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Write about someone who still practices a skill that used to be necessary but has long since been replaced by technology.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

“Mosquito Club” by Emmalene MC

Submitted to Contest #78

"What's this?" Viktor asks with a sigh as a packet of papers is placed in front of his smart phone as he sits at his dining room table. "An attempt for you to get out and make... friends." His roommate James replies. "I don't need friends." Viktor retorts, saying "friends" with disgust. "Well you need a hobby at least Viktor." James says sternly. Viktor scoffs and moves the papers so he can look back at his smart phone screen. "Don't give me that. You've kept yourself in this house for years and recently you've gotten all mopey." Viktor give...

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“Exemplary” by Suman Saxena

Submitted to Contest #78

It was a lovely evening. Harry and his wife, Julia, had hosted a party in the lawns of Lavanya, their farm house. Their son had returned back from Netherlands after completing his Doctorate in rural development. They were elated and proud. They had invited all their friends and relatives on this occasion. Harry’s friend was a caterer and he had carefully decorated the lawns. The lights on the walls, plants and trees illuminated the place brightly. Julia was fond of eating different cuisines hence she had arranged food according to different ...

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“WHO'S GOT THE CLUE” by Debbie Curtin

Submitted to Contest #78

WHO’S GOT THE CLUE Let the games begin! Here we were at an old restored mansion, formerly known as the Halligan Estate, in the mill yard district of the city. A friend of mine convinced me to tag along, just for the fun of it. Or as he said, “Trust me. You’re gonna get hooked. Wait until you meet the other cast of characters.” It would be my first time on this adventure into the unknown and with others who found such an interest in this game. I had no clue yet on what the game was, but my friend seemed so into telling me what a game changer ...

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“Stamp of Disapproval” by Susan Lynn Zenker

Submitted to Contest #78

Junior philatelist Davy Santos placed his rare, three-cent George Washington special into a windowed display card in the center of his table. Booth after booth, lined up side by side, filled the Sarasota Municipal Auditorium, home to the annual Sarasota National Stamp Exhibition. Some dealers displayed their wares on folding display boards, some on fancy swiveling racks, many in albums, a few in locked, glass-covered collectors’ boxes. Except for the George Washington special, Davy had a ...

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“The Scarab Games” by C. C.

Submitted to Contest #78

“So, tell me,” the journalist asks, “tell me how you get these beetles to fight each other. Don’t they ever get stubborn?” “Sure they do,” I reply and walk with him to the tank at the far end of the room. “But as you can see, this one kinda owes me.” Behind the thick prescription glasses, his eyes were wide and scrutinizing. I was never fond of press folk, but I did like the nerdy ones, because they had good questions. “He has a state-of-the-art enclosure, expensive food, protection from other bugs,“ I continue. “Not that the latter is a pro...

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“Rock a Sock” by Paula Smith

Submitted to Contest #78

Mabel remembered her very first new pair of socks. Most people would not have such an odd memory from their childhood but this occasion did not occur until she was six years old. Before this time she had always been given the hand me downs from her older siblings or ones purchased from Goodwill. She had experienced many types of socks in those early years. There were the grayish ones that were once a nice white color. There were the holy ones that included holes in the toes an...

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“The Carving Convention” by Aubrey Berry

Submitted to Contest #78

It was weird being here; being around people that shared the abnormal hobbies I do, that is. Well, if I were to be honest, my hobby is not exactly weird; it’s quite fun, actually. It’s just not like other hobbies. I’m not a singer - although I have been told I have a great voice - and I’m not an artist either. No one has ever complimented me on my artistic abilities, and I don’t expect them to either. I’m also not good at reading, or anything similar to it, as I can barely sit still for more than a minute. But that is perfectly fine; I mean,...

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“Please let it be the one!” by Slothy Penguin

Submitted to Contest #78

Huffing and puffing, Adam takes a quick glance at himself on the reflecting glass door, making a weird face at his haggard and exhausted status, he combs back his thick mane of hair with the help of his sweaty hands in an attempt of looking a little more presentable, and pushes open the cafè. Adam is greeted with the sweet and bitter goodies aroma, causing his nostrils and hungry empty stomach to awaken and distract him from his actual purpose. As he tries to make his way through the sea of grumpy, grumbling customers dema...

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“The Hobbyist” by Nicklaus G. Rich

Submitted to Contest #78

25.01.2021 The Hobbyist My new father arrived with just a suitcase, except a piano. As a student he was a drummer in a marching band, and also played the accordion occasionally, especially when he had a few drinks. The piano got its place in the bedroom. My mother owned at the time a small flat, part of a co-op. The new man in the house asked me if I want to learn to play. Sure, why not and I climbed up the musical scale. The lessons lasted three years until I became tired of “Diabelli” and “Czerny”. Afterall, it was the time of the Beatle...

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“Shift Work” by Ryan Maney

Submitted to Contest #78

"You can't eat for eight hours a day nor drink for eight hours a day nor make love for eight hours a day--all you can do for eight hours is work. Which is the reason why man makes himself and everybody else so miserable and unhappy." --William FaulknerThe shame is what she called his office, and he couldn't argue with her. It was full of books and papers and remnants of ideas tried and hobbies quit. Hockey skates, tennis rackets, frisbees for disc golf, golf clubs, a glockenspiel, a trumpet, a clarinet, canvases for painting, watercolor kits...

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“It's a Llama” by Chris D

Submitted to Contest #78

William has been everywhere and everyone (Billy, Will, Liam, Toots (after an unfortunate bean incident)) and done everything except be happy. Genuinely, long term happy. But that's what happens when you wish immortality without thinking to ask the genie for a friend to keep you company when the world ends. There's a few others in his predicament, he thinks, keeping things afloat with him, and he could go seek them out and repopulate the earth, but in the few hundred years he's walked the earth (and those few months he rolled, because he was ...

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“Swimming against the tide” by NVENE UJUNWA

Submitted to Contest #78

It would be really good if Blessing could tell you about the hobby she has become devoted to over the few months, but she still don't have one. What she do have is less guilt about her hobbyless-ness, and a determination to stop buying supplies for hobbies she has never made work before. Having feelings to like or try something and actually liking or trying it are two different things all together. Having a hobby that one enjoys, whether dancing, reading or practicing pirouettes in ballet class, has all sorts of well-documented benefits, fro...

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“Sorting Hobbies” by Kaci Rigney

Submitted to Contest #78

Jack knocked on his sister's door. "June, come out and keep me company. Mom and Dad have gone out to dinner." "Come in and help me up," Jack heard. Opening the door, he found his sister crouched on the floor, looking under her bed. "What are you looking for?" "I just dropped my knitting needle. I think it rolled under the bed." "It's behind you. "No, that's the one I had in my hand. I set the other one on my lap, and it fell on the floor." "I didn't even know you knitted." "I started learning yesterday." "I thought you were crocheting?" "Tha...

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“Obsessions” by Annaliis W

Submitted to Contest #78

(3/15/20) Knitting. The soft clacking of the needles calmed her mind and excited her soul. Fuzzy red yarn weaved its way together into a simple pattern. She had learned first from her grandmother, and then from Youtube. There were holes in it, but she didn't mind, it was only her first try, she would get better at it. (3/30/20) Her room was cloaked in darkness, but a bright light glowed from underneath the blanketed lump on her bed, illuminating a bedside table stacked with books. Cast off in the corner lay a basket of yarn and a half-fini...

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“And the purpose was...?” by Claudia Mendez

Submitted to Contest #78

What time is it? I have no idea. Surely is already late at night. But I can’t fall asleep yet. Tomorrow is the play…and I’m still unable to perform the core scene of my character. It’s a full soliloquy! Even if I’m not the lead role, it’s still something important. Realizing that reading the scrip in the bed will only make it easier for me to end up sleeping, I quickly get up. I open the only window in my room, in an attempt to lose any drowsiness I could have. It works. My face meets a cold breeze that makes me go back to my senses. I shou...

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$50

Prize money

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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.

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