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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#66: Ready, Set, Go!

It’s almost November, and for many writers around the world that means the start of National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. This wild challenge dares you to commit to writing a 50,000-word novel in just 30 days!

It’s an impressive feat, but it’s hardly the only way to exercise your writing muscles. If you like your writing in smaller doses but still want to build up the habit, today I’m going to challenge you to commit to writing a story from one prompt every week in November! (If you already do that, try for two, three, or even all five.)

To get you started, this week we’ll be focusing on stories all about challenging yourself. Whether it’s running a marathon, finally writing that novel, or just making it through a tough personal situation, challenge is what consistently pushes us to grow into our best selves.

And if you are giving novel writing a try, here are a few resources to help you along:

What Is NaNoWriMo? And How to Win in 2020
Join Reedsy’s NaNo Squad (with weekly live write-ins!)
Crafting a Novel Opening (workshop replay)
How to Write a Novel

This week's prompts

Start your story with one character telling another, “It doesn’t count if you’re already planning your defeat.”

Novel – 132 stories

Halfway through a fierce competition, your character is given the opportunity to cheat their way to victory: do they take it?

Short Story – 52 stories

Write about a character who makes a dramatic life change to pursue a goal they’ve secretly always wanted.

Novel – 120 stories

Write about a contest with life or death stakes.

Adventure – 145 stories

Write about a character who’s finally on the verge of achieving their lifelong dream.

Dramatic – 135 stories

Stories

“Lemonade” by Aakriti Anil

Submitted to Contest #66

"It doesn't count if you're already planning your defeat." Reema from the kitchen shouted over Vidhya.Vidhya was all ready to quit the hearing. She had decided to sign off the petition she filed to save her home. The day was of the final court hearing. Whereas in intense surrounding Vidhya forgot her diet, life and smile. While sitting in the dining. Reema stood inside the kitchen. While preparing Lemonade, she was blubbering her thoughts to make Vidhya realised her faults. But in last she stooped at the only question she wants to ask- ...

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“Defeat” by A.K. Truss

Submitted to Contest #66

“It doesn’t count if you’re already planning your defeat” The words echoed in my head. That's what she had said the last time I had lost this futile competition. An embarrassing loss that I still hadn’t lived down, but here I was competing again and this time I planned for victory. I remembered the last competition like it was yesterday. I hadn’t thought of her as an opponent but as a distraction, now I knew how wrong I had been to think that. I had been preparing all day. We had planned for the competition t...

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“Victory” by Crys De

Submitted to Contest #66

“It doesn't count if you're already planning your defeat" Bob said. “I am not planning for my defeat, I am just making sure I am prepared if I am defeated" Trevor said. “Well then, my apologies. It just does not seem that you are preparing for a victory either" Bob responded. “I do not want to jinx it" Trevor claimed. “Oh, ok. Well Sven is much less likely to win than you" Bob assured Trevor. “Yes, but he is also known to cheat. And this is a big event, it could lead to one of us getting into the pros” Trevor replied. “Well...

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“Simply Time to Go” by Barbara McMillan

Submitted to Contest #66

“It doesn’t count if you are already planning your defeat.” That had been Mother’s mantra. Lula had heard it a million times through the years. Now she said it aloud, hoping she was right and that she sounded convincing since it was all the explanation she intended to offer. The walls were thin, so she knew someone besides the baby who was lying on the floor in the corner, out of her way, was likely to hear her. This was the day her new life would begin. The last load was in the trash bin and the room was bare. Leaving foreve...

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“Fatherly Advise” by Clark House

Submitted to Contest #66

“It doesn’t count if you’re already planning your defeat.” The words ran through Blake Mackey’s mind just as they had for most of his life. His father use to follow that line with, “If other people beat you, you can get up from that. You are the only one that can keep you down.” Blake’s father was a boxing fan and loved using the analogies that came with it. Blake on the other hand could not bring himself to watch it for more than a couple of minutes. Something about the thought of people willingly doi...

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“Inaccurate: The Tale of an Incompetent Mage” by Cody Burrell

Submitted to Contest #66

“It doesn’t count if you’re already planning your defeat, Zev.” "You always seem to be anticipating my defeat, why can't I?" "That- is just- grief, Zev, you can't possibly be thinking that by expecting to fail your magic will actually do what your heart is wanting, can you? You're magic knows, Zev. It knows." "That sounds ominous, Win, cut it out." "Your magic is ominous! Every time you use it it's like a portent of terrible things to come. Just watching you pull in magic makes my hair stand on end." "I thought that watching me pul...

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“Fools” by Adele Moulton

Submitted to Contest #66

“It doesn’t count if you’re already planning your defeat,” Rowen grumbled to Aria, who had made herself busy tampering with her sword. She looked up, irritated. “Listen, clodhopper,” she retorted, “I know what I’m doing. Besides, there are more important things than winning.” She turned away from him to focus on the task at hand. Taken aback, Rowen took a moment to find something to say. He’d expected Aria to take the competition seriously, and she was in the semi-finals of the tournament. Why would she give up her shot at the title now? ...

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“Checkmate.” by Sue-Ann Van Der Hoeff

Submitted to Contest #66

"It doesn’t count if you’re already planning your defeat."Our eyes met as the words fell off my lips, finally breaking the silence."It doesn't count if you were willing to sacrifice everything.It doesn't count if there was no reason for me to keep going.""So, you confess." Her caution is logical, but it did catch me off guard. It was the first emotion she displayed after picking me up.I would call us old friends.She doesn't like it when I call her that.“E2 to E3.”Her home number was installed on every burner phone I owned. And she was the fi...

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“Swine and Leghorn” by Madisson James

Submitted to Contest #66

The bell rang and Nan scooped up the books on the desk ready to charge for the door. She slipped clumsily and instead of charging through the door, she hooked her right foot around the leg of the lab stool. She went down. It wasn’t pretty. The books flew out from her arms to land noisily on the floor. The mid-term papers she had just collected from the class sprayed out across the front of the room. It was her own personal stage of embarrassment. And in case you were wondering-yes, the class was still in. Nan moved her neck slowly. She wa...

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“Becoming Maria” by Jessica Inman

Submitted to Contest #66

You run your fingers along the soft silk sleeve of Maria's wedding dress. It would be so easy, you think, to put this on, to marry Josh and be happy forever. It would be so easy to become Maria.You have been Maria before. When you were children it was your special game, a fun way to confuse your parents or sometimes to help each other pass school exams. It stopped in your teens. Maria never wanted to be you. Why would she? Maria is everything you aren't. Everybody loves her. She's sociable, charming, funny, pretty. How can there be a pretty...

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“Crochet happiness” by Hana Alradai

Submitted to Contest #66

Everybody laughed. "You want to do what?" Logan the square face boy, like SpongeBob face pointed his finger to her. "What era you think you live in? Granny!" Logan's evil right hand friend Steve made a posture of an old woman with a stick. Melisa lowered her gaze and gathered her hands on her lap. Knuckles white, face red and legs tensed. "You poor thing. Did we hurt your feelings?" Logan glared at her. They were five and she was just an outsider. Kelly her friend or not, invited her to a study session. Mathematic...

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“Meek to Wild” by Lynne Street

Submitted to Contest #66

A YEAR SHY of turning sixty, Becca realised the cause of her anxiety and misery. Married, with now-adult children she rarely saw – admitting they had job commitments – she’d had plenty of time to think about her misery. And how much she hated her misery. From that realisation after suddenly succumbing to her old friend – the one-in-a-million neurological condition that had laid her low thirteen years before. It had taken six years of medication, rehabilitation and strength exercises, home help and personal carers. Her first hospit...

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“A Whole New Life” by Naomi Spencer

Submitted to Contest #66

“And why didn’t you buy more beer?” Harmon asked for the third time, raising his eyebrows. His eyes had an unfocused look. He was drunk. “I told you. I’ve been too busy.” Michael and Amanda Rice, Harmon’s brother and sister-in-law, were watching the scene, embarrassed. “Busy doing what?” He said in his drunk voice, the words barely intelligible. “We have guests, and we don’t even have enough beer. It’s embarrassing, Emma,” he bayed, far too loudly for the deadly quietness of the room. “I feel embarrassed,” he insisted. An awkward pau...

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“Nel Mezzo Del Cammin di Nostra Vita/ Midway Along the Journey of Life’” by Brenda Liddy

Submitted to Contest #66

A Character Who Makes a Dramatic Life Change to Pursue a Goal They’ve Secretly Always Wanted Nel Mezzo Del Cammin di Nostra Vita/ Midway Along the Journey of Life’ Sarah was a middle aged woman and she was in a rut. She had attended a meditation retreat and she had been struck by the quotation from Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy which was about waking up ‘midway along the journey of life’ and finding yourself in a dark wood, because the speaker had ‘wandered from the straight path’. As she was driving home to her apartment in Belfast, s...

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“Dead and Breakfast” by Betsy Remington☕

Submitted to Contest #66

Janessa hummed the theme to “Green Acres” as she unpacked her box of books and organized them on the room’s built-in oak shelves. 2020 had been a hell of a year between the fires, hurricanes, virus, murder hornets, riots, politics, and zombies, but she was going to turn her life around with 2021. Janessa had always wanted to run a bed and breakfast and maybe even write a book about her experiences, and now here she was doing it. She had selected the two-story country home for its views of rolling hills and the 6-foot tall wrought...

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$50

Prize money

584

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 22:59 - Nov 06, 2020 EST

Won by David G. 🏆

Title: Mahalo King Cod Filet

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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