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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#46: Write It Down

Whether you've been composing stories for years, have a number of published books under your belt, or are just getting started on your craft, if you're here to write — you're a writer.

Like our community, our prompts this week are all about writers at different stages. Maybe you'll pick the one that most relates to you at this time, one that provides a retrospective into previous legs of your writing journey, or one that looks ahead to future goals. In any case, we're looking forward to reading your words, writers.

This week's prompts

Write a story about someone experiencing a lightbulb moment of writing inspiration.

Short Story – 140 stories

Write a story that takes place in a writer's circle.

Character – 72 stories

Write a story about an author who has just published a book.

Adults – 88 stories

Write a story about someone returning to their craft after a long hiatus.

Narrative – 185 stories

Write a story about someone who has just finished writing their first story/book.

Adults – 133 stories

Stories

“Eight Hundred Twenty Nine Words” by Libby Carter

Submitted to Contest #46

I type rapidly, probably misspelling ninety percent of the words. But the they flow out of my brain and I need to move as fast as I think them up. The story writes itself in a sense. I check the word count after I use spell check to, you know, check my spelling. Eight hundred twenty nine words. I need a minimum of a thousand to qualify for the contest, so I rethink my whole plan. I might be fourteen, but in my brain I’ve been writing for years. If you count pieces of paper that star...

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“If You Believe, You Will Achieve” by Greg Gillis

Submitted to Contest #46

“The more you feed your mind with positive thoughts, the more you can attract great things into your life.” – Roy T. Bennett I had a decent upbringing; I was treated well and had a loving family, with a few arguments along the way over various petty things. What I was lacking though was drive. People would tell me that I was talented with art, so I considered a career in the art world. Unfortunately, I couldn’t picture it for myself. Then I was told that since I was so ...

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“We're Not Quitters” by Gip Roberts

Submitted to Contest #46

An absolute masterpiece! No question about it. The next New York Times bestseller rested on the table in all its polished perfection beside the torn-open package in which it had been returned. The ink on the three-inch thick manuscript still gave off the same fresh aroma as when I submitted it to the acquisitions editor a little over a week ago. The fancy, cottony fiber of the pages that held these myriads of double-spaced lines shouted Look out, world, here I come! in figurative neon, guaranteeing a new-found career laced with fame, fortune...

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“Altared States” by John K Adams

Submitted to Contest #46

Bert went over his book notes. This would be the first interview of a series his agent scheduled for Bert for him to promote his magnum opus. This would be Bert’s big break. Or so Manny, his agent, insisted. The travel expenses came out of his advance so he needed a successful tour. Bert couldn’t believe it played out this way. Writing this memoir had been like drawing his own blood every day for six weeks. Exposing his most devastating disappointments and the ensuing recovery took courage. Bert had to believe it. His therapist and agent aff...

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“Shadowing.” by Tempest Juvano

Submitted to Contest #46

He looked outside the window. The cracked window glass made him sad. The wilting flower on the window sill made him sad.He ran his fingers across his palm, on the bruise that was gone but its memory still there, pressing on it, feeling the phantom pain.He walked back to his desk, dumping himself into the chair, and staring at the pages in front of him listlessly. He pulled the laptop towards himself, waking up the screen and started typing.“She walked in the shadows.”He looked at that sentence for what seemed like a long time for him. “This ...

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“The White Canvas” by Sophia Cantiller

Submitted to Contest #46

The silence. The drought. The slipping of passion between the very tips of my fingernails.It was sickening.All the colors were dull to her, a mixture of all grays and browns, a monochromatic scale with horrifying blacks on both ends. She lays in her bed every single night, finding the silver in the swirls of black and blue. It was a never-ending dilemma.Three years. For three long years her days have been a series of monotones, a static line either waiting to jump out or be cut off. Her once prismatic world now reduced to a desperate figment...

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“Begin Again ” by Ivy Moonlit

Submitted to Contest #46

“You should really start writing again, you were really great.” Abygail popped the bubble she was making with her gum. “Yea, I miss all that crazy talk you used to do.” Sam ran a hand through her curly orangey blonde hair. “Yea and you should go to a real hair salon to get your hair done,” I rolled my eyes, knowing it was one of the many things she wouldn’t do. “I swore off going to hair salons because of a traumatic experience. You on the other hand, have no excuse.” I shook my head again, “I was never cut out to be a writer. I was never go...

