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Write about someone who still practices a skill that used to be necessary but has long since been replaced by technology.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

“Animal Ties ” by Christian Hinrichsen

Submitted to Contest #78

Animal Ties jchinrichsen88a@gmail.com Jordero Jungles. The Festive Animal Hunt goes on in Fort Anant celebrating the gift of animals not only as food but also a hunt for an exotic pet. Has been going on for several years. After the Great Shaman druid, Ha-bib sacrificed himself to the Jul-tan Dragon He-long to save a group of people and their livestock from the hippo-dragon of Jul-tan folklore. It is with this festival the citizens of Jul-tan celebrate his sacrifice. In order to control the high flow of exotic pet hunters, the Warden C...

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“Growing Pains” by Conor Thackray

Submitted to Contest #78

“Just promise you won’t tell mum.” Evie had me by the wrist now and was pulling me out of the back door. “You know I can’t promise that sweetie,” I replied, trying to stay light-hearted in the face of my daughter’s obvious anxiety. She was taking me toward the garden, with a real sense of urgency in her tone, through the glass doors away from where I had been working at the dining table. I had terminated the call early when, no matter what I did or faces I pulled, she continued to tug at my sleeve. “Daddy! You have to promise! I’m not suppos...

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“A Fox's Purpose” by Caleb Ellis

Submitted to Contest #78

He opened his eyes. Or at least he thought he did, because before he couldn’t see, and then he could. It was foggy at first, but the collection of lights slowly morphed into a little girl’s face. A smiling face. Or at least he though that’s what it was. She had short black hair which fell down equally around her head at ear level, except her face. Large blue eyes looked right into his, and he began to wonder what color his eyes were, of all things. Beyond the girl, he could see that they were inside a house, and what looked to be a nice one ...

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“What Jake Found In The Basement” by John Walsh

Submitted to Contest #78

“I hear a sound in the basement,” said Claire to her husband Jake. “Go see what it is.” Jake turned on the basement light and went down the steep, old steps. He saw a small sort of reptile writhing on the floor. It had many legs and continuously changed its shape and colors. “It’s some kind of lizard.” “Lizard! I don’t think I want a lizard in the basement. What kind of lizard?” &n...

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“Bamboo” by Bobby Spina

Submitted to Contest #78

How high does Bamboo grow? I wondered this, as I gazed in awe upon the green skyscrapers shattering the heavens above me and the rest of the grove. It was quite a sight to behold, especially during the early morning sunrise. But the funny thing was, only a fool would think to see sunlight shine in this perplexing forest, or at least during this time of day. The hellishly dense forest made it impossible to see even an ounce of sunlight slit its way through the trees; a living barrier in and of itself from the rest of the outside world. I en...

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“Maashtun” by A Mehendale

Submitted to Contest #78

Whispers follow them through the streets. There they go, the voices say, coloured with fear and awe and intrigue. They ooh and they aah, at the silver horses, the gilt frame of the carriage, they marvel at what might lie hidden within, the thought of jewel bedecked walls and velvet floors.Among them are those more wary. They speak only in soft murmurs, they trade rumours and pass judgements. Heathens. Cambions. Witches.And one phrase rises above it all, louder than the muttered insults, more hushed than the awestruck wonder. There go th...

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“Lilac” by Elyse Williams

Submitted to Contest #78

My window rattles. Silence. It rattles again. My eyelids slowly lift.I turn to face my bed stand. The clock glares 3:47 am. The witching hour. I sit up and turn to my window. I can’t make out much, but something appears to be flying. . Suddenly, my window flies open and I lunge towards my lamp. Oh. It’s a raven. I try shushing it, but apparently, it’s very rebellious. It shrieks so loud that I only have a couple of seconds to hide it before my door flies open. My mom bursts in the room.¨WHA- Alex? What happened? Are you okay?¨ her face ...

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“Cooking Under Pressure” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #78

“What you doin?” “What does it look like I’m doin?” “Don’t rightly know, or I wouldn’t be askin.” “Makes some kind of sense. You really wantin to know?” “Like I said, I wouldn’t be askin if I…” “Ok, OK, I’ll tell ya if’n you don’t know.” “Well, alright then!” And that’s the way it seems to go. Been goin on like this for generations, and each one passes and leaves something behind for us to be wondered about. Great Granddad, picture of him and the long saw, on the shop wall. Him and his buddy, Rooty Two Toes, cutting down ...

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“Show Me the Way To Go Home” by Kerrie Clements

Submitted to Contest #78

“No, I said turn left onto Craddick Street!” shouted Hannah, “You said turn left, you didn’t tell me the name of the road! I need to turn around now. This is ridiculous!” replied Diane, disconcertedly. “Next time Hannah, we use the Satnav!”. Hannah wasn’t listening. She was too busy turning the map around to figure out which way they needed to turn to get back to where they were. They finally reached The Blue Dolphin, which was a rather small, but posh hotel, on the outskirts of a quaint little village called Handley. They were late, but ho...

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“The Darkroom” by Bobby Bone

Submitted to Contest #78

Darkness is all around us and for half of our lives we live in it and with it. Yet darkness brings fearful and sometimes macabre feelings forth as we encounter it. It permeates our hearts and souls in our emotional states. It is used to describe the future of things to come for those with less positive outlooks to life. It sometimes carries a negative connotation in descriptive terminology. Even physical darkness brings fears to many who encounter it. Children fear the boogieman and adults just fear what they ca...

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“Making Toast ” by Kay Swenn

Submitted to Contest #78

I know it’s silly and pointless and a waste of time and wasteful in general and blah blah blah. I know these things, I’m only ridiculed seemingly constantly for my passion. But I can’t help it. For generations we did these incredible, impermanent works of art, art a person can experience and now people look at it as something not worth the dirt caked on their shoes. My great grandmother taught me one day how to make a simple piece of toast and I was hooked. I love to cook. Humanity seems to dwell on progress and efficiency. Nev...

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“Wedding Invitations” by Elle Weaver

Submitted to Contest #78

If I close my eyes, I can still hear the scratching of my grandmother’s pen. I used to lay on the floor, sprawled out on the antique carpet, the rough wool fibers making my stomach itch where my shirt pulled up and exposed it, my sock feet in the air, waving back and forth gaily like a pirate’s flag. She used thick, heavy duty paper that she bought from a local artist, paper the likes of which I had never seen. Grainy and rough to the touch, flecks of old paper inside the new one. The remnants of a stranger's memori...

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“The Pen is not as Mighty as the Mind” by Eric Deitch

Submitted to Contest #78

I can safely assume that the vast majority of people who post on this site write using a computer. Typing out their ideas, diatribes, memories, or whatever they choose. Of course, you’re using a simple keystroke. It is efficient, fast, and forgiving because if you make a mistake it can readily be fixed with a backspace or delete key. It helps us get the information out of our heads and into the minds of others across the world in an instant. A lot of times people talk about the good old days where everything was simpler, more relaxed, and I ...

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“JUPONIUM” by Sivaram Govindaraj

Submitted to Contest #78

I start with a story: ‘I am on Gaia2 – earth’s twin – which is about 800 years behind earth in evolution and live in a village with my wife. Since we lived in a tropical village we didn’t need much climatic protection. That is why we natives covered ourselves only from waist down. Mine was a big farm and I had chicken and ducks on our land. We had a pool at the end of our land in which fish were stocked. Grains were supplied to us from fields of others. We had cows too, and we produced honey ourselves. We produced oil working the manual extr...

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“Nagerrotay” by Sara Blanch

Submitted to Contest #78

Feel free to call me traditional...or a 'mamma's boy', I've been called considerably worse by people of a much higher status. I am proud to be apart of the Nagerrotay lineage, my ancestors for generations had been famous for our particular ability to tune into the universal energy and obtain the information we needed. For thousands of years the Nagerrotay had been advising the Fae's royal council and those who requested our assistance. When the Fae and the human world had made their initial contact over half a century ago, it had trigge...

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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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