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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#59: Location, Location, Location

One of my favorite parts of writing is picking interesting settings. When used effectively, setting can establish the tone of the story (a murder mystery in a manor house vs. a big city) or even determine the stakes (a sinking ship, a house on fire, a person lost in the woods). Certain settings are perfect for their genres, but it can also be fun to use setting to establish incongruity and a sense of unease.

Additionally, your character’s reaction to the setting reveals a lot about their personality. Are they comfortable because they’re in a place they know well? Or does the familiarity make them claustrophobic?

This week, really dig into where your story takes place. What do these settings look, smell, and sound like? What does the setting offer to the plot? How do your characters feel about being there? When it comes to setting, not even the sky is the limit!

(Struggling to know how to best make use of your setting? We’ve got a video right here that will help!)

This week's prompts

Write about a couple who have just moved to a place that one person loves, and the other hates.

Romance – 135 stories

Write about a character arriving in a place unlike anywhere they’ve ever been.

Novel – 198 stories

Set your story in a place with extreme weather, but don’t use any weather-related words to describe it.

High School – 69 stories

Write a story that feels lonely, despite being set in a packed city.

Sad – 230 stories

Set your story in a small town where everyone is suspicious of newcomers.

Teens – 135 stories

Stories

“Kin” by Cal Carson

Submitted to Contest #59

Out of all the planets Aitne had seen, Sol was different... Aitne had led a tormented life. Two things were her constant companions- an unbearable, lonely ache, and a curious, tickling pull. A pull to somewhere in this universe. Somewhere in this endless mass of bright pricks in the cosmos. Pull and Ache had accompanied her for many, many years...-Three centuries ago-Aitne woke. She was lying on a flat white stone, in a world filled with a cold sort of beauty. Warm gas clouds swirled in delicate patterns ar...

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“From the Window” by Daphne Pope

Submitted to Contest #59

You can’t watch the sunrise from my window, but you can just see the sun peeking over the skyscrapers of 52nd Street in New York City. Below, the pavement was crowded— as it always was. People walked down the dirty, dusty sidewalks, dodging taxis and eating breakfast on their way to work. A young woman was fighting with an old man in the middle of a street over who had flagged the taxi first. Other taxis honked, and their drivers screamed obscene words from their vehicles. On ...

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“The Nice Voices” by Lina Oz

Submitted to Contest #59

There are many people here. Many young people. They move about quickly, and loudly––too loudly.But perhaps these voices are the friendly ones. The nice voices.There is a line on the left side of the large room. It weaves about like a snake, circling around tables, moving, fluid. Comprised of many young people. The other young people are sitting at round tables scattered throughout the large room.There seems to be no pattern. No reason, no rhyme. I tap my finger against my left thigh, three times. My breath slows.The line is moving––forward, ...

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“The wisdom of others.” by Len Mooring

Submitted to Contest #59

The wisdom of others. “People, people, people. What a suspicious lot you are. You think me here to fleece you, or to pursue your wives. Nothing is further from my mind. Of course, you think, I would say that, and I do. I don’t say put your trust in me, but neither do I say the reverse. I’m not here to sell you anything but to give you the good word.” He laughed as he said this and then resumed. “I’m just kidding. I’m not here to divest you of the chains that you forged and wear, they are your burden, to be shed or retained as you wish. T...

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“Charon” by Stafford Morgan

Submitted to Contest #59

Hear the witch as she wails like a bean sídhe, throwing her anger upon the barren steppes and scattered buildings with their yellow-paned windows that glare back at you like weary eyes…The man walks this night, keeping shoulder with a dogged blood bay that pulls a hay wain. Mud rises to meet his boots, sucking and grabbing, and he sees the stretched face of that mad sky-crone in the black shine of it all. He came from the salt plains, carrying the minerals on his pants and duster and into the sloping prairies where he first met the witch and...

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“All About the Lingo” by Paige Leppanen

Submitted to Contest #59

Veronica stared up at the bright red signal on the only traffic light in Myersville. There was no cross traffic at the intersection, nor any across the road. She sighed and looked at the time. She had not missed this about her hometown.Myersville was the type of town that turned a blind eye to teen drinking but turned their noses up at sex ed. “My kids are smarter than that,” parents would say, assuming their teens had the inherent knowledge that condoms prevented pregnancy, assuming their teens would never cross that line to begin with.Vero...

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“Davy Jones' Locker” by Prakhar Mishra

Submitted to Contest #59

Augustus felt frozen, engulfed by darkness and oblivion. He could see nothing, hear nothing, do nothing, feel nothing but terror, as he sensed something approach him. Something familiar, and unholy.From the darkness began to emerge something. A face? No, a skull. Red stars shimmering violently in its eyes. Blue clouds of smoke expanding out of its nostrils. Jaws stretched to an unnatural distance, as if to form a grin.Davy Jones.“You know where ye are, yes?” He spoke in a guttural, penetrating voice, without moving his bony jaw. Suddenly all...

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“Calliope (part one)” by Inkstained Introvert

Submitted to Contest #59

I drum my fingers against my leg and peer out the window to my right, wondering how long it is until we arrive on Rectar. Not that I want to go. I don’t. This spaceship is just really hot. I stare down at the duffel bag scrunched underneath my chair, then suddenly stand up. “I’m going to the bathroom,” I announce to no one in particular and rush past the seats in which my mom, dad, and older brothers Aiden and Xaviar are sitting. I stumble throughout the foggily-lit hallways, dizzy from the palpable pulse of the gravity field and speed stabi...

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“Returning Relocation” by Mariam Michalak

Submitted to Contest #59

Alisa Edwards was a typical teenage girl. Brown hair, green eyes, working at a coffee joint while attempting to make ends meet while also taking college classes to get a better job, youngest team captain of the high school volleyball team, and not to mention somehow finding time to study for the big test in high school coming up. Dual credit was starting to look like it was more work than it was worth. However, it was free of charge to her, so it was saving money in the end. With a huff, she leans forward against the counter of the local caf...

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“Mud, Mud, Mud” by Molly Leasure

Submitted to Contest #59

(Write about a character arriving in a place unlike anywhere they've ever been.)Squelch.The soil sinks beneath my foot as I step out of the ship. My other foot follows. It’s also swallowed by the mud. Moisture soaks through, seeping from my boots into my socks. I’ll be drying those for weeks. Or tossing them.Ignoring the disgust brewing in my stomach, I trek forward. This is what I’d said I wanted. I’d signed up for this. Oh yeah, I love soil. It’s the best part of botany! My own stupidity reverberates through my head, mocking me for being s...

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“A World’s Beauty” by Elizabeth Burrows

Submitted to Contest #59

The dark clouds of sleep wrapped themselves around her consciousness. Blackness that gripped at it and refused to let it free. Its black hands reached forward to grasp her awareness too. Darkness was all that she knew. Even as her awareness came back to her she knew what she would see. She would see dark trees that had shadowed her mind forever. She would see clouds that covered the beauty of the world, and if she opened her eyes she would see a world that was dull. A world where everything had lost ...

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“coming home” by Mushroom (flammulina Velutipes)

Submitted to Contest #59

They lock their doors at sunset and keep their windows shut. When people come from over the ancient, crumbling stone wall built to keep things out, they can never tell if they're human or not.It pays to be careful. Some of the older people like to tell stories about how little Tommy went outside of the wall one day and was swallowed by the gaping crescent moon, or taken by the trees, or lured away by tinkling laughter and glimmering lights. Though no one is really sure if it's true or not, there's no way to prove it, and it's better safe tha...

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“The Clavius Club” by Chris Buono

Submitted to Contest #59

The rocket thrusters shut down slowly in a languid hush as the tripod gears extend and hit the ground with a gentle thud. The crowd of passengers in the main cabin all give secret sighs of relief to have finally made it and arrived with no issues. Even the regular visitors carried a look of apprehensiveness to again be traveling the new way. I look out my window, attempting to take in all that my eyes can on the darkened white surface. The Clav...

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“Between the Stars and Waves ” by Rachel Ryan

Submitted to Contest #59

I don't want them to find me here. To my left there is a half-eaten carton of Chinese food I've suddenly lost my appetite for. On my lap, my fingers are still curled around the glowing screen of my shitty smartphone, the one Gerry had managed to pick up from the pawn shop two blocks north. My lungs have forgotten how to breathe and I sit still, quiet as the night, as if that would change the words of the text message still glaring up at me. My eyes find the water of the bay, which shifts and moves with the tide yet somehow manag...

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“Stupid Questions” by John K Adams

Submitted to Contest #59

“Are you that new kid?” “I just moved here. If that’s what you mean.” “That house?” The boy pointed at the house Bill’s parents had bought. Bill nodded. He’d never seen so much grass in his life. They’d moved from the city. He only knew goats ate grass. But there were no goats around. A butterfly danced back and forth between the trees. A crow called from overhead. Beyond their neighborhood, cornfields seemed to go on without end. “What’s your name?” “My friends call me Billy.” “I’m Andy. Want to come over?” “Okay.” Bill followed Andy to ...

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$50

Prize money

767

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Sep 18, 2020 EST

Won by Louise Coley 🏆

Title: The Witch’s Daughter

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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