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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

“The Mask of Life” by Rachel Cerbito

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. I was fascinated of the true beauty of nature. The blue clouds that genuinely brought happiness to my cold and dejected heart. The sun that was really transparent without any prejudices. It made me feel exceptional. I decided to find a shady place to lean on. I finally found one. I was mesmerized of the gigantic tree with lush leaves and felt secure, for it would be my shield from hypocrite sunbeams. I stayed there for a long time, and felt the light touch of wind on...

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“Autumn Surprises” by Kirrtanaa Thanesh

Submitted to Contest #63

Christina looked out of her bedroom window. A slight breeze blew and shook some autumn leaves out of the trees. Christina heard her dad asking her to pick some apples for the hot apple pie he was making. Christina put on her coat, boots and hat, took the baskets to keep the apples in and went out to go apple picking. She went to her backyard to pick some apples on the huge apple trees. She met her best friend Amber passing by her house. Christina called to her. “Hey Amber! Wanna go apple picking?" "Sure!" replied the delighted Amber ...

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“The Den.” by Marsha Webb

Submitted to Contest #63

Jack and Daniel ran to the Woods behind Daniel`s house along the well-trodden path between the whispering trees that led to their favorite place, their den. Their feet crunched and cracked the lifeless branches which punctuated the silence then crumbled beneath him. The sky vanished completely underneath the rich overhanging canopy of the interwoven branches. The occasional scrabble of insects burrowing beneath the leafy carpet of tangled vegetation contrasted with the stillness of the woods.The den came into view, Daniel`s dad had...

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“Under the Surface” by Bree Kokiri

Submitted to Contest #63

*this story contains an easter egg from previous stories*Alaina! Enough already! If I hear one more word about the Surface, you’re grounded! Now please, decontaminate.” My mother shouted. “Mama I just want to see what it’s like. We’re learning about it in school, and I’ve been in the oxygen pods my whole life, don’t you think it’s possible the Surface has clean air by now?” My mother put her fingers to her temples and rubbed in a circular motion. “Alaina your whole life is ten years. In the grand scheme of things, that’s not long at all. We ...

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“The Cabin” by 💖♎ℂℍℝ𝕀𝕊𝕋𝕐 ℍ𝕆𝔽𝔽𝕄𝔸ℕℕ♎💖

Submitted to Contest #63

"By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. There was nothing I could do. No water to speak of since the cabin is so far out of town." Jaxon said with a huff as he watched the cabin slowly burn.There's a lake right there, Jaxon!" Sawyer pointed to the water. "Why didn't you grab a bucket? There is a bucket!""I know there is." Sarcasm was thick in the air. "You mean this bucket?" Jaxon showed it to her. She looked at it and laughed."Why doesn't it have a bottom?" Sawyer threw up her hands."You tell me and we'll both know." He ran...

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“Coffee is Worth a Thousand Words” by Kathleen March

Submitted to Contest #63

The leadership, o Consorcio, of the city of Santiago de Compostela, had the grand idea of organizing a coffee competition. After all, theirs was a city of a hundred thousand residents and nearly as many students. Everybody went to a café daily, sometimes more than once. The leaders also thought in terms of tourism, even though the City of the Apostle had more than enough of them. Add to this the fact that the residents didn’t mind the entertainment such a competition would provide. They were willing to pretend for that week that they lived i...

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“In a Bird's Eye” by Greg Gillis

Submitted to Contest #63

After a busy summer of eating up worms, corn, and bugs, I need a winter vacation! The word on the pond is that a bunch of my fine-feathered friends will be heading down to Florida for a few months. That sounds like fun! I was planning on it just being me and the boys, but the wife talked me into making it a family vacation. I had to open my big bill. Just one more detail to take care of here at home before we t...

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“Migration” by Amy DeMatt

Submitted to Contest #63

March I come into the world screaming. The sky is pewter and the air is damp and cold. I have only a dim memory of the dark warmth that insulated me just hours ago. The icy air bites my feathers, which are cold and stick to me, a wet, heavy cloak I cannot remove. My body quakes involuntarily and I want the warmth of tears as I squeeze my eyes closed. They will not come. I lift my head to the heavens and shriek for help. There are only shrieks and screec...

