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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

“What becomes of the broken-hearted” by Cindy Bennett

Submitted to Contest #28

Fate has a funny way of leading you down a myriad of paths to get you to where you need to be. Sometimes this means taking the hard road, until you finally figure out that you have the choice to change things. "You" have always been in charge of how your story unfolds. There is so much truth in the words “everything happens for a reason".I met you through a guy I used to have a crush on from high school. The year being 1986. I was such a shy and awkward 16 year old at the time. My self-esteem was at an all-time low and through negative condi...

4 comments 4
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“A Secret Fear” by Catherine Tripp

Submitted to Contest #28

My late brother Chris and I were having a conversation one of those many times at the end of the day when he needed a toke. I would light up the joint, hold it to his lips, then pull it away after he inhaled. He would hold onto the smoke for a minute, exhale, then take a second, then a third. I’d puff on it sometimes, but home was twenty to forty minutes away by car. He lived up in the Oakland Hills, and I had to get back to San Francisco. Nowadays, you can count on an hour or more in travel time anytime you have to ...

3 comments 3
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“Boy Have I Got a Brother for You” by Sue Marsh

Submitted to Contest #28

          Boy have I Got A Brother for You                                                                           Suzanne Ma...

2 comments 2
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“Lesson Learned” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #28

Student teaching is like Hell Week only it lasts an entire semester so my trial began in January, a month in Anchorage that never got above zero degrees for even a whole minute.  I was assigned to Bartlett High School located just outside the gate at Elmendorf Air Force Base where the student demographics were as diverse as anywhere else in the country as the sons and daughters were sent here while their parents served their country.   I finally managed to find Ms. Wertz's classroom tucked in one of the many alcoves in this ex...

0 comments 0
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“Say Uncle” by Matt Strempel

Submitted to Contest #28

In my mid-twenties, I dated a girl who nearly cost me my life. She came from a Filipino family that included her mum and two uncles that had stepped in when her dad left when she was little. They were fiercely protective of their niece and harboured an open resentment toward the local boys of their adopted suburb who lusted after the cute Asian girl at the Main Street café. Charlie could be confident, aggressive, impulsive, defiant, and downright manipulative but even at 22, she was still at the mercy of her mother and uncles when it came to...

4 comments 4
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“The Birthday Blotches and the Bride Doll” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #28

I don’t know if this memory really fits the bill or if I’m trying to smuggle it in and hoping nobody will notice that I’m pushing my luck.     Still, so far as I’m concerned, this definitely counts as a wedding recollection for me, even though I never left my house and no legal vows were exchanged.     I’ve never had much of a sense of timing, but in this instance, I wasn’t to blame, or only unwittingly by my choice of playmates.     Everything was going to be lovely....

0 comments 0
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“Going Through a Loss Unexpectedly Caused Me to Lose a Part of Myself ” by Noel Thomas

Submitted to Contest #28

Are you the type of person that is fight or flight? Well, I flee. I know that running away is not always the best option, but that is my first instinct. If there is a large bug in the office I run far away until a co-worker assures me the situation has been taken care of. I usually flee unless someone needs help and then I am usually right there because compassion outweighs my fear.The year of 2017 was a time I wanted to flee. I wanted to help, but I didn’t know how. Part of me didn’t care while the other part cared too much. All I wanted to...

2 comments 2
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“We Never Truly Get Away With Anything” by Andrea Tran

Submitted to Contest #28

Someone once told me that you never truly get away with anything. You may not get caught but eventually, in one way or another, you do pay. The price comes in many different forms. If the course of our lives is measured by receiving our justice, I might just be due for one huge punishment. Nature always has a way of balancing itself out; storms, earthquakes, disease. What’s the balance for wanting to extract a man from his marriage? He did not come gently. He did not come peacefully. He came into my life like a storm under the guise of a hum...

2 comments 2
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“Most unique experience of an Indian wedding” by Maham Raza

Submitted to Contest #28

Weddings are grand affairs. Normally, it most effectively occurs once in an existence time. Recently I have had a terrific experience of attending an Indian wedding. The invitation came from a female cousin of my pal from Lahore. I used to be very excited to attend the Indian wedding to know about all the captivating traditions and their rituals. To style the stunning unfold of food as I heard a lot about the Indian cuisine. My buddy had connected me to her pal when I first time visited Lahore, we had appropriate intentions of meeting up but...

4 comments 4
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“The Sacrifice” by Karen McDermott

Submitted to Contest #28

                     “Let me be the sacrifice!” I held out my hands imploringly to Ruth and she gave me the church altar candle she had found. Her husband, Tom, was trying on a garland made of autumnal foliage, while Lucy and Seth inspected the photos pinned to one of the hut’s walls. “Hey, have you guys seen Midsommar?” Seth asked between wheezy cackles. He was the oldest of the five of us but the most prone to fits of childish giggles, ...

2 comments 2
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“First love ” by Unknown User

Submitted to Contest #28

My town has a burning ceremony once a year on New Year’s Eve. It‘s my towns way to release the past and let go off any negativity or pain and rejoice in the coming of the new year which is sure to bring new beginnings. Each year the community place objects into one of three boats, we leave the boats by the river for a week and as the week passes the boats fill. I’ve never needed to put anything into the boats before but as I stand here I know what I have todo. I pull out a pen and paper from my purse and begin to write a letter, a letter to ...

2 comments 2
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“falling for the weird kid ” by Millie Spence

Submitted to Contest #28

So, picture this, it’s the last year of sixth form and I found myself falling for the guy that had been in my A level biology class for the last two years. I had only been going to this school since the start of year 12, and I instantly found him attractive. However, it hadn’t evolved into love or infatuation until about a year later. Let me paint a picture of him. He was weird. Not a bit weird that he would say something inappropriate at the wrong time. But concerningly weird. He used to bite people and walk around in a strange dominance st...

0 comments 0
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“Our Two Weddings” by Bruno Lowagie

Submitted to Contest #28

My mother-in-law has three children: a son, Christiaan (born in 1966), and two daughters, Marjan (1968) and Ingeborg (1970). I met her youngest daughter in college.The year was 1988; Ingeborg and I were both eighteen years old. We became best friends in our freshman year. We ended up in bed with each other after the opening party of our sophomore year. Oops… In my first year in college, I appreciated Ingeborg as a friend. It didn’t come up in my mind that she could also be my girlfriend. As far as I was concerned, the change in our...

0 comments 0
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“Our Secret Engagement” by Iona Cottle

Submitted to Contest #28

My unique experience started the day before a friend’s wedding, in fact. It was my birthday and my then-boyfriend was taking me out for a meal in Cardiff. That was unusual enough in itself (the years before I’d had to put my own birthday banner up), so even if he hadn’t slipped up months earlier and told me he was going to propose then, I probably would’ve guessed anyway. We get to Cardiff and to the restaurant no problems, but while we were waiting outside another friend, Sarah, walked up. It turned out her work was doing their Christmas me...

0 comments 0
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“Dear Elizabeth” by Piper Covert

Submitted to Contest #28

Maybe it was the way that you always smiled at me when we passed in the hallway. Maybe it was the way we became best friends almost immediately. Maybe it was the way you’d brush your hand innocently against mine when we sat next to each other during class. Maybe it was the way that you were always on my mind. Maybe it was the way I fell for you and I shouldn’t have.   I remember one day when I was being corny and asked you if you ate the sunshine for breakfast because you’re such an angel and then I proceeded to serenade you terrib...

3 comments 3
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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!

Prompts | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

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