Set your story before dawn. Your character has woken up early for a particular reason.

Posted in Fiction on Nov 10, 2023

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?

✍️ 94 stories

“An Old Habit For a Young Boy” by Emma MacDonnell

Submitted to Contest #224

5:30 am. That's what time the stupid damn dog gets me up at. 5:30 am. Everyday. Of every week. “Come on, ye stupid dog. Get outside.” But I know he’s at the door already, I ain't even gotta look. I didn't want the damn dog, never did. For my twelfth birthday I wanted a motorbike, the big neon green ones that you could drive through off-wheeling in the woods. But no, here's a dumb dog for you, Sawyer, that you have to take care of Sawyer, that you have to feed and walk and train and look after so you can’t hang out with those no-good...

1 comment 1

Read story

“Awake” by Morgana Lightraven

Submitted to Contest #224

It's always the same story. Three am in the morning, pitch dark outside, and I fall awake. It seems funny to say it that way, but it happens EVERY SINGLE NIGHT, like clockwork. No need to look at the clock to see what time it is, although I must admit that I did, at first. Now, there's really no need. In the beginning, I thought of it as a mystery, and wondered at the punctuality of the time when it happened. Now I see how it is. To elucidate for those who may not know it, the hours between two and five in the morning, those early hours b...

0 comments 0

Read story

“The Devil's Hour” by Joseph Cillo Jr

Submitted to Contest #224

A sacrifice of twins, at the devil’s hour, on the night of a second moon, an incantation in ancient Samarian, in a demonic dialect unuttered since the time of the flood—the ingredients for a most dangerous spell. He had used a discernment spell to discover its meaning—the curse of death and fire. He, High Wizard of the Western Coven, would dispense with that meddler in the person of the Carpenter and the chapel he had consecrated across the street from the unholy temple of the coven, the clinic.When last had the ancient words been uttered? H...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Back to the Sun” by Sage M.

Submitted to Contest #224

I am not an early riser. Not in the productive sense anyway. I’m an insomniac, so if I manage to sleep at all it’s inconsistent and rarely restful in the way I wish it was. I have never been able to be an early-to-bed, early-to-rise type of person. I have never even been able to be a consistent night owl, staying up late and sleeping in. I sleep when I can, and when my brain allows, and then I usually wake up feeling no better than when I fell asleep. Today, this doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter that I slept fitfully and that I’m not even s...

0 comments 0

Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story about two people living together who have opposing sleep cycles, and only cross paths at dawn and dusk.

Character – 49 stories

Start your story with someone saying “I can’t sleep.”

Dramatic – 87 stories

Write a story about someone pulling an all nighter.

Fiction – 35 stories

Write about someone who can’t sleep due to jet lag, and decides to set out and explore their new city at night instead.

Adventure – 20 stories

Contest #224

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: Night Owls and Early Birds

$250

Prize money

285

Contest entries

135

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Nov 17, 2023 EST

Won by Mallory Jones 🏆

Title: Goldfish

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

Set your story before dawn. Your character has woken up early for a particular reason.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 94 stories

“An Old Habit For a Young Boy” by Emma MacDonnell

“Awake” by Morgana Lightraven

“The Devil's Hour” by Joseph Cillo Jr

“Back to the Sun” by Sage M.

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story about two people living together who have opposing sleep cycles, and only cross paths at dawn and dusk.

Start your story with someone saying “I can’t sleep.”

Write a story about someone pulling an all nighter.

Write about someone who can’t sleep due to jet lag, and decides to set out and explore their new city at night instead.

Contest #224

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

285

Contest entries

135

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: