Menu

Prompts

Contests

Stories

Blog

CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#62: Forward Thinking

Last week, we took a trip down memory lane. This time, we’ll be looking forward: to the future, and all the infinite ways it can unfold.

Of course, in the real world we can never know exactly what will happen — that’s what makes it both exhilarating and terrifying (or sometimes both at once). And while you as the author may know exactly how the story will end, the characters are just as ignorant as the rest of us.

This week, we invite you to dig into your characters’ hopes and dreams for the future. Do they long for it, or dread it? How are they trying to prepare? Who knows, maybe they’ll even get a glimpse at events still to come…

🥇 Winner

“No Hard Feelings” by A.dot Ram

Dear Winston,By the time you’re reading this, I will already be a human popsicle. I know you don't support my decision to freeze myself. Still, I want to make you understand it... Winston Solis held the letter in trembling hands. Hazia’s exuberant penmanship swarmed over several handwritten pages like ants on a mission. There she was, having the last word again. But something about the cursive made Winston’s ribs ache and his breath catch. It seemed more a p...

107 comments 107

Read story

⭐️ Shortlisted

“The Eight-year Cycle ” by Abigail Airuedomwinya

"Pa, let me make your tea." He looks at her as she weaves her hands into her hair. He likes how she reminds him of snowfalls. He doesn't know who she is except that in eight years, the police would find her in her kitchen, an empty packet of cigarettes beside her bloodied form. He's seen that before and it doesn't scare him anymore."Of course. Add a lot of milk." He tells her."But..." She stops herself and begins to walk away."What?" He asks.The morning is purple as if someone has drowned...

Read story

“All Tomorrow's Lives” by 𝗢.𝗦. 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿

I am in Colorado, flying above the forest. This body extension is a drone, and I hover above the beginnings of the wildfire that will burn an area the size of Manhattan. There is a plume of black smoke, and the air has become turbulent. Twenty people will die in this fire, most of them firefighters. I can only assume this is the best outcome. I have no access to the information in my past, but if I were to judge by the mobilisation of crews here to fight it, and its proximity to the town of Kittredge, I believe it could have been a high-c...

Read story

“A Rose I Remembered” by Tony Hadley

The last thing I can remember upon waking up is the day that I die. I can’t remember what date it will be, only that it’ll be midday, and I’ll be walking down a crowded wet sidewalk in the city. I’ll see a pretty blonde haired girl look at me a short distance away and smile. Then, I remember, there will be a startled look on her face as someone shoves her into the street. I remember I’ll step out into traffic to...

Read story

“Future Cryonics” by Shannon Basson

“I can save your life.” The words reverberate in Felix’s skull, mocking him. How can five words make him shake? How can five words stop everything? They are so straight forward. Clear. No double meanings. No softening. Just there. Not like the words he’s heard before. You have a terminal diagnosis. Five percent survival rate.

Read story

This week's prompts:

Write about a character who can suddenly only “remember” their future, not their past.

Thriller and Suspense – 143 stories

Write about a character who’s had their future foretold from birth — but isn’t sure if they believe it.

Fantasy – 173 stories

Write about two characters on the verge of a life-changing event, but one has rigged the outcome.

Dramatic – 100 stories

Write about a character preparing to go into stasis for decades (or centuries).

Science Fiction – 115 stories

Write about a character putting something into a time capsule.

General – 162 stories

Stories

“No Hard Feelings” by A.dot Ram

Dear Winston,By the time you’re reading this, I will already be a human popsicle. I know you don't support my decision to freeze myself. Still, I want to make you understand it... Winston Solis held the letter in trembling hands. Hazia’s exuberant penmanship swarmed over several handwritten pages like ants on a mission. There she was, having the last word again. But something about the cursive made Winston’s ribs ache and his breath catch. It seemed more a p...

107 comments 107

Read story

“3:00 A.M.” by Alby Carter

It’s late, and my head still hurts from the fight I just had with Mom. I lay on my bed, chewing down hard on my bottom lip. My eyes scan the room for a hair band until I see one on my wrist. I don’t remember putting it there. I tie my hair up into a high ponytail that could use some work. I slip a couple of bobby pins into the back of it. My old mirror is cracked and shoved onto the top shelf of my closet, so it’ll have to do. I’m still demolishing my lip when I tip-toe to my bedroom door. One of the bobby pins is pulled from my ponytail ...

Read story

“The Population” by Julia Boddie

They rushed him to the hospital. Timothy laid on the wheeled stretcher. He was ready.A few weeks ago, he got an email saying that he had been accepted into a science camp. Timothy was overjoyed. He had been trying to get into that camp for three years.Timothy counted down the days until camp started. Nothing else mattered to him. If he got grounded for not helping out around the house, he would just lay in bed thinking about the camp. As long as he got to go to that camp, everything was fine....

Read story

“A savior?” by Blair Witch

This has something to do with the novel that i'll be working on soon that i think that i'll be calling 'demi-god savior?' this isn't the exact stuff that will happen but eh. I'm just trying to make some stories now and i hope that you enjoy. Mika. Ryder. The two of them had been friend's for as long as they could remember, almost since birth. At least that's what Ryder liked to tell her...

