Menu

Prompts

Contests

Stories

Blog

Menu

✕

CONNECT

Editing Design Marketing Publicity Ghostwriting Websites

BLOG

Success Stories

APPS

TOOLS

Book Promotion Sites Book Review Blogs Booktube Channel Guide Book Title Generator Character Name Generator Independent Publishers Literary Agents Literary Magazines Pen Name Generator Plot Generator Publishers Directory Short Story Ideas Writing Contests Writing Exercises Writing Scholarships

ABOUT

About Reedsy Terms Privacy

CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#67: The Great Escape

There are times when the world feels so chaotic and out of our control that a break from reality is called for. And what better way to leave everything behind than jumping headfirst into the escapism of stories?

Whether it’s a larger-than-life situation, a comforting old trope, or a genre that’s literally out of this world, stories have been providing people with a way to retreat from their troubles ever since humanity first started telling them around a fire.

To truly keep in the spirit of escapism, make sure you fully immerse both yourself and the reader in the world you’re creating. Use sensory details to really pull us in — make us see, smell, and taste every detail of your story, so that we fully believe we’re standing alongside the characters. After all, the real world will still be here when the story’s over.

This week's prompts

Write about a pirate captain obsessed with finding a mythical treasure.

Adventure – 144 stories

Write a thriller about someone who witnesses a murder… except there’s no evidence that a murder took place.

Thriller and Suspense – 218 stories

Write a romance where the characters pretend to be dating each other in order to win a reality show.

Romance – 70 stories

Write a story where one character needs to betray the other, but isn’t sure if they can.

Dark – 171 stories

Write a space adventure story that features a visit to an alien marketplace.

Science Fiction – 123 stories

Stories

“My human love” by Radhika Diksha

Submitted to Contest #67

They made me for the betterment of society, but right now all of my artificial intelligence is being used for cleaning laundry and washing dishes. I stare in the mirror. Dev made me with so much efficiency and hard work. I touch my cheeks, I can't feel my skin but I can see the beauty of my body, and it's mesmerizing.Beep! Beep! Beep! And a hologram lashes out from my iris, its Dev.“Hey Rox, how are you?”“I'm fine but you are not allowed here?”“Yeah, I know it. See Rox your chemistry is lacking, your relationship is looking very monotonous. ...

Read story

“MY REAL HOME” by Akshaya Sutrave

Submitted to Contest #67

Author's note: This is a short excerpt from a novel I shall be writing soon When I was ten years old, I saw a UFO.I was at school then, gazing outside the window, counting the minutes to lunch. This lecture never seemed to end. Wasn’t it time for lunch already?The sky in the horizon rippled, looking like waves. As if someone was making the sky shift, maneuvering it with inhumane force. The rippling stopped, leaving behind stark silence. There was no trace of what had taken place moments ago. I hadn’t suspected anyth...

Read story

“Treasure Hunter Hunted” by Rayhan Hidayat

Submitted to Contest #67

07/08/409323:37--We found it splack-bang in the middle of an asteroid cluster, suspended in the blackness like the corpse of a whale. I’ll admit, the hairs on the back of my head froze into quills when it drifted into view—it’s gotta be at least a thousand times bigger than our Wildcat, which Morena carefully maneuvered between chunks of floating debris as she scoured the star base for a breach.I got a good look at the name plastered on the rusted metal—Valhalla—each gigantic letter crystal-clear despite years of erosion and corrosion. If I ...

Read story

“Not a Princess, But a Pirate” by Jasey Lovegood

Submitted to Contest #67

Not a Princess, but a PirateHer mother used to say girls couldn’t become pirates. She would say, “Arcelia, being a pirate means sailing across the sea, being dirty and following orders from men. You don’t want to live like that. Perhaps try being a princess, their lives are much more elegant.” To that, Arcelia used to stand up on a chair and shout that she was a pirate, just to annoy her mother. Her mother shouldn’t have named her Arcelia, which translated to ‘treasure chest’ the most related thing to a pirate. But now… everything had change...

Read story

“Red, red, red, and more red” by Authoring Studio

Submitted to Contest #67

Lin- she had always seemed ordinary. People who used to look at her would not find anything special about her. At first glance, she was your regular woman in her twenties, doing some job or the other and living a seemingly content life. But that was actually not it. She was a secret agent, working undercover as a book editor. What others did not know was that while she worked on her stories, she simultaneously would be encoding messages. What people didn’t realize was that she was actually gathering and sorting data under the pretext of work...

Read story

“For a Taste of Terra” by Rachel Macmorran

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #67

“Captain, I’m afraid I have some bad news from the Supply Officer.” The First Lieutenant stood at attention, eyes fixed on the main view screen, while a single drop of nervous sweat trickled down his hairline. Captain Adamu absently reached for the demitasse of espresso centered on the tray that the Lieutenant held in slightly trembling hands. She took a small sip. The crema was rich, the espresso perfection, as it should be, since the beans came from her own family’s plantation and roastery on Earth. She tossed back the remainder and return...

Read story

“Piano Room” by Claire Elizabeth

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #67

The music slowly faded out as we sang the last note of the song in unison. Noah and I locked eyes as I slowly leaned closer to him. His arm was already around my back, a calculated gesture he made in the third verse. As the music came to an end, he leaned down and connected our lips. I rushed the microphone to the side of my face to give us the smallest bit of privacy from the cameras and crowd. Just earn the contract, I reminded myself. Noah pulled away and gave a giant smile. I played coy by laughing and turning my head towards the bac...

Read story

“Charade” by Scout Tahoe

Submitted to Contest #67

You arranged to meet her at the front steps of a church with dizzying limestone curves of nude angels. They blew shaken breaths into the tumbling leaf sky. When she arrived she scrunched her face and pecked a kiss on one of the statue’s lips. Later she would describe the sensation as cold, but right then you sat on the steps while she kicked pigeons in various directions. She was having fun, you could tell, the way her markered eyebrows were sketched down into the bridge of her nose. Once she was done, she ripped a feather from the...

Read story

“Knight's Assassin” by Crystal Lewis

Submitted to Contest #67

The bright, colorful gaiety of the festival was at stark contrast with my mission here. The crowds of adoring people cheered at their King as he appeared on the stage. The people in the city of Sunderra loved their King, loved the riches he gave them, loved the gloriousness of their city that was visited by people near and far and gazed upon in wonder. In their eyes, the King and his court could do no wrong.They were all blind fools.I made my way through the crowd, the vial I held in my pocket weighing heavily, although it was only small. Bo...

Read story

“Accusation ” by Palak Shah

Submitted to Contest #67

Pounding the tarmac, she bolted down the garden path like an Olympic champion at the start gun. She quickened her pace to an all-out sprint, whilst the springing graceful steps of twenty miles earlier had long since disappeared. The slapping noise of her flip-flops resonated around the vandalised walls of the housing estate with a clanging echo. She didn’t know where she was nor did she know where she was heading; but she knew she had to get far away from him. Flashing in her eyes, an image of a wedding dress consumed her thoughts. She ...

Read story

“Talk-To-Me Xeno” by A.Dot Ram

Submitted to Contest #67

Talk-To-Me-Xeno was sold out on Earth—had been for weeks. Every galaxy-class parent in the Andromeda wanted this lovable plushy, pre-programmed with 10,000 Togrol phrases, under their Christmas tree. It wasn’t just the creature’s imploring black eyes (backlit with the intricate characters of the Togrol alphabet—brilliant, Lena thought), or its smooth brown tentacles that undulated gently when they detected a voice. Really, Lena reasoned, it was about the opportunity to immerse one’s child in the native language of the newest beings to have m...

