Write about a character named after one of our contest’s judges.

Posted in Fiction on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 12 stories

“ILY” by Scout Tahoe

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #141

CW: one swear word(Sign language written in traditional format.)HELLO, WELCOME, Professor Le Roux signed to her American Sign Language 101 class, TODAY ME TEACH-you GOODBYE. The lecture hall was quiet, students stilled with confusion. “We’re learning about basic goodbyes today,” she clarified. It was after lunch and everyone was worn down, still digesting their meatloaf and gossip. Someone coughed. “Now, a bit of deaf culture background to begin: usually, deaf individuals stand farther apart when having a conversation”—she models it—“an...

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“Just In Case” by Thom With An H

Submitted to Contest #141

“What are you doing up there?”I have no idea, Maggie thought to herself, contemplating her mother’s question.“I’m going through some old pictures,” she finally responded. “I think it’s time to purge.”“Hooray,” came the reply from the bottom of the ladder. “Two years is too long.”Maggie’s mom was right. It had been two years since she had shown up on her parent’s doorstep, mascara smeared around her eyes. Thanks to her best friend, her marriage had ended in an instant. Her husband didn’t even have the courtesy to rent a hotel room for his try...

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“The Life Of Kyle Johnson” by Ismail El Ouazzani

Submitted to Contest #141

The remembrance of the days when I still was using, still passes upon me with a flame of excruciating regret. Yesterday I saw a boy, in his eyes I found the resemblance to my young self he bears upon his features, and for a second I was lost in the stream of memories his face had blown in me. It's been weeks since I had someone home. I lived alone for the better part of twenty years. Sometimes when I sit in front of the TV, it would to me the memories of my childhood home, and the sounds of that time would fill up my consciousness, and ...

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“Samurai Karen” by Sharon Hancock

Submitted to Contest #141

Go Time. Adrenaline slammed through my veins when I saw the text. I stuffed rope into a military-grade rucksack, grabbed the cooler and loaded everything into the back of my minivan. My nerves jumped higher than a Mississippi cricket on the sizzling summer asphalt; but only because it was my first time purposely kidnapping someone. I did not have second thoughts—this had to be done. We had to stop, The Critical Karen, from ruining more lives with her ugly, hurtful, lies. &nbsp...

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“A Slippery Misunderstanding” by Irene Ivy

Submitted to Contest #141

Juliet stepped into the boat slowly, one foot at a time. Flip flops were not the best choice of footwear obviously, even for a quick sight-seeing trip around the beach. The floor was wet and slippery, but she was careful as she maneuvered to the bench seat on the opposite side of the boat. She thought back to yesterday when she slid on the greased floor in the Fry Shack and the guy that had just flirtatiously smiled at her and caught her from falling, right as his girlfriend walked up. She sat her oversized, blue striped bag on her lap...

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“Joshua” by F.O. Morier

Submitted to Contest #141

Friday night: 6 PM. The Reedsy prompt drops in my inbox: - Write about a character named after one of our contest judges… Okay: let´s go have a look at those judges, and see if one can inspire the muses to pay me a visit. Now, here´s one: a magic bean gatherer. I like that! He´s the winner. I´ll name my character after him: Joshua. I´m sure my character would have loved to be named after a magic bean gatherer. Especially since he was made of magic himself… Joshua was a person, not an idea. He was an allegory, w...

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“How I Met a Karen” by Gary Robinson

Submitted to Contest #141

My cab pulled into what looked like an abandoned estate in Thamesmead. A modestly sized, rusting, mobile office trailer that needed painting was next to a noisy diesel generator leaking gas onto unkempt grass mixed with weeds. The cab driver raised her voice for me to understand her, “You are here!” Gary shouted, “This is it? This is the Reedsy Corporate office?” She nodded, then raised her hands to her shoulders with her palms faced upwards. Gary paused for a moment, glanced out the passenger side window at the rusting mobile office trailer...

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“Down, But Never Out” by Rick Story

Submitted to Contest #141

DOWN, BUT NEVER OUT “I remember now,” Matt said. “Remember what, Matt?” Bar asked. His head looked up from his cup of the good stuff at the Waffle House. He had a curious expression as if he’d just heard something unexpected. Not responding to Bar, Matt’s mind drifted back to a different time and place. The smell of the bacon and sausage sizzling on the freshly cleaned grill triggered memories of his past. To the vast majority of people in the arena, it evoked thoughts of the time of two gladiators entering the ancient Roman colise...

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“Little Miss Perfect” by Rebecca Wonsang

Submitted to Contest #141

Amber Lambda, or 'Know-It-All Amber' as she'd been aptly nicknamed ever since the first grade, when she marched right up to Miss Lewis and promptly scolded her on the order of the classroom books, telling her, "they're all wrong". Hands on hips, head tilted to one side, "because everybody knows that books go in 'alphabetal order!" And Miss Lewis, with the patience of all the saints combined replied, "Amber, not everybody can read in the first grade, so I put the books in topical order, making them easier to identify for little ones by the pi...

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“The Storm Within” by Rochelle Miller

Submitted to Contest #141

A blue sky is a joy to experience, a dark cloud a sight to behold. As far as the eye can see, an eternity of water surges in the Atlantic Ocean. In the vastness, there is a breeze; the breeze - she wants to be bigger and stronger, purposing to raise her wings to draw down gusts, propelling herself toward the shore. Back on land, there was an artist who, while sitting in his studio, lost himself in a landscape of hibiscus and zephrlilies and creeping indigo, his daydreams taking him to a most spectacular horizon. Imagining the ne...

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“Good Enough” by Barbara Moser

Submitted to Contest #141

My co-workers said a lot of bad things about me. And much of it was true. I was often late for staff meetings, impossible to reach before noon, and had a strong tendency to borrow savory snacks from the employee refrigerator that weren’t exactly mine. But the part about my being a nuisance of a personal assistant to Liz Suggs was completely false. In my four short weeks of employment at Reedsy, I had not only improved the flow of Liz’s workday, but I had managed to make countless ongoing s...

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“Vocational Adjustment and The Indispensable Man” by Robert Ford

Submitted to Contest #141

Vocational Adjustment and The Indispensable Man That they had misspelled Asher Littlefield Sr’s name on his retirement watch was disappointing, but not surprising. It was, in fact, a kind of left-handed tribute to his corporate longevity and his determination to remain virtually invisible so that he might slip through the years totally unnoticed by the gods of employee downsizing. Several years after his retirement, Asher had an epiphany that he felt compelled to share with his son...

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Write about a character named after one of our contest’s judges.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 12 stories

“ILY” by Scout Tahoe

“Just In Case” by Thom With An H

“The Life Of Kyle Johnson” by Ismail El Ouazzani

“Samurai Karen” by Sharon Hancock

“A Slippery Misunderstanding” by Irene Ivy

“Joshua” by F.O. Morier

“How I Met a Karen” by Gary Robinson

“Down, But Never Out” by Rick Story

“Little Miss Perfect” by Rebecca Wonsang

“The Storm Within” by Rochelle Miller

“Good Enough” by Barbara Moser

“Vocational Adjustment and The Indispensable Man” by Robert Ford

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about someone who critiques things for a living, or acts like they do.

Start your story with someone receiving a one-star review.

Write a story about someone struggling to swallow some harsh (but fair) constructive criticism.

Set your story in the lowest rated restaurant in town.

Contest #141

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

177

Contest entries

110

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: