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Make a character’s obsession or addiction an important element of your story.

Posted in Dramatic on Sep 16, 2024

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✍️ 129 stories

Seven Hundred and Thirty Days

Winner of Contest #252 🏆

My eyes felt like galaxies—holding the swirling glow of countless memories—as I took in our childhood home. Its siding looked like remnants of driftwood after a bonfire. I swore I smelled the smoky char of pine creep into my nostrils. It’s wild how the past stays with you like that. It can feel more visceral and real than the tangible things right in front of you. “Jesus, it feels like just yesterday.” I placed a trembling hand over my heart, struggling to steady my breath.My brother, Perry, pulled me into a tight embrace, his strength ...

154 likes 144 comments 144
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The Last Drink

Shortlisted for Contest #252 ⭐️

Trigger warning: contains themes of alcoholism/addiction.It’s following me again. I walk from the kitchen to the living room and hide. Jaded doesn’t even begin to describe it. I hate the world and the idea of the world. I loathe people and places and work and free time. I can’t stand Netflix bingeing or walking in the park. I don’t enjoy eating, not even Mexican food, which used to be the end of all things. As Rob Thomas would say, “My reason for reason.” No, I have one obsession. It’s with me when I wake up and carries my carcass through th...

68 likes 44 comments 44
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The Writer’s Block

Shortlisted for Contest #252 ⭐️

Jack Thompson’s fingers drummed a chaotic symphony against his cluttered desk, surrounded by the remnants of unrelenting perfectionism—crumpled paper mountains, an army of empty coffee cups, and the flickering screen of his laptop displaying the solitary bulwark of his creative struggle: one stubborn sentence. This single line of text, which he revised with the same unyielding dedication some might reserve for disarming a bomb, had been his nemesis and companion for five torturous years. “The sun erupted over the horizon like an overzealous ...

54 likes 60 comments 60
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Nightingale Court

Submitted to Contest #252

Mrs Cockroach, my neighbour from 507 Nightingale Court, had a distinctive door-knock. It was like the first four notes of Beethoven’s fifth; three quick taps and one solid rap.    I’m coming! I said, closing my laptop. Hold on, Cally! Her dishevelled straw mop and skimpy summer dress made her look like a knock-kneed scarecrow after an autumnal storm.    What’s up, neighbour? I asked.    There’s a taxi on its way, she said, scratching her blotchy elbow. I need help to move out o...

48 likes 70 comments 70
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Frans and Marie

Submitted to Contest #252

The Transporter Museum, a forgotten relic, is inconveniently located on a deserted side street two turns off a dead-end alley. You might never find it, even by accident, but if you do, you’ll always remember its immaculate displays and its eccentric proprietor, Frans Messerschmitt.Every day precisely at nine, the little old man illuminated the neon sign, flipped the placard to open, and made his way behind the counter, prepared for customers who rarely came.It was already late in the day when the door opened, surprising both Frans and the vi...

44 likes 30 comments 30
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The Nitwits Around Here are Such a Bore

Submitted to Contest #252

A castle keep is all that remains of an ancient crumbling castle. It overlooks a valley centered on a tiny island surrounded by dragon-infested mountains. The shadow elves brought the Eye of Duran, which they stole from King Moreland of Selwyn, to this keep for safekeeping. The shadow elves allied with the fire-bolt dragons because the Selwyn navy wouldn't have a prayer to follow. The fiery barrage from the dragons would obliterate their ships before they spotted one palm tree. A messenger dragon sent from their fleet out at sea had warned t...

39 likes 20 comments 20
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Expectations.

Submitted to Contest #252

Her tight smile never quite reached her eyes, and the irritable way in which she answered every question told me something was wrong with Tara. Staff and patients scurried in and out of the waiting room while she assisted each need with thinly veiled annoyance.On a good day, Tara's eyes were these huge, wide-set owlish things that seemed to evoke as much curiosity as wonderment. Today, the watery, unblinking tenor set a more uneasy tone. I spent the first half of my shift cataloging and dismissing all her cues, but interacting was unavo...

