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!

#42: End of Story

Reaching the end of a story is a bittersweet thing. Upon reading the final word of a particularly good piece, you’re often hit with a sort of story-hangover: the ache of wanting to stay in the world of the tale, yet knowing there’s no more story to be read.

A truly excellent ending can mitigate that pain — which is why, as a writer, it’s crucial to nail the end of your own stories! Of course, this can mean different things for different pieces. A great ending might underscore a story's theme, or it might pose more questions than it answers; it all depends on context and execution. For more info, check out our tips for crafting a memorable ending here, and then dive into our ending-themed prompts below!

p.s. — We're hosting a Live Copyediting Workshop! On May 20th, Editors Tracy Gold and Julie Artz will take to YouTube to copyedit passages submitted by writers like you! For a chance to have your writing featured, click this link to register for the event and you'll receive submission instructions by email.

This week's prompts

Write a story that ends with the narrator revealing a secret.

Mystery – 162 stories

Write a story that ends in the past.

Teens – 68 stories

Write a story that ends with a character asking a question.

Narrative – 260 stories

Write a story that ends by circling back to the beginning.

Short Story – 214 stories

Write a story that ends with one character waiting for the arrival of another.

Kids – 199 stories

Stories

“Better Watch Out” by Thistle Arellano

Submitted to Contest #42

The gray mists swirl around the damp streets as a man anxiously checks his pocket watch.“Where is he?” He mutters, his foot tapping anxiously on the sidewalk. “He’s late.”“I’m right here,” a voice echoes from the shadows. He turns to see another figure leaning against the boarded up side of a shop, his dark suit sharply pressed and his broad-rimmed hat pulled low over his face. Gary frowns. He was almost certain that there hadn’t been anyone there a moment ago. “I’ve been waiting, Gary.”Gary can feel his face paling in the yellow lights from...

Read story

“The lion's den” by Ifan Fin

Submitted to Contest #42

After work, I realised it's been raining all day, so I chose to stay inside. Lazy mood upon my existence. Of many people that walked in and out, I recognised only one professor with whom I never had the chance to interact but knew he was a likeable persona, or so the students thought. And if such was students' verdict, then it's decided - he has to be this way. At first, I was reading today's newspaper, and then only pretending to be invested in the reading, I found myself right in the middle of a conversation between some couple that v...

Read story

“Keene and the Locksmith” by Genevieve Taylor

Submitted to Contest #42

We must have made a strange picture, the group of us, huddled on the edge of the cliff, the wind in our hair. But no one was watching, and we weren’t thinking about our appearances. We had bigger things to worry about. “Guys, we have to do something.” Charlotte crossed her arms and shifted her weight onto one foot. “This can’t point back to us.” Milo, for once not cracking a joke, stared down at the two bodies at our feet. There was blood everywhere; we were standing in a puddle of it, and all our shoes were colored deep red. “Well the...

Read story

“The Times I Lost You” by Leya Newi

Submitted to Contest #42

At first it wasn’t much.We were friends because our moms were friends.Then we had school together, for years and years.By the time we reached middle school, we were best friends.We could read each other’s minds, and we always knew when something was wrong, and our many fights never lasted long.I told you everything. Like when I first started wearing a bra, and who my crushes were. I thought you told me everything too.We were best friends, through thin and thick. Through elementary school bullies and middle school drama, we were best friends....

Read story

“Kedo, Kedo” by Adriana K. Maxwell

Submitted to Contest #42

“Well, are you ready to thank God for the damn spotted blinds and all the ducks on the pond?” someone asked as he squinted himself awake. The bright light hurt. He felt horrible. And he wasn’t dead. Right now, he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He was in the hospital. Ryan stared at the stranger at his bedside. There wasn’t much to look at really. Bright red beanie, ratty grey turtleneck, long black feathered bangs with a silver stripe, covering most of his eyes. “Who are you?” The boy closed his book, “You call me Ke...

Read story

“all the time in the world” by Natalie Strawbridge

Submitted to Contest #42

“Tell us something you’ve never told anyone else.”In any other context, this would feel like a trap. But here, laying on the floor of the cabin Ella has called home for a week, the trouble is not the question itself, but that she can’t think of a single thing she hasn’t told at least one person here.It is the last night of camp, and here in the cabin they are stretching the time as much as possible, refusing to sleep away their last hours together. Lights out was at 10 PM, so they sit in the dark, clustered on the floor, whispering as if the...

Read story

“A Lifetime of Waiting” by Joshua Hopper

Submitted to Contest #42

Jack scanned the dozens of arriving flights on the massive screen near baggage claim. Flight 5021 was listed as being on-time in bright yellow letters. His heart was pounding rapidly in his chest. He pushed through his discomfort, knowing that it would just be a few more minutes until he would meet his sister for the first time. Jack took a few deep breaths in a futile attempt to calm himself before he walked over to have a seat on a vacated airport bench. Usually, Jack enjoyed watching others move about their day. He innocently wonder...

