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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

“Seasons Change But So Do You” by Clare Coyle

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time we stepped outside, the trees were all on fire. The breeze snatched the amber leaves and waltzed them way up higher.Orange, red and crimson were all up in ablaze. A scrimmage of yellow shone beneath the gold sunrays. Naked branches poked up through the madness of the coloursHigh above us beautifully, one of natures truest wondersThe wind it sings its eire song through the maze of woods aloneAs it does in every season, through every milestoneAll around us autumns here, alive in its full glory.It is waiting right now...

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“Dancing Flames” by Christopher Cayen-Cyr

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. It was a gorgeous, searing, multicolored dance of flames tiptoeing along the branches; the blaze instantly made me forget about the windowless grey walls I had been staring at for the past four years. The trees must have combusted from the rays of gold filtering through the cotton candy clouds in the midday sky, I thought. Distant glimmers from a river of honey caught my attention through the thin line of trunks, and I ran towards it in a haste lest the guards catch up with me. Surely...

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“Crafting for Krista ” by Brittany Smith

Submitted to Contest #63

Was this a house or a home? I shook my head ruefully as I gazed at the barren yard. Tulips and Petunias long gone, faded from summer heat and done away by Autumn's first freeze. Bitter October winds whipped chipped gray shutters against charcoal siding, faded form years of sun and wind. Bushes overgrown, grass long and unkempt...even the door is bare bones. A dark contrast from the playful wreaths which once graced the front door. A new wreath for each season, every holiday, and even for birthdays. I pull the lapels of my coat closer to ...

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“Non Existent ” by Hope Vicencio

Submitted to Contest #63

Trees, homes, blue, white. Everything I see passes by me as I fly with my flock. The colors that once meant something have started to mix into one. Black. The color that I am. The common starling that glides through the sky. Some call us phenomenal for the way we group during migration, while others call us beautiful because we shine in the morning sun. Then there’s those who call us noisy and those are the ones who destroy our home that was never meant to be. Whether you see me sitting inside a cactus or soaring by screeching the sounds tha...

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“Denny the Sparrow” by Mike Siver

Submitted to Contest #63

Denny the Sparrow Of all the Sparrow’s in his community Denny was the one pushing the limits all the time that kept getting him into trouble with the community and the leaders. The leaders were continually reminding him he must follow the rules for the community to survive. For some reason Denny felt he was not destoned to be like all the other Sparrows. The weather was starting to get colder and the community was preparing to fly south for the winter. Denny thought for a minute and decided he was a year older now, young and strong and pret...

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“MIGRATING FOR THE WINTER” by Lesley Chacha

Submitted to Contest #63

It is late already. Almost seven pm in the humans time, but here, we don't measure time in hours. To us , time moves more faster than to humans, and it seems the seasons do too. I found some pretty good nectar today, sweet enough that I bookmarked the place, hoping that I'll still remember it by tommorow. I'll show my entire flock that garden, waiting for them to experience what real nectar sweetness is, I am pretty sure that was a rare flower, because it's nectarines weren't shaped like the normal kind, the common kind. It was as if it's sp...

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“Migrating to live...” by Judith Veder

Submitted to Contest #63

“I am the tern…goo goo g’joob…” From The Beatles’ I am the Walrus I go from pole to pole, corner to corner, (a song line I recall) - Sterna Paradisa- me, the arctic tern. My flight or really my glide can be over 56,000 miles. I have the record for the longest migration of any animal, Arctic Circle to Antarctic Circle. I see more daylight than any other being. I like this. Night is scary. Nigtmares of bigger foes; egg stealers. We terns nest once every t...

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“The Tragedy of Migration” by Crouton 828

Submitted to Contest #63

I don't know what year it is, what month, what day. All I know is one morning I woke up, and I could feel the change. The wind was blowing crisper and there was a different smell in the air. Something within me told me, "It is time to FLY!" So I did. I didn't know where I was going or even why I was going. Something within me just told me it was time, and I listened. As I took to the skies, I heard the cries of my many brothers and sisters calling to me. Glancing around, I noticed that we were all spread out, and decided to try to move in a...

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“One Last Trip South” by John Kieffer

Submitted to Contest #63

It is always pleasant to watch as I pass by the trees. Orchards are especially pleasant as there was a rhythmic pattern to their passing in and out of my perspective. They look like a geometric illusion, and it feels like walking past infinite hallways… one after another, after another, and so on. Something about that just helps to calm the nerves of travel. Sadly, there is no orchard going past at this moment. But the random assortment and fluctuation of trees can still be relaxing in its own way. Occasionally a tree will pass by much clos...

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“There's Change in the Air” by Tim Benson

Submitted to Contest #63

“There’s Change in the Air” To most people the beautiful colors of the autumn foliage are best viewed from a forest path or the shores of a mountain lake. But they’re wrong, flat wrong. The best view of autumn leaves is from the top of a tree or the edge of someone’s chimney. Of course you have to be a bird to pull that off because branches are small and roofs are steep. But Chip was a bird so it was no problem. He knew you couldn’t see true autumnal beauty until you could look straight down through all the leaves and all the branches to d...

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“Emma’s first migration ” by Amber Brownlee

Submitted to Contest #63

Emma’s first migration After months of anticipation the day is finally here, the big migration .I never understood why some birds chose to stay in Canada and freeze their feathers off ,when they could enjoy the sunny beaches of Florida. My mom says that a bird never forgets their first migration, and to make sure that I had to make a list to ensure that I didn’t leave anything behind or forget the safety rules because it was equally as dangerous as it is exciting. You see our annual migration h...

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“Keeping Up With the Blue-Jays” by Thea Brown

Submitted to Contest #63

They say that as you age, things start to numb to you. You lose sight of what matters and what changes. Well, fortunately, about 13 percent of the world's population lies about everything, so what you hear can be jumbled. As is my personal experience, age sharpens you. You notice the things that are important, whether it's a worm peeping out from its burrow, or a aeroplane that your second cousin didn't see, despite him being years younger than you. Rest in peace, dear Eddy (even though I hated you with a burning passion). ...

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“Birds of a Feather Should Stick Together” by Leon Moss

Submitted to Contest #63

It’s been a warm day. The kind that comes towards the end of the blistering summer. The heat is off and cool air is moving in. This also means a change in the air thermals, an important item in navigation. I’m lying on my back in my space in the nest, pecking away at an irksome flea that’s under my wing. If I can get my beak a little closer, that flea is history! Tom, my older brother drops in and says, “On your feet, buddy! The folks are busy packing up. We fly at sunset! “Already?” I shout. “It’s too early. It’s still roasting out there...

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“‘Swallows, Swallows Poems Are Not the Point’” by Brenda Liddy

Submitted to Contest #63

A Short Story from the Perspective of a Bird Migrating for the Winter Title ‘Swallows, Swallows Poems Are Not the Point’ My name is Sean and I am a swallow. Each spring I fly from Africa to a little farm in County Derry, in the North of Ireland. I don’t want to sound dramatic, but I am just about 18 centimetres in length, and weigh 32 grams and I fly six thousand miles from Africa to reach Ireland each spring. I travel 200 miles every day and I begin my 6,000-mile journey in the middle of March. I fly back at the beginning of Septem...

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“PARROT ICE” by Andrew Grell

Submitted to Contest #63

PARROT ICE By Andrew Paul Grell Yellow perch this morning. Fun game. Sam and Janice teach. Corner of porch, no can see from road. Wait humans on two-wheels. Say “Hey, you got a flat.” Human stop, no see me, no see nobody, get off wheels, look. Sam, Janice, laugh. I laugh same back at them. Give oil palm fruit, yum. Give cracker, yum yum. Love Sam Janice, love Sam Janice house. Better than Skipper on boat. Boat smell bad, Skipper talk smell bad, smell rotten fruit. Get six on two-wheels...

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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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