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

Posted in Fiction on Sep 29, 2023

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✍️ 27 stories

“Awful Busker” by John Jenkins

Submitted to Contest #218

It was 1:31 pm when Jamison arrived there, at the Piazza Romanazza in the Pietro district of Italy. He was looking for someone, checking their faces. In each face, he saw only a trace of his quarry. Some fit in certain ways, it seemed. He almost settled on a few. But she’s with another man, that can’t be her, he’d say to himself. Suddenly, he looked across the Piazza Romanazza. Did he see her? The object of his fancy? The distance was far, over fifty meters. There was a busker playing in the street, satisfying his wares. Creating a flight o...

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“Once More for Tracy” by Frank Mahindaratne

Submitted to Contest #218

By 5:30 p.m. Earl had an audience of four gathered around him as he played Killing Me Softly on the harmonica. There was an older black couple, a young skater boy, and a sizzling brunette woman all hovering over Earl. The black couple (had to be in their thirties) swayed side to side to the tune, the young skater boy (sporting dirty dreadlocks, smelling awfully loud with the aroma of ganja) drummed his hands on his chest and hummed the words to the chorus as Earl played on: “Strumming my pain with his fingers…singing my life with his words...

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“Cities in the dust” by Allan Palmer

Submitted to Contest #218

It was a sunny spring day in Arcadia, Florida. Depending on the location, Florida had about five spring days, more or less. I was finishing my senior year at Miskatonic’s satellite location and will graduate with a major in journalism and a minor in archaeology. I don’t think this is too presumptuous. I have maintained a solid A average, and I see no reason to worry with only a few months. I have plans to leave Florida upon graduation and head to New York and obtain a job at one of the prestigious newspapers o...

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“Says Who?” by Justicelee Auman

Submitted to Contest #218

Says who? Everyone always told me I should write music. They’d say, “Oh, you have such a way with words.” I thought they were right. I would frequently write poems, mostly romantic sonnets which only intensified as my wife and I grew older. She enjoyed the things I wrote for her, and kept them neatly in a special box for safe keeping. She too always wished I’d pursue a music career. She even pitched using the poems I wrote for her, but I always decided against it. I never really felt iit’ when writing music. I was never proud of an...

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“The Secret of Wings” by Jcc Jones

Submitted to Contest #218

Guitar strings. Unmistakable G-chord brightness, plucked with expert fingers, ring in church bell clarity across the darkness. Sting awake my foggy senses. I look up from my hands, from my bench, an unintended temporary nest. A place to rest and ride out my bad decisions. I recognize “Blackbird” by the Beatles. I don’t like this intrusion when I’m doing my best to numb my broken feathers. Buskers are just beggars with baggage. And it's much too late to catch the crowds. The glimmer of lovers and hard sparkle of the laughing packs of ...

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“The Subway Busker ” by Lisa M Billingham

Submitted to Contest #218

Mentions depression. Rose is walking slowly down the stairs of the subway. The shiny, chipped, and uneven floor tiles mean she needs to concentrate hard to make sure her ungainly figure doesn’t trip. Out of breath, she reaches the bottom step feeling miserable. She got out of the wrong side of bed this morning and she couldn’t shake the cloud of depression which hung over her. It being autumn and raining heavily, isn’t helping her mood. Relieved that she made it down the steps in one piece, she doesn’t want a soaking wet bum and a spraine...

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“Can You Hear Me Now” by Carolann Renaud

Submitted to Contest #218

DanielA chilly breeze swept through the open window, carrying with it the familiar din of New York City's bustling streets. The city that never slept had its own rhythm, one that Daniel had once danced to, but now, he merely listened to from the solitary conf...

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“The Iron Lady and the Emotional Vampire” by Michael Jefferson

Submitted to Contest #218

The lone guitarist sits on stage in a worn wicker chair, his hair covering his eyes. “Takes a lot of guts to get up there by yourself,” Ciaran Fox says to his friend, Phineas “Finn” Riley. The guitarist sings in a whispery, melancholy tone, but it’s the opening bars of the song that capture Finn’s attention. “That’s ‘By the Colour of Your Dreams,’” Finn says. “It was on everybody’s turntables in college.” Finn recalls a time in Bristol, Rhode Island when he was a skinny, twenty-two-year-old long-haired hippie, a far cry from the close...

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“The Dance” by Suzanne Griffin

Submitted to Contest #218

I felt stickier than gum on the bottom of a shoe and thought wistfully of the chill of air conditioning that I had always enjoyed growing up in the American South. It was unseasonably warm and humid that first Monday of October. The hormonal changes in my body were enough to make me sweat while standing on a glacier so I dreaded my rush-hour commute home after an especially rough start to my week. Stifling the urge to gag like a cat on a hairball, I descended slowly into the bowels of the city. The Paris metro was particularly fetid that day...

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“THE STREET FAIR” by Glenna Agnew

Submitted to Contest #218

THE STREET FAIR The street fair was a potpourri of aromas. Tangy barbeque sauce and grilled meat cooking over the coals were the most pungent of the smells that assaulted the nostrils so deliciously. One could almost taste the meat without even taking a bite. The next smell to tickle one's nose was that of popcorn; it was like walking into a theater, rich melted butter, and mouth-watering hot kernels. Level three to hit one’s nasal passages was a little harder to assess, it was very …interesting, and it was slightly rem...

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“Static” by Andy Smith

Submitted to Contest #218

Story contains the following sensitive content:Substance abuse, mental health, discussion of self harm/suicide.Static“You look better than the last time I saw you,” said Jessica. She sat across from me at the coffee shop where we used to meet. It was the first time we had seen each other in about six months. I looked away, still embarrassed to hold her gaze for longer than a moment. The smell of freshly ground coffee wafted through the air. An old Chet Baker recording drifted into my ears from the tiny black speakers in the corners of the ca...

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“The Sixth Swamper” by Marc Rothstein

Submitted to Contest #218

We sat at a tiny table for two, too close to the front door, at a trendy French café in Florence, Alabama. Every few minutes, the door opened, inviting a dank breeze to our table. The clanking of glasses and din of conversation from the bar behind us was distracting. But we were under a heat vent, by the window, and were chilled to the bone.Outside, a torrent of rain scattered the colorful mix of artsy types, rednecks, students, and professionals—all millennials and younger. The late September wind off the Tennessee River hastened their retr...

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

Submissions are closed

✍️ 27 stories

“Awful Busker” by John Jenkins

“Once More for Tracy” by Frank Mahindaratne

“Cities in the dust” by Allan Palmer

“Says Who?” by Justicelee Auman

“The Secret of Wings” by Jcc Jones

“The Subway Busker ” by Lisa M Billingham

“Can You Hear Me Now” by Carolann Renaud

“The Iron Lady and the Emotional Vampire” by Michael Jefferson

“The Dance” by Suzanne Griffin

“THE STREET FAIR” by Glenna Agnew

“Static” by Andy Smith

“The Sixth Swamper” by Marc Rothstein

🌟 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.

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

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

‘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: