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Write about someone who still practices a skill that used to be necessary but has long since been replaced by technology.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

“𝔼𝕧𝕖𝕝𝕪𝕟'𝕤 𝕃𝕚𝕤𝕥 𝕠𝕗 25 ℍ𝕠𝕣𝕣𝕚𝕓𝕝𝕖 ℍ𝕠𝕓𝕓𝕚𝕖𝕤 ” by User_2443 0967

Submitted to Contest #78

**This book may be so funny you fall out of your seat. Be careful. Please. Wear a helmet or something.**Hi. I'm Evelyn Dupont. This is my list of tried-and-true hobbies that I just can't stick with. I beg of you, don't try this at home. Unless... No. Just trust me. Don't try any of these. Ever.1.Bowling. Bowling can be fun until you find out you're allergic to food dye the hard way. And to think I liked slushies. Also, I'm famous in my family for being the only one that has ever underhand-thrown the bowling ball. And, ah, hitting an employee...

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“The Heirs of Man ” by Nainika Gupta

Submitted to Contest #78

To those who believed that technology would inevitably rule the world, I am living proof that it did. Ruled the world.Took over the world.Encircled the world. Replaced the world. And I am one of the last people who matter in the workforce. One of the last people they need. One of the last people out of 11.9 billion people to have a job. That should be a good thing, right? For me? For the few others like me?Wrong.It was only because robots could not deny that the human brain’s capability for driving was tenfold t...

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“One Shot” by Phebe Emmanuel

Submitted to Contest #78

HEYYOOO! It's been a while since I posted (notice what I said last time... and the time before that... *cringe*) but I'm back for now!!! It doesn't exactly fit the prompt, but this is the first chapter of the new novel I'm writing called One Shot. Tell me in the comments what you think, if you think I should continue writing it, and above all IF IT MAKES SENSE!!!!!Thanks, y'all, and just keep on livin' and lovin'!The walls are closing in on both sides, and all I can do is run. Run down the hallway that is getting thinner and thinner by the s...

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“I wish to dance” by Amany Sayed

Submitted to Contest #78

She wished to dance.But they told her it was improper for a princess.So she had to twirl in the moonlight, dressed in her nightgown. She put on shows for the stars, her feet bare on the wet grass. She danced to no music, only the tune in her head. She left her tiara on her dresser, made sure her parents were fast asleep, and tied her hair with blue ribbon, walking out the door.It was always dark.She never minded.Until the day she fell.She didn’t realize how hard the cobblestone pathway really was until her leg hit it with a crumbling thud. S...

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“Hopeful Promises (P. U. pt. 2)” by Maya -

Submitted to Contest #78

Author’s Note: This is part two of Nadia and Elias’s story, from my story “Please Understand.” It would probably make sense if you read part one first, which is pretty short. I’m not sure if this counts as a trigger warning, but it does involve kidnapping as a major part of the plot. Thank you for being here on a story I wrote, I hope you enjoy it. Have an amazing day! 𝙴𝙻𝙸𝙰𝚂'𝚂 𝙿𝙾𝚅: “The police department only considers a person missing if they have been gone for at least twenty-four hours. Until then, there is nothing we can do. I’...

151 comments 151

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“Self Portrait With an Empty Moon” by Scout Tahoe

Submitted to Contest #78

I only get autophobia in the spring, or at least that’s what I tell people. It’s the season that’s printed on calendars with crooked lines but never seems to exist in this mustache of constellations and planets. There are specific step-by-step directions that I follow to rid myself of winter’s thick cardigan. To think of my life as this big chess metaphor, where I’m the queen of ivory and ravens like a grayscale film of an unvoiced war. If I’m the queen everyone else is a pawn so I’m not alone.To hop-scotch into the day when I drive to ...

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“Afra and Gervassi: Timeout” by Jubilee Forbess

Submitted to Contest #78

Hanna’s lips were thin and pressing, much like the hands that gathered fabric at the small of Gervassi’s back. Hanna’s lips asked questions where Afra’s had always given answers. Gervassi couldn’t say a word. He looked at her hands; they invited him to a life or travel, of whimsy, of tranquil chaos. There was so much potential for the two of them as people, but as he continued to sit there, thinking of Hanna’s lips against his own, he knew there was nothing for them together. “I shouldn’t be here.” Gervassi straightened his shirt and ...

