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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#9: Little Women

On September 30th, 1868, the first volume of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott was published. This December, 151 years later, the eighth(!) film adaptation of Little Women will be released in theatres. Suffice it to say, this book has stood the test of time and remains a favorite amongst readers.

In honor of Alcott's novel, this week's writing prompts are all themes and elements pulled from her seminal family drama. And don't worry if you haven't read the book or aren't too familiar with the March family — these themes are all universal!

This week's prompts

Write a story in which societal rituals and expectations play a key role.

Fiction – 18 stories

Write a story that focuses on the relationship between siblings.

Middle School – 57 stories

Write a story about someone whose lifestyle has changed and is learning to adjust to new circumstances.

High School – 34 stories

Write a story that uses flowers as a symbol.

Spring – 32 stories

Write a story about unrequited love.

Romance – 60 stories

Stories

“We Had Another Sister” by Laura Todd

Submitted to Contest #9

We had another sister, my sister Rosie and me. She was the youngest, born 3 years after Rosie and 5 years after me. I remember the day they brought her home, my second little sister. She was a happy baby, always smiling, bright, and cheerful. Her name was Mary-Jane. I never much liked my other sister, for she was always there. Whenever Rosie and I would play, no doubt she would appear. Mother said we had to include her because she was our sister too. I often wished it was just Rosie and me again. Like it used to be. Like it should be. I didn...

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“Mothers lie” by Caylee Nesbit

Submitted to Contest #9

My eyes fling open to the sudden sound of a booming lightning strike. Slowly I climb out of my warm cozy blankets, and into the cool crisp air of my room. I look out my window to see tiny raindrops make their way down to the ground, and onto the beautifully colored leaves. While closing my eyes I take a deep breath in and sniff the marvelous smell of fall mixed with the smell of a rainy storm. A smile slowly finds its way onto my face, and fills me with the sweet sensation of a lovely fall morning.Feeling unexpectedly tired, I slump down the...

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“My Sibling was Cool” by Prachipallavi Samal

Submitted to Contest #9

Peggy had always found her brother a snob.Seeing things from her perspective, one wouldn’t have been surprised. Pete was an outdoors kid, spending the limited time he spent at home holed up in his room. Peggy had wanted to spend more time with her brother, knowing his interests and sharing hers, but the few attempts that she made to get close were pushed away by Pete. His things were always never to be touched, his food not for sharing, never a playtime with him. Just the cold shoulder for little Peggy. The final straw had been when she...

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“The Bond Between Brothers” by Shannon Haffely

Submitted to Contest #9

Halloween was particularly cold this year. Light snow blanketed the busy city streets—the first snowfall of the year. I’d long since stopped trick-or-treating, but the kids who still had hope for the world ran about, asking fro candy with their adorable enthusiasm. Teenagers such as myself more often than not weren’t cute enough to get more than a stale carrot. With reddened hands stuck in my pockets, I trudged down the sidewalk, avoiding as many costumed children as I could. Icy wind nipped at my face. I buried my face into my warm ja...

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“Safe” by Allen Roy MacPherson

Submitted to Contest #9

The hand that rocked the cradle was not my mother. It was my 2 year old cousin. I could not have been one year old and 60 years later, I still remember it as clear as if it was yesterday. I think the memory stays with me and is incredibly and indelibly etched in my mind, because the only really recognizable thing, the only truly and newly unumbilical attachment, to a 6 month old infant is its mother, even more so than her nurturing, nourishing breasts, and maybe, used to turning to see her tender hand and slender fingers, when the crad...

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“A Father's Last Fix” by Raissa Abrahamson

Submitted to Contest #9

They stared at me, like I didn't belong there as much as they did. He was my Dad too, he loved me just the same as them, yet I ended up the black sheep. On the outside looking in we were the perfect family: two boys, two girls, and a set of very loving parents. Inside it could be brutal, you'd have to watch every step because anything was fair game for ridicule. "It's lovely to see you again Quinn." Aunt Mary, nobody's favorite. She always smells like old lipstick and coffee. "Have you talked to them?" "What's the point? Give them some more...

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“The Pack Horse Librarian” by Jewelynn Gonzalez

Submitted to Contest #9

The weight of a hundred pounds kept Abby’s eyelids tightly shut. Pain gripped her neck, wrists, and ankles at each movement; she raised her arms to her face, pulling at the raw flesh on her ankles. As if on reflex she threw her arms down, relieving the pain at her feet, only to cause the flesh on her neck to tear. Feeling the warm drip of blood start to trickle, she tediously bunched her body, sitting hunched over. Her body’s protests and fits of aching muscles, impaling themselves with millions of tiny needles, was enough to temporarily kee...

