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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!

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 – 139 stories

Stories

“A Second-thought Opportunity” by ✯𝐋𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚 𝐋𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫✯

Submitted to Contest #72

Title: A Second-thought Opportunity Author: Haripriya Authors Note: Hello everyone! I hope you all are having a fabulous Saturday! This story is pretty short, but I still liked writing it and had a lot of fun because it was nice finally writing a story that involved character change, and I am proud of myself for doing it!! But other than that, I hope you all had a fun time reading this story! I was jobless. Before, I was working in a big company, earning lots and lots of money. Somehow the CEO of it just fired me, like they didn't even c...

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“The Unplanned” by ꊰꏂꋬꋪ꒒ꏂꇙꇙ ꊰꄲꉧ

Submitted to Contest #72

A man sat in a dark room, alone. He faced a wall, a wall of Screens. Each about a foot squared in size, every single one showing a different picture. There were hundreds, maybe thousands. The man, Khan, glanced over the Screens, seeming to analyze each one in that brief instant. Khan turned away from the Screens and opened a drawer. Every single citizen had a file. He knew them all. Flipping through the people, Khan stopped at a certain page and removed it from the rest. This certain sheet was worn and the picture faded. Obviously a ce...

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“Martinis on Water Street” by D Kase

Submitted to Contest #72

The chilled rain fell upon my shivering pale, almost translucent skin. My clothes felt stretched paper thin and unbearably tight; soaking up the very essence of me it seemed. My hair was pulled back into a tight bun that now weighed heavy on my neck. It was as if the universe was telling me to look down, but I didn’t want to. I already knew what would be there, but it never got any easier. I felt that if I didn’t look down, then it wouldn’t be real. The reality was, I was just wasting time and making this much harder on myself. After all, it...

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“What would you like, sir?” by Radhika Diksha

Submitted to Contest #72

“Sir, we need you?”“Ed, please don’t panic, tell me what happened?”“A man died at 4th Rose street in Pie- a- trust bakery.”“Pray, tell his name?”“Robert Jr.”“Business tycoon Robert Jr.?” A sudden alarm switches on in my mind.“You are right sir."I hang up the phone, a new case is like coffee shots for me. Sudden shots of energy with a sudden smell of success. Being a private detective was tough in 1959, the remnants of World War were still haunting people's minds. So basically, everyone was behind food and money. Hence the rise of murders and...

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“~Uncle Dallas ” by Orenda .

Submitted to Contest #72

(well, well, another fun collaboration and that too with Ray 😙 this guy left me at the wrong time :) Anyway, enjoy this one heck of a nonsense story.) ~ It’s three in the morning when the doorbell jolts Risa lucid. Another sleepless Saturday night had prompted her to grab a tub of Ben & Jerry’s and drown her insomnia binging the entirety of Black Mirror on Netflix; she’d almost collapsed face-first onto the carpet from dehydration and enervation. She told her doctor she'd been spending most of her time completing her assignments and bi...

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“Dance With Me (Part 2)” by Lauren :)

Submitted to Contest #72

I know that this doesn't fit the prompt. This is the second part of the dance with me series. Read book one to understand this part of the story. Tuesday 6:15 Last night me and Millie had so much fun searching for dresses! I couldn’t really sleep because I was busy thinking about Caleb. He was texting me at 6:00 am. He gets up really early. I texted Millie a morning text like everyday and she didn’t respond. Maybe her phone died. Her phone never dies because she charges it...

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“Instead, Count Your Freckles” by Scout Tahoe

Submitted to Contest #72

It’s 6:13 pm in the cobwebbed auditorium behind the elementary school. You know this is where they teach kids to count on their fat fingers and show slideshows of where babies actually come from. The thought makes you gag. You’re hidden behind the frayed red velvet curtains that nobody’s replaced in years, rubbing concealer onto your forehead to cover your hideous acne. It had blossomed under your eyes and down the bridge of your pointy little nose. People call you ugly on the street and you couldn’t agree more. Your own mother c...

