Set your entire story in a car.

Posted in Dramatic on Jul 28, 2023

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✍️ 96 stories

“Big Country” by Anna Forsyth

Submitted to Contest #209

The plan was to recreate Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty’s road trip from Kerouac’s On The Road. Jack said he wanted to be Hunter S. Thompson instead. I told him that was the wrong book. We had a fierce argument for three miles (passing by roughly twenty thousand corn fields) until I realized he was just trying to piss me off. He threw his head back and laughed, closing his eyes briefly to enjoy the morning sun before refocusing the road. I yanked on his ear and he laughed again, running his hand through his bleached blonde hair; he was too b...

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“Lightning Strikes” by Stevie Burden

Submitted to Contest #209

Lightning Strikes Stevie Stephens Burden “Looks like some rain out there,” my traveling partners says, as she leans a little forward in her seat peering out at the sunlit road before us, looking in the direction that we will soon be heading. I agree. I don’t know if she is ready for the rains that come in this part to the country. Unlike our Oregon rain, when the rains hit here, it is usually from clouds that pile up and rub together to create wind and thunder the likes of which we rarely if ever see on the coast. They dump the kind of t...

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“Honestly?” by Nico D.

Submitted to Contest #209

A little love letter to Midwest emo. - Sean and Valerie have just crossed the Ohio border, and they are not in love. They were, once, Sean thinks. He isn’t sure exactly when or for how long. It could have been when they first met in middle school, when they had not yet chosen the names they use now, and for the first time they had each found someone like them—though, at the time, they did not know what exactly that meant. Or that one summer late in high school, when a night of fooling around ended with Valerie’s realization that she was no...

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“Twist” by Mary Black

Submitted to Contest #209

TwistClaire gunned the car up the hill, the road ahead gleaming in the moonlight, relieved to get away from Dave. She had sat there, seething, as he emptied most of a bottle of whiskey in the kitchen of their holiday cabin.‘Couldn’t help it, Claire. I fell in love.’His eyes were luminous with alcohol and regret. Claire had been gratified to see little wrinkles of irritation on her husband’s face, a sign the gloss was already coming off his mid-life office romance. He was most unattractive when he got drunk. Usually she would haul his slight ...

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“Just Another Family Car Trip” by Diane Tolley

Submitted to Contest #209

Traffic has slowed to a crawl. Not a usual thing for a small, semi-hard-topped, two-lane, secondary road twisting through the foothills of Southern Alberta. The Stringams join the end of an already long line of cars. Dad peers ahead through the windshield. “Huh. Weird.” “What on earth could be causing this?” Mom spits on a Kleenex and starts to scrub the face of her youngest son, Blair, perched on the seat between them. “Careful with that chocolate bar, son, you’re getting it on your father.” “Can’t see, yet. But the line will be strai...

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“Little red car” by F. Mint

Submitted to Contest #209

Little red car Little red car, where are we going? Remember when we used to pretend you were a racing car - McQueen - and you spoke back to us? We used to drive down to the lake, every morning, past the train station. We used to say hello to Koko and wave at her, before parking the car and walking by the lake, then to the playground with the slides. Koko, of course, was the train in the station. We were always disappointed by how silent she was, never a “chug-chug” back, when we said hello. Many years have past and I’m still driving. Not...

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“Seven Seconds” by Alan Harrell

Submitted to Contest #209

Seven SecondsAfter six weeks on the run, a journey that spanned over three thousand miles, Josh parked his stolen Hummer at the entrance to Dead Man’s Rock. This was it. The last stop.Beside him, Fiona gazed out the window, her finger twirled around a stray curl. She looked more frightened now than when she played her piano for an audience of thousands, more frightened than the night she shot her stepdad. Screw the suicide pact. Josh had to save her.He threaded his fingers into her hand. “Helluva way to spend your eighteenth birthday. You su...

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“Robin” by Jasmine A Taber

Submitted to Contest #209

The sun reflects on the windshield, causing temporary blindness and illuminating the filth that has accumulated since I last went through the car wash. I squint like I need a rather thick pair of glasses and pull down the sun visor. The road begins to repaint itself in front of my eyes.We are on a long stretch of highway, single lane, that is completely surrounded by trees on either side. Other than the occasional gap between them that's filled with nothing but tall grass. The road is mostly shaded, but open spaces between the trees and bran...

