Menu

Prompts

Contests

Stories

Blog

Menu

✕

CONNECT

Editing Design Marketing Publicity Ghostwriting Websites

BLOG

Success Stories

APPS

TOOLS

Book Promotion Sites Book Review Blogs Booktube Channel Guide Book Title Generator Character Name Generator Independent Publishers Literary Agents Literary Magazines Pen Name Generator Plot Generator Publishers Directory Short Story Ideas Writing Contests Writing Exercises Writing Scholarships

ABOUT

About Reedsy Terms Privacy

CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#4: Woodstock

Last weekend was the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, the 1969 music festival that attracted an audience of more than 400,000 visitors, and was known as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music." Its a legendary cultural event, and a large variety of books and documentaries have been dedicated to telling the story of Woodstock. So this week, we thought we'd take inspiration from it too.

Each of the following five writing prompts are titles of songs that were played at Woodstock. As far as writing prompts go, they're pretty broad and open to interpretation, so we're looking forward to seeing the many different directions and stories they lead to.

This week's prompts

Write a story based on the song title: "Beside The Sea"

Fiction – 33 stories

Write a story based on the song title: "My Generation"

Fiction – 22 stories

Write a story based on the song title: "To Love Somebody"

Nonfiction – 46 stories

Write a story based on the song title: "You Can Make It If You Try"

Nonfiction – 14 stories

Write a story based on the song title: "With A Little Help From My Friends"

Nonfiction – 19 stories

Stories

“IMPLICIT MEMORY” by Michelle Anwar

Submitted to Contest #4

It was a shiny day for the Willies’ single family to kicked start their day. Just like every ideal family, Mr. Willies, the head of the house was getting ready to go to work, while his wife, Janed Hud was busy preparing an american-styled breakfast for her beloved one. On the upper part of the house, there was Willies Junior trying to pack his school belongings. He kept check through his backpack over and over again but somehow he was doubting himself. He felt something is off as he forgot one thing. After couple of minutes, he decided to as...

Read story

“To Love Someone ” by Ashlee Mahadia

Submitted to Contest #4

Love, what the heck is it? Who in the world can really explain it right? They say there is no such thing as love at first sight or love at all. I bet nobody knows about real love. Love is "An intense feeling with deep affection." How does anyone really know if they've felt that before? I've had moments where I thought I loved someone. I mean I won't lie I know for a fact I did. It's just when you don't receive it back you then start to question it. Love is also where you don't give up on someone no matter how hard things may get. Love is a ...

Read story

“Last Summer” by Reenie Z

Submitted to Contest #4

It is the last week of summer and my vacation in London was coming to an end,I cant't believe how time flew by in a blink of an eye at least I'm glad I can say I spent my summer pretty well. I knew I wouldn't have done it alone and I owe it to my friends who took their time to be with me and share my crazy adventures,it had been a long hard semester all the pressure from school,the assignments,the hardcore teachers and not forgetting the exams had weighed me down to the depth of the ocean luckily I cleared all my papers and I can...

Read story

“True Love” by Stephanie Schultz

Submitted to Contest #4

Anna is an innocent product of modern media when she assumes any mention of love refers to Romantic Love, and she does her best to soak up education on the subject. At age 32, she’s disappointed to assert: the certain kind of light which seems to alter everyone else’s life has never ever never shone on her. However, she’s not surprised anymore when her life unfolds differently than norms or expectations suggested it would. She thought she’d own a house before she reached age 27, and she’d believed she’d also occupy challenging yet comfortabl...

Read story

“The Man With The Crossbody Pouch” by Tee Lin Say

Submitted to Contest #4

Victoria was in trouble. She was crushing big time on a man who was rich and married. This was the worst combination a girl could hope for. At least if he were poor, he would be nicer. Now she had zero power and leverage in this equation. She didn’t know how it happened. He had hired her to write some articles and a few business proposals. Over the course of work and lots of conversations, their energies must have synthesized and formed an electrical blue cord.Lee was the most powerful stock market operator in Jakarta.&nb...

Read story

“The Proposal” by Ron Scott

Submitted to Contest #4

She is going to be so surprised. The ring in my pants pocket makes an uncomfortable bulge. I turn onto her street, and turn off my headlights as I drive past her house. I park the car down the street, out of sight. I really don’t want her to see it and be spoiled. I check my mirrors and look out the windows all around the car to make sure no one can see me. I don’t want one of her nosy neighbors to spot me and call her before I surprise her. I pick up the bouquet of roses I’ve brought and I walk back the few b...

Read story

“Truths and Lies” by Anastasia Varnava

Submitted to Contest #4

JonathanHe opened his eyes slowly. The light coming from the window on the other side of the room was dim. It was early. He felt his wife sleeping by his side. She would remain sleeping for a good another three hours he thought, which gives him plenty of time.He got up and rushed to the shower. The pouring water woke him up completely. He got dressed and within twenty minutes he was opening the front door, "Dad, wait, can I come with you”, he turned around to see his youngest son in his pyjamas."Can I come with you dad? ", the youn...

Read story

“Addie” by Kaitlyn Lee

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #4

John lay on the dark blue paisley rug of the creaking house across from Addie and tapped her nose gently until she finally opened her eyes, glazed with irritation, and let out a deep sigh. Their splayed positions, reminiscent of bear-skin rugs, mirrored one another’s with only the fifth appendage of Addie’s tail breaking the symmetry. “Addie, why is life so easy for dogs?” John mused, continuing to stare at her in an effort to avoid the half-filled moving boxes with haphazardly scrawled labels that towered around the pair inside the ancient ...

