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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#75: New Year, New You

For many of us, the last year was like living through a low-budget disaster movie — but the good thing about the new year is that it gives us an excuse to start fresh. And even though flipping a calendar doesn’t necessarily fix all our problems, it’s still good to take a moment and think about everything you do have the power to change.

 

In that spirit, this week’s prompts are all about fresh starts. From small, personal achievements to huge goals that will change the world, everything starts with the decision to try. What sort of things will your characters achieve this year? What sort of things will you?

🥇 Winner

“The Violinist” by R. A.

The first time Alin walks by the woman in the corner, she barely notices her. There are too many distractions, detractions, voices in her ear — the harried man waving down a taxicab, the aging street vendor hawking his wares — to separate any one sound from another. It’s all noise, and Alin is used to noise. She doesn’t notice her the second time, either. It’s only luck that she ends up doubling back, returning to the bookshop to process an order she’d forgotten. The bustle of rush hour is still going str...

107 comments 107 WINNER 🏆
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⭐️ Shortlisted

“The Waiting” by Vanessa Marczan

(Trigger warning: Substance abuse, domestic violence)It reminded me of one of the times I went to rehab. She was an older woman. Her face was creased in places that indicated she had a low bullshit threshold. My dumb questions were answered in a hard, clear voice. She wore a navy blue kimono, her blonde and grey hair tied in a low bun. The gold engraved nametag on her chest read 'Maricourt'. We sat in a thoughtfully designed room. Scandinavian aesthetic. Minimal. Not unlike a hotel room...

35 comments 35 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“The Devil’s in the Details” by Elise Volkman

Danny V. Luce sits back in his sleek, leather chair and kicks his feet up on his desk like the world is a pea-sized speck in the middle of it and he’s here for its reckoning.“Look, Darlene. I know this is how you’re used to doing things, but you’ve just gotta let it go.”He’s actually here for my reckoning. I keep forgetting — that’s what happens when you come out from a minor car accident with major head trauma.“Mr. Lewis—”“Luce.” He corrects me quickly, as though he expects the slip.“Mr. Luce.”...

26 comments 26 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“The Choice” by Anne McSommers

Trigger warning: Suicide "I choose myself’"   Les sighed as he made the vow, and he turned his collar up against the harsh wind. He looked down over the edge of the building. This building was 100-126 feet tall; he knows that because stating the estimated building heights from the number of floors was something Cal used to do as they walked by them. Every time they walked by one over 8 floors actually. It was a little-known fact but if you fall from a distance 48 feet you have a 5...

9 comments 9 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“Jelly Bean's Last Bounce” by Ted DeMarsh

Jelly Bean’s Last Bounce By Ted DeMarsh                They had left Jelly Bean here to sort it all out. To fix the thing that needed fixing. To do it once, for everything, for everywhere. Whatever he came up with they’d do. He was created to come up with the solution they would act on. Th...

20 comments 20 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“Curtain Call” by Ari Fargo

Trigger warning: Suicidal ideation 1. She’s four the first time he sees her. Most people didn’t start the life-long relationship with him until later on, but a tumble in the pool is all it took for the two of them to meet. He sits on the edge of the pool, watching her splash, arms breaking the surface vigorously. The California sun beats down on the water, transforming the droplets into sparkling diamonds that burst upon impact with the concrete that surrounds the water. She goes under, and the ripples lap laz...

8 comments 8 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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This week's prompts

Write about someone who has finally managed to succeed at a long-standing New Year’s resolution.

Winter – 98 stories

Write about someone whose job is to help people leave their old lives behind.

Adults – 248 stories

Start your story with one character making a vow that they never would have made the year before.

Holiday – 103 stories

Write about someone who doesn’t remember their past — and doesn’t want to.

Thriller and Suspense – 206 stories

Write about two characters who each want to change the same thing, but resolve to go about it in very different ways.

Teens – 85 stories

Stories

“The Violinist” by R. A.

The first time Alin walks by the woman in the corner, she barely notices her. There are too many distractions, detractions, voices in her ear — the harried man waving down a taxicab, the aging street vendor hawking his wares — to separate any one sound from another. It’s all noise, and Alin is used to noise. She doesn’t notice her the second time, either. It’s only luck that she ends up doubling back, returning to the bookshop to process an order she’d forgotten. The bustle of rush hour is still going str...

107 comments 107 WINNER 🏆
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“Revenge ” by Sahar Kashif

Love is blind, but a broken heart can see everything. Love seems to be a dangerous drug to quit, but it become more dangerous when it’s taken away. In dark winters night, in a darker room a girl naming Zaina, was sitting in the right most corner of her room. The Window was open, and she was sitting quietly near to the widow. Sitting on the cold floor with bare feet keeping her head in her knees and tears were scrolling down her dark chubby cheeks, her scattered hair resting on her dark brown eyes. She was los...

51 comments 51
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“The Black Dress” by Zilla Babbitt

Every year, Margrit tells herself that this is the year she’ll stay home on Friday nights. Every single year, since she left Berkeley her junior year and began to spend life in nice clothes, in other people’s houses. Every single year, since she began to deprive herself of privacy and peace, and instead spent herself for the benefit of others and the addictive reward of their company.Some years Margrit has more than one resolution. In 2010 it was to make a friend and stay home night...

31 comments 31
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“Who she used to be” by B. W.

Begin audio log:Do you remember the creepy and weird things little kids would always tell you? It would be quite random mostly, sometimes they'd just go and say, "I don't like the water mommy, last time I went in there I died."Or uh something like, "Oh-oh daddy I was in that thing and I died, it was terrifying!" Just anything really anything that would make you get a little nervous and have some goosebumps.Though every time they said it, or at least a lot of the times, the par...

