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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

“Bee” by ℤ ℍ☮️

Submitted to Contest #44

Bee swirled in the grappling breeze like a fawn hopping through the stars. Her curls danced in the wind, forming a ribbon of fiery red. The trees were sewed into a cross-stitched blanket on top of her, giving a small glimpse of pale dusk light onto her fiery hair making the strands shimmer like rubies. A few pecan trees surrounded her, blue-breasted swallows hopped from branch to branch. Her eyes blended with the hazel brightness of the tree trunks, every aspect of her belonged. A brown shirt sat loosely on her thin arms; her pants were tied...

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“The Coral Lighthouse ” by Abby Irwin

Submitted to Contest #44

Opening the door she stepped in, setting down her luggage with a thud. “Finally, you’re home.” Mae jumped and swirled around as she heard the voice. “I need you to come with me.” “What are you doing in my house?!” Mae yelled at the man in the corner. Normally she would not have yelled but she had just gotten home from an emotionally exhausting business trip. On top of that she was quite done with other people and the annoyances they always seemed to bring to her life. “We need your help” Mae blinked at him dumbfounded.&nb...

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“The Fire Within Her ” by Fiza Hasan

Submitted to Contest #44

Ece moved in time to avoid the dagger, watching as it kissed the wall instead. Her dark eyes snapped toward the entrance of his living room, following Cassiel as he stalked toward her, fingers curling into a fist, then uncurling. The top of his button up shirt was undone, cap of black curls a mess on his head and his lips pressed into a thin line. This wasn’t the Cassiel Blaze she knew. He wasn’t supposed to be tolerant nor did he feign attacks like he had done now. Something had changed and Ece was thrilled—but afraid—she m...

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“Guilty pleasures” by Kavita Rawat

Submitted to Contest #44

The iron wheel screech as it halts at his last station. Zeenat and Mehak were having a hard time, to match their tiny steps with their father. The station smell like a rotten egg. People with sweaty armpits, the cow dung smell on their hands. People were pushing Zeenat on the way to board the leaving train. She couldn't see her father. Mehak was also not in sight. Her voice got suppressed in the crowd. A hand pulled her away, she looked up it was her sister."Walk faster. Why are you looking here and there?" Mehak said pulling her hand."...

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“The Girl Who Turned My Phone Off” by Ronda Everson

Submitted to Contest #44

After we came back from Romania, we were living in the country in Ohio on the old Everson farm. It was a place of green rolling hills outside of Belpre, Ohio. I had been teaching at the university, and my husband had tried to get a job as a chaplain in the prison system, but was unable to, so went to work as a prison guard. He met a prison chaplain who along with his wife had adopted a Romanian girl from a Romanian orphanage. She had long black hair, big black eyes, and beautiful mocha skin. She may have been of gyps...

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“The Earthquake” by Jessica X

Submitted to Contest #44

A single tremble quivered beneath my feet. I perceived a faint growl in the distance. The trees hovering above me began to sway intensively while the tall grass grazing my ankles stirred in an unruly pattern. Then came the silence, the loathsome, deadly silence that could only mean one thing— destruction. Everything was a blur when my eyes hazily opened again. The sky was foggy, and its blue hue was covered by a hideous gray smog. The grayness was suffocating. The repugnant fog kept me from seeing the things around me clearly. I felt t...

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“The Exile” by Kate Le Roux

Submitted to Contest #44

He stood outside the door, his heart thumping painfully in his chest. He had come straight from the prison, still dirty, his collar torn from where a soldier had grabbed him during the arrest. But there was no time to waste. He had to say good bye and it would have to be brief. Her brother opened the door, embraced him despite the state he was in and invited him inside. He refused, of course, but he appreciated the gesture. He did not need to enter the house and sully the smooth marble floor with his filthy boots. He only needed to see her, ...

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“The Hairline Crack” by Diane Young

Submitted to Contest #44

Write a story that starts by establishing its setting in a different time period — without explicitly stating what that period is. I want so desperately to sleep but I can’t! Dave’s snoring and his hot breath on the back of my neck doesn’t help. It’s been a rough week. I can’t get the televised images of the funeral procession out of my mind. I get up and take one of the Valium prescribed by Dr. McCarthy and return to bed. I lie staring into the dark. My eyelids are heavy as I peer across the sunlit room at the clock on the dre...

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“Revelations at the Communion Rail” by Ed Vela

Submitted to Contest #44

As an artist, not a writer, I ask that you please bear with me as I tell you this story from my far flung past. And if you think that's the big reveal in this story... Guess again.I was twelve, almost thirteen, that fateful day in 1982. Yes, the year of E.T., the Eye of the Tiger song, and the War in the Falklands. It was a sunny Sunday in June, when my Dad, Sal, my older brother, Alden, and I, all attended mid-morning mass at St. John Sebastian's Catholic Church in Toms River, New Jersey.Now before you get the idea we aren't typical Catholi...

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“The Cavern in the Cliff” by Thistle Arellano

Submitted to Contest #44

It rained all day, even into the night without any sign of letting up. Torrents of rain lashed the windows of the old house, thunder rumbling in the distance, the driveway filling up with dark water. The downpour showed no sign of letting up, even as the roof began to leak with a steady drip, drip, into a steel bucket, the noise echoing through the cluttered, dusty attic. The front lights from the taxi swept across the driveway, the glare bouncing off the dark windows. A woman stepped out, holding a book over her head as she fumbled wit...

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“My brother” by Anushka Binoy

Submitted to Contest #44

The cock of the gun. His eyes begging for mercy. My screams. The two shots fired. In less than sixty seconds, my life was turned upside down. In less than sixty seconds, another life was ended.In less than sixty seconds, another black life was ended. My brother and I were closer than you could ever imagine. We laughed, cried and argued together but when the day came to an end, we always had each other. We were so close, that it felt like we were related by blood, even though that was not the case. When my parents first brought him home,...

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“Bourbon & Bees” by Praveen Jagwani

Submitted to Contest #44

My late twenties were surreal. I mostly have sensations and feelings about those years rather than very precise memories. Cocooned in a microcosm that loathed the ordinary, every aspect of my life was swathed in a miasma of frenetic excess. The drinking and partying was off the charts. At the time, I thought I had arrived. Once, chasing a deadline, I worked in the office for fifty straight hours, nourished by little other than Red bull. Similar acts of misguided machismo were obligatory to burnish one’s street cred, as the Navy Seals of Inve...

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“The Cruel War” by Sue Marsh

Submitted to Contest #44

The Cruel WarSuzanne MarshEmma Martin stood silently outside the log cabin, her eyes shaded by her hand, as the Texas sun once again rose high in the sky. Suddenly, a lone rider appeared on a large bay, the boy she was eagerly watching for; Jed Strong. Jed galloped down the trace as Emma waved and smiled that beautiful smile.Jed dismounted long enough to kiss Emma, then he was back in the saddle. He pulled Emma up in back of the saddle and galloped toward the canyon. He wanted to tell her that he had enlisted in the 1st Texas and ask her to ...

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“Eleanor.” by Marsha Webb

Submitted to Contest #44

Nicola bowed her head, dabbed a tear from the corner of her eye and whispered quietly “Bye dad, I`m going to miss you”. She walked calmly out of the church and silently prepared herself for all the friends and relatives to come and tell her they were sorry for her loss.***“What are we going to do about mum now? She` s always relied on dad for everything, she` s going to fall apart on her own.” Nicola questioned her sister. “I know, I’d have her with me but in my one bed apartment there’s no room to swing a cat, plus she would hate being...

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“Goodbyes when you remember” by A.J Blink

Submitted to Contest #44

Dear man, I looked up at the skies today and I could only think of running to your side. That luminous body would not retract from mocking at me from up there, and picking at my insecurities. Then I spent a lost hour tinkering over matters like this and that.Hopefully, I'll get around figuring out the best way to say goodbye. It's never easy. Why would everyone even expect me to start moving on from it? I can barely send you off and yet I'm expected to start moving forward?In my dream, and as usual, I walked to your bedside. In that dream, y...

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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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