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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#63: Autumnal

It’s finally fall in the Northern Hemisphere. While the leaves are being slow to change out my window this year, the air is crisp and the pumpkin spice products are out in full force. Time to break out the sweaters!

Beyond all the colorful trappings, though, fall is by definition a season of change. So as you craft your stories this week, try to think about how the events you’re writing will change your characters' lives, whether fundamentally or just a little. After all, even a seemingly mundane afternoon can be the turning point of your entire life…

And if you want to drink some apple cider or a pumpkin spice latte while you write, more power to you!

This week's prompts

Set your story in a coffee shop that’s just introduced a new line of autumnal drinks.

Fall – 161 stories

Start your story with the line, “By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire.” (Whether this is a literal fire is up to you.)

Teens – 324 stories

Write about a character making fall decorations out of construction paper.

Kids – 45 stories

Write a story from the perspective of a bird migrating for the winter.

Winter – 128 stories

Write about two characters going apple picking.

Fall – 249 stories

Stories

“THE JOURNEY WITHOUT LUCY. ” by Loud Paper

Submitted to Contest #63

Lucy woke up to the sound of birds early morning, stretching and smiling through the brighter sun. she pull up the curtains and saw numerous birds feeding on the grass not far from her backyard farm. Lucy walked up to the birds and tried getting one as a pet, unfortunately she slipped and fell. Her neighbour's children giggle and chuckled at her. One of the children walked up to Lucy and said, would you love to keep one? She nodded and said yes, would like to keep one as a pet, I wouldn't mind if you offer a help.maybe your friends...

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“The Apple Tree” by Lara 🦋

Submitted to Contest #63

Six months and three days ago, I visited 1920. It was the day they said I killed the boy. He was quite a cunning boy to tell you. He wanted to kill me, to ‘preserve us in the afterlife’.How they found him dead, how he was flung with a gushing chest, pouring red onto the orange leaves remains a mystery to me. He lay there atop the fiery mosaic of leaves and blood. It surprised me to see him in solid form; he used to look as misty as a ghost. He told me he was already dead, killed in an accident on apple picking day, September 26th, 1920.A hun...

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“An Uncommon Autumn Morning at Céleste's Café” by Annie James

Submitted to Contest #63

The sun is still creeping over the horizon, but life in the coffee shop on Third St. is in full swing. Muted black, brown and tan decor, dark brown and tan slate floor tiles, display a splashy pattern designed to mask spills. Black rugs in front of the door and register. Interesting prints on the walls, of people drinking coffee, serene forest scenes, many of them having small plaques underneath with a blurb about the local artists who painted the scene. Inside are people in business suits chatting across tiny round tables, or sitting al...

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“Coffee Magic ” by Brandy Lempfert

Submitted to Contest #63

Fall was in full swing by the time I had carved out some time to go exploring in the new town I had just settled down in. I made my way down the main street of the tiny town feeling a bit silly to be so bundled up as everyone I passed seemed to be decked out in shorts and tank tops, I consoled myself with the thought that I was just not used to the weather yet because as I strolled through the various stores becoming more and more chilled and finally resigned myself to returning to my cozy little house to wait out the cold I stumbled upon a...

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“The Cloud Friend, Snow” by Robin ✿

Submitted to Contest #63

Molly looked around. The smell of nature filled around, and sounds of birds singing lullabies chirped. Sitting on a tree house and looking down below you where the flowers was a tiny red dot was scary. But the breezes and winds of gushing air that passes through you is a beauty. Molly slowly closed her eyes, feeling the beauty of silence and nature. She started to feel relaxed when, she was disturbed. ' Molly! Hello Molly! Excuse me, are you awake?' Molly snapped her eyes open, and also jumped up. Hmm. A boy was on a ladder, slowly climb...

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“All Good Things” by Cal Carson

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. Eurus’s breath had blown my orange hair curling into the sky like tongues of hot flame and setting the trees swaying.“It’ll be fine,” Tye lies into my ear. “They haven’t been seen in months, we can go outside.” I brush him off.Lies, they were all lies. Outside wasn’t safe. He’s telling lies I wanted to hear, but they’re lies nonetheless. I can feel it. The trees are ablaze with red-decked flames, embers shooting off and swirling, purple and orang...

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“Bittersweet” by Jeff C. Carter

Submitted to Contest #63

Aisha squinted in the dark, scratching at the employee entrance with her key. The door opened and she nearly fell inside. Her manager, Clarissa, held it for her.“You’re on time. Good.”Aisha met her dark jade eyes and forced the first smile of her shift. “Good morning.”She slid past her manager into the coffee shop and frowned. She despised getting up before the sun. The only perk of the job, besides the free coffee, was having the place to herself for an hour when she opened. She never thought she’d wind up as a barista-in-training at this s...

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“Beneath the Picking Tree” by Courtney Haynes

Submitted to Contest #63

DAVIDI stand in attention before the Colonel as he goes down the list. "Rule number ten," he commandingly says."Don't be a jackass,” I answer. “Focus on her and her alone." "Rule number eleven." "Don't be a pansy,” I say. “Project power. Women like power no matter what Oprah told them." "Rule number twelve." I don't know if it's the nervousness from finally getting my time at bat, but I freeze on this one. The Colonel's hand comes down to rest firmly on my shoulder, "Don't pop The Question until you're one hundr...

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“Bobbing and Weaving” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #63

Connie and Lara had been friends since they were that high, as folk tended to say, indicating a point that could be anywhere from their knees to their elbows. Oh, as they grew up, they didn’t live in each others’ pockets, or go into a decline in each others’ absence, but they still had that feeling in each others’ company that only comes from the knowledge that a true, caring friend is there. Not one who never judges, not one who never disagrees, but one who judges and disagrees and loves you anyway. &n...

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“Writer's Story” by Micheal Sanjay

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. I always knew a time like this would come, but I never expected it to be that soon. I was born in a country where things weren't done to favour it's citizens, a country where only the government enjoyed the riches of the people while the governed, especially the poor governed suffered greatly both in the shadows and in the light. "Dad!" my four years old daughter Mariam calls, "what are you doing?" "I'm writing sweet." I look at the wall clock. "Isn't it past your bedtime?" "I c...

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“Stretch Out Your Hand” by Elizabeth Burrows

Submitted to Contest #63

“By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire,” a broken voice had whispered, “We did not stand a chance.” A man had uttered those words when he had stumbled into their village, hardly able to stand. His body had been battered and torn. Ugly burns had littered his skin and the air around him was filled with the stench of burnt flesh. Storm had been a young boy at the time. He had not understood what was going on, but the image of the man was forever burnt into his mind. Just like the symbol that was burnt i...

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“A Crow ” by Lee Doe

Submitted to Contest #63

We are as smart as a seven year old. We find that insulting. Why for only seven years? Does one’s smarts cut off at a certain point? Why must ours cut off earlier? We don’t sound seven, do we? Look at us. Look at our black wings. Look at our beady eyes. Look at our shimmering feathers. Look at our shiny beak. We don’t look seven, do we? Humans are peculiar. They have interesting sayings. If it looks like a duck. Sounds like a duck. It must be a duck. We d...

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“The day the sun fell” by Vameerah Darren

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire.I woke up, smoke filling my lungs, the hot air around me making my hair stick to my sweat covered forehead. My eyes filled with tears as my throat burned, the stinging like swallowing a rose covered in thorns. This wasn't the first time I have woken up like this, and it wouldn't be the last.I coughed harshly, knowing no one would hear, my feet hit the floor and I stumbled out of my bed, through the doorway, and down the stairs.The day had come, and soon, we would all go up in flames.I kn...

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“Jennifer Jessel and Marvin Meerkat's Awesome Adventure ” by Louise Muller

Submitted to Contest #63

Jennifer Jessel lives on Jackson Street. She loves jalapeno jam and always has it on jaffles with a big glass of jackfruit juice. She enjoys dancing, especially the jive and she often listens to jazz music. She has a pet, a mild-tempered meerkat named Marvin. Marvin loves mangoes, mulberry muffins with marmalade, and mint chocolate. He likes morning naps, meditation and monkeying around. Jennifer Jessel’s favorite season is fall. She loves watching the leaves fall, drinking hot chocolate, and baking pumpkin pie. She loves fall so much, i...

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“Deconstruction, Reconstruction” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #63

Sylvia couldn’t be absolutely whose idea it was, and it certainly wasn’t compulsory, but Thomasina Samson (Call me Tom, she said, more as an order than an invitation) who ran the hostel, was a firm believer in the healing powers of handicrafts, and the improving nature of improvising. True, the hostel was run on a bit of a shoestring, but Sylvie suspected that the construction paper was just proving a point. And all very symbolic. Harleston Hall Hostel, variously nicknamed Hellstone and...

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$50

Prize money

907

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Oct 16, 2020 EST

Won by Masha Kurbatova 🏆

Title: come to atlanta!

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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