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“Wish and Wish and Wish” by Abby Jaquint

Submitted to Contest #9

I wished. I wished on stars. Dandelions. 11:11. Eyelashes when they would fall off and land gently on my cheek. Day after day, wish after wish, asking for things to just get better, as if some cosmic entity would hear my pleas and decide that I was the one poor soul in this world that they wanted to help. It isn’t any different today. My legs swing back and forth on the end of Aiden’s pickup truck, the tall grass beneath us tickling my calves. Aiden lazily holds a dandelion in front of me. “You’re taking a long time,” he says. I ...

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“From California to Tennessee” by Elizabeth Reece

Submitted to Contest #9

It was a warm California night. Air thick with smog and the smell of warm asphalt glided in through the open windows. There were no smells of trees and nature in this large apartment complex. Just smells of cars needing tune-ups, warm asphalt and sometimes the whiff of someone’s home made cooking and sometimes even that did not smell very good. She still could not believe they were paying $1200 a month for this run down two-bedroom apartment. Yes, it was just her, her husband and her son but still not being able to send him outside to play l...

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“TWO SMART BY HALF” by Dhruv Shah

Submitted to Contest #9

Only a few can see us, the curious ones with that bit of sparkle in their eyes, but they are simply deemed over – imaginative or liars due to the stubborn human nature which finds it so hard to accept something new. In this way, society keeps us hidden as ‘false rumours’. It is not as if we are unhappy with this, quite pleased in fact. We like to be hidden from the foolish humans and their irritable curiosity, to live peacefully in our own little world. Well, this is a story about how a little boy with a bit of sparkle in his eyes, who chose...

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“FEBRUARY 8TH, 2018” by Mireia Planas Sucarrat

Submitted to Contest #9

I wish I was writing from home, sitting on a comfortable armchair next to the window, watching snowflakes fall and cover the landscape. I would be using an old pen and, as always, blue ink would be running over the paper, forming small rivers of dark water snaking between the letters I would have written in this short paragraph. I wish I could experience the aging of my own hands holding a pen, trembling more and more after each year; thin paper skin hands. I used to be independent, able of handling my own life. I used to be on my own, not n...

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“To Be Loved” by Jennifer Emberton

Submitted to Contest #9

Miranda Clarksdale stared at the cold, sterile wall directly in front of her and considered numbly that she was completely alone. That the drunk driver had twisted more than her car, destroyed more with one stupid inconsequential act than he would ever know. “Ma’m?” A woman was crouched in front of her wearing Snoopy scrubs with Charlie Brown flying a red kite with a small yellow bird hanging on as it was tossed wildly. That’s me, she thought. “Is there anyone we can call for you?” The nurse reached for her knee but pulled ...

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“My extraordinary bourgeois lifestyle cause célèbre changing circumstances” by Matthew Harris

Submitted to Contest #9

Adulation commencement begat unexpectedly late in life, and continues to this date - September 27th, 20xx. The following "FAKE" prevarication elaborated, embellished, expounded... before being trumpeted as lame excuse for pulp fiction. Ever since initial debut (jumble of skinny arms and legs sliding and slipping down Harriet Harris berth canal out the womb) on that unforgettably brutally cold Friday January 13th, 19xx unusual fatuous fanfare arose for this common male. An arduous and complicated denouement purportedly contributed to subs...

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“The Flight” by Unknown User

Submitted to Contest #9

I jerked awake startled by the turbulence and the flight attendant's voice announcing the seat belt sign has been turned on. I stifled a yawn, turned on the reading light, and straightened up my seat.I hate flying red eye. It's been years since I last flew at night. I grabbed the magazine in front of me and flipped through the pages, browsing, not really reading. Calvin's voice from 2 nights ago is still ringing in my ears. "You ruined my life! You destroyed everything that I have!"That last fight was ugly. There's no recovering from it. I b...

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“20.20” by Delisa Drake

Submitted to Contest #9

The beach was vacant. The sand, bare of footprints. The water, cold from isolation.Calvin stroked the knobs protruding from his steel-framed typewriter. Slowly, he pressed his frail fingers against the row of six weighted keys. Click. Click.Click-click-click-click. Click. He prepared for the next sentence. Calvin paused while simultaneously holding down two of the keys. He released a deep sigh. His mind was drowning in thoughts of his words no longer being accepted. What if his manuscript didn’t read the same? What if he’d lost his desc...

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$50

Prize money

201

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Oct 04, 2019 EST

Won by Sofia Lago 🏆

Title: What Dead Songbirds Sing

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!

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