34 likes 38 comments 38
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Cue Ball

Shortlisted for Contest #252 ⭐️

Content warning: self-harm, mental health, toxic relationships.HerHis head is a perfect cue ball. Round. Small. Bald. It bobs on the surface of the water, mimicking the gentle waves that swell around him. A frisbee flies and the sea spits out his body. He’s no longer a cue ball; he’s a whale breaching water, airborne and clumsy. He misses. He laughs. He slings the bit of plastic back to his sister.Before I called him ‘husband’, I loved these quirks of his; how he throws his head back when he laughs, that smiling, for him, comes so easily. Bu...

27 likes 6 comments 6
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The Moment

Submitted to Contest #252

“This is your moment,” Professor Urquardt stated.A few heads popped up. A few “attentive” faces tilted as something resembling life infused their features. A few doubled down on their pads in full-on voice-to-text mode.“Your moment.” The Pulitzer and Oscar nominations the University had added unsolicited to the spring catalogue meant little to her bloodless crew of largely Gen Ed Gen-4.0s — most, anyway. But something in Professor Urquardt’s flat, inflection-free, smiling restatement cut through the 9 a.m. fog in a way none of the photograph...

26 likes 19 comments 19
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Never Let It Be Said

Submitted to Contest #252

TW: contains descriptions of gore appropriate to the sixteenth century and there are references to miscarriages. A king does as he pleases and anyone who disagrees is a fool.Wolsey, my lord chancellor, who the pope made cardinal, erred in being too slow to deal with “the king’s great matter” which was how the need to legitimately free myself from my first marriage became known. Thomas More who I promoted to the same position, forfeited his life when he put conscience before obedience to the crown. When Thomas refused to take the oath of succ...

25 likes 24 comments 24
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Moonlit Hazes

Shortlisted for Contest #252 ⭐️

Crumpling, tearing—the sounds echo through the night as Leon discards yet another piece of paper. It's cold, and clouds hide his beloved behind their faint, shifting veils. He should thank them, since they preserve her beauty from being consumed by Leon’s avid gaze. But he longs to see her, and oh, how madly in love he is.He takes a step forward, and the oak flooring of the balcony creaks softly under his shoes. Leon rests his arms on the railing and looks up into the veiled sky. The stars shine brighter than ever, and the constellations can...

25 likes 11 comments 11
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Unrefined Thirst

Submitted to Contest #252

“Fresh squeezed today,” the bartender said, slapping the husky steel barrel behind him. He smiled, his hollow features shadowed by the dim pendant lights over the bar.From his stool, Victor looked down the bar counter; he saw the males with their stark white shirts and freshly pressed slacks, shiny hair slicked neatly behind their ears. They mingled with flirtatious females, elegant dresses in midnight blues and wine-colored reds. The guests drank from cups; the liquid’s rousing scent permeated the tavern.Victor’s hands quivered as he watche...

24 likes 13 comments 13
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The Houseguest

Submitted to Contest #252

Percival Smart, Percy for short, had a lifelong interest in Robotics and AI. Not in the same sense that Mrs. Agatha Brown, two doors down, had a passion for award-winning roses, which she tended daily and had memorized all the names of. Percy’s interest couldn’t be described in terms of rose cultivation.If Percy’s interest in Robotics and AI could be defined in terms of mountain climbing, he had climbed Mount Everest more times than Sir Edmund Hilary had done in all the mountain climbing realities and dreams this famous man had ever had whil...

23 likes 36 comments 36
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Legendary

Shortlisted for Contest #252 ⭐️

TW: Themes of mental health, physical violence, and death Adina Rialto was bored. Twelve months ago, she had been the winningest fighter to come out of the Bruised Knuckles club. Now, no one would fight her. Her phone only rang when her agent had a new brand sponsorship that wanted to use her success for themselves.  She’d been competitive from the moment her parents had signed her up for her first sports camp at five. They had been trying to find an outlet for her endless energy. It had kept her busy, but had also cultivated a ruthless...

22 likes 13 comments 13
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Möbius Strip

Submitted to Contest #252

The old man’s eyes had seen too much; the young man knew this, because the skin around his eyes was deep, and dark. The old man’s hands had felt too much; he knew this, because his hands were leathery and pocked full of scars. The man had lived for too long; his crooked and broken posture betrayed this secret even from a distance. The young man had met him at this bus stop every morning for the past three years, and with each year that passed, the old man appeared to have unnaturally aged by five. The young man pitied him, but there was also...

22 likes 7 comments 7
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