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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?

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 – 246 stories

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

Holiday – 102 stories

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

Thriller and Suspense – 205 stories

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

Teens – 84 stories

Stories

“Ceasing to Exist” by Jacqueline Moolman

Submitted to Contest #75

I do not quite remember my name. A word I could call my own was no longer mine. Honestly, I'm not really sure who I am or who I used to be.My brain races, grabbing at all the thoughts floating through my mind. Fighting to hold on to the ones that feel the most like me. The ones that bring a sense of familiarity, like a distant memory. Something, anything that might tell me who I was. Anything to help me remember what happened. Letters fill my mind but none of the words make sense, I'm not sure if they're even really words at all. My thoughts...

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“The Centre” by Julie Fisher

Submitted to Contest #75

Ella opens her eyes to the sound of the trolley wheels on the tiled floor of the corridor. It is 7AM. She is not sure if the trolley itself has woken her, or the wintry light seeping through the thin, green curtains, or simply the fact that she wakes every morning at this time and has done for as long as she can remember. She yawns and stretches, the rough woollen blanket slipping off of her legs with the movement and pooling on the floor beside her narrow bed. But she does not get up yet. Her room is right at the end of the corridor, so ...

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“Muscle Memory” by Johanna Leo

Submitted to Contest #75

I cannot seem to recall the exact moment all was lost, which is, I believe, the utmost irony. It might have been as I walked down Amores street, laying eyes on the building in which such contaminated loving took place, that my mind might have decided to simply suppress the feeling of sheets so foreign and uncoordinated bodies. It could have been when I passed that dented car we used to park behind so we could love each other in shadow, but more so, when I noticed it gone from its eternal spot, neatly in symphony with our parting. There are s...

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“We Stand Together” by Lyddia Rose

Submitted to Contest #75

I awoke to my head throbbing. I groaned, rubbing my eyes and then opening them. I was in a bright white room, with seemingly no doors or windows. But there had to be an opening of some kind, or else it would be impossible for me to be here. I figured it must be hidden. I pushed myself to my feet and winced. My muscles were very stiff and sore, as if I had gotten into a fight. I walked slowly over to one wall, and ran my hand over it, feeling for the tiniest of cracks. I began walking, moving my hand up and down over the wall. Nothing....

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“Shadows” by Narain CM

Submitted to Contest #75

Shadows (Inspired By the Movie Split) Narain CM naraincm4@gmail.com 7760405959 Age:20 Characters: Girl:Feminist,strong,independent Musician:stressed,worried, Athlete:confident,sure about himself,does not show much emotions,does not like change,sticks to a routine. Doctor:concerned,helpful Kid:a childlike bliss,innocent Patient:Naveen,suffering from paranoia,PTSD Scene set-up: The patient and the doctor are sitting across each other. All the characters are standing...

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“Forgetting Her” by Chris Powers

Submitted to Contest #75

“I killed her… It was my fault,” Eugene cried, “I will never be able to forgive myself!” -.- As Eugene stood in front of the tall AllMind office building, he glanced at his phone, to make sure he was in the right place. It looked just like the pictures from the email, that appeared in his inbox a few months ago, promising a fresh start and a clean conscience. Feeling down and depressed? An AllMind memory cleanse, can help you start the new year with a clean conscience, it wrote. Eugene really felt like he needed it. It had been a horribl...

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“Sara ” by Mark Lucas

Submitted to Contest #75

Rufus Shanks was 76 years old and hadn’t received a single visitor in the fifteen years he’d resided in his 6x4 bungalow. Every morning, as he hobbled to the mirror, he summarized that nothing had changed overnight. Quilt-splattered sunspots decorated his boastful cheeks, his eyebrows (as lovers) ached for mutual touch, and his forehead could be strummed like a guitar. His breath still stunk of pickles and the holes on his shirt continued to reproduce. In conclusion, his life was utterly devoid of variety. Rufus was simple. He considere...

