Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog

Menu

✕
CONNECT
Editing Design Marketing Publicity Ghostwriting Websites
BLOG
Success Stories
APPS
TOOLS
Book Promotion Sites Book Review Blogs Booktube Channel Guide Book Title Generator Character Name Generator Independent Publishers Literary Agents Literary Magazines Pen Name Generator Plot Generator Publishers Directory Short Story Ideas Writing Contests Writing Exercises Writing Scholarships
ABOUT
About Reedsy Terms Privacy

CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#87: Fool Me Once

From trickster gods to office pranks, humans have long been fascinated by mischief and mayhem. There’s just something about breaking free of the rules of polite society and causing a bit of chaos that appeals deeply to our psyche.

 

This week, let’s embrace that playful spirit. Whether it’s someone being pranked or doing the pranking, there’s plenty of opportunity to dive deep into your characters’ motives and reactions. No joke — it’s time to break out the (metaphorical) cream pies and throw some anarchy at your protagonists.

This week's prompts

Write about a mischievous pixie or trickster god.

Kids – 206 stories

Write about someone who’s spent a whole year planning a big prank, and now they’re finally ready to pull it off.

Middle School – 75 stories

Write about someone who hates pranks and spends April Fools’ Day doing good deeds instead.

Holiday – 69 stories

Start your story with a big company pulling an April Fools’ prank that ends up going horribly wrong.

Holiday – 82 stories

Write about someone who goes to great lengths to avoid being pranked on April 1st, only to realize they had the date wrong and it’s already April 2nd.

Holiday – 60 stories

Stories

“All Too Innocent” by Angelina S.

Submitted to Contest #87

March 11th, 202012:27 pm“Ok, tell me once again that we are doing this for real.”“A-VEEEEVA, this is the last and final time I’m telling you that we are DOING THIS FOR FRICKING REAL!” low-screamed Raina who was sitting right next to her staring at the short, but very loud teacher with big, beetle-like eyes.“Fine fine fine…and what if he finds out ‘twas us?” asked Aviva again.“Honestly is this the first time you’re pranking someone or what!” Raina was utterly furious. Her friend was bombarding her with heck too many questions.“No, it’s not th...

175 comments 175
Read story

“Black shirts, handcuffs and Duchenne smiles” by DEACTIVATED ACCOUNT

Submitted to Contest #87

Black shirts, handcuffs and Duchenne smilesI straighten my black shirt, today is a special day and I need to look as if I am not ready for it at all. Moreover, I have no idea how I will kill you.I flick away a greenly beautiful beetle from my hair, the least I can do to look presentable. I am sorry that sorcery takes so much energy and will that I don’t have much left to be sorry, anyway who am I to ruin my cheery day?Ah, there you are, you are not at all early. The air is breezy, the sun is beaming brightly and everything is so cheerfu...

55 comments 55
Read story

“A Call Gone Wrong” by Valerie June

Submitted to Contest #87

“Do it! Do it! Do it!”“Stop with the chant, boys,” I say, cracking my fingers to prepare for what we’ve all been waiting for.“You too scared Ace?” A boy nicknamed Hunter asks mockingly. I ignore him.“Hand it over.”“Nah, don’t feel like it today,” I say right back to Trampdog’s face. That shuts his muzzle right up.A pretty new member of the gang, a stocky boy of only fifteen years old, shouts, “Lemme do it!”I stand up onto the cold metal bench and wait for them to quiet down by paying close attention to the condition of my bitten down nails. ...

26 comments 26
Read story

“A Phool's Paradise” by Christina Reynolds

Submitted to Contest #87

Most parents are barely adults when they start having children, and young parents can hardly be trusted with raising children, let alone naming them. I have a friend, quite the drinker, who named his first son Jack Daniels Bezrutczyk. Similarly, Mrs. Christmas, a teacher at a rival high school, named her daughter Mary. Yes, there are quite a few stories about children with odd names, but this is a true story about a girl, a name, and an historic prank.  I knew the new family next door were the Phool’s—it said so right on their mail...

6 comments 6
Read story

“Does an opportunistic fairy count?” by Kathleen `Woods

Submitted to Contest #87

She’d only been so old when her family lost their standing. What luck it was that she had been of age. At least that's what her father thought, as he held the papers of a contract in his hand. There was fine artifice of wealth in the chapel, courtesy of a more affluent uncle. For a soft and foreign moment the world smelled of rosewater. Whether he was a fine man or not, was not her family’s concern.  As the dowry had been paid.  So in her husband’s house she was set adrift, a mite too new in a villa more castle then home. With a ...

1 comment 1
Read story

“Tit for tat” by Scott Skinner

Submitted to Contest #87

Until I met my girlfriend, the only holiday I cared about in April was 4/20. I’m sure when I was younger, I cared about Easter, but we’re not talking about baby Jim; we’re talking about grown man Jim. Jim, who’s got a car note and is paying $1700 in rent every month. Jim, who’s got $13,400 in his savings account, pulls in $120,000 OTE and is living with a girl who’s crushing it even more than him. Nancy makes $140,000 OTE. She pays the other $1700 for rent, and when the utility bill arrives, she covers all of it. I know, it’s pretty sweet. S...

3 comments 3
Read story

“Eris and the Golden Apple of Discord” by Vanessa Queens

Submitted to Contest #87

Eris walked in her garden and sat motionless under a tree, unable to stand or walk further. Her long blonde hair fell like a warm embrace on her cold shoulders. A tear rolled down her pale cheek, glittered like a diamond and then disappeared, leaving a shining trail behind it, evidence of its existence.She was used to being ignored or despised, anyway. She tried and tried to be on friendly terms with the other Olympians, but to no avail. Her reputation as the goddess of strife and discord preceded her every time. Eris couldn’t comprehend tho...

4 comments 4
Read story

“Sleight of Paw” by Ellie Yu

Submitted to Contest #87

There were a lot of things Mateo Alejo did not like, including but not limited to vegetables, cloudy days, sitting still, and the color blue. Not necessarily in that order.The List hadn’t changed in a while, since he had enjoyed every minute of second grade since it had started. But today, he decided he would add another entry to the List: spelling quizzes. He hated them. Especially when he didn’t pass. Especially when his dad sounded this disappointed as he tried to teach Mateo how to pass but it wasn’t working.“Stop staring out the window,...

14 comments 14
Read story

“Fool Me Twice” by Shannon Ethel

Submitted to Contest #87

It was dark inside the coffin. Johnny stretched up his fingers, letting them drag against the carved wood. It was not Mr. Rushveld’s best work. He’d certainly lain in smoother pieces, so perhaps this one wasn’t quite finished yet. Pine filled his nostrils as he took great, shuddering breaths, trying to tame the pounding in his heart. His side hurt and his left eye was swollen shut. The sounds of the street outside came to him dull and muted, as though he were submerged in water. The rattling of carriages, people shouting halloos and beeps ...

5 comments 5
Read story

“Patron Saint Mickey” by David G.

Submitted to Contest #87

One. It was the most appropriate place to start anything, he figured. The loneliest number, not that he minded being alone. He struck the match and watched the red and black end spark to life. He inhaled deeply, taking pleasure in the chemical tinge of the first smoke. The flame swayed in the draft of the small front room in which he sat, as he did every Saturday evening at seven o’clock sharp, the television tuned to channel Four WZRY. Outside his window the wind whipped the branches of the big oak tree. He held his hand around the flame an...

12 comments 12
Read story

“The Pranksta#5803” by Arwen Dove

Submitted to Contest #87

I hate pranks.I hate anything to do with laughter. I hate fun.And I hate April fools’ day.This is precisely why my plans to avoid being pranked on April 1st were going to come alive in exactly 10 hours, 11 minutes and 4 seconds. It is time for April fools-less day to arrive. I didn’t go to school or anywhere today, I spent the whole day planning for tomorrow, April 1st, April fools’ day. Last year, my friends had pranked me by putting Charlie’s pet rat in my school bag. The year before that, they mixed worms with my spaghetti. But ...

12 comments 12
Read story

“An Unexpected Guest” by Lani Lane

Submitted to Contest #87

Eris found out through Facebook. She had been mindlessly scrolling through the app, trying to determine how many friends had blocked her. And there, after ten minutes of scrolling, was the post on Thetis’s wall: “Seven days away, I can’t believe it! So excited to see you and Peleus start your forever together. Love, Aphrodite.” Eris stared at the words, clenching her teeth. Aphrodite, goddess of idiocy, more like.  She clicked through to see who had “Liked” it; among the names were Athena and Hera.  Hera. Eris’s own mothe...

2 comments 2
Read story

“A Change in Pluto” by Rose Quartz

Submitted to Contest #87

It was a staggering spring day at school when Pluto decided to pull the spill-chocolate-milk-on-the-geeky kids-head game. I was the geeky kid. I was advised to communicate my sentiments to her because if I revealed to her how I felt and attempted to ask her to stop, there was a possibility she would. This idea swirled around my head and struck me in the gut when giggling was the only sound I could hear.  "Look, everybody! David is soaked in chocolate milk!"  Goodness, I can't help thinking about how that occurred… Her intellige...

5 comments 5
Read story

“Please, Say the Lord's Name in Vain” by Courtney C

Submitted to Contest #87

CW: A cavalier and irreverent attitude towards religion."In the old days, before you were a gleam several times removed in your great-great-great-great-grandfather’s eye, I was a God with a capital G--" I began, slipping into the diner booth across from an elderly looking man wearing a scruffy baseball cap."Excuse me, sonny boy. Who are you calling old?""Don't interrupt," I warned, with a sharp glare that turned him to stone. "Where was I? Right. The receiver of prayers and offerings, the envy of my brethren. On a given Tuesday, I might get ...

18 comments 18
Read story

“Captain Bounce” by Joshua G. J. Insole

Submitted to Contest #87

Tristand David grinned at the advert on the side of the bus stop.The Captain Bounce poster mimicked the front page of a newspaper, black and white. Even the fonts matched those of the national rags. The picture — which occupied a good 60 per cent of the poster — showed a family. A father, a mother, two children — a boy and a girl. Of various ethnicities, to try and get the inclusivity vote. Whatever helped sell, Tristand didn’t care. Each hung in suspension, mid-air. Limbs flailed. Hair splayed away from heads, flung out at odd angles. Mouth...

3 comments 3
Read story

$50

Prize money

492

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Apr 02, 2021 EST

Won by Catherine Hill 🏆

Title: Samill the Trickster

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.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

Prompts | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

Join our weekly contest

Get 5 new writing prompts every Friday. Write and submit a story for a chance to win $250.

NEW VIDEO COURSE 🎉

How to Write a Novel

Join Tom Bromley for a writing master class and finish your first draft in 3 months. Learn more →

Explore more writing prompt ideas:

Adults Writing Prompts ⭢

Adventure Writing Prompts ⭢

Angst Writing Prompts ⭢

Character Writing Prompts ⭢

Christmas Writing Prompts ⭢

Dark Writing Prompts ⭢

Dialogue Writing Prompts ⭢

Dramatic Writing Prompts ⭢

Dystopian Writing Prompts ⭢

Fall Writing Prompts ⭢

Fantasy Writing Prompts ⭢

Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Fluff Writing Prompts ⭢

Funny Writing Prompts ⭢

Halloween Writing Prompts ⭢

High School Writing Prompts ⭢

Historical Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Holiday Writing Prompts ⭢

Horror Writing Prompts ⭢

Kids Writing Prompts ⭢

Middle School Writing Prompts ⭢

Mystery Writing Prompts ⭢

Narrative Writing Prompts ⭢

Nonfiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Novel Writing Prompts ⭢

Poetry Writing Prompts ⭢

Romance Writing Prompts ⭢

Sad Writing Prompts ⭢

Science Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Short Story Writing Prompts ⭢

Spring Writing Prompts ⭢

Summer Writing Prompts ⭢

Teens Writing Prompts ⭢

Thanksgiving Writing Prompts ⭢

Thriller and Suspense Writing Prompts ⭢

Valentine's Day Writing Prompts ⭢

Vampire Writing Prompts ⭢

Winter Writing Prompts ⭢

Prompts | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

Join our weekly contest

Get 5 new writing prompts every Friday. Write and submit a story for a chance to win $250.