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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Write about someone who still practices a skill that used to be necessary but has long since been replaced by technology.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 Whale at Dinner” by Pepe Bellerin

Submitted to Contest #78

It’s very striking. Impossible to ignore, but you try. You don’t want to think about it. It’s a whale. In a tank. At dinner. You will have heard about it before you came. It’s the first thing out of anyone’s mouth the second Lord Gannon is mentioned. “You know he keeps a whale in a tank?” There’s no way you can escape knowing. By the time you’ve set foot on the estate for your first soiree at Lord Gannon’s manor, you know all about the Whale. You’ll know that she’s light blue, almost white. You know he’s h...

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“A Hippopotamus for Every Holiday” by Howard Altman

Submitted to Contest #78

Although he said all his daughters were his favorite, Sonnalli knew she was her father’s favorite favorite. He rarely called her “Sonnalli", instead using his pet name for her, chand, Hindi for moon. "I don't need a lamp”, he laughed, reading to her one night, “you are my light, little Chand.”Sonnalli liked walking down to the market herself, feeling grown up at eight years old, and her father, Aarav, knew that the neighbors would keep a close eye on her.Brimming with curiosity, Sonnalli would roam her village and bring Aarav whate...

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“Happy birthday and a fossa” by Zoya Sabnani

Submitted to Contest #78

“Happy birthday to youuuuuu!” Everyone sang to me. “Are you one? Are you two? Are you three. . .” They chanted for a while “. . . Are you ten? Are you eleven? Are you twelve? Are you thirteen?” “Stop!” I yelled, grinning from ear to ear. This was my thirteenth birthday! I couldn't believe I was finally a teenager! “Time for presents!” Mom and Dad yelled at the same time. They weren’t usually enthusiastic about getting more stuff. Or as they called it, junk. They must have gotten me something good, something they knew I would be e...

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“Boundless Lamb” by Lexy A.P.

Submitted to Contest #78

“No! Argos, Please! You can’t go!” cried a boy. The wolf struggled to lift its head as he became weaker and weaker. Nuzzling his head into the boy’s chest, tears dripped onto his fur. He lifted his paw and sat it in his friend’s hand. “Argos you can’t go. I need you here. We have so many more adventures to go on!” sobbed the boy. Argos whimpered and panted. “You have to save him!” screamed the boy. “Cassian, look at me. There is nothing I can do. It will be alright,” whisper a soft, tired woman. “He is my only friend! I can’t lea...

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“My gilrfriend was the BLACK PANTHER” by Mo' Scherrie

Submitted to Contest #78

I grew up in a predominantly white family of staunch racists. My father was 6 generation confederacy klu klux clan elect and my mother; the epitome of southern belle charm. Me and my 3 brothers and only sister knew the moment our privelage was questioned. It was the day SHE moved to our small town in Bell Buckle, Tennessee.We were a small town of mostly upstanding and honest citizens with upstanding jobs and upstanding credit. I just always thought we were ridiculously clueless and narcissistic rednecks who felt we could do no harm. My dad f...

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“An Untamed Pet” by Adnan Malik

Submitted to Contest #78

Sameer was a 16 years old boy and was entomophobic. It was july and his summer vacations. All day he plays with his friend 'Akshay'. Akshay was Samir's classmate and bestfriend. After having his breakfast, Sameer went out as usual to play with Akshay in the ground. They planned their meeting on yesternights. Sameer saw his chum Akshay already arrived at the ground wearing knee pads. "I'm sorry for arriving late." "You are late as usual Sameer. Now don't waste time, go and wear your pads and grab your bat.", Replied Aks...

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“A Mr Magoo” by Vimbai Mbera

Submitted to Contest #78

It was a dark night, in the small town of Marlow there was just pure silence. The only sound that could be heard was that of the rattling bunch of keys on a holder. Fumbling with the keys to the jewelry store, Jack Harbor squinted his eyes hard enough to un-blur them. Without the aid of his specs it became difficult to spot the key to locking the store. He jumbled and fumbled the keys within his sweaty hands. The light of the moon was of no help at all as clouds gathered around making it more difficult for the old&nbs...

