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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

“Leaves Like Fire” by Zoë Westlund

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. I wondered if it really had been that long, if I really had lost four months of my life. I thought the program was supposed to help me, or at least the pamphlet really sold it to my parents, probably saying something along the lines of “send off your suicidal nutcase daughter for four months and we’ll have her fixed up in no time.” I sighed as I looked at the bright and almost burning trees, the autumn colors mocking me....

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“But only God can make a tree” by Jasper Quilp

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. I was scraping my toast over the sink when I heard the thunderclap, swearing as I fumbled it into the piled up dirty dishes. I rushed outside imagining that something terrible had happened to the house. Instead, I found myself standing there on the back porch, dumbfounded. Flames had settled on the branches of our Beech tree like a flock of brightly colored birds. If my eyes refused to believe, the warm, husky smell of charred wood assured me it was real. “God, mom, what happened?” I ...

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“The Butterfly Effect” by White Whale

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. A heat wave hit me like a train, making me take a step back into the cabin. My hair was on my face and the smoke wouldn't let me see more than two feet away. A haze tsunami surrounded me, awakening a deep sense of fright in me while I tried to pull myself together. At this point, my cheeks were burning hotter than the fire on the ground, fueled by the adrenaline rushing through my veins. Explosions of red and yellow crowned the landscape, but my determination was strong and I felt in m...

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“The Leaves Were On Fire Too” by Todd Paris

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. Everything was vibrant and alive. She followed me out, fumbled her jacket and umbrella. Shereached for my hand, but the gesture felt forced and I quickly snatched my hand away and shoved it in my pocket. I tried to take a James Dean posture or at least look like the cover of a Dylan album, but at my age and this face it just made me look like an old hunchback or like Gollum. The conversation inside didn't go as she planned. I know she was only trying to make me feel better, but as usu...

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“The Adventures of Thelma THistle and Her Friends: Discovering Our Seasons, and Why Leaves Change Colors” by Joyce Crawford

Submitted to Contest #63

Chapter 1 The Days Are Getting Shorter By the time Cory returned from his walk-about, the autumn leaves were on fire. He fluttered up to his telephone pole thinking the mellow autumn weather was a perfect time for a nap. As he started to settle in, he heard Thelma and Adam arguing. "Is, too!" "Is not!" "Is, too!" "Is not!" "Is too," insisted Adam. "Is not!" Thelma countered loudly. With his usual flutter-bump landing, Cory flew down from his perch to investigate. "My dear Thelma. What is all the arguin...

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“Dark Fire” by Keise Seg

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. The autumn foliage that fell from the massive dogwoods outside were like hot embers drifting all around me in the late evening sun. I had failed to put out the cinders and ashes of my past vice in time and now I stood trembling like a hazardous structure fire ready to fall to pieces at any moment. I stood staggering and on my feet in waning strength and pushed my body in vain not to collapse.This dangerous fire which I kept close for warmth on those particularly cold days in isolation h...

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“The Only One Left” by Rosalin Vatana

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. The entire morning, I’d stayed outside, guarding the small pile of leaves that the gardener had raked. I absolutely refused to go inside, because if I did, the gardener would burn the leaves. But here I was, staring at the pile of leaves that were bursting into flames. I was angry at myself for even going inside in the first place. “How could you?!” I yelled to the gardener in despair. Without waiting for an answer, I grabbed a bucket from my sister’s sandpit and poured water i...

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“The Price” by Megan Jane Armstrong

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. The soft licks of heat lapping my face, melting the frost that clung to the world. I watched my neighbours, my friends and family, run from what threatened to devour them; I watched their attempts all be for nought, for the fire swallowed them up. My world burned before my very eyes, leaving in the fire’s wake a barren wasteland. By the time I stepped outside, my world had already been forsaken. * A sharp chill clung to the air as I breathed in the scent of autumn, my heavy black boot...

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“Set Ablaze” by Lucinda Serenity

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. The trees were blackened, the leaves now golden with flame. Ashes flew like snowfall. I watched the flames rise higher, burning the grass, burning everything except a path of stone in front of me, leading to the school. "That insane motherfu"- I run along the path, hearing screams and cries of my classmates. The flames somehow create a wall around me, protecting me from the danger but still reminding me of the heat that can kill me at any moment. I can see my classmates run the opp...

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“Chance and Change ” by SeAnna Lovett

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. The sun was slowly cresting the horizon, flooding the sky with color and setting the autumn leaves blazing. I smiled, taking another sip of my coffee and breathing in the crisp air from my porch. A car horn sounded faintly in the distance and the morning chorus of birds traded songs back and forth. What a morning it was, a beautiful fall morning. Of course, every morning was beautiful. It was a free restart, a fresh opportunity to go out into the world and be the best version of ...

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“The Eyes of Something Unknown” by Olivia Charlson

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time she stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. Brilliant golden blazes danced toward the ground as the wind swept them off branches. The forest floor was covered in a carpet of orange that protested Margo’s heavy boots with a crunch as she ran from the cabin to the back of the yard with the small metal gate stitching across the grass and poking up at the sky. “Agnes!” She called. A giggle came from the pile of bushes that Margo had raked up earlier. She sighed, walking up to the leaves. She hesitated and smirked, picking up a...

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“The mystery Arsonist” by Refilwe Queen

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. Who could have wanted to burn my son and I alive in my aunt's house? I wondered. The moment I saw the fire flames covering up all the leaves area,I panicked.i was so anxious whether my son and I gonna make it alive or not in that horrible incidence. After the argument I had with my husband last week Friday,I decided I should come to visit my aunt to cool myself down. We were always arguing about small matters and he made them to be big. It has been a year not visiting my aunt all becaus...

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“Dancing Flames” by Nurazani Intan

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. Side by side, my brother and I walk through the streets, burning each and every house there. The flames grew with every single step we took. What a beautiful sight. I’m tired of the mistreatment, the pain, the trauma this town has caused us. I’m absolutely exhausted so we’re taking this into our own hands. My brother and I walk through the town, making it prettier that it already is. Then we head to and sit by the cliff side as we watch the town that raised us go up in flames. The hea...

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“You'll Never Leaf this Place Alive” by Kevin Leonard

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. The trailer door clanged loudly behind me, but I tried to ignore it as I looked up at the trees around me. Deep, opulent red swatches, blending into golden, iridescent ambers. The colours mixed and blended, not only between trees but within single leaves, waving and roiling in the air like the very heart of nature itself was on fire. Evergreen trees sat dappled throughout, providing a counterpoint to the symphony of autumnal change that danced around them. They were stalwart, indifferen...

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“The Flame” by Savannah Lamkey

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. I gritted my teeth, the feeling of heat as if it was already burning me. I was a good kid- why had SHE been put on this duty? Why was SHE trapped? Why was SHE probably going to die? At birth Nova was abandoned in the woods by her teenage parents, who most likely hoped she would starve or get eaten. But, instead, A small society of loving people found her, nursing her until she was strong enough to survive on her own. Though, Nova grew to love them like her own big family, and she ...

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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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