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!

#52: In Reverse

Hi, writers! My name is Caroline Leavitt, I’m a New York Times bestselling novelist and developmental editor. This week, I'm thrilled to be taking over Reedsy Prompts! Visit my Reedsy profile here to learn more about me and my work.

What I love the most in a story is when something called a reversal happens: when you are expecting one thing and something else pops up instead. I love that thrill of surprise, the thing that I never thought was going to turn up in a story. Reversals build tension and drama, and allow you to reveal new sides of your characters by placing them in unexpected situations.

Hopefully, these prompts challenge you to consider the ways in which a character’s world can suddenly turn upside down, where everything they thought they knew may be just plain wrong.

This week's prompts

Twenty minutes before you are about to get married, you find your mother and your fiancé kissing passionately.

Romance – 112 stories

Every year, one person is sent to the moon. This year, though you hid in terror, it is your turn to enter the rocket.

Science Fiction – 125 stories

You thought he was dead, but there he is, right in front of you on the street, smiling at you.

Mystery – 412 stories

"Come with us,” two burly men in gray suits say, grabbing you by the arm and handcuffing you. “You know what you did.” But you have no idea.

Horror – 112 stories

You are the only one in the supermarket during a blizzard. Feeling creeped out, you decide to leave, when suddenly you find a baby abandoned on the floor.

Winter – 197 stories

Stories

“Safeway Escape” by Daryl Gravesande

Submitted to Contest #52

10:30 PM, Almost Closing TimeDamn it, I gotta hurry. “Coconut vodka, check. Mac and cheese, check. Where’s the red velvet cake?” I say to myself. I quickly paced across the aisles; I knew I saw it around here somewhere. In the corner of my eye, I spot something on the floor. I stop the cart to look. A baby? What’s a baby doing in the middle of an aisle? I peek my head out of the aisle for a second. No one’s here. Huh, it’s a little quieter than usual. Okay, I guess I got a baby to take care of now. I picked her up. “Aw, s...

Read story

“the earth looks better from a star” by Masha Kurbatova

Submitted to Contest #52

We met on a long bus ride. I sat next to him, and his feet turned toward me. His whole body was on a diagonal in my direction, and I thought who does that? Who rearranges themselves to pay so much attention to a stranger? I had books and binders on my lap. An hour into our conversation, he put one wrist on top of the pile. It was still early morning, blue night light filling the bus, blurring shapes and faces into silhouettes, an occasional street lamp or the moon highlighting one feature when its glow entered through the window, like ...

Read story

“Three's a crowd” by Anushka Binoy

Submitted to Contest #52

VE Day 1945, EnglandJust visible on the eastern horizon, the sun rose in a glorious explosion of pink and gold, the morning light stroking the hedges and dew-soaked leaves. Pippa watched from her bedroom window as the streets of London were washed in a ghostly, silver light, emanating an almost ethereal glow. London – what had once been a colourful, cosmopolitan city dotted with street markets filling the air with amazing smells, was now a ghost town of deserted houses, crawling with mould and damp. She gazed around her own home, where ivy c...

Read story

“Our Woman - Not Quite - in Caracas” by Kristin Neubauer

Submitted to Contest #52

I should be afraid. I’m afraid of spiders scurrying across the floor. I’m afraid of leaving the oven on in my apartment. I’m afraid of being pushed on stage during Karaoke Night. Certainly I should be afraid of these camouflage-clad Venezuelan soldiers shouting at me. But I’m not afraid. I’m just mad. Well, that’s dumb, you may be thinking. Yeah, you’re right. It is dumb. Everything about this day has been dumb. Dumb that I woke up at 3 am to spend nine hours on a cramped flight (middle seat) to Ca...

Read story

“Cold Storage” by Charles Stucker

Submitted to Contest #52

Wasn't a sunny day, but being new to Missoula I didn't reckon on snow in September nor all the queer goings-on which happened next. The menfolk rode out early that day- everybody was still spooked by the killing of Mister Custer last June. A few ladies stopped by earlier, but since about two, nobody wanted to go out with the all dark clouds. I have all the groceries, the early apples and late cabbages, set to go back in the cellar, when a terrible howl commences outside and snowflakes, fat as the end of your thumb, start falling everywhere...

Read story

“GUILT” by Shivani Manocha

Submitted to Contest #52

“Pit-pat, pit-pat”You hear the last few drops of the shower as they yield themselves to the embrace of the windowpane, finally resting after a long day.Averting your gaze from the pale whiteness of the pages you have been reading, you look towards the window to behold the beauty of those little droplets whose sound has captivated your ears. In no time, the three dimensional reality of Noah and Allie’s world gets pulled back into the two-dimensional corporeality of the book in your hand.As you head towards the window with small light steps, y...

Read story

“Periculum Moon” by Katy S.

Submitted to Contest #52

The moon rose.The same Earth moon that had risen when the name had been announced. And a knock had sounded on her door. She paced the empty room, her mouth dry, and her hands damp. She had been given a final meal of choice. A suitcase had been packed with whatever she pleased. She packed it, but she didn't please. She had dressed on earth for the last time. Famous designers had been at her disposal, she could have chosen to wear a silver dress, with embroidered asphodels made of diamonds.She finally decided to wear a favorite...

Read story

“Some Folks Are Lucky” by Ryan Lieb

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #52

It came on all at once, while Nolan was driving down a dark New Jersey highway toward the woods. A feeling that wasn’t quite guilt, but adjacent to guilt. Doctors might refer to it as shock. Or maybe shock was the numbness that came before the feeling. And if that was true, maybe this feeling was the connective tissue between shock and guilt. At first, it was just a job. Go to the place, do the thing, don’t ask questions. And Nolan always did his job well. He never stopped to think about what he was doing, he just moved on to the next t...

Read story

“Ring, Ring” by Najwa Zandlo

Submitted to Contest #52

Ring. Ring. The sound of the phone on the wall pierces the silence of the morning with dagger-like precision. Anastasia Malone and her husband, Connor Malone, stare at it, then at each other. Neither wants to make the move to answer. Their breakfast plates sit in front of them, half-eaten. A crinkled newspaper flashes the date in black-and-white: July 23, 1990. Anastasia makes the first move. She inches through the kitchen, watched intently by her husband. Ring. Ring. Her fingers close around the plastic. A...

Read story

“A Short Ending” by Evelyn Mullooly

Submitted to Contest #52

The road was long, but she knew where she was going. Her hand grasped the steering wheel in the two and ten o’clock position. The wheel was cold, but not as cold as it had been where she first got in the car. The interior of the car, along with the wheel, was heating up due to the exhaust of the car. She gripped it tight, paying close attention to the road. Lights attached to big commercial buildings flew in and out of her sight as the car drove along the nearly empty street. These lights were her old friends, never changing or leaving. If...

Read story

“I've got no idea” by Nirosha P

Submitted to Contest #52

I live alone in a huge house that feels bare and eerie in the night. But I still stay, I don’t want to move. I suppose I have to tell you why now. My mum died giving birth to me. My dad was so grieved that he ( to say it politely) killed himself a week later. Yeah, my dad left this world and wouldn’t even stay alive for his daughter. So obviously, I was put into foster care. To summarise it, that place was rubbish. Moving on. I had sworn to myself I would buy this house as soon as I could. It was my family’s house. Where all m...

Read story

“One baby, two dumpsters” by Miles Gatling

Submitted to Contest #52

Oh, fuck me, where's that chocolate milk? Come on, shit. Whole, organic, soy, two percent, skimmed, raw...What the fuck is rice milk?!<Hey, where do you keep the chocolate milk? Hey, is someone in this section? Hello, where you at?>Goddammit the one time I need a zit faced punk to talk to me… These fucking kids don't give a shit anymore. If you can't be good at this job you might as well stay on your computer all day; no people skills whatsoever.<Hey, come on now. I require some fucking assistance, please.>…Candyass motherfuckers...

Read story

“The Lionheart Concord” by Leya Newi

Submitted to Contest #52

"Come with us," two burly men in gray suits say, grabbing me by the arm and handcuffing me. "You know what you did." But I have absolutely no idea. I think I’m a pretty decent person. I try not to break the law, I volunteer at animal shelters, soup kitchens, etc., etc. I haven’t dropped out of school. I’m unfortunately not dating anyone. I’m nice to my sisters, mostly. I always meet my deadlines. And I definitely don’t deal with creepy, kidnapping psychopaths! I struggle against the handcuffs and open my mouth to scream for help, but...

Read story

“angel in the snow” by Masha Kurbatova

Submitted to Contest #52

There is no “the one.” There’s only the one that’s perfect for you in the moment. Some people you choose again and again. Some you choose once and never again. Carl and I, we chose each other. We kept choosing each other. I knew there was a limit. I knew the kids thing would eventually come up. We kept pushing that discussion back. But we also were both getting older, and nearing the relationship point of “do we make this official & permanent or quit while we’re ahead.” We loved each other, we really did, and it would have been a...

Read story

“He's Alive” by Catherine Stevens

Submitted to Contest #52

He’s dead, nothing will bring him back. The world has now changed and it will never be the same. Because, he won’t be in it. The birds sing but I refuse to hear them, the wind blows but I refuse to feel it, the scent of the funeral bouquets float on the breeze but I refuse to smell them. But I do see! I make myself see the simple wooden casket in front of me. He loved the smell and feel of natural sanded wood, he said the grains and colors told the story of life. He doesn’t have that anymore, life, it was cruelly stolen f...

Read story

Load more stories

$50

Prize money

958

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jul 31, 2020 EST

Won by Natalie Strawbridge 🏆

Title: intro to disaster preparedness

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 ⭢