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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#29: Bildungsroman

Often, the stories we read in our youth end up sticking with us well beyond adolescence. We vividly remember our first encounter with imaginative Anne Shirley, the nail-biting rumble between the greasers and Socs in The Outsiders, the fierce camaraderie shared by the Harry, Ron, and Hermione trio, among many other memorable moments from the young adult books we read in our formative years. 

 

This week, all five prompts feature popular elements that are frequently at play in coming-of-age novels. While you are certainly free to write a short young adult story, you can also choose to incorporate these prompts into any other type of fiction.

 

If you want to revisit some classic YA fiction to get your creative wheels spinning, check out our freshly published list of some of our favorite young adult books!

🥇 Winner

“Time Bomb” by Megan Dang

Tick tick tick tick tick tick. Six months. That’s how long I’ve got until the time bomb inside me goes off and I self-destruct and explode into a million little pieces. Because Mom tried to hide it from me but I noticed that telltale bump and that her sweaters were beginning to look tight and I asked, accusatory —“Are you g...

115 comments 115 WINNER 🏆
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⭐️ Shortlisted

“The Burning Avocado Tree” by Zilla Babbitt

As Kiwi grew up we took her to her granpadre’s place more often. We lived so far away that at the beginning, when she was younger, we only went there at Michaelmas time. Before we moved to the America we drove hours and hours home to Guadalajara, and now it takes too many hours and aeroplane rides.Kiwi loved her grandfather and hated Guadalajara. We lived in el Ciudad de Mexico in a tiny narrow street house in a building with thirty others. Granpadre was in his huge empty house full...

3 comments 3 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“Two of us, under the bed” by Marte Van Der Linden

There was something under my bed.It scuttled and pattered and thumped, and it was definitely not the pipes or the wind or any of the other things dad told me made noises in the night. Thump! Bigger than a mouse, I thought, but smaller than a dog. I rolled closer to the edge of the mattress. If I was very careful, I could lean down for a look while being safely cocooned in my blankets. Another thump. A couple of dust bunnies came drifting out from under the bed. My nightlight was nowhere near bright enough to see any...

1 comment 1 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“Things I Have Learned With The Death Of My Mother ” by Barbara Eustace

I have learned many things with the death of my mother. I have learned that I am not a smoker. When I was young, my mother, the overbearing woman that she was, made it clear that smoking was not allowed. She told me that I must never smoke, that she would be able to smell it if I did. Once she suspected just because I walked home from school behind two girls smoking. I got a thrashing for that, for telling lies. So I never tried smoking. My mother was a formidable woman. You did what she said.

2 comments 2 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“Best of Friends” by Albert Zygier

Helmut and I were born on the same day in 1920. Our two families lived next to each other in the same building on Blumenthalstrase 17. Our apartment faced the front with a bay window and Helmut’s faced the rear into the courtyard. My parents, like his, were educated, my father a gynecologist, his father a manager of a large department store on Kurfürstendamm, the Champs Elysees of Berlin. My mother taught German Literature, Helmut’s mother didn’t work. Since we started school, we w...

2 comments 2 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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This week's prompts

Write a story about someone dealing with family conflict.

Nonfiction – 83 stories

Write a story about someone discovering something new about themselves.

Nonfiction – 53 stories

Write a story about two best friends.

Teens – 73 stories

Write a story about someone falling in love for the first time.

Romance – 80 stories

Write a story about a character struggling to decide how to handle a problem that is morally gray.

Short Story – 43 stories

Stories

“Time Bomb” by Megan Dang

Tick tick tick tick tick tick. Six months. That’s how long I’ve got until the time bomb inside me goes off and I self-destruct and explode into a million little pieces. Because Mom tried to hide it from me but I noticed that telltale bump and that her sweaters were beginning to look tight and I asked, accusatory —“Are you g...

115 comments 115 WINNER 🏆
Read story

“The Burning Avocado Tree” by Zilla Babbitt

As Kiwi grew up we took her to her granpadre’s place more often. We lived so far away that at the beginning, when she was younger, we only went there at Michaelmas time. Before we moved to the America we drove hours and hours home to Guadalajara, and now it takes too many hours and aeroplane rides.Kiwi loved her grandfather and hated Guadalajara. We lived in el Ciudad de Mexico in a tiny narrow street house in a building with thirty others. Granpadre was in his huge empty house full...

3 comments 3 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“What Wise Men Fear” by R. A.

It isn't the impending murder that's grinding Danny's nerves, not really. It's the fact that the kid, baby-faced and just shy of adulthood, is doing it all wrong.He's got a wine bottle in his hand, of all things. It's broken, somehow, even though those expensive flasks are damn hard to shatter the way this one's been; all jagge...

7 comments 7
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“Provoked ” by Miles Gatling

His phone buzzed on the glass coffee table, flashing a number Alec didn't recognize. It wasn't in his contact list. He answered with restraint, trying to hide his anxiety. "Yes." "Mr Black?" "Who is this?" "Mr Black, it's Sonya Borger. Are you still employed at KXT Industrial?" "Ah, hello Mrs Borger. No, I'm currently not collaborating with them anymore. Is there a problem with the equipment?" "No, no problem. My friend wants to instal the system as well, and I thought I would recommend you for th...

