Start the story with the absence of a sensory detail (eg. silence when there should be noise).

Posted in Fiction on Sep 29, 2023

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✍️ 52 stories

“Silence” by Emma Thornley

Submitted to Contest #218

I opened my eyes to the silence in the room…. My eyelids felt heavy as they opened from a deep sleep. I wanted to close them again, just for a few more minutes. The day before had been so draining. Training the new girl and keeping on top of my daily tasks can be exhausting. My alarm had not gone off, so a little more shut-eye would not matter. I turned over, pulled the covers over my head, wiggled my toes in pure bliss, and found a comfortable spot on my pillow for my head. I opened my eyes again in what felt like a for...

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“Silence. ” by Lara Deppe

Submitted to Contest #218

It all happened in slow motion and was over in a half a breath. Sayna was animatedly telling her mom about her day at Skyline High school as they drove home. She couldn’t wait until they got there to tell her about the tryouts. She was three weeks from graduation and had been accepted at four of the five different colleges she had applied to, but she had chosen USC. Probably. She had been accepted into Gallaudet, but she wanted to be an actor and USC had graduated more alumni who have gone on to win Academy and Emmy awards than any other in...

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“town around” by Linda Jazzzman

Submitted to Contest #218

Vort was a thief. Frank and Bean were his best friends. They robbed the City-State Bank; a small bank that never advertised on television. Port was the “brains” behind the robbery. He had a hunch that a bank that did not advertise it’s existence, had only two locations, and, both locations were surreptitiously bumping the perimeters of the County limits, a few block away from closed long-since warehouses, would be a cinch to hold up. He was right. Frank said it was like taking candy from a baby. Vort brought his old Datsun hatchback two-do...

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“My Durian” by Ben Holton

Submitted to Contest #218

My favourite strawberries are the ones I get to taste three times, which is even more than those who can feast with their eyes. My first taste is when I walk into the market, the wonderful fresh aroma has been growing for some time, calling to me from across the city. So eager for the delicious fruit I always bump into the stall. The strawberry farmer gives his usual laugh “I should start putting a cushion there for you.” He never does. I laugh and he hands over the delicately wrapped and precious cargo. Our little dance, I reach forward and...

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“Hell Hath None” by Len Rely

Submitted to Contest #218

“Do you think an evil person can be so bad they’re already damned before it’s time for them to die?” a time-honored prostitute broke the silence at the end of the bar whose overhead lights were burned out. “I don’t s’pose I understand.” the barman stood there polishing a glass. “Do you mean you’re predestinated to go to Hell? Why would you think that?” He wonde...

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“Morning Mist” by Anne Delfosse

Submitted to Contest #218

My tea tasted like nothing. Frustrated, I nearly slammed my mug down and picked up the box of teabags I hadn’t yet put away. Lavender chamomile, expiration date: November 2024. It was only January… wait, what was the date? I pressed my fingers to my temples. I hoped I didn’t have Covid or something, being that I could not taste my tea or remember what day it was. Whatever, I thought. I don’t need to taste my tea. I just need it to calm me the hell down. It had been two days. I couldn’t remember the date, but I knew it had been tw...

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“Project Un: The Unamoly” by Samuel Bowen

Submitted to Contest #218

“Humanity must survive.” - Captain’s log, R. Gunson, Paradigm Prime [Subject: J. Polaris] [Bio: Head Engineer, Rank 01] [Status: Unknown: Last seen aboard The Commission before event 06] [Archive LT: Error] [Designation: Deceased] Jess could not scream. Air fled her lungs desperate to find vocal cords. But no sound escaped. Heat traced her veins in a silent engulfing of her very being. Chemicals filled her nostrils as blue flames leapt across her skin. The starship blurred out of sight and only the fire remained. Scorching, choki...

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“The Holey Box” by Todd Anderson

Submitted to Contest #218

The vibrato in the floor, the Prima Donna’s lips moving as if her life depended upon it, the flickering candles, the pungent smell of melting wax, the lush gothic costumes, and the phantom’s hand reaching to her as if trying to pull the love from her that he would never have. Styx sat on the edge of his seat and squeezed his girlfriend’s hand. It was the finale, the “lair scene” of the “Phantom of The Opera,” he didn’t have to see Abby to know she was crying.It was ten thirty in the evening when they left the opera house. Although the night ...

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“Amber's Embrace ” by Alicia Ballard

Submitted to Contest #218

The impact was sudden and violent, but to Clara's surprise, she experienced nothing but a feeling of motion and profound deafening silence. There were no screeching tires, crunching metal, or shattered glass, just a deep, stifling hush as she watched the chaos unfold. Time felt fractured and moments became disjointed, like she was trying to assemble a puzzle with missing pieces. All that remained was that suffocating silent embrace and the sensation of movements like a balloon in the wind. She counted the turns - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 until ...