Read story

“Love Ya 'Till The Cash Comes” by Raquel Rodriguez

Submitted to Contest #67

Trigger warning: strong(ish) language𝐼𝓇𝒾𝑒’𝓈 𝒫𝒪𝒱I jump out of the taxi as soon as it gets to the airport.Taking my wallet out of my pocket and turning my head to the driver who is staring at me with his lips pursed.“Sorry, how much?” I ask him, staring at my wallet.The taxi driver just stares at me, his eyebrow flat on his face. “50.”I take 50 dollars out and hand him the money as he takes all of my suitcases out of the trunk.“Thank you so much,” I say as he puts my suitcases onto the sidewalk.The man rolls his eyes and says, “No problem, hav...

226 comments 226

Read story

“Best Day” by Lani Lane

Submitted to Contest #67

Trigger warning: pet death “You ready, Benny? You ready for the best day? Huh, buddy?” Benny’s tail wags so hard I worry he’ll break it again. I laugh and rub his head, smiling at the soft fur between my fingers. It’s hard to believe how coarse and matted it was when I found him huddling behind a dumpster seventeen years ago. No collar, no chip. No love. It took about five seconds for me to decide to take him home from the vet. His golden fur’s faded a bit now and he walks slower than Hank, the neighbor’s pe...

Read story

“Agreement Abandoned” by Shallan Davar

Submitted to Contest #67

Gesrion stood just at the mouth of the cliff; so close that his toes hovered over the edge. One unsteady or unbalanced move and he would be free-falling in empty air, plummeting into the darkness. The deep chasm watched him with a welcoming stare, trying to lure him into its grasp. The fingers of death brushed his cheeks, tempting him to come just a little bit closer. Only enough for it to wrap its fingers completely around him and snatch him into the binds of hell itself. Gesrion waited for vertigo to lead him to his untimely demise...

Read story

“A Night to Forget” by Itay Frenkel

Submitted to Contest #67

Millie Shore believed in life after death, but she didn’t count on it. It sounded like an oxymoron to her, and besides, how much more tragic would her death turn out if she was waiting to get somewhere, but didn’t end up there? It’s a lot like taking a trip to Disneyland; reasonable enough to believe you’ll have a good time, but you shouldn’t count on it. Long lines and little kids, food-poisoning and rollercoasters, too many contradictions. Life after death, it just doesn’t make sense. Millie woke up in the evening, still drowsy from t...

Read story

Load more stories

$50

Prize money

726

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Nov 13, 2020 EST

Won by Deidra Whitt Lovegren 🏆

Title: Your Poor Rick

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!

Explore more writing prompt ideas:

Adults Writing Prompts ⭢

Adventure Writing Prompts ⭢

Angst Writing Prompts ⭢

Character Writing Prompts ⭢

Christmas Writing Prompts ⭢

Dark Writing Prompts ⭢

Dialogue Writing Prompts ⭢

Dramatic Writing Prompts ⭢

Dystopian Writing Prompts ⭢

Fall Writing Prompts ⭢

Fantasy Writing Prompts ⭢

Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Fluff Writing Prompts ⭢

Funny Writing Prompts ⭢

Halloween Writing Prompts ⭢

High School Writing Prompts ⭢

Historical Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Holiday Writing Prompts ⭢

Horror Writing Prompts ⭢

Kids Writing Prompts ⭢

Middle School Writing Prompts ⭢

Mystery Writing Prompts ⭢

Narrative Writing Prompts ⭢

Nonfiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Novel Writing Prompts ⭢

Poetry Writing Prompts ⭢

Romance Writing Prompts ⭢

Sad Writing Prompts ⭢

Science Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Short Story Writing Prompts ⭢

Spring Writing Prompts ⭢

Summer Writing Prompts ⭢

Teens Writing Prompts ⭢

Thanksgiving Writing Prompts ⭢

Thriller and Suspense Writing Prompts ⭢

Valentine's Day Writing Prompts ⭢

Vampire Writing Prompts ⭢

Winter Writing Prompts ⭢