Write about a character who was considered a prodigy when they were young.

Posted in Fiction on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 61 stories

“The Piano Player” by Bethany Hackett

Submitted to Contest #26

Phin shook the few coins from the tin can and shoved them into his pocket. He wrapped his saxophone in some ratty cloth and carefully placed it into his knapsack before shouldering the bag and heading toward Max’s. Now that the evening dinner rush was over, Phin knew that Max would supply him with some of the leftover special, whatever that was. All Max asked in return was for Phin to play a few numbers on the old piano in the corner to entertain the late-night theater crowd. Phin didn’t mind playing if it meant a hot meal. And, once in a wh...

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“A Mother's Love” by Karen Piagesti

Submitted to Contest #26

He shivered as the night drew in. With the darkening skies, street lights became friends but also enemies - with them he was blinded by what lay outside the frame they cast, but without them he felt alone. He bit his lip as he pondered how he had managed to get here. But he knew. The rain drifted down lightly, like snow, but with a cold drenching that just seemed unrelenting.He decided to walk tonight, to see how far he could get before he spotted a family that looked like his might have. If he had kept on with it, and not run off. The dark ...

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“Almost” by Geneva Savage

Submitted to Contest #26

Cold shivers run down my spine. My breath catches, and I wake up from where I’d fallen asleep in the soft grass while studying. Opening my eyes, the first thing I see is a brilliant sky. I soak it in. Pink and blue and violet are slowly dying in the lower, western corner of the sky. I have exams to study for and papers to write, but I take this moment. For a few seconds, I smile and remember. The wind rustles the trees, blowing against my face like a loving hand smoothing my hair out of my face. Still, I kept my pale, green eyes shut as ...

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“The Golden Blanket” by Joanne Mack

Submitted to Contest #26

Success is like a golden blanket that shines over you when you accomplish your life goals but ways down on you, when mistakes are made; nothing but the feeling of crushed emotions fills your eyes as you yourself feels like a failure as the feeling of defeat holds tightly to you. Turning your once shining blanket of gold to a dark heavy, weighing you down, creating you to feel sorry for yourself. With little Tommy Sage, there were no exception. With a BANG, the bedroom door now lays still on the ground. The musty room smells of desp...

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“Tooting My Own Horn” by Linda Peterson

Submitted to Contest #26

"Guess what, Mom!" I exclaimed as I came in the door fromschool. "I passed the test to get into band today. Mr. Walheimsaid I missed only one question. He said I can join band! He e-ven said I can play trumpet!" "That's nice, honey," Mom replied, "But we'll have to see."Even as she said this, I'm sure she was thinking, "Only by somemiracle!" One very big obstacle stood between me and band. It wasspelled M-O-N-E Y, or more exactly , lack of it. My widowed,diabetic mother, my two younger sisters and I were barely get-ting by on Soci...

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“The Long Happy Life Of Amadeus” by G. Miller

Submitted to Contest #26

He burst forth from the comforts of his mothers' womb into the world of light and sound; much to the relief of all present. With the usual smart slap to his blue pink ass, he announced himself immediately. Unlike newborns who voice displeasure at their harsh ejection he drew a deep breath, his first, and let loose for all in the delivery room, and down the halls to hear, a loud perfectly pitched voiced note in the key of "C". On his next, his second breath, he belted out another perfect "C" followed, in the same breath by a perfect "D"; then...

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“Miracle Children” by Story Teller

Submitted to Contest #26

Gold-plated cutlery.Velvet-red curtains. Stary-vanilla candlesticks. Some people were never on time, yet they were graced with praise and applause. The servants laid the gold-embroidered napkins on each rich plate that would soon be dirtied with the food eaten by each royal guest.The maids perfected the ability to put everything flawlessly on time. Most importantly, the prince was to be there at any random moment to see if everything was reading for that evening.And everything was. Everything except for Sebastian, who didn't comprehend the f...

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“What an amazing life awaits him!” by Maruš Čechová

Submitted to Contest #26

William stepped through the front door into his parent’s house. The decorations were all messed up, but he could feel the presence of his father in the living room, just as he always was, sitting in the middle of the sofa reading yesterday’s newspapers. He was a man who always said that you have to give news a little bit of time to settle in before you give them the permission to fuck up your life.There was a new wall calendar in the corridor since he last came in and as William walked past, his gaze was stuck on it. This was mainly because ...

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“Becoming “Normal”” by Nigel Holmes

Submitted to Contest #26

If I'm honest, my life didn't really begin until after the accident. Until that point, well, until I was recovering in hospital, I had no idea what I was missing out on. Yes, I was successful, or so many people would say. I was making good money, had all the trappings of success. I was surrounded by friends, people who enjoyed my company and wanted to be with me, or so I thought. But let me back up.To understand what I mean in that opening sentence you need to know who I am, what I did and what happened. Only then can you understand why now ...

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“Cords of Euphoria” by Shayna Dull

Submitted to Contest #26

The sun was setting beyond the mountains. A beautiful symphony of colors signing in unison, soothing all the lost souls. The silver of the moon slowly dawning brighter. The crescent easing into a new chapter of time. For soon it will blend into a new phase, the start of another beginning. As if a sign from the Gods, that Oak’s next unfolding would be luminous with wonder. The rays escaped his view and slowly the warmth turned to fridgedness. He sat there for a while, unmoving, just listening to the trees rustling in the wind. Unt...

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“Child is the Father of Man” by Mukul Agrawal

Submitted to Contest #26

There's a stark difference between the words 'prodigy' and 'genius.' Prodigies can very quickly learn what other people have already figured out; geniuses discover that which no one has ever previously discovered. Prodigies learn; geniuses do. One such prodigal genius of Indian film Industry, RD Burman , was born to the Bollywood composer/singer Sachin Dev Burman and his lyricist wife Meera Dev Burman (née Dasgupta), in Calcutta. His father was no less a personality either. In fact greater in the eyes of Aficionados, Connoisseurs and Purists...

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“Wunderkind” by Billy Cola

Submitted to Contest #26

“Henry?”“Yeah?”“Dad said you know how to play guitar really good- is that true?”A wince of a smile spread across Henry's face as he looked down at his nephew Terry.“Well, I mean- I'm- I was OK at it.”Terry gave a puzzled look.“OK? Dad said you were awesome! He said you could play anything just