Read story

“Karma's Injuries ” by Ivy Moonlit

Submitted to Contest #42

I wasn’t supposed to be out, but I just had to clear my mind. I just had to get out. I shouldn’t have been walking down dark alley ways, I was always reminded they were dark and dangerous. Why was I walking there? The last thing I remember was foggy, but I think I heard footsteps running, they were trying to be quiet, make a quick escape, or were they screaming? I couldn’t quite grasp the memory anymore. I fell down, did I lose my balance, or was I pushed? Did I get knocked out of the way? I couldn’t even remember why I needed to clear my he...

Read story

“Under the lemon tree” by Anushka Binoy

Submitted to Contest #42

It was a gorgeous summer’s evening when I met him. They always warned us about the river; how bad things happened there, how the man would find you and once he did there was no coming back – silly rumours. Under the lemon tree, you could not be harmed. Zico told me that.He told me stories that carried me to different lands: of undying love and heartbreak, of war and sacrifice. In return, I was his eyes. I told him how the prickle of heat on the nape of his neck was red. How the spray of water from the river that formed droplets against his f...

Read story

“Do i live or do i dream? ” by Anja Z

Submitted to Contest #42

Lost. That’s how I feel…in this world of corruption and lies. I think of myself as peculiar but peculiar is only a word to describe this emptiness inside me and how I keep on searching for myself. Myself, now there is a topic to dwell on forever and ever Mom had told me, but now it seems the topic of myself is just a word and with no description to describe it I’m once again lost…Each night I have these dreams these amazing yet most terrifying dreams and I don’t know how to describe it but if feels as if I’m more alive in my dreams than...

Read story

“Only Humans” by Victoria Lendon

Submitted to Contest #42

Ikrani- What would you do if you weren’t human? I looked out on a dead world. What would you do if you weren’t human? Faced with billions of deaths at the hands of these beasts. A planet once decorated with trees is now littered with filth. I don’t see a distinction between a man, woman, or cow. I see life. There is a simple decision. My algorithm is sure I must pull the trigger. Humans create many thought experiments. One asks if you should pull a lever to redirect and prevent a tram from hitting five people, even if that means one unfortun...

Read story

“The bridge ” by Nunga Dorcas Mirande Amalia

Submitted to Contest #42

One little step, a mere second of inattention and nothing is left of of me but an empty bottle.Its not until the cold breeze brushes my cheeks that i realized i climbed on the edge with no second thoughts.I look down at the greenish river under the bridge ."Why?"Would be first question he'll ask once he sees me there but i wouldn't bother answering because my kiss, my touch and moans will say it all.My eyes leave the river to look at the dying sun and i still remember how we met. The sun was young and burning the only thing i wanted was cold...

Read story

“Words at a Wake” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #42

“I hate to say this,” said Olivia’s cousin Maxine, who had a habit of saying things she hated to say that would have seemed to be borderline masochistic if she didn’t enjoy it so much. “But to a large extent, and I know you’re not supposed to speak ill of the dead, he was the architect of his own misfortunes!” She was speaking to Olivia’s neighbour, Edna, a timid, but thoroughly nice little woman, who had been put in a thoroughly awkward position, but to her credit, said, “Well, I always found him a perfect ...

Read story

“It's in our blood” by Palash Jhawar

Submitted to Contest #42

As I walked up the dark staircase, each step felt like I was climbing a mountain. My breath was ragged and my chest felt heavy. I put my left hand on the sidewalls for support and could feel the faint thumping of music originating nearby. I could feel something dripping down my brows, sweat or blood – I could no longer tell. The fingers in my right hand were cut and swollen, and holding my gun with it no longer seemed viable. But I had to. I had to reach the top of this staircase and I knew what was waiting for me there. And if I wanted any ...

Read story

“The bajji woman” by Sayani Sarkar

Submitted to Contest #42

When I was ten, I lived in the older side of Calcutta. It was a small neighborhood of four-five blocks. There were a lot of old buildings, open fields, a dirty pond, a hundred-year-old theater, too many people and carnivals that happened all year round. One could get hold of almost anything just by stepping out. From the tea stall right outside my house to the milk guy next to it. An old temple to the left and a small cheap alcohol shop to the right. Within a radius of half a kilometer, we had it all. Paint shops, stationary shops, bedding a...

Read story

Load more stories

$50

Prize money

903

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - May 22, 2020 EST

Won by Phoebe Barr 🏆

Title: The Firebird's Answer

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 ⭢