299 comments 299
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“Intertwined Destinies” by Writer Maniac

Trigger: Suicide, violence I wake up on a hard bed, a bright fluorescent light blinding me for a second. As I try to blink the spots out of my vision, I notice that there are many people in the room. And all of them are looking at me. I ignore them and try to sit up. I immediately regret it. A sharp pain runs up my arm and my head feels like it’s...

26 comments 26
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“KING v. DARKNESS” by Skyler Woods

Max King was driving his son to school when it happened. The father enjoyed making his child laugh. He made a vow that he would quit smoking before New Year's Day. He also promised his son that he would take him to Disney World during his time off from work. A bad driver took Max's attention away from his son. Max blew his horn at a motorist who was driving too slow in front of him. He didn’t know things would get worse. The trouble began when Max went to pick his son, Aaron, up from school. He was told by Aaron’s t...

36 comments 36
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“The Collector (Inspired by Dostoyevsky)” by . .

Five months had passed, and it was time to become a new person. It was a dark evening, the clouds foreshadowing the night to come. A horrible smell arose from the vents, something of a mix between rotting marrow and sewer gunk. A man, his brown bowler hat tipping to the right, was the only moving being at that time of night. Everyone else was either inside or unconscious.The man, a lean shadow of sorts, seemed to blend in with the black tar of the streets. He wasn't trying to, for why should he? Still, the man was slick ...

703 comments 703
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“Crown of Death” by Nainika Gupta

*Nainika's Note* HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! WHOOOOO :) My first story of 2021, and here's to many, many more!!! Enjoy :DMany say that when you die, you will meet a robed skeleton holding a scythe. Some say you go to Heaven or Hell. Some say that you are reincarnated. Some say you turn into a ghost, while some say you sleep for eternity.But the truth is, Death is just a figure. A soul. A mystery. I appear to people in their final moments, looking like whatever they believe Death looks like. To those who don’t belie...

93 comments 93
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“The Ties That Bind” by Deidra Whitt Lovegren

“The family wants us to sort this out—”“Stop speaking in the collective. You want to sort this out,” she spat.“Of course I do,” he said sharply. He took a breath and exhaled dramatically, looking at his younger sister. Her jaw set. Eyes ablaze. This was never going to be easy. “Look, it’s not my fault dad named me the executor of his will.”“Who else would he name,” she replied, dry as vermouth.She had a point.“Dad didn’t leave a lot of instructions,” he muttered. “Typical.”...

57 comments 57
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“Endings and New Beginnings ” by Maya -

Author's Note: For one of my first stories of 2021 I decided to include all of my friends from Reedsy for fun. This story is dedicated to everyone included in it and all the other amazing authors on the site. It's inspired by Litlover's Marshmallow Pride story since the characters are real people. Also, I was inspired by the show His Dark Materials which I watched recently and loved. Sorry in advance if my descript...

623 comments 623
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“The Real Thing ” by Writer Maniac

“I vow that I will never fall in love ever again,” I say, as the other guys make their vows almost a few seconds before it is the first of January. My words are lost in the joyful cheering when the clock strikes twelve, but I still mean it. I’ve never meant anything more in my life. Love is not real. It’s the type of thing that you can’t find because it...

43 comments 43
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“One Step at a Time” by Writer Maniac

He’s dead. Gone forever. Disappeared, almost as if he didn’t exist at all. I try to smile politely at the people who offer their condolences to me, but I think they have the brains to understand that I’m merely trying, that I don’t actually mean it. None of them know what it feels like to lose your child. Their children are happily living their lives, not having a care in the world. While my child is very soon going to spend eternit...

22 comments 22
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“Lucid_Dre@mer_: Ashwin and the Lightbringer” by Jade Kingsley 😺🐈😸 (ℋ𝒶𝓌𝓀 𝓛𝓮𝓪𝑓𝓈𝓀𝓎)

Amara walked to the mirror on her wall. She was the same girl-- violet headphones, messy blue hair, a white-with-salmon-stripes men’s t-shirt that she was wearing as a tunic with jeggings, high-tops on her feet. The only sign of the adventure was the green symbol on the underside of her wrist-- a longsword, or some kind of fantasy-looking sword drawn in a few minimalist lines. Amara sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. She knew that if she told her mom, she would think she was crazy and take her ...

223 comments 223
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“Rich” by Benji Bobo ©

The house was large, it was beautiful, it was magnificent, it was perfect in every way … except that it was very, very expensive. And Jake Harold did not have enough money, another problem was that his brother also wanted to buy it, and had a job as a detective, while Jake was unemployed. They fought for many days on who should be the one to buy it, and he even suggested that they shared the house but his brother had said no. he was always greedy like that, not letting anyone have something that he wanted or did not have. And if they had ...

25 comments 25
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“A Wicked Plan” by ✯𝐋𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚 𝐋𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫✯

A Wicked Plan“Hans, you pesky mongrel, don’t you remember what I told you last night? I need help with my potions and need you to collect an ingredient from the backyard, in my garden.” Olga the witch warned him evilly grinning.   “I—I forgot, ok! How can you expect me to remember every single thing you tell me to do! Last night itself you told me a million things to do. You just don’t get it, do you, Olga?” Hans asked, scoffing.&n...

84 comments 84
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$50

Prize money

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Contest entries

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Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jan 08, 2021 EST

Won by R. A. 🏆

Title: The Violinist

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.

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