Write a story that formally utilizes a mathematical sequence; e.g., the Fibonacci sequence could determine the number of words in each paragraph, or start with a number and work backwards. Make sure the formula is made clear, either within the story, or before or after it.

Posted in Fiction on Feb 17, 2023

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✍️ 19 stories

“Mouse!” by Michał Przywara

🏆 Winner of Contest #186

(This uses a triangular sequence to determine the number of words per line, and per paragraph https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangular_number. A couple of the longer lines seem to wrap as well - not clear how to resolve that with this editor.)Mouse!Inmy house.Iknow notwhence it came.Eyesbeady eyesglare at meand whiskers chuff away.“Shoo!”I shoutand heavily stomp.“Get you gone now,beast, and forever hie away.”“No,”it squeaks;its nose twitches,“It cannot be done,I’m so sorry to say.”And I’m perplexed and ever vexed.“What?”I wonder.“How dare yo...

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“American Pi” by Wendy Kaminski

Submitted to Contest #186

"There were three..." "Point??" "...None." Silence, then: "...For what?" He sighed at her. "Did you even read the text? Fifteenth century not interesting you?" Eyes glued on her phone, she casually responded: "Nein." “Look, I can’t do ALL your homework for you. December 26 or so, Columbus' ship Santa María ran aground and was lost,” he soldiered on.“It was among… five total?”“Argh! Three ships, not five: the Santa María, Pinta and Niña! I thought everyone knew this stuff.” Exasperation threatened an eclipse of his current good deed. “H...

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“Fly Me To The Moon” by Chris Campbell

Submitted to Contest #186

“The eighth term is the seventh term plus the sixth term… The ninth term is the eighth term plus the seventh term… The tenth term is the…”“Chuck…”“…Ninth term plus the eighth term…”“Chuck… What are you doing?”“…I’m reciting Fibonacci…”“Fibber what?”“Fibonacci. You know, the thirteenth-century Italian mathematician.”“We’re in the middle of a countdown, here, Chuck… Is that really relevant?”“Well, I’m reciting his famous sequence of numbers…”“…Why?”“Because his sequence of numbers has many applications in mathematics, science, art, and nature....

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“The Ineffable Silence of Blood” by Delbert Griffith

Submitted to Contest #186

In mathematics, the Fibonacci numbers, commonly denoted Fn , form a sequence, the Fibonacci sequence, in which each number is the sum of the two preceding ones. The sequence commonly starts from 0 and 1, although some authors start the sequence from 1 and 1 or sometimes (as did Fibonacci) from 1 and 2. Starting from 0 and 1, the first few values in the sequence are:[1]0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233.(Wikipedia)Each paragraph in this story will have the number of words in this Fibonacci sequence, up to 23...

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“The Insanity of Pi” by Erica Dorsey

Submitted to Contest #186

You like Pi? Point. Me? I really hate pie. Alot. Because pie is really freaking disgusting! Do you want to know why I hate it? Hard Crust. It’s just such a dramatic pastry! Okay, it’s not really dramatic. I’m being dramatic. I just really hate pie. No one pays attention to Pi at all. They’re always getting distracted by all the stupid pie. And then I realized something totally amazing! Maybe they just don’t know how cool Pi is! Obsessing about pie? Not Pi? Pie is gross! But, the absolute logic and insanity of pi! Its Beauty and Majesty! Th...

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“The Final Countdown” by Staci Troilo

Submitted to Contest #186

Ten years didn’t seem like a lot; not when it came to important things. By “important,” Sadie didn’t mean school or work or even a hobby-turned-addiction. God knew she’d logged countless hours with her nose in a textbook when she was in college, and more still tapping away at the crappy laptop her boss had placed in her cubicle. Despite her husband’s comments to the contrary, knitting was not an obsession. It gave her idle hands purpose, especially when Kirk worked long hours. Better still, it sometimes brought in a few extra bucks when some...

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“View from the Edge of the Circle” by Sonja Wallace

Submitted to Contest #186

It sat in the center of the room, alone. Dara stood exactly 10 meters from it. She tilted her head to the right, then to the left to gather more information from the surface of the thing. There were details from her point-of-view that she was sure the others couldn’t see from their positions dotting the invisible circle that they formed. No one was allowed to move from their spots along the perimeter during initial visual analysis. It was protocol. Because of this, no one could see the whole object at once. Collaboration was ess...

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“Brackets” by Madeline McKenzie

Submitted to Contest #186

x = (Don’t do what I did)^2(My child self, my old self, my not-this self, cried too much. )^2(I am trying to manifest some guidance from the universe.)^2(My therapist says I have a problem with rumination)^2(I am supposed to be giving you advice)^2(I have an idea)^2(Have you ever thought of the way brackets are used?)^2(Let me know if you’d be interested in spending a bit of time together)^2***Don’t do what I did. Don’t leave the spilled syrup on the counter and tell yourself you’ll come back and scrub it later, properly. Don’t read the...

