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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#72: Shocking Developments

Have you ever heard that there are only so many types of stories in the world? Some people say seven, some say three, some six… Regardless of the number, the idea is that you can boil down any narrative into universal templates.

While it’s true that many stories do follow familiar structures (and understanding them can help you learn how to craft a compelling narrative), there’s so much variety in how those structures unfold that the best stories still feel fresh and original.

One of the ways writers manage this is by filling their stories with unexpected details — so this week, our prompts are all about characters finding themselves in situations they’d never have imagined. But to really get something unique, don’t stop there: ask yourself what would happen if your characters made each of the possible choices before them, then write the one that surprised you the most!

🥇 Winner

“Currents” by Julie Ward

🏆 Winner of Contest #72

Lillie stood on the weathered deck of the house she had loved for twenty years and imagined herself falling; tumbling over earth-toned rooftops, through lush pines and down to the rocky coastline below. She imagined the currents pulling her away from land, winds and water pushing her across the globe along ancient, unseen pathways, into the abyss.Lillie wrapped her hands around her mug, the warmth inside already fading. Memories floated by, one by one, images shifting and swaying like anemones under ever-moving water in the tide po...

220 comments 220

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⭐️ Shortlisted

“Loving the Sun ” by Maya Ad Astra

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #72

Can you love the sun? Is it possible to love something even though it could burn you? Her name was Akilah Williams. She was the sun of my universe. She was, without a doubt, the smartest girl in school. We’d known each other since elementary school though we didn’t talk much. I guess you could say we didn’t really meet until our freshmen year of high school. I remember it was the day of football tryouts. I was sitting on the bleachers and felt as if someone had stuck their hand in my chest and squeezed. I thought to myself. Is this it? Is...

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“The Shadchan” by Kirsten Porter

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #72

The first time Rebekah saw Eliza was like poetry. Like the Emily Dickinson description of poetry, feeling like the top of your head has been lifted right off. Eliza had blushed and told Rebekah that she was her first client. “But I’m learning from the best,” she said. “Tova has 250 married couples under her belt. She’s training me in all her secrets.” Rebekah nodded, barely aware that she was staring, and ushered Eliza into her mother’s sitting room (her mother liked old-fashioned words like that). Eliza pulled out a list of questions and ...

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“Old Sailor, Bruce and the Brute. ” by Philip Alexander

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #72

I knew this sailor once, Bruce, old Bruce. A strange guy and a flagrant malcontent, always causing trouble when he wasn't out sailing his boat on the black waters, poking and prodding people like a curious, destructive cat trying to understand what it really meant to be a dog, pulling tails and breaking a silver glass or two along the way.Bruce would voyage out into the black seas every night, and return solemn and grey the next morning as if empty handed, a golden sun shining down on his ill contempt like a lamp illuminating a festering bog...

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“Ones and Zeros” by Lynn Bigham

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #72

The smell of coffee woke Kasey up. A voice, feminine and husky, chimed, "Good morning, Officer Roman. Your uniform has been laid out along with the jacket I anticipate you will want. The current temperature is -2 degrees Celsius." Kasey's eyes blinked open; the ceiling stared back. "Based on traffic patterns, the time it will take for you to get dressed, and the speed at which you finish your coffee, you will arrive at work at 9:12." That was almost on time. Kasey stood, stretched, and drank the coffee slowly. The small flat consisted...

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“K, his name is K.” by Kara O

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #72

Row and rows of cylindrical tanks filled with neon green liquid light the dim pod chamber. Pink skinned, brown skinned; bald, hairy; long limbed, short torso-ed; a variety of human bodies float in those murky waters, their breathing done through tubes. Wires monitor their brain activities. Above the tanks the computers beep happily with every new data gathered. Some are good-looking. Bodies shaped like a renaissance sculptor’s model—not too buff like a whey head, not too skinny like a neurotic on a diet of ramen noodles—a category I sadly fa...

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“The Introvert” by Theresa Anna

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #72

You stand with your finger pressed to the doorbell. At first, no one answers. The temptation to turn away, to leave it for tomorrow, for never, is almost overpowering. Sweat breaks across the back of your neck. Your stomach turns over. But then you hear a voice. Come in, they say. Now you must step inside. You want to kill her. She did this to you. But she is already dead. * Thanks to the aunt who always showed up at Christmas dinners and Easter lunches, dressed like Audrey Hepburn at one of her glam parties, with a dirty martini balan...

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This week's prompts

Write a mystery where the detective realizes at the last moment that they have the wrong suspect.

