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

Posted in Dramatic on Sep 16, 2024

Submissions are closed

Sorry, we are not accepting submissions for this prompt as it is not part of an active contest. Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy Prompts account.

Or create a new Reedsy account:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 130 stories

“Just a hairdresser” by Lyle Closs

Submitted to Contest #252

I know what I did was not nice. I’m a good person, but good people can be led astray. The world is awash with secrets. A married woman has sex with a visitor and her husband never knows that the resulting child is not his. A boy gets a girl pregnant but she does not tell him; she disappears and gives their child up for adoption. Now though! You take a DNA test intending to research your family history, and oh! the secrets that are revealed. It started with the small thrill of discovery. I had bought a DNA test kit for myself but not opened i...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Darker” by Liam Murphy

Submitted to Contest #252

Life PathsMeeting and becoming involved with Ariel Simmons was life-changing on many different levels. But let’s be straight with each other from the start: I am nobody’s idea of an innocent, nor am I a shrinking violet. Ariel lay down a cleverly hidden path for me to pursue until her dark world enveloped and subjugated mine. For the greater part of that journey, I was a more than willing supplicant before belatedly finding myself trapped in her morass too deeply and unable or unwilling to claw my way out. Ariel was twenty-seven when we firs...

0 comments 0

Read story

“The Baggie” by Tabatha Hartman

Submitted to Contest #252

The shower started in the bathroom.It’s off the kitchen, an odd design.Sitting at the kitchen counter, the bathroom door is 3 feet from the end of the counter. It’s just sitting there on the floor between me and the bathroom door.His backpack. He takes it to work. It holds everything he might need throughout the day; drawing pads, various drawing mediums and his laptop. And of course a hoodie. Unless it’s Friday. They dress up on Fridays at the shop, since they are casual all week. Sort of a play off what corporate America does. H...

1 comment 1

Read story

“Ratio” by Brittany Mackeown

Submitted to Contest #252

Something comes back to me while I’m outside our favorite fancy bistro, waiting on Esperanza to arrive. She’s late as usual. Work is keeping her. Some crisis about one third-party company or another that can’t get their software straight. I wish she was here. It’s been a long week, and date night is what I need—some time with her and just her. When she turns off her work phone and we can just talk.I stare at a text from her. The last one. Gonna be late. You better not be wearing that fuckin bolo.She’s not serious. Well, not really. That...

0 comments 0

Read story

“I Was Breastfed By A Psycho” by Shreya Kelly

Submitted to Contest #252

How much can a mother obsess about her daughter? Say, you are obsessed with your academic performance. How much can you study in a day? Let's start from the beginning of the day. You might wake up at 4 am. You will study non stop till 8 am. You might take a quick shower and rush to school. In school, you will try very hard to focus on every sentence spoken by your teacher. You will take notes in addition. Then, you will go back home, have a quick meal and again study for hours. You will not even take a 5 minute TV break in between. This is c...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Shattered Sanctuary” by Lindsay King

Submitted to Contest #252

[Trigger Warning: Suicide] The river had always whispered secrets- a dark, undulating ribbon of water, teeming with mysteries darker still. It was here, where the demon found her. A young woman, her eyes hollow, her heart a bruised plum, whispering the name of her lost child as tears rolled down her face The demon, a wisp of smoke with emerald eyes, glided close, a silent promise in its gaze. “You are drowning in sorrow,” it hissed, its voice a caress gone wrong. “This river, it offers release. It will take you to your child, to a world beyo...

2 comments 2

Read story

“The Waiting Rats” by Daniel Crepault

Submitted to Contest #252

The dining room is full of patrons this morning. I avoid eye contact as I walk through rows of tables, wearing the fake smile that’s become as integral to my uniform as the starched white shirt and black tie. Nausea chews through my stomach like a swarm of rats, but I ignore it, walking with purpose through the cramped spaces between tables. If I get this right, no one will notice the sweat on my face or that my hands shake as I take away dirty plates and soiled flatware. Maybe if I move quickly enough, they’ll just see someone working hard....

0 comments 0

Read story

“The Art of Deception” by Isabella Krieg

Submitted to Contest #252

I've painted him over a dozen times. I guess this is what true love feels like. With each portrait I believe I get closer to him, knowing him both personally and physically. I know the exact degree his eyes turn down, and the angle at which his eyebrows arch. I know the color of his skin at the tip of his nose, and the exact shade it turns once it's dark. I understand the way his hair falls over his face and how it blows in the wind. I know how to capture his curled lip when he tells a lie, and I know the secret he hides. Each portrait I thi...

