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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

“Vlad ” by Grace Rolls

Submitted to Contest #85

That's the thing about this city...I just took a piss on an effin' graffiti stained wall. My life's gone to shit but I'm on an effin' ball. Im drunk as shit, got enough enough my pocket to get another beer. One for Tommy, cheers cheers cheers, cheers! Seven in my hand and seven in the clip. Around here a cig butt is a fag, don't take offense. Its a difference of a tag. I look to see the bare ass sky, the moon's butt naked. And so am I. Looks like a fang of some other effin' shit. I like to eat the kitty in the midst of my warm bliss. Its wor...

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“The Fight Against the New Highway” by Ella Eichel

Submitted to Contest #85

This is supposed to be sometime around the nineteen-fifties, but some things may not be historically accurate and I am still getting better at writing. I did my very best though, and hope you enjoy: The Fight Against the New Highway. It was a dark, dreary day and a bitter-cold wind blew with swerling gusts. A fog rolled in from the East, settling over the subdued city of Miaret. There was an eerie silence over the city. Although the city didn’t usually get such harsh weather, the silence was normal—it had been for a long time. Jasmine star...

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“Reminiscing Heroics” by Rachel Luckow

Submitted to Contest #85

Local Cop Killed in Gun Fight. The article's title had read the situation loud and clear. Manitowoc was changing. People were gathering together, in the sense of hate and a whole, new "You are on your own" attitude. Especially with the fears of new gang fights going on, between the Southern Slackers and a new-forming gang among the lakeshores of Lake Michigan. The counts of murders, heists, gun threats, and break-ins were growing. After a total of about 10 years of records over records of these situations, people have been starting to feel...

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“SAVING THE GARDEN CITY ” by Nirmala Nababsing

Submitted to Contest #85

SAVING THE GARDEN CITY There is a brisk knock at the door. Devi is at her work desk busy surfing on the web. She is a middle aged woman, with slightly greying hair with an austere appearance. She is slender and about five and a half feet tall. She has an unsmiling face and an aloof posture, enough to disconcert anybody. She immediately puts her laptop aside, walks to the hall and opens the door. A young man is standing on her doorstep. He is holding a notebook and has a brown satchel on his shoulders. He look...

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“Planes Crashing” by Jenny F

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city, there is so much to hate but even more to love. I woke up this morning to the bright sun shining through my windows. I opened my windows as wide as they would go. I live in a five story apartment building on the fourth floor so I almost never open my window. New York is just so loud and smelly I prefer to keep my windows shut. I went about my morning as normal. I turned the stove on and popped two pieces of bread into the toaster. I turned on the tv to the daily news. “Good morning New York City, with ...

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“The City Beautiful” by Alexander Erwin

Submitted to Contest #85

Having lived in Orlando since it was built, I figured it was finally time to check it out. I came out after work which meant that I made it just as the sun was starting to set. While I was hoping for a quick in-and-out operation to check it out, my regrets have grown as I have dealt with a two-hour-long line for a twenty-minute experience. Regardless, it is finally my turn and I plan to enjoy a bird’s eye of view of the city known as “The City Beautiful”. As I sit, I slide my small bookbag off my shoulders and place it on the bench seat ne...

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“Facade” by Odile Alexis Pal

Submitted to Contest #85

I onced live in a countryside two years ago.I remembered how excited I was to live in a big city where you can meet new people like it is a natural occurrence.I was happily greeting everyone around me while they just pass by without care...What?Maybe they didn't notice me?Thats what I thought.Manila ah~this is heaven!Big Malls,luxurious hotels,expensive restaurants.The first thing I did was indulge myself of the things a countryside girl like me has never never once experienced before.I bought many new clothes and ate many wonderful desser...

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“Face-Off in the Big City” by Saipriya Viswanathan

Submitted to Contest #85

It was an icy cold January morn in New York. Janet Mullaway felt chilled to the bone as she walked down from her hostel room to the main gate of the New York University campus. A brilliant mind, she was presently working on her research thesis on environmental sciences at the University. The cold winds seemed to cut through her. Shivering, she pulled her windcheater closer and covered her ears more snugly with her hoodie. Morosely, she thought that the weather today was much like her own mood – dreary, dull and grey, with no hint of sunsh...

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“When it Turns to Dust” by Angel Mae Saballa

Submitted to Contest #85

I'm Nol born in the Province of Cebu. At the age of fourteen I started to make my own living. Life in the mountain area is very difficult and there's no day or night that I strive hard for me to survive. At the age of twenty, I decided to take a risk and went to Manila City in Luzon, Philippines. I started from scratch again, finding job wasn't that easy at all especially I didn't even finish my highschool. Renting a small room is difficult, I only have small amount of money that is good for only less than two weeks. I hated myself for being...

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“Crying on a stoop in stuyvesant.” by Chelsea Hood

Submitted to Contest #85

Sometimes, the only vindication for this train is that it rides through the sunset so damn well. Hi, my name is Clarita. I grew up in New York City. I found my way into the world via my mother, in a Brooklyn basement. She was a postal worker for 30 years. She's seen the most of the least, and the least of the most. Me? I've been crying on a stoop in Stuyvesant for every night of sacrifice, for those lives who aren't even mine. that's the thing about New York. our tears are never our own. They roll out of us, often in silence, into the ...

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“Home” by Grace Way

Submitted to Contest #85

I stepped off the plane with a feeling of resentment. Throughout the flight I thought of thousands of different ways to escape, to find my way back home. Many ideas floated through my head like diving out of the fire escape and parachuting my way to freedom, or pretending to throw up so they would have to take me off the plane. But, considering all of the butterflies that were, and still are, in my stomach, I doubted that I would have had to pretend.The i thought I could have locked the pilot in the bathroom and turned the whole plane aroun...

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“Children of the White Flyers” by Trophy Wife

Submitted to Contest #85

We were the children of the white flyers. There is no doubt in my mind about it now. I’ve seen the maps, and I know the people, and I remember the conversations. In our weird little corner of suburban Philadelphia, the neighbors were mostly mixed Irish and Italian, then mostly Greek, and then everything else from Egyptian to Czech to Japanese. But the one thing they were not, was Black. I got asked all the time ‘what are you?’ and felt obligated to ask the question back, but never understood the meaning behind the question, or cared what the...

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“Love in a City” by Janet Joos

Submitted to Contest #85

What is there about a city you cannot wait until you’re there and only after a few days you cannot wait to leave? Tell me you’ve never felt this way. Sorry, but I just do not believe you. A love-hate relationship tends to be a one-one common denominator. You just have to ask yourself why this is so? Like many others in this global world, I grew up in a grand city; my city is famed for its automobile industry, commonly known as Motor City: Ford and General Motors with Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac; and it’s also the home start of ...

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“Wish Upon a Starfish” by Kathleen Spalding

Submitted to Contest #85

Diane squinted against the afternoon sleet and shoved her last two fifties into the raggedy man’s hand. “Go someplace warm. Please.”His eyes lit up with recognition. “Why, thank you, missy.” His smile revealed fewer teeth since she’d last seen him. How many years had he begged at this corner? “You’re welcome. Now go get warm, okay?” Wheeled suitcase bumping behind her, she walked away at a brisk pace so he wouldn't see her expression crumple. Visions of gallery openings, resplendent with tuxedos and evening gowns and artwork that sold f...

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“The Same City” by Erin Edwards

Submitted to Contest #85

TW: assault, violence against women That’s the thing about this city, about all cities: they’re different places for different people. A free drink in a bar is one round you didn’t have to pay for, or it’s a risk of a roofie. A trip on a packed tube is the fastest way home, or it’s somewhere you might get groped. An alleyway is a shortcut or it’s the setting of your own personal horror story. The city is different when you’re a woman. You don’t walk the streets alone. There are places you don’t see after the sun has set. You don’t take a ste...

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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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