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!

#55: In On a Little Secret

One of The Hobbit's most memorable scenes is when Bilbo encounters Gollum in the Misty Mountains. We know Bilbo has the ring in his pocket, and that Gollum refers to the ring as his "precious." But Gollum doesn't yet realize it's missing, and Bilbo doesn't know who the ring belongs to.

This scene utilizes dramatic irony by providing readers with key information that the characters are unaware of. It creates suspense, tension, and immediately invests readers as we anxiously await the events we know will eventually unfold.

This week's prompts all revolve around the theme of secrets. We encourage you to get creative with how and when you reveal information to characters — and readers!

This week's prompts

Write a story about a meeting of a secret society.

Mystery – 155 stories

Write a story about an old family secret surfacing generations later.

Adults – 141 stories

Write a story that either starts or ends with someone asking, “Can you keep a secret?”

Kids – 421 stories

Write a story involving a conversation that’s packed with subtext; the characters aren’t quite saying what they mean.

Dialogue – 78 stories

Write a story where the readers are in on a secret that the characters are unaware of.

Novel – 101 stories

Stories

“Secrets that you keep” by Jmen Seso

Submitted to Contest #55

“Can you keep a secret?” I whisper to my boyfriend, Eddy, who calmly wraps his arm around my waist. I lean against him as the warm sunset starts to change positions with the night sky. “I can keep a secret, love,” he responds with his well-known sweet smile. “Why? Is there something you want to tell me?” I grab his shirt collar and pull himself closer to me. “What would you do if I say that I am a witch who preys on handsome men’s hearts. Like yours, dearest, ” I tease as I slowly run a finger down his defined jaw to his toned chest. H...

Read story

“Liar, Liar” by Kaitlyn Shoemaker

Submitted to Contest #55

“Can you keep a secret?” Jordan’s eyes were wild, darting every which way. They flicked to my own every few seconds, but kept surveying the area around us. “Pax, can you keep a secret? Like a really, really big one. Seriously, I gotta know.” I noticed his hands shaking, and he kept wiping them on his black cargo pants. Sweat beaded his hairline despite the chilly air whipping around the rooftop. I shoved my hands into the pockets of my dark coat, bunching my shoulders to ward off the cold seeping into my turtleneck. “Of course I ca...

Read story

“Chocolate and Murder” by Dakota Red

Submitted to Contest #55

Truth. Truth is all I wanted. Well, that and a box of Andes Chocolate Mints. At that moment, with my stomach growling, and my mind racing, I couldn’t figure which one was more urgent. But either way, it caused me to walk willingly into a sketchy gas station downtown that smelled of smoke, and sour milk. Hilly’s Gas and Goods was a sad, gray building squatting in the middle of nowhere, a few miles outside city limits. Surrounding it was a massive plot of sand and weeds. Were it not for the highway, and ugly gas station, you could film ...

Read story

“Be mine” by Neha Bora

Submitted to Contest #55

Shae now stays in her little hometown surrounded by lush green mountains and a river flowing through the valley. Beautiful land of warm and gentle people. Childhood was woven here for Shae, but to pursue higher education she stayed in a major city. After her short stunt of 3 years in the university was complete, Shae chose to work there for a big corporate for a couple of years. During this time she met Raul and both were head over heels in love with each other. But fate had other plans for both of them, and Shae left her big city dreams and...

Read story

“Trade secrets” by Sam Clark

Submitted to Contest #55

“Can you keep a secret?” “I wouldn’t be here if I couldn’t.” A motel room was an unusual location for a high-stakes corporate negotiation. But it offered everything executives at OpsuPhiCamp – known the world over just as Opsu – wanted. Privacy, mostly. Val Finn, the unassuming looking woman sitting in front of them, was soon to be worth lots and lots of money to those executives. In fact, once the contract was signed, she was going to become the most valuable person in the world, though she wouldn’t be on the Forbes list any tim...

Read story

“The Man on Cedar Grove ” by Serenna Antoine

Submitted to Contest #55

It was cold. Colder than usual. Ocean could feel her fingertips freezing as much as she could barely feel her toes.She sighed in frustration and pain trying to open the icy, cold library door. Only simply trying to return a book, she finally got the door open using her coat's sleeve.The Forbidden Tree was the book she placed on the front desk of the library.She stood rubbing her hands furiously to get some type of warmth, but it didn't help that the inside of the library felt even colder than outside.She was greeted by a woman."Hello sw...

