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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

“Diary of a Bird's Travels” by Amber Fox

Submitted to Contest #63

As the crisp chill of autumn kisses my delicate feathers, I know it is time to leave. I take flight, soaring high above the evergreens. I travel on my long journey south and I begin to notice a flame-colored forest of timbers and shrubs. The fir trees are slowly fading. The vivid oranges and bright reds stir my imagination. The hues remind me of the warm comfort of my nest, despite the cold I feel in the now darkening sky. I stop and const...

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“Leave the hardships behind” by Olivia Dance

Submitted to Contest #63

As I flap, my wings catch the cool evening air and push it back. This is my second year flying south, but unfortunately I don't get to be upfront with Frace, our flock leader. He is one of the older birds, but age only makes him better. He’s always ready for adventure, always ready to help. Last spring he even gave me a ride on his back, when my foot was sore. Sometimes I forget that he wasn't the one, who I had hatched from under… Ahead is a grove of skyscraping poplars and that means we are about to land for the night. Thank goodness, I ca...

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“The Journey Itself” by Taylor Weller

Submitted to Contest #63

The air is chilly high up in the sky, and gusts of wind buffet me from different directions. My feathers keep me warm though, and I am expert at navigating any wind. I shape my wings and tilt my body every which way without thought, and the wind and I make promises to one another, promises that we keep with every slight change in direction. I tilt my head, looking down at the foreign ground beneath me. The wind pounces at the motion, trying to force my entire body down to follow my gaze, but I adjust my wings an...

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“Eliza And Her Brother In The Apple Patch.” by Samantha Krueger

Submitted to Contest #63

"I don't want to be here" Eliza complained for the 40th time, pulling her sweater tighter as she walked back and forth among the rows and rows of trees each filled to the top with flame-red apples ready to be picked. "You need to get outside more and this is the perfect opportunity," her older brother said as he placed another apple in the basket at his feet. "It's cold and boring here," she said glaring at him. "don't give me that look I told you to wear a better coat" he laughed turning away from the apple tree to face her. "come hear" he ...

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“Memory, Meet Orchard.” by Marcia Wilson

Submitted to Contest #63

A long time ago, when our father was the age we were then, people took the trains for everything and roads were built for bicycles, not the awkward, shambling cars that gasped in pain up the hill from Fort Spring to The Orchard.Back then, we thought it was called The Orchard because every township had The Store, or, The Diner. This forest of regimented trees full of fruit should be a similar fortunate thing, wonderful food within every ten square miles. Nothing else made sense.My sister and I marked our growth each fall with how easily we fi...

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“Young Love” by Victoria Andrade Gomez

Submitted to Contest #63

We became friends when we were 3 years old, we lived right by each other so we saw each other every day. As the years went by we became really close and we started a relationship. It was really nice to have each other. We grew up together and we became inseparable. One day he had to go to America to solve some family issues and he told me that he was coming back to me and get married. At that moment I didn’t know how to feel. I realized that I should support him on his decision to go and help his family but on the other, I didn’t know ...

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“Apple Picking in Mourning” by Tommy Merriman

Submitted to Contest #63

Oh dear. There’s a troubled spirit, Miss Geena thought when she watched two people picking apples in her orchard. Although the skin of Miss Geena sagged down from her face like wet clothes on a rack, her senses were held firmly in place. She knew the aura of a person struggling with the weight of life’s harshest lessons. She felt it. No, nothing like a teenage woman living in the mist of some tragedy or other could get by Miss Geena. Observing the older gentleman accompanying this teenager, Miss Geena ea...

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“Just Pretend We're On A Date” by Janie Cruz

Submitted to Contest #63

Ann pulled into the orchard parking lot and sat in her car for a minute. She really didn't want to be here. But she promised her friend she would get out this weekend. She took a deep breath and got out of her car with her basket. There were plenty of people. Families, couples, friend groups. It had been at least a year since the last time she had gone out to do anything social. Ann gripped tight to her basket she had brought for apples and walked to the trees. It was a beautiful place. Hundreds of trees. Tons of red, shiny apples in...

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“Apple Heaven ” by Laura Kimmick

Submitted to Contest #63

Allow me to introduce you to two best friends: Cynthia Henderson and Candida Hernandez of Wenatchee, Washington (born and raised). They are twenty-year-old best friends and have known each other since they were one year old. They even share the same birthday: January 1, 2000. Cynthia is tall, slender, and African-American. Candida is short, slender, and Mexican-American. One of their favorite pastimes is picking apples. They always lived in the apple picking capital of the world: Wenatchee, Washington, located in Chelan County. They go apple...

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“Apple Pie” by A.J. Brown

Submitted to Contest #63

“Apple picking?” Pete said like it was a dumb idea. “What are we, kids? Come on. Let’s just go get a few drinks somewhere.” “We’re both 35-years-old,” Kate said to him. She spoke confidently and looked at him like she knew how to stand up for herself. “So I think we’re a little old to be just going out to a bar in the middle of the afternoon and getting drunk too. Come try apple picking with me. I think you’ll have fun. When was the last time that you did it?” “Let’s see, I’m 35,” he said with a mo...

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“Dad, I'm leaving” by Asia Micheli

Submitted to Contest #63

The first time dad took me apple-picking I was seven. Him and mom were not together anymore and he was struggling to find something to do with me on the days we were together. After all we had never spent that much time bonding, him never really being around. What can you do to entertain your young daughter that doesn’t require money and communication? “Do you want to go apple-picking?” I just stared at him. I was shy. He was my dad, but I didn’t really know how to interact with him. I was just seven. He was my dad, but he didn’t r...

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“APPLE OF PARADISE” by Sivaram Govindaraj

Submitted to Contest #63

While picking apples we could remember the apple of paradise: That which has the mark of a bite on one side to commemorate the bite of Eve. In the narration below, we shall see an effect of an Eve- bite! Names of sportspersons are modified by media to suit their convenience. An Indian tennis star whose initials were HG was expanded and he was always referred to as Hugo. His wife was also a tennis star and was referred to as Shirley. They lived in a spacious house near the city of Dehra Dun in India which had a room full of trophi...

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“Pink Lady ” by Anastasios Repousi

Submitted to Contest #63

Annie almost made it out the back door of her grandfather’s farmhouse. She actually had the previous morning, as far as the porch steps before she heard the old man’s voice carry like a horn. Annie paused, hand on the doorknob. ‘Don’t pick the apples,’ he said. ‘It isn’t time yet.’ &nbs...

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“The Apple Orchard ” by Andrew Sasenaraine

Submitted to Contest #63

Sally and Sam were going to pick apples. They always did this time of year. The leaves were turning red, orange and yellow, and the smell of fresh apple pie always filled the air. Sam and Sally were driving to the apple orchard that they always went to, when they saw a sign that said: Permanently Closed. Sam and Sally had no idea why the orchard would be closed. They had been going to this orchard for the past 10 years. So they got back in their car, and were driving to go home, when they saw an apple orchard they had never noticed...

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“Can't Lie While Apple Picking” by Vivienne Stradley

Submitted to Contest #63

My eyes were heavy and my hand aced but I had to keep going. My phone screen lit up. Jess texted me. Are you almost done? I stared down at the blank page. My hand felt heavy and sore but I managed to type a short response up onto the screen. Yep almost When I was little all I wanted to be was a writer. I thought it would be easy. But I did not know how much work it would be and how many all nighters I would have to pull just to write a page or two. I stared at my untouched breakfast sandwich. It sat there for three days. I kept...

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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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