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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#70: To Err Is Human

The other day I realized I’d made a pretty big mistake in the book I’m writing. This isn’t anything new. Writers of all skills levels make plenty of mistakes — if we didn’t, editors would be out of a job — but it’s still frustrating when you realize you’re going to have to throw out a few thousand words.

But writers aren’t the only ones who make mistakes, or at least we shouldn’t be. In order for your characters to grow and be interesting as people, they’re going to need to make some bad choices of their own.

This week, let’s dig deep into all the things your characters can mess up, whether it’s because of a deep-seated character flaw or just a really bad stroke of luck. The sort of thing that will haunt them for years to come, fuel their deepest regrets, and form a cornerstone of their personality going forward. It may be tough to put them through the emotional wringer, but I promise your story will be better for it.

This week's prompts

Write about someone who’s so obsessed with a goal that it leads to the destruction of their closest relationship.

Sad – 154 stories

Write about a character who everyone thinks is guilty of something terrible, but isn’t.

Thriller and Suspense – 179 stories

Write about someone trying to atone for a mistake they’ll never be able to fix.

Angst – 192 stories

Write about two people who know they’ve made a mistake, and one of them wants to tell the truth but the other wants to lie about it.

Kids – 120 stories

Write about a character who’s so afraid of making the wrong choice that their indecision ruins the very thing they were hoping to keep safe.

Sad – 85 stories

Stories

“My Little Sister” by R Spinks

Submitted to Contest #70

I knew Abiola had done it. It pained me to say this, even if not out loud, because she was my sister and I loved her dearly. But still, it would be wrongful to give in to such a childish innocence and turn a blind eye to her sins. She was an adult at the time of all this, and capable of making her own decisions, so I didn’t call her and tell her off. I simply thought of how wrongful she’d been instead. She was not my baby sister anymore. She was grown, she was smart and she was dangerous.***Amare called me later that night, panic in his voic...

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“The Price You Must Pay.” by Minnie Malfoy

Submitted to Contest #70

Andrew slammed his large hands down onto the dinner table in triumph. "Ha!", Andrew roared with laughter, "we did it again! My lovely, lovely family! We did it again! Today was a very successful day and tomorrow will be even better!", Andrew laughed again as he counted again the money he had made that day. His wife stared at him wearily as she filled his plate with that night's dinner. His children looked at him with sad eyes and looked down at their food in solemn silence. That was how it was every night for Andrew's family. Everyday was th...

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“I saw what you did” by Michael Hayes

Submitted to Contest #70

“Remind me why we’re here?” “Ghost hunting” “Why at night?”, quizzed Lisa. “Because they only come out at night”, replied Terri. The two friends, both in their twenties, walked from the woods into the ruins of the eight-hundred-year-old abbey. The roof had long gone, allowing the full moon to give some illumination to the very shadowy remains. Large sections of old stone walls still existed as a testament to better times. “I feel that we are being watched”, remarked Lisa. “Is it the ghost?” “Let’s go back” “It’s your imagination”, said Terri...

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“The Follower” by DJ BoBo Leong

Submitted to Contest #70

“Derek, get down here now!” The front door slammed shut and the sudden skid of car tires drained the trees around of wildlife.The Centen family were heading to the airport for a wedding in Brazil. Derek was 12 but he had never been out of his home town in England. Derek looked down at his necklace. He remembered his grandfather giving him it and saying “keep this around your neck and you and your family will live forever, but never take it off or great dangers will occur.” He had dreamed of being a spy so he wondered if he could train ...

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“Melody” by Blane Britt

Submitted to Contest #70

I was 14 years old when the first time I seen and fell madly in love with Adeline Fairchild. Even before the most attractive and most popular girl in our freshmen year of high school didn’t know I even existed. I knew right then and there that one day she would eventually be my wife. It wasn’t until our junior year that she began to notice me. I had grown from 5’5 to 6’3 over the course of one summer and I was the starting quarterback of our Division I high school City Championship that season. She was a cheerleader destined to be titled Mi...

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“Jenkins ” by Alexa McWhirter

Submitted to Contest #70

Jenkins was a small village on the outskirts of London that contained many fascinating secrets. Their library had a Willow tree growing inside of it and no one really knew how, people would never leave after spending a week there. But one of the secrets the towns people never wanted known was that of an old house with the remains of dead plants, eerie architecture and the most terrifying screams that came from there. No one in the town would go near there, not if they could help it. There were many legends about the little home, that any ...

