Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Directory
Contests
Magazine
FAQ

← All contests

#301 This Was Not the Plan with Sincerely, Vee

This week, we're running a takeover in collaboration with AuthorTuber Venus Wambura, also known as Sincerely, Vee. This contest’s winner will not only be awarded $250 — they’ll also receive a special bonus prize: personal feedback from Venus! Here's what she has to say about her takeover:

Hi, writers! I’m Venus Wambura, and I’ve been documenting all the ups, downs, and plot twists of my writing journey on AuthorTube for over three years now. (You can check it out here for writing vlogs, reading challenges, lots of caffeine, and more!)

Speaking of unexpected turns… this week’s contest theme is inspired by real life. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that life rarely goes the way we think it will. You can plan everything perfectly and still end up somewhere completely different (sometimes better, sometimes… weirder).

For this contest, I’d love to see stories where the plan falls apart — beautifully, awkwardly, hilariously, or heartbreakingly. Maybe your character ends up somewhere they never intended. Maybe the thing they didn’t anticipate turns out to be the best thing that ever happened to them. Maybe the day ends with a bottle of wine, a call with a loved one, and some ugly crying…

This theme can go in any direction: romantic, chaotic, heartfelt, even a little magical. Whatever direction you take, I can’t wait to see what twists and surprises you come up with! Happy writing!

Special Update: The Results

Vee's top pick for her takeover was "Digesting Darkness" by Daniel P. Douglas. Here's what she had to say about the winning story: "Such a quietly powerful piece! The concept of literally 'eating grief' pulled me in right away – it was so strange that I couldn't imagine where this story would go. But it became a brilliant and moving way of exploring the weight of grief. There are so many emotionally rich moments and memorable lines that truly linger. This story is haunting, beautifully written, and will stay with me for a long time."

Congratulations to contest winner Daniel P. Douglas and the runners-up, Warren Flynn and J.S. Matkowski!

🥇 Winner

Digesting Darkness

Winner of Contest #301 🏆

THE FIRST TIME I ate someone’s grief, it was an accident.My aunt had just died, and my cousin couldn’t stop crying at the funeral. She clutched her mother’s wedding ring so tight her knuckles grew white. When she hugged me, she pressed the ring into my palm.“I can’t look at it anymore,” she said. “Just take it away.”I slipped it into my pocket, and something strange happened on the drive home. A warm sensation spread through my gut, like I’d swallowed a shot of good whiskey. By the time I parked in my driveway, I felt freaking amazing—light,...

94 likes 107 comments 107
Read story

⭐️ Shortlisted

This isn’t what I signed up for

Shortlisted for Contest #301 ⭐️

Dave knew he was in trouble the moment Melissa's car disappeared down the driveway. The silence that followed felt like the calm before a particularly vicious storm.“So,” he said, turning to face the two children who now regarded him with the collective suspicion of seasoned border agents. “What should we do today?”Blake, eleven, clutched his tablet like a shield. His eyes flicked to the windows, scanning for invisible threats, shoulders hunched in perpetual readiness. The kid had the survival instincts of a nervous rabbit and the demeanor o...

26 likes 13 comments 13
Read story

When the World Forgot Me

Shortlisted for Contest #301 ⭐️

What if your worst fear wasn’t being forgotten— but being the only one who remembers? By J.S. MatkowskiI woke up and the world had no name.The coffee still brewed at 7:04. The cat—mine, apparently—rubbed its head against my ankle like it had done forever. The dishes were in the sink, the blinds were half-drawn, and the phone buzzed with a dozen notifications. But when I picked it up, every contact had been replaced by a string of numbers.No names. No photos. No memories.At first, I thought it was a glitch. A weird system update or blackout. ...

21 likes 7 comments 7
Read story

This week's prompts

Write a story about someone who trusts or follows the wrong person.

Dramatic – 54 stories

Center your story around something that doesn’t go according to plan.

Short Story – 135 stories

Write a story about someone who tries to fix a mistake but ends up making things worse.

Dramatic – 19 stories

Center your story around a character whose biggest fear or worst nightmare comes true.

Short Story – 59 stories

Write a story that includes the line “This isn’t what I signed up for.”

