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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

“I like Anuska?...No!” by Bellah Idd

Submitted to Contest #63

Honestly speaking, there’s nothing more I hate than the anuska season. So hateful!… Why, you ask? Allow then this chivalrous bird, me, little Taro, to share my many grievances I can barely manage to tolerate about this hateful season. Anuska… the season where all the luxury ends and where the many little difficulties begin. The coldest and unbearable season. Chattering of beaks unconsciously, a ‘must sleep in a crowded nest’ law, waking up late and sleeping earlier, moving nests to seek refuge in the south, and the most unbearable of all...

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“Going South” by Connie Ten Bruggenkate

Submitted to Contest #63

We were practising again today. All the experienced ones started calling out and we answered. We all sat and watched the Great Ones for our cue. And then all of a sudden they rose up as one and my family and friends and I followed. We seemed to be dancing through the air. I could feel a magnetic pull as we moved side to side, up and down. It felt so exhilarating and powerful to be part of the group. There was so much noise and air flowing around us and then, just as quickly as it had started, we all landed in a ...

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“Sometimes Home's a hanging nest” by Patricia Adele

Submitted to Contest #63

The light is fading faster, and the darkness is upon us sooner every day. I’ve been here a long time, two seasons, and they say it is time to go. Before I arrived with the others, we were in perfectly shaped eggs, which our Mother sat on through the chilly nights to keep us warm. Then we became and she would work all day to feed our starving new bellies, bringing all sorts of fresh bugs and such to our screeching little mouths. Father was always nearby, watching and protecting the nest and his children. Any intr...

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“In the Shadow of the Hills” by Stephen Pain

Submitted to Contest #63

The writer Daniel Defoe had written about the hills. There was apparently gold in them. It turned out to be fool’s gold. William Langland the fourteenth century poet had dozed off on them and dreamt an allegory. The Malvern Hills have been there for so many years, you tend to forget that they are there. On both sides of the hills there are apple trees in abundance. There might be arguments about who produces the best apples, Worcestershire or Herefordshire, however for views from the Beacon, you can’t beat the orchards of the latter, and it ...

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“Trees, Apples, and Love” by Anna Ewing

Submitted to Contest #63

“Hey, brat!” Brady says to me as he enters my garage. I’m playing my guitar so I can barely hear him, but I still can. “Hey, jerk,” I say, rolling my eyes, though I have a slight smile on my face. “So whatcha wanna do today?” Says Brady as he walks over to me and gives me a crushing hug; he knows I hate hugs. “Hey! Get off of me!” I yell as I try to push him off, but to no avail as he just brushes it off. “I was thinking we’d go apple picking,” Says a yawning Brady, who’s now clearly bored. “Yeah that’d be fine I guess, lets go now, I’m just...

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“Ciderville” by Shaqueen Reddix

Submitted to Contest #63

Hannah and Heather were two ten year old little girls who lived in a small town called Ciderville where during fall season, their families came together to do alot of harvesting. Every year they would have their annual fall festival and apple cider was their biggest hit. Ciderville was usually cool around this time of year. It was a nice Saturday morning good enough for apple picking. Hannah stood at her window of the home she shared with her grandma and grandpa. She moved to Ciderville with her grandparents while her parents went out of to...

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“A Season for Love and Apples” by Kristina Etter

Submitted to Contest #63

She held her warm coffee cup tightly in her hands as a chill in the air, slithered up the cuff of her flannel shirt. The Aspen trees' golden leaves danced across the sky like tickertape celebrating the end of a stifling hot summer. She loved the change of seasons, but it brought a certain amount of melancholy and fleeting memories of more carefree times. It was fall when they met. On their first weekend excursion, they drove north to a neighboring state to pick fresh Golden Delicious apples and enjoy the breathtaking fall colors along the ...

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“The Not So Perfect Date” by Tehya Thompson

Submitted to Contest #63

“Ughh, how long is this class going to last?” I asked myself as I started daydreaming about what my date with Mikey might be like. “I’m so excited to finally get out of the house after being grounded for 2 months. Ooh, I wonder where he’s going to take me” I thought as I started beaming, “what should I wear?” An hour later, the class is finally ending, “RINGGG!” cried the lunch bell and I couldn’t be more excited to get out of that boring biology class. “Sierra, could you stay back for a moment?” Asked Mrs. Carter as I nodded. ...

