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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

“More than Words to Say” by Williwaw Puleon

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city, everyone cares about you. Me and my Dad were once alien to the heavenly city of Salem, we just got into our new roof. After mother transcends due to COVID, father apprehends that we should move to forget the pain of loss, yet I dictate him not. “We should stay near in the graveyard of mom, she told me to keep the house clean, since she will be gone for a long time,” I seriously told him, perhaps he will decline his verdict though it was just a lie. Dad is mama’s chauffer, he unceasingly tailed mom wherever s...

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“Hidden Gems” by Julie Ward

Submitted to Contest #85

--Elise--“Welcome to Bacon in the Pan, the podcast about women changing the world." My best friend’s familiar voice pours into my small flat like California sunshine. "Today’s guest is someone I’ve known a very long time.”Outside, the sky is gray and dark with rain. Beeping scooters whiz by to the ubiquitous cadence of police sirens in the distance. I love my apartment, with it's soaring windows and light wooden floors, and I'm lucky to have it. 98 Boulevard Malesherbes is owned by a businesswoman on a long-term assi...

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“Fighting Back” by C.G. Waltman

Submitted to Contest #85

Murder is common in Lark city. Life is cheap and the integrity these scumbags claim to have is shot into their veins. I hate the filth. Last week I surrendered my badge and walked away from the police department. It wasn't easy to leave everything I worked for but that was the first step to make this city a better place.The problem with being a cop is the restrictions. Sometimes to beat the criminals you have to lower yourself to their level. That's exactly what I plan on doing.I stand by the window of my apartment and keep watch out of the ...

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“The 10-hour city” by H L McQuaid

Submitted to Contest #85

“That’s the thing about this city,” I say as the shot of tequila burns its way down my throat. "Too many fucking bridges.” The bartender nods in sympathy, the green bottle poised for another tip into my gullet. “More?” he asks.I tilt my head back.“Closer,” he says, raising the bottle, “I can’t reach ‘at far.” I lean towards him, and he pours another shot into my mouth.“More,” I sputter. But he’s already walking away, along the two-foot width of the wooden bar, stepping over a shot glass, and weaving between two pints of lager and a...

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“Cucumbers and Mochaccinos” by David G.

Submitted to Contest #85

“The thing that almost nobody knows about the cucumber is that it's a fruit."That's what Midge Johnston liked to tell her neighbors when she dropped off a basket of the dark green and still-spiny foot-long beauties. Her garden produced far too many for her and Henry to eat on their own, no matter how many salads they made or jars they pickled. She would watch her neighbors’ expressions as they processed the new information. “No,” they would say in disbelief, followed by, “I always knew that about tomatoes, because everyone thinks they’re veg...

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“The Past Meets The Future” by A J

Submitted to Contest #85

I walked past the rigid security guard towards my new home. The smell of wood and paint, quite prominent. Anita, the real estate manager, kept on pestering me with the same question, "Are you perfectly sure you want to live here, Ailith? Not that it's a bad place, but are you positive? No one has lived here ever since the Victorian era, probably. Plus, this place does not receive much sunlight either, then there is the issue of the draught. There are a lot of stories revolving around this particular mansion too you know, especially about a...

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“The Neverending Sisters” by Valerie June

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city,It’s where sorrowful harmonic ditties,Are sung year round.This city of music is full of unexpected twists and turns,Where two maidens rule with equal power over the place they do call home,Their palace is a colossal dome,And their citizens roam underneath it.Waltzing their palace with plenty of joy,Both by dawn and dusk,The maidens’ fairy sprites,Their most loyal attendants,Keep them company both day and night.Yet the two twin maidens are sisters in disguise,One the mistress of illusions and the other heir to...

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“Tough As Nails” by Christina Marie

Submitted to Contest #85

“That’s the thing about this city,” Grandpa says, polishing off his third Pilsner since we sat down at the pub around the block from my tiny dormitory. “An’ every other city. Makes people soft.”Part-time rigger and full-time rancher, Grandpa is the definition of a roughneck. His stocky frame is wrapped in solid cowboy muscle. His blue eyes are bright and sharp under the rim of his tattered ball cap. His face is like leather, weathered by too many winters atop oil rigs in the unforgiving cold and unrelenting wind in the country’s harshest, mo...

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“The Green City” by Gerald Daniels

Submitted to Contest #85

The morning mist was clearing but the passing cars still had their sidelights on. I wondered where everybody was going and to what worlds of work they were heading, I imagined most would spend a day staring at a computer screen. There was a moment when I felt a tinge of guilt, a slight regret maybe, but I gave it to the wind, let it drift away and into the head of some other poor victim. I'd earned my retirement after all and I was determined not to bec...

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“1936” by Lotus Fletchwood

Submitted to Contest #85

It was the Christmas of 1936. I docked from S.S. Emerald and found myself roaming about the roads of Middlebourgh—a town secluded at the south of West Sussex and had long preserved the customs of the old fashion. The ringing bells and the exciting carols of the children heard on the doorsteps of the wooden cottages were a reminder of the holidays of which I once cherished in Middlebourgh.For me, it was a stroke of luck that my intentions were not to return but to settle a will reading with my family. If only Daddy listened to my advice ...

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“The Spinners” by Kathleen March

Submitted to Contest #85

Prologue This is a story that takes place in the same building. It isn’t a terribly ancient building, only about four hundred years old, but you should know that the story has several parts and a lot of years in between them. You know, sometimes it’s the place that counts, sometimes it's the people. Other times, it’s what the people do. Maybe less often it’s the ideas they had which are so important. You never know. In the case of this building, it does have a name and became famous enough to merit being turned into a museum. A small, ti...

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“A Quiet Night In San Francisco” by Jessica Primrose

Submitted to Contest #85

Her friend spilled a Margarita on her. Mary was never fond of the smell of alcohol. Actually, she downright despised it. Perhaps it was the way it lingered on the breath like sweet spoiled nectar or the lack of coordination thereafter. Either way, the entire ride home she smelled like sour lime and southern Valencia, which now embedded itself in the car seats, no doubt. Why she even agreed to attend that party, she frankly forgot and was too exhausted to care. Tired blue eyes fluttered slightly closed and then open as she gripped the steerin...

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“POW” by Amelia Bowen

Submitted to Contest #85

I, queen of the attic spaces, preside over my queendom clothed solely in my ghastly chemise. Say what they may, my nanny, the housekeeper. They do not know how the weighted burden of a people to rule will reduce a dress and petticoat to utter ruin. I would be no better than the water-filled potholes that live by the front of the house. No better than the wash basin, as drenched and overwhelmed as the milk Cook boils downstairs. My queendom is hot as it is, being the attic spaces. It is but spring, and I feel that I can live in no more than a...

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“The Star That Could” by Jay DMer

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city. It’s so full of negative people (not all). We can never just... stick together. Not just because we should but because of man kind. It’s not just this city, but everywhere. Life is just full is things you, sometimes, can’t control, but the things you can, like being nice to others, you should do. That’s why I’m going to fight. Fight for the weak, the scared, the innocent, the evil, and for me Because we all deserve that respect and the knowledge to how it feels to be lived in a world that gives it. I can jus...

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“The Cities Sin” by Katie May

Submitted to Contest #85

Raven's POV That's the thing about this city. They took my husband's life away. . It was just me and my 2 month old son, Zane. Their promises ripped apart every family. Including mine. I wanted to leave, I wanted to give Zane a wonderful life. They wouldn’t let me leave, they wouldn’t let anybody. So my only choice was to stay in my apartment, and try and adapt as best as I could. Zane’s wailing could wake up everybody. I bolted out of my bedroom and into the living room where his crib was squeezed tightly in the corner. My room didn...

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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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