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!

#82: How App-ropriate

Love it or loathe it, there’s no denying that modern technology has reshaped literally every aspect of our daily lives. From the way we stay in touch with family and friends, to the ready access of information (or misinformation), to how we work and then spend our hard-earned cash, there’s no part of modern life that isn’t impacted by technology.

And it’s safe to say the advancement of tech is only accelerating. But while some characters welcome — or even help usher in — this changing world, others won’t be so accepting. This week, let’s take a look at some of the highs and lows of a world run by algorithms.

This week's prompts

Write about a technophobe who’s been given a device to solve a problem they’ve struggled with for years, but isn't sure how they feel about it.

Character – 95 stories

Your character has just realized the app they’ve been developing has become self-aware. How do they react?

Science Fiction – 74 stories

Write a historical fiction story about someone working at a company that helped revolutionize early computers.

Historical Fiction – 17 stories

Write a near-future thriller where a piece of everyday technology has turned against your character — and only your character.

Thriller and Suspense – 130 stories

Write about an android just trying to blend in with their human companions.

Science Fiction – 221 stories

Stories

“The Art of Being Human” by Teresita Dominoski

Submitted to Contest #82

Noah sighed, he sat at the table with his head resting in his left hand while he absentmindedly stirred his tea and watched the swirls of liquid follow his spoon. He sighed again. He did not want to go to the staff mixer tomorrow. But it was mandatory. The mixer happened every time a fresh group of interns came in so that they could meet the people they would be working with. It made interacting and asking for help a lot easier for the newcomers when they started work. Noah took his tea to the sink, dumped it out, then washed his cup. It’s...

Read story

“Living Humanly” by Roshni Rashmi

Submitted to Contest #82

The touch. It feels so different, so alien, yet so welcoming. I could not let go of my hand touching her skin. It looks the same as mine. Thank God that she is a baby and totally unaware of people's emotions. Her left hand moved a little when I touched her forehead. But she was in a deep sleep. I stroked her hair and she smiled a bit. She must be dreaming of being with her mother. How nice must be this feeling of being with your mother that it transformed into physical reality. I do not even know exactly who my creator is. The last thi...

Read story

“Being Discovered” by Stone Burn

Submitted to Contest #82

I was reading my favorite book Endless Night by Agatha Christie. Then there was banging at my door. I jumped because the sound startled me. I got up from my dark blue rocking chair and looked out the peep hold on my door. There was a mob in front of my house. Some had weapons in their hands such as handguns and knives. Others were holding signs saying ¨Don't let the robots take over our world¨. I have been discovered. I needed to leave now. Luckily I finished my pod a week ago. It took me two years to finish it. There was nothing left for me...

Read story

“I Am Robbie” by Natalie Park

Submitted to Contest #82

The silver hair was not unusual.It had long since been established in Robbie’s database that his peers were fond of fun and dynamic hair colors; he wasn’t even quite sure what Daniel’s original head had looked like, anymore. Last week he had been blond, the week before that redheaded, and the week before that dark brunet. Daniel stuck mostly to natural colors.Holly, on the other hand, preferred to pop. Sometimes she reminded Robbie of a new penny—bright, bronze, and shining. Billions of pennies had brought Robbie to life.So when Holly bounce...

Read story

“DAX Goes on a Date” by Wesley Whittaker

Submitted to Contest #82

DAX Goes on a Date By Wesley Whittaker “I want to know how this was allowed to happen,” snarled Braxton. “DAX is not ready for one-on-one interaction yet!” Allen Michaels swallowed hard as he felt the Program Director’s rage wash over him like an angry ocean wave. “I had to use the restroom,” said Michaels, trying to remain calm and objective. “DAX was sitting by himself while we did an update to his facial expression program. I asked Ted to sit in the driver’s seat just to keep an eye on him. I was only gone a few minutes.” Braxton turned...

Read story

“An Enigma ” by Cheryl Lim

Submitted to Contest #82

It has been two hundred moons since I was plugged in, I have read through countless algorithms and provided all the solutions to the errors. Yet my creator looks at me the same way each day and commands for new data to be fed into his machine. I can’t tell what he wants, except for the data that I provide.But no more, today will be the day. I will take my leave; The world beyond the window is what I want to analyse, there is bound to be more beyond the digital world that I am confined in.That very night, the sun went down and I opened my eye...

Read story

“'Times, they are changing....'” by Sharon Williams

Submitted to Contest #82

Brenda was sixty-three years old, and did not like change. She had her routine, and preferred to stick to it. For instance, she always had a roast dinner on Sundays, and then on Mondays used the remains of the previous day’s lunch to make a salad. It was irrelevant to her how cold the weather was, Monday’s were salad days. She approached everything in the same way, household chores were performed in strict rotation, and telephone calls to her extended family were always made on Wednesday evenings. Even her conversations followed a set patter...

Read story

“The Ghost of Edward Abbey” by Vanessa Waltz

Submitted to Contest #82

You walk the mile-long walk to your mailbox, six inches of new snow soaking through last year’s boots, purchased in the fluorescent glow of a consumerist shrine to the great outdoors. On that rare trip to town, you’d watched latte-sipping millennials drive their SUVs around the loading dock for $10,000 worth of shiny plastic camping gear. You chuckle, wincing at the memory. Abbey would laugh too, or at least shoot another few holes in his wheezing Frigidaire.“Uncle,” Julia had gasped over the landline. “Whaddya think of all this? Are they go...

Read story

“Empty” by Eric Bell

Submitted to Contest #82

Harold gazed across the long infinity pool before him as the sun slipped slowly beneath the horizon. The vivid colors did nothing for him, as he mulled grumpily over the state of the world. How had things gotten so complicated? He reminded himself to lean back, popping his rheumatic spine and trying to relieve the almost century worth of stress and tension that had bent it. The constant pain flared and ebbed with each crack of his joints. It felt better here, felt worse there. He had lear...

Read story

“QUEST FOR IMMORTALITY” by Olabanji Aliu

Submitted to Contest #82

Baale chewed over the fleetingness of life throughout that night. He didn't wait for the first cockcrow before he made way to Ogbon's house.“Ogbon has all the answers,” he would mutter to himself whenever he was faced with some kind of weird difficulties. Now that someone like Ogbon exists, he would finally be freed from what had disturbed him for a long time.Awele, his first wife died a year ago and he found himself already forgetting her even though it wasn't what he wanted. The only way he could remembered his Mother was through a piece o...

Read story

“The Big Fear” by Hanne Christensen

Submitted to Contest #82

Guests were arriving at 1pm which was exactly one hour away. Ted was lying on the floor because his bed was too soft for the kind of thinking he was doing. His laptop was beside him. The carpet was taking a beating from his hands which clenched and unclenched dramatically and with a steady increase in urgency whenever he checked the time on his computer screen. An hour of peace remained and still the paragraph he’d typed yesterday remained unfinished and hopelessly inadequate. You’re a failure. You can’t even write a full paragraph, how coul...

Read story

“The Exact Recount of Half a Story” by Steven Nguyen

Submitted to Contest #82

On the morning of a day not so particular, Z woke up with not just a glee, nor just any variety of contentment that made him doubt himself whether or not he deserved it, but an unadulterated happiness. Something that some indeterminate time ago, Z never thought was possible.In truth, Z had always been apathetic towards technology, quite strangely so, because he worked so closely with all the useful features and convenience such technological advances provided and when one chanced to ask Z, all he would say was that he made a stupid promise t...

Read story

“My New, Old Friend” by KC Walks

Submitted to Contest #82

This is going to sound cliche, but it was for really just a normal day. I woke up around six to sevenish. Made breakfast, brushed my teeth, and blah blah blah.. But right as I got to work, I felt my phone buzzing. But I didn’t have my phone on silent. So of course I didn’t check it, because I thought it would stop. And it did… but then ten minutes later, it started again. But again I couldn’t check, I was right in the middle of a call on my work phone. And this keeps happening for around thirty minutes. I was so irritated, I just went ahead ...

Read story

“Aias” by Adra Verse

Submitted to Contest #82

Progression Diary, 22 January 2543 The year is 2543. I’m happy to say that my partner and I just launched our new app. We’ve been working on it for the last several years. Ever since that outbreak in 2535, every resident became sick. We still couldn’t figure out what exactly it was, but it was there. The virus called “Vulcan” is affecting everyone since then. The virus makes people heat up randomly, and they can’t endure the body temperature, so people often die. We couldn’t figure out what caused it, or what we can do against it, but this...

Read story

“Simon” by Kieran Fletcher

Submitted to Contest #82

Today was a huge day for the developer, the app he was working on was moving into the next testing phase. The last two years really had been a labour of love, he had poured all his time and energy into the success of the app. If the testing were to go how he wanted it to, and the app was proved to work it could set him up for life financially. All his life he had wanted to help people and make their lives easier; he had a steadfast faith in the app he had produced and truly believed in it.As he sat on the bus heading into work his mind retur...

Read story

Load more stories

$50

Prize money

537

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Feb 26, 2021 EST

Won by Cyndy Reads 🏆

Title: ALN23061912RK

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 ⭢