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“Accomplice to Murder” by Lilah Blackburn

Submitted to Contest #70

(Also this is my first story on Reedsy. So please leave any tips or comments on how I can improve. Thank you and hope you like it. Also warning it’s a tad bit dark.) It wasn’t supposed to go like this… no one was supposed to get hurt. It all started with me and my best friends, Abby and Addy. Abby and I started the day at her house. We had just finished an enjoyable sleepover at my house. Sarah, Abby’s mom, dropped us off at Edge Wood High School. We met up with Addy and s...

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“No Bad Seed” by Jade Orien🍀

Submitted to Contest #70

There's a creepy man on our block named Mr. Templemen. He's been in the same abandoned house on the end of the block since my parents were children. Rumor around town he's a cold murderer. This rumor came about because 30 years ago a little girl named Cindy Albertson went missing. People in the neighborhood had said that the last time they've seen little Cindy she was riding her tricycle past Mr. Templemen's house. People even said that her tricycle was in his front yard & that later on that night he was in his backyard chopping somethin...

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“She Lies” by Kaylee Aleece

Submitted to Contest #70

She was not sure how she let the situation get this out of hand. She knew it was her fault, and that at this point if he did not go down for it. She would. Unfortunately, he was not the reason they were in this situation. No, that was her fault too. The insecurity inside her, morphed her into a selfish monster. All it took was one wrong glance from the woman at the grocery store, and she lost it. She'd pressed charges on an innocent person. She pretended to be the victim, after she attacked t...

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“wrongly convicted ” by Amber Brownlee

Submitted to Contest #70

Getting blamed for something you didn’t do is one thing but getting a life sentence is quite another. I wasn’t even there the night my friend was murdered but according to fifteen witness they saw me stab Ruby. The only reason I received a life sentence was because I was too young to receive the death penalty, at fifteen years old I am the youngest person ever to be sent to prison, the judge decided that because of the nature of my crime I was too dangerous for juvenile hall so It was don’t pass go, go straight to a maximum security prison. ...

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“Words fell on Deaf Ears” by Debbie Teague

Submitted to Contest #70

“It wasn’t me; I swear! They took him - I was bound up and couldn’t help him.” “Little green men you say?” scoffed the sheriff. “Grey men with black eyes!” “Young lady, I have heard some stories in my time but yours takes the cake. You are asking us to believe that you and your brother saw a flying saucer in the field and “beings” came out from it, bound you up, and took your brother. Is that right?” “Yes! Honestly!” Sheriff Wilson did not believe her. Her protests fell on deaf ears. “Take her away!” Young Sus...

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“Blood on the hands” by Jasmen Parzyck

Submitted to Contest #70

"Wait. Wait!", Jolene yelled out to her best friend, Ronald. Ronald stopped dead in his tracks but, wouldn't turn around. He couldn't bear to re-watch that scenario again. Jolene and Ronald have been friends for almost 15 years and did everything together. Well, this might just change their history. "Ronald, please. We can't tell anyone about this at all. I'm scared just as much as you are. This was a mistake. It really was." She was drowning in her tears at this point. "Please. Don't tell anyone. I'm too young to go to jail," she said while...

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“Somewhere in Dreams” by Jeffrey Ashkin

Submitted to Contest #70

Rebecca smiled at me. It was a sunny day at the café I used to visit in my childhood. They had just served my favorite dish: half a cheese pizza, a whole Maine lobster and a side of chocolate glazed donuts. "You know what's weird?" Rebecca asked me. "What?" I replied. "Every time I turn on the microwave, my phone bill goes up twenty dollars," she said. ...

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“She Was a True Victim of Junkie Circumstances” by Blane Britt

Submitted to Contest #70

Through my own heroin use personal experiences I always believed in the duck test that is a form of deductive reasoning. This is its usual expression: If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck. The test implies that a person can identify an unknown subject by observing that subject's habitual characteristics. In the case of Lolita heroin use the look fit to a tee. The swimming part fit and she most times flew high like a duck going south for any winter season. Yet in reality she was just y...

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“Ransom” by Sudeep Paul

Submitted to Contest #70

"911, what's your emergency," an operator spoke through the phone."I need help! My parents were kidnapped," I screamed, as I ran through the front door."Can you tell us about your location?" they answered. "We will send someone over as soon as possible.""Yes, please. My house is located on Carnaby Street, and the building number is 544," I quickly answered. I could barely keep the phone up because my hands were trembling so vigorously. "Some people in black masks broke in through my parent's window and kidnapped them. They just escaped now i...

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$50

Prize money

731

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Dec 04, 2020 EST

Won by Irene Rebello 🏆

Title: What you made me.

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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