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

Posted in Dramatic on Sep 16, 2024

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✍️ 130 stories

“A Beer and A Bitch” by C T

Submitted to Contest #252

[TW: Substance abuse and profanity]Despite the darkness of night covering Copenhagen like a thin blanket, the city did not lie dormant. Big metal hearts and long chains lit up the streets, revealing people’s red noses and smiles as they pranced around. Sara marched hastily past the crowd. Her pulse pounded in her ears; the only rhythm in all her hectic thoughts. The eyes were glued to the phone in her hands. The cold bit her slender fingers pink, but her knuckles remained white as she clutched the phone. On the screen was a route navigating...

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“Don't Get Drunk” by Naya's A Writer

Submitted to Contest #252

[TW - ALCOHOL] Tired, limping and drunken was he as he walked through the desolate streets of Ghost Village. What happened? "Ya bet I won the game!" screamed a wild man, shaking his huge mug of beer above his head, the contents swishing and sploshing out. That one phrase set the whole pub to a singing bout, all of the short whiskered men picking up the tune and warbling out random noises that were hard to discern. Among these tipsy bastards was a rather highly respected man, who had to attend a meeting the next morning at 8, in which the fat...

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“Shattered into Light: Addiction” by Charlotte Edwards

Submitted to Contest #252

Breakdowns, demonic attachment, addiction, psychotic episodes ranging from six hours to five days in length, one hallucination, one poltergeist, two evictions, £40k of debt, homelessness, the loss of every friend and most of her family, the loss of all the mementos she had of her mother and the inability to be there when she died, the loss of five or six jobs, big and little accidents and trips to A&E, passing out in the middle of the day in public, suicide attempts, innumerable nasty and embarrassing panic attacks, hyperventilation, dep...

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“Wish You Were Here” by Amanda Gatton

Submitted to Contest #252

HIM I saw the red-haired woman the first time around ten p.m. one evening when I drove past her house. She was standing in the front window of her house and I tapped my brakes when I saw her. She stood there, illuminated by the room’s light behind her. She was smiling and her lips were moving, talking maybe? To someone else in the room? Someone out of view? She looked like a pretty picture in a frame, standing centered in the window. It seemed she should be looking out at the quiet night. But her eyes were cast down. Her body swayed.&n...

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“The Fanatic” by Yargle Yorgle

Submitted to Contest #252

Joreah kissed the floor, shabby and coated with dust as it was, the cold touch of marble upon his lips, providing a shocking truth as to the character of his god in and of itself. He kept his head there, paying no mind to those around him. He allowed their whispers and their condescending looks to wash over him, his belief would not be shaken by such worldly intimidation. He ignored the dull pain in his knees, caused by kneeling on such a hard floor for so long. His attention, his focus, his very life belonged to his lord, Nesfet, god of all...

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“Echoes in the Shadow” by Tyrone Winder.tyrone@outlook.com

Submitted to Contest #252

Echoes in the Shadows Jason was always different. As a child, he found solace in books and imaginary worlds, preferring solitude over the chaos of social interactions. His introversion deepened as he grew older, an unspoken acceptance that he was destined to navigate life alone. Lacking the social skills that others took for granted, his few friendships faded into the background as his peculiarities became more pronounced. Diagnosed with dissociative personality disorder, OCD, and paranoia, Jason faced each day as a battle to distinguish rea...

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“3 Rules ” by Faith H

Submitted to Contest #252

Trigger Warning: gaslighting/ manipulation. . . Amai always knew her relationship with Aiho was a little problematic.There were always small things Aiho didn’t like or approve of. However, Amai didn’t mind it, in all of her time knowing him he never hurt or even attempted to hurt them. They’ve known each other since childhood but only started dating about senior year of high school which happened because of a less than ideal situation. No matter how bad things got Amai turned a blind eye to it, cause as far as she was concerned he is the per...

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“Shattered” by Marisa Marts

Submitted to Contest #252

Trigger Warning: Substance Abuse, Death - I watch in utter helplessness as my father takes another swig from his handle of vodka. He no longer pours himself glasses of this ruthless poison as he once used to; instead, he has graduated to simply drinking straight from the bottle. Though he bought the handle only a mere few hours ago, half of it has already been emptied into his stomach for his failing liver to process. I glance concernedly at his abdomen, which has become distended – the hospital diagnosed him with ascites and an inflamed liv...

