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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

“Bananas” by Kendall Defoe

Submitted to Contest #69

They all met at the old home before the funeral.'James,' his mother said, hugging him too tightly. 'I am so glad that you are here.''Mother.' He looked closely at her face, one that he had not seen in five years, as if it were another specimen he needed to examine and catalog. 'Where are the others?'She smiled and wiped down her face with one of his carefully arranged handkerchiefs. 'All in the living room. You are the last to show. Talk to them.''I really have no choice now.' He turned to walk away.'And be nice.'He could not make that promi...

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“The Late Visit” by Al Johnson

Submitted to Contest #69

I am going to visit Jack on Thanksgiving this year, although he probably won’t be too enthusiastic about it. Actually, he won’t like it, if I am being optimistic about meeting him. Even Ma still blames it on me and certainly hasn’t forgiven me yet, for what I’ve done to him. And of course, when she scolded me last week she ignored the part about what Jack has done to us. But never mind that. Ma knows I was responsible for most of what happened. I am thinking about reconciling myself with him, even though I just got out of the mess and the o...

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“Not a Normal Family” by Ananya Dubey

Submitted to Contest #69

I woke up at 6 AM today. It is 22nd October, the second last day of Durga Puja. The sky was overcast and there was a nip in the air. When I entered the dining hall, I saw Samar sitting there with his glass of milk and Meera halfway through her bowl of cornflakes. We were now past the awkward step siblings’ phase and since I was only a year older than them, we got along just fine. My family is not very usual, in the sense that we are all different people with different lives who are brought together under the title of the Chatterjee-Roy’s. be...

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“Katherine Quartz, MSW” by Sjan Evardsson

Submitted to Contest #69

For the third time in as many minutes, Kat checked her polished tusks for stray lipstick. Her waist-length onyx hair was piled into an elaborate up-do, held by two plain silver hairpins that had been her grandmother’s. The lipstick she kept re-checking was the same deep chocolate brown as her evening gown, setting off her ochre-yellow skin and deep green eyes.“Kat, you look beautiful, quit stressing it.” At just a shade over five feet tall, Gwen stood as high as Kat’s armpits. Where Kat was a mountain of muscle in warm, earthy tones, Gwen wa...

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“The Simple Truth About Me” by Blane Britt

Submitted to Contest #69

I committed my first petty theft at the tender old age of 6. My grandmother’s purse was sitting on her dresser just beckoning me to get some change so that I could send my wayward older sister Cindy to the candy store. It was close between the two of us who would have the title of black sheep of the family. When she ran away from home at the age of 13 to join the circus. Well that’s what the family was led to believe, but I knew better and why. She was pregnant and a shame and went to live with her 44 year old boyfriend and his understandin...

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“The Great Robbery ” by A J

Submitted to Contest #69

"I have news. Good news, people." I looked around to see everyone meddling in each other's miserable mundane work. None interested in what I had to say, except for Bumbleweed.Now, who is Bumbleweed you ask? Bumbleweed is our goldfish. Very poofed up and golden(probably because no one feeds him regularly, and the poor soul has to live off the water which makes him round as it consumes more space). He looked at me with his wide eyes, flapping his fins in the little living space he had made for himself out of his droppings, leftover food, and d...

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“A Distant Thanks” by Tessa Takzikab

Submitted to Contest #69

“Mom, we can’t eat an entire turkey!”“Honey, it’s Thanksgiving. We always make the turkey.”It was a bit late to say that when my mother was prepping the marinade, but between the two of us, there was absolutely no way we could finish it.“Okay, what about the other dishes? Are we making cranberry sauce? Or pumpkin pie?”“Of course not, Taylor, your aunts and uncles are still doing their dishes. Thanksgiving has always been potluck in our family.”“Mom.” I had to tread carefully, not wanting to get in trouble but also wanting to make sure I woul...