Short Story – 102 stories

Stories

Digesting Darkness

Winner of Contest #301 🏆

THE FIRST TIME I ate someone’s grief, it was an accident.My aunt had just died, and my cousin couldn’t stop crying at the funeral. She clutched her mother’s wedding ring so tight her knuckles grew white. When she hugged me, she pressed the ring into my palm.“I can’t look at it anymore,” she said. “Just take it away.”I slipped it into my pocket, and something strange happened on the drive home. A warm sensation spread through my gut, like I’d swallowed a shot of good whiskey. By the time I parked in my driveway, I felt freaking amazing—light,...

94 likes 107 comments 107
Read story

Lease Agreement for a Daydream Body

Submitted to Contest #301

The body arrived in bubble wrap, the return label reading '24-Hour Free Trial.'Nina Columbo traced her fingers along the packaging. After thirty-nine years of inhabiting the same tired skin—skin that had witnessed sixteen-hour trauma ward shifts, a near-marriage, and years of prescription sleep aids—she was about to step into someone else.The body would need calibration before tonight's wedding reception.Nina's reflection watched from the hallway mirror—bloodshot eyes, hair that hadn't seen proper conditioning in weeks, skin with the dull pa...

45 likes 18 comments 18
Read story

Forgive me, Forgive me not

Submitted to Contest #301

Forgive Me, Forgive Me NotHi, how are you? My name is Jack, Jack Collins. Forgiveness, what is it? Is it being on a bent knee asking another worldly being to reach down and cleanse your soul with his hands as if you’re a dirty, old rag on a wash board or maybe sitting inside a room that is dark and desolate, talking to someone or something that’s not there. In some places they call this insanity. Well, forgive me, forgive me not is a little more my speed.Why do I need forgiveness? Well, I murdered 16 women across 7 states. Why am I here now?...

40 likes 26 comments 26
Read story

Valuable Resources

Submitted to Contest #301

“It’s not that complicated, kid. Just run in grab the bag and run out.” He said this so matter of fact in his gruff voice. His wrinkled face relaxed into an expression of careless annoyance as he attempted to downplay the risk of the plan. “Okay… then why don’t you do it?” I meant it to sound more biting, yet the quivering fear took the hostility out of the tone. My eyes were scanning the motionless huddles that lay on the other side of the dust covered window. I barely registered his deep rattling sigh, the damage from years of smoking ciga...

38 likes 3 comments 3
Read story

Ocean Tsunami Surge Carries Away the Ship Destiny's Dreams

Submitted to Contest #301

White sails glided through the marine layer and into the bay.The promise of a peaceful anchorage beckoned. The 1800s wooden ship under square canvas sails waltzed over the waves like a sleek, beautiful woman.She was the mythical vessel known as the Destiny's Dreams on her world voyages.The sea reflected the sun's sparkle. The air caressed the skin with a light, warm touch. The ship settled at anchor with sounds of happy ripples on the water.But unseen rhythms of the sea were bringing changes.Soon the day turned into chaos.Earlier that mornin...

35 likes 20 comments 20
Read story

Children of Prometheus

Submitted to Contest #301

Samira Ortiz’s alarm pulsed gently from the wall in its friendly pre-recorded monotone.“Good morning, Samira Ortiz. It is 0700 on Graduation Day. Congratulations! Prometheus celebrates all our student’s of Cohort 91. Today's projected surface viability: 0.7%. Remember, excellence is engineered.”She opened her eyes to the pale light of Prometheus's morning cycle and took a slow steady breath. Today was the day her name would be etched into the community's legacy. Her speech was already memorized, her uniform already pressed, and her posture, ...

33 likes 16 comments 16
Read story

Teeth for Dreams

Submitted to Contest #301

Heavy rain swallowed the city, blurring the neon signs into long, glowing streaks. Myra tugged her collar tighter around her neck and quickened her pace as she rounded the corner. She cursed softly. No umbrella—again.It had been a long, long day at the office. For the past few of months, she’d worked her fingers to the bone, pushing through late nights and weekends for a promotion she was so adamant she’d earn. Only, someone else had gotten it instead. Cassie. Louder. Prettier. Someone who knew how to laugh at the right times and speak the r...

30 likes 8 comments 8
Read story

The name for the boy!

Submitted to Contest #301

There was a spider spinning its web in a dusty corner of the ceiling of a hospital waiting room, somewhere, some place in the world one day. Not having the vision of a human being, let’s imagine the spider looks down, his arachnid attention would be drawn most certainly to the shiny bald head of Mr. McCreath, Walter Bannockburn Burns McCreath. A bald head from above looks entirely different, and this one shone like polished alabaster, a reddish peach alabaster. It shone like a beacon and reflected the ceiling’s neon lights; it was easy to se...

