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Write about someone who still practices a skill that used to be necessary but has long since been replaced by technology.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

“Spinning a Yarn...” by Amy Jayne Conley

Submitted to Contest #78

Knitting. She was always bloody knitting. Always with a pair of needles in her hand, always with a ball of yarn hiding somewhere on her person, a line of the stuff feeding out from some hidden pocket. It wasn’t time spent with Amelia if there wasn’t the familiar clack clack clack of her needles sliding together seamlessly. It was crazy; you’d see her with a line of loops on her needle (a “cast on”, she’d rather aggressively spat at me one day), and within two hours, she’d have a full scarf ready to go. Honestly, it’s like magic. But, Amelia ...

Read story

“A New Day” by Alex D

Submitted to Contest #78

Today is a new day, she finishes brushing her hair. For most, it is an ordinary Friday morning; for Liz it is yet another attempt at something new. On this brisk January morning, instead of going straight to a cafe for a piping hot coffee, she heads to the gently wooded trail down the block. Weilding her bag and her keys, she stands at the sidewalk awkwardly. I'm not athletic, I look ridiculous on this trail in my puffy coa...

Read story

“History” by Anna Smith

Submitted to Contest #78

When most people saw Arianna's room, they declared her a hoarder, though it was never out loud, always kept in their thoughts as was polite to do.But, looking about the room, it was undeniable.It started with the cello in the corner, which was always the first thing that people saw when they walked into her room. The wood gleamed in the light of her overhead fan's lamp, and the automatic assumption was that she was a musician.That assumption quickly dissipated when their eyes swept over the rest of her room.There was a bracelet making statio...

Read story

“By the Stars” by Greg Gillis

Submitted to Contest #78

Jessie Hanson and his wife, Jean have spent a good part of their lives together traveling the world on a J-Class sailing yacht that they named, “JASMINE” after their daughter who died as an infant of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Jessie, a self-made millionaire, wanted nothing more in life than to please his wife. His purchase of this 137-foot-long superyacht was his birthday present to her one year follo...

Read story

“What kind of Pet?” by John Del Rio

Submitted to Contest #78

Gerald looked confused; it was a look that often crossed his coarse features. Teague told him; “I said that they took Pecht from her, not that they took her pet”. The third man who was larger still than both of the other two large men looked at the interaction with a slight smile on his plain, serious face. Gerald spoke once again; “well what kind of pet did the cook lady keep? Was it a dog, a cat, a rabbit?” Teague slowly shook his head as the bruiser continued with his not quite tirade; maybe it was a speech, it was at least said wi...

Read story

“WHO ARE THE WALKING DEAD” by Ronald Gagnon

Submitted to Contest #78

Hello.....My name is Ricardo I am looking for the convention room in this hotel for fans/discussions about The Walking Dead... And all the theories about how that scenario is playing out in the "Real" world... Can You Help me....I notice you are wearing the Rick Grimes outfit...so I figure you must know where you are going... Am I right? Yeah... yeah... I am Donald....Don to my friends.....Trumpass.. and I hope you will be one of them.... It is so hard to discuss this situation with "normal" people who have no idea what is goin...

Read story

“Duck Whispering” by Jose Duron

Submitted to Contest #78

"Hi, would you like to sign up for duck whispering?" The lady starts. My friend and I look at each other. "Duck whispering?" I repeat back. "Don't do this, Carlo." My friend and associate hisses in my ear, "We need to make it to the--" "Relax, Rogie," I interrupt. "We got time. Besides, who isn't interested in duck whispering?" I say sarcastically. "Tell me more." I smile to the cute brunette. "Yes," The lady starts enthusiastically. "It's pretty simple and I only will take two minutes of your time." She ushers us into her world. I fo...

Read story

“About Samantha” by Ivan Cardoso

Submitted to Contest #78

The phone rang nine times before Clara could turn off the oven, wash her hands, dry them, and pick it up.“Clara, it’s me. We need to talk about something.”“Good morning to you too, Gerald.”“Sorry, sorry, good morning. Where are my manners? How have you been?”“I've been doing alright. A strange cough, but nothing that you need to worry about. How are you?”“Not so well, Clara. I mean, I'm good, but there's something that's not so good.”“What was it you wanted to talk about?”“It’s about Samantha. She called me last night, said I shouldn’t tell ...

Read story

“THE GLORIOUS POOL” by Sivaram Govindaraj

Submitted to Contest #78

The Society for Interplanetary Travel held its first annual convention in Kochi in India. Its president Mr.Forsstrom of Iceland spoke after a few formalities. He began by saying “This is the first meeting of our Society and begins with the theme of perils of interplanetary travel. The usual dangers of travel in rockets in space are known. However there are even more dangers of travelling in planets new to us. Many of us who have the hobby of interplanetary travel will know we can face many hazards while exposed to unknown environments. We’ve...

Read story

“My Friend, Cluckster” by Kelly Pawlik

Submitted to Contest #78

Benny dropped his backpack to the ground and glanced around before opening the latch on the small coop in his backyard. He’d made the whole thing himself out of scrap wood and some chicken wire. He pulled the apple slices he’d saved from his breakfast out of his pant pocket and dropped them into the cage. “Here you go Cluckster,” he said. The bird’s red comb bobbed as he pecked greedily at the morsels of food, but didn’t look at Benny. Benny studied the creature. He’d hoped his feathers would have filled in a bit more by now, but his scal...

Read story

“For Her Eyes Only ” by Louise Muller

Submitted to Contest #78

He raised the tainted paper to eye level and looked at it closely, misshaped and deformed, manipulated by his hands. He ran his hands over the sheet. His hands, like the paper, were misshaped and deformed, manipulated by old age. This would be his last letter, he knew it. His time had come. He met Lina more than sixty years ago at his cousin, Bob's BBQ. If he had known that his entire life would change over burgers and beer, he would have shown much more excitement when Bob invited him. He tried several excuses, but his stubborn cousin wo...

Read story

“Amanda’s Unusual Pet” by Miss Tzofiah

Submitted to Contest #78

In her town, she’s known to everyone for having such great fondness of any kind of animals — may they be venomous and dangerous. They’ve known her — a fearless lass, often to places they knew not whence she came with scary carnivorous animals with her. There’s one of the times she came with two large scorpions on her shoulders, which that day, made all the inhabitants rush inside their houses and close all their doors as she passed by. She has no parents anymore with her. She grew up in the jungle where all sorts of beautiful animals ex...

Read story

“All This and a Box of Matches” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #78

I skipped the seminar on plastic. I don’t like the way it smells when it goes up. Tight. Taut smell. The smoke billows in a way I can’t appreciate. They forgot to book one of the outdoor spaces, so they wouldn’t even be able to let the smoke go up too much before they’d have to put it out, or they’d tip off the hotel that we’re not actually a stamp-collecting convention. A thousand people and not one stamp in sight. You’d think somebody would be tipped off, but people avoid the boring the way they used to avoid lepers, and as soon ...

Read story

“Hominid Hour - A Tour at Truleck's” by Kevin Schenk

Submitted to Contest #78

Garbanar Trulecks turned to me and gave out a sigh with a long wail. His pet Homo sapiens had once again dirtied it's habitat with it's own feces. "It's a shame. We usually see this behaviour in the older ones." He added it would sometimes "screech non-stop when it saw me" and complained it would curse at it. "I even learned their language but apparently this one speaks another tongue. It's been a rough start."Garbanar, in all of his benevolence, was patient and outright forgiving to it. One should not be ashamed to admire such grace and for...

Read story

“My Pet Platypus” by Greg Gillis

Submitted to Contest #78

Ten-year-old, Lawrence was playing with his radio-controlled car on a quiet residential road near the San Diego Zoo, when the car lost control and drove off the road into a wooded area. Lawrence followed the path of his toy through the long grass and discovered it half-submerged in a creek at the bottom of a hill. After wading his way through the thick, muddy bank, Lawrence was able to reach the car and began to...

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 ⭢