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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

“One fleeting story” by Huma Fatima

Submitted to Contest #44

“All the stories I can remember are sad stories until they meet their happy ends. But mine is a happy one with a tragic end.”The shoot had officially begun with that phenomenal dialogue of mine and as the play progressed, I slowly lost myself to Tahir, a man who now seemed more than a character to me. The director shouts to start as a sit over my smooth chair and prepare myself for the last act of the play. The cameras roll and then it starts.While I check my wristwatch, Constable Imran discloses to me the death of another criminal. Only tha...

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“Adventure” by Trevor Dutcher

Submitted to Contest #44

We stood next to the old train tracks at the edge of town in the cold February air, wearing our matching aviator caps. I liked my goggles down, but Jessie wore hers up, just like Charlie Broadmoor did in the movie Flightpath. Nobody kept watch over us, and nobody was there to keep us out of trouble. Nobody ever was back then, it’s just not how things worked. It was just me and Jessie. She was the girl next door, and my very best friend for all of time. We stood side-by-side, staring into the dull grey fog, where the train trac...

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“Will I ever see you again?” by Sam Kirk

Submitted to Contest #44

It was time to say “Goodbye.” For the third or fourth time today. These two did not want to part. Holding each other tight, Mark and Monica locked their lips in a passionate kiss. Just like every other time when their lips met, it was just the two of them. Nothing else around them mattered. Mark lifted his girlfriend’s head and looked straight into her eyes.“I love you,” he whispered.“I love YOU,” Monica replied and burrowed her face into his chest.“I will see you soon,” Mark said, trying to comfort her as he was getting ready to go through ...

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“Treachery” by Sarah Demary

Submitted to Contest #44

“Goodbye Alex,” Nikki says, as she pasts me in my car and crosses the street. “Goodbye?” I ask confused. “What do you mean goodbye?” She says nothing. “Nikki!” I shout, trying to get my deranged girlfriend’s attention. “Get in the car.” She says nothing though and makes no effort to get in my car. She doesn’t even look at me, not once. Instead, she just continues to trudge through the shallow puddles, upon the sidewalks, getting her dark flip flops soaked and wet. It’s not the only thing on her that is wet though. The clot...

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“Little Blue Book” by Lauren Ford

Submitted to Contest #44

“I was a Blueprint Baby.” Norah tried hard to summon the anger she desperately wanted to feel as she sat opposite her parents on their luxurious leather couch. “Wasn’t I?” Norah’s father shifted uncomfortably in his chair and pushed his spectacles further up his nose. Norah’s mother fixed her with her usual icy glare. They had known this was coming for a while now but it had still caught them off guard. “Norah, you have to realise it’s because we wanted the best possible life for you,” her father said, his voice betraying his shame. So ...

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“A small step” by Marte Van Der Linden

Submitted to Contest #44

I arrived at the job eight hours early, just in time to watch her say goodbye.I knew from the start it was a bad idea. Arrive on time, that’s one of my rules. In my line of work, breaking rules can lead to all sorts of problems. Don’t get involved. That’s another of my rules. But I had been involved in this from the start, and despite knowing the ending, I was curious to see how it would play out.There were dozens of men and women there, and they all wanted to be near her. She made her way through the crowd, shaking hands, patting shoulders,...

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“A Man Named Loser” by Joshua Hopper

Submitted to Contest #44

My name is Lou, short for Loser. I can prove it if you don’t believe me: My birth certificate lists me as one Loser Wilkins— six pounds, eleven ounces, buck naked and as ugly as an anglerfish. Few people know my full name, otherwise they'd think that I suffered from depression or whatever the politically correct term is nowadays. For some reason, introducing yourself as “Loser” makes someone wonder why you think that way about yourself. On the bright side, though, bullies are nonexistent since my name does all the work for them. It takes awa...

