Menu

Prompts

Contests

Stories

Blog

Menu

✕

CONNECT

Editing Design Marketing Publicity Ghostwriting Websites

BLOG

Success Stories

APPS

TOOLS

Book Promotion Sites Book Review Blogs Booktube Channel Guide Book Title Generator Character Name Generator Independent Publishers Literary Agents Literary Magazines Pen Name Generator Plot Generator Publishers Directory Short Story Ideas Writing Contests Writing Exercises Writing Scholarships

ABOUT

About Reedsy Terms Privacy

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Write about someone who still practices a skill that used to be necessary but has long since been replaced by technology.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

“Failure to Thrive” by Anne McSommers

Submitted to Contest #78

She stood in the middle of the store staring longingly at the brightly colored package. She wanted to try it, it was a simple thing, such an incredibly simple thing. Made for children really, but she wanted it anyways. It was a beginner’s kit of sculpting clay. She turned and hurried from the store, sad in a way she couldn’t explain. She wasn’t good with clay; she had tried many times before and it never quite turned out the way she wanted it to. When she arrived home she entered, and looked at the bins of crafting sup...

Read story

“Song Writer ” by Marianna Mills

Submitted to Contest #78

Sasha sat at her desk - the window in her apartment eroded with sunshine on a warm afteroon in July. Her writing tablets sat in front of her, her guitar beside her as she jotted down notes, - quarter notes fifth notes, dum de de dum, she hummed to herself while she played, wrote and worked on her new song. The cafe would be busy tonight, a Saturday and she wanted to finish it so she could sing it later as her introduction song, it wasnt a long one either and she was almost done anyway. Sasha just liked to write her music down to have it in h...

Read story

“Baiting” by H.L Whitlock

Submitted to Contest #78

“C’mon! Don’t be such a baby!” Nate stood biting his lip. The camp was out of sight now and the woods loomed large over him. Todd stood, hands on hips. “You’re coming!” Nate’s shoulders drooped. He took small steps towards Todd and the other boys. Todd smirked before turning on his heel and leading the way. They pushed through the brush, Todd using his baseball bat to knock back thorny branches and poke loose rocks away from their path. The boys whispered excitedly to one another as they followed. Todd stopped suddenly in front of them and c...

Read story

“Crystal Clear” by Lavinia Hughes

Submitted to Contest #78

CRYSTAL CLEAR By Lavinia M. Hughes With a grunt, she hauled her 63-year old overweight body out of her 15-year old car. Her brother called it “a beater” which bothered Ida Bumpus not a whit. She fished her faded tote bag, the one the bank gave her for opening up a checking account, out of the back seat and made her way into the Bountiful Beads convention along with the other attendees, who were mostly middle-aged and senior women. It was the week before Valentine’s Day and Ida was sure that there would be some fre...

Read story

“Needle and thread” by Hallie Blatz

Submitted to Contest #78

It all starts with a knock at my door. Or more accurately my door bell. I stand up and make my way stiffly to the door, I’ve been working on a petticoat all day and my body is aching for a break. I open the door to find a young woman who is probably in her early twenties. Her hair is in a messy top knot and she is dressed in a baggy sweater and yoga pants. Definitely not my style. “Are you Maude Collins?” The woman asks. “Yes, I am. How may I be of service to you?” I ask. “Wow, you really are old fashi...

Read story

“The Rise” by Madelein Ercanbrack

Submitted to Contest #78

It was Thursday, November 4th, 2038 when Doctor Amiyah L. Torres unlocked the secret to the robots. She called it Project 438. This remarkable time in history has come to be known as ‘the Rise’. Doctor Torres’s work has economically excelled for some time now. It’s grown more famous throughout the four years that have passed since the Rise. Her robots changed the whole world. Society was becoming more and more advanced with every passing day. The world was changing for the better. At least, that’s what everyone else thought. I hate robot...

Read story

“Jamie's Books” by Melinda Madrigal

Submitted to Contest #78

Jamie loves her books. Everyday Jamie is seeing reading a book in her home, in school in the park even the mall. Nobody can get Jamie to stop reading her books, not her parents, sister or her best friend. Jamie loves her books, they are what makes her happy. In an age where technology rules everyday life, things are changing for the better. Jamie is not a fan of change, but she has no choice but to go along with it. One thing Jamie does not want to change is her love for her books, but that too is going to change. Paper, and hard cover books...

Read story

“What the #@$%!” by Blane Britt

Submitted to Contest #78

My six year old son Barful comes home with an animal in the hood that me and his mother were blown away from. That animal must have come from a different planet so we thought. I’m shouting well above the threshold of hearing myself at 1000 Hz in which no father should talk to his biological son like that, while my better half repeatedly shouted calm down dude. I say that thing ain’t staying in this house. We argued all night long until Sheba my wife, as always eventually won out. Now I know you as a writer or reader, you’re probably wonde...