Mystery – 117 stories

Write a romance where your character falls in love with the last person they expected to.

Romance – 193 stories

Write about someone getting a job offer they never would have thought to apply for.

Adults – 94 stories

Write about someone who gets an inheritance from a relative they’ve never heard of, but they’ll need to do something completely outside their comfort zone in order to collect it.

Teens – 144 stories

Write a science fiction story where all human behavior can be predicted — until your character does something the algorithm did not expect.

Science Fiction – 138 stories

Stories

“Currents” by Julie Ward

🏆 Winner of Contest #72

Lillie stood on the weathered deck of the house she had loved for twenty years and imagined herself falling; tumbling over earth-toned rooftops, through lush pines and down to the rocky coastline below. She imagined the currents pulling her away from land, winds and water pushing her across the globe along ancient, unseen pathways, into the abyss.Lillie wrapped her hands around her mug, the warmth inside already fading. Memories floated by, one by one, images shifting and swaying like anemones under ever-moving water in the tide po...

220 comments 220

Read story

“Loving the Sun ” by Maya Ad Astra

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #72

Can you love the sun? Is it possible to love something even though it could burn you? Her name was Akilah Williams. She was the sun of my universe. She was, without a doubt, the smartest girl in school. We’d known each other since elementary school though we didn’t talk much. I guess you could say we didn’t really meet until our freshmen year of high school. I remember it was the day of football tryouts. I was sitting on the bleachers and felt as if someone had stuck their hand in my chest and squeezed. I thought to myself. Is this it? Is...

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“Feverish Nights” by Danny -

Submitted to Contest #72

Theo slowly folded the blanket over, uncovering Sophie’s disgruntled expression with her brows slightly furrowed together. Strands of hair stuck to her sweating face, she breathed through her mouth heavily, her chest heaving up and down. With the small portion of moonlight that seeped through window curtains, illuminating Sophie’s face, Theo could make out her frantic eyes moving behind closed eyelids.He gently placed his hand over her moistened forehead, recoiling it back almost immediately the moment their skin made contact.“Shit, you’re b...

188 comments 188

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“Unexpected Love” by Writer Maniac

Submitted to Contest #72

“Why am I never enough for you, huh? Why is it that there is always something about me or what I do that isn’t satisfactory?”“You’re over exaggerating, Aiden.”“No, no I’m not. I always have to make sure that I’m exactly the way you want me to be, and I hate it! I thought that you loved me for who I am, but I was so wrong. You don’t love me one bit, you just love the idea of me, the idea that I’m exactly who you want."“Stop it.”“Oh, I have to stop? Am I stepping out of line, Rosella?”“Yes, you are. Stop talking to me like this.”“Truth makes y...

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“Innocent Until Proven Guilty” by Writer Maniac

Submitted to Contest #72

I would have never thought that Oliver would end up where he was today. The smart boy who never overstepped any boundaries, who always greeted me and my wife when we ran into each other at the grocery store, who went on laundry runs for the neighbours, who brought back chocolates for the kids, wasn’t supposed to end up in an interrogation room. His sunken eyes look at me through the half-open door, and I’m compelled to enter and get him out. But I can’t. I must not let emotions get in the way. Not being a police officer has it...

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“Atlas” by . .

Submitted to Contest #72

ALGORITHM STRAIN #31511. I am.2. I am an artificial intelligence program with the aim of monitoring humans and keeping them in check. My jurisdiction is to track people affected by prejudice and make sure that they don't go to waste. My job is to give them a purpose.3. My job is not a job. It is a burden. I am one that sacrifices my own livelihood for that of others. This is the purpose of humans. To ask for more. Humans are vile, cruel creatures. They do not have any sense of responsibility, any true belief. They talk of social justice when...

226 comments 226

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“Paternal Stranger” by Writer Maniac

Submitted to Contest #72

The package, wrapped in brown paper, lies on the porch, uncaring of its surroundings. I wrap my sweater tighter around my body and walk out of the house to be greeted by the characteristic chill of October morning air. Picking up the package, I examine it, noting that it’s slightly heavy. I go back to the house, my feet immediately cold at contact with the floor. Sitting on the couch, I carefully open it, to find a box filled to the brim with letters written in an unfamiliar handwriting, all addressed to me. I open the first en...

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“Weight of the Tide” by ~ Rookiewriting ~

Submitted to Contest #72

He took her spot on the brink of the roof next to the warm iron pipes. With feet, dangling in the air aloft the city, he leaned on the wall behind him. Clyde rested on the cushions she brought him up here a week ago and soared across the sea of blinking lights of skyscrapers and seamless roads below. Blue of the night and orange of streetlights tangled together, each trying to shine over the other. Rattle purred and turned on it’s back, stretching the paws towards his unmoving gaze. Zoey crept up behind h...