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“Fractured Years” by Sophie Parmaby

Submitted to Contest #252

My mom has always been adamant that soulmates don’t exist. “Relationships only work if you put in the effort to make it work,” she used to tell me. I always found it ironic with all the hallmark shows she watched. Almost all of them have the same plot with similar looking characters, but she would watch them religiously. I suppose fiction is better than reality. I suppose maybe at some point my parents were like those characters in the hallmark shows with the over the top love gestures, the fleeting touches, the longing looks, but now it’s a...

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“Vititi Fames” by Chloe Jones

Submitted to Contest #252

The tide was brash and roaring, as it always was out in the great blue whirlpool where I had found myself a frequenting neighbor. Upstairs, on the deck, I heard the muffled shouting of scraggly men who had wasted away their years forming thick calluses on their hands and thicker hunger for beer and brandy. They paid me mind, sometimes, only when I had to come up from my forsaken little hole of damp barrels and barnacle-infested crates to scrounge for sustenance and drink. The brutes, well… they were a far contrast from those I would have rat...

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“Pretty Eyes” by Gina Grissom

Submitted to Contest #252

Pretty Eyes The bar was noisier than Terrence would have liked. There were a lot of people, plus a live band. He ordered a beer and sat down, watching the crowd. People were laughing, talking, and dancing. They barely glanced at him. He blended. Holding his hand up, he waited for the bartender to notice him. “Might take a while,” said a voice to his left. Terrence turned and was face-to-face with a dream. A woman with deep blue eyes, twirling a lock of her dark chocolate-colored hair with one hand, smiled at him. “It’s busy in here.” Ter...

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“Nightime Melodies” by Michael Mackenzie

Submitted to Contest #252

The music was the sound of someone dying. That’s what I heard my first night in the new apartment. It was two in the morning and I lay next to a cum stained mattress left by the prior tenants, eleven empty bottles of Modelo that I hated myself for drinking because it worsened by headaches and no one in their early forty’s should drink that much, and a brown bag that held 3 debit cards equaling $300 minus the cost of the two six-packs. Why that much? Becau...

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“Happy Mail” by Stephanie Melissa

Submitted to Contest #252

I feel a jolt of dopamine as I shuffle through the mail and come across an envelope with an address I don’t recognize. No letter opener available, I haphazardly tear it open. Inside is a simple card that reads, “hi!” on the front. As I open the card, a page from a Word Search puzzle falls to the ground. I race to catch it before the breeze blows it away and make my way towards the house.Josh doesn’t even glance up from his Xbox as I enter the house. I pause for a second and consider whether I should exit the house and reenter through the bac...

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“The Fantasy of Oblivion ” by Asa P

Submitted to Contest #252

At the bottom of the bottle she found no genie, no answers to her burning questions, and no cure to the gnawing ache that threatened to consume her…….no peace at all for her troubled mind, only the void of oblivion.“Hello, Papa.” She said mechanically as she accepted the call. “How are you?“I’m very good, my daughter. How are you?” Her father responded.“I’m fine.” She said flatly.The silence lingered peppered with an unasked question.What do you want now?She heard him sigh and braced herself.“I don’t know how to say this so I’ll just say it ...

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“Restoration ” by Benjamin Khoury

Submitted to Contest #252

It was June when my grandfather died. I didn’t have a great relationship with the man. He was something of a recluse, and I only really saw him on the holidays. I was told he died from a heart attack, but it was hard for the coroners to tell with the state of decomposition his body was in. It took months before he was discovered hunched over in his study. An IRS agent was sent to his home after several warnings about late taxes. They finally called the cops after their knocks weren’t answered. The foul stench of decay could be smelled from t...

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

Submissions are closed

✍️ 130 stories

“A Beer and A Bitch” by C T

“Don't Get Drunk” by Naya's A Writer

“Shattered into Light: Addiction” by Charlotte Edwards

“Wish You Were Here” by Amanda Gatton

“The Fanatic” by Yargle Yorgle

“Echoes in the Shadow” by Tyrone Winder.tyrone@outlook.com

“3 Rules ” by Faith H

“Shattered” by Marisa Marts

“Fractured Years” by Sophie Parmaby

“Vititi Fames” by Chloe Jones

“Pretty Eyes” by Gina Grissom

“Nightime Melodies” by Michael Mackenzie

“Happy Mail” by Stephanie Melissa

“The Fantasy of Oblivion ” by Asa P

“Restoration ” by Benjamin Khoury

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with a character being followed.

Write about a character who struggles to do the right thing.

Write a story in which one of the characters is a narcissist.

Write a story that includes someone saying, “Be careful what you wish for.”

Contest #252

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

360

Contest entries

143

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: