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!

#44: Just the Beginning

Two weeks ago, our theme was story endings. This week, we're circling back to the starting line and focusing on story beginnings.

From Zora Neale Hurston's "Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board." To Jane Austen's "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." And George Orwell's "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." Memorable lines stick with us because they're what propel us into the world of the story in the first place.

For more inspiration, check out our tips for crafting intriguing opening lines, and then dive into our beginning-themed prompts below!

This week's prompts

Write a story that starts with two characters saying goodbye.

Character – 248 stories

Write a story that starts with a life-changing event.

Novel – 175 stories

Write a story that starts with someone returning from a trip.

Character – 111 stories

Write a story that starts with a character-revealing something unusual about themselves.

Character – 142 stories

Write a story that starts by establishing its setting in a different time period — without explicitly stating what that period is.

Historical Fiction – 114 stories

Stories

“Fear of the Jackboot” by Martin Buckell

Submitted to Contest #44

Felix was woken by the sound of storm troopers marching along the street. He leapt out of bed and hurried to the window. Pulling aside the thin gauze curtain, he watched a score of uniformed thugs stomp past a group of frightened onlookers and disappear into a nearby side road. “Will I be killed today?” he whispered to himself as a pang of fear shot through his frame.The streets, normally bustling, had become sheepish, only the bold, the brave and those with nothing to fear carried on with their quotidian duties. Felix was an honest, ha...

Read story

“Bridges Burnt” by Abigail O

Submitted to Contest #44

Bye was the last thing she said, It was more than crying, it was the kind of desolate sobbing that came from a person drained of all hope. I sank to my knees at the tiny grave, not caring for the damp mud that dirtied my dress. My tears mingled with the rain and her gasping wails echoed around the gravestones. The pain that flowed from me was as palpable was the frigid fall wind and soon the only person at my side was Ceaser, hadn't he did enough damage. I yelled, ''leave me alone you have did enough for one day.'' Struggling to keep his tea...

Read story

“A Few More Red Lights” by Iona Cottle

Submitted to Contest #44

“See you round then.”“Yeah. Goodbye.”It feels so formal to say that, but I can’t bear to say it any other way. ‘See you’ or ‘laters’ are more natural, but that would just be lying. I can’t have the last thing I say to Alex be a lie.He smiles at me and turns to head home, waving over his shoulder as he goes. And just like that he’s gone. I can’t help wonder if he’s the last person I’ll ever see.The walk home is quiet, as it always is this time of night. The plan had been to take in all the scenery, to fix the memories of my home-town in my mi...

Read story

“Sky Worthy” by Aimee P

Submitted to Contest #44

“I’ve always wanted to be a pilot.” “Really?” Judah and Katie lay in the grass in front of Judah’s house. Both had been best friends for as long as either could remember, and grew closer each year they spent together. “Yeah, it’s just always interested me. The mechanics, the different types of planes, helping people, everything. My grandfather was a pilot at some point too, y’know. I think that’s also where I get that from.” “And so the models in your room, they’re not just from some bygone phase like horse girls?” Katie teased, rollin...

Read story

“What I Thought I Knew” by Aneka Williams

Submitted to Contest #44

“Will you marry me, Danielle?”Edward’s voice came from behind me and I slowly turned around to see him awkwardly bent on one knee and his hands outstretched with a large silver ring neatly stacked in a tiny box. I must have started crying. Or laughing. His happy expression shifted to one of uncertainty and I realized I must have answered the question wrong.“Yes,” I clarified, “Yes, I’ll marry you”His courage surfaced again. He jumped to his feet and tenderly pushed the ring onto my index finger. I kissed him in front of everyone at the cafe ...

Read story

“Summers with Pete” by Jeni Conrad

Submitted to Contest #44

“We never did catch crawdads,” Pete said as we sat on the bridge, our arms resting on the wooden rails, feet dangling above a flowing creek. “We'll have to do it next year." The water flowed steadily, shallow enough in the late summer months that I could see the creek bed, stones wet with moss. I was familiar with that water, knew it was cool and smooth. Had it been midday, I’d have been jumping in it, soaking my shirt and shorts. It was evening, though, and the shadows stretched long as darkness pulled them away from the sun and into the co...

Read story

“The Second Concrete Square of Twenty-Fourth Street” by Naomi Irwin

Submitted to Contest #44

It was a clear blue, sunny day but none like any other, for there was an odd occurrence on the second concrete square of twenty-fourth street and a secret that was waiting to be shared.Skye Randolph snuck around the corner of the block with her head turned to look behind her. She was on her way to meet Noah Carson, her best friend, during an ultimate game of tag all of the neighborhood kids were competing in, but she didn't want to get caught on her way. Her hand pressed against the brick building and preoccupied with her thoughts she pushed...

Read story

“Tag, You're It” by Kathleen March

Submitted to Contest #44

As was already noted elsewhere in this story and in the annals of ecclesiastical history, Nuestra Señora del Pilar or Our Lady of the Pillar, had a pretty important role in helping the Iberian Peninsula - which isn’t the same as Spain even if Spain likes to think so - become Christianized. Lady Pilar told Saint James to stick with his commitment as an Apostle and he listened. She left him the pillar she’d appeared on as testimony or proof or bribe and thus earned her name.What that part of the Church’s teaching concerning Spain doesn’t say i...

Read story

“In The Act” by Chelsy Maughan

Submitted to Contest #44

Dust lifted into the air like a small cyclone, kicked up by the ill hemmed bottom of a young girl’s dress. A young boy ran across the packed road as he chased after a large wooden hoop that he rolled with a stick. The boy narrowly missed a disgruntled horse drawn carriage, a woman gasped loudly in the distance and the boy stopped dead in his tracks. A woman, his mother, placed her dignified hand around the hoodlum's ear and pulled him along. Her purple dress flounced behind her as she walked, with a shrill voice she lamented the boy. J...

Read story

“A TRICKY WELCOME” by Lakshya Leo Gerald

Submitted to Contest #44

'Everybody wake up after a good peaceful sleep, however, I am not a part of the lot. I do of course sleep peacefully, in fact, very peacefully, such that, I guess part of my brain started to love the dream world more, than the real world. Most peop...

Read story

“The Blossom of Arundel” by Emilie Conroy

Submitted to Contest #44

Fayre sauntered into the great hall, her radiance disguising the sickly turmoil within her. How it aggravated her to see Cloridan meander about the great hall, mingling with the feast guests as if he were home in his own castle. She wished everyone in the hall could share just a little of her hostility, that Cloridan might not look so arrogant and comfortable. Fayre moped about the hall, barely acknowledging any greetings offered her. She knew...

Read story

“Time Difference” by Audrey Rose

Submitted to Contest #44

I stretched my arms as I stepped out of the jet bridge and into the Beijing Capital Airport. Ah, home sweet home, I thought. After being an exchange student in a foreign country for a whole school year, it was nice to return to familiar ground. And, of course, with familiar ground comes familiar people. Unknown to my family, school had ended earlier than scheduled, so I took this as a perfect opportunity to come back and surprise them. I couldn’t wait to see my grandparents, parents, and little sister again. To play mahjong with my grandpare...

Read story

“The DIsturbed Dream” by Harish S

Submitted to Contest #44

A bad day!! just sitting in the house doing nothing for a month and got tired of nothing, to say it short, hardly in the state of f*****. The environment was not bad as it was a rainy day in summer. I had my lunch at 200 pm and jumped to the couch for a power-nap. Often that couch is at high temperature when I am up from a nap liter of water can be taken from my parts and the couch, but on that day it was with a convincing temperature because of rain. The weather changed the option to sleep mode from power nap mode. In to the dream… I was ju...

Read story

“The Last Goodbye” by Joanne X

Submitted to Contest #44

Hot tears streamed down my cheeks as I looked at the devastating scene before me. My hero. My best friend. My brother. Memories of the 21 years we’ve spent together flooded my brain as I tried to understand what the doctor was telling me. The few words I grasped through the chaos were “surgery”, “paralyzed”, and worst of all, death. My eyes had become puffed up slits that clouded the world around me and added to the dizziness I felt in my already pounding head. We barely even had enough money for food, let alone surgery. What would happen to...

Read story

“All Hail the King of Bloodshed” by Jack Fitzgerald

Submitted to Contest #44

I stepped off of the boat to be greeted by my family with open arms. My wife, who hasn't seen me since the beginning of our quest, holding our 2-year-old daughter rejoiced at the sight of my face, although my face was quite the opposite of that. The war has been won, the victory is ours, and yet I couldn't be happy if my life depended on it. Possibly it's because I might not have a life soon. What I saw on that expedition is unbearable to me. So many innocent lives lost just for the pleasure of our ruthless king.My vision is black and white....

Read story

Load more stories

$50

Prize money

790

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jun 05, 2020 EST

Won by D. Holmes 🏆

Title: A Gamble

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 ⭢