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!

#7: Scrumdiddlyumptious

Did you know: September 13th is Roald Dahl's birthday — so a "gloriumptious" Roald Dahl Day to you!

Roald Dahl was a children's book author, best known for classics like Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Gian Peach, and, well, the list of his beloved children's books goes on and on.

Dahl not only created whimsical worlds within his stories, he also created new diction, inventing words such as "gloriumptious" (pure marvelousness), "biffsquiggled" (being confused or puzzled), "churgle" (gurgling with laughter), and "ringbeller" (a really good dream).

This week, our prompts are all elements pulled from Roald Dahl's phizz-whizzing (splendid) books.

This week's prompts

Write a story with a child narrator.

Kids – 37 stories

Write a story that mixes everyday situations with surreal surroundings.

High School – 26 stories

Write a story where a chocolate cake plays a significant role.

Funny – 34 stories

Write a story about a person longing for family.

Angst – 44 stories

Write a story infused with dark humor.

Funny – 15 stories

Stories

“Ghost Boy” by Lauren Carlyle

Submitted to Contest #7

Wednesday, October 9th Dear diary, I met someone new today. Someone very extraordinary. “Tell us again, Ghost Boy. Why’s your hair white?” “Yeah, Ghost Boy! What’s wrong with ya, huh?” “And your eyes! What’s wrong with your eyes, freak?”I heard the voices while I was walking up Perian Road, to the great big bridge over the river. I wanted to examine the bridge for any sign of trolls or other creatures that might be living underneath. I hadn’t thought I’d see anyone there, but I could hear yelling and jeering all the way from the bend in the ...

Read story

“Roza's Case. ” by Amichee Sin

Submitted to Contest #7

On majority occasions; mainly in this human dimension, children would be born into a family. Sometimes with a loving one, sometimes one without any; although, many don't know, there is a few people who have none. This is going to be about one in particular, their name being Roza. This young maiden, which was created in year 1640 was born without one. Roza would long for the feeling of having a family, her creators couldn't care less for her well being. In fact they were disappointed of her, she was supposed to be a warrior. Going into b...

Read story

“Daisies” by Ciara D

Submitted to Contest #7

I wait for their visits, hardly able to think of anything else all week long. Every week, Saturday afternoon at 3, they gather to see me. I often wonder what they do with their mornings. Does my daughter have a long, lazy morning with her husband and her own children? Breakfast in bed - stacks of greasy toast, lukewarm tea and Peppa Pig playing louder than the screaming of her youngest son? I was never one for wasting away a Saturday. My mornings were spent walking, at the farmer's market, weeding the garden. Has my husband picked up these r...

Read story

“Homesick” by Alex McBride

Submitted to Contest #7

“Are you moping again?” Andrea called from the hallway. Louise heard her shuffle past the couch but didn’t turn over to look at her roommate. A bag of chips crinkled in the background. Louise kept clicking the remote to scroll through the list of shows. Her arm was starting to fall asleep but she didn’t have the heart to move.“Here, scoot over.” Andrea nudged at her feet. Begrudgingly, Louise curled up into a ball to accommodate her. “What’s wrong?”“I miss home.” Louise felt like a child admitting it for the thousandth time. She was barely a...

Read story

“The Forest Boy” by Anthony Eriksen

Submitted to Contest #7

Alex was always alone. His parents died when he was very young. He lived in foster homes until he was five. He ran away from a bad foster parent and went into the woods. Ever since, he's lived in the woods learning to survive on his own. He's now fifteen and he longs for a good family. Even though he doesn't know what a good family is, he wants to find out.Now, he lives in a small cave and hunts during the day. One day he goes farther than he usually does. He hears a small noise close to him and, thinking it's an animal, gets ready to attack...

Read story

“Father of None” by Emma-Li Ames

Submitted to Contest #7

Does happiness lie in a silver DAYUN? Or does it lie in the sun as it sets over the horizon and you watch it from your motorcycle stalled on the side of the highway? Does happiness lie in the wind as it rustles through your hair as you ride 60 mph on an empty desert road? Does it lie in the canyon as you look down into from countless miles above? I ask this question for the thousandth time as I drive along the deserted highway in Moscow, Idaho. I know I should stop for the night soon, but I am so close to where I started this ten-year journe...

Read story

“Red Skirt Prostitute” by Tandin Wangchuk

Submitted to Contest #7

Nangsa never thought her life would end that way. Even she held the heart like ours. She wished a normal life like everyone else. She wasn’t into prostitution just like that. It wasn’t her passion. But unfavourable situation forced her into this business. She didn’t have any options. It was her choice. She couldn’t see the pain overcoming her family. Her father died few years ago. Mom was seriously ill. She was the eldest and responsibilities were on her shoulder to look after the siblings. She wanted her younger brother and sister to prospe...