Read story

“Step Sisters” by Christy Hoss

Submitted to Contest #55

My hand covers Sissy’s three-year-old mouth as we cower under the basement stairs. With no electricity, flashlight, or candle to guide the intruder down into the damp, cold, blackness of the stone cellar, I’m certain we’ll remain undiscovered, if we stay quiet. There is nothing down here to steal. What is this person doing way out here in the middle of nowhere, far away from civilization? No one has been in this house for years. I know this because you can see the Big Dipper through the roof at night and the walls are still standing becau...

Read story

“WHO ARE YOU???” by Dhruti Chauhan

Submitted to Contest #55

Mr. Roy, was a very successful businessman in India. He was a self made person, a very happy going person. He use to stay with his wife, his son and his younger brother in Mumbai. His son was a young college student, who just knows how to waste his father's money. Mr. Roy's life was in his son's happiness, whereas his son, Kevin's life was just in his dad's money. Kevin was very fond of girls. He always use to have parties with his girlfriends, having holidays now and then and every such thing which makes him happy. His father had never crea...

Read story

“Claudia's Case” by Chris Manders

Submitted to Contest #55

“Right, let’s go, Darling,” Sir James Beresford said, taking Claudia’s hand. Although both in their sixties, she took it as a child would a father’s hand. He was her rock, she loved him, she had implicit trust in him. Sir James, who really didn’t bother much about his title, lovingly looked at his gentle, elegant, charming wife thinking that she was, by nature, a Lady. He picked up her suitcase, as she took one last vacant look around their beautiful, family home, and ushered her out to the car, handing the luggage to Timpson.&...

Read story

“Evolving” by Em Chapman

Submitted to Contest #55

People change for a reason, right? Whether it’s time or trauma, we all change eventually. That’s why I never understood people who don’t believe in evolution. We’re all evolving, every second of every day, and adapting to any changes that come our way. Denying that is denying having changed at all, and I’m fairly sure that the white, Christian woman screaming that believing in evolution is a sin has changed since she was born. It’s inevitable. For better and for worse, nothing stays the same. You either keep up and evolve with the world ...

Read story

“DCI, The Organization Unknown And The Phoenixes Power ” by Trinity M

Submitted to Contest #55

I’m not supposed to tell you this. But I am anyways. I am going to tell you a story about a secret. A story so old and unbelievable, that it’s more tale than true. A narrative passed down through dimension after dimension, until it reached ours. We start with a fifteen-year-old girl - Arwin - who’s been bountied by her own, secret school hidden beneath The Big Apple, New York. It was called DCI, (Detections.Central.Intelligence), a specialized school to fight every type of devilish monster, spirit and being. &nbsp...

Read story

“The Secret that Saved Us” by Greg Slayden

Submitted to Contest #55

May 10th, 1940 was the day my family packed up our belongings, only things that we could carry on foot, and retreated from our home that was located in the countryside of France near the Forest of Ardennes. My father, Gage Gardner, was a farmer that had lived in our home since he was a little boy. I will always remember the look on his face. His eyes were watery as if he was holding back tears, his lips were tightly closed, and he had a regretful expression on his face that clearly showed he was bothered that we could not stay on his farm an...

Read story

“Secrets” by Tito Silva

Submitted to Contest #55

Secrets The news had been covering the murders seemingly nonstop over the past 18 months and Diane was getting sick of it. While she was definitely sympathetic to the tragedies that befell the coeds, she always felt they bore some of the responsibility of their fates. As a strong Christian woman, she believed that Godly living was imperative to survival in a godless world. She felt emphatically that her Christian values are what kept her and her family safe. Her daughter was away at school and it scared her a little bit. She was a great g...

Read story

“The Secret Vault” by Sam Lantz

Submitted to Contest #55

"Can you keep a secret?" I stared at her, puzzled. It hadn't occurred to me until now that my friend could be hiding something. "Sure." I said. She leaned in closer and lowered her voice to a whisper. "I know where the vault is.” My jaw dropped in amazement. "You....what?" “You heard me," she said inching closer, "I know where the vault is." "But, that's just a legend.” I stammered. She tilted her head. "Is it?" I didn't answer. What would I say? She pulled her face away from mine. "Come. Follow me." She led me out of the pantry. She w...

Read story

“Can you keep a secret?” by Mark D

Submitted to Contest #55

Alice sat at the bar in the restaurant alone. She ordered a drink for two reasons: she needed something to calm her nerves (she was shaking like the last orange fall leaf dangling precariously from the branch of an otherwise naked oak tree), and she needed proof that she wasn’t home when it happened. This was to be her alibi. She sucked down her mojito like it was water in the desert and ordered another. She ran her fingers through her wavy brown hair that she felt was turning grey by the minute. Anxiously, she toss...

Read story

Load more stories

$50

Prize money

896

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Aug 21, 2020 EST

Won by B Easton 🏆

Title: Secrets for the Living

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 ⭢