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“The Navy NASA Hoodie” by Ansley Eddy

Submitted to Contest #63

The Navy NASA Hoodie “Nathan! Your spiced cider is ready!” I yelled as I set the cup on the counter. A man in a business suit walked up, grabbing the cup and briskly walking away, muttering a slight “Thanks.” A young girl, probably about 15, with short brown hair walked up to the wooden counter. She wore a navy blue, NASA hoodie. She had her arms crossed tightly over her chest, quietly looking at the menu. “Good morning! Welcome to Craters of the Moon Coffee, what can I get started for you?” I asked, trying to be cheerful and s...

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“The Apple Orchard” by April Parkinson

Submitted to Contest #63

One afternoon last autumn, my sister Billie and I went to pick apples in the orchard at the back of Nana’s house. Nana’s apple orchard is an established acre-worth of big thick-trunked trees all in rows that sprout leafy greenery and shiny apples. In spring the tight buds pop into open flowers, and these flowers become budding fruits that Nana needs help to pick, because there are so many. And that was what Billie and I were doing in the orchard that afternoon last autumn: picking apples. Little ones, littler than usual. But so smo...

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“The Bystander” by ℝ𝔼ℕ 𝔸.ℝ

Submitted to Contest #63

I still remember the day, I brought her here, in this orchard for apple-picking. “It’s beautiful!”, she gushed, looking at the apples, as she climbed up a little ladder I set up for her. But fell right afterwards trying to pick it away. I couldn’t see her face clearly with all the hair messed up. But she was smiling a little, a smile with a twist to it, like the smile of a child who is determined not to weep. She climbed up again, this time pulling that apple away with all her might. I still remember how she used to carry a tiny bucket all a...

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“Feuille-morte” by Prachi Kumbhare

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. A maple abscissed over the top-soil of the green grass in the park. I fetched out the deckchair to the park with me. It was crispy, so I put on a vest. My residence was right across that maple tree in a wooden house. It was just like me. Old, rusty, yet lively and attractive. I was seated next to the tree in the park, waiting for my friend, Greg. I was munching some apples a kid gave me and observing people at a glance.I felt nostalgic by seeing a couple who was sitting across me on a b...

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“This Corner of Hell” by Philip Clayberg

Submitted to Contest #63

When I stepped outside the command center at base camp, all the leaves along the perimeter were on fire. The view through the transparent front shield of my helmet was like looking at the outer edges of Hell itself. Trees were like huge torches. Bushes were reduced to nothing but piles of dust and ash on the ground. The temperature gauge on my right wrist read 200ºC and still climbing.I don't think I had ever felt that much heat before, except the first time I left the reservation and visited the foundry where my father worked. Without an em...

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“Gemma's Creations” by 💖♎ℂℍℝ𝕀𝕊𝕋𝕐 ℍ𝕆𝔽𝔽𝕄𝔸ℕℕ♎💖

Submitted to Contest #63

Gemma ran to the kitchen. Her mom was cooking dinner. "Can I have some colored paper?" She asked her momma. "Do you mean construction paper, Gemma?"She looked at Gemma. " I have some.""Yes. I think. If that's what we use at school." Gemma wasn't completely sure about that.Her mom chuckled, "it is. There's some in my art box, I will get some out for you, but after we eat dinner. You can make whatever you want.""Ok, momma. Then let me help you cook dinnner." Gemma drug the heavy step stool over to the counter by her mom. "What are you mak...

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“Melancholic Beauty” by DeMStiny - Queen Of Writing

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. On fire due to an unstoppable pain in the heart. I felt it, the pain that autumnal leaves had. Then I started walking there.Leaves of those oak trees were in a mournful mood as me. The moment was sad but the whole environment had a beautiful and eye catching scenery which suits the mourn. The total environment had only few specific colours. Mostly at that time period the lady milieu seemed to be wearing an orange mixed brown dress. The ground below to those oak trees was exactly a beaut...

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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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