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“Night Train” by Bettina Karpathian

Submitted to Contest #218

I woke up as my head bumped on the window. Disoriented, I looked around the compartment, blinking. I saw my reflection in the dark window and sighed in relief. I had not been drooling. I suddenly realized how quiet it was. It was like being underwater. I could feel the rocking of the train, but there was no sound of any kind and the whole scene was bathed in a weird green light. I looked around for my fellow passengers. Where was the perspiring, overweight man who had squeezed into the seat next to mine at the last minute, talking loudly on ...

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“Tread Carefully” by Mandy Millar

Submitted to Contest #218

And then there was nothing. One moment, her husband had been there. She could see the tears on his cheeks, mixed with grime from a long day’s work, his hands, shaking, reaching for her, retracting when she flinched. The room had been filled with his shouting, voice broken with remorse; the air had hung with the knowledge that she might never forgive him. He screamed, oh how he screamed when she said– Her head throbbed. She couldn’t open her eyes; her eyes wouldn’t open. What difference did it make? The house was quiet, now, if there reall...

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“The silence felt good.” by Cynthia Olsen

Submitted to Contest #218

I still couldn't believe I was here. After growing up in an orphanage in the 1960's in eastern Pennsylvania, I thought college was not even a possibility. I was working as a machinist toolmaker when my boss came up behind me one day and said, "Rob, your left hand sure knows what your right hand is doing". He had no idea, but that funny comment gave me the courage to think I might actually be able to go to college. You see, engineers would come into the shop often, and I sometimes had to correct their designs. I started to believe I cou...

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“Forest Chase” by Joanna Haring

Submitted to Contest #218

Leann was running through the forest her breaths seemed to be deafening in the darkness surrounding her. Though her eyes were open she could not see a thing it was pitch black no matter where she looked. What was worse was feeling the trees and possible other things scratch at her as she ran. The reason she knew she was even in the forest outside of towns as the sounds, smells, and the feeling of rough bark beneath her hand as she occasionally stopped for a few panting breaths. Also the crunching of leaves that had fallen off the t...

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“Ghost of IRIS. ” by Blue Lantern

Submitted to Contest #218

The feeling of a shift in gravitational pull is something Onii’kvi will never fully get over. Stepping out of his pod, feeling his body and organs shift, readjust to the new redistribution the atmosphere is forcing upon him, he nearly stumbles. Taking a look around for his bearings doesn’t work either because even the immediate vicinity around the ship, the ground beneath Onii’kvi’s boots, it’s all virtually desolate. Black. Empty. Of course, it isn’t actually but it definitely feels that way. The density of the air, the foliage around him, ...

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“The Sound of Noise” by L J

Submitted to Contest #218

"Mary," I motioned slowly, "Isn't it nice to be walking around downtown?" She nodded. I wondered how she could be having such a good time doing something like this. Mary is deaf. She has been that way for 10 years. That's long enough to forget familiar sounds. I remember how scared she looked when it happened. We were five years old and playing in the back yard. We were just playing with our Barbies under the tree. We got in a fight because I wanted the Barbie with the pink dress. It was mine and Mary didn't ask if she could play with it. ...

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Start the story with the absence of a sensory detail (eg. silence when there should be noise).

Submissions are closed

✍️ 52 stories

“Silence” by Emma Thornley

“Silence. ” by Lara Deppe

“town around” by Linda Jazzzman

“My Durian” by Ben Holton

“Hell Hath None” by Len Rely

“Morning Mist” by Anne Delfosse

“Project Un: The Unamoly” by Samuel Bowen

“The Holey Box” by Todd Anderson

“Amber's Embrace ” by Alicia Ballard

“Night Train” by Bettina Karpathian

“Tread Carefully” by Mandy Millar

“The silence felt good.” by Cynthia Olsen

“Forest Chase” by Joanna Haring

“Ghost of IRIS. ” by Blue Lantern

“The Sound of Noise” by L J

🌟 Similar prompts

Begin a scene with a non-visual sense. Describe a specific sound, smell, taste, etc to capture your setting, then expand the story out from there.

‘Hit a tripwire of smell and memories explode all at once.’ Use the senses to transport a character back to the past.

Write a story that begins, ends, or changes with a song played by a busker.

‘The worst meal I’ve ever tasted.’ Imagine a zero-star TripAdvisor restaurant review: capture the customer’s evening out that compelled them to complain.

Contest #218

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

334

Contest entries

97

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: