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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

“A Little More Time ” by MALIK 1

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. I have been in the house for a month now my mom was sick, she was really unwell. I needed to stay with her almost all the time but now she was getting better, also autumn had arrived which means the red leaves and chilly breeze. While I was watching the streets outside my window I got a phone call from my friends and they asked me about my mom’s health and I told them of the current situation and they were glad to know it and also they tried to convince me to come to the cafe and hang o...

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“One Book Lighter” by Carlie Rodgers

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire and a chill nipped at my skin. It was mid-autumn, I had overslept a few minutes leaving only enough time to change, brush my teeth and comb out the rough knots threaded through my hair by my restless night. I had tossed and turned, my nerves set on edge as I imagined every possible way the day could go. In my rush I tripped over one of my regrettably placed pumpkins sending me stumbling down the front steps, not to be deterred, I gathered my things off the ground and hurried to my car. T...

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“Seasons” by Caroline Hart

Submitted to Contest #63

The Seasons Caroline Hart, 11 years old By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. The low-hanging clouds looked like smoke rising from the burning leaves. Where there was sky, it was red with anger, where it met the fire reaching up from the trees. Under the clouds, however, the sky cried fat tears, but even with the cries of the sky, the leaves remained as flickering flames. Under the press of rain, the trees quivered and gradually shed their cloak of leaves, which then lay on the ground as flames. A vigorous wind ...

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“The Healing Power” by Katelyn Burdo

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped foot outside, the leaves were on fire with colors of fall. The last time I had seen the leaves they had been green and full of life. It's almost funny how your outlook on life changes when you have been locked away for so long. My time away from the outside world started about a few months ago I believe, but who can tell any more. I was riding back to my little cottage in the woods after I had gone into town to help heal some of the local townspeople. Most welcomed my gift but there were some who still saw my methods ...

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“A Drink of Clarity” by Bernadette Beauchamp

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. So much for taking my break. “I knew it! I knew it!” exclaimed our boss who was the director of the preschool. She ran out, took time to yell at the tree and then ran back inside. I walked back into our classroom and called out to my co-teacher, “Ms. Blythe, there is something you should come and see.” “Should we all go?” she asked. “Oh yes, this is amazing,” I said and our twelve students, all four years old, followed me to the tree with Ms. Blythe. I took time to enjoy the spectacle w...

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“The Fall Decorations Made by Me” by Kalyn Bumpus

Submitted to Contest #63

I walked to the front of the classroom and grabbed a pair of scissors. Walking back to my desk, I saw other students already finishing their projects, and I had just started. I walked up to the table next to the teacher’s desk and grabbed multiple sheets of construction paper. Some were orange, some were yellow, some were even green! But I choose red, mainly because I like red maple leaves. They’re the prettiest in my opinion. “Look at mine, Riley! Isn’t it pretty?” My twin sister, Raleigh, squealed quietly. I nodded and sat down at my d...

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“Moo’s Adventure with Construction Paper” by Tedi Carey

Submitted to Contest #63

I I love making things! Grandma bought me a bunch of colored paper and asked me to make the decorations for her tiny apartment. She doesn’t have much for decorations and it is almost time for Thanksgiving! We spent some time looking up what type of decorations she wanted me to make. She wants at least ten pumpkins of all sizes, hundreds of leaves, and a turkey or two! Right now we are sitting around the coffee table with stencils to make the leaves. We are drawing as many as we can fit on each sheet of paper. “Moo” Grandma said, “now...

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“Making the Leaves Fall” by Greg Gorman

Submitted to Contest #63

Living in Florida sounds fun and exciting. Unless, of course, if you actually live in Florida. People imagine life in Florida as always being warm. Always being able to wear shorts or swim. Never being cold. People who actually live in the Sunshine State know better. They know about the heat. The humidity. The daily thunderstorms in August. The sweltering heat in July and, unknown to those who live up north, they know about the occasional frost that can occur in the winter. Taijon knew about all these things. After all, he had lived in Flo...

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“Leaves and Memories” by Liz G

Submitted to Contest #63

It was autumn again, so it was time to put the leaves up. She used some from last year, but most were ripped and faded and forgotten in far corners of her too-big house. So, as always, she sat down and cut out the shapes from red and orange and yellow construction paper. She was one of the only ones who remembered what leaves really looked like. Most of the others who dutifully hung the seasonal decorations cut out triangles for leaves, or rectangles, or even circles. Some, the older people like her, could still cut out the shapes of leave...

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“A Bewitched Pile of Paper” by Harlow Jones

Submitted to Contest #63

Today was a long, bad, terrible, horrible, horrific, miserable day. Tom from accounting was late finishing his report. Patrick from IT spilled his coffee on her blouse, and traffic made her commute home three times longer than it needed to be. But now she was finally home. She was back to her oasis, her safe haven, her refuge. She opened the door with a smile. “I’m home!” she declared. But her smile did not last more than one second. The twenty piles of leaves in the living room were nowhere near as impressive as the five trees in the kitch...

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“Another First Thanksgiving ” by Travis Frank

Submitted to Contest #63

I opened the closet door to find the stack of paper. All the colors of the construction paper; black, green, yellow, brown, orange, red, blue stacked in its dull rainbow. In a small box were glue, glitter, ribbons, and scissors right where she left them. The day was a drab as the construction paper, gray and overcast with rain. Wet leaves sticking to the walkway, the dog came in from his venture in the rain only to shake the water everywhere. I called his name; he looked at me as if asking if he had done somet...

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“The Fall Project” by David Dicaire

Submitted to Contest #63

The Fall Project The previous fall, Gladys Southers had missed out because she had fallen and broken a hip. This meant, missing out on Halloween. Out of all the holidays, she loved the creepy day the best. She remembered as a young girl, the excitement of picking out a costume and running up and down the streets gathering a pillow case full of candy. As an adult, she just loved handing out candy to all the little trick or treaters. The costumes and cuteness was something that she couldn’t ge...

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“Migratory birds such as the grey owl ,woodpecker , waxwing and coal-tit migrating for the winter. ” by Prince Brempong

Submitted to Contest #63

The story is entitled Migratory birds such as the grey owl, woodpecker ,waxwing and coal-tit migrating for the winter.The main reason behind why birds migrate for the winter includes among the following. Birds normally migrate to move from areas of low or decreasing resources to areas of high or increasing resources. These birds normally migrate for the winter in order to sought for food and nesting locations. Also in instances where there isn"t enough food they seek to migrate to find better places for food.Birds normally migrate for the wi...

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“The Migrant's Tale” by Ann Rapp

Submitted to Contest #63

AUTHOR’S NOTE: This is a work of fiction, but I have used information about migrating birds from the Audubon Society and Cornell Lab of Ornithology, which I believe is the most up-to-date scientific data. Interviewer: Please tell us what happens during your winter migration. Maude: Yes, I will tell you the story of what happened last year. Small rustling sounds among the leaves woke me from a sweet dream of warm sunshine and a full stomach. I was hungry and would need to go for...

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“THE LAST (LOST) SONG” by Gurumoorthy Narasimhan

Submitted to Contest #63

THE LAST (LOST) SONG “ Hey! Jack! It’s Chill and no sight of Sun” Samson put his arms around the shoulders of Samson. “ Yes! For the past three days the same weather haunts this village. I believe that New south wales is no different!” “ Exactly! We are just fifteen kilometres away from New South Wales. How can you expect a different weather there? The weatherman report...

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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.

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