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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!

This week's prompts

Write a story about someone dealing with family conflict.

Nonfiction – 82 stories

Write a story about someone discovering something new about themselves.

Nonfiction – 52 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 – 41 stories

Stories

“The Girl That Cried Help” by Brooke Whiteside

Submitted to Contest #29

Sometimes I wish I was someone else, sometimes I wish my life wasn’t chaos. I didn’t ask for all the problems. But that's what I got. Sometimes in life we don’t get what we want but here's where it all started. When I was about seven years old my parents decided to get a divorce. This divorce started with a big fight. At the time our house was fairly large, it was beautiful. I pass by it with salty tears starting, at the back of my eyes. They burn. and the memories of my decent childhood before the divorce burn with my eyes as we pass the ho...

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“THE DAY MR.CRUMBLEY QUIT DRINKING” by Bob Fogle

Submitted to Contest #29

Bellowing every profane, offensive, blasphemous, and malicious word he ever learned, an old man unleashed an outburst heard for two blocks around our generally peaceful neighborhood. I’m Gerald Crumbley, unfortunately for me that was my old man. I learned of this verbal eruption from my best friend Rodney, who lived just three houses away. He’s my best friend living just three houses away. Walking in the door after school, he heard his folks talking about an outburst of foul language earlier, and trying to decide if it had been George’...

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“Girls and Safetypins” by Anie Homan

Submitted to Contest #29

“So he just left?”Gem took another long gulp from the bottle of whiskey she had nicked from her parents’ liqueur cabinet. “Yup. Just packed a bag, got in the car, and hasn’t been back since.”Gem held out the bottle to Amy, who took it and knocked it back. She shot forward, sputtering. “God, this is disgusting.”She looked over at her best friend and put on a reassuring smile. “It’s been three days, he might still be back.”Gem scoffed. “Doubtful.” She looked around herself, feeling the warmth of the Jack Daniels taking a ho...

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“Th Real Life ” by Laura Acuna

Submitted to Contest #29

The Real LifeBy Laura A. So, this is how the story begins. About a month ago, I was in a wonderful, long-term relationship. My boyfriend, Tim, and I had been dating exactly one year and one month and I assumed everything was going so well. Tim and I were talking about getting married and maybe even starting a family together, but I was very much wrong. We had moved into a pretty decent apartment together seven months ago, and had multiple plant babies together. Things were going well and there seemed to be no problems with how we both ...

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“First by Charles Peschel” by Charles Peschel

Submitted to Contest #29

1.She was torn between an angered ego and morals in her dreams.She,She was never much in aiding mortals in their what she considered miniscule affairs."So what's changed?"Its been an eternity that she and humanity have been estranged; but now after so long and so much contempt she longs for some strange reason to shelter humanity with armored wings. It hurts inside to watch them as she remembered the pain of being a human being."Why Lilitu?You turned your back on them so long ago, why go back for forever youve been freed of their burdens and...

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“My Sister's Storm” by Elizabeth Guinn

Submitted to Contest #29

The music shifted from pop to rock, the old cd skipping around in the boom box so that its edges raked the sides. A light tap to the top set it back in the right motion, just like it always had, and an adult’s genuine grief was once again appropriated by my teenage angst into meaning something for me. The notes swayed back and forth across my attention span, plugging itself into the pages of the book I read so that the words of the author and the musician blended together in nonsense. I lost the meaning of both as soon as they each tried to ...

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“The Descending Cycle” by Jesse Bhullar

Submitted to Contest #29

Father often said “life is a series of cycles, there’s a swinging up to the top and there’s descent to the bottom. This is the only truth of life.” Father was a peculiar man. He gave us practically everything but thought nothing of it. Seemingly understood us despite not being there to witness it all. My little sister adored him and always tried to listen and apply everything she learned from him. “Look father! Look I can read this now!” She was very studious, unlike me. I only knew how to struggle and survive. For most of m...

