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Write about someone who still practices a skill that used to be necessary but has long since been replaced by technology.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

“Other People's Shite: Patsy's Stolen and Repurposed Designs” by S.N. Beale

Submitted to Contest #78

Best friends - Ruby Kurtones III and Patricia ‘Patsy’ Murdock - were out on a shared off day. Enjoying their weekly stroll and catching up through the collective faction’s neighborhood park. It was the most pleasant day: ungodly humid with a suffocating fog. However, the air was the right amount of stale and putrid where they could wander at their leisure without dragging along their discount oxygen helmets or rashing up their faces with vent masks. Instead, dressed in their most cordial hazard gear - matching vibrant oranges and yellow refl...

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“Lobby For A Hobby” by Daniel Norton

Submitted to Contest #78

"All right, class. This is the last day of the semester so how shall we end it." "Let's have a party!" someone in the back of the room yells. "Much as I would love to I am afraid we can't. Anybody for math?" Nobody..... "How about a geography trip?" Nobody again..... "Not science," Davey yells. "That gets too gross." "How about boys," suggests Veronica. The class laughs. "No, not boys. Let me ask you a question. I know you are only fifth graders but do any of you have a hobby?" Several ...

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“Confidence” by Gabriella Zelis

Submitted to Contest #78

“I promise it is way easier than it looks, you just have to go for it!” “I don't know Charlie art is not really my thing.” I pouted as the words left my lips. My brother has always tried to get me to be like everyone else, have a normal hobby, dress normally, be in a clique, but that's just not me. I appreciate that he cares but I wish he would understand that I am not him. He is the jock with the cheerleader girlfriend and a huge group of friends, the classic high school boy. Only I know that's not who he really is, really he likes t...

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“Origami” by Noorjahan :)

Submitted to Contest #78

“I’m actually so bored right now.” Kiera sighed as she flipped through channels. Alesso yawned slightly as he watched the screen go from show to show. It was a lazy Sunday afternoon, the two teenagers watching television. Ever since they had been fired from their jobs at the local convenience store, there was nothing to do after school except lie around the house. “If I have to watch another second of The Office I’m going to die.” Kiera shut the television off before turning over on the couch to face Alesso. “Can we go out to the mall ...

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“To Run” by Steve Krzyzanowski

Submitted to Contest #78

“You won’t recognize the city in the morning. Dawn changes things. The river, the trees, the buildings. The rising sun makes them breathe.”“But I won’t be able to,” Paul looked down and nudged a frayed tug rope with his toe. Barkley raised his head with reserved interest and quickly assessed that the human was in no mood to play, which was okay – he was having a nice snooze, soothed by their voices, anyway. He rested his head again.“It’s good for you. First week we’ll just go around the neighborhood. We don’t have to take longer jogs through...

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“Listening as a hobby” by Arlene Koktavy

Submitted to Contest #78

One of my favorite hobbies is being a mindful creative listener. Although I don't think listening is usually considered to be a hobby, I think it is one of the most insightful things I can do. In today's fast paced world it seems that people in general would rather talk than listen. I feel that by being a good listener I can learn many things And do good for myself and others. I learn about different approaches to life, mistakes to avoid,,traps not to fall in and to value myself and my ideas, thoughts and opinions. I have always been sea...

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“Near to individuality” by Jyoti Vishnoi

Submitted to Contest #78

Keeping Busy: Sometimes I get too happy, excited, feel so much energy inside me, and sometimes get too sad, nervous and very low self esteem. I do not know what happens to me. But still I motivate myself like doing some chores. My mother is very proactive and she does all her work in a perfect manner. How she manages herself as well as home. I asked her many times about her self motivation but she always says to me: “Everybody feels the same thing, what you feel but the difference is that they keep trying to busy themselves in their work or ...

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“Restoration ” by Chiedza Melane

Submitted to Contest #78

The sky was a perfect blue on a fine Friday afternoon, the wind whispered its little secrets and the air held in it an enticing mellowness. The rhythmic swoosh of the air outside, a mellifluous sound that ought to have brought serenity but it didn’t. The day was seemingly perfect but it really couldn’t have started any worse. Timothy sat on a couch, completely immersed in a book. His girlfriend, Stephany, lay on another couch at a right angle with the one on which he sat. She watched him as he read. He’d been reading for hours and she wished...

