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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

“City of the Unknown” by S Hum

Submitted to Contest #85

“That’s the thing about this city..." Where what you can't imagine recites in the dark conner....a place where there's light with a part of darkness...where there's love and obsession..."A city of mysteries beyond your thoughts..." A place which speaks of a story that's been buried all along... "A girl so innocent was vanished from where she belonged, the story starts in this unknown city with no name known as "The Unknown" where what it seemed wasn't waht it was.... This girl named Olivia who lived in a town sifted to this "Unknown" c...

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“The City is Ours” by Bianca Medina

Submitted to Contest #85

That's the thing about this city, it makes sure to remind you of every painful and beautiful memory you have to leave behind. The community that lives here doesn't seem like much yet has such a strong, huge impact on your life. If I would have known that I don't think I would ever leave because this was the only place I could call my home. The only place I ever actually belonged; where I was happy for once. See most people feel out of place because they do not know anyone in their new neighborhood, but I know I don't belong because I don't k...

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“Misery and Survival” by Janet Larrew

Submitted to Contest #85

Misery and Survival Here's the thing about the city, it's just too big. I spent eleven years in Iowa. I was a farmer's daughter, and just because my parents couldn't get along I was brought to Chicago. I hated the move, hated the smell, hated the brick buildings all around me. I was miserable. Every morning my Mother took me to my Aunt's apartment on Kedzie ave. She lived in the Logan Square neighborhood. She lived in a stuffy one bedroom apartment . She had the bedroom, her daughter and son shared the dinning room. Two twin beds under th...

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“The City” by James Morris

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city. You either fit in or you don’t. Either way, you’ll find out faster than a monkey throwing poo at you at the zoo. When she walked in, I could tell that she didn’t belong. With her fancy dress and her fancy hat—donned to the nines. She belonged more at a fancy sorority house than she did in the city. But who am I to judge? I didn’t say a word. She walked over to my desk and put down an envelope full of photos and then another one full of cash. “I don’t know where you come from,” I said, “but around here usu...

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“Play with fire and you'll get burnt” by Sebastian Farmer-moruthoane

Submitted to Contest #85

PrologueThats the thing about this city no one know what is going to happen and when, its always one crime after another after another it never stops its like the domino affect one falls down triggering all the others to fall down after it.Yes… fire is my friend” the rough demonic voice growled. The boy flipped round tears glistening in his eyes, the shadows crawled across the floor willing to suck him in. Gritting his teeth, his hands clawed at his scruffy hair, trying to get the voice out of his head but there was no voice in his head, the...

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“JOZI” by Athaliah Taeniel

Submitted to Contest #85

JOZIThat's the thing about this city, and finally I was standing on its soild ground, no longer dreaming, or hoping, or applying for a scholarship to one of its great education institutions.***I craned my neck to see through the foggy window, and it amazed me how I was so excited and very curious, perhaps more curious than I had ever been my entire life. I felt the muscles in my neck protest at the way I had over-stretched them and grudgingly slumped back in my seat, wishing I had taken the window seat when my sister offered before we had le...

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“Case Closed” by Aburrow Marsh

Submitted to Contest #85

That's the thing about this city, everybody's got a story to tell and a problem to sell. I've been in this business for six years but I was a cop for 10 years before I got my PI license, so I've seen a thing or two. This city has a sunny side and a dark side. I've never seen anything but the dark. Though it's been a financial pleasure, it has impacted me emotionally. It has cost me a wife or two. But, like any other cheater, I keep coming back to my first mistress, the city that feeds me, clothes me, keeps me warm.I operate out of a suite on...

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“My Mind is a City” by M G

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city, it’s not really a city at all. I mean if you wanted it to be, sure, we’ll go with that analogy. For literature’s sake or psychology’s what have you. If me talking about my mind as though it were a city entices you, so be it. I can’t promise that I’ll keep your attention, god no. I can promise that I will ramble. I must, however, preface with the fact that I am neither a speaker nor writer. Let’s begin shall we? Who needs bullet trains when thoughts race through my head at speeds faster than I knew existe...

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“Too bad for new Born” by Mansi R

Submitted to Contest #85

That's the thing about this city, you never know when it will start raining. Carry your umbrella all the time, one extra jacket and of course the shoes with better grip than I'm wearing right now. Every step feels like the last step before slipping off into the pool of embarrassment in front my colleagues I left behind, waiting in the shade of garage. I'm sure they can still see me. Too eager to beat the heavy rain and get home before roads flood with enough water to drown me half, I left as fast as possible but now all that is a part of r...

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“Wiggling” by Chris D

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city; it's magic. It's a conglomeration of fantasies melded into a world that she dare not leave, for fear of not finding her way back. It's been three weeks in this city. Three weeks of utter bliss and perfection after waking up in that chair. For once, that chair didn't have wheels. For once, her feet moved one in front of the other, from that chair to the front door. It's her own little universe, where the lawn is freshly mowed, but you never hear a mower. All you hear are birds singing songs, and childre...

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“Moving On ” by Cora Barlow

Submitted to Contest #85

“That’s the thing about this city. You never know what’s going to happen,” Mark told his friend. The two boys were walking along the dirty, rust-covered streets of Zrada, the Beautiful City. Or so it was called. In Mark’s opinion, it was just a giant mud pit that tried to pass itself off as an oasis. He and his friend, Noah, were going to the food market, which wasn’t much more than a few shops selling different flavors of paste. Actual food was long gone; most people didn’t know what an apple tasted like. “What do you think? Bread or...

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“BRAIN FREEZE” by Ronja Wang

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city, it rots you from the inside out. Slithering down your throat to make a coiled home deep in your tummy, twisting, turning, beating like an extra heart. Eleanor pushes off from the ground and she soars on the swing, eyes closed, head tilted back. Higher and higher. On the swing next to her, Katinka isn’t moving. She blinks, and an eyelash stabs her in the eye. She pulls at it, unafraid, pressing it between two fingers like a tiny fairy wing. ‘El,’ she says. Her voice is like a cough, her mo...

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“Dancer's Fight Club” by Franchesca Patino

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city, there's more to it than meets the eye. I was born into one of the richest families in Manhattan. I come from a long line of people who worked boring office jobs to make their way to the top of Corporate America with not a single creative bone in their body. I’ve lived in Manhattan my entire life; I’ve been to every museum it has to offer, gone to every charity ball or unnecessary banquet with my family, seen more than 10 Broadway shows, have visited the statue of liberty, and been to the ...

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“THE CITY CALLED HOME” by Claire Tennant

Submitted to Contest #85

The thing about this city is, it is home; home to many people, including immigrants; who, having left their shores for a life in the lucky country, worked hard to make a place for themselves and their families; and their families, in turn, never looked back. In the sixties, when we came, life was tough, the immigrants were tougher, the children learned to be, and laughed and cried together or apart, which strengthened them, and their resolve, to push forward regardless of opposition. Ah, it was the sixties though, and, well, ...

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“Why...” by Sophia Selby

Submitted to Contest #85

That's the thing about this city, that is what I am always wondering. Why? I can never leave this city and day after day after day, I ask myself why. Simply just why. Why can't I leave? Why can't I move away? I have dreamed of moving away, far away to a small countryside in Britain, climbing out onto the rooftop of a small cozy cottage at the absolute crack of dawn, just when you can barely see the sun peeking out from behind the mountains and tall, thick, pine. When it looks like someone just put a miniature, almost microscopical dot in the...

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$50

Prize money

671

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Mar 19, 2021 EST

A winner will be announced soon.

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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