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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

“Break The Rules And Be A Rebel” by Artemisia Pearl

Submitted to Contest #44

It was incredibly hot. My mother had been bringing men over during dinner each night this week. She was trying to find me the perfect man. I had no interest in an arranged marriage. I wanted to marry whoever I wanted, but that was frowned upon. Many women just go along with what society comes up with. However, I am perfectly fine with working on the farm. I don’t need a man, because I never have. Each night before dinner, Jia, my older sister, my grandmother and mother would dress me up. They bathed me, powdered my f...

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“Ultimately end” by Prathamesh Chavan

Submitted to Contest #44

No!!!!!!!, came a screaming sound inside me and after some time it got slicensed . I lay motionlessly onto the road my eye sight becoming blur above which lay a skyscraper and everything look so tiny . The engines of car had been stop and people started to gather around me . But nobody dare to come close . They were all busy making filming of me . That ," How I am about to die"? Something for tomorrow's front page . The pain didn't hurt much and withing splash of second , everything appered in front of me , my childhood, mother, father, the...

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“Here” by ✎💎 ℂａŁ𝔢в 𝐖𝐄𝓲Ǥ𝐓 ♡💀

Submitted to Contest #44

This galaxy slowly started to intertwine with ours. As the process continued, it started to pick up speed. Stars began to merge together, along with all sizes of asteroids being flung around. And then they came. The Andromedan people. They sought to destroy, and destroy they did. We were already weakened. When they arrived in our system, the man slaughter began. They sent powered people down on Earth, to destroy us. All our armies were destroyed within the hour. I was sixteen when that happened. I remember one man said, "This is the beginnin...

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“Showdown in Mid-Town” by Gip Roberts

Submitted to Contest #44

Lincoln was no longer with us. It was a period tucked between two revolutions: one social, the other technological. The eye of an American storm. A time when fashion ruled, and global war didn't. Also a time of selfishness and competition. Of disease and danger. Of envy and enmity. Predators and killers. Talent and stardom. Free will and cheap thrill... They called him "Lone-Finger Pete", and it was no mystery why. Three of them on his right hand - three that had helped give him deadly aim back east during the war - had been amputated d...

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“ You cannot change your fate ” by Emaan Amin

Submitted to Contest #44

With tears in her exuberant eyes and an unopened letter in her trembling hands, Emma Andrew strolled the street side with her magnificent silvery hair whipping her face. The cold breeze felt like needles against her clear porcelain skin. There was a raging battle inside her mind...clustered feelings. Somehow the weather excellently depicted how she felt at the moment. She was numb with a sense of loss engulfing her body, making it hectic for her to breathe. Her heart ached with pain.After a surprisingly long stroll, she found a bench that co...

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“A Scribbled Amour” by Sayujyaraj Ghimire

Submitted to Contest #44

Present Day"Enough is enough! I can't do this anymore!""But why, is it because of me and my ugly body?""No!!! I just can't bear you, Anthony. I just can't!"A moment of eerie silence intensifies with a mixture of grief and anger. That was when Anthony, with his bleeding heart, bids goodbye to his love forever. "But Ileana, I love you…I didn't mean it. Please understand!""No!!! I don't want to stay in this toxic relationship where you take my love for granted! I don't want it!""But, listen to me…""I don't want to listen to anything you have to...

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“Buy Another Birthday” by Joshua G. J. Insole

Submitted to Contest #44

Alan Alan found himself standing at the gate of a little cottage, completely oblivious to the fact that he’d been killed in a hit-and-run accident seven months prior. There was the sound of a van pulling away behind him, quickly and quietly. He glanced over his shoulder at it, but it was already halfway down the road. The brief glimpse he’d gotten of it revealed it was entirely black — windows and all. He turned back around, frowning. He looked at his hands, turning them this way and that. Alan looked around, up and down the street he...

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“The Story of Man” by Harken Void

Submitted to Contest #44

There, by the primordial pond, its waters kept pristine solely by isolation, man, at last, made his footprint, a mark that once seemed like such a miracle, a mark that now bears only devilry.“Hello, Mother. Remember me? Your prodigal son has returned.”The pond’s water rippled with thousands of tiny waves, like shivers of the long-anticipated dread finally coming. Autumn leaves, brought by the air like shriveled corpses, danced a hempen jig with the cold wind. Stalks of dry grass swayed with apathy, their withered stems too weak to resist the...