Read story

“The Immortal Hack” by Christopher Kelley

Submitted to Contest #78

The Hack slept under a gravestone for many years before being compelled to move. Something rattled his bones (even though they weren’t really his anymore). The rattling reminded him of being possessed at the typewriter – synchronizing his fingers with a set of chattering teeth. He checked his watch for time and saw glowing vapors instead of a wrist. The Hack remembered where he slept and what he was. “I have become my favorite subject.” He n...

Read story

“Conventions are for real hobbies” by Sophie Aay

Submitted to Contest #78

"Is this how I die? Like seriously, is this how I end my life at such a young age?" Ira cries. There's no tears falling but her eyes look like they are holding back a fountain of them. "This is all your fault, Reggie. You got us into this mess." A voice accuses. Reggie, the second one on the rope clench her teeth tightly, holding back her frustration. "I never forced anyone to come. You were the ones who chose to come with. Stop accusing me!" "Seriously, girls, is this how we are all going to die in our prime...y...

Read story

“My nocturnal friend” by Amber Brownlee

Submitted to Contest #78

I found Draco two years ago when I was in Texas doing research in one of the local bat caves, he was very young a severely injured, I knew taking in a vampire bat would be risky but I really couldn’t help myself. I bottled fed him back to health with the full intention of setting him free but every time I tried he would find his way back to me. My father built him is very own bat house that looks just like Dracula’s castle, the house is in a very large enclosure, he turns in there every morning to sleep every morning or to use the washroom. ...

Read story

“Never Too Old” by Howard Seeley

Submitted to Contest #78

Never Too Old Wrapped in a bathrobe, Martha was sitting in her favorite chair reading a scripture from the Bible. “But with God, all things are possible.” Of all the verses, this is the one she related most to. She closed the Bible and embraced the warmth emitting from the fireplace. She peered out the window and gazed at the new fallen snow blanketing her front lawn. A faint frown crossed her face. I’m in the winter of my life, she thought. Seventy-five years I’ve walked on this earth and there’s no guarantee I’ll live another day. Marth...

Read story

“Hobby:Smiles” by Debbie Stelzle

Submitted to Contest #78

I'm a journalist for a weekly local magazine. I explore people's unique hobbies. The editors revealed that his son who collects stamps requested to go to the hobbies convention next week. I proposed to the editor perchance I'll encounter unconventional hobbies. Strolling past some stations there were a lot of conventional hobbies such as stamps, toy trucks, and rocks. In this situation, it would thrill me pardon the pun a diamond in the rough. Something caught my eye, something was flashing it was a giant flat-screen TV 81 inches (ca. 2.06 m...

Read story

“Frost” by Marie Caballero

Submitted to Contest #78

A blizzard lightly stormed through As I tiptoed down the glass, clear tiled floor And into his arms It is Thursday January 21 of the 21st Century and my husband is after me To kill me (in my sleep, behind my back, worse not at all) To live this world with me (*sighhh of a puss and boots eyed girl in love*) - who knows Last we seen each other : as I recall in my memory diary (; : 9 months ago Conception Marriage I awoke two days later by the whispers of a full moon *Now realizing indeed it...

Read story

“Hubert's Pet” by David Dicaire

Submitted to Contest #78

Hubert’s Pet Alice Moore was perched slightly behind the curtains armed with a pair of binoculars. It was ten in the morning and right on cue Hubert Rainbrough the neighbour who lived across the concession road on the same farm that he had been born and raised walked out of the house with a brown bag clutched in his right hand. “What could he possibly have in that brown bag?” “Why don’t you call him up and ask him that way you won’t lose any sleep over it?” Her husband Ed said behind the morning newspaper. That irr...

Read story

Load more stories

$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!

Explore more writing prompt ideas:

Adults Writing Prompts ⭢

Adventure Writing Prompts ⭢

Angst Writing Prompts ⭢

Character Writing Prompts ⭢

Christmas Writing Prompts ⭢

Dark Writing Prompts ⭢

Dialogue Writing Prompts ⭢

Dramatic Writing Prompts ⭢

Dystopian Writing Prompts ⭢

Fall Writing Prompts ⭢

Fantasy Writing Prompts ⭢

Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Fluff Writing Prompts ⭢

Funny Writing Prompts ⭢

Halloween Writing Prompts ⭢

High School Writing Prompts ⭢

Historical Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Holiday Writing Prompts ⭢

Horror Writing Prompts ⭢

Kids Writing Prompts ⭢

Middle School Writing Prompts ⭢

Mystery Writing Prompts ⭢

Narrative Writing Prompts ⭢

Nonfiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Novel Writing Prompts ⭢

Poetry Writing Prompts ⭢

Romance Writing Prompts ⭢

Sad Writing Prompts ⭢

Science Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Short Story Writing Prompts ⭢

Spring Writing Prompts ⭢

Summer Writing Prompts ⭢

Teens Writing Prompts ⭢

Thanksgiving Writing Prompts ⭢

Thriller and Suspense Writing Prompts ⭢

Valentine's Day Writing Prompts ⭢

Vampire Writing Prompts ⭢

Winter Writing Prompts ⭢