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“Guilty” by Shaneka Murphy

Submitted to Contest #29

Not guilty. Not guilty. Not guilty. Not . Not guilty. Not guilty. Not guilty. Not guilty. Not guilty. Not guilty. Not guilty...... Guilty. "Oh, come on! Guilty again!?" shouted Juror 8, gripping the edges of the table, rising partially from his seat, peering over the top of his gold rimmed glasses, his forehead knotted and wrinkled, likened to a prune, bearing the pangs of frustration. His plaid shirt clung tightly to his large, round belly that hung slightly over the leather belt that held up his tattered blue jeans. By now he was...

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“The Blue Bowl” by Rob Sutherland Sutherlsand

Submitted to Contest #29

He had a hazy recollection of the fight. The hotel security guard insisted that he’d been the instigator. ‘Him... with the black hair started it,’ he’d yelled pointing, and the police officer took Joey’s details. He was charged with disorderly conduct. Joey and his friends Phil and Moz had been watching football at the sports bar. Moz didn’t appreciate the drunken bloke beside him denigrating his team. It was a blur after that. They each got a $4OO.OO fine. Joey’s parents didn’t believe it when they heard the news of the altercation. He’d ne...

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“Messages from.the sky ” by Charles Peschel

Submitted to Contest #29

Very long ago two tribes we're allies.Man of the ancient old, and man of the new now. They were enemies at one time, but became allies for a common issue. The snakes, more so than your common serpent,( but a snake no less) that was of the Dragons Clan, would like nothing more than to kill every last human thought to be unworthy. In peaceful silence man now calls upon something old and mystical, that deals in what we call magick of sorts, the owl and the raven. They know not what they seek or the consequences of their requests!The tribe of Ra...

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“Voiceless” by Tallis Baker

Submitted to Contest #29

VOICELESS Selective mutism is, according to Wikipedia, "an anxiety disorder in which a person normally capable of speech cannot speak in specific situations or to specific people". Psychologists still find it difficult to pin down the reasons why anxiety may manifest in selective mutism. My memory of my first day of school is—as I expect is normal—different to that of my mum’s. I remember the classroom, slightly darkened, coloured streamers hanging from the roof. Preschool children running, shouting, playing boardgames or dress-ups...

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“The Secret” by Asia Kentle

Submitted to Contest #29

The sounds of footsteps were the only thing heard in the hallways.Twelve years old, Melody Noble, was on a mission. A mission to sneak into her parent's rooms while they were out on a date.She has never been allowed to go inside their room before, not even as a child. She would get nightmares but was a force to stay in her bed. She uses to run to her parents, but her father always stops her from even peeking in the room.She would not have minded if it wasn't for her older sister, Jade, being allowed in there. Her older sister was allowed ins...

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“Once in a Blooming Spring ” by Andersen Deguzman

Submitted to Contest #29

"Adventure is always on the door and the key is to explore." Anderson Deguzman The moment that I wake up early in the morning, is the moment that I knew that it will not just be an ordinary day, the most awaited Day of departure has finally arrived, and as I continued packing up I have feel that probably its not just me but all of us The Second batch in our High School that will be experiencing something so extraordinary that we surely would never forget in our lifetime. "Anderson Wait." I see my mom running towards me giving her final goodb...

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“Cherish today as tomorrow will Be” by Joanne Phanh

Submitted to Contest #29

Cherish today as tomorrow will Be She grew up as a bitter child. No one ever understood why. She was surrounded by a loving and caring family. They adored her outer beauty. She was the third out of four children. By the age of 18 she was a cold and unpleasant person. She very rarely smiled, never had photos taken of her, was never in any family portraits and kept to herself. Most of her family had passed away from either heart disease or cancer. She always hoped and prayed that she would get something in get soon...

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“Frankie” by Jean Feingold

Submitted to Contest #29

Frankie By Jean Feingold Frankie stepped on the gas, let out the clutch, and stalled the car. Again. She’d driven stick shift cars all her life and almost never had problems like this. But today she was in a hurry, a prescription for car annoyance. She needed to get to Ace’s Bakery to taste cake samples for her brother Tad’s retirement party. The bakery closed at 5 and it was already 4:30. Why she had gotten stuck with this task instead of his secretary Madison or Jennifer, his wife, made no sense to her. The two of ...

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$50

Prize money

328

Contest entries

0

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.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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