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“Ghost” by Rune Gray

Submitted to Contest #186

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377Oh.No.Something's wrong.It's all wrongThat woman shouldn't be dead.My finger should not have pulled that trigger.I had panicked. I didn't know what to do. She was yelling and-I took a deep breath, smoothing my skirt. Blood caked to the thin fabric, already dried. The pavement welcomed the woman.No one saw me, I knew that. It was dawn, the sun barely peeking over the edge of the trees, casting everything-the woman's body included-in a warm, yellow glow. Dampness clung to the air.The woman ...

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“to fight with god” by Keri Dyck

Submitted to Contest #186

why did you leave me here? god, i miss you why do i miss you? i thought i could do this i thought i was fine with me but now you’re gone and i don’t know don’t know what to do; you were my all i was wrapped up in what you said of me can’t you see that what i’ve done was all for you? my time, my worth, my love, i gave them free and when you left, you took them with you you left me here, this world to rot it’s like you made the sun shine now the wind knots my hair ...

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“The Golden Child” by Kayla Woods

Submitted to Contest #186

0. Birth. Breath. I am. My mother cried. My father was not present. She always told me we didn’t need him. One and one makes two, which is a part of the Fibonacci sequence. The next part is two and one makes three, which we lost. The very beginning is zero and one makes one. Everyone likes to forget that part because zero is too hard to conceptualize. Maybe not logically, because even some birds understand zero logically, but emotionally it is still too hard for us to grasp. It is too hard to have to be alone. It is not easy to loo...

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“No Time to Gloat” by Douglas W. Carr

Submitted to Contest #186

“It’s a game and it’s just for fun. We each ask a question or make a statement in response to the other’s question or statement and each response must contain one additional word than the previous response. If that makes sense let’s begin, I’ll start.” “How?” “How what?” “How could you?” “How could I what?” “How could you not know?” “How could I not know what?” “How could you not know the game?” “Why is this game so important to you?” “How could you even ask a question like that?” “Where am I supposed to go with this from here?” ...

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“Pythagorean Love” by Adam Young

Submitted to Contest #186

a2 + b2 = c2 The unbroken connection between two lives that intersect, despite the fact that their ways of being human flow at opposing right angles to one another, is love. I could not be more different from her. Sure, we have a lot in common when you consider our Oklahoma upbringing, the churches we attended, the families we came from, the mid-western college where we were both educated. You get the point. But, good Lord, do we see things differently. I could tell you. But, I’d rather show you. a’ I am a child of th...

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“Triskaidekaphobia” by Marissa Yates

Submitted to Contest #186

Composer Arnold Schoenberg was infamously terrified of the number 13. Born on September 13, 1874, he couldn’t escape the fear that the cursed number bookmarking his life would ultimately doom him. His fear is said to be the reason for the misspelling of one of his operas, Moses und Aron, because when correctly spelled, the title comprised 13 letters. The musician spent his life haunted by every possible variation of the evil integer: multiples, dividends, sums, differences. It followed him; a black cat lurking and weaving through his conscio...

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“Belinda's Journey to the Ones” by Sally Jupe

Submitted to Contest #186

I am an engineer and teacher of science and math, so this prompt really spoke to me. The form my story takes is inspired firstly by Pascal's Triangle: Pascal's Triangle is a triangular array of numbers named after the French mathematician Blaise Pascal, who studied its properties in the 17th century. It is created by starting with a row containing the number 1, and then constructing each subsequent row by adding adjacent pairs of numbers from the previous row and placing the sums in the new row, all beginning and ending in 1. For example, t...

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Write a story that formally utilizes a mathematical sequence; e.g., the Fibonacci sequence could determine the number of words in each paragraph, or start with a number and work backwards. Make sure the formula is made clear, either within the story, or before or after it.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 19 stories

“Mouse!” by Michał Przywara

“American Pi” by Wendy Kaminski

“Fly Me To The Moon” by Chris Campbell

“The Ineffable Silence of Blood” by Delbert Griffith

“The Insanity of Pi” by Erica Dorsey

“The Final Countdown” by Staci Troilo

“View from the Edge of the Circle” by Sonja Wallace

“Brackets” by Madeline McKenzie

“Ghost” by Rune Gray

“to fight with god” by Keri Dyck

“The Golden Child” by Kayla Woods

“No Time to Gloat” by Douglas W. Carr

“Pythagorean Love” by Adam Young

“Triskaidekaphobia” by Marissa Yates

“Belinda's Journey to the Ones” by Sally Jupe

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story in which each paragraph begins or ends (or both!) with the same sentence.

Write a story of fragments. Many options here: no verbs, sentence fragments, short sections, nothing but objects, etc. The fragments should relate to one another obliquely, hesitantly, subtly, ambiguously, preposterously, marvelously.

Write a story within a story within a story within a ...

Write a story entirely of dialogue. Nothing but dialogue. No attributives (he said, she said, etc.). No descriptions of scenes or gestures or movements (unless these things are presented in the dialogue). Just words between quotation marks. Pure, beautiful, untainted dialogue.

Contest #186

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

481

Contest entries

142

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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