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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#283: Seasonal Twists

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

It’s Christmas week, and if you’re celebrating, I hope you’re surrounded by everything that brings about festive cheer: twinkling lights and decorations, catchy holiday pop songs, the aroma of family recipes passed down through generations…

The familiarity of tradition grounds us in a world that’s always on the move. But as every storyteller knows, change is what makes narratives interesting. This week, let’s shake up some cozy Christmas traditions and add a little surprise to them. What will your characters do when the unexpected takes center stage?

This week's prompts

Write a story that ends with a huge twist.

Dramatic – 84 stories

Write a story about two characters who surprisingly end up spending a holiday or event together.

Short Story – 53 stories

Write a story about someone’s first Christmas after a major life change.

Short Story – 54 stories

It’s the most wonderful time of the year — except your character can’t shake the feeling that something’s off.

Short Story – 37 stories

Write a story with the line “I wasn’t expecting that.”

Dramatic – 65 stories

Stories

“Checkmate” by Carolyn O'B

Submitted to Contest #283

Katie King glared at the orange and black notice nailed to the splintered, wooden pole, No Trespassing. She rolled her eyes while patting the pyramid fence post cap like she was appeasing a child; a sign wasn’t going to stop her from having a quick thrill. The ice-covered pond on the far corner of the property was beckoning her. She reached over the gate and lifted the latch hook from the metal loop, the uneven wooden slats scraping across the frozen earth as she tugged it open. &nbs...

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“The Couriers of Magic” by Éan Bird

Submitted to Contest #283

The disadvantage to delivering miracles is that the collection of gasps, the breathless wonder at apex, the brilliant convergence of tiny simultaneous serendipitous coincidences goes unwitnessed by the person who actually delivers the magic. I know this because I’ve borne witness to the delivery of miracles before. It's true. One year, my family gathered--for the first time--at Alan Number Two’s house to celebrate Christmas. He welcomed us through dual front doors of beveled glass and led us through rooms with soaring white ceilings and m...

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“FLEX THESE MUSCLES” by Debbie Curtin

Submitted to Contest #283

The end of a long, chilly day, with two hands in the thick of it; one to help me, the other to help them, brought a huge sigh of relief. This new job, just a few months in, had given me the hours to ramp up my game. Not a computer geek by a long shot, but the one to do stuff the average person knows a whole lot of nothing about; vehicle maintenance.Cars and trucks were always a thing growing up ‘in the sticks’. Us kids had to make do with whatever version we had of toys. Our uncles had more junk around their houses, and we were happy to make...

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“Destination Gratitude” by Rosey Dickson

Submitted to Contest #283

I wake up twisting and turning in my bed. The morning light, faint and white, reaches for me from the window.No. Not another day. Not more pretending everything’s okay, or yelling at my little sister, or slamming the bedroom door when Mum tells me I have to eat, to go to school – all the crap she thinks I need to do. But she doesn’t know. Doesn’t understand. I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying here till Granny comes to get me. My eyes swell with tears. No way. I rub my hand down my face, un-scrunching it, and glare at the window. I’m no...

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“Enemies at First Sight” by Euan Brennan

Submitted to Contest #283

It was a moment in which David’s heart stopped. Not in a “Wow, this person is so pretty and perfect, my organ decided to nearly kill me.” It was closer to a “This person is the absolute worst and how the hell do I get rid of her before I throw up my heart.” Claire Wilson. Middle name: Annoying. Her hair always had volume to it. Any more and the people around her wouldn’t be able to hear. The brown also had blonde streaks, as though her goal was to look like a racing car. Funny, because she was never the fastest at running, jogging, walking, ...

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“The Remains of Christmas” by Samuel Kieckmann

Submitted to Contest #283

Note: includes mental health problems, dissociation with one's own identity, mentions of death (although rather ambiguous) and grief This Christmas someone had misplaced the stockings. They were of different colors, they were striped and they had these cheap pictures printed on them of famous cartoon characters and they really didn't put me in any Christmas cheer. I hate those kinds of stockings, those ones that look all cheap and that they had with quite some certainty been bought in the supermarket.Mum never bought those. I don't know ho...

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“A Christmas Treenapping” by Andy Heidel

Submitted to Contest #283

High on a hill in the land of Green Mountains was a farm specializing in Christmas trees. The trees varied in age from saplings to fifteen years except for one, the wise old Maple tree, who grumpily boasted to be over 100 years old.Among the many trees on the sprawling farm were two seven-year-old fir trees, Doug and Frasier. They were the best of friends. Every day Doug would ask Frasier “How are you today?” And Frasier would respond “I’m very well, how are you?” To which Doug would reply “I’m fantastic.” Doug and Frasier then would go back...

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“Lenore” by Antonela Kuljanac

Submitted to Contest #283

Another Christmas came, and she was feeling different. A good kind of different, for the first time. Probably because this time, he didn't honour her with his presence. He left for one of his many business trips, which she had stopped questioning. Lately, they had been happening more and more often. This time, conveniently, it just so happened that he had to leave on Christmas. Her first Christmas alone in six years of their marriage. Alone, left to talk to the walls that didn't talk back, not even once. However, she didn't mind. She didn't ...

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“Christmas Up North” by Brian M

Submitted to Contest #283

It was uncomfortably warm. A bead of sweat dripped down my forehead, narrowly missing my eye. What do you know, I thought to myself. You’re in the Arctic and you’re sweating. I allowed myself a slight chuckle, cringing when I heard how high pitched my voice sounded. “Something funny?” Jacob asked from his station to my right. “Tell me, I could use a laugh.” He set his hammer down on the workbench and looked at me, the bell at the end of his cap making a slight jingle as he turned. His serious face, juxtaposed with his goofy hat and poi...

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“New Christmas Tradition” by Jacob Weismiller

Submitted to Contest #283

Maybe it is tradition or nostalgia, or perhaps tradition is just nostalgia with routine. Whatever the case, you had your heart set on viewing the train set display at the hardware store near Main Street. Every year you and your father would venture out during the holidays to ogle the miniaturized village, complete with plastic denizens. Each little figure was specifically crafted to perform a particular task. Obviously, someone had consciously placed each figurine in a predetermined location; they were all meant to be there. You noticed they...

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“Mulled” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #283

Wonderful. It should be wonderful. That’s how it’s supposed to be. And I guess, by inference, that’s how I’m supposed to be. I am supposed to be wonderful. No pressure there then. No pressure at all. Dance monkey! Dance! Perform. Put on a show. Delight your audience. Only, there is no audience. Not this year. And that feels wrong somehow. Wrong in a way that makes no sense to me as I awaken to a Christmas morning on my own.Christmas is steeped in all manner of emotional herbs, spices and vices. Year upon year, it ferments and becomes a stron...

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“Standing at the Intersection of Life's Plans” by Rachel Kinney

Submitted to Contest #283

*Contains talk of health issues* "I wasn't expecting that." "I know, I am sorry to give you this news, especially under....” he releases a heavy sigh, “these circumstances." I nod. My eyes sting, my throat constricts, this is it. I am going to cry. I have not cried in seven years, and I am finally going to cry sitting in a doctor's office with the Doctor I found after hours of googling "coupons for doctors near me" only to realize there are no coupons for doctors. "I... I'm sorry I don't understand. I just came in here a few weeks ago ...

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“A Very Mortal Christmas” by Brutus Clement

Submitted to Contest #283

A Very Mortal Christmas “I can’t feel my legs” I can hear the panic in his voice. “What do you want me to do?” “Rub them. Do it as hard as you can.” So, I pull the hospital blanket back exposing his white and now wasted legs while starting to rub them. They feel unnaturally cold. I can tell he’s not feeling it and rub harder. This isn’t like him, my father had always been a man with a calm, balanced disposition and I can’t remember him ever bein...

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“The Unexpected Path” by Justine Van Der Linde

Submitted to Contest #283

The Unexpected PathIt was a crisp autumn evening when Emma first stumbled upon the hidden path. She had always loved the forest behind her grandmother’s house, the towering trees and rustling leaves offering a sense of calm she could never quite find in the city. As a child, she would wander the familiar trails, but after her grandmother’s passing, the woods had become a place of melancholy, a reminder of her loss.This evening, however, something felt different. A soft breeze carried the earthy scent of pine, and the sun, low on the horizon,...

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“For once in my life, let me get what I want.” by TyJheir Shipman

Submitted to Contest #283

I was expecting this Christmas to feel joyous, at least compared to the ones that came before. Last year, Jacob’s snowboarding accident at the lodge was a major stinker. Then the year before, when Mom got really sick while Dad totaled the car against a telephone pole. Bad years, both of them. But bad things, they’ve always followed us, haven’t they? Like the night you finally got that invitation to basketball camp, only to find the car’s tires slashed the same evening. Or when we spent five whole days plotting out your homecoming proposal to...

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$250

Prize money

293

Contest entries

123

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jan 03, 2025 EST

Won by Maisie Sutton 🏆

Title: Can You See Me Now?

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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