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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#280: Talk That Talk

Don’t forget to use the hashtag #ReedsyTalk to share your stories (and potentially get featured on our social accounts)!

As an aspiring author, one story element I constantly struggle with is dialogue. Writing realistic, engaging dialogue is no easy feat — but when done well, it can help readers get to know your characters better, advance your plot, and improve the overall pace of your story.

This week, let’s challenge ourselves by composing stories focused on dialogue. Who knows? You might discover something new about your characters based on what they say (or don’t say)!

This week's prompts

Write a story that solely consists of dialogue. (No dialogue tags, actions, or descriptions. Just pure dialogue!)

Dialogue – 185 stories

Start or end your story with a character asking a question.

Dialogue – 78 stories

Write a story in which two or more people have a conversation — without using any quotation marks.

Dialogue – 36 stories

Center your story around a character who overhears others talking about them.

Dramatic – 37 stories

Write a story that includes someone (or something) saying, “No, don’t!”

Dramatic – 44 stories

Stories

“Two Back-stabbers, My Aunt, A Job and A Therapist ” by Roxana Enculescu

Submitted to Contest #280

!!!WARNING!!! This story contains sensitive content: substance abuse, violent language and behaviour, mental healthI wake up to the sound of an espresso machine whirring away, my head is foggy, my eyes struggle to open against the blinding light coming in through the thin curtains hung at the window. My lips are sticky, possibly because I am severely dehydrated. I groan as I slowly get out of bed, staggering towards the bathroom. I look in the mirror and for a split second, I do not recognize the person staring back at me.My hair is disheve...

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“Spot the Difference” by Bailey Herrera

Submitted to Contest #280

I stood on the broken cobblestone outside my childhood home, playing a quiet game of ‘spot the difference.’ The wind slid along the weathered panels; their paint long faded from its fresh coat in July of 2009—when Dad won a gift card to the local paint shop. He pushed me, small and reluctant, up to the highest step of the ladder to lay the first stroke of dusty blue. Mom had sworn off that shade, claiming it reminded her too much of a beach house and that we lived too far from the coast for the seashell-and-waves vision. But dad had a way of...

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“Did You Hear?” by Timothy Benson

Submitted to Contest #280

“Did You Hear?”Every trip down the corridor to get a cup of coffee was a reminder of how things had changed. The rows of empty cubicles, offices with the lights off and the silence, broken only occasionally by a muffled phone conversation from somewhere behind a workstation panel. The office workforce, or what was left of it, was quietly going about the business of putting out a daily newspaper. The Gazette was like every other newspaper in the country; trying to hold on to its history and stay viable as print media continued its steady decl...

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“Whispers” by Jay Dillon

Submitted to Contest #280

I had always been invisible. In the grand scheme of life, office chatter, crowded sidewalks, dinner parties, I was the man no one noticed. The quiet shadow in the corner. I preferred it that way. Until they noticed me.It started in the café, my usual corner seat by the window, shielded by a trailing curtain of ferns. A fortress of solitude where I could write in peace, the hum of conversations blending into background static.But one day, their words broke through, sharp, clear. My name.“Elena,” the brunette said, her voice carrying across th...

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“Smiles and laughs” by Elon Snow

Submitted to Contest #280

When it comes to fear, Sally Sasso's heard of the emotion many times, but hasn’t felt it once. If you asked her mother why, she’d say it’s her daughter’s fascination with the horror genre. If you asked her friends, they’d say it’s her unsettling contentment around life's terrors, and her drive to seek out monsters who participate in them. If you ask Sally, she’ll say it’s because she dresses like someone who should be undaunted. She believes that since her outfits always include biker boots, black motorcycle trousers, and a red shirt beneath...

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$250

Prize money

380

Contest entries

138

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Dec 13, 2024 EST

Won by Jay Wayne 🏆

Title: 45 Seconds

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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