Menu

Prompts

Contests

Stories

Blog

Menu

✕

CONNECT

Editing Design Marketing Publicity Ghostwriting Websites

BLOG

Success Stories

APPS

TOOLS

Book Promotion Sites Book Review Blogs Booktube Channel Guide Book Title Generator Character Name Generator Independent Publishers Literary Agents Literary Magazines Pen Name Generator Plot Generator Publishers Directory Short Story Ideas Writing Contests Writing Exercises Writing Scholarships

ABOUT

About Reedsy Terms Privacy

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Write about someone who still practices a skill that used to be necessary but has long since been replaced by technology.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

“M. Reynolds” by Nyla N

Submitted to Contest #78

I wake up and look around.“Toast or cereal Margaret?” the lady in ugly blue clothing asks.I try to remember what I prefer, but I can’t remember. My mind is blank. As vacant as a newly built house.“Um, I’m sorry, nice lady but, do you remember what I had for breakfast yesterday?”“Yes Margaret, you had cereal.”“Ok, then I want cereal.”“Alright, Margaret, I’ll be right back.”“Um, I’m sorry Miss, but, who are you?”“I’m your nurse, I help look after you.”“Oh ok, thank you.”“Your welcome, Margaret” ********************************************...

Read story

“They Do Exist!” by Debbie Teague

Submitted to Contest #78

Jason was amazed to find out that there were so many people who collected the same thing as he did – the revered page eleven. He didn’t even know there was an actual name for people like him – partial completists. It felt good to belong to a group. Completists collect whole books, partial completists only a specific page. He had only been collecting for about a year so only had a few hundred pieces while others he talked to at the convention had collections numbering in the thousands. Jason had saved for eleven weeks...

Read story

“Why Not Save Planet Earth?! 🌍” by Jade Orien🍀

Submitted to Contest #78

"I have a hobby of mine that I think you'll like."Maxine says to her best friend Nicola while they both eat their ham & cheese sandwiches on the last day of school in the cafeteria."Yea? What's that?"Nicola asked while taking the crust off of her sandwich."Taking care of planet earth."Nicola rolls her eyes due to the ridiculous hobby that her friend had requested.Maxine notices Nicola's blank facial expression & says"What? It's possible. My mom & I do it every summer!""Please tell me how that is possible Maxine?! You can't reach ...

Read story

“Favourite hobby” by Ijeoma Okoli

Submitted to Contest #78

Ding-dong!!'coming!!'Natashas high heels clatters as she hurries to get the door.!!!'oh gracie.. Your here?''wow Nathasha..you look amazing'Gracie was astonished by Nats beauty in the dress she was modeling with a height of 5.5which totally displayed the beauty of the blue petal dress she was wearing. The dress has two slit at each side showing off her hot legs. Matching a silver high heeled stilletos.and a beautiful siver necklace with blue rubies around them with a matching earrings. The dress showed off her attractive colar boneswith a 20...

Read story

“Twenties” by Paige Leppanen

Submitted to Contest #78

She doesn’t feel like writing today. Her head feels foggy, her words lost inside. She tells others she doesn’t have any original ideas. That isn’t quite true; she wants to write about the unique scenes in her mind. She thinks another author could turn her ideas into a New York Times bestseller, but she can’t make it past a few pages. She doesn’t believe she can. Maybe if I wasn’t so lazy. Maybe if I paid more attention to real dialogue, she thinks. She wishes she could translate scenes into a collection of chapters people would actually pay ...

Read story

“Shades of Grey, but Maybe Not Fifty” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #78

Never underestimate that word but. Oh, we all know those dreaded sentences like I’m not racist BUT or I’d love to help you BUT. It’s far more versatile than that, though. You learn to see it coming, and to know it’s implied even when it’s not actually spoken. Well, here at the Ambrosia’s Ark Animal Sanctuary (the Ambrosia is after our founder, Ambrosia Hopwood, not the creamed rice) we’re not as hidebound (pun unintended, though we don’t have any cattle in at present anyway) as some others. We are happy to send dogs and cats to homes where t...

Read story

“Better than Perfect” by Carole Cobos

Submitted to Contest #78

Jax was 16, in 2 months he will be 17- and he'll meet his match.Problem?He already liked someone.There was none.---“Watch,” said his grandpa, “this is an important family recipe.”Jax bit his retort down. He’d really like to be outside, gliding with the other guys in the city but instead, he was here. In an old fashioned house, in a kitchen filled with relics.One of the relics was square-shaped, it was hollow and had metal shelves. The sides of the inside had slits. Grandpa Johnathan called it an ‘oven’. Jax was pretty sure he saw one of thos...

Read story

“Wild Things” by Sjan Evardsson

Submitted to Contest #78

Every job has at least one task that separates work from not-work; that task that one wishes could be ignored. For Corinna this was the task she was faced with. Separating people from their animal companions is easy when those people are abusive; but painful when it breaks a heart. There was no sign of abuse here, in fact, given the animal in question it was impossible, but the law is the law.She knocked at the door, taking in its large size. She smoothed her straight silver hair behind her pointed ears, making it frame her coal-black face. ...

Read story

“The Sacked Society” by David Brown

Submitted to Contest #78

An older gentleman in a dark-gray mac sipped a cocktail served to him by a robotic-bartender. The robot was nothing more than a couple of mechanical arms connected to the ceiling above the bar; they were just long enough to reach all the various bottles, taps, and serving glassware. The robot’s head was a touch-screen attached to a third arm that currently displayed a smiling computer-generated face. However, the robot’s expression changed to a frown when it observed its customer’s reaction to the drink it had just served.The old man slammed...

Read story

“The Fallen” by Keri Dyck

Submitted to Contest #78

“You’re got a good swing, boy.”Teo’s head whipped around as his axe continued its plunge. The log in front of him cracked exactly in half. Three soldiers at the edge of the tree line dismounted and approached. The one in front spoke again. “Lieutenant Calum, on the orders of King Frederick the Third. I’m here to inform you of the changing of your weapon.”Teo straightened and motioned for his brother, Jax, to put another log on the stump while their youngest brother, Don, picked up a broken piece and brought it to the stack. “Sir, if thi...

Read story

“A Gathering Of Diggers” by Stan Allen

Submitted to Contest #78

This year the annual dig would be just south of Cleveland, Ga. Land acquired some time back had been surveyed and found to be a perfect place for this years event.When Cathy found out about the outing, there was no holding her back. She was going with or without Joe, her husband. Joe had no intention of letting his wife have all that fun alone.“If you have everything ready by the time I get home, we can get there several hours before dark. That will give us time to check in and maybe meet a few people.”“Do I need to pack the equipment?”“No. ...

Read story

“Porky.” by Marsha Webb

Submitted to Contest #78

Olivia sobbed her little heart out, her chubby face, red and blotchy, tears streaming from her eyes. A high pitched wailing permeated the room. Erica shot her husband a worried glance and put a gentle arm around Olivia`s shoulder. “Listen darling, Porky is in the sky now with God, she is having a lovely time floating around …” She glanced at her husband, standing beside her trying to be supportive, he had a confused expression on his face “Floating around?” he mouthed. She made an irritated gesture with her hand. They knew this day was going...

Read story

“Power in the Palm of Your Hand” by Joohee Yoon

Submitted to Contest #78

"How boring." "Will you shut up? We haven't even started yet." "Woman, you're trying to get me, Luke Anthes, to read. What makes you think you'll be successful?" I glare at him. "Wanna die?" He puts his hands up in mock surrender and makes a face. For a moment, I consider my mother's assortment of kitchen knives she keeps on display not five feet away. "Bold actions for someone so shamefully unarmed," I growl. "Aw, I know you, Ikah. You wouldn't hurt a fly." "A fly is innocent and doesn't deserve to suffer. I'd send it to the afterlif...

Read story

“Bug Snek” by Wake Lloire

Submitted to Contest #78

It was teeny tiny, about the size of a big strawberry seed. It was whitish-brown and gooey-looking. Glenda was bending down to get a closer look at the small object at the bottom of her trousers when she realized that the small object had sprouted two eye-stalks and was also trying to get a good look at her.Glenda plucked the tiny creature off the bottom of her pants, and there it sat on her finger, semi-translucent and staring at her with its alien appendages.Glenda squealed in delight, and turned to her girlfriend. “It’s a baby slug! Get m...

Read story

“Deathly Friendship” by Eddie Thawne

Submitted to Contest #78

Had it not been the warm reassuring ray of the morning sunlight that seeped through the cotton blinds and rested on the fleshy face of Milkman, he wouldn't have woken up at exactly eight o'clock. He opened his eyes abruptly and almost immediately, squinted. Shifting away from the sunlight, he made a displeasing sound in his throat as he stared blankly for a moment at the ceiling. From the corner of his right eye, he could see the clothes he wore the previous day. The ones he wore to work. Slowly, his mind began to recount how he had been in ...

Read story

Load more stories

$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!

Explore more writing prompt ideas:

Adults Writing Prompts ⭢

Adventure Writing Prompts ⭢

Angst Writing Prompts ⭢

Character Writing Prompts ⭢

Christmas Writing Prompts ⭢

Dark Writing Prompts ⭢

Dialogue Writing Prompts ⭢

Dramatic Writing Prompts ⭢

Dystopian Writing Prompts ⭢

Fall Writing Prompts ⭢

Fantasy Writing Prompts ⭢

Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Fluff Writing Prompts ⭢

Funny Writing Prompts ⭢

Halloween Writing Prompts ⭢

High School Writing Prompts ⭢

Historical Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Holiday Writing Prompts ⭢

Horror Writing Prompts ⭢

Kids Writing Prompts ⭢

Middle School Writing Prompts ⭢

Mystery Writing Prompts ⭢

Narrative Writing Prompts ⭢

Nonfiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Novel Writing Prompts ⭢

Poetry Writing Prompts ⭢

Romance Writing Prompts ⭢

Sad Writing Prompts ⭢

Science Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Short Story Writing Prompts ⭢

Spring Writing Prompts ⭢

Summer Writing Prompts ⭢

Teens Writing Prompts ⭢

Thanksgiving Writing Prompts ⭢

Thriller and Suspense Writing Prompts ⭢

Valentine's Day Writing Prompts ⭢

Vampire Writing Prompts ⭢

Winter Writing Prompts ⭢