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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

“Honest” by Amy St. Pierre

Submitted to Contest #63

Author’s note: This is a follow up to my short story At Home, submitted in December 2019. On Saturday morning, Haley took extra time in the shower. She shaved her legs and underarms, she used the vanilla scented soap that she knew Ben liked, she conditioned her hair. It had been months since she’d taken more than a quick five minute shower before getting back to Ava, their two-year-old daughter, but today was special. Today the three of them were going apple picking, and Haley had been looking forward to it all week. Being outside, with Be...

16 comments 16
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“The True Meaning of Autumn ” by ✯𝐋𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚 𝐋𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫✯

Submitted to Contest #63

The True Meaning of Autumn  By: Haripriya   By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. I couldn’t believe the beauty of the golden shimmers, decorating the floor, with its bright, vivid colors. In multiple shades of yellow, orange, red, green, and dusk brown, there it was, making the ground more colorful. It really was that time of year, wasn’t it? The season had changed from summer, now to fall. The weather, and the climate had also changed. The chilly breeze, yet so pleasant. ...

5 comments 5
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“Memories” by Amiable Sorceress

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I was outside, the leaves were on fire. Usually, I’m not a stickler for rules, but standing there, watching the leaves; only the leaves light up in flames, it reminded me of you. I would’ve said the leaves shouldn’t have been alight like that; it was against the laws of science, but this isn’t my story, it’s yours.  If you were here you wouldn’t have bothered with the fire extinguisher, so I don’t either, only watching the leaves smolder in the fire, from a safe distance of course. You might’ve confronted the leaves themsel...

5 comments 5
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“A Second Chance” by ✯𝐋𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚 𝐋𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫✯

Submitted to Contest #63

A Second Chance By: Haripriya I was bored. I mean, there was NOTHING to do. Sure, it was Autumn at all, but it was cold outside! There was nothing to play with, other than leaves, and leaves, and leaves, and... well you get the idea, don’t you? I don’t really get why people make such a big fuss about fall, and how pretty it looks. I don’t see the beauty. All I see is a bunch of leaves in the front yard, which means so much raking to do, that’s all. Many people say that the leaves look pretty, but so what if they are red, ...

9 comments 9
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“Ruby's First Flight” by ✯𝐋𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚 𝐋𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫✯

Submitted to Contest #63

Ruby’s First Flight By: Haripriya Chirp! Chirp! I heard my family. They were all calling me and signaling that it was time to go. All of them were tirelessly waving their pale-yellow feathers with blue and purple patterns. I glanced down at my own body and saw that I still had very pale beige feathers. Mother and father had told me I still had a lot of time to grow up, and soon have strong bold colored wings like how my mother and father do. I sighed an...

3 comments 3
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“Fall Began” by 𝔘𝔤𝔬𝔠𝔥𝔦 𝔑.

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were seemed to be on fire that day…my first day of high school. … “Cathy Jane??” said Ms. Vero that early cold morning. The first day of Fall had begun. “You can call me C.J.” I replied abruptly like I always do when someone calls me by my full name. “Okay, C.J.” Ms. Vero said then moving on to the next person on the list. Class seemed to go by in a flash, that day. The hallways filled with kids with sweatshirts and huge sweaters. Fall has begun. Students have already found their group of friends, ma...

47 comments 47
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“Scarlet Tanager” by Amy Utami

Submitted to Contest #63

I am Scarlet, Scarlet Tanager. A bird who hatched in the South and lost in the North. Here I was, told you a story of mine, not a good one but I hope it leads my way to you.I remember that afternoon, years ago before I turned one. When the leave has fallen composed with their dignity told me a story of an autumn that I have never seen. I was young and enthusiast. Every pain and failure were part of live experience. I believed that moment of time, those experiences will shape me into what’s best of me. Until it never stops. It starts to burn ...

10 comments 10
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“Bonded over Apples” by ✯𝐋𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚 𝐋𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫✯

Submitted to Contest #63

Bonded over Apples  By: Haripriya  “What do you want to do?” asked Alley, looking down at her sister, Callie.   “I don’t know Alley. What do people... sisters do together in fall? Any activities popping in your mind?” Callie questioned Alley.  “That’s what I said! I don’t know!” Alley replied, looking frustrated.  “Fine, well... I’ll give you some time alone to think. Just don’t get mad.” Callie advised Alley.   Alley looked at her sister, sympathetically and nodded her head. She pushed ...

4 comments 4
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“Wrongful Conviction” by Anna Mosqueda

Submitted to Contest #63

"The line's out the door, boss!" Someone yells from the kitchen. My hands are scrambling to make an espresso faster than they ever have.Trina's mopping up a spill on the floor.Hames is helping Col figure out how to make one of the new drinks.The soft bustle of the morning floats in the air. Multiple yawns are passed around the room. People waiting for work. People waiting for coffee. People waiting for pumpkin spice lattes. Not very patiently, but that's what's special about it.Every year around this time, it can be felt in the air. The stil...

56 comments 56
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“Cherry Lip Gloss and Apple Juice” by Yolanda Wu

Submitted to Contest #63

It is a lovely autumn afternoon. The leaves have all turned into their various shades of red, orange and yellow. The sky is cloudless, the sun shining ever so bright. Warm enough to rid us of our jackets, but not hot enough to burn us.I had an absolutely amazing grilled cheese sandwich, and then Monty suggested that we should go apple picking. It is our tradition. Plus, apples are my favourite fruit, so how can I refuse? I will tell you what would have made me refuse. I mean it – pass up our yearly tradition and walk right out of that apple ...

27 comments 27
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“The Third Lotus Prince” by Yolanda Wu

Submitted to Contest #63

Trigger warning: Description of suicide, not super graphic, but just something to be warned about.By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. All around me, my temple had gone up in flames.However, we are not up to that part yet.Let us start, as all lives start – with my birth.My Mother, Lady Yin, was pregnant with me for three years and six months.The night before I was born, she had a dream. There was a Taoist, he placed something in her bosom and told her it was a child she should take.My Mother, probably half sick of this pre...

54 comments 54
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“Cheat Day” by Ryan Lieb

Submitted to Contest #63

You’re not supposed to be here, Mandy thought to herself as her Jeep crept slowly into a parking stall in front of her favorite coffee shop. She had expected the brick facade to fill her with comfort, like a reunion with an old friend, but what she felt was more akin to deja vu. A passing familiarity, the sense that she’d been there before in a dream. In the past, it had been a weekly destination for her. Every Sunday, on Cheat Day, she bought a large latte with whipped cream on top and curled up on the couch with a good book for at least an...

20 comments 20
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“Fireflies of Manhattan” by 𝗢wen 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I’ve stepped outside, the leaves are on fire, and the autumn light is so clean it could cut you. All around, everything is just dying away in glory on another rainless upstate day. Behind me, the prison gate clangs shut, and the guy in the guard-house says I can catch a bus down the road. So, I search my pockets for money and find it: the fifty-two dollars I had when I went in. And I breathe. I just breathe the air. It’s clean, and I’m out, and I feel a bit of hope for the first time in almost a year. I think of Dr Paulson’s word...

22 comments 22
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“Demon in the Woods” by Leviathan Four

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. In the valley below our cabin, a grove of black walnut, sycamore, and cottonwood trees flickered and popped in the dawn. The stench of acrid smoke filled my lungs as I calculated how far the wildfire had spread overnight. How safe we felt before going to bed. Looking down at the tangle of mountain roads, I wondered fretfully which ones were still passable. We had arrived two days before, a veritable lifetime ago. I remember my contentment then, my determination to spend some focuse...

18 comments 18
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“Core” by Lina Oz

Submitted to Contest #63

The old woman wanders slowly through the orchard, pulling her shawl tightly across her shoulders. The sound of crunching fills the air as she steps through the freshly fallen leaves of various colors––yellows and oranges and reds. The sun is warm on her back, to which she gives a perplexing smile––because the air is rather icy. Freezing, actually. She watches as her exhaling breaths form small puffs of condensation.She sighs in content. A perfect day.“It’s cold.”The voice flutters across the trees from her left. She turns to the voice, and b...

35 comments 35
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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!

Prompts | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

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