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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#54: Second Chances

"Third time's the charm."

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again."

"Rome wasn't built in a day."

The English language is full of aphorisms that get at a universal truth: human beings aren't perfect, and oftentimes we need to keep trying (and trying again) in order to get something right.

This week's prompts all revolve around the theme of second chances. Whether your characters are circling back to something from their past, getting a start on something they put off for a long time, or simply in the process of learning after a swing and a miss, we're looking forward to the 'second acts' you come up with!

And speaking of layered characters, on August 12th, bestselling novelists Caroline Leavitt and Gina Sorell are hosting a free webinar on creating believable characters. RSVP here!

This week's prompts

Write a story about high school sweethearts coming across one another after many, many years apart.

Romance – 283 stories

Write a story about someone going back to school as a mature student.

High School – 88 stories

Write a story about someone looking to make amends for a mistake.

Adults – 223 stories

Write a story about someone struggling to learn a skill that in no way comes naturally to them.

Funny – 154 stories

Write a story about a TV show called "Second Chances."

Novel – 108 stories

Stories

“Shared Consciousness” by Gordon K

Submitted to Contest #54

Alan Lincoln was born on the 18th of May 1963 but his life was inconsequential until 1999, on the day his body was hijacked. Only a few days earlier, Alan had been watching the news about convicted killer Elliot Mulhearn who had been convicted for life for the murder of Tina Bradshaw. Alan had been watching the news in disgust when he fell asleep. He was no longer a young man and it was getting quite late. He awoke the next morning, still in his armchair but at an angle that no man should sleep at. If he had slept on a bed of nail...

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“Always On The Job” by Janelle Hammonds

Submitted to Contest #54

Liza steadies her breath, forcing her legs to keep moving forward, despite every warning system within her body screaming at her to turn around. She intimately knows the feeling, the screaming kicking up every fire they respond to, but at least then she knows what they’re warning her against, but as she stands in the middle of the park, she can’t for the life of her figure out what could possibly be setting off the bells. She continues to her destination, the ring of trees just in the distance, the memorial that the city had dedicated to tho...

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“unfair circumstances” by Alexandria Pierce

Submitted to Contest #54

Alexander care suspected something was a little off when his strong alexandria tried to kiss him when he was just six years old. Nevertheless, he lived a relatively normal life among other humans. It wasn't until he bumped into the devilishly fast witch, hope walter, that his life finally began to make sense. However, hope proved to be dumb and seemed to have an unhealthy obsession with studying. Alexander soon learnt that hope had taken an oath never to hug a human being. When Alexander's strong alexandria is injured in a plane crash accide...

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“Math Miracles” by Mary Wood

Submitted to Contest #54

Anyone can be a teacher, all you have to do is graduate college and get a job. Sounds simple; in reality passing the math praxis would prove daunting to this student who hated math and ponders why 3 X 2/3x + 4 = ? matters. I need to know the why, those silly terms meant nothing to me. I could not wrap my mind around the why. Every time I asked a teacher, mentor, classmate, tutor the why question, I would try to make it clear that I just need to know why I would ever need to learn this? They looked at me like I had 3 eyes in my head. I ...

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“I Am...” by Debbie Teague

Submitted to Contest #54

I am worthless…I am a failure… Meet Melanie – a customer service representative in a large company who very soon would make a life changing decision – one that involved learning a new skill which was essential to her success but in no way came naturally to her. Her supervisor knew of an evening class for just such a skill and enrolled her in it – Positive self-talk. Melanie balked at the idea but agreed. The first night her stomach was full of butterflies – she wasn’t sure if she would make it through the evening. She look...

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“Reborn in Teluria” by Adam Hughes

Submitted to Contest #54

Kizane was the first person out of the school doors - which was not unusual on a Wednesday evening - and ran towards the portals at the edge of the road. The portals were, from the outside, the sole indicator that this was not a normal school - well, not normal when compared with the schools humans go to. They were also the most beautiful thing about the school. Staring into the portal was like staring into a nebula, it’s different shades of dark purple swirling around each other like velvet clouds, and it was easy to imagine the clouds wrap...

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“Time Traveler's Second Chances” by Megan Thayer

Submitted to Contest #54

Realistically no one asked me if I even knew how to time travel and everyone in my village acted like it just came so naturally to them. My family was one of five that lived in a small gathering of huts just outside the Appalachian Mountains. Many generations ago we were given the “awesome responsibility” of traveling through time and setting things in motion but no one remembers how we got these powers or who gives us our instructions. At the end of every year we get an envelope with a list of things that were supposed to happen but didn’t ...

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“THE GRANNY OF THE TEAM” by Claire Tennant

Submitted to Contest #54

The phone was ringing, interrupting the news broadcast, ‘Oh well’ I thought ‘it is probably history now, rather than news.’ “Barbara?” the person on the other end of my phone spoke quietly but I knew the voice, that of my friend Hans. As he did not call regularly, I wondered the reason but did what one does. “Hello Hans, how are you?” I said turning the TV off. “I’m fine, busy as, and all that. Are you still practising?” he asked, with the blunt no-nonsense approach of his. Were all Dutchmen the same? no, the Scots w...

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“The Mind: An Excellence and Incompetence. ” by Michael Baker

Submitted to Contest #54

Breathing is fairly easy, truth be told. It’s all inhale, exhale -it’s not all that difficult to get a hang of to be honest. We can call that the bottom of the skill tree, the roots really. It’s very much the easiest skill a person could ever be expected to master. Those who don’t get the hang of it don’t typically get very far. There aren’t a great deal of those, though, thankfully. I’ve personally seen a great many people breath competently in my time, some of them even babies. Even that one dimwit from high school who held the absurd noti...

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“Crown Prince? Me?” by C. Fallaci

Submitted to Contest #54

I wasn't born into Royalty or Nobility.My mother had married the King of Arcadia after they fell in love. Now me and my mom live in the Castle with the King and his two children, Princess Sophia and Prince James.They had seemed to hate me at first glance. More so the Princess than the Prince though. I got it, we were of different statuses.I was excited to be their step sibling at first but then I started to dislike the idea after a while. They were just like the other nobles and royals.Stuck up and spoiled.I never wanted to be a Prince. I di...

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“Diamond in the Rough” by L.B Rinker

Submitted to Contest #54

Herald sits elbow-to-elbow with fellow classmates on uncomfortable metal bleachers looking down at Lincoln High’s baseball field. His father, the coach, stands at third base waving his arms wildly towards home plate. Herald’s brother, Ray, rounds second base. He had always been faster than Herald, but right now he was like lightning. How had Herald ever thought that he could compete with that kind of athleticism? The right fielder whips the ball into the glove of his cut-off man. Ray rounds third base. Herald can’t hear himself think ...

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“The Failed Guitar” by Anne Benita

Submitted to Contest #54

THE FAILED GUITAR It was about 6 am in the morning. The mild wind entered into Dani’s room and woke him up. He woke up with much upset. Dani’s eyes ran to the corner of his room. His broken guitar was not there. He jumped down from the bed and started to shout. Suddenly his father entered into his room with his broken guitar. He asked him why he was shouting to the core. Dani said that there was nothing and also added that he woke up from a bad dream. Dani’s father went closer to him and sat on his bed. Dani stood near to him and put his fa...

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“Hello World!” by Art U

Submitted to Contest #54

Alya hadn’t slept too well. Tossing and turning past dawn, she just gave up and went for a run. Still early for her interview, she had finished her shower, thrown on a comfortable white blouse over yoga pants. She couldn't eat so just sat down on her task chair and logged into her computer. This was the new normal during COVID - applying to new opportunities and waiting for the interviewers to grill her given this wasn’t her background. She knew this wasn’t her first, and she was sure it would not be the last. She just had to keep trying tho...

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“Building sand castles for charity” by Toby Ireland

Submitted to Contest #54

‘No regrets’ spouted the words from the TV box as an advert about chocolate completed its 30 second cycle.'Again'. Ono sighed. He was sat on a small cushion meditating in the morning sun on the small terrace, when weirdly the TV had turned on by itself. New technology? He tried to ignore it as he focused on his meditation from the third floor apartment, while overlooking a grey solemn London in the year 2049.It was something about the words 'no regrets' that sent a shiver down his spine, a memory, perhaps and thought of regrets of how his li...

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“one chance for a second chance” by Rachel Alex Wall

Submitted to Contest #54

Second chances is like a TV show. I don’t know how else to describe it. There are no TVs here, if you want to see it. It will be broadcast in your head. I don’t know how. I only know that it is. This place is not of earth. It is neither heaven nor hell. I suppose it is what people would call purgatory. The people here are all dead. All of us. We are here I presume because we lived mediocre lives. We do not deserve eternal damnation in hell or the sanctity of heaven. So we hover between. Second chances is a chance to prove if you went back yo...

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$50

Prize money

856

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Aug 14, 2020 EST

Won by Mollie Rodgers 🏆

Title: Where the Water Meets the Sand

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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