29 likes 17 comments 17
Read story

This isn’t what I signed up for

Shortlisted for Contest #301 ⭐️

Dave knew he was in trouble the moment Melissa's car disappeared down the driveway. The silence that followed felt like the calm before a particularly vicious storm.“So,” he said, turning to face the two children who now regarded him with the collective suspicion of seasoned border agents. “What should we do today?”Blake, eleven, clutched his tablet like a shield. His eyes flicked to the windows, scanning for invisible threats, shoulders hunched in perpetual readiness. The kid had the survival instincts of a nervous rabbit and the demeanor o...

26 likes 13 comments 13
Read story

Plans Change

Submitted to Contest #301

Plans Change The diligent guard circled the enclosure making sure everything was secure. He could go off duty at peace. He arrived at his home and silently padded across the green lawn to the back door and let himself in. Entering the bedroom he readied himself to crawl into the comfortable bed and cozied up to the sleeping beauty already there. She instinctively encircled him with her arm and cuddled closer. All was right in his world.Dawn broke rosy and warm over the picturesque hill country of Texas. The sleeping beauty languidly stretche...

25 likes 20 comments 20
Read story

Oscar and Harry

Submitted to Contest #301

Oscar and Harry had been friends since their first day at school. Four-year-old Harry was afflicted by runny nostrils which gave him two permanent snot slicks on his upper lip. For some years he bore the nickname ‘Eleven.’ Oscar turned up clinging to his mother’s skirts and wearing a full-face helmet, an unaccountable disguise which went on for the entire first term. When he returned after the autumn break, no one knew who he was.And so it came about that Eleven and Evel Knievel formed their unbreakable bond.Well, the years turn. Nowadays, a...

24 likes 20 comments 20
Read story

What’s your dream?

Submitted to Contest #301

Without leaps of imagination or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all is a form of planning.Gloria SteinemAs a rather unworldly fourteen-year-old growing up in the small town of Bude, North Cornwall, and attending some fairly sheltered schools including a convent school with actual nuns alive and kicking (with an emphasis on the kicking) my mind was absolutely blown the summer I watched Pretty Woman. I was a week into my nine weeklong stretch of the summer holidays and bored out of my mind. I’d already worked...

22 likes 8 comments 8
Read story

When the World Forgot Me

Shortlisted for Contest #301 ⭐️

What if your worst fear wasn’t being forgotten— but being the only one who remembers? By J.S. MatkowskiI woke up and the world had no name.The coffee still brewed at 7:04. The cat—mine, apparently—rubbed its head against my ankle like it had done forever. The dishes were in the sink, the blinds were half-drawn, and the phone buzzed with a dozen notifications. But when I picked it up, every contact had been replaced by a string of numbers.No names. No photos. No memories.At first, I thought it was a glitch. A weird system update or blackout. ...

21 likes 7 comments 7
Read story

Our Backyard

Submitted to Contest #301

The neighborhood I grew up in had a backyard—not the kind tucked away behind a single house, but a communal, neglected space that bore no likeness to the polished front. The two coexisted like parallel lines of reality—one visible, the other hidden—and we, the children, moved freely between them, as if slipping from daylight into dusk.Our building stood right at the edge of the asphalt, its façade facing the main road. Across the street stretched the shopping center, where our parents ran errands and traded pleasantries. It also hosted the n...

21 likes 5 comments 5
Read story

An Open Letter to The President

Submitted to Contest #301

This short story contains sexual violence against a minor, substance abuse, and unsafe abortion.Dear Mr. President,My name is Theo and I am thirteen years old and I live in Arkansas. My girlfriend's name is Rose. A week ago, Rose came to me crying before class and told me what happened to her two months ago during winter break. Something very, very bad happened to her. I won't go into detail but her uncle came over to her house and did something terrible, and now she was in a tough situation. SI was really sad and wanted to help her, but she...

21 likes 15 comments 15
Read story

How to Write a Novel

Join Tom Bromley for a writing master class and finish your first draft in 3 months. Learn more →

How to Write a Novel
Prompts | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

Join our weekly contest

Get 5 new writing prompts every Friday. Write and submit a story for a chance to win $250.