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“A Silver Lining” by Writer Maniac

Submitted to Contest #78

Rapid strokes fill the length of the canvas, the colours mixing in a way an amateur would marvel at. I, however, find it to be less than perfect. Dipping the paintbrush in the reds and oranges on the palette, I try to compensate for the lacking mountains by brightening up the sunset in the background. I end up messing it up further, the greyish hue of the mountains mixing with the sun’s yellow, creating a new shade of disgusting. I throw the paintbrush and palette on the wall opposite me, kicking the legs of the easel. As the wall gets...

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“I think, therefore I am...human?” by Moon Lion

Submitted to Contest #78

I lazily sprawled out on the warm grass of the Castle Hills. That was the pretend name Cassidy, Rafael, Sera, and I had once given these dramatic sloping hills. The "castle" was the deformed ring of boulders at the top, which always seemed like the impenetrable lair of a three-headed cat king or something else children found magical. All of us had had imaginary roles, I was a wizard, Raf was an alien astronaut who had a fear of birds, Sera was a Tree Princess who actually had evil death powers, and Cassidy was an alchemist. In our games, t...

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“The Creed of the Reaper” by 【ↇ𝔸𝕂𝕆⇝𝔹𝔼𝔸ℝ 】

Submitted to Contest #78

Author's note: This is not my usual style. Beware. But, you know, new inspiration from new books so I thought I would give it a go. You've been warned. “I’ve told you before, I am NOT doing that!” Lev protested. “Who in their right mind would do such a thing?” “Good thing I lost my right mind long ago.” I replied. “You’ve asked me to do this before. Join you on one of your jolly jaunts, you ask, but NO, I will not join you. The answer is no.” “I just don’t see what’s so wrong with it as long as you do it in the right way- which I do.” ...

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“For some, Old, but for some, Gold” by ✯𝐋𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚 𝐋𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫✯

Submitted to Contest #78

65 years ago... "Dear Martha, what on Earth are you doing? It's cold outside, yet you are still here!" her elder shouted. "Dear sister, I am writing," she replied calmly and continued doing her activity. "Writing what? About how disrespectful you are with your sister?" Edna kept bugging her. "Answer me, Martha." "Can't you bug someone else? How about Leslie? Or...Julia? Maybe even little Charlie!" "I'm bugging you? Mother has ordered me to bring you back home! Martha, come on now, get inside." "No." Martha cooly replied. "Don't a...

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“the letters you didn't read” by Amany Sayed

Submitted to Contest #78

Dear May, I miss your eyes. They’re brown, a very deep brown. You hated them. But you didn’t see them like I did. Whenever you spoke of your flowers or happy memories, the sparkle of your joy would gleam in your eyes, glistening with hope and meaning. I miss the way you would look at me. Like I was something special. You’re the special one, you always were. As I write this, it’s morning, and the sunlight is peeking in the windows. Your eyes would be glued to the sun right now, and I’d be staring at you, wondering how someone could be s...

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“Old Age ” by Palak Shah

Submitted to Contest #78

Softly splashing water droplets hit the car windows as I drove onwards; turning of the handle in my car caused my wipers to flick the raindrops off my window. The skies are overhung with a blanket of grey, so much so that I can barely tell the difference between the sky and clouds. Despite car rides having the potential to feel tedious that is not the case for me, the rain commonly calms me. I watch raindrops race down. The occasional wave of a puddle can be exciting, especially when going through it. I can just picture it: I can picture the...

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“What a mess he got into” by ✯𝐋𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚 𝐋𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫✯

Submitted to Contest #78

It was a hot July afternoon. Theo was off, heading to his important meeting at the Environment Arts and Crafts building. It was a busy afternoon for him. After his tuition class (which he had to beg his teacher to end the class 20 minutes early after giving him a fake excuse), he was panting, running towards the building. He didn't even have enough breath to cross the street.Well, while he was running towards the end of the sidewalk, he saw a person. Is it Marvin? Nah, it can't be! Why would he be out and about right now! He's supposed ...

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“Willow My Pet” by Cookie Carla🍪

Submitted to Contest #78

Hi. My name is Marissa. I'm not going to waste your time and talk about myself because you won't remember long enough to finish this story. What you will remember is Willow. She's a pet. She's my pet. As soon as I saw her on the street, alone and scared, I had to adopt her. She's adorable. She and her little friends are all adorable. My mom, otherwise known as Mrs. Godzilla, is always telling me that I need to get rid of my pets. What does she know? She doesn't understand. Get that thing out of my house. No. Eww. What is that...

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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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