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Write about someone who makes a deal for viral fame — but their rising popularity comes with unexpected (or dangerous) side effects.

Posted in Dramatic on Jul 4, 2025

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✍️ 49 stories

Deep Cleaning

Submitted to Contest #310

It was an awful day. Selene picked up an extra shift after one of the waitresses called in sick. Despite the extra money, she hated missing her writing time. Normally, she would spend the evening writing by Montgomery Pond, in the park near her apartment, on her laptop. That was where she’d written her first book, By Grace of Night, draft after draft. Last month, it had finally been published. A dream come true—but Selene never felt at ease. The rent was still due, and the book wasn’t selling. She spent her work breaks and late nights refres...

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Crave

Submitted to Contest #310

(tw//cannibalism, blood, and gore)I couldn’t believe he agreed to come over. I wouldn’t want to talk to– let alone ever see me again after the award show fiasco. I should’ve been more composed. More professional. But, I couldn’t bear to see him smirk at me. To smile at me… I almost gagged thinking about it.So, I tripped him. Came as naturally as breathing, and you know what? I would do it again.He knew what he was doing. I should’ve won best pop artist. He only won because all of his fans are prepubescent teenage girls. Which begged the ques...

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Magic

Submitted to Contest #310

Magic ‘Your clothes are magical,’ Cilla said. ‘I mean, there’s money in that.’ Magical. It was nice that her daughter thought so, even if the word was slightly – not barbed, exactly, but definitely pointed. It could be a lot worse. And Cilla wore great stuff, even if her style was considerably more conventional than Ruth’s tended to be. But most people were considerably more conventional than she was. She didn’t set out to be that way. It just happened. How she was never felt totally in her control. Did other people have more contro...

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Inspirational Words

Submitted to Contest #310

“Oh my god! I love every word you wrote,” the young lady says from the front of the lengthy line. “Make it out to Sara.” “Absolutely. I’m so glad you enjoyed it,” I say from the other side of the table where I’ve been signing copies for two hours. The line of fans seems endless. “It was life changing for me,” she beams as I finish my signature. She isn’t the first person to say something similar. The readers have been filled with only good thoughts and praise. My years of work have paid off. This book is only the first in a series I ca...

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Shelly's Big Day

Submitted to Contest #310

Shelly knew this was the moment. All she ever wanted was within arms reach. Just one stroke of the pen and life would change. It would be better. No, she thought, it would be great. Her life was dull, uninspired, and unfulfilled. Shelly craved the spotlight and early in life she had it. A star of her class in soccer and a success in theatre, so much so that Albion College granted her a scholarship to join the theatre program. It was a small school, but Shelly thrived and everyone saw the gift she had and the talent that was overgrown in the ...

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The Kegger

Submitted to Contest #310

**This story contains profanity, sexual innuendo, debauchery, and leftist perspective** “Bro, that’s Jayson Arnold!”“Who?”The two stood at one of the three kegs. Bob Smith had assumed control of the tap even though it wasn’t their party. Nobody yet seemed to mind, so long as it was a good pour.“Jayson Arnold!”“The ‘who?’ implied I don’t know who Jayson Arnold is.”“You don’t know who Jayson Arnold is?”John Williams surveyed the room, looking past the one called Jayson Arnold at the line that was beginning to form at the door. The rugby team’s...

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Nothing in Between

Submitted to Contest #310

Nothing in BetweenKenneth Bignell Years of struggle. A creative writing degree from the University of New Mexico—no easy slog. Cory had poured his heart and soul into story after story, only to be met with rejection after rejection.He’d given up more than once. He’d watched peers succeed, their books climbing bestseller lists. Some of them deserved it. Many, in his opinion, did not—works of shallow drivel, pandering to a public increasingly enamored with cheap thrills, jump-scare plots, and hollow relationships.Reality TV in print. Propped u...

