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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

“The thing about this city” by Rebel Holly

Submitted to Contest #85

That's the thing about this city, cars are always honking, sirens blaring, people yelling and cursing. It's just another day in the city. Never is there a second of peace. Apartments cost twice the amount of houses in the country yet twice as cramped. That's just life I guess. Never as relaxing as they say. Even though there are many different negatives to focus on there's experience gained from it. Throughout my time I have learned to study, study people. People are an interesting group. The more you think you know about t...

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“The Bloodstained City (part 2)” by Ashlyn Anderson

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city, the green-eyed girl thought sourly as she looked down at her chess game, blood has been spilled and no one cares. Well, now that will change. The girl reached for her pawn to move it forward but stopped. Her left arm burned and moments of time coursed through her veins. Images of the brown-eyed girl filled her mind. The brown-eyed girl sat in a completely white room, in front of a chessboard exactly like hers. The brown-eyed girl moved her pawn forward with a blank expression on her face. The green-eyed girl...

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“THE CITY WHERE THE TRAVELLERE DECEDIED TO SETTLE ” by Maryam Farooq

Submitted to Contest #85

28 November 1770 That's the thing about this city,it doesn't leave me.It stays with me ,no matter where I go and what I do .It will stay at the back of my mind .It never let's me go.It haunts me .I keep thinking about it even when I don't want to . I'm trying to have a good time ,relaxing talking to Anis and then all of a sudden I start getting flashbacks,I am reminded of the misery ,the pain ,the hurt .I remember how my heartbroke and I can feel it all over again ,the agony .The pain so unbearable that I can't take it anymore .It hurt...

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“Tragic magic” by Thasleema Nasreen

Submitted to Contest #85

That's the thing about this city, everyone living here is different. When I was a child I thought, people here are common. But when I grew up I came to know that there is nothing common in this city including me. The difference we have in our city is the tragic magic. People in this city can do magic. I am not telling about the tricks which were said as magic out of this city. We can do the real magic. No one out of this city knows about us. And it was in our rule book that we should not explore our magic out of the city. But that...

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“Noblesse Oblige” by Emmett Wrighter

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city. Come on; I don’t really need to tell you, do I? Haven’t you seen it all yourself, even in these past few days? You may have tried to hide from their eyes with that useless silk curtain of yours, and I am sure your carriage muffled the sounds of the common rabble. The smell of shit in the street, the smear of blood or dirt on faces you tried to ignore it all. When that boy scrabbled at your door, begging for you to give him anything, you called out for him to be struck down and away. I daresay you’d have him...

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“Those Pesky Out-Of-towners” by Brianna Stilwell

Submitted to Contest #85

“That’s the thing about this city…” Alice waited for the end of the sentence. The lecturer at the front of the room, however, had fallen silent. Alice lifted her gaze from the notebook in front of her, eyeing the older gentleman. He didn’t look to be in any hurry to finish his statement; in fact, he wasn’t even looking at the students at all. His head was turned to face the sturdy door of the small lecture hall, and he was standing as stiff as the whiteboard behind him. Alice didn’t need to follow his gaze to know what was going through hi...

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“This City” by Savy W

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city. It used to be something better. Beyond gothic churches, concealed in thick ivy that crawled out of every crack and crevice. More than crumbling stone and cracked concrete ever so slowly succumbing to the hand of time. Camera at her side, Livy walked along Deception’s Path-the one so intensely laced with weeds and overgrowth. It certainly didn’t deserve to be called something quite so deceiving as a path. But deception’s touch fit like a glove, for the weeds attempted to lead you down misleadingly inviti...

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“Cragston's Most Wanted” by Dustin Shuherk

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city, it’s always able to keep shocking me. I never thought that anything would be able to top the dead mage behind the Dog's Head Tavern. Popped into the alley to take a leak and had his pecker ripped off by a sewer mutant he happened to be pissing on. I’m not sure I would have ever solved that one if the claw marks hadn’t been so distinct. After the first year or so, you start to think that you’ve seen it all. A troll in the gutter with his own liver in his mouth, becomes nothing more than the average pixie dust...

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“Neon Babylon” by The Creech

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city…it ensnares you like a fishhook through flesh. This town is a sly seaman; he baits his rod with strong drinks and glitter, with aces high and uncovered nipples, with unfathomable ceilings and cigar smoke, with the grinning ghosts of Frank and Sammy. We—the daffy little fishes that we are—take one look at that spangled lure, our pupils dilate like pancake batter on the griddle. Dangling there in the sunlight is our chance to kiss inhibitions goodbye, to lap up fame and fortune, to wrap our lips around a fat st...

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“The day we left the city” by Kortne Noe

Submitted to Contest #85

That's the thing about about the city... You can put a body in a dark alley and no body will notice it being dead at least a couple days. I hope anyways so we can get where we are going by the time they find him. I help my mom hide the body of my step dad, he was abusive drunk that my mom couldn't take it anymore. Sadly this is the third step dad I had, but first one she killed once things got rough we would just leave in the middle of the night. Sadly nothing really bad happen in the last two marriages probably could of gotten worked out,bu...

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“Laying Out the Clothes” by Jody Serey

Submitted to Contest #85

Laying Out the Clothes That's the thing about this city. It's easy to leave. They had never missed the place where they began their lives. They often said, “It’s a great place to be from.” Now they were back, after a flurry of hurried phone calls, and two planes that carried them from different parts of the county. They shared a hotel room, and after doing what they could at the hospital, made their way back to the house where they had grown up. Now the two sisters sat together on the bed in their mother’s bedroom in front of a sma...

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“First Day as a Free Man” by Sankara Luna

Submitted to Contest #85

“That’s the thing about this city, it’s like a test kitchen for the tech comps. When it works here, it works all across the country and region. You can imagine in this 15-million-citizen megapolitan everyone with money draws their claws and the next thing you know it’s a dog-eat-dog world. Sharing economy is a pipe dream, a future elitist utopia. It does work like that, sometimes, but the cutthroat battle is not for everyone. This is Jakarta, where the old meets the new, the rich get richer, and the middle is trapped even inside the two...

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“Anything Different?” by Kyla Williams

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city, everything is the same. But then again, nothing is. The only thing that crossed my mind as I walked through the city lights of Manhattan, Kentucky, was how dark and quiet it seemed. Of course, a reasonable explanation was that I was out in the middle of the night wandering the quiet streets. However, there were a couple people still walking on the sidewalk but no, not me. I was walking in the streets. Now, anybody would probably want to ask but seriously, it was a free world and everybody walked on the sidew...

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“What it takes to live here” by Lize-Faith Kruger

Submitted to Contest #85

That's the thing about this city, people come and people go. Where to they go... Well that we don't always know. The brightness of the lights attracts the young like a moth. Dreams of becoming successful starts boiling out of them. But just like the light bulb eventually burns the moth, the city kills the dreams. And that's what happened to young Rico when he came to this city. I remember him so well. That youth and life still sparking in his eyes. It was like the glow of the city had entered his body. Consuming him. Killing him from the i...

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“The Hungry Tower” by Conor Thackray

Submitted to Contest #85

“That’s the thing about this city…” Detective Inspector Steph remarked, pulling her gloves off as she stepped away from the body. “It just gets more brutal by the day.” Detective Inspector Hanlon, trying not to look at the body for too long grimaced at what was left of the man on the floor. The man was dressed in a shirt and trousers, with curly black hair and a stump surrounded by crusted blood, where his right arm used to be. “What do you think did this?” He asked through gritted teeth, his gut churning. Steph shrugged as she threw her glo...

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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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