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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#69: Ties That Bind

We’re entering the season where families normally gather together in gratitude and celebration — and though many traditions will be taking a different shape this year, staying connected with those we love will remain just as important and meaningful as ever.

This week we’re going to explore the many ways that families influence our characters. Like it or not, our childhoods and the people who raised us have a strong influence on who we become as adults, which makes families a wonderful avenue for exploring backstory and building a strong character.

While writing your stories this week, try to think not just about the events taking place in your story, but the many years of family ties that preceded it. How do longstanding feelings, old wounds, and past events impact the conversations your characters are having now? And how will these events impact their relationship in the future? After all, your characters will be seeing these people for many years to come… Or will they?

This week's prompts

Write about a family adapting a holiday tradition to take place over video chat.

Holiday – 59 stories

Write about someone who falls back into childish behaviors whenever they’re around their family.

Kids – 66 stories

Write about someone who didn’t get along with their family as a child, but has since found an appreciation for them.

Teens – 112 stories

Write about a family’s first holiday after a parent has gotten remarried, and now there are new faces at the table and new traditions to be honored.

Holiday – 98 stories

Write about someone telling their family they won’t be continuing the long-standing family business.

Sad – 175 stories

Stories

“The Deliberate Walker” by David G.

Submitted to Contest #69

The old man likes to walk.The rhythmic footsteps, the sense of progress, the chance to think things through, to pray, to deliberate, to purposefully plod, the series of small decisions that the walking inevitably includes, the brief stop on the corner of 7th Avenue and 49th Street or Fort Hamilton and New Utrecht, the quick glances, first left, then right, then straight ahead, always in that order, before the controlled and, at the same time, gut-instinct determination is made on the optimal path to take on that particular day, at that parti...

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“Baubles” by Emmie Greensgate 🏗🔚🔚👫

Submitted to Contest #69

Baubles. Baubles all along the floor, Broken to bits, shards still slowly spinning. Some were glass orbs, while others were the traditional red ball ornaments that my mom loved. All of them, broken. Broken by me. By ME. I snapped out of my trance, looking around at the wreckage. I'd had another black-out, and broken something. A lot of somethings, actually. "Cherrie, what happened?" my dad asked as he walked down the hall, towards the box-filled, butter-yellow living room, just around the bend, unable to see what I'd done. "Did you d...

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“I Knew the Liar Who Won” by Jasey Lovegood

Submitted to Contest #69

I Knew the Liar Who WonI had always been an obedient girl. If they asked me to sit and behave, I would sit and behave. If they told me to be quiet for more than two hours, I would stay quiet for more than two hours. That's how my life worked. Every day was the same. Wake up, get ready, find something to eat, escape out of the house to run from the yelling, go to school, hide for hours until it was safe to go back, eat, sleep, repeat. My older sister, Caraline, and my younger brother, Nicholai, knew what it was like to have parents screaming ...

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“Jedendrum Baltimore” by Molly Leasure

Submitted to Contest #69

(Genre: Space Western/Space Opera)“Vent her.”“No, I’m not lettin’ ya.”“Oh? What gun’s ya totin’ then, boy?” His marred cheeks crease with resentment. He likely wishes I was never born. After all, it was just happenstance I was conceived. No serendipity about it. Just a drunken thief and a concubine treading the river. Then me; a bundle of fishnet. I’m the only thing this man’s caught in years. If only I were more akin to bubonics—or, the like.“I—”“—None. Kid’s playin’ a fit and expectin’ us to care.” Laughter churns from the crew. Perdin. Ma...

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“You're on mute!” by Lily Rebecca 🐰🐾

Submitted to Contest #69

"You're on mute!" I find myself repeating these words over and over again. My coworker sits there looking at the screen with a confused face. "The little red button with a white stripe through it," I try to guide him as to where it is. He still looks confused. "You know what? I'll just call you," I hang up the skype call and grab out my phone. It's 6:24. I have half an hour until my family video chat and I have one hour until my friends' video chat. All in one night. Who organised it all you may ask? Well they all organised it all. And they ...

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“Whitening” by Courtney Haynes

Submitted to Contest #69

I’m standing in front of an oak door about to go into battle. That’s what it was every time I saw Mister Rhodes. All out psychological warfare. And, sure enough, he always won. But on this day, I am bringing reinforcements. The most badass lawyer ever to come out of Spelman University.Latonya Wilkins, Esquire. She made a name for herself fighting for the citizens of Flint Michigan in a highly publicized class-action lawsuit. Ever since then, she has worked with organizations like Black Lives Matter to find instances of police corruption and ...

