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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#28: Narratively Takeover

This week is a special edition of the Reedsy Prompts contest because our friends at Narratively are taking it over with their own theme and prompts! We'll let them take it from here...

Narratively is a media platform that celebrates the diversity of humanity through authentic storytelling. At Narratively, we know that truth is sometimes stranger (and more interesting!) than fiction, so we’re switching things up this week and asking for your TRUE stories. For this week’s prompts, we’re looking for your very best creative nonfiction — the fascinating true story that only you can tell, the one incredible tale you just have to share with the world.

We like stories that surprise and delight us, and that are full of dramatic, active scenes with lots of colorful moments.

To that end, each of our prompts for this week takes on an issue that never goes out of style… love.

The winning story will be considered for publication on Narratively.

This week's prompts

Write about someone (or something) you loved that you shouldn’t have.

Nonfiction – 90 stories

Write about a date that was so terrible you’ll never forget it.

Nonfiction – 46 stories

Write about your most unique experience at, or in, a wedding.

Nonfiction – 34 stories

Write about a time when a broken heart led to something you’d never have expected.

Nonfiction – 58 stories

Write about a secret that you’ve never told to the person you love.

Nonfiction – 41 stories

Stories

“Platonic Love and Heartbreak” by Amelia Betancourt

Submitted to Contest #28

I’ve never been in love. An odd way to preface a story about a broken heart, right? Maybe. But I also don’t think you need to have been in love to experience a broken heart. If you do need to have once been in love to understand what a broken heart feels like, then I must be severely misinterpreting the hollow, sunken feeling that comes at the realization of an ending relationship, or of the unfortunate truth that what you hoped would come from a relationship is not in fact, going to happen. I have felt that empty, world-shattering, pang of...

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“The Hug” by Amanda McNally

Submitted to Contest #28

Once again, I screwed up.At least, it felt that way at the time.My husband and I had gone out for dinner before I had to work the graveyard shift. A waitress flirted with him and he loved it, like always. I got upset about it because I didn’t trust him. I never did, not even once.After dinner, he dropped me off at home and then left. We were screaming at each other. I was in tears. But I had to go to work.I go to work pretending everything is fine. I didn’t want to let my sadness show. I knew my marriage was going downhill more and more ever...

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“Write about a time when a broke heart led to something unexpected” by Sreedurga S

Submitted to Contest #28

Now, as I stand and look back I feel as if the whole universe has rightfully been conquered me. I know it is a wee bit too ambitious on my part to state it this way but yes, I don’t think it could be put in better words. I can see myself being that devastated soul with a hapless face looking around as though every single soul that I ever knew cheated on me; that very me around five months back with a tired, gloomy, expressionless, distraught face and an equally weary, dead eyes sitting all alone in every single place as though the world...

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“The one I deserved” by Christina Lyon

Submitted to Contest #28

The story that I am about to tell, is one of excitement, sorrow, and love. It was back in 2016 when I made the shocking discovery that my life was about to change forever. I was dating a guy that was younger than me by a couple of years and I knew him since middle school but, we did not talk to each other let alone look at each other. We hooked up because I was in a dating slump and my best friend at the time decided it was a good idea to set me up with him because she trusted him with her life. We hit it off pretty good and everything seeme...

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“#FailedFirstLove” by Tenzin CHando

Submitted to Contest #28

It was a slightly cool summer's night in Toronto, which was very compensating for dreadful scorching afternoon. The Brensten's, a family of 5 came back to their home after spending the afternoon with their friends. They had celebrated their annual group barbecue at Centennial park. After packing and cleaning up, they got ready for bed. The parents Kenzi and Eric headed to their bedroons to quickly change and just settle in their room. After freshening up Kenzi walked to each of her children's bedrooms; Colette, Giselle, Flynn. Yes, Kenzi gre...

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“Secret Things” by Rachel Atterholt

Submitted to Contest #28

If I could have loved anyone, it would have been him. And deep down, in the most secret part of my soul, I know I did. He was the pastor’s son, he grew up in church, in class beside me. I spent ten days at his parent’s house one time, and he invited me to play video games in his room every afternoon. I have Asperger’s, have since I was very young, although it took me many years to come to that realization. I am also asexual, meaning my romantic inclinations are minimal at best. Suffice to say, I was a very strange child, who didn’t rea...

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“He Said, "It's Not Your Fault I Love You"” by Saoirse Kelley

Submitted to Contest #28

I spent my whole life believing that because I wasn’t in love at 13, or 14, or 15 or whenever I heard the right song or watched the right movie, I would never be “in love.” Then I met a boy who tore me apart through text messages and monthly meetings and a final rejection so kind that I couldn’t even allow myself to be bitter. After that, I really didn’t feel. I was used to having more crushes than I could count on my fingers and suddenly I would go to school dances and look around at the throng of boys I had known since middle school and fi...