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“My Heroes Have Always Been Writers” by Jack O'Brien

Submitted to Contest #46

The first pages of a writer aren’t written, they’re read. Good writers are good readers. We learn the craft and beauty of the written word by being spirited away in our imagination by storytellers and troubadours. They lie to us and beguile us, enchant us with the rhythm and cadence of phrasing and seduce us with the crisp crackle or mellifluous melt of words in our mouth or soft, dulcet, alliterative tones in our ear. Good writers are magicians who surprise us, acrobats who astound us, monsters who keep us awake at night, bullies who make u...

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“Budding Embers” by Christopher G

Submitted to Contest #46

Johnny is a tough guy. But he’s also an aspiring writer of sorts. I’ve heard the two don’t usually mix—toughness and writers. But somehow, he makes it work. He’ll jot down poems whenever a bolt of inspiration strikes his shaved head. A tragic event is almost always the catalyst to his art, always has been. And in our lives, tragedy was a tenant that didn’t pay rent. Johnny has always been my compass for right and wrong, since Papa worked two jobs and was drunk most of the time he wasn’t working. Momma ...

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“Our Concomitants ” by Kirsty B

Submitted to Contest #46

There is something about creating a world on an once blank page. Watching it fill with inked letters, each word dripping with imaginative intentions. This can make it daunting to share with others. It is as if you are choosing to bare your soul to criticism and judgement. There is no guarantee that they will care for the story and the characters as much as you do. Creating a concrete story worthy of telling is not instantaneous, nor is it always an enjoyable experience the entire time. The writer pours passion into every decision and th...

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“Paper and Pen” by Ashanti Dubey

Submitted to Contest #46

I sit at the desk. Wait. Check the clock. Wait. Sip my coffee. Wait. Hear the dinner bell. Wait. Read business papers. Wait. Sip my coffee again. Wait. Check the clock again. Wait. Click my pen. Wait. Read my old stories. Wait. I am stuck, looped, cursed to go through this abominable feeling forever and longer. And, of course, now the words flow. Now that they are of no use to me. They flow, they barrel, they stream through my mind and out of my mouth. "Such a shitty situation, shouldn't have accepted the deadline, need to come up with s...

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“An Author's Consequence” by Zahra Daya

Submitted to Contest #46

My eyes burnt with exhaustion as I tossed in bed yet again to check my phone for any notifications. By now, there should be hundreds rolling in. I just couldn’t understand it. A Crook’s Consequence had been published a week ago and only ten orders had come in. As it was, paying rent was a struggle, and Lara had been fired from her job last week for there had been a burglary at the house she was cleaning at, the very same day. Lara. I turned to look at her, sound asleep, a strand of stray hair billowing in the wind of her deep breaths. Her bl...

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“My Story” by Alexi Delavigne

Submitted to Contest #46

My alarm is ringing. I reach over and grab my phone off the nightstand to turn it off. Rolling onto my back, I stare up at my ceiling. A ceiling I know so well after years of laying in this very spot, studying the minute details above me as a way of escaping the thoughts in my head. I pick up my phone again and squint as the dazzling light from the screen hits my eyes. I check my email and Instagram feed to see what the world has been doing while I’ve been asleep, but find nothing more exciting than my neighbor’s post of her new manicure and...

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“Not Your Typical Book on Necromancy” by Harken Void

Submitted to Contest #46

“And stay out!” The glistening golden-white doors slammed shut with a melodic choir of singing angels. A soft puff of holy energy tickled Detholian under the nose and made him sneeze. Then, the door suddenly opened again, and out came flying a bound stack of parchment. “And keep your foul bundle of horror!” The parchment landed in the dirt and the door slammed shut again. Detholian sneezed once more. “Yeah, yeah,” the necromancer sniffed. “I don’t like the smell of you either!” He picked up his manuscript and dusted it off. “Don...

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“Writing in My Sleep” by Ronda Everson

Submitted to Contest #46

When I was in graduate school, my professors really kept me studying. I was working on a masters in English, and I didn't want to waste any time. I had two small children, and I was afraid if I spent too much time in school I would miss their growing up. I know that children are with us for just a short time, but I needed to go to graduate school because my family wanted to go overseas. My family needed me to get a good job and a good visa, so I had to have the correct education. My education led to a lot of unusual books, deep thi...

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$50

Prize money

618

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jun 19, 2020 EST

Won by CMF Wright 🏆

Title: Turf Wars

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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