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!

#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

“Dog Scents ” by James Offenha

Submitted to Contest #69

Normally, when we take out the food, he’s happy and wagging his tail. He stares at the screen blankly, like a deer after it’s been shot by a hunter, but still ain’t dead. Pub hears the voices of his family, but doesn’t smell anything. See, dogs sense the world through smell. A dog with no smell ain’t never happy. So, I got me a little dish with a turkey sandwich, a little green bean casserole, and some cranberry sauce. So,...

Read story

“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...

Read story

“One Word” by GRACE LARSON

Submitted to Contest #69

Only 3 hours of freedom left.I sighed and squinted into the setting sun. Its warm rays fell over the town stretching out beneath me, blurring the sharp edges of the buildings and illuminating the dusty streets with its soft, ruddy light. It looked almost peaceful in that moment - the constant bustle and clatter of the streets could not be heard from my lonely perch on the mountain. It was easy to forget up here, in the still, clear air, the constant chaos of the town that would overwhelm me as soon as I descended. It was easy to forget the w...

Read story

“CUTTING TIES.” by Patricia Green

Submitted to Contest #69

Jenny watched as her sister lovingly snipped and combed the client’s hair, and the little wisps of hair floated to the floor all around her. “Would you like a fringe? I can leave it a little longer so it won’t go too far back up, when it dries.” Donna asked her client. “Oh, yes please, I do like to have a little bit of a fringe!” “Would you like a blow dry, or just leave it to dry naturally?” “It’s very thin and it dries very fast, so it should be okay without a blow dry, thanks.” Jenny finished brushing down her client, then showed her...

Read story

“A New Understanding” by Greg Gillis

Submitted to Contest #69

From a young age, Bradley was a rebellious boy. He felt that the whole world was against him, especially his parents. At age four, Bradley had already begun showing signs of aggression when things did not go his way. On one occasion, while in the care of his grandmother, Bradley had grabbed the corn broom and started chasing his grandmother around the house with it. This was all brought about when she told him t...

Read story

“Bad Habits” by Eyona Choi

Submitted to Contest #69

The first thing I notice when I open the door to 3920 Cherrywood Drive is the smell. Pumpkin spice Bath and Body Works candle; vanilla scented shampoo, my mom’s favourite; and cranberry sauce, simmering on the stove. I recoil. She’s here already, then. “Laura!” My mom greets me with a mile-wide smile stretching across her wrinkled face. “You’re back!” I open my arms to hug her, and get a whiff of cheap perfume. My mom only wears Chanel, and only on special occasions. More proof that Maurice is here. “So, how’s college? How are you...

Read story

“Maybe it's time” by DREW LANE

Submitted to Contest #69

Eleanor pushed the table against the wall of the living room and threw a white linen cloth over it. She wiped the coffee cups and polished the numbers Brenna had painted in black on each of them to identify which cup was which. Seven in total. She crawled underneath the table to plug the small hob that would keep the Americano pot hot for the whole afternoon. Only the velvet cake was missing - judging from the smell floating out of the kitchen, it would be ready soon. She opened the window and stepped to the side as salt, sand, and pines not...

Read story

“Home for the Holidays” by Catherine Hill

Submitted to Contest #69

Two weeks to ThanksgivingTake time to yourself every day. Keep your boundaries. Remove yourself from situations where there is bait. Amanda was repeating everything she’d gone over with her therapist the past two sessions as she white knuckled the steering wheel of her little blue Honda Civic. “What are you afraid is going to happen,” Dr. Wittes asked, “if you spend a month at your parents’ house?”“I guess,” Amanda began, “I just don’t want to be infantilized there. Every time I go there it’s like we all fall into the same roles we...

Read story

“The Cherry Thief” by Sreedevi Mahapatra

Submitted to Contest #69

“ Where’s the newspaper? I saw the paperboy throwing right here under this mango tree. See the broken twig with the leaves”, shouted uncle Krish. Almost a dozen relatives gathered around, some looking at uncle and some at the mango tree, a few at the whitewashed compound wall. But there was no trace of the newspaper. At the far end of the house, the octogenarian Mr. Rao was busy tearing and throwing the bits of the newspaper into the water tank. Mrs. Rao who was observing this antic, rushed like M...

Read story

“Left to Burn” by Inkstained Introvert

Submitted to Contest #69

My family burns things. I used to be afraid of fire. I used to huddle in the corner of my room when my parents told me it was time to go. I would shriek and grasp at doorknobs as they carried me out, sobbing. I would cover my eyes and cower away from the flames, cling to my sister Jessie’s legs as she watched our mother and father go door to door. Recruit people to join them, or else die. They always burned, in the end. My parents worked for the Emperor. Was he real? I couldn’t have told you. He was from a different planet, supposedly, and h...

Read story

“Coming Back to Earth” by Tyler Runde

Submitted to Contest #69

Marzia woke with her face pressed against the glass of the train’s window. She hadn’t planned on falling asleep during the journey home for Thanksgiving, but the slight sway from side-to-side and the clack-clack-clack of the wheels numbed her brain to the point that sleep was a foregone conclusion. Where her cheek had been a greasy mark was left behind and there was even a clear line of spit trickling down to the bottom of the pane. She looked over at the man who sat in the seat beside her, who glanced first at her and then at what she’d don...

Read story

“Pecan Pie” by Claire Elizabeth

Submitted to Contest #69

I scratched at the varnish that coated our kitchen table as my dad was talking. The edges were starting to peel up slightly, and the once shiny layer was now a bit clouded. A piece of the gloss snapped off the table and fluttered onto the floor below. In the kitchen, the air was thick with tension. I didn’t look up from the chipping varnish until my dad prompted me for a response. “You’re sure this is for real?” I finally asked. I really couldn’t think of anything else to say. He nodded. “I promised you, I would only tell you that ...

Read story

“Out of a Solitary Planet” by GRACE LARSON

Submitted to Contest #69

When I was a child, time always seemed to slow down before Christmas. I remember how the days seemed to drag then, filled with waiting, and hoping, and waiting again. Then too, there was the suspense - this might be the year Santa doesn’t come, I probably shouldn’t have hit my sister, etc. But my small fears were always swallowed up in the overwhelming joy of Christmas morning. I always woke up before my sister, in the cold, pale hour before dawn when no one else in the house was yet awake. I remember how I used to lie in bed a ...

Read story

“Benni ” by Jade Orien🍀

Submitted to Contest #69

I never got along with my family. I've always felt like an outcast. Could it be that I'm the only girl out of 4 boys? Or that once my mother & father found out that they were having a girl my father had a huge meltdown because he wanted 5 sons. But instead, he ended up with only 4! I was the baby of the family.Funny right? My mother always tells a joke about the reason she had named me Benni was to make my father happy because she couldn't change my gender so she named me a boy's name. The question for that joke is did my father ever bec...

Read story

“Operation Turkey-North” by Damian J Sanchez

Submitted to Contest #69

Cheerfully standing on his balcony, ready to pulverize freshly roasted Ugandan and Cameroonian coffee beans, Danny Valdez looked forward to Thanksgiving each year. However, this year’s turkey extravaganza would pose extraordinary challenges for our Saxchef. Playing jazz by night and making delicious food by day had granted Danny this title, making him the perfect man for the job. In exactly 48 hours, the entire family would travel to Georgia and celebrate Thanksgiving with their most adored member—Nana. Traveling, however, would not be the b...

Read story

Load more stories

$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!

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 ⭢