3 comments 3
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“Star Lovers” by Daniel Moore

A long time ago, there were two stars beyond a distant sky. They lived far away in the pocket of a dark nebula that drifted through the universe. One star was bright and burned forever blue, the other was just as bright and burned forever red. They were relatively opposite but still fundamentally the same. For centuries they circled one another, perpetually caught in the others gravitational pull, dancing for all eternity. In many ways they loved each other. The way one shined so bright and beautiful against the end...

13 comments 13
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“Friendship” by Miles Gatling

"You look the part, Sparkle.”“Thank you, Sir Miles. As do you. How many men do you think are here today?”“Hundreds, maybe thousands. Look, don’t worry; we fight as a unit.”Miles couldn't remember the last time he said such words. He spoke from the heart“You grew up fast, lad. You were a knight long before Andre made you one. I thank you, knight Conn.”“Fight well, brother,” Sparkle said, saluting in a proud voice.Miles rode his horse and stood side by side with Mustache, positioned on the other edg...

9 comments 9
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“Burn” by Lynn Penny

“Treason! He is accusing me of Treason!” Wynn growled from behind bars holding her prisoner. “How dare he!” “Your Royal Highness, I understand that you are upset- “ “I am not upset, I am furious!” Wynn cut off the poor maid bringing her a meal. A meal and slipped up words revealing the accusation. “What exactly did the king say?” She put more effort into relaxing her words as to not terrify her maid. “He said that you were a threat to the safety and stability of the kingdom.”...

1 comment 1
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“Fidus Achates” by Rigby Glass

It was a trite scenario. Something so overdone that it managed to be both boring and ostentatious at the same time.  The middle of a road leading to two opposite places—the forest or the hills. What’ll it be? High sun over the hills or shadows dancing in the forest? Whistle of sharp wind grazing the peaks of the hills or two-bit chainsaw echoes within the forest? What’ll it be? Elevation or seclusion? A higher grace or a darker enigma? What path will lead you to your best self, your best life? <...

1 comment 1
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“Stella and Ruby” by Genevieve Taylor

Stella and Ruby were the best of friends. Everyone knew it. At five, they learned to fly together, their bony still-growing wings struggling to beat as they jumped from low tree branches onto the ground with their small hands, sticky from pilfered candies and sap, linked between them. It took them weeks, but they came out strong and soaring with matching scrapes on their knees and their cheeks appled up with glee. 

4 comments 4
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“The Art Of Getting Bi” by Brina Ryce

“I’m kicking you out.”Dylan freezes. Milk drips from the spoonful of Fruity Pebbles stuck halfway to his mouth and onto his solid grey Mack Weldon boxer briefs.“What?”Hanna’s hair is thrown up in some messy twist thing that’s probably supposed to look messy in a cute way, but it’s mostly just the regular kind of messy—like maybe she didn’t bother with a brush, or has sworn of hair grooming indefinitely. The toddler attached to her hip tugs her hair then sneezes once—twice. She grimaces and wipes her ...

3 comments 3
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“I Love You” by Najwa Zandlo

“I love you,” he says. The room is warm and humid, our sweat mixing in the air, windows slightly cracked to let in the sounds of the warm, Southern night. We’re lying in bed. He has his arm around me in a way that has to be uncomfortable for him but oh-so-comfortable for me. The words are dripping over us – this is the first time he’s said it. This is the part where I’m supposed to say it back, but I’m choking. He’s relaxed against me, slowly falling asleep in the haze. Flashback to five years ago. I was walking dow...

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“PARASITE” by Pamela Saunders

I had my eye on my partner early on, when we were both young. Even then I knew that one day I wanted to possess her, to own her totally, to be there for every part of the rest of her life. I watched her at school. She was so happy and bright, took to anything she tried like a duck to water. She joined in everything that she had a chance to and represented the school in so many competitions of all sorts. When she danced, her eyes shone and the blonde wavy bunches in her hair bounced and flapped around, with her green ribbon...

10 comments 10
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“Radio Active” by John K Adams

“I don’t know what to do. Tess won’t respond to my calls or letters.”“What do you say?”“That we need to talk.”“So, you are demanding a response and she won’t submit to your demands?”“I wasn’t demanding. I want to keep lines of communication open. I’m hurt.”“So, you choose to be offended because she has nothing to communicate? What if you wait for her to want something?”“I could wait forever.”“And…?”The session ended soon after that. Avery wondered, “Am I beating my head agains...

0 comments 0
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“Ladder” by Waverley Stark

There’s several different ways to look at fear, the kind that breaks people, shakes people, cracks the walls around their brain, shatters bonds and paralyzes the heart. There’s also different ways to analyze the steps taken to ignite that fear or calm it. Comparisons to be made: a staircase continuing up, or a rug unwinding to thread. A beanstalk shooting past rainclouds, or a hissing wildfire across a dry field.

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“Lilah” by Maria Windsor

Some things you just can’t explain. Feelings surging up inside because of a certain scent or image or face. Knowing things and not knowing how you knew them. Lilah was like that. Nobody else seemed to notice her, but I did. I saw her walking by at the subway, her copper-gold hair flowing behind her, the weighty fold...

12 comments 12
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Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Feb 21, 2020 EST

Won by Megan Dang 🏆

Title: Time Bomb

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.

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