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Write about someone who still practices a skill that used to be necessary but has long since been replaced by technology.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

“Books are Amazing!” by Maple Yuri

Submitted to Contest #78

A young girl with oversized glasses said to her, “Why don’t you try picking up some books around her.” She said as she pointed in the book covered room. “You might find something you like. It has been twenty minutes since Rosemary and her parents arrived at their old house where her grandmother and the young girl she stayed with. It’s a tradition for the family to go on vacations every summer. Last time they went to a cold fishing village where dad’s families are, but this time they were in the middle of a forest, in the middle of no...

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“The Art of People Watching” by Noelle Bradley🌼

Submitted to Contest #78

Author’s Note: Hello reader! This story does start a little slow, but hopefully, that is made up for in the end. It just kind of came to me all of a sudden, and I decided to just roll with it, so I hope it is an enjoyable read. All feedback is greatly appreciated! Thanks! 🌼 It wasn’t uncommon for there to be so many people around the park but that didn’t mean I had to like it. I didn’t like people all that much, they were just so complicated. Aside from my friends, I stayed away from people as much as I could, which was completely ironic ...

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“First Date” by Matthew Eubanks

Submitted to Contest #78

It was worse than I could have imagined. Yoga. He's invited me to do yoga with him. Yoga is naptime for adults. It is a formal, complex, expensive way of saying “Sit the fuck down” like they used to do in kindergarten. Namaste, bitch. Hold still. When he started chatting with me we were in line at the Trader Joe's. There was a Whole Foods on every corner in Denver. Whole Foods offends my southern red meat sensibilities. Trader Jo...

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“𝐏𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥” by W.S. Clyffesend

Submitted to Contest #78

I was a winter’s touch I did not think you would petrify so suddenly Your hands gently laid atop mine as you guide. Your hands that had never felt this warm before. When the finishing brushstroke hit you examined the finished work, alleviated, then turned to me. I remember the first time I saw you, cheeks pallid and your face slack with apathy. Were you taking in the surroundings that you felt so detached from? Were you in deep thought or dissociation? English architecture is always trying so hard to retain it’s old roots, ...

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“Colorful Capybara” by Gracie G.

Submitted to Contest #78

The year was 2017. The newest sixty-four crayola pack had just come out, and Austin was begging for it. He would direct his mom at every turn during Target visits, just to get it. Make his dad lookup available packs at nearby stores. Do chores for his grandparents, just to get enough money for one single pack. But, most times, all the responses he got were:"Don't you think you're a little old for crayola?"As well as,"We could spend money on something a little more useful. Right?"And, not to forget,"Your other fifteen year old friends want bi...

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“Worthless Earns His Keep” by Douglas Baker

Submitted to Contest #78

Silas Lapham Cobb, Attorney-at-Law, sat behind his cluttered desk, leaning back in a wooden swivel chair, snoring softly. A large white cat with one ragged ear lay curled on his lap, its purrs nearly matching the snores. A ceiling fan turned languidly overhead, uselessly pushing hot August air from one side of the office to the other. The clock on the wall, ticking in eerie accord with the snores and purrs, showed nearly three o'clock. The wall calendar showed 1891. &nb...

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“A Different Kind of Pet” by Cina Coren

Submitted to Contest #78

Nathan filled up Jared’s cage with mounds of lettuce leaves. He watched as his pet chewed his breakfast, slowly, carefully. No rush. Jared wasn’t going anywhere. His life revolved around sleeping and eating. From time to time, he would open his eyes and give Nathan a friendly (or so Nathan interpreted it) smile of recognition and thanks. But most of the time he would just lie in his tank and quietly contemplate his existence.Judah was an iguana. Nathan’s father bought it for him for his 8th birthday. An unusual pet for sure but the only kind...

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“The human dogs” by Hareth Azawi

Submitted to Contest #78

There was a knock on the door … the old lady knew that the guest was the man who called her earlier that evening and ask her to make an interview with him … she said "please come in, the door is open." A short man with a mustache enters, he saw the old lady sitting in the living room … so he went directly towards here and said "Greeting to you madam ... " She greeted him by her head, the interviewer sit down in front of her, he looked at her … she smiled, then he look at the man who was sitting near her feet … he was wearin...

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“Airlock 10” by Tommy Aitch

Submitted to Contest #78

The tannoy, right on time, announces: “Breakfast time, make your way to Bay 7.” I never really fancied breakfast. I’ve gone off of powdered eggs & dodgy “bacon” slices. I gave it a miss. As I stepped into Airlock 10, I could see him through the reinforced window. Jumping around, full of excitement. He could smell me, he had a magnificent sense of smell. I suited up, and went through the obligatory checks. Everything was in order. I pressed the button, and the door slowly closed behind me. The chamber synched with the outer...

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“That Glowing Eye Thing ” by OFFICIAL BRITTANY

Submitted to Contest #78

Uncle Jack and Auntie Jasmine lived far away in an island name Alaska they sometimes visit my family in October. When they came almost every October I saw realized that they brought a cute little puppy I played with it during the days and as time flies by I didn't have anytime more to play with him. When I was in bed lying down I saw a little shadow behind my door as soon as I was going to check it out with a lot of fair in my heart I opened the door and soon recognize the puppy he was eating the family pet rat that was missing I thought " S...

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“Osty & A Friend ” by Ramel Kersey

Submitted to Contest #78

“Alright…I have three questions.” “Ask them.” “Now you have to be completely honest when you answer. Don’t be around the bush or vague about anything.” “I didn’t plan on doing either.” “One…are you sane?” “Last time I checked I’m a pretty stable human being.” “I said don’t lie to me. Are you sure you haven’t been diagnosed with some type of sickness? You’re a hundred percent certain you don’t have any screws loose?” “I don’t know of a person that doesn’t have a single screw that’s a bit shaky. I don’t think that necessarily means I ha...

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“Starlight” by Harper Harris

Submitted to Contest #78

My first day of real school was in the fourth grade. It happened to be Pet Day. There were cats, dogs, goldfish, an amphibian or reptile here and there. But me?I brought my owl. Her name was Stea. That means “star” in Romanian. My mom always liked to look up the words for things in different languages, and when we first found Stea as a little baby, she wanted to name her after the stars.“Not the stars,” she interrupted me one time, when I told the story to a friend. “No, I named it after my daughter.” She smiled down at me, put her arm ...

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“The Additional Package” by HBR Patel

Submitted to Contest #78

'Sir, you are about to enter a private zone. You are not authorized to enter this zone. Please turn back.' announced a voice. 'Yes, we know that. Our oxygen and fuel supply is about to finish. We need help.' said Tom with a calm voice. He was inside the spaceship with his crew of three people. 'I repeat, this is a private zone. Turn back or you will be shot down.' warned the previous voice once again. 'Don't you see that we need help?' 'Our escort will help you outside this zone. That escort will supply you with fuel cells and oxygen c...

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“Umikame” by Emily Trucco

Submitted to Contest #78

I first met Mr Sugiyama as he was hosing down his turtles in the driveway. Having come to expect the extraordinary from Japan, it took me a moment to register how odd the sight was. Two turtles flailed their flippers languidly on the hot concrete, each a little larger than my hands cupped together. An older Japanese man in suit trousers, white shirt rolled to his elbows and yellow crocs stood over them. In his hand a long, orange garden hose gushed water over the flapping reptiles. He smiled when he saw me staring, eyes glittering with amuse...

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“Nini and Friends” by Y. Y

Submitted to Contest #78

“Mom!” a little girl in her pink dress called – a jar in her tiny hand, “look what I got!” she exclaimed as she showed her mother who was sitting on a wooden chair at the porch – knitting – the jar she was holding. A small creature fluttered inside, a yellow light flickering on its lower body from time to time.“What is that, Emma?” her mother asked after glancing at what her daughter was holding – trying to act and sound interested to what the little girl was up to.“Well, it’s my new pet!” she answered and giggled.The mother paused, and then...

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$50

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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.

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