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“Art for the Win!” by Lauren Lofgran

Submitted to Contest #78

It started on a day with no particular purpose for Claire, until she went to art class. Art class was her most favorite and treasured hobby. She loved how creative and expressive you could be. When she was angry, she sat down and attacked the canvas with her paintbrush. She smeared paint and all sorts of things on it and made beautiful masterpieces. When she was bored, Claire found a piece of paper and drew a gorgeous landscape that no one would have thought to draw. Today at Art Class, Mrs. Taylor had them drawing a sunset o...

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“Mastering Life … Love Chains” by Jerry Lee

Submitted to Contest #78

“C’mon!” Landon said with that cheeky smile of his. “You gotta try this!” He continued as he presented a tiny roach, lit and ashy on one end and a rolled up piece of cardboard ripped from a cigarette pack on the other. “No thanks, man!” Daniel protested as he pushed Landon’s offering away. “More for me!” exclaimed Landon and he took another toke. There was something picturesque about Landon, every time he pursed his lips just so to inhale from such a tiny roach. Standing, thin and lanky at around 6’4”, blond hair – stark blue eyes; the ...

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“Home Cinema” by Rajesh Patel

Submitted to Contest #78

‘’Raj, how long are you going to stay home, and just keep working on your laptop???’’ Chris yelled. ‘’I know but I feel better when I am up to date with my cases and my emails,’’ answered Raj. Both have been close friends for quite some time. They know well each other. Chris is a gamer. Spends a lot of time playing games on consoles. Especially adventures, and first-person shooter games. Call of Duty for example. Raj is a movie buff. Not movies on Netflix at home. Movies at cinemas. At one ...

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“RETURN FROM THE STARS” by Louise Legrand

Submitted to Contest #78

RETURN FROM THE STARS Stella considered the young man standing on her doorstop. He looked like he’d raided his grandfather’s wardrobe and had certainly not checked the weather forecast. His face under his woolly hat, was slate-grey, breath escaping in white clouds from blue chapped lips. Behind him, the inky-black sky was illuminated with innumerable stars and a swirling Milky Way. Such a perfect night for star-gazing she thought. ‘You look lost! Come in my dear. You’re frozen.’ She stood aside, the cold air clinging to his icy clothes e...

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“Friendship vs Hobby” by Sue Marsh

Submitted to Contest #78

Friendship vs Hobby Suzanne Marsh "No, oh hell no there is no way I am getting on a horse. I participated in all your hobbies from that crazy bungee jumping, remember I fell in the poison ivy? Let's not forget sky diving oh that was really fun I spent an entire summer with my leg in a cast. Forget it!" "Yes, but it is good exercise. I have already made reservations for our first lesson today at five o'clock this evening. We are going to learn to ride on an English saddle." "What is an English saddle?" "It has no saddle horn.." "Just what am ...

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“Charlotte Sometimes” by Daryl Oliver

Submitted to Contest #78

“Parapsychology and Christianity are basically the same thing. Well, parapsychology and any religion are more alike than you could imagine. This might even be why they call it the “Holy Ghost’.” Cullen was energetic in his delivery of his newest hobby. He swore that this was more than a hobby. It was a passion. A passion that he spent six hundred dollars and the better part of a year to get a supposed degree from Thomas Francis University, including a certification in Paranormal Investigations. And he had been my best friend since second gra...

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“Where the Wind Blows” by Heather Ann Martinez

Submitted to Contest #78

Where the Wind Blows By Heather Ann Martinez Some say Grayson Fields never fully came back from the war. The doctors said his leg could only be mended, and he would never be able to hear anything again. The world, as he knew it, went silent. I knew that being labeled “hearing impaired” was not what Grayson wanted. He had trouble reading lips and eventually asked everyone to write what they wanted to say on his tablet. I wanted Grayson to move past his injuries. For being twenty-two, he was ready to give up on life. He has so much to li...

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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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