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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

“Stormy and Katrina” by Meredith Lyons

Submitted to Contest #4

Stormy stood for a moment gazing out toward the pre-dawn surf. Choppy. She continued to pick her way carefully toward the beach. She had wanted to go for a morning run, but there was too much debris, so she was walking. Slowly. She was still determined to make it to the coastline and now it was in sight.The closer she got to the water, the more the breeze picked up. She paused to redo her ponytail. Her long, wavy blue-green tresses kept escaping the rubber band. And she hadn’t been particularly successful when ducking branches and leaves tha...

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“Miss the Days” by Aaron Bard

Submitted to Contest #4

A man sat in his rocking chair, watching the waves crash against the shore, revolving in their never-ending quest up the sand. The air was hot and humid, too humid for sitting indoors. Seagulls flew overhead, searching unsuccessfully for scraps on the deserted oceanfront.His chair rocked against the wooden deck, creaking with each backwards movement. The ice in his cold glass of iced tea clinked as he moved. Forwards. Backwards. Forwards. He had so many memories here, eternally implanted in the sand of his mind, even if the waves had wiped a...

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“Thalassic waters mystique - entrance this lifelong landlubber” by Matthew Harris

Submitted to Contest #4

Oft times this mountain man intrigued to step no closer to the sea than the Earth's defining coastlines. Ironically enough, the vagaries of near infinite watery expanse captivates, beckons and allures this Aegean inhabitant no closer than the wavering edge, where Poseidon doth kiss Gaea. Nonetheless motivation, inspiration activation to craft epistles kickstarts, infuses, gushes... analogously from humongous fountainhead. Far from madding crowds, this sensate being remains content hearing, smelling, tasting, touching (marks closest lim...

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“The Teenage Wasteland” by Trenea House

Submitted to Contest #4

Helen Rigby's telephone on her nightstand rang, interrupting her reading time. After the third ring, she put down her copy of A Catcher in the Rye on the bed, leaving it open, before picking up the phone. "Hello?" she said. "Hey, Hilary," responded the nasal female voice coming from the phone’s end. "It's Helen." "Oh, sorry. It's Beth calling." "Okay." "From history class." "Yeah, I know." "Yeah, thank you for letting me borrow a pencil last class." "No problem. How did you get this number?"...

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“Caretakers” by Corey Hansen

Submitted to Contest #4

I have a lot of time to reflect these days. I will die any day now I’m sure; Hell, I’m 95 and thought I would be long gone by now. My youngest great-granddaughter just got her driver’s license and my children are retiring…why am I still here? Watching the 75thanniversary of D-Day on the news was bittersweet. The memories came flooding back. It was frightening and exhilarating, especially for a kid who had never ventured beyond Utah. My friends are all gone now so there is nobody to talk to about what we went ...

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“The Bed Where She Sleeps” by Mike Cohen

Submitted to Contest #4

She lay on her side, the crumpled top sheet and a coverlet tucked against her cheek. Eyes closed, knees pressed together, she breathes gently—silently. I watch, hoping I’m in her dream. My back against the headboard, I touch her hair, lift it and feel it flow through my fingers to fan out on the pillow. I lean closer to see her face. She enchants me in the bed where she sleeps. Drawn to the back of her neck, I gaze at the skin just below her ear. Fragrance lingers from our lovemaking, a mixture of light perfume and sweat. I need to lick the ...

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“Purple and Million Greys” by Valerie Wang

Submitted to Contest #4

“Purple,” my mother had replied when I asked her the color of my new dress. I giggled and twirled around the house, catching my reflection in every mirror and trying to imagine what the color purple could possibly look like. At the young age of five, my world existed only in shades of blacks, whites and greys. “One day you’ll see,” she promised me, repeating the same thing everyone had been telling me for years, “the day you meet your soul mate, your world will explode into a rainbow of colors and it’ll be the most amazing, overwhelming fe...

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“An Incidental Merger” by James Freeze

Submitted to Contest #4

[An Incidental Merger]Adam and Ashley were in love, real love, not an overnight affair. They were young, with unleashed passion and ready to experience the joy poets sing about. Fear rippled through them again and again, almost extinguishing their desire to experience that intoxicating feeling only the bodily appetite can deliver. Ashley is thrilled as her body is awakened, but panic grips her at the same time. What will ...

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“To Love Somebody” by Iyke Michael

Submitted to Contest #4

A story Titled: To Love SomebodyBy: Iyke Michael“Ican do this,” he exhales, “yes, I can do this, one, two, three…,” Jared saidand stood up from the wheelchair. With pains all over his joints, he wasdetermined to take his first step after the fatal accident that put him in awheelchair for two years. His two legs could not carry his body, he keptbreathing fasts while fastening his hands on the wall. The pain kept him fromstanding straight, as he tried to suppress the pain, his eyes fell on thepicture frame that hung on the wall. He tried to re...

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“Things That Make A Man Think” by Tiffany Mausteller

Submitted to Contest #4

Kayloch made his way out to the truck and sat in the driver’s seat. He lit a cigarette. He took three long drags. He coughed and snorted, then flung the truck door open and spit. The tears stung as they filled his eyes, but he refused to let them fall. He picked up his phone. He stared blankly at the screen for a long moment. He ought to call her mother. He lay the phone back down on the console and flicked the ashes from his cigarette. He knew this surgery thing was a bad idea. Anytime a doctor cut a person open, it was a bad idea. How many...

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“I Might Make It” by Chandler Mcniel

Submitted to Contest #4

I have been sitting in my car for hours. I don’t really know how many hours. I left my watch and my phone at the house along with my wallet and all my cash but I did not forget my gun. I made sure I had my gun and I didn’t care to look at the clock. “You Can Make it if You Try” is playing over the speakers in my car. I hate that song. Using lines like “push a little harder” and “dig a little deeper”, the song heavily implies that if you try your hardest you will be able to accomplish whatever you want....

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“Charlie Spencer's death” by Walt Landers

Submitted to Contest #4

Hello, mortals. This is Charlie Spencer. Guess what? I’m a dead guy. Don’t give me that eyebrow squint business, I can see you, okay. Just keep movin’ your eyeballs left to right, at your own pace, makin’ those typewriter shapes into thought. Right, it ain’t easy. It works your brain. I get it. But here goes. Okay, picture this. I had waited all day for it to get dark. I had spent the last fiver I had on some corn nuts and a coke, and some other crap....

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“My dear life” by Netra S

Submitted to Contest #4

Once there lived a girl named Neha in Canada. She had a very pretty family of four people. She was living her life happily with no disturbances. She was so happy about how her life was going on except one thing. It was her emotion and her sad feeling that her father had never been her birthday. She wanted to share this with her parents and also wanted to ask them if her father was there when she was born but she couldn't because she did not want to hurt them by asking this. The reason for her dad not being on her birthday was he works in a s...

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“My Best Friend” by Amanda Carter

Submitted to Contest #4

Goddammit. Why was it so fucking bright in here? Why are the fucking blinds open? What fucking time is it anyways?The clock next to the bed glares an angry 8:00 a.m. and the alarm has been shrilling for at least an hour. Well shit. Now I am late for work. Why does school have to start so early? Those little shits are going to be way more than I can handle today. On the night stand stood a half empty bottle of vodka and a knocked over bottle of Vicodin. Teacher’s little helpers. It was the only way I could survive another day of teaching a bu...

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$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!

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