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“Mama's Dinner Suprise” by Sue Marsh

Submitted to Contest #69

Mama’s Dinner Surprise Suzanne Marsh “Mama, come on, please hurry it up! They are almost set up for your segment of the dinner.” Our family was determined to enjoy our ‘normal’ family Thanksgiving, with or without our all being together. COVID19 was not going to ruin our day or meal. Mama, who absolutely hated having her picture taken had reluctantly agreed to a video chat. She wanted to be part of the dinner, but seemed somewhat confused as to how this was going to happen, until she saw the camera, video. “Oh no, oh hell no, I am not ...

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“Proboscis Baby Sister Monkey” by Blane Britt

Submitted to Contest #69

You might or may be sitting there wondering why I chose that particular title for this story and if you thought it doesn’t fit the subject context you’d be absolutely wrong because this is my short story and I’m sticking to it! I got your full attention didn’t I? The proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus) or long-nosed monkey, known as the 'bekantan' in Indonesia, is an arboreal Old World monkey with an unusually large nose, a reddish-brown skin color and a long tail. The warning calls of the Proboscis Monkey are very loud. It is believed tha...

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“It's Not Fair” by Magdalene Lam

Submitted to Contest #69

"Stop fiddling, Tanya." "Yes, mom." Today, Tanya was at her mom's place to celebrate her Father's birthday together. And it wasn't a good start already. This house didn't really hold good memories. Thinking, she remembered her eighth birthday :Tanya yawned, she was a eight year old girl. 'Today is my birthday! She remembered happily, I wonder if mom has a surprise for me!' There was a knock at her door. "Wake up!" her mother's voice was heard. Tanya stepped on her dirty, colorless carpet and unlocked the door. "Good morning, Mummy!" "Help me...

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“Elegy” by Jessica C

Submitted to Contest #69

It’s not going to be like before.It’s nothing but a stupid, meaningless mantra that shatters against your reflection in the bathroom mirror each morning as you hold the razor to your cheek and wonder what if. You don’t look like you anymore because you’re not you anymore. Sometime not so long ago you started your descent into the unseen void, little by little, and sometime not so long from now you will disappear completely. Not that it matters. The world is burning, and we’re all headed to Hell together. Or so you’ve been...

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“Uncle Grendel” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #69

We’re supposed to call him Uncle Grendel, but my sister will not. “He is not an uncle. He is a monster who has taken over our house.” I tell my sister that while I am on her side, that doesn’t change the fact that our mother has fallen for a descendant of Cain, and we should try to support her. “I mean, we’re all descendants of Cain, aren’t we,” my mother asks me as I’m shoveling dead frogs onto a plate, Grendel’s favorite Thanksgiving meal, “So I really don’t think any of us are in a place to judge. You know, your Dad was related to T...

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“That Easter ” by Nandini Shukla

Submitted to Contest #69

"Please Caroline, I understand this must have been hard for you....." Dad said, looking upset. "I don't see why you had to get married again! Me and Cecy can manage ourselves and you!" "You are growing older, and so is Cecy...." "But-" "For me" I sighed. Those two words always got me. “Fine dad…just for you” He smiled and got busy with his work. You see, my dad got remarried and the lady he married, Caitlin, was moving in today evening. On Easter’s Holiday. My real mom died in an accident five years back, which was a truly depressing time. B...

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“Concession Stand Girl” by Julie Ward

Submitted to Contest #69

Kyle met Judith on a cold night at the end of the worst year of his life. He’d gone to see a film at The Academy, the art-house theater downtown. It was the kind of faded movie palace that used to anchor every main street in every small town, a throwback to the days when people lined up to see their favorite stars on the silver screen. It had long been abandoned for the neon-lit multiplex outside of town, which was why Kyle preferred it. He came here at least once a week to escape for two hours, pause the nonstop monologue in his head. Bette...

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“Just South Asian things...” by Aaina Aleszezyk

Submitted to Contest #69

Gary Kemp once said ‘love is family, support, priority, and understanding’. After reading this I feel like a fish outside the pond. I am an Indian who belongs to a slightly conservative but conservative family nonetheless. I am a free-spirited girl, I want to enjoy life and want to live life on my terms. But my family holds me back. They don't quite understand me, they force their morals, religious beliefs, and decisions on me. They don't value my emotions either. My parents forbid me from going out with my friends or staying out...

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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.

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