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“A Long Way from Lavender Hill” by Charm Elizabeth Merchant

Submitted to Contest #44

I could hardly still my quivering stomach, as I tried to eat my breakfast. I wanted to go back to my bed; go back to the familiar.“Are you all set for your first day, honey?” My mom, displaying her usual cheerful self, inquired, as she poured her coffee. No, I’m not ‘all set’ and I never will be, but of course, I didn’t say that. Instead, I just said, “I guess so,” then I sulked, continuing to twirl my spoon in my cereal. Why couldn’t she and dad see that they were ruining my life? There was nothing wrong with Lavender Hill, my old school, o...

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“January 8, 2018” by Keri Dyck

Submitted to Contest #44

“I am a murderer.” His eyebrows rose, but he stayed planted in the snow, making no move to run. “Didn’t you hear me?” I asked. The truth was out now. He should be backing away, calling the police, running for his life. Why did he just stand there, so aggravatingly calm?“I heard you.” “Then go!” I motioned wildly, towards his home, towards the trees, the sky, anywhere. “Leave!”“Why? So you can hide somewhere else?” Instead of leaving, he dragged a nearby fallen log to my fire, took a seat, and rubbed his hands together over the...

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“Walking With Einstein” by Karen McDermott

Submitted to Contest #44

Lee listened with half an ear as Greg listed the advantages and setbacks he had recently discovered in converting his wine shop to a home delivery service. Einstein yanked on other end of the lead held in Lee’s hand, similarly impatient to get going. He’d spotted a cluster of pigeons pecking at picnic leftovers that had tumbled from one of the park’s many overflowing bins.“…but what can you do, eh?” Greg shrugged his shoulders in theatrical self-pity, eyes crinkled in merriment. The two acquaintances both knew what was being left unsaid – Gr...

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“The Hondamatic Tragedy” by Lori Colt

Submitted to Contest #44

Ronnie always blamed Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper for his absolute fixation with California and the restless, and relentless, desire to experience the open road on a motorcycle in the style of Captain America. In 1969, when the movie Easy Rider came out in the theater, he was a sixteen-year-old, pimply and plump, sex-starved sophomore with the single prospect of working as a clerk in his dad’s midwestern paint shop. When he saw that film, his worldview changed. It brought about feelings of freedom, ease, thrills, being hip—which was clearly...

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“As Time Went On” by Arthur Tiberio

Submitted to Contest #44

Somewhere in the deepest recesses of the common imagination, clustered behind the sphere of memory and more often than not entwined with the smell of autumn rain, is a collection of unborn stars. The technicalities, being centuries beyond our time, would be certain to bore you immensely, though it is safe to tell you that exactly seven years after their discovery, this rarely frequented zone of the human mind brought yet another frenzy to the academic media.In a lab just south of greater Stockholm, a grad student with an unhealthy preference...

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“It Could Happen to You” by Blane Britt

Submitted to Contest #44

For 25 years I smoked at least one pack of cigarettes a day. That meant during that period or my smoking life span I must have inhaled over 182,500 cigarettes, filtered and nonfiltered. Now I’m lying in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit), asking myself was it worth it having one of my lungs permanently removed. Before the anesthetic took over I heard the doctor telling one of the nurses that my remaining lung should be put on life support system. The human body has two lungs, a left and a right. However, the lungs are segmented into lobes. The ri...

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“A Mother's Mission” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #44

It was two days after my seventh birthday when my Mother set out on the mission to Mars. She hadn’t seemed able to quite make her mind up how to frame it to me, as the day came nearer. One minute she would say that it was a huge adventure for her and one I might make myself one day – except in my case it would be an even longer and more thrilling voyage. But the next she would say that missions to Mars were almost commonplace now – well, at least it was the fourth one. Later on I found out it was technically the fifth one...

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“The Fortune Cookie” by Linda Rossi

Submitted to Contest #44

I am a hero. No one, not even me, thought I had an ounce of heroism in me. But I did. Allow me to explain. One day ordinary me is having an ordinary day following my ordinary routine life. Nothing ever happens to me. I go to work in the morning and come home at the end of the day. Nothing in between ever happens. My days are just ordinary. No surprise that this day was just an ordinary Saturday.I was going through my mail when I saw a color travel brochure that was advertising fun places to go fo...

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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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