Me...” by Penny Shanahan

Submitted to Contest #267

Authors Note: This story has notes of mental health, drug use, drinking and suicide. I wish someone told me that life was so unfair. That the people you love most aren't permanent. Like if you had a great day at school, you got an A on the math test you worked so hard on, but as you’re running home you see police cars swarming your house. And then you know, life will never be the same again. “She could survive.” the police tell you, as if that makes anything better. And to make matters better, the person who hit her made it with ba...

4 comments 4
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“Sometimes It Catches Up With You” by Jon Resnick

Submitted to Contest #267

Sometimes It Catches Up With You Glancing down at my watch, I saw that there were less than thirty minutes left until it would all be over. Ten o’clock was what I had decided on, and I was going to make good on that. No backing out.  I let out a sigh and raised the glass to my lips, draining the last of the Jack Daniels. My eyes closed as a familiar fire ignited in my stomach, calming my nerves. Over the sound of tonight’s band, I barely heard the ice clinking around as I set the glass back onto the coaster.    &nbs...

5 comments 5
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“Sheryl Crow, Eat Your Heart Out” by Jackson Anhalt

Submitted to Contest #267

TW: Suicide and mental health topics. “I have been the last voice many people have heard before they died. That’s not hyperbole; that’s fact. It’s a strange reality to come to terms with, knowing that your words – your tone, your pauses, the breath between sentences – might be the last tether someone has to this world.  “At first, I didn’t realize the weight of it. It was just a part of the job. But over time, it crept on me. The quiet moment after the line goes dead, when the room is filled with nothing but my own breathing, became t...

4 comments 4
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“BAD INK” by Laura Camacho Frias

Submitted to Contest #267

I had arrived at the hospital that morning, and I was feeling like crap. It's not an elegant way of expressing my physical and mental state, but saying I was low, tired, or exhausted would not be a fair description. The night before, I had barely slept, drove my car for four hours at dawn, and arrived at my destination needing caffeine as if my life depended on it. The only thing that helped me wake up was the cold air that slapped my face as soon as I opened the car door, but as soon as I entered the building, my body seemed to switch off. ...

8 comments 8
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“The Eternal Playground” by Vee Ay

Submitted to Contest #267

The world slowed the moment the car hit me. I didn’t hear the screech of the tires or the sickening thud of my body against the hood. Instead, there was silence—an unnatural void. Time unraveled, stretching thin as I hit the pavement. My bones cracked like brittle twigs, and blood pooled in my mouth, but my thoughts were somewhere distant, disjointed. I opened my eyes to find myself lying on the playground across the street. The world felt... wrong. The edges of my vision blurred, everything dim and colorless. A deep, throbbing ache spread t...

6 comments 6
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“Say Goodbye to Writing?” by David Marshall

Submitted to Contest #267

Me saying goodbye to writing should have taken place in high school. The class that would have made any ordinary student wish they had dropped out of school and joined the military was American Literature. Thank God it was not a required class for graduation, just like the English class we had to attend during our four years. In our not-so-favorite class, we had to learn spelling, grammar, punctuation, nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, blah blah, well, you get the picture. I remember my English teacher, Ms. Blue; I called her because her ha...

2 comments 2
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“The Aftermath” by Lara Lenhoff

Submitted to Contest #267

                                                              The Aftermath                           ...

9 comments 9
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“Getting Away from It All” by Carol Stewart

Submitted to Contest #267

***references to outdated attitudes - homophobia, racial - veiled references to self harm and eating disorder - strong language***Sam had been tracking the girl’s movements for a while. Not obsessively so, that would have made it all too obvious, but through a combination of social media and word of mouth –eavesdropping mainly – it had been easy enough to find and pick her out, approach her if and when he decided that was what he wanted to do. However, when he first came across her, encountered her face-to-face as opposed to through some sho...

12 comments 12
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“Over My Dead Body” by David Ader

Submitted to Contest #267

Wilkerson went about his business, such as it was which is to say not very much.  Wilkerson’s days were like that now, had been for several years in fact. His business was puttering about, extending the mundane into the profound. Today it was changing a light bulb on the outside post. That involved finding an incandescent bulb, 60 watts. It was no easy task. He went to three hardware stores in three different towns. In the one that had some, way in the back, he bought six, the entire stock. They were made by GE, at least; an American co...

2 comments 2
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“William” by D'Spencer Luyao

Submitted to Contest #267

This story is a continuation of 'Gimmick,' which you can find in my other short stories.     Garrett Barron Jr.—headed northbound on Oak Way. It was the blinding hour, and the sun slotted through the police car’s windows at an angle that perfectly struck Gimmick’s eyes. He felt hungover, still, but maybe it was withdrawal. Withdrawal made him sound like an alcoholic, and Gimmick had never liked the sound of that word. He didn’t quite like the sound of his own name either, and he guessed maybe that was the same sort of dea...

1 comment 1
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“Getting Siobhán Back” by Susan O'REILLY

Submitted to Contest #267

This retirement lark is killing me. Boredom has settled in big time. Looking up at the sky I decide it’s a day for a picnic basket for one and a good book. This would have been a big thrill back in the day; just to have the time to do it would have been wonderful. Now it is a common occurrence, weather permitting.  Go to the fridge cannot wait to see what delights are waiting, I jest, the usual array of cheese and beetroot, ah hidden in the back, a slice of turkey, a veritable feast. I have asked her I don’t kno...

4 comments 4
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$250

Prize money

357

Contest entries

127

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Sep 13, 2024 EST

Won by Fi Riley 🏆

Title: One-Mississippi, two-Mississippi

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!

Prompts | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

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Prompts | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

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