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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#3: Calling All Bookworms

This week, each of our prompts is loosely inspired by some of the most beloved literature of all time. Can you match every prompt to the book it takes its root from? Hint: the five novels are included in this blog post of books to read in your lifetime.

This week's prompts

Write a story about a teenager visiting the place where they grew up.

Dramatic – 31 stories

Write a story about a matchmaker.

Romance – 27 stories

Write a story about a parent putting their child to bed.

Adults – 32 stories

Write a story about an ordinary day in a person's life. Use their internal dialogue to make the story interesting.

Dialogue – 26 stories

Write a story about someone who wins a contest and the prize of their dreams.

High School – 14 stories

Stories

“A Mundane Day” by Fathima V K

Submitted to Contest #3

The radiant sun shone serenely through the glass windows. Local birds chirped merrily outside and the streets busy with the typical workers and local kids, honking and beeping of cars and random shouts from the local vendors.All this went unnoticed by the figure that was curled inside her blankets lost in the world of dreams. What she didn't heed was undoubtedly the mug of cold water in her dear mother's willing hand who stood comfortably by her bedside with a smug expression on her expressive face. The mug held right above her face and soon...

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“My ordinary life” by Patricia Stefaniw

Submitted to Contest #3

I am once again blessed to be sitting on a picnic table in the middle of the wilderness area after a late August rain. I am so lucky, that the plans Mark and I have made, are so complete. We are both in our fifties, and have the luxury of time. We both completed our professional careers in our early forties, and have not looked back.Yeah, sure, the money was great, but we were aware of the golden handcuffs of the job, so we avoided the trappings that went with that mindset. No new cars, no big houses, get tents and not campers,... you get th...

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“Donald's Donuts and Coffee...May I Help You?” by Heather Eagar

Submitted to Contest #3

The coffee maker whirs as Lane struggles to keep her eyes open. It was another sleepless night. Stupid neighbor’s dogs. Next time they bark at two in the morning, she’s getting her rifle and scope from the garage. She swore she’d never use it again, except in an emergency. But this certainly counted as one. This was the third night in a row that she’d not been able to sleep because of the incessant barking.No one would have to know it was her. She could do it from her window.None of that mattered now. Lane had to be to work in thirty minutes...

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“Parveen” by Monty Martin

Submitted to Contest #3

Write a story about an ordinary day in a person's life. Use their internal dialogue to make the story interesting. Parveen Hakim is sleeping now. I’ve been rocking him gently in the family rush baby-basket. Family? It is haram to question Allah why these people have been inflicted on me? Some of them are just stirring – it’s always the women before the men. As the youngest, I’m up first to prepare the breakfast, Nashta they call it here. My aunt and cousins insist that I should. So different from when living with my parents in Scuntho...

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“Mark Eddinghurst” by David Stewart

Submitted to Contest #3

The problem with Allsworth Academy is that it’s a hypocrite. From the tall sandstone entryway, an arch that yawns like it’s too good for you and is bored, to the hallways just as tall, with gnarled wooden skirting, olive green walls, and black-white chequered floors. They’re marred, ruddy with the scuff marks of a million over-polished black shoes, only to be polished again each morning by cleaners trying to mask it. It’s all like decades-old fashion a wearer’s afraid to abandon because it’s what makes them them. But then the dust drifts in ...

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“THE STUDENT” by NIDHI LAL

Submitted to Contest #3

THE STUDENTThe day begins for her with a wake up call from her mother at sharp 3:00 AM. She drags herself from her bed to get ready for the start of day. Her eyes keeps on shutting every few seconds away while she brushes her teeth in front of the mirror. She tries to catch a few seconds of sleep in her bathroom but eventually she knows she needs to be showered and ready by ten minutes. When she comes to her room showered and fresh looking with no essence of sleep anymore, there she finds her ironed school uniform ready on her bed. She pick...

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“Coffee Break” by Library Momma

Submitted to Contest #3

Looking at the frenetic cityscape on the monitor in the conference room didn’t calm Janice. It was almost 9 a.m., time for the international team meeting. Coworkers dozed in their black plastic chairs. So much for management’s plan to get them excited about the Paris project.The nutty aroma of coffee wafted into the room. Coffee. A cup would taste wonderful. But how could she get out of the room without her manager noticing?Janice slid from her chair and approached the door where he stood. “Bathroom?”He barely looked down at her as he grunte...

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“Breathe, Cathy, Breathe” by Gail S Kibby White

Submitted to Contest #3

“Cathy, what are these cut up magazines, newspapers and scraps of paper doing strewn all over our living room floor?” her husband, Brad, yelled across the room?Still wearing khaki work clothes, Brad arrived home after working the whole day operating a crane at a construction site. Tired, he looked forward to his usual nap on the couch before dinner.“Geez Cathy, I can’t even find a path to walk to the couch,” he added as he did his best to maneuver between the piles of paper.In the middle of the mess of papers on the dark hardwood floor, sat ...

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“Another Minute” by Unknown User

Submitted to Contest #3

"Another minute."She asked looking up with her brown eyes twinkling. A mix of innocence glazed over mischief. That was her niece. Unlike her brother, who drifted off before he hit the freshly made bed. His sister was still awake and didn't look like she would be heading off to dreamland anytime soon. Dressed in her pink unicorn pajamas she continued to look at her aunt with those innocent eyes. As if she wasn't supposed to be in bed. Not watching youtube on her phone and nearly giving her aunt a heart attach being in her room."No.", her aunt...

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“A la Roro Niño” by Mariah Smith

Submitted to Contest #3

Maria was four years old when her innocence was torn away from her brutally. Her mother Lina had begun their night time routine just as she had done the many nights before. They would begin with a cool shower flowing over their skinny bodies. The cold would close their pores and keep them safe from infection. Next, her mother would grab her frayed toothbrush and put a pea-sized dot of plain toothpaste, they brushed until their pearly whites shined. They both sleepily walked into the only bedroom and crawled onto the bed on the hard floor. Li...

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$50

Prize money

130

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Aug 23, 2019 EST

Won by Joshua G. J. Insole 🏆

Title: The Things That Do Not Float

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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