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“The Peonies On Her Dress” by Yolanda Wu

Submitted to Contest #72

Kalana lifted her undershirt over her head, then tossed it into the grass where her other garments lay. She told Kyo-mei she was a hunter, which explained the thick leather armour and worn down boots whose laces appeared to be endless.It was an odd affair how the two of them ended up travelling together in the first place. They were both going to the emperor’s palace for the royal wedding.To be perfectly honest, Kyo-mei didn’t know exactly which child of the emperor was getting married – he had a good fifty children between his twenty concub...

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“Two Bakeries, Two New Romances” by BRoOkE HAs A COwBoY HAt

Submitted to Contest #72

Kovaa I tapped my foot impatiently as I stood in line to sign up for the baking contest that would be held during Wewoka’s Annual Holiday Festival. It was the first year that they added it to the festival, and I was jumping at the opportunity to show other people my skills. Also, not only would the five-thousand dollar grand prize help my bakery, but if more people tasted my pastries, they would come to my bakery more, too. “Next!” I walked up to the table where two elderly women sat on the other side, papers sitting in front of them. Th...

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“Captive” by Natalie Dafoe

Submitted to Contest #72

Subject 10000001284//:Gender: FemaleAge: 16Full Name: Kiara Juna Bond Preferred Name: KiaraFamily: Father, Chase Bond. Mother, Vivian Bond.[ALERT indicated person(s) identified as missing]Location: SYSTEM FAILUREJason aggressively clicked the keyboard mouse, as if reloading the page would unveil more information. The three dots would bob for thirty seconds before the system decided the impossible: It didn’t have any information on Kiara Bond.Her father’s rebellion was predicted by the system - his headpiece detected anger when Chase was...

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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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“~Uncle Dallas (collab with Orenda)” by Rayhan Hidayat

Submitted to Contest #72

author’s note: This is a collaboration with Orenda, who is as beautiful as she is chaotic. Is this story coherent and sensible? Probably not. Did we have a blast writing it? Heck yeah. So please take this with a grain of salt. 😙 It’s three in the morning when the doorbell jolts Risa lucid. Another sleepless Saturday night had prompted her to grab a tub of Ben & Jerry’s and drown her insomnia binging the entirety of Black Mirror on Netflix; she’d almost collapsed face-first onto the carpet from dehydration and enervation. She to...

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“Who killed Amu's son?” by Asha Pillay

Submitted to Contest #72

A loud scream pierced the stillness of the night and it send chills down my spine. I heard someone crying in the neighbour's house. The time in the clock showed 12.45 am I was here at my aunt's house enjoying a long vacation. after my final year degree exams. I knocked on my aunt's door knowing that she must be fast asleep after taking her medicines. My aunt opened her door looking worried and groggy. "I heard some screams from the neighbour's house. I think there is some problem. I am going there to enquire " I said She said s...

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“A second chance” by Moon Lion

Submitted to Contest #72

There should be a new saying, never get into a car with a lawyer you don't know. In true horror movie fashion, my sister Lysiane and I were heading to some unknown property, with a lawyer we didn't know. It was really an incredible moment, my life flashing before my eyes, no cell signal- "Right, so as you may know-" The lawyer was saying, his eyes fixed on the road. I looked up immediately, shaken out of my daze. "I'm sorry, what?" I blinked up at the sharply dressed man in the driver's seat, shivering at the cold feeling of the lea...

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“algorithm” by 𝕊𝕦𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕚 🤍

Submitted to Contest #72

Somewhere behind a screen, someone is deciding what choices I make every day. Simple things, like what type of bread I’ll buy from the market, or what clothes I wear. It’s supposed to keep us in line, my mother tells me. I guess it does. But there will always be rebels. There will always be crime. The government can’t do anything to stop that. I’ve heard stories about a rebel family who raised their children outside the border, without all the laws and restrictions closing in on them. These children were free of the algorithm. The pol...

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$50

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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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