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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#78: Keeping Busy

I’ve noticed that hobbies often get overlooked in fiction. Unless it plays a major role in the plot, many main characters don’t even get a hobby — supporting characters, even less often. Yet hobbies are an important part of many people’s lives, especially in lockdown. They’re the things we bond with our friends over, the pastimes that refresh our spirits over the weekend, and the activities that give us some of our greatest joy.

So this week, hobbies are going to take center stage. From mainstream to obscure, let’s analyze our character’s most interesting quirks and explore the many things they can obsess over!

This week's prompts

Start your story with one character trying to convince another to take up their favorite hobby.

Fluff – 177 stories

Write about someone who keeps an unusual animal as a pet.

Teens – 178 stories

Write about someone who still practices a skill that used to be necessary but has long since been replaced by technology.

Fiction – 133 stories

Set your story at a convention for a hobby most people have never heard of.

Fluff – 70 stories

Write about someone who keeps picking up different hobbies but never manages to stick with them.

Character – 176 stories

Stories

“The gift of family” by Varsha R

Submitted to Contest #78

"Just give it a try. It will be fun,” my friend insisted. He kept on pestering me until I said yes. I accepted just to shut his mouth. He had eagerly waited for me to spill yes. As soon as I spit it out, he ran to his room and brought a big fat journal.“Is this your album of stamp collection? Why does it look similar to a PhD research book?” I questioned."I know that you are annoyed. But stamp collecting is fun. It’s been my favourite hobby for days." Ayaan declared. Ayaan is obsessed with stamp collection. He wanted me to join him. I really...

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“My best birthday present ever.” by Somegenius Kid

Submitted to Contest #78

OMG OMG OMG OMG!!! I can’t believe this is happening! I hope this isn’t a dream. Let me pinch myself. Ouch. Ok this is totally not a dream. You won’t believe what I got for my birthday present! I just got a Vulpes ferrilata a.k.a sand fox! It’s super tiny and has a hint of black on the tail too. I have to keep looking at her because she’s so tiny and can fit anywhere. That’s why I need a cage or something so I can keep her, and I can do some other stuff without worrying. I have no idea what to do when I’m going to sleep. I guess I’ll have to...

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“Clenching Fists” by Jose Duron

Submitted to Contest #78

"What do you think?" He hands me the painting he had been working on for weeks. I look at it. I tilt my head as I rub my chin. I hmm, lower the frame and look him in the eye. That damn twinkle of his, so childish. I. Am. Impressed. "The lady," I start and halt myself immediately. I could say the same thing I always say. 'It's a great piece man.' 'wow, you're so talented.' 'you did this? you're selling it right?' 'wow, no words.' I ponder for a second. Yes, I could say those things, but then I would make myself fall in a bed of thorny disa...

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“To Love is to Sacrifice” by Tiffany Bokesch

Submitted to Contest #78

"I've never felt more alive than when I am lost in the moment and concentrated on the hunt." Mal breathed quietly, pleading in his eyes as he looked up at her. Lyria could only stare down at him in silent horror, her body frozen as fear iced through her veins. Mal raised his hands slowly, caution keeping every movement smooth and unthreatening. "Please, just give me a moment to explain," He asked standing from a crouch, hands still placating in reassurance, "I was a ghost before I hunted the first time, empty and without purpose in my life."...

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“The Old General” by Tracey Conley- Bray

Submitted to Contest #78

General Broderick Hook is a legend in his own mind. He hadn't quiet fancy the idea that legends are mostly always dead. He was honorably discharged from the Army in 1975 as a private but, if you let old Broderick tell the tale he is a top ranking General who single handily saved an entire regiment by making a make shift bomb out of an old tin can, some aluminum foil, chewing gum and gun powder. The General was born and raised in BlueVine his mother was a maid and his father was a farmer. He had a happy childhood in spite of times being tou...

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“The Great Yoga Debate” by Natalie Womack

Submitted to Contest #78

Megan and Holly got together one Friday afternoon to grab some ice cream at the beach. They were laying out enjoying some light conversation while people watching. They were observing a couple a few yards away doing yoga together. “Some things just aren’t for everyone,” Holly blurts out. “What do you mean?” asks Megan. “I just never got into it and believe me, I have tried. But to each their own, I guess. I’m all for meditating but contorting my body while doing so is jus...

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“Checkmate ” by Tia Jackson

Submitted to Contest #78

8 years ago:“Chess is the only game that truly prepares you for life pumpkin, why don’t you sit down with me for a round?”Jaime had looked at her dad, at his bright eyes and smiling face and couldn’t help but nod. She had never had any reason to play chess. She thought it was boring and there were too many rules to follow. So, while her dad had urged and urged her to play with him, she never had. She merely watched through the years as he practiced, read books on Chess Tactics and Defenses and smiled all the while doing it. She never to...

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“Butterfly Convention” by Nyla N

Submitted to Contest #78

"Your name is Farha this time."Farha nods."You know what to do?""Yes, I'll get started right away."Farha swipes her phone to end the call, fingers easily gliding over the smooth surface.Another day, another name, another identity. If I succeed, the cycle continues...Farha walks into a dingy little motel and requests a room. Before noon, she's set up. Computers line every wall, blue light floods the space, filling every crevice. She spends 20 minutes coding, before opening her phone to call a saved number,"Hi, yes, I just wanted to confirm my...

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“The Craftsman” by Arrey Edwards

Submitted to Contest #78

Edward Torsche awoke this morning the same as he did each time the sun shone threw his window, achy and tired. He never fussed with appearances. That was for younger men. Still, he always had a clean pair of socks ready along with his apple cap. He dressed as he always did. Socks, for it was his father who had told him a man dresses his foot first, slacks, a tucked in Henly, underthings, and his cap. He walked the length of his room, which hadn't more than eight feet, and grabbed his pocket watch from the vanity of his beloved Eleanor. He'd...

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“The Silence” by Lizzy Duffield-Fuller

Submitted to Contest #78

It was one month to the day after George’s funeral when the silence came. The house, which had been quiet and empty since they hoisted his corpse out of the easy chair he lived in, was even quieter and emptier than usual, as if there was an invisible weight in the air. At first I told myself that I was being paranoid, or that grief was playing tricks on my mind. That’s certainly what my daughter, Mandy, would say. The grandkids would probably trot out some pseudo-scientific term for these delusions that they had read about on the internet, ...

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“Reindeer Farm” by Nataleigh Sandberg

Submitted to Contest #78

When I was young, I used to have a dolphin as a pet.Well, not a pet, really, but he could have been one if I kept him at home.Fins was one of my best friends from first grade to sixth grade. He was a cute, blue dolphin that loved doing flips. I would visit him at the zoo every day after school.My mom was a zoologist, and she took care of the gorillas. But I didn't really care for the big apes. I was fascinated by the dolphins.Mom's friend, Jan, ran the dolphin habitat. She'd let me feed Fins and Tory and Beater at feeding time.Beater was a f...

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“Cupcake Dan I” by Matt Render

Submitted to Contest #78

When Rosa entered the hotel bar, not a single head turned to see her wearing the fur coat over her skimpy dress, tight enough to expose the unflattering sagging of her skin, and the lights dim enough to expose the crease marks from her underbelly all the way to the scars in her cheeks. Outside, it was the five o’clock blueness of a winter evening casted out across cold steel skyscraper windows, into porcelain bedrooms and marble countertops, heated tile bathrooms and stainless steel light fixtures glowing and radiant like glossy ma...

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“The Yoke” by Thomas Philbrick

Submitted to Contest #78

“Easy, Sam.” He ran his hand down the ox’s ribcage and shuffled toward the front of the trailer. The creature swung his head around, wide-eyed, and his horns hit the metal frame of the trailer. “How much do they weigh?” called a bystander. “3,200,” he replied without looking. “Each.” His assigned stalls were near the far end where the hill sloped down toward the camper village. They were good spots, close enough to the water spicket and far enough from the main door. That evening he sat on an overturned water bucket and tightened the bol...

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“The Secrets of the Butterfly” by Holly Fister

Submitted to Contest #78

Ava knelt on her knees in the dirt and watched a giant swallowtail butterfly float past, bobbing on the breeze with each flutter of its black and blue wings. It gracefully drifted down to Quinn’s polka dot gloves and landed on his middle finger. She glanced up to his face, sure he couldn’t feel the touch of the butterfly, and discovered he had indeed noticed the visitor. He sat perfectly still, with a soft smile on his face.The butterfly took flight again in search of colors more tasty than the gloves, but Ava kept her eyes focused on Quinn....

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“Hayley's Tiger” by Brittani Case

Submitted to Contest #78

Hayley Bennet was an unusual girl in an unusual town. In this town everyone is partnered with a different animal. Hayley's partner/pet is a tiger she named Reika. Reika was a white tiger with the most stunning blue eyes. She was Hayley's best friend. A lot of people believe their animals fully understand them. That these animals, often carnivores, were sent to protect them. Hayley believed Reika understood her, but to Hayley, it was her job to protect Reika. Everyone in their village of Melrania had a black panther, Bengal tiger, a lion, or ...

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$50

Prize money

735

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jan 29, 2021 EST

Won by Christina Marie 🏆

Title: Life's Leftovers

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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