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“Be Kind, Please Rewind” by S. Closson

Submitted to Contest #69

“You are one rotten son of a bitch, Marv,” Jerry says. Jerry is my younger brother, and yes, he’s always this pleasant. “Jer, there’s literally nothing I can do differently to get this place to be even the least bit profitable,” I say, gesturing to the small monitor on my desk. The CCTV feed cycles through the various cameras in the store, each shot is as devoid of human life as the last. What I’m saying is the truth, and Jerry knows it. I can tell by the way he’s nervously chewing on that bushel of a...

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“An Improved Version” by Regina Perry

Submitted to Contest #69

One day, Mrs Sharp stuck her pointy nose where it did not belong. This was not so particularly unusual, as Mrs Sharp was the sort of woman who thought her nose belonged wherever she put it. In her defense, she was trying to be friendly.“Have you been to see your parents lately?” She asked Andreas, her tenant. She was bringing in the mail; Andreas had a letter from his mother.“Of course,” Andreas answered distractedly. He hadn’t; he’d been avoiding his mother for a long time. She had different ideas about what he ought to do with his life tha...

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“Den of Iniquity” by Courtney Haynes

Submitted to Contest #69

Stephanie slinks in the chair kicking her legs in the air as You Can Leave Your Hat On by Joe Cocker plays. She has been trying to get this routine down all day. All month, it seems like, but her legs seem like barely attached appendages rather than her own legs. On her back now, she points her toes and tries to do a roll all the way to the other side, but she over rolls landing on the other side and face down on the ground, an external force causing her to lose concentration. That force? Her father's eyes. "What in the Sam Hill is g...

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“The Year of Know Thanks” by Tim Law

Submitted to Contest #69

“Dad! Dad! No… Arrrrrgggg!!” Jarod yelled at the screen. So far the Zoom call was not going well. “Hey! Marie! Can you see this? It’s Jarod! I’ve got Jarod on the screen!” called back Jarod’s father, Jim. “Hey buddy! I can see ya… Can you see me?” “No Dad,” Jarod groaned. “You have the camera setting wrong… I can see Mum and she is not finished getting dressed…” “Oh, right,” chuckled Jarod’s father. “Is this better..?” Jarod swore as the call ended. Tapping the Zoom icon on his phone and following all the convoluted instructions eventually J...

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“Problems like Foam Bullets” by Madison Smith

Submitted to Contest #69

A hurricane, an earthquake, and a fire could not have left my life in such tatters as they are now. Currently, it was simultaneously soaking, yet smoldering, in pieces, yet held together with a Disney princess Band-Aid. Needless to say, I needed this break. Desperately. Shivering from the harsh whip of the blizzard, I knocked my mitten-covered fist against the door. Thankfully, it opened up almost immediately. In front of me stood my mother, decked out in fall colors with her Thanksgiving...

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“Christmas in our hearts” by Ricabie Gabriela

Submitted to Contest #69

The holiday season varies in different parts of the world with many traditions probably similar to your own, and others very different. In my country, here in Philippines, during this season, my family , relatives and friends always have a reunion to be remembered. However, time comes when clash and misunderstanding between families start. It is inevitable and part of life. And still no matter what happened, we're family. To some, Christmas can seem like a Norman Rockwell's painting of Jimmy Stewart and Clarence the angel but tha...

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“Silent prayers” by Tariq Saeed

Submitted to Contest #69

I was an opera dancer, living as a Spinster in a beautiful apartment in the middle of the city. My schedule was very tight. I used to wake up early in the morning,for my dancing practices and at two o’clock afternoon, I had been awaited at the club.My dance was very popular throughout the city, people came from far flung areas to see my dance. Sometimes I been scheduled to show my performance in front of the high officials but in those performances their families were also presents during dancing session. Than some school head...

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“Van Life Is Best” by Annette Lovewind

Submitted to Contest #69

“ No,” I scream in my Mom’s face. “I won’t do it...I can’t” I looked down to the ground and looked into the cracks that littered the pavement. I can feel my mother’s intense stare into the deepest part of my soul. She says nothing for a while. I meet her eyes and I can see her wheels turning. Her lips were pursed and you could see the disappointment wafting from her facial expression. “Well fine since you’ve grown moral grounds now guess I'll do it myself”. She says I look at her with horror. “No please...please don’t kill her.” I...

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“''Until when '' set me free.” by Beatrice Kaseke

Submitted to Contest #69

‘’Dad I think I now have something that I want to concentrate on, you know since my childhood, I have always wanted to become a librarian and this hacking business is not my passion. Allow me for once to choose what I want in my life. I just want a decent job although it will not generate much as compared to what I was getting when I am in your business.’’ Dad ‘’ hey let me remind you if you have forgotten, you are my only son, the only heir to my business so if you think I am going to release you like that stop dreaming Mila. Where do...

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$50

Prize money

510

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Nov 27, 2020 EST

Won by Kate Le Roux 🏆

Title: To the Lowly Dove

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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