2 comments 2

Read story

“The Feathered Obsession” by Ben Murphy

Submitted to Contest #252

Warren Spinster started his day off like any other morning. He began by listening to the sounds of birds outside his apartment window. This was something that he used to sooth himself while drinking his coffee and reading the newspaper. Thinking to himself that the feel of the paper led him to believe he was living in the wrong time. Warren continued and started reading his books about birds that helped to identify the different animals. When he found different birds that he wanted to photograph he would identify a plan and mark possible loc...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Danny's Girl, Revisited” by Christine Richardson

Submitted to Contest #252

“Honey, I’m home!” Danny warbled the words cheerfully, savoring them, willing himself to forget that he lived alone now, and no one would answer. He closed the door gently, hung up his suit jacket, and loosened his tie. He imagined Carlotta emerging from the kitchen, swathed in her homespun apron, a dusting of flour on her nose and cheek, like a visitation of early-winter snowflakes. There would be greetings and hugs and kisses and maybe a little hanky-panky on the couch before she confessed that her culinary efforts had led to dis...

0 comments 0

Read story

“The Nail-Ripper” by Axel Finnie

Submitted to Contest #252

Oh how I love seeing the true side of people, I can know if they're scared or happy or angry, for me it's like a superpower, knowing how people really are. So there he was, on my table, tied up by leather belts. When he woke up, of course, there came the begging, my favorite part. “please, sir. Whatever you think I did, I swear it wasn't me”. He cried out. I smiled, almost laughed, really “I swear” ?. He thinks I don't know what he did. Oh wait, of course, my mask. I had a spider-man mask painted black, then dark brown tape around it, so now...

0 comments 0

Read story

“A Couple of Ks From the Beach” by Nathaniel Gardener

Submitted to Contest #252

Creedence on the radio, smooth waves of sun-sea basking me in light, salt clinging eagerly to the tangy white hairs on my skin. Who needs to be serious when you have all this? I take a big puff from the joint; it’s pure joy, a sweet aroma like you’ve never seen. It’s bliss, man, another world, in a head outside of yours, bigger than yours, like waaaaaaay bigger and somehow it’s everything you know, and you’re...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Weight and Glory” by Kelita Sim

Submitted to Contest #252

TW: Eating disorders, death, griefBody heat doesn’t produce any benefits inside an anglican church on a balmy spring morning. The pews are packed with mourners, cladded in black felt, rocking in their seats with chill and grief. I’m unsure which emotion is stronger as I stuff a hand into my coat pocket, scraping it against the sharp paper folded inside. I try looking upwards to stop my spinning head from swandiving between my legs.I am faint again. I am crashing again. I haven’t eaten anything again.The outer corners of mouth feel tacky but ...

0 comments 0

Read story

“One Day at a Time in Bellewood” by Emily M. Reiser

Submitted to Contest #252

It will not be like last time. I am in control. After moving to the quaint town of Bellewood I learned that they only have one coffee shop: Prairie Java. It isn’t even good. But the owners must be familiar with the idea that beggars can’t be choosers. We take what we can get. I’ve been here two months and I’ve already become an avid regular at this establishment. In that time I’ve only seen two baristas at work here, Emma and Lori. Emma is a recent high school graduate who will attend a cosmetology school in Septembe...

0 comments 0

Read story

“The Gambler” by Beth Ann Michele

Submitted to Contest #252

Michael Reed knew too intimately the truth every gambler knows: obsession and addiction are two sides of the same coin. As a lifelong gambler, he had done the same dance with Lady Luck for decades, taking turns around the dance floors of casinos, tangoing in and out of backroom poker games, and waltzing hand in hand down the Las Vegas strip. There was no better partner for Michael, but he knew it was time to hang up his dancing shoes and give his sweet lady one last kiss goodbye. But, when he pressed his lips together in preparation for the ...

0 comments 0

Read story

Load more stories

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with a character being followed.

Dramatic – 100 stories

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

Character – 35 stories

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

Character – 40 stories

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

Character – 55 stories

Contest #252

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: Obsession

$250

Prize money

360

Contest entries

143

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - May 31, 2024 EST

Won by Danielle LeBlanc 🏆

Title: Seven Hundred and Thirty Days

View details

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

We'll send you 5 prompts each week. Respond with your short story and you could win $250!

Menu

CONNECT

BLOG

APPS

TOOLS

ABOUT

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

Submissions are closed

✍️ 130 stories

“Just a hairdresser” by Lyle Closs

“Darker” by Liam Murphy

“The Baggie” by Tabatha Hartman

“Ratio” by Brittany Mackeown

“I Was Breastfed By A Psycho” by Shreya Kelly

“Shattered Sanctuary” by Lindsay King

“The Waiting Rats” by Daniel Crepault

“The Art of Deception” by Isabella Krieg

“The Feathered Obsession” by Ben Murphy

“Danny's Girl, Revisited” by Christine Richardson

“The Nail-Ripper” by Axel Finnie

“A Couple of Ks From the Beach” by Nathaniel Gardener

“Weight and Glory” by Kelita Sim

“One Day at a Time in Bellewood” by Emily M. Reiser

“The Gambler” by Beth Ann Michele

🌟 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: