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!

#83: Tropical Getaway

Sometimes we all need a break from our current circumstances. When the world feels gray and lifeless, thoughts of warm beaches and sunny skies can sound more appealing than ever.

 

Travel has been hard to come by for a while now, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make an escape through our imaginations. So this week, let’s slather on the sunscreen, steal what daylight we can, and take our characters to the crystal beaches most of us can only imagine.

This week's prompts

Write about someone who goes to extreme lengths to get themselves to a tropical island.

Adventure – 93 stories

Start your story with someone emerging from the sea, and end it with them looking up at the stars.

Fantasy – 283 stories

Write about someone who’s lived on a tropical island their whole life and is leaving it for the very first time.

Dystopian – 85 stories

Write about someone who books a bargain vacation, only to be told when they arrive that they need to share a hotel suite with a stranger.

Dramatic – 150 stories

Write a fantasy story about water gods or spirits.

Fantasy – 229 stories

Stories

“Secrets and Sand (GoA part 3)” by Maya -

Author's Note: This is part three of my Reedsy-cast series, The Guilds of Atmos. There are a few new characters and Guilds introduced in this part, more detail in the comment below. If I haven't gotten to your character in this part, I promise I will in the next. Thanks so much to the person helping me plan this series that prefers not to be named. And it applies to the prompts because there are spirits. Thanks for reading!~☾~The Court of Elders sits around a large oval-shaped wooden table, the...

87 comments 87
Read story

“Missing ingredient ” by Moon Lion

"What are you doing?" Water asked, splashing onto the land where Prometheus was. She was bored of watching gods and titans carve up the world, and hoped that the gentlest titan she knew would have something for her.The titan spared her barely a glance, utterly engrossed in his work. His dark eyes had that look again, the one that meant he had retreated thoroughly into that bewitchingly busy head of us. Water drooped a little, settling herself down on her elbows to watch. His long, bronzed fingers were carefully putting d...

32 comments 32
Read story

“The Lorelei” by H L McQuaid

“From her steep castle of sorrow and slateLorelei reigns over men and their fateThe river below, its faithless embraceRests her grave, and unquiet birthplace.”“What’s that from?” asks the skinny girl. “It’s a legend, the legend of Lorelei,” says Captain Plauz, keeping his keen eyes peeled on the perilous currents of the River Rhein as he pilots the paddleboat. “Just ahead is the watery grave of many sailors, littered with the flotsam and jets...

59 comments 59 SHORTLIST ⭐️
Read story

“Butter Chicken and Heaven” by 𝙰𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚢𝚜𝚝 ~

“Come on people, line up in single file! Lady, I said SINGLE FILE!”I sighed and brushed past the flight attendant, her voice screaming through the megaphone.“Single File! All aboard the Kanarli Airlines, heading to the Islands Of Paradise!”I scoffed, thinking Why would I go to the Islands when Heaven is already paradise?I was a ghost.Supposedly.If all of y’all are thinking about YOUR vision of Heaven. . . just stop...

325 comments 325
Read story

“How(not) To Be A Princess” by Amany Sayed

1.Find a prince. And try to duel him.“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Kaya pulled the end of the rope with her teeth, securing the knot. She scanned the crowd in the market square, people of all different colors and sizes roaming around. They were laughing, talking, selling, buying, but the normal parts weren’t what Kaya was staring at. It was the crown, right there in the center of the square, in a small glass box.Completely unguarded.“They trust the people too much…” she muttered to herse...

29 comments 29
Read story

“blood, sweat, and tears” by Amany Sayed

Your fingers are bleeding.The bright red liquid drips from your scars like teeny tiny waterfalls, dripping all the way down to your palms. It’s warm and sticky and familiar. And it hurts.You loosen your grip on the rope, but it does nothing to ease the pain. Gasping, you wipe each hand on your clothes in turn. One.Right hand.Two.Left hand.You’re wearing white clothing.It’ll stain. You can hear your mother scolding you in your head. You can see your father sh...

29 comments 29
Read story

“chicken broth ” by Rhondalise Mitza

“We have to stop them before they-” “Yes! I know we do. Would you stop pushing me? I know where we’re going.”  “I can’t let you quit moving now, Lia.”  She turned around and faced her partner, his face set in the moonlight and shining like the last Christmas ham at Kroger. There were smears of dirt and cheese ball dust, orange as the flickering fire in the torches they carried, caked under hi...

18 comments 18
Read story

“Henry, The Genie and A Bridge” by Thom Brodkin

Henry’s mother was the kindest, gentlest, and most beautiful person he’d never met. Sure, there were pictures of Henry and his mom the day he had been born and on his first day of kindergarten and some from his first few birthdays, but Henry had no memory of her outside the photos and keepsakes. But the stories. Oh, the wonderful stories. For as long as Henry could remember his dad would spend at least an evening or two a week telling Henry about his mother and just how amazing she was.  Henry’s dad Willia...

37 comments 37
Read story

“There Goes A Whole Year... Like Sand” by Akshaya Sutrave

She rowed across the sea, pain wracking her arms. Land was only a few meters away, but it felt like miles. She wanted to stop, to capitulate, but how could she give up, after all she had fought for?“May!” a voice called, “Quit that reading! You have an exam tomorrow, and you don’t want to do poorly on it!”I sighed, wanting to act like I hadn’t heard, but I knew that would call for trouble.“Alright mom,” a soft sigh escaped my lips. I slipped a bookmark into the novel and clasped it shut. That was j...

90 comments 90
Read story

“Their Grey Eyes” by Amany Sayed

They each stare at me with their grey eyes, waiting, wanting. There is hunger in their eyes, hunger concealed by thin lips and bony fingers. Concealed only to those who do not look, however. I am not fooled.My knees give way beneath me and my neck is lowered as they force me to bow down. I spit at the ground. Control is returned to my neck but I’m forced to stay kneeling, pathetically.They float, menacingly encircling me.There are three of them.The first is the shortest, the youngest. She floats higher than the...

13 comments 13
Read story

“Siren Songs and Lullabies” by Courtney C

Fish hook earrings glimmer, catching the meagre light. Maera’s long hair hangs heavy, reaching her navel. Slick as an eel, she glides and weaves in the water to evade her pursuer. She moves more out of instinct than forethought, just quick enough to stay ahead. Excitement sings in her veins, the high of the chase taking control of her actions. Pinwheeling in the water, she turns and holds out her arms to catch her sister. They sink to the bottom, sending silt upwards as they roll and tumble playfully. With difficulty, she pins...

24 comments 24 SHORTLIST ⭐️
Read story

“Tell the Stars” by Maya W.

***Attention! Please read my comment on this story, thank you!*** When she first emerged from the sea, she had no clue what was happening to her.  Her arms were clammy, her hands shaking, her fingers pruney. Water clogged her ears deep into her drums, but somehow, she could hear a faint voice from the land.  Tell the stars that we were here Tell them tha...

82 comments 82
Read story

“The Curse” by Kanika G

The soft cotton bedcover brushed against Rachel’s legs and her shoes clacked against the wooden bed as she slid as far back as possible to fit her reflection in the dressing table mirror situated in the corner of the cramped room. Although her figure was nowhere perfect or how it used to be in her twenties, Rachel could still fit into some of her mother’s flower print summer dresses and by applying the MAC concealer she pinched from her neighbour — the big-bosomed, bird-brained bimbo’s house — she looked much younger than her forty-one ye...

27 comments 27
Read story

“Lyra ” by Kelly Dennison

As the riptide beat my body through the current, twisting and distorting my shape, my stomach clenched in a fear so primal I would have screamed if my lungs weren’t already full of saltwater. I was losing my battle with consciousness as wave after wave of water assaulted my face, unrelenting in its singular pursuit to keep me under. I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t see. Couldn’t logic my way out of this immi...

20 comments 20
Read story

“In Reverence” by The-Burrowing-Owl- Author

They all felt it when it happened. It rocked, then tilted back, like a lurching boat righting itself against a rogue wave. The world sailed onward, yet the water still rippled. They tried not to speak of that irreversible moment, and in muttered conversations, they loudly refused to ignore it. The Veil had cracked, a pointless sliver quickly swallowed up again by the Space between Here and There.  A spirit had given up their spirithood.  No one had bothered to look for what he might have left behind. The ...

20 comments 20
Read story

$50

Prize money

840

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Mar 05, 2021 EST

Won by Madalyn Meyers 🏆

Title: Burn Damage

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 ⭢