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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#38: Close to Home

A few weeks ago, our 'Staying Inside'-themed contest received quite a big response from the Reedsy Prompts community. Because this is clearly a relatable theme for so many these days, we've decided to run a second edition of prompts that all revolve around being at home. 

 

But that's not the only popular writing activity we're bringing back: today, we're hosting another LIVE Write-In on YouTube at 3pm Eastern Time! Once again, our guides Shaelin and Jenn will guide you through a series of 20-minute writing sprints. During the breaks, you can share your progress and ask our hosts any questions you may have. 

 

To join, tune in to our YouTube channel at 3pm EST. We hope to see you there!

This week's prompts

Write a story about someone who finds a magical portal in their home.

Fantasy – 240 stories

Write a story about someone who is working from home and constantly getting distracted by their pet.

Nonfiction – 98 stories

Write a story about two neighbors talking from their yards, windows, balconies, etc.

Dialogue – 196 stories

Write a story about someone learning how to play an instrument.

Nonfiction – 75 stories

Write a story about someone posting a video on social media that goes viral.

Teens – 54 stories

Stories

“A Bud Light at the End of the Tunnel” by Matt Strempel

Submitted to Contest #38

The letter—crisp white paper with officious black text, apart from the jarring red ‘PENALTY’ on the top right corner of the page—sat in stark contrast to Chuck’s weathered, wrinkled hands.“Staring at it isn’t going to help,” said Chuck’s wife, Rosemary.Chuck humphed. Typical of cantankerous old men, Chuck Habberfield humphed a lot. Even more since the nation-wide lockdown. Now he barely uttered a word as the weeks in isolation dragged on.Before, his weekly routine had been a repetitive, yet satisfying schedule of activities. When he was...

3 comments 3
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“Guitar Hero” by Santiago Hernandez

Submitted to Contest #38

As a kid Joe has always been musically inclined. He would always make sure that anywhere he went that he had to take his MP 3 player and headphones. Once the I pod came out Joe or as his mother called him Joey made sure that he saved up enough of the money he made from mowing his neighbors lawns so he could buy it. Joey loved music. He made sure he had as much music as possible to as many genres as possible as well. His mother Teresa always saw Joey walking around the house with his headphones in. She would always tell him, “If you keep thos...

0 comments 0
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“Piano Man” by Kady Nankivel

Submitted to Contest #38

Before the virus hit and everything changed, we would spend every night at the piano. I couldn’t play--I was never really a musical person--but Aimi was a musical genius with that piano. She could look at a piece of music and suddenly know how to play it almost perfectly. It was a nightly game between her and I: I would find a piece of music I didn’t think she could possibly play, and it was her goal to prove me wrong. I loved our nights on the small piano bench. It was a perfect excuse to enjoy each other’s company while music drowned out a...

0 comments 0
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“The Climb to the Window” by Mackenzie Steinman

Submitted to Contest #38

Dear Diary,           Today is the first day of my confinement. April 18, 1943 is officially the worst day ever. Not because of the war, not because of the death caused by the war, but the fact that I have been quarantined. Yes, you heard me, quarantined. A word that can send shivers up anyone’s back.            Now, you may ask, why am I quarantined? Well, the answer is quite simple—I have an infamous case of the oh-so-dreadful Scar...

6 comments 6
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“BHAIRAVAN” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #38

Naagu was working from home and his boss was on the line. “Yes Sir. It will be done. No problem. By the way, let me ----” Before he could complete his conversation, he got distracted by the dog under his feet. Buddy, his daughter’s pet dog was circling him and scratching and making funny sounds, trying to catch his attention. Naagu yelled at his wife to fetch the stupid stuff and throw him out. “Not at all allowing me to carry on my work even for five minutes at a stretch. What my boss will think? Will he not believe that I am playing with t...

1 comment 1
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“Working to Death” by Marina Mainardi

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #38

Tapping my bony fingers on the table top, I take a deep breath - so to speak. Honestly. This pandemic is such an inconvenience. They convinced me to work from home, can you believe it? Me! Because I’m the boss, I had to stay home and delegate. Yet I suppose it’s the right call, someone has to organize this clusterfuck and give the orders. Can’t do that on the field. I watch as the graphs and charts edit themselves on the screen, showing the progression of the virus. Without warning, it’s all blocked out by white fur. “What are you you doing ...

1 comment 1
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“Three And A Half Feet” by Sophie McMahon

Submitted to Contest #38

She was too pretty.And it wasn't her hair which caught the light perfectly, or her smile which was too shy to be a laugh, but just wide enough to allow a sliver of white teeth to glint in between her cherry-colored lips, and it wasn't her eyes either, or her legs or chest or whatever guys find attractive about a woman's body.It wasn't even her voice, dammit, which graced our entire building with a semi-pleasant rendition of the latest pop hits.I didn't think I'd ever tolerate Shawn Mendes every Tuesday night, accompanied by the roar of the s...

3 comments 3
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“Dreaming?” by Gloria Salazar

Submitted to Contest #38

He was seven foot tall and three feet wide, his long spiked hair was a shocking neon blue that seemed to give off a light all its own, his muscles rippled like disturbed water when he moved across the room, and most shockingly of all his skin was orange. Not sickly orange, or over-tanned, but a deep golden orange that made his black pupil-less eyes really stand out.Devon had no idea who or even what he was but the massive mountain of a being had crawled, with lots of moaning and grumbling, out from underneath the desk in his room. He could u...

2 comments 2
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“As Close as We Can” by Maria Randova

Submitted to Contest #38

I closed Tinder again. What a start to the morning. Everyday I just get more frustrated, but I keep on grasping for this dying hope of meeting someone. Although in the myriad of comparatively attractive faces with similar jobs and dreams, I will not stand out unless I have actually already achieved something. I’ve only been here for a while, just another face trying to make it in the big city. And the same description applies to my tinder profile, just another one. And here I am, getting frustrated about the others being boring. In my mind, ...

2 comments 2
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“JIMMY DEAN” by Andrew Grell

Submitted to Contest #38

JIMMY DEANBy Andrew Paul GrellIt is not, in fact, always darkest before the dawn. There’s a whole bunch of diffracting, reflecting, and refracting going on below that eastern horizon. Dogs can pick that up even behind shades, blinds, and curtains. Goldfish, too. The Rastusons’, Liza and Josiah, started out with goldfish. Two of them, in a little bowl on the night table farther away from the window. Yet every morning, twelve minutes before nautical dawn, Mime and Fafner would slap their tails on the surface of the water until one of the ...

2 comments 2
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“From Crawling to Striding Pianos” by Stephanie Jeannot

Submitted to Contest #38

Learning to play the piano is like learning how to walk from crawling. It is not an easy thing. I watch the falls of a little child in her attempt to just start running. But plop she goes and ends up in tears because it hurt her to fail. She is tired of only being able to sit on her pretty little tail.She decides one day to try standing on her own like a piano player putting her hands on the keys. She moves her hands across the expanse of the piano but not with ease. She tries to build her muscle memory of every song that grabs her attention...

2 comments 2
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“Not Now, Please” by Sprite Akuma

Submitted to Contest #38

Day 17 of quarantine: I’m sitting around at my house, piles of work to do yet still bored out of my mind. Trying to do schoolwork from home makes it so easy to get distracted. I seem to have fallen into the mindset that, oh, I have all the time in the world. I don’t have to go anywhere, and it’s not going to matter whether I finish this in the morning, in the afternoon, or at night about 23 minutes before it’s due. From what I’ve been seeing on social media, I’m not the only one with this mindset. Clearly, since people have the time to post ...

5 comments 5
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“The Candy Cotastrophe” by Svea Wagner

Submitted to Contest #38

The Candy Catastrophe By: Svea Wagner A 14-year-old girl named Keira is going on a summer vacation to New Jersey with her family. When they had arrived at their cabin in New Jersey, they unpacked their suitcases and put on their swimming suits. After the beach, they went to a very fancy restaurant to celebrate their first night in New Jersey.  The next day was Keira's parents’ date day,  so they had expected Keira to babysit her little brother Ajay.  Ajay hated being babysat because he thought he was too old. Ajay was only 7 y...

2 comments 2
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“Zeya” by Andrew Eller

Submitted to Contest #38

Zeya was a red panda at the zoo just a handful of blocks away and I knew I had to rescue her.  It was my first year teaching and things were not going well.  I had left college, bright and full of optimism, accepting a teaching job in a new city far away.  So often we don’t realize the expectation we have until that expectation is not met. My struggles in the classroom were showing me that I expected to saunter into the underserved school and create amazing, transformational change among my students.  This image of mysel...

1 comment 1
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“Pillow Talk” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #38

My colleague Camilla is one of those people who tends to be referred to as a good sport/good egg/brick/decent sort or whatever folk’s accolade of choice is, followed by a but which is not always vocalised, but always hangs in the air.      One of Camilla’s little ways is that though, generally, she isn’t remotely materialistic and looks genuinely mystified at the obsession with stuff, every so often she’ll get a gadget that she doesn’t know how she managed without, and Lord, do the rest of us know abou...

4 comments 4
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$50

Prize money

663

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Apr 24, 2020 EST

Won by Clyde Roan 🏆

Title: The Paper Airplane

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!

Prompts | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

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