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“New Year's Resolutions Suck” by Charlotte Hawkins

Submitted to Contest #75

January 1st As the final fireworks of New Year’s Eve toppled over into New Year’s Day; Rosemary, Samantha and Julia poured another glass of bubbly, toasting to the year ahead. “What are your New Year’s Resolutions?” giggled Rosemary, tipping her drink in her lap. She was significantly drunk, but that didn’t stop her. “The same as they are every year”, announced Julia, “find a first edition of Pride and Prejudice, and become unbelievably rich – and stop biting my nails – that’s been the same since I was 13.” Samantha rolled her eyes “Come ...

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“Love that conqueres it all!!” by Didrika Haldar

Submitted to Contest #75

Love. A word so powerful that bore the brunt of desperation and heartbreak. That can have emotions resurfaced. Love not only is the strongest feeling of all but also the genre explore by the greatest authors of all time. Two people in love are like the plant and the sun, each utilising the other to the fullest and yet those emotions between them, that energy proves all other historic love tales left unexplored by the most typical of all people. But the greatest relationship of all is missed by authors of all time. That is th relationship of ...

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“Walls” by Iya Octavio

Submitted to Contest #75

It was midnight. The moon was full and the breeze, silent and chilly, blew through the innocent walking down the streets below. Lawrence stood by his bedroom window, big enough for him to fit, and high enough for him to meet an ungodly demise. Apparently, it has all come down to this. Him in a dark bedroom waiting to be found, his associates have left and gone, and the only person that still seems to care is the one that is after him. He never thought that it would end with such violence and with so much pain. He never thought that life w...

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“Morte” by Ayame Owen

Submitted to Contest #75

` Ivy was a motivational speaker, but she wanted to do more with her life. All she did every day was wake up, go to the venue, and speak about something. All of her speeches were the same. "Do you have this issue? Well do this, and believe in yourself. Please buy my book." So boring, and so repetitive. She just wanted change. So she started a business. This business was to help people forget about there old, boring, miserable lives, and help them create a new one. She posted an ad online, and waited. About three days later she had her firs...

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“Moving on” by Brandon Hone

Submitted to Contest #75

Trigger warning: sexual assault, suicidal ideation The rose tumbled from her fingers falling with her tears down below. How could he have done this to her? She had been nothing but loyal and had loved him with everything she had. What’s even sadder. It had happened a year ago. A year ago when she had come home to find another girl. A year ago when she discovered that her husband had been cheating on her. A year ago when she had given him the chance to choose her and work out their problems and he shattered her heart instead. Standing on the ...

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“She Listens” by DA. Blackmore

Submitted to Contest #75

Tears. She steps into the schoolyard silently. The rustles of the trees and the whisper of the grass slid into the scene running through her hair and frosting the tips of her fingers, as she moved toward the sound of the whimpering. Glistening tears is all she saw running down her schoolmate’s face. Hidden behind the dumpster and seemingly transparent in the school’s shadow, on the ground the boy in front of her held his body in a ball as if scared to even let air in. Bending down she offered an ear to his troubles. Yes… that was the moment ...

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“Promise of a New Life” by Rebecca Power

Submitted to Contest #75

tw: sex trafficking With a gentle nudge, the door creaked open, revealing the mess within. John wrinkled his nose. The overpowering stench of cheap perfume only made it worse, a poor attempt to disguise the smell. Taking a deep breathe of the stale, but far superior, air in the corridor, he stepped inside the dingy room. Bare except for a bed, it was typical of any ‘hotel’ in this part of the city. The peeling wallpaper glowed a shocking red beneath dim fluorescent lighting, whilst the hideous decorative carpet attempted to hide numerous sta...

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“Karma” by Jacob Gottlieb

Submitted to Contest #75

It was a hot, sultry day and my parents and little brother were crowding into the blissful coolness of an air-conditioned church. It was my first time attending, and I can distinctly recall the throngs of people pressing in on me from all sides, threatening to crush me with their titanic size like an ant beneath a shoe. But the anxiety passed. A few moments later, after most of the desperate crowd finally managed to escape the simmering heat lurking ominously just outside the church’s open doors, a sight of surreal magnificence c...

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$50

Prize money

735

Contest entries

0

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.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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