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“Farewell” by Blane Britt

Submitted to Contest #44

When I got to thinking about what would be a good way to lead off a story with two people saying there last goodbyes forever, there was only one movie that came to mind. There are great movie scenes and then there’s what “I” consider to be the greatest movie scene of all time: Rick (Humphrey Bogart) putting Isla (Ingrid Bergman) on a plane and saying "farewell" in the classic movie Casablanca. My saying farewell to Charlotte O’Hara wasn’t nearly as dramatic nor epic. We had dated for three years on again, off again and our love for one anoth...

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“6:00 News ” by Joshua Hopper

Submitted to Contest #44

“Welcome to the 6:00 news. I’m your anchor, Oswald Faux. In an attempt to combat the overpopulation crisis in the United States, a new groundbreaking study was conducted. The results of this study conclude that one in three men over the age of 30 have had a vasectomy. ” Oswald habitually tapped his stack of blank papers against the desk and looked toward his coanchor in one swift motion, “Pretty interesting stuff, Veronica.”“Absolutely, that is a shocking number. Didn't you have one last year?”“Why, yes, I did! I must say that my ex-wife did...

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“You've Got Time” by Tori Routsong

Submitted to Contest #44

Marcellus looked up at Mt. Vesuvius, looming over the city like a gentle giant, protecting their city. He tightened his grip around his younger brother and wished he could fill his brother with the mountain’s strength. “It’ll be good again,” he said. His dog, Dorcea, whined, and put her chin on Crispus’s foot. Crispus sniffed and rubbed his eyes. “I know, but… I can’t believe that she’s gone.” “Crispus… Kiddo, she left two months ago. I thought you were doing better.” Marcellus bit his lip. Crispus had always been over emotional, but this...

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“In The City” by Skyler Woods

Submitted to Contest #44

"No! Mom and Dad are in the city!" Jessica said to herself. She couldn't stop thinking about the horrifying phone call she received from her mom before her phone went dead. How could they be in the city? Jessica thought she had rescued her mom and dad. The young woman was riding in the car with her mom and dad before her car ran out of fuel. She thought she had gotten her parents out of the city. If her parents were still in the city, then who were the two people riding in the car with her and her little boy.Jessica stopped breathing when sh...

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“Montgomery et al” by Kuzivashe Kudzerema

Submitted to Contest #44

(The following writing is based on real life events, or at least that’s what I assumed it went like.) Hugh Montgomery frowned. He pushed back his Pince-Nez eye glasses onto his nasal bridge and examined the objects strewn on the examination table. Hugh’s turtleneck felt like it was strangling him, so he loosened it around the neck. The heat from the Kentucky sunshine was blistering and he took out his pager; it was only eleven in the morning. Montgomery suddenly felt an irrational hate towards the sun. He was working for Christ’s ...

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“The Last Goodbye -Kamilla E. Bright” by Kamilla E. Bright

Submitted to Contest #44

'Goodbye' As I shook myself back to reality, I began to drive. At this moment, little droplets hit my windshield and were almost immediately followed by huge globs of rain. Tears fell across my face down to my lap. "There is no good in goodbyes and nothing fair in farewell." That's when my life flashed before my eyes. Two months earlier... I was sitting on my bed reading as I run through the word 'Death', I've never thought deeply 'bout it. I've been on my own for years now, I don't have to lose anyone. Tears streamed down my face...

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“What Else Are They to Say?” by Magnet Marsdaughter

Submitted to Contest #44

"Goodbye," I say. I guess this is the end.You pull me close. "I love you," and your hot breath puffs on my ear.Puffy white snowflakes begin to fall out of the gray sky as you're pulled back, away from me.Someone else says something sharp. It's time for me to go. Your face is tight, your eyes are strained. You're trying not to cry. You've been so strong.Now you're about to lose the last of everything. But through it all, you still kept smiling. Will this break you? Or will you keep smiling, the way you always have? You said goodbye to my fath...

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$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!

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