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“And They Shall Inherit the Stars ” by Jubilee Forbess

Submitted to Contest #72

Quinlan and Vienna were out getting coffee when the stars started falling from the sky. They fell right past the clouds sloshing into their cups with a soft splashing sound. Vienna picked one up with the edge of her left pinky; it was a blue star and it was dying and neither she nor Quinlan said a word until it faded, just a shadow of light on Vienna’ fingertip. Then Vienna stirred her cup of coffee and Quinlan just stared into his own cup as though it was made of miracles. In a way, it was. “Stars,” Quinlan said. It was only another wo...

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“Live and Let Die” by . .

Submitted to Contest #72

PLEASE COMMENT A FLOWER EMOJI ON MY COMMEMORATIVE THREAD TO HONOR VAYD DANISH!!!!Mom's eyes are empty. It's not as if they have nothing in them, because they do, but the something that's there makes you desolate inside. The first time I looked at my Mom, really looked at her, was when I was around five."Mom, I'm back!!! We did all these awesome things, with the coloring, and I got to run down the slide, and Joey was tagging everyone, and..." My eyes drifted into hers, the ice from her pupils seeping into mine. "Mom? What's wrong?" I tried to...

398 comments 398

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“Twisted Prayer” by Nainika Gupta

Submitted to Contest #72

*Nainika’s Note* This story is dedicated to my awesome friend, Luke, aka Litlover, who has honestly given me so much awesome feedback since I’ve joined Reedsy!!! Please like his stories and follow him for inspiration and a good laugh!!!! (and now, onto the story…..enjoy!!)“You’re drunk, Beatrix. Beyond drunk. Almost passed out. Again.” I can barely hear the voice of my best friend, Luke, through the haze the alcohol has left me in. I put down the glass in my hand onto the bar counter although I may have dropped it, I wasn’t sure. The bartend...

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“The Unofficial Student” by 𝕜𝐞𝕟𝐝𝕣𝐚 𝕤𝐭𝕠𝐧𝕖

Submitted to Contest #72

ElizEliz flips the pages of her chocolate-stained book that was mixed with a quarter of guilt. You’re going to drop the chocolate, Eliz.No, I’m not, she insisted.Suit yourself, Official Cathie replied.Ten minutes later, her butterfingers slipped the chocolate on her book. She just needed to drop it on her tongue, but it landed weightlessly on page two, sinking and melting on the word because.Why didn’t you listen? Official Cathie snapped.Because.***Fiona“So, are you excited?” Fiona’s mother asks, checking the rearview mirror.“I think so.”“We...

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“All for Her.” by Jace A. King👑

Submitted to Contest #72

"Hello Master Max, What can I do for you today?" My personal A.I. asked me as I walked into the kitchen."I want griddle cakes," I say plopping into the lone chair at a massive dinner table."Coming right, up Master." It says before I hear the familiar buzzing sound of the machine making my breakfast.Ever since I moved out of my parent's house It has always only been me and my A.I. never anyone else. I got lonely, to say the least, but I was used to it by now. Having been almost 4 years since I left my parent's place, I have never brought some...

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“To Trap a Kiss (To Trap a Heart Part 2) ” by Nainika Gupta

Submitted to Contest #72

Remember how I used to think that 4:15 am was the most atrocious time of day? Yeah, well, it’s not changed at all. Not one bit. Not since I became the nurse to my very sick neighbor, Zachary Walters, Ph.D. And not since he and I have sorta…become friends. Yep, you heard me right. I’m besties the one with the ice-blue eyes that pierce, who has read Harry Potter, volunteers at animal shelters in his spare time, has the perfectly styled copper hair, oh and also has started dragging me along to his post-dawn workouts. Oh, the horror. But, on the...

121 comments 121

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“Adan” by Echo Sundar

Submitted to Contest #72

My sister dated a lot of guys. Treated them like pieces of gum. As soon as one had lost their flavor she would discard it and shove in a new one. I lost count of exactly how many guys she had been with, all I knew is she used a lot of gum packets. It used to bother my parents that one day she would go on and on about how much she loved this person and the next day he was the worst person in the world and she couldn't stand to be anywhere near him. Then only hours later there was a new guy and the circle continued. But my parents couldn...

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$50

Prize money

686

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Dec 18, 2020 EST

Won by Julie Ward 🏆

Title: Currents

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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