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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#85: City Living

There’s something deeply compelling about cities, isn’t there? Whether it’s the influencer-driven styles of LA, the laid-back sophistication of Athens, or the perfectly manicured greenery of Singapore, each one truly has its own unique soul. Those who visit are awed and at times overwhelmed, either falling in love or swearing them off forever — while lifelong residents take up a fierce loyalty that nothing can shake.

When writing, it’s often helpful to think of your setting almost like another character. Cities are an excellent way to explore this line of thinking, so for this week, pick a favorite and invite your readers in. What gives your city (whether real or imagined) its local “flavor”? And what impression do the people there give to the many tourists traipsing down their streets? Tap into your inner tour guide — it's time to travel the world!

This week's prompts

Set your story in a major city that your character has a love-hate relationship with.

Middle School – 153 stories

Write a story that takes place in the same building but in two very different time periods.

Historical Fiction – 154 stories

Start your story with the line, “That’s the thing about this city…”

Adults – 283 stories

Write about someone fighting to change their city neighborhood for the better.

Teens – 44 stories

Write about someone fighting to keep their city neighborhood the same.

Teens – 34 stories

Stories

“A House for Our Time” by Rhonda Valentine Dixon

Submitted to Contest #85

A House for Our Time—Part One It had rained for days. Their mother had forbidden the boys from sliding down the bank on Carew Street to hurl sticks in the swift-flowing brook. “It’s too dangerous,” she said. Fraser and Richard itched to disobey. Oh, the fun they could have. They’d throw sticks from the bridge, dash to the opposite side, and watch them emerge from under the girders in the swollen torrent. They’d bound up the track beside the brook to follow the sticks to discern their fate. Would they lodge in debris or find their way to the ...

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“Juniper Bookstore” by Lauryn Ware

Submitted to Contest #85

The wooden Juniper Bookstore sign hanging above the entrance squeaks and trembles as Jude stands underneath it, watching it with a peculiar look. It’s not like he hasn’t seen it a thousand times before, every afternoon once he’d finished his last class -- American Literature, how boring -- but today he just stood outside the door to stare at the weak sign. He felt a whoosh of air behind him from a car speeding downtown, causing him to grip his coat to keep it from flowing up around him. He made a noise of annoyance and adjusted his round gla...

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“GERALD 2.0” by John Del Rio

Submitted to Contest #85

Gerald looked confident; it was a look that did not often cross his coarse features. Teague told him; “I don’t see how you can be so sure about that?” “Vittorio has got to be on the run now; because as much as Mr. Penrose did not want to start anything permanent with the Italians;” Gerald explained to Teague. “You have to know that the Italians’ feel the same.” It made sense; what Gerald was saying, Teague had to admit. This was unusual because more often than not, it was Teague’s job to explain things to his coworker, and fellow troub...

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“Parallel worlds” by Samantha Wicks

Submitted to Contest #85

1946– Brooker financial I stood in front of the four-story concrete building; Brooker finical the quickest growing company in Chicago. I was hoping to become their newest employee. I had seen the job in the paper early this week and had spent the past few days reading up on the company. I took a deep breath walked through the glass door to my future.I looked around at the main lobby, tile floor and dark wooden panels with gold accents here and there decorated the main lobby. I approached a girl at the front desk.I cleared my throat to g...

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“Celebration of commotion in the city.” by Saumya Dubey

Submitted to Contest #85

That's the thing about this city...You will come here all alone as a ignorant being but this city will give you gifts of realities that will urge you to live a life of soulfulness. Varanasi is a vibrant city of India blessed with river ganga and lost in it's own mysteries. This land has witnessed so many things in so many different ways and to avoid confrontations among different lifestyles among different mentalities different believes this city blends all of them into one. And that's makes this place mysterious. It's really very ...

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“New Hightur” by Ivy Spade

Submitted to Contest #85

New Hightur March 17, 2021 I was told by my therapist to start writing in a diary… So where to start? I just moved to a big city in Georgia called New Hightur. I live in an old apartment. If I am not mistaken, it was made in 1910. That’s over 100 years ago. Of course, they have remodeled it a couple of times. It isn’t anything special. It’s just a small apartment building with roughly 20 rooms. It was a huge deal when it first opened. It was the first apartment to open up in this city. March 30, 2021 I just got back from my session wit...

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“The Transition of Spring to Summer” by Adelaide Murphy

Submitted to Contest #85

I eventually started writing this short story for the prompt, "Start your story with the line, 'That's the thing about this city . . .'", but quickly decided it was more suitable for this prompt, because of the fact the main character, Aja, desperately wants to stop the constant changes that plague her entire city, especially the changes in her house and neighbourhood—where she spends most of her time. I don't expect many people will end up reading this, but I do hope to write a part two, if I can. It's also a bit random, but I liked all the...

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“Love's Trap, by Francesca Quarto” by Francesca Mohan

Submitted to Contest #85

Love’s Trap Thom Love was an unusually clever twenty-eight-year-old. Even as a young boy on the fast and furious streets of Brooklyn in 1911, he was considered a sharp kid. He had a reputation for always besting the local gang of bullies. After years playing the avenging angel for his baby brother, Albert, he had plenty of time to perfect his tactics. The fates were unkind to little Albert. He came into this seething cauldron of poverty and ignorance, generall...

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“Hellhole” by Sjan Evardsson

Submitted to Contest #85

Mention New Amsterdam, New York and the response is either gushing love or hateful revulsion. When it comes to NANY, there is nothing between the two extremes. Some, however, have learned to embrace both sides. Seth Burdian, NAPD Precinct 47 Captain, was one of those. In elementary school PS 422, he was bullied by the larger students. He was short, even for a gnome, with a “classic” gnome nose, large and straight with wide nostrils, and large, round ears he didn’t grow into until well after puberty. His frizzy, medium-brown hair and olive-t...

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“CITY LIFE” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #85

Meena was happy that her husband Krishna was now a healthy man. At times, a freak line of doubt would occur that he should not cancel the leave and go back to work at Delhi. Last year when he was transferred to Delhi, he felt very happy. He thought, he was blessed one and on top, a chosen one to be at the capital city. But his happiness did not last long. The high cost of living, long hours of commutation, heavy traffic jam, extreme weather conditions…. Nothing suited him. He simply wondered, how so many people, that too, lakhs and lakhs, ca...

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“That’s the thing about this city” by Adeusi Pelumi

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city with brown roofs,untarred roads, incomplete buildings,so dusty that you sneeze from time to time,beggars to the north,the homeless to the south,the elites to the east and the middlemen to the west,everyone moves about with no iota of care in the world. There is a passage with strange people,it feels like a path for a strange meeting and you want to run,mats by your right, beds to the left,blood stains everywhere, it looks like a work of art,cries here and there and it feels like you will go deaf.There is this...

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“The Overnight Parking Ban” by Drew Winston

Submitted to Contest #85

Melanie lived in a small apartment building on Whitlow Street. The first time Lauren arrived to stay over at Melanie’s house it was a Saturday afternoon. She parallel parked between two other cars. She didn’t give much thought to where she would park. She was too enchanted by the new relationship. The next morning, Lauren found a fifty dollar parking ticket for overnight parking. The ticket confused her because didn’t know she couldn't park overnight. She looked around and saw that all the other cars on the street had tickets too. ...

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“The Poisonous Apple” by Christy Sutton

Submitted to Contest #85

It will ALL be okay!The Post-it clung to my bathroom mirror haphazardly. It was there as a reminder to find my happiness, or accept my lack of happiness, or something like that. At least, that is what my therapist told me. Back when I had a therapist. Back when I, or more accurately, my parents, would pay for a therapist.There were sixteen of these notes around my dingy, tiny apartment on the Upper West Side. I had three roommates and no space, and it was still more than I could afford. My two waitressing jobs hardly made ends meet. I had le...

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“True colors” by Anais Alexa Reynaga

Submitted to Contest #85

Nefelibata, the land of the blindness. That's where we live, you only see the world as black and gray. That is until you meet your Saudade. Saudade means feeling of longing, melancholy, or nostalgic, but here in Nefelibata it basically means soulmate. In other words, your color undressor. As soon as you see the face of your Saudade, you’ll be able to see the world with color. As you can see, I’m not interested in meeting my Saudade. I mean, relying on someone else for the simple reason of seeing colors is absurd. I’m taking initiative in lea...

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“Me-yaw” by Mihret Adal Gidi

Submitted to Contest #85

31st of January 2013I know that’s what she always says. All the preaching Jo used to give us in the woods were simply a sound in her mind, sounds that ware quite annoying, but she believed it all. I just hope that one day, everything is going to change; the void I feel and I would tell her how frequently I used her phrase she used to use to quite me down. She would love it; to hear that I used those very annoying phrases she once used to annoy me... shut me up. That’s how I am; presumptuous whenever I think about her and also imaginative.I m...

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Ended on 23:59 - Mar 19, 2021 EST

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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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