Set your story in a roadside diner.

Posted in Dystopian on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 60 stories

“Little Casanova Town Diner” by Allie Mae Sakry

I watched the downpour pound away at the old gas pumps through the window. They were already rusted from however many years they’ve stood there, barely covered by the awning hanging overhead. Must have been about seventy years by now. My chin resting on my palm, I sighed into the silence of Little Casanova Town Diner, just outside the town. “Nice weather out there,” called a voice a few rotating stools away. I tu...

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“Joel's Diner” by Mister X

CW: abortion On Saturday nights, the diner gets busy just after 9:00 p.m. I don’t mind it. It helps keep my mind off things—things like unopened bills, unanswered texts, unreturned phone calls. “Say Billy, I’m ready to order,” rasps the grizzled old man, raising a finger to get my attention. Typical of Fort Worth, he always wears a cowboy hat and belt buckle the size of a salad plate. I trot over. “Let me guess. You want chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, no green beans, and extra g...

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“Off the Road” by Tim Roberts

“My father worked on the lorries. His checked shirt billowed gingham; his sod-brown arm lugged snug at window. He'd fit the coupling to the trailer, hugging the waggon cab close as a babe in arms. An expert. His white arm aiding brown to steer the great wheel tight and right; his eye narrowed and angled at the road, mapping the route exactly - back to Shropshire hills. We pestered o...

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“Nothing Ever Happens Here” by Cashmir F.

“Orders up!” yelled the big guy in the kitchen. He began ringing the tiny silver bell over and over. “Alright, I got to go. Work is kicking my ass right now. Just make sure Lori gets to her appointment on time. Love you,” I said, carefully placing the phone down. I tiptoed out of my bosses office and made sure to leave the door cracked just as I’d found it. Swiftly making my way down the hall, letting t...

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“Death Comes to Maxie's” by Charlene 🧙‍♀️✨ Boyce

I guess I should have known things were going to go badly when the milk curdled. I been coming to Maxie’s for my coffee for more than 40 years, and I never got curdled milk before. But there, I added my sugar, two spoons, stirred it up and picked up the little cow-shaped cream pitcher and poured and it all sat sickly white and lumpy in my cup. Depressing, that. Waste a good coffee. It was Wednesday, ...

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“Dreams of Living” by S. Thomson

Sal’s Diner stuck out of the desert like an ice cream cone discarded on the beach. A ragged border where asphalt met sand marked three sides of the lot. The fourth side joined the interstate. Two ancient gas pumps faced the road, nauseous with rust. Inside, 50s and 60s memorabilia cluttered the walls, and the jukebox played non-stop rock and roll. A sign behind the bar advertised ‘Real American Lemonade’. Sal, the owner, was full of wild ideas. One of his more outlandish schemes had the employees on roller skates while they wa...

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“The Meeting” by Barbara Mealer

She arrived at the diner thirty minutes early. It was like he had said—long, narrow and like an old railroad car with all the windows. The faded sign proclaimed it to be Bubba’s Diner. Stacie sat in her car and attempted to come up with a reason to leave. There was none. At none that would hold water anyway. She had parked near the road to make it easy to leave. The diner was half way between where they l...

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“hand in hand in the diner” by John Steckley

As a matter of a habit shared with many in town, he pulls off the road, and into the always occupied parking lot at a place known locally as ‘the diner’. It looks a lot like the famous painting “Nighthawks’ from the 1940s, with nearly wall to wall, floor to ceiling windows, but it is almost always crowded, not the nearly empty lonely diner of the painting. And it is early afternoon light. He had a qui...

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“Most Nights” by Dhruv Srivastava

Most nights, Eleanor Robin manned the counter of Lazy Night Diner with a cigarette in one hand and a flask full of vodka and orange juice by her hip. Of course, it was strictly against protocol for any employee of the diner to be drinking on the job, but her own boss Clyde Wilkins was such a boozer that she could smell the whiskey on his breath the moment he’d hired her. He was rarely in - always with some excu...

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“Under the Overpass” by Susan Whitlock

“Like another refill?” the pretty waitress offered, leaning over to pour before waiting for an answer. She was young, but had been waiting tables for two years and knew a customer like this guy would sit here drinking refills till the next meal time rolled around, if management would allow it. Albert nodded his shaggy head and smiled up into her blue eyes and midwestern friendliness. “...

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“Renewed Spontineity” by Lori Colt

“What’ll you have handsome?" The waitress asking me smiles. She appears to be in her late sixties, blue eye shadow solidified into deep crevices making her eyelids look like a slightly schizophrenic map for some uncharted backcountry. I stare at her for a moment, wondering if I might recognize her before responding, “Something different. I’m in a rut, a holding pattern if you will, an...

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“Lady Luck” by Clyde Laffan

WARNING! CONTAINS SOME COARSE LANGUAGE, VIOLENCE & SEXUAL REFERENCES. Lady Luck By Clyde Laffan Danny had never hitchhiked before. Neither had Will, and it was his idea. One he would regret until his dying day, whic...

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“The Unseen Four at Mattie's Diner” by Elizabeth Fenley

The Unseen Four at Mattie’s Diner “We have long known it would come to this.” “True.” “Why now?” The three paused their conversation, unspoken syllables hanging in the air between them, invisible to Mattie as she walked by to top off coffee at another table, cast them a quick glance reassuring herself they didn’t need refills, and returned to the counter of the diner. Though their ...

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“Anything but Casual Dining ” by Desiree Emme

Anything but Casual Dining::CONTENT WARNING: VIOLENCE. ABUSE SUGGESTED::Gabby wiped the blade, leaving red smears on her immaculate below-the-knee-length white blazer. A smirk played tentatively on her lips, one hand on the open trunk. She leaned against her arm, gazing upon the man squirming, bounded. Blood still oozed from his toothless mouth. Gabby chucked a little bag with his pearly whites in his face. The man screamed and Gabby’s smirk intensified. ...

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“A Greasy Spoon Interlude” by Liam Murphy

A Greasy Spoon Interlude Georgia tucked into her mixed grill with gusto; I had always envied her appetite. It was mid-July and hot as hell. The diner was by the roadside of interstate 55, a lot of miles from everywhere. I had met Georgia in college, where she was taking a master’s in veterinary studies, and I was majoring in biology. I loved her from the mo...

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Set your story in a roadside diner.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 60 stories

“Little Casanova Town Diner” by Allie Mae Sakry

“Joel's Diner” by Mister X

“Off the Road” by Tim Roberts

“Nothing Ever Happens Here” by Cashmir F.

“Death Comes to Maxie's” by Charlene 🧙‍♀️✨ Boyce

“Dreams of Living” by S. Thomson

“The Meeting” by Barbara Mealer

“hand in hand in the diner” by John Steckley

“Most Nights” by Dhruv Srivastava

“Under the Overpass” by Susan Whitlock

“Renewed Spontineity” by Lori Colt

“Lady Luck” by Clyde Laffan

“The Unseen Four at Mattie's Diner” by Elizabeth Fenley

“Anything but Casual Dining ” by Desiree Emme

“A Greasy Spoon Interlude” by Liam Murphy

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a couple who fall out on the road.

Start your story with a vehicle pulling over for a hitchhiker.

Write about a character on the road — and on the run.

Start your story with the line “We have plenty of time,” and/or end it with the line “We were never going to make it.”

Contest #110

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

215

Contest entries

155

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Tired of MS Word?

Explore more writing prompt ideas: