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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#61: Blast from the Past

Ah, nostalgia. For some, it’s a fun excuse to revisit a few of the more comforting or exciting times of our past. For others, it’s a way of life: clinging to the memory of a simpler time, or at least a time when things felt simpler…

But whether the past is something you look back on fondly or would rather run as far from as possible, it’s safe to say that we’re all shaped by our early experiences. And the same should be true for your characters! Even if you never include their backstory, delving into it as the writer helps create someone that feels fully developed and real.

This week’s prompts are therefore all about the past, and the many ways we choose to remember it. So put on some throwback tunes and break out the photo albums — it’s time to take a trip down memory lane.

This week's prompts

Write about a character passing down their favorite childhood toy to a new generation.

Adults – 122 stories

Write about a character who goes to — or purposefully avoids — their high school reunion.

Adults – 139 stories

Write about a character who smells something familiar and is instantly taken back to the first moment they smelled it.

Short Story – 219 stories

Write about a character discovering something new about their past that changes how they remember an important moment.

Dramatic – 139 stories

Write about a character who’s obsessed with an era they never lived through.

Adults – 100 stories

Stories

“Wanted” by Lani Lane

Submitted to Contest #61

I wanted to live in the 90s.I wanted to go to the movies with Jamie and Liz, and shovel handfuls of popcorn into my mouth, and gush about dating Johnny Depp even if he had scissors for hands. We would’ve had seven posters of him between the three of us.I wanted to stick colorful butterfly clips in my hair and grin as they shimmered in the sun. The red ones would have been all the rage then.I wanted to throw my arms around Mom and Dad on the last day of senior year and thank them for their constant support and their unconditional love, love, ...

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“Blast from the Past” by Vicky S

Submitted to Contest #61

A strong breeze blew over the castle walls, ruffling Lizzie’s hair. Despite the sun shining, she tucked her arms under her threadbare cloak and wrapped it more tightly around herself. It wouldn’t do to catch a cold. Not yet anyway. Closing her eyes, she could almost imagine that she was back home. Safe and cozy in front of the log fire, her father laughing from his seat at the head of the table as the ladies danced, her brother trying desperately to keep his eyes open as the men bowed low to him and her sister….. Well, her sister had never b...

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“An Early Present” by Lina Oz

Submitted to Contest #61

The boy peeks from behind the wall into the kitchen. The smell of chocolate chip waffles had coaxed him from the comfort of his bed, a place he was quite disinclined to depart from on this snowy Saturday morning. He watches quietly as his mother flurries around the kitchen in her usual refined chaos, zipping through cupboards and yanking ingredients from their haphazard placements across the countertops.The boy loves to watch his mother cook. She is a magician and an artist in the kitchen. And in life. “And what are you doing awake, kid...

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“ReCoVeRy ” by Anja Z

Submitted to Contest #61

Dear diary … I feel as if I’m just in everyone’s way a nuisance in society. Someday I don’t feel like this and other days it feels like there is a weight on my shoulder laying there observing watching till it makes me crumble in on myself. Years back I had none of these worries, but still a little bit of a weight on me. I feel as though every little though is playing rollercoaster in my mind, every little look that I receive from anyone feels as though I did something wrong to upset them. I weren’t always like thi...

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“Jar of Tears” by Scout Tahoe

Submitted to Contest #61

There’s something about wrinkles in the morning. They’re golden with silhouettes of the issues people experienced back in high school. Jax is familiar with them like he is familiar with the ring on his middle finger that binds him to no one. He has one, a wrinkle, and it stretches across his forehead in a diagonal sort of way. Even when he smooths out the skin, it returns, even uglier than before. Perhaps this is the reason why his sister encouraged him to drive into the middle of nowhere with a car that can’t go faster than 30...

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“All it took was a crumpled piece of paper” by Echo Sundar

Submitted to Contest #61

I was laying in bed, covered only by a light sheet. I was staring up at the ceiling as I listened to the sounds of a Saturday morning in mid July. A warm breeze brought childrens’ joyous laughter through my open window. The thump, thump, of jogger’s feet pounding on the sidewalk as they sped past our house was acting like it was just the backdrop on their morning run. I suppose it was because they didn't know how many things happened in each and every house. All the stories and tears shed because it wasn't their job to know. They...

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“Yellow Thing” by Lani Lane

Submitted to Contest #61

When I was six years old, Mom drove us to the store and told me to pick out a toy.She knelt down in front of me and looked me straight in the eye. “You only get one,” she warned, “so choose carefully.” I already had a small collection of toys at home—a fluffy moose from a giftshop in a faraway national park, a blue-and-green polka-dotted stingray from the aquarium, and a purple bear Grandma gave me long ago. I never liked the plastic ones much, the dolls and the houses and the race cars. They were too awkward to hug.So, holding hands wi...

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“By Any Other Name” by Tessa Takzikab

Submitted to Contest #61

It was adorable, the way she sat there working her way through her letters with chalk on the antique ‘silent book slate’ I made for her from a mini chalkboard. She didn’t need to practice the alphabet; she had learned to read and write over two years ago, but her penmanship was improving, so I didn’t say anything. She was dressed in the white ‘nightdress’ I had made for her in the fashion of the seventeen hundreds.My little Betty is lucky I like crafting. Oh, right. She asked to be called Elizabeth since that’s the name of the main character...

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“The Secret Seller” by Arte's Apple Juice🍎

Submitted to Contest #61

"Gaylee! Remember that thing I told you yesterday?" Klia asked. Gaylee shook her head in confusion."What thing? Is is the thing about your rash?" Gaylee asked. The only special thing that Klia had told her was that she had a strange rash on her back. To be honest, Gaylee didn't want to know about Klia's rash; nor did she care."No, Gaylee. I told you a secret yesterday about -" Klia's brow furrowed. She tried to tell Gaylee her secret again. "About. About t-the-""T-t-today junior. Just kidding. Take your time." Gaylee teased. She giggled at h...

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“Rebecca ” by Jocelyn Fryer

Submitted to Contest #61

Her eyes are now a dull, glassy pale blue. No longer the bewitching deep green they once were, making me think on a pair of emeralds glimmering and polished. Her hair, frazzled and dusty. No longer the luminous copper ringlets they once were. But her cheeks are still rosy. Freckled. Beneath the dust with a smear and a bit of spit. Her complexion a dewy pale gleam. There remains, from all the years gone by, those cracks where my grandmother expertly glued her leg back together for me. It was told to me then that pretty dolls are hardly for pl...

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“More Than Anything” by Allie Mae Sakry

Submitted to Contest #61

Tim Porter was a simple man. Quiet, kind, caring, and hardworking. He lived in a modest cottage in the small mountain town of Manitou Springs, Colorado with his wife of nearly 34 years, Ciara Porter. While Tim was growing up in southern California with his parents who had recently emigrated from Venezuela, Ciara was being raised in an orphanage, learning about her Indigenous ancestors of the Sioux Tribe. Since Ciara was usually a well-behaved child, her older brother could visit her often to tell her about their parents ...

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“WWII Reenactment” by S. John

Submitted to Contest #61

“You’re a real asshole, you know that?” Tom’s best friend grunted from the back seat where he lay on his side, a hand clutching a bleeding wound in his abdomen.“Dude!” A quick glance from the highway to the rearview mirror removed Tom’s eyes from the road long enough for the car to drift into the other lane. “This is a rental! You’re bleeding everywhere―shit!” He jerked the wheel as the car he nearly drifted into honked furiously at him.“Good.” Tom’s best friend, Ben, grinned through his obvious discomfort. “I hope they keep your deposit.”“D...

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“Memories🤯” by Ari Berri

Submitted to Contest #61

My name is Hanna Denor. I think.I'm 16. When I was eight, I got in a bad accident at the mall, and forgot everything. I was lost, and my parents never looked for me. Mall security found me, and I cried when I couldn't answer their questions.I was taken to the hospital, and tested. I was scared out of my mind, and after a couple of days they brought me to a foster family.My parents never looked for me, and nobody knew who I was, so I was named Hanna, and adopted by the Denor's.They keep saying my memory will probaly come back, but it hasn't y...

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“Orange and spice” by Omani Saleem

Submitted to Contest #61

There’s a short sharp pain on my hand as an oil splash lands on my skin. Breaking me out of my thoughts. I look down at the pan of chips I am frying. They are starting to burn, the edges turning brown. This is not good; I'm going to be in so much trouble. I quickly take the pan off the fire and start scooping the chips out of the pan with the spatula in my hand. I put it on a plate, and then I look up at the clock. Its eight o clock, I'm late. I rush around the kitchen setting plates and cups on four different trays, I set the glass cup with...

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“Twenty-Seven” by Cynthia Prokarym (Scott)

Submitted to Contest #61

Twenty-seven.It was hard for her to believe.To Bella, it seemed like it might turn out to be just another autumn evening a lot like the rest before it, yet not. She only knew at that moment she couldn't bear any more boredom.The slender brunette wore a red, strapless dress, a modern ‘Jennifer Aniston’ haircut, and an enigmatic expression.If I'm gonna go out, it will be in style, she thought to herself.So, sticking her foot off the edge of the flat roof, she tested the air...but just as quickly pulled her lifeline back in.The next time the bo...

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$50

Prize money

719

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Oct 02, 2020 EST

Won by Phoebe Barr 🏆

Title: Olive Bread

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.

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