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“Adam doesn’t know. ” by Jessica Bartz

Submitted to Contest #28

I first noticed soft dark curls spiraling his glasses. His eyes which mimicked those of the Mona Lisa were deep and showcased like that of a priceless sixteenth century frame. We met past the strike of twelve and spent the early morning in places known only in his memories. We found ourselves in a barren batting cage where two chairs sat patiently and we joined them only feet apart from one another. The evening was calm and quiet. I felt safe as if every choice I had made up to this point was the right one. I could only make out th...

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“He Doesn't Know” by Claudia Jerome

Submitted to Contest #28

I have so many secrets, bursting inside of me. He doesn't know that I love him endlessly. He doesn't know that I was madly in love with him for at least a year before we even started hanging out, outside of work. He has no idea that I dreamt of him for months before I told him I wanted to see him on a regular basis. I've not told him that everything posted to my Wedding board on Pinterest since we got together has been entirely based on him, nothing like the vague shit I was already posting. He doesn't know that we have a theme and I am wear...

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“The Mouse Trap” by Carol Coupland

Submitted to Contest #28

Harry greeted every day with enthusiasm, but none more so than when he was out in the rugged bush of the ranges. Not the sort of man that liked to be confined to four walls, he liked to go hunting and back to the basics was his way of relaxing. This time he was with his grandson whom he was especially proud. Not only had Morgan inherited a sharp eye, but he had learnt well the craft of hunting from his granddad. Harry sprang out of his sleeping bag and quickly dressed. It was cold in the bush hut. They weren’t made of insulation but the...

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“Let It Go” by Lisa Yu

Submitted to Contest #28

Let It Go “See, Parker. I told you we weren’t lost,” said Alex as I observed each villa we passed, hoping to find an outdoor restroom. “You said that an hour ago, sis.” I groaned, dragging my bare feet against the sidewalk. For all I knew, we were probably walking in a circle. “Oh my God, it’s only been fifteen minutes since we left the beach path,” she stated. I sighed. I couldn't keep wandering around with no sense of direction under the blazing summer sun. Plus, I wanted a glass of lemonade with little ice cubes clinking aroun...

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“Dear Austin” by Skylar Althouse

Submitted to Contest #28

Monday March 4th, 2019Layne Nadia says that Jackie was talking about me and Austin and hes never seen Austin get this wayabout a girl before and I’m super happy11:26 PMGood work!:p:p:p11:27 PM Sunday February 9th, 2020Dear Austin, I know you said that you didn’t get any of my last letters, but you know me, such a hopeless romantic. I like writing to you. And maybe someday you’ll get the chance to read them.I keep having these dreams about you. They are so frequent that I don't n...

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“A Dangerous Kind of Love” by Faith Gauvain

Submitted to Contest #28

I suddenly awoke to the incessant screeching of my alarm clock. I laid in bed for a little bit, my eyes nearly crusted shut from deep sleep, in my darkened room wishing it wasn't that time yet. As I begrudgingly peered at my phone, I saw it was four o'clock in the afternoon. Ugh! Time to put on my fake, happy face, throw on my super plus-sized scrubs, and pull myself together enough for another night shift at work. It was my third, twelve-hour shift in a row at the nursing home. I was barely still functional as a human being at this point, l...

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“enTWINed Fate ” by Sarah Tungpalan

Submitted to Contest #28

"May you rest in pieces you jerk! "I yelled as I gave my legendary Asian peace sign (the peace sign where your pointing finger remains down) and hanged up Skype and shut my laptop with such ferocity that even Thor would be proud. Okay, this was not the best line that I could have mustered from anger, but it was what it was. Tears waved down my eyes as Jack’s words and our conversation kept ringing in my ears and piercing into my very soul. “I am sorry Sarah, the real reason why I can’t be ...

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“Through Her Lens” by Jayne Price

Submitted to Contest #28

Rain pattered against the window pane, each drop representing the death of a cloud. Distant voices of my classmates faded into oblivion as she walked in.I had seen her only once before, served her in fact, at the checkout of my old, dead-beat job. We exchanged the polite greetings and gratitude, my breath caught in my chest like a mouse in a trap. Her beauty was suddenly the only thing keeping the moon in orbit around the earth.Then it happened. She smiled. She smiled and my whole life changed. I didn’t know her name or where she was from, b...

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$50

Prize money

269

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Feb 14, 2020 EST

A winner will be announced soon.

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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