Read story

“Finding love” by Kaitlyn Hall

Submitted to Contest #4

Love, a word that billions of people say, without true intentions of showing it. Me being one of these people. I can say the three words “I love you” to anyone and not truly mean it. September 1,2016 I walk into school with my head held high. Being popular isn’t all that terrible, if I'm being honest with you. I mean who wouldn’t want people begging to be friends with you or having nerds do your homework for you, especially on nights when you would rather be out having fun. Always getting out of trouble because I’m “rich”. It truly is ...

Read story

“To love somebody, again” by Candace Thompson

Submitted to Contest #4

After having your heart broken. Many questions spiral through your head. How did this happen? How could I have changed it? How did I let him go? How could he betray me? How am I still breathing how could I ever think, to love somebody? I pondered this, for days on end after Andrew left me. We used to do everything together. We went to the same school, worked at the same job, shopped at the same stores. We shared a house for Christs sake! Now? It's just me. Tucked away in the corner of our local coffee shop, " The Brew". I stay hidden in a sm...

Read story

“To Love Somebody” by Andrada Erdoss

Submitted to Contest #4

“Honey, remember to take the trash out today.” “Ok, I will. Later, when I finish programming.” “How’s it going?” She asks to show support. “I’m making progress. It’s slow, but I’m chugging along. That’s why I want to work in the morning when I’m productive.” He puts his best foot forward but she sees there’s some sadness hiding behind that smile. “Ok, good luck. Don’t be late!” She’s not willing to open that can of worms yet. She gets to work straightening up the house. It is always a mess when comes home from work. I...

Read story

“Canis Familiaris” by Abby Lyon

Submitted to Contest #4

I knew from the very first moment I saw you - you had to be mine. I called out to you, and you turned and noticed me. That room was so cold and filled with concrete and metal. I couldn’t be the loudest, though I tried. Instead, I wiggled as hard as I could up against the chain link. As soon as I heard your voice, my tail wagged. I couldn’t stop it. That’s when I picked you. I knew first and then you knew. You pointed at me and said, “Him, he’s the one. That’s my dog.” &nb...

Read story

“Pearl” by Mike Dettmers

Submitted to Contest #4

Looking into your eyes, I still see a scared and lonely child trapped inside the quicksand of an adult, an icon of an age. And I am the double-edged sword that brought about your success and your destruction. I saw you the other day on a television documentary. It was the fiftieth anniversary of Woodstock, and the film maker had clip after clip of the key performers, names that in today’s light are pillars of entertainment but at the time were not all household names. I was listening with one ear when I heard you, and there yo...

Read story

“The Cardinal” by Nora Sheppard

Submitted to Contest #4

The CardinalBy Nora SheppardKay sat watching the Destination board at Union Station. She rarely traveled by train, so she was excited to do so on this trip. She had visited her son, Ben, in Washington, D.C. and was taking a side trip to visit her Aunt Nettie in Newark. Nettie was the only older relative left in the family, following the death of Kay's mother the prior winter. It had been years since Kay visited Nettie; she didn't make it to the area often. She spent most of her time in Atlanta with her husband, Sean;...

Read story

“Perseverance -- You Can Make It If You Try” by Geraldine Treacy

Submitted to Contest #4

A speech impediment made my childhood difficult. Stuttering was embarrassing and I was subjected to a lot of bullying. I tried to sit directly behind the student in front of me in hopes the teacher didn’t see me. I didn’t want to be called on. Even if I knew the answer to the question asked, I said “I don’t know” rather than give an answer that I would stutter to get out. One time I remember the teacher meeting with my mother and saying “Geraldine does quite well on written exams, but she would do much better if she ...

Read story

Load more stories

$50

Prize money

134

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Aug 30, 2019 EST

Won by Tula Singer 🏆

Title: Lela

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!

Explore more writing prompt ideas:

Adults Writing Prompts ⭢

Adventure Writing Prompts ⭢

Angst Writing Prompts ⭢

Character Writing Prompts ⭢

Christmas Writing Prompts ⭢

Dark Writing Prompts ⭢

Dialogue Writing Prompts ⭢

Dramatic Writing Prompts ⭢

Dystopian Writing Prompts ⭢

Fall Writing Prompts ⭢

Fantasy Writing Prompts ⭢

Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Fluff Writing Prompts ⭢

Funny Writing Prompts ⭢

Halloween Writing Prompts ⭢

High School Writing Prompts ⭢

Historical Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Holiday Writing Prompts ⭢

Horror Writing Prompts ⭢

Kids Writing Prompts ⭢

Middle School Writing Prompts ⭢

Mystery Writing Prompts ⭢

Narrative Writing Prompts ⭢

Nonfiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Novel Writing Prompts ⭢

Poetry Writing Prompts ⭢

Romance Writing Prompts ⭢

Sad Writing Prompts ⭢

Science Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Short Story Writing Prompts ⭢

Spring Writing Prompts ⭢

Summer Writing Prompts ⭢

Teens Writing Prompts ⭢

Thanksgiving Writing Prompts ⭢

Thriller and Suspense Writing Prompts ⭢

Valentine's Day Writing Prompts ⭢

Vampire Writing Prompts ⭢

Winter Writing Prompts ⭢