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“Everything is Relative” by Jeremy Stevens

Submitted to Contest #209

Days old cat asparagus pee, dank gas-station bathroom, fast-food grease on hot asphalt by the steaming dumpster with the grey, sun soaked and blistering meat and congealing dairy desserts: all the smells of “indigent” precede him as he climbs into my car, more like falls into, and I reflexively lean towards my door to avoid contact. He wears a heavy burlap-sack puffer coat despite the intense morning heat. The seams of the plastic grocery-store bags set by his heavy, lace-less shoes are splitting open from cast-asides, shirts and socks it se...

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“May It Please the Court” by Jonathan Page

Submitted to Contest #209

When I had picked up the eighty-eight-year-old judge at his townhouse in Marlton, I had assumed that I was driving. I had been wrong. I had also thought we were headed to a Trial Lawyer’s Conference for the New Jersey Association of Justice. Wrong there too. The problem was, I had strict orders from Judge Stein to get his former mentor to the conference on time, and I had promised Judge Redmond’s wife, who literally made me swear on a Bible, that I wouldn’t let the old man drive.It had started in the garage.“So you’ll be ...

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“The Journey ” by Jason Hruska

Submitted to Contest #209

The compact SUV is loaded down full of their bags with more than they need. Sawyer puts the car in reverse, looking at Vita. "You ready?" he asks. Vita takes a deep breath, assessing the situation. "Do we have everything?" Her eyes are full of panic as she fumbles through her purse. "You're always too worried about everything. Just enjoy the journey," Sawyer exclaims. They back out of the driveway, headed off to the west coast to escape a non-eventful summer in the Midwest. As they pull out of the neighborhood, a little voice erupts...

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“Play Nice” by Isla Stark

Submitted to Contest #209

The black snake of road meanders ahead through the expanse of forest, as far as the eye can see. Dense trees hurtle past, blurring and melding together, creating the illusion that the car is standing still and the trees are rushing past. Greg drives in silence with only the sound of the road as his companion. His eyes occasionally abandon the windscreen to peer intently into passing lay-bys, the car slowing as his eyes rake the enclosure until the trees once again guard the occupants from view. The young women, girls really, loiter in the du...

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“Driving Hildy to School” by Robert Ford

Submitted to Contest #209

Driving Hildy to School By Bob Ford “You better hurry or you’ll be late for school,” I called as I got into the car. Though I would never admit it to anyone, Hildy is my favorite daughter. The older one, Julie, seemed to take an instant dislike to me the moment she emerged from the womb. Hildy, on the other hand, as a child had been my little furry caterpillar who would climb into my lap before bedtime and ask me to read her a story. Then, at ten, she had spun herself into a reclu...

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“Cage Rider” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #209

There’s something about being inside a car that speaks of what it is to be. He thinks this to himself as the ribbon of tarmac unfurls before him. He wonders why this has never struck him before now. Encased in the car, he sees the world outside in a way that it cannot see him. From the outside he is sleek, shiny and smooth. Inside he is so very different. Inside he knows different. Inside the car, he is no longer naked, nor is he weak. The car makes him dare to believe that he could be forever. He’s always loved cars. Not liked. Lov...

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“Occasional Signs” by J.J. Erwin

Submitted to Contest #209

CASSODAY 40 MILES EL DORADO 60 MILES WICHITA 90 MILES They had been in the car for over an hour already and, besides Jeff asking Adrian if he was ready to go after they stopped for gas on their way out of town, they hadn’t spoken the whole ride. With each passing mile marker, with each destination sign, taunting him with how close they were nearing home, Jeff felt his heartbeat increasing, his palms growing sweaty, his stomach churning. Even his neck was hurting for all the times he had turned to glance at Adrian, waiting for either Adri...

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Set your entire story in a car.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 96 stories

“Big Country” by Anna Forsyth

“Lightning Strikes” by Stevie Burden

“Honestly?” by Nico D.

“Twist” by Mary Black

“Just Another Family Car Trip” by Diane Tolley

“Little red car” by F. Mint

“Seven Seconds” by Alan Harrell

“Robin” by Jasmine A Taber

“Everything is Relative” by Jeremy Stevens

“May It Please the Court” by Jonathan Page

“The Journey ” by Jason Hruska

“Play Nice” by Isla Stark

“Driving Hildy to School” by Robert Ford

“Cage Rider” by Jed Cope

“Occasional Signs” by J.J. Erwin

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about two strangers who are both heading to the same destination and agree to do a long distance drive together.

Write a story about someone going on a life-changing journey.

Write a story about someone getting lost, but discovering something they didn’t expect along the way.

Start your story with someone walking into a gas station.

Contest #209

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

271

Contest entries

154

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: