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!

#97: Window of Opportunity

Windows let us see and be seen. These openings to the outside world (or the indoors world, depending on where you’re standing) have been so important in connecting our individual isolations during the pandemic. And beyond their presence in our daily lives, windows frequently feature in art and cinema: from Edward Hopper’s famous paintings of nightly urban scenes to films like The Woman in the Window or The Neighbors’ Window, glimpses into the lives of others have always been a source of wonder and curiosity.

Speaking of which, wonder and curiosity are promising feelings to tap into when you're responding to this week’s prompts. Apart from the literal gazing in and out of windows, you can also pass through magic ones, or develop a story around a window-related event. And if you happen to passionately loathe windows, I’ve got a metaphorical one for you to get creative with. Have fun!

This week's prompts

Start your story with a character looking out of a window in the middle of the night.

Horror – 340 stories

Write a story in which a window is broken or found broken.

Dark – 142 stories

Write a story that involves a magic window — or a window like no other.

Fantasy – 154 stories

Start your story with an unexpected knock on a window.

Dark – 138 stories

Set your story within a window of opportunity, when a character finally has the chance to do something.

Middle School – 144 stories

Stories

“Three Broken Windows” by Ana Ahuja

Submitted to Contest #97

TW: murder I woke up with a headache. Something felt weird. Something was off. As I looked around, nothing seemed to be different. Except for one thing. There was a broken window. It looked like it had been hit with a heavy object, maybe a rock. I decided maybe it had been the wind, so I moved on. I got up and started getting ready for school. When I got out, it was already 8:15, which was very late, but my mom hadn’t started yelling. Something was definitely off. I walked downstairs and couldn’t hear a single noise. “Mom...

Read story

“Hebrews 13: 1-2” by Vincent Guillemin

Submitted to Contest #97

[Note: This is linked to" Microcosm" # 15. ]The sound of crushed glass under his feet cuts Lou off of daydreaming. A single broken pane with jagged glass teeth around the frame and room enough for an arm to slide in and reach for the handle. But the window is shut. " Might be a trick. The fucker could still be inside". He feels a lump constricting his throat and his mind quickly races back to the image of the man shuffling his battered boots out of the city. When their eyes met, Lou felt as if shards of ice pried open the windows of his...

Read story

“Abraxas” by Mike Garrigan

Submitted to Contest #97

The sun had not yet roared into the sky. A Mapleton City Police cruiser rushed along on Chisholm Chapel Road. Sarge drove. Denny rode shotgun. Sarge smoothed his thick mustache with his thumb. Denny reached around his side to itch his back fat. The sun began to push reds and oranges through the blue morning horizon. “She didn’t see who broke it?” Denny asked.“Didn’t say. She was pretty upset,” Sarge said.Sunlight began to creep over the trees. Sarge and Denny put on aviators, almost simultaneously. A beam of light hit a nick on the...

Read story

“Window of Dimensional Transposition” by Lynn Bigham

Submitted to Contest #97

On display in the Museum of Quantum Phenomenon is a window. It is 1.524 meters tall and 0.914 meters wide with clear glass separated into 9 panels on the top and 9 on the bottom. It has a white, matte frame and a small placard providing a narrow history of the window, the seemingly most boring exhibit within the museum. The placard reads: Window of Dimensional Transposition, ca. 900 AD, Rome, Italy; discovered by Rinaldo Russo and donated in 2105 by the University of Bologna.Standing before the window is Dr. Una Harlowe, a quantum physicist ...

Read story

“317” by Winston Smith

Submitted to Contest #97

Three knocks hit the cell window. Officer Young jumped to his feet, sending his folding chair clattering to the floor behind him. He scrambled to retrieve his rifle and gripped the barrel in two, white-knuckled fists. “The hell?” he whispered to himself. For the first time in six years, Officer Young stood at attention. He stared down the length of the hallway, refusing to believe that the knock came from his prisoner. Inmate 317 had been in solitary longer than Young had been an officer. And 317 never made a noise. There it came again. ...

Read story

“The window to death” by Prathna Kukreja

Submitted to Contest #97

Patricka had hust moved towards the countryside to her new home with her parents and one elder brother. She was a timid type of girl, always day dreaming about her passion-Dance. She was loving her new house, actually you can say it was a mansion beautifully decorated. Her favourite place was the window of her room. She had just got a beautiful mushroom shaped night-lamp for her study table which she had just placed near her window. She sat there and imagined herself dancing to the hip-hop tunes. She also was a great artist, as in sketching ...

Read story

“The Robbed Cafe” by Raquel Pokiak

Submitted to Contest #97

I awake to the sound of glass shattering from my cafe downstairs. No louder than a plate slipping from someone's hands, crashing to the floor. Struggling to get out from my heavy blankets, I grab the small metal bat that my father gave me after telling him I was going to start my cafe. My grip around it trembles. I pause, maybe I had dreamt the sound? My hopes are cut off by light footprints treading downstairs. Then I had been so determined to set off on my ...

Read story

“The Other Side of the Window” by Katie Ingold

Submitted to Contest #97

**CW: Mentions of torture and anxiety** Darkness always hid from the light. The luminescence chased the shadows away where they remained hidden, waiting for an unsuspecting person to stumble into the blackness. Or they waited for the light to retreat so they could slither along once again to cover the beauty. As I stared out the window into the night, I wished the light would chase away my shadows. Shadows I held deep within. Shadows that caused an ache so painful it hurt to breathe sometimes. Shadows where I discovered the truth concealed...

Read story

“Dumpster Drivers ” by Meta M Griffin

Submitted to Contest #97

Dumpster DriversPatsy peeked out her blinds and grabbed her notebook. She watched the dumpster every night to make sure that people from other neighborhoods weren’t using the dumpsters. There had not been enough room in the dumpster for all the residents of the condo community to put their trash. And there were various and sundry rumors about strangers using the dumpster and or walking through the neighborhood at night. Patsy was determined to catch someone. She felt a rush of adrenalin when she saw a gray car pull up. So...

Read story

“The Optimistic One” by Shaquita B.

Submitted to Contest #97

The heel of my boot tapped rhythmically under the coffee table as my knees bounced up and down. The shot of espresso seemed to be working its magic through my limbs. I eagerly watched the people passing by the window with the collar of their coats turned up. Not too strange for early November. I had to have watched about 25 people walk by. None were him. I checked my phone once again. He was ten minutes late. I sighed. Hopefully, he wouldn’t stand me up like he did last night....

Read story

“Middle of Destiny” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #97

There is something about the rain knocking on your window in the black of night. As I peer through the glass, droplets streaming down its invisible surface, give me a sense of being in that place where life has stopped, the world is standing chastised in the corner. All cares and worry have been washed away. Each drop sliding down the glass carrying with it…? You know that lyric, “Take the dark out of the night time and paint the day time black.” Some nights feel like that. But when you take out the dark, what’s left...

Read story

“The Past is Another Country” by Metaxia Tzimouli

Submitted to Contest #97

2008 Sometimes it seems like it is all one big fluke. The first three books became bestsellers in a whirlwind of boundless inspiration. And with that came success and money. His fingers hover over the keypad, then backspace, and then hover again. He slumps back on his wooden chair with a wince. Shit! Sat there he thinks about back when he had the luxury of time, when he still had romantic notions about what being an author was. He remembers sitting in cafes on days when the world felt like it was something he didn’t want to get off from. A s...

Read story

“When A Stranger Knocks” by Gerard Watson

Submitted to Contest #97

Hugo Trench braced himself against the back of his chair, and his fingers hovered over his laptop keys when he heard banging on his windows. He stared across the room, wondering who would be foolish or desperate enough to be traveling at night during a blizzard? Ten hours ago, Hugo reluctantly drove upstate from New York City. He nearly slid off the snow-covered roads few times. Although he didn’t want to drive up, he had no choice. His agent and his publisher were pressuring him to rewrite the last few chapte...

Read story

“The Geocache Kidnapper” by K Williams

Submitted to Contest #97

The Geocache Kidnapper by K. Laini Williams Sage reaches her car only to realize she doesn’t have her keys. “Don’t tell me I left my keys in the park!” she sighs and heads back into the park. She finds her keys lying on the large rock where she had placed her backpack earlier. She did not recall them falling out of her bag but figures a critter may have found her shiny key chain alluring and pulled it out. It would not have been the first time a critter tampered with her belongings. She recalled...

Read story

“Broken as a Pane of Glass” by Josh C

Submitted to Contest #97

Thunder clapped, and Joel jumped as two aimless bolts of lightning lanced across the sky, illuminating the small apartment through the broken window. A gust blew through the hole in the glass, water dripping from two dagger-like shards hanging from the top of the frame. How long had it been like that? 3 days? A week? Joel quickly grabbed the piece of tarp he had been using as a temporary barrier and hung it in place, then walked over to the fridge. On the sea of judgmental, unchecked items on his to-do list, he found it.Get glass replaced. T...

Read story

Load more stories

$50

Prize money

921

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jun 11, 2021 EST

Won by Claire Lindsey 🏆

Title: In situ

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!

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 ⭢