250 comments 250

Read story

“To Be A Clairvoyant ” by Tanishka Mali

Friday, June 19 2980 Thornton Ave, Flint, Michigan Jase Hiawatha, a high school teacher in his late twenties was found dead, in his pool. The night was dark; both his wrists along with his throat had been slashed open. The water in his pool was glistening in a dark shade of crimson, from the blood that was slowly dribbling out of his veins. Saturday, August 22 6740 Orange Ln, Flint, Michigan

Read story

“Welded Armour” by Greydon Blight

From the moment light broke through my thin, damp eyelids, I was told I would kill a great evil. My father, so sure of himself that I would grow strong enough to lead an army, that not only would I be willed enough to lift the sword, but brave enough to drive it through evil’s heart myself. He celebrated the night I was born, found in the morning with his face buried deep in the hay of pigs. A fight over coin, coin that was for our food, spent on women who preferred their patrons more sober than he. An old man not strong enough to handle ...

Read story

“Fufu the Hero” by Julia Boddie

“You will bring peace to the earth,” my dad said. “So start acting like it.” I hated it when my parents lectured me like that. They firmly believed that I would make world peace someday. On the day I was born, my dad took me to go get my future foretold. The fortune-teller told him about a prophecy that said I would bring world peace. The prophecy said that on January 23, a child would be born. That child...

Read story

“The Lavish Jungle” by Julia Boddie

She was going to win and she knew it. She had practiced for this so many times. She knew she had what it took to survive one week in the jungle. She knew she wanted to enter this contest when she first saw the ad on TV. The goal was to survive one week in the jungle. The person who survived the best would win five million dollars. This was more money that Jeneatte had ever seen in her life. She was one of the first peopl...

Read story

“Her Haunting Future” by Julia Boddie

When she woke up, it was early morning. She got up and dressed. Harmony brushed her teeth and then went downstairs for breakfast. Her dad was in the kitchen cooking.“Good morning Harmony,” he said cheerfully.“Good morning dad,” Harmony replied, trying her hardest not to bust out laughing.Her dad was wearing the wacky apron that she got him for father’s day. It said, “I’m a cooking genius.” Underneath the words, there was a wacky cartoon Albert Einstein. Harmony had bought that for...

Read story

“The Eight-year Cycle ” by Abigail Airuedomwinya

"Pa, let me make your tea." He looks at her as she weaves her hands into her hair. He likes how she reminds him of snowfalls. He doesn't know who she is except that in eight years, the police would find her in her kitchen, an empty packet of cigarettes beside her bloodied form. He's seen that before and it doesn't scare him anymore."Of course. Add a lot of milk." He tells her."But..." She stops herself and begins to walk away."What?" He asks.The morning is purple as if someone has drowned...

Read story

“Why Me?” by Corey Melin

“You are now the King of Lopaland!” pronounced to all who attended the event. The crown is placed on Elmgudren’s head, and soon there is major applause. Much happiness, but not from the major attraction itself. The one who is now King wasn’t looking to this moment, and it came way sooner than expected. It was two days ago that Elmgudren was out with his buddies in the woods playing their favorite games when...

Read story

“That Night” by Eliza Ane

The door slammed against the wall as she threw it open. There wasn’t much time and she knew it. Her feet pounded against the ground as she ran onto the nearly abandoned rain-soaked dirt road. It was frigid and dark. She was panting as she tried to stay steady on the slippery path. The footsteps behind her increased their speed. Her vision blurred from the bright headlights of a passing car. It was just enough to distract...

Read story

“Debate Matters” by Zilla Babbitt

The men are nervous. There are two of them, one with deep grey hair and the other with light brown hair. One is younger and fatter, the other is older and taller. Both are afraid. Both lick their lips and do not make eye contact. The moderator sits before them, with a clay and leather mask shaped skillfully like a Zimbabwean priest, his eyes and the rest of his face hidden perfectly, like an executioner’s. What’s your takeaway on this quarter’s GDP? he asks, linking hi...

Read story

“Old Friend” by Abigail Airuedomwinya

It was a dark night and we'd been walking for days. Ahead of us were thick bushes and trees like canopies. And behind us was the hostile cold. We could only see a couple of old stars as we journeyed farther into the jungle, our maps telling us Allyton Cottage was just after the trees. Larry yawned again and stopped. He searched his pockets for the last cigarette and left it in his lips. We had no lighter in hand and Larry knew that but still, he let the cigarette stay there, unattended."Do you think we should go back?" Larry asked,...

Read story

“Best Served Cold” by Charles Stucker

"Your Grace, I regret to inform you that the constant provocation of lawless elements from your duchy have forced my lord, His Majesty, the Emperor of Barundia, to declare war upon you." The popinjay ambassador from the power-mad tyrant bows as he speaks. "Do you wish to respond?""I would like a week's time to arrange my abdication," I answer. "If I can manage affairs with my subordinates, my people will not suffer.""We know your coffers are full. Should they be plundered ere the week is done, no place shall hide you from ou...

Read story

Load more stories

$50

Prize money

761

Submissions

Ended on 23:59 - Oct 09, 2020 EST

Won by A.dot Ram 🏆

Title: No Hard Feelings

Winning stories will be featured on our website and in our weekly newsletter. For more information, please consult our terms of use.

Submissions will be approved and published within 7 days of the contest closing.

Please keep your submission between 1,000 - 3,000 words.

Any questions? Check out our FAQ

reedsybookeditor

Tired of MS Word?

Join the revolution and write your book in a tool designed for authors. 🙌

Includes FREE typesetting to print-ready PDF & EPUB files, track changes and collaborative editing.

Explore more writing prompt ideas:

Adventure Writing Prompts ⭢

Comedy Writing Prompts ⭢

Creative Nonfiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Dramatic Writing Prompts ⭢

Fantasy Writing Prompts ⭢

For Kids Writing Prompts ⭢

General Writing Prompts ⭢

Historical Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Holiday Writing Prompts ⭢

Mystery Writing Prompts ⭢

Romance Writing Prompts ⭢

Science Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Thriller and Suspense Writing Prompts ⭢