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“An apple a day does NOT keep the doctor away” by Rosalin Vatana

Submitted to Contest #63

“This is boring, Elizabeth,” Caleb, my best friend, complained rather loudly as we were walking towards the grove of apple trees. We were where I lived, a farm that was about ten kilometers away from our school. Caleb lived closer to the school than I did, only a kilometer away, but he often came over because my house was a lot cooler (he hasn’t admitted that yet, but I’m sure he’s thinking it). Caleb loves pies, especially apple pies, so when I needed to go apple picking, I immediately called him so we could get the apples together. ...

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“Apple Streusel Crisp” by Esteban Fernandes

Submitted to Contest #63

The leaves whispered spiraling down among the hallowed ground of harvest time. The orchard softly spoke to the ripe fruit to awaken and shine. We were gazing at the orchard from the last hill above the small access road along the hillside, nearly 5100 msl. I looked over to her on my left as the breeze moved her hair with the wind. The auburn tresses danced and moved to the music of the trees in the golden afternoon sun. We had hiked to the point for about 20 minutes from the road.We had been there many times this year. This field of fru...

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“Reminiscent ” by Jordan Bonn

Submitted to Contest #63

“I don’t love you anymore, Jon” he said, reaching for a Paula Red that hung off a thinning browning branch. The words themselves attacked my senses, a fight or flight response was beginning to form from that sentence alone. I felt my fingers digging into my palm, the violent feeling of blood rushing through my hands turning my skin the same color as the fruit. After a moment of trying to process my next response, I spat out something driven purely by confusion, “I want to know why!” The young family near us stopped in their t...

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“Apple Picking” by Shreerag Plakazhi

Submitted to Contest #63

“So what are we doing today?” I asked Eugenie. “Apple picking,” she replied. She said it like it was obvious, like we had spoken about a thousand times before. In fact, this was our first interaction on the subject. “What is that?” She gave me a wry look. “Exactly what it sounds like.” “Literally picking apples? That’s a thing you do?” “Yes, silly. It’s a thing we do. Now do you want to waste time talking about it or do you want to go pick some fucking apples?” I nodded and followed her into her car. This was my second week in Ne...

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“Even the prettiest things rot” by Neha Blossom

Submitted to Contest #63

Devil red, crisp and sweet. Apples were sinful fruits. Adam and Eve consumed them when defying god. However, the apple trees were so lovely. They were the prettiest things when you laid below them, Jack. I sat just above you, reading. How did we get here? It's my favourite story. (FLASHBACK) "Neha, are you ready?" Glancing at my reflection in the mirror, I had several more spots to cover. My foundation was nearly all gone! I slid on my white, lace gloves. "Jack, aren't they adorable?" Jack approved. "They're great," He ha...

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“Cold” by Chloe Meyer

Submitted to Contest #63

It’s not yet 5am. It is dark still. I turn over to face the window. Moonlight settles reluctantly on the tree outside. I trace the tree’s dull outline with my eyes, a thick trunk grotesquely twisting into small branches. I count 27 branches visible in this light. I grow bored. I feel the weight of exhaustion pulling at my limbs in mockery and wonder if sleep may still take me. It is unlikely. My head still throbs from the noise of the night, the relentless berating. I become aware of a small part of my ankle protruding from my pyja...

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“Hot Apple Cider ” by Abelard Lormond

Submitted to Contest #63

VROOM. “Are we there yet!?” shouted two small children. The pair sat in the backseats of an SUV. “Not yet children,” answered a young caucasian woman in the passenger seat next to the driver, a young woman as well; an African-American. “How about now!?” exclaimed the agog and yearning dark skinned girl in the seat behind the driver’s seat. “Be patient Annie,” replied the driver in a mellow tone as she briefly peered into the rearview mirror. The young caucasian boy stared out of the...

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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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