Read story

“Longing for the Day He Met Her” by Ash Hanneson

Submitted to Contest #7

It was already dark out as Warren watched the sun sink slowly, oh so slowly, behind the great old pines barely visible through the mist floating above the water. It was that time, when it was no longer day but could hardly be called night for though the sun was almost gone, it lit up the whole sky in ribbons of color. It was that time, when all other sounds were silent or at least drowned in the tangle of thoughts inside his mind. It was that time, when he watched an ant float slowly, oh so slowly, on a leaf out in the water. He watched it f...

Read story

“Mutterseelinallein” by Kristin Leydig Bryant

Submitted to Contest #7

After her sister’s funeral, she sat on her sofa and binge-watched six episodes of the next item in her Netflix list before she realized she didn’t remember any of it. Something about doctors, doctors from the past, living in some strange version of London. Maybe there had been an island?“Well, that’s it. I’m well and truly alone.” Their parents had died some years before. She and her sister had never been particularly close, although they kept up the habit of spending major holidays together. They knew their mother...

Read story

“Thirty-three Years Until I Met You” by Kayli Dunlap

Submitted to Contest #7

Thirty-three years is a long time. Thirty-three years is too long to not have someone who will love me and care for me, when I need it. Thirty-three years have gone by and it’s been lonely, catastrophic and having a feeling of being abandoned. This is when I realized that I needed to get up and go out and actually find myself in this gigantic world. I am always isolating myself from anything and everyone around me and it’s putting me in a tragic stage in my life that needs to change before it’s too late, and this is how I will always live an...

Read story

“The Orphans Dream” by Sarah Hawkins

Submitted to Contest #7

Harley sat up straight on her bed as the perspective parents came walking through the room. Her best friend Thomas was sitting across the way slumped over on his bed. Thomas never wanted to be adopted, which was something Harley would never understand. She gave him a glare and moved her head in an upward motion, gesturing for him to sit up. With a deep sigh, he shifted straightening his back for the most part but leaving himself with a slight slump in the shoulders.As the couple came walking past Harley she put the cutest smile she could man...

Read story

“A Place that was Home” by Catherine Arrow

Submitted to Contest #7

It couldn’t be more peaceful. Spring. Kingfishers darting about. That fresh scent of promise dancing on the air. She was so lucky. So privileged. Everyone said so. That view, that family. She really had it all. Miriam sat, tea in hand, settled in her favourite outside chair looking out to the pink sunset sea and wept, silently, at the emptiness of it all. It wasn’t the deserted house, or the empty paddocks or the silent roads that filled her with grief. It was the noise inside her head. The echoes of laughter, the remembered rustles and...

Read story

“The Sad Life of Caleb” by Yash Patel

Submitted to Contest #7

Caleb hopelessly stared out of the galleon. He remembered the days he had when he went out fishing with his dad. He remembered all the new things he had learnt about fishing such as when to pull the rod. That was all over now, Caleb was being called for his turn to swab the deck. The pirate masters were very cruel; they would start whipping slaves for no reason, as if they were amused by doing such an evil deed. The poor slaves only got food and water every third day; they were treated like hell but instead they were alive for this. Slaves w...

Read story

“Eden” by Alannah Norton

Submitted to Contest #7

My Pa always told me that cars were always more loyal to him than his own wife. It didn’t help them both that she went off with his ‘loyal’ car and never came back. She wanted to hurt my Pa with the only way that she knew how, through his car. It also didn’t help that the chief found it at the bottom of Lake Carmine. I think my pa was more concerned about the useless junk and tried every day to fix the damn wreck. He wasn’t interested in fixing the wreck of a daughter that they left behind. He died the way he li...

Read story

“Old Man Joe” by Kathryn Morgan

Submitted to Contest #7

He watched from a park bench. Old men were allowed to sit on park benches, but only if they had a dog with them or grandchildren to call their name (lest he is marked a sexual predator by mothers everywhere). He had neither. It made him uncomfortable, but he couldn’t help himself. He had never married. His brothers and sister were dead. He was too old to have a mother and father still around. Being the odd-ball uncle to nieces and nephews who’d forgotten him was no longer appealing. He might even be a great-uncle, but he’d never know the nam...

Read story

Load more stories

$50

Prize money

156

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Sep 20, 2019 EST

Won by Adriana K. Maxwell 🏆

Title: Don't Drink The Stars

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 ⭢