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“Dino, the Story of the One Dinosaur on Noah's Ark” by Roger Crane

Submitted to Contest #78

Noah was just about ready with the Ark. He and his sons had filled it with the provisions they would need for themselves and the animals. They had strapped big barrels of water onto the interior vertical beams, which was in addition to the water runoff system that Shem had installed (he being the inventive one of Noah’s sons) from the top of the ark and down pathways cut into the wood inside, with the overflow diverted outside again. He had advised his father to have both fresh water and the runoff system.“you never can tell what will be in ...

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“the wick maker” by Clara Carr

Submitted to Contest #78

It had been a long day. The market had been out of the weaving string I used to make wicks. It was a strange hobby to enjoy so much, wick making. It was worth it though even if i did not enjoy it to see the kind young lady from town buy them up bundles at a time to make her candles. She was always such a sweet girl. She always insisted on paying me, but the handmade candle business is one that does not come with much of a profit. I accepted her payment as a loaf of fresh baked bread every week, she lives miles down the road but its always ...

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“Inventions in 2068 ” by Gia Volterra De Saulnier

Submitted to Contest #78

It's now 2068, and the Engineering committee has decided to create an invention show with the upcoming technology. The Droids and robots took over as soon as World War III was over. Biological Warfare does that to this planet we now call home. Not that many humans are left though. I guess the Government figured out they didn’t really need humans so much so they just had engineers build all these robots.Most of the humans in my neighborhood had been either drafted or forced to go to the war, but I was too young according to their “standards” ...

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“Long Lost” by Emily B

Submitted to Contest #78

Dear Grandma, I hope you doing all right. I decided to write you a letter, just like you asked. How are you doing? We got a new puppy, her name is Cora, she's named after you. She loves walks and baths. She reminds me of you when you were younger from the stories you told me. Young, playful, and full of life. She has a chestnut coat and is part Husky and part German Shepard. Mom got a new job, she now works as a teacher for MIT and has a Doctors degree. That is all thanks to you, without you she wouldn't have been able to do it. Dad still ...

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“Sew Cool” by Cat Tew

Submitted to Contest #78

“Kat, what are you doing?” I ask, staring at her. She’s sitting on the picnic blanket I had set up, the sun shining off of her blonde pixie cut. I distantly note how content she looks, in her bright pink cat hoodie and black yoga pants just soaking up the sun. However, the item in her hands distracts me. “What, this?” She asks good-naturedly, holding up the offending object. “It’s called sewing, Jaz.” She ...

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“Postal Service” by Jalen Wright

Submitted to Contest #78

"Dear My Love, Another starry night and a sky of dark blue The evening commences as it began I wake up in a panic and look for you My disillusionment animates the frenzied actions of a madman Can I last another night without you Anne? Yours Truly, Krillin" The wet ink glistens on the paper from the archaic quill pen. The lantern on the table begins to dim as the night drags on. The young boy stands up he blows on the paper to expedite the drying process of the wet ink. The numerous discarded drafts of paper that scatter the ground beside t...

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“A Lost Art Found” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #78

In her years at school, now long past, Agnes worked hardest on, and achieved her best marks in penmanship. It was an accomplishment that she had been proud of, then, as she still is now. In present times, however, she believes that, with computer technology being the main vehicle of writing, penmanship is a lost art. And she feels lost along with it, that both her and her handwriting are creatures of the past. Unsurprisingly, she had become an elementary school teacher, and had taught many children how to write, a task that b...

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“Memorizing the numbers. ” by Stanzin Khenrab

Submitted to Contest #78

"Fuck! I forgot to save Abhishek's number in my contacts." I said laying on my bed, browsing through the contacts of my phone. It was around seven at night when I had a subtle feeling that I had forgotten something important to do. I couldn't remember what exactly so I started to look through my phone. For hours I just stared at my phone, opening different apps to trigger any little bit of memory. But it was all in vain and I was starting to get irritated, until I clicked at the contacts app and then the one which was forgotten, hit my hea...

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$50

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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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