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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

“All the Dark Shadows ” by A J

Submitted to Contest #75

Memories are hunting horns, Whose sound dies on winds. And we forget because we must, And not because we will. -Guillaume Apollinaire and Matthew Arnold ... I was pulled into a deep abyss as darkness engulfed me. And I just kept falling and falling. Pulled away from reality. The red-eyed creatures with the black fangs kept chasing after me. Their bony and bloodied fingers with long, witch-like nails kept trying to grab my limbs. Their monstrous cackles and ghastly sounds echoing and tormenting me. And they wouldn't stop. Not until I comp...

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“Persephone” by Cassandra Durnin

Submitted to Contest #75

Carelessly, she picked her way through the graveyard, placing spiteful flowers in the hands that outstretched to touch her. With a smile, she sidestepped the skeletal grasps, playing a wondrously infuriating game with the man she might’ve loved. She wouldn’t let them drag her back. Not yet. After all, she still had a week or so, the frost teasing and taunting her wilting blossoms. It was beautiful, in it’s strange, frozen way. Lilies with their heads bent down, heavy with ice-laden skirts. Flowers from a tree beginning to twirl lazily off th...

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“The book of your life” by Aman Fatima

Submitted to Contest #75

“Long before the world we know came into existence, long before the kingdom was established there was a tribe. Now this tribe could be considered the first tribe to ever exist, from them the civilization started but it’s hard to trace where these people came from and how they…” Will stopped as the sound of the door bell chaimed throughout the house. He closed the book and took one look at Cindy, who was fast asleep, her hands so small that Will’s hands looked as if they belonged to a giant. Will gently placed a wild lock of hair behind Cindy...

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“Steps” by 𝚋𝚕𝚞𝚎 𝚐𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚎𝚝💙

Submitted to Contest #75

Hi, my name is Alex short for Alexandra but I go by Alex. It’s the start of a new year and I plan on getting a girlfriend. I even went and wrote a step by step plan on how to do so. Step 1: Get rid of social anxiety I don’t possess the power of magic so we might just have to skip that one. I was just going to get bread from the bakery. That’s all. Nobody was going to notice me and nobody was going to care that I was even present in that area. Knowing this I still get anxious going anywhere. I went to the bakery but as soon as I opened ...

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“The Choice” by Anne McSommers

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #75

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 50% chance of dying, if you take that up to...

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“White Flower” by Kylie Wallis

Submitted to Contest #75

Kira Sorenson thought about her upcoming birthday. It was going to be a day that she would never forget for as long as she lived. Which could be centuries, seeing as she was a hybrid. Her father Jared, who was a vampire, met her werewolf mother Natalie in the late eighties.Mixed species relationships were becoming even more common as the decades passed. Nobody who knew them was surprised when the couple got married. They moved into a large house in Astell Grove, owned by the Sorenson clan.After many years, fate had at last decided to give th...

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“All For A Book” by Niveeidha Palani

Submitted to Contest #75

Mavery Aston sighed weakly as the door pushed open. It had always been a New Years' Resolution, and yet, she hadn't finished it yet. Today though, she was going to skip the party and complete her book.Her husband, Adryan leant against the wall, staring at Mavery with raised eyebrows. "Aren't you pushing yourself too much, dear?"Mavery glared at Adryan. "No, no! I'm not! My goal was to publish a book. It was my resolution ten months ago! We're almost finished with a year, and I'm not done yet!" she yelled, hysterically, her face, flushed, and...

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“Jelly Bean's Last Bounce” by Ted DeMarsh

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #75

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. They created him, set him down where he told them he needed to be, and waited. They hoped it wouldn’t take him long to figure it out and it didn’t.&nb...

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“A woman called Mom” by Kexiah Webster

Submitted to Contest #75

Trigger warning: violence, self harm, mental illness. My aunt Beth withdrew the contents of the package we received from mukobeko maximum security prison a few days earlier. Right after the declaration of a mass execution of death row inmates following the discovery of one hundred and fifty five heads of teenage boys in the basement of a prominent business man's farm house just on the outskirts of Lusaka. "timro daka" an act of suspected ritual killings. Ritual killings:( the act of mutilating body...

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“Kill the Sinners (Part 1)” by ✩✮ 🎀 𝒮𝑒𝓁𝒾𝓃𝒶 🎀 ✮✩

Submitted to Contest #75

Sorry if this was short, I didn't really have time to write it so I did it last minute. Hope you enjoy my first story!I can’t hear. I can’t see. I can’t breathe. I am suffocating in this darkness. I don’t even know how I got here. All I can remember is the bright blue sky slowly turning into an evil midnight black as soft voices whispered to my ear. Blue and red lights were flashing around me just before everything suddenly turned black. “Where am I?” I questioned, looking around my surroundings. Lava was pouring fro...

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“Conservation” by Joshua G. J. Insole

Submitted to Contest #75

Jameson followed Hendricks down the metal stairwell. The structure around them creaked and groaned with the strain. Their footsteps clanked and thudded. The sounds echoed and reverberated through the foundations. “I thought you’d have gone ultra hippie since we last spoke, with your dreams of peace and love and interspecies cooperation. Looking at this place looks like you’ve gone very corporate.” Hendricks smiled and said very little. She continued to lead Jameson down into the inner heart of the place. At the bottom of the stairs, th...

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“Thank You for Calling” by Julie Ward

Submitted to Contest #75

Amrita steps off the metro at the Nehru Place station. Her mother has warned her that the city is dangerous late at night, so she takes every precaution. Bahija is already there, standing next to the stairs. They walk to work together every day, there’s safety in numbers. Outside the station, they hurry past tall buildings and shops crowned with glowing neon. Moving more quickly now, they pass the shiny new shopping center where Amrita spent the first rupees she’d ever earned on piri piri fries at McDonald’s. A tall hotel...

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“The Caregiver” by David G.

Submitted to Contest #75

Irving Fisher was agitated.“Who the hell are you?" he yelled. "And what the hell are you doing here?”He squinted his cataract-occluded eyes, the pupils darted between the television set against the far wall and the face of the woman towering over him as he lay in his mechanical bed, the top half of which was inclined slightly. The blue cotton blanket and pillows he had thrown to the ground in a fit of frustration or pique of rage at some adversary or enemy, real or imagined. His legs were exposed, hairless and marked with thin, twisting blue...

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“Commitment” by Karen Kinley

Submitted to Contest #75

My trembling legs nearly gave away my attack of nerves. Thankfully, they were hidden under many layers of organza and tulle making up the lower half of my wedding gown. I pressed my knees together to quell the shaking.The priest had already turned to me, waiting for me to recite the vows I had memorized and practiced countless times. Although his countenance was relaxed, his eyes flashed, revealing his impatience.The man I was about to marry faced me, a small smile playing on his lips. My hands were placed in his upturned palms, and he gentl...

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“Nostalgia is the Thing of the Past” by Emerald Taurus

Submitted to Contest #75

Connor woke up in a white room, conscious of only a few things. One: He was not clothed. Two: His name was Connor. And Three: His mind was a complete blank. And try as he might, he couldn't remember what had happened that landed him there. Or what happened yesterday. Or what happened the day before or the day before-he couldn't remember anything. Not his parent's names. Nor if he had friends or a pet. It was like he was a newborn baby but still had some things intact like knowing words and what things were. He supposed that it wasn't the end...

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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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