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Always Seen

Submitted to Contest #310

There was a time when Charles Danek barely existed. A fluttering presence in backlit rooms. A man in transit between chain-store coffee and an open browser tab. His job was spectral—content audits for an influencer marketing firm housed in a WeWork copycat with glass walls and quiet sobbing in the restrooms. No one, not even Charles, knew what Charles did.He longed for more, but not in any grand way. It wasn’t ambition so much as ache. Sometimes he imagined someone calling his name in a crowd. He didn’t know what they’d want—a laugh, a momen...

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Hack House

Submitted to Contest #310

Tegan held up the oversized metal water bottle in a hideous shade of chartreuse that she despised. “Okay, guys, I know I said I was sold out, but the awesome people at HyperHydro sent me this case of these beautiful greenish-yellows that just dropped!” Tegan peered at her phone screen, and into the camera to her audience of 6,742 people. Not a bad turnout for a Wednesday afternoon. Her eyes could not keep up with the string of comments, heart emojis, and flowers followed by a quick succession of “cha-ching” sound effects – the sound of he...

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The Viral Cut

Submitted to Contest #310

The club was too loud to think, which suited Casey just fine. She leaned against the bar, flicking through her TikTok feed, trying not to look desperate. Her last video, a painfully over-edited storytime about an ex, had 187 views after three days. The podcast episode from last week had just twelve listens, most of them probably from bots. Life was becoming a challenge she didn’t know how to face. Thinking only reminded her that no one cared. Rent was past due, which annoyed her roommate, and her dreams felt like silly ideas she didn’t deser...

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Chariot Argon

Submitted to Contest #310

As I saunter the hollow streets of Nùs-Faddahd, my head raised high afore the suited people who looked low. The skies white and dreary, had opened for a sun that had lost its yellow glow. It was black now. Our sun was now black. But our buildings were carved from a platinum mountain atop the Erroneous Peak. None spoke, all silent. The skies had not granted us that right. To revel and cheer. Frolic was no more since that day. The day of the Black Sun. The day our king was coronated before the people. Every year on that day, we make way to let...

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Alvina Earlse

Submitted to Contest #310

The city was covered in a thick layer of pollution and blinded by the lights of the night. The air grew colder every day as winter approached. The sound of the city did very little to distract Alvina from her immense failure tonight at the audition. She had hoped that tonight would be her big breakthrough; however, her voice cracked, and she tripped over her feet more than she liked to admit. She’s seen countless people make it big, from the stage to simple video apps. If she couldn’t make it on the stage, perhaps on an app. She pulled out h...

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The Viral Witness

Submitted to Contest #310

It was a simple deal. The reporter needed a ratings boost, and the young woman wanted a little internet fame. She’d seen how idiotic viral moments had been parlayed into dollars and deals by people savvy enough to play the game. From the Hide Yo Kids guy to Hawk Tua girl, both oddly from Alabama, it didn’t take any special talent. So when she saw the fire, she saw her moment. She could be boring and use good grammar and a normal accent and tell the reporter that she’d seen the fire, saw someone running from it, and called 911… or she could h...

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The Contract

Submitted to Contest #310

I had tried everything to get my music career off of the ground. I filmed every part of the process. The songwriting, the busking, and I even faked tears on camera to try and garner an emotional response from my audience. That is something that I am not proud of, especially as it did not work. I even used my precious funds to boost my videos on various platforms with disappointing results. I’d love to be a faceless creator who could put out music without putting themselves all over the internet. I could hide in a helmet like Daft Punk or beh...

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THE INFERNAL BARGAIN

Submitted to Contest #310

‘So you want to sell me your soul,’ said the demon. ‘What do you want in return? Power? Riches? World domination? A woman?’ ‘I want to go viral on social media.’‘What’s that?’‘Have you heard of the internet?’ asked Max.‘Vaguely. It’s some kind of electronic thing, isn’t it? Or something to do with spider webs?’‘No, the World-wide Web. It’s a means of communication. You know what a computer is, don’t you?’‘Someone who works with figures?’ The demon was looking progressively more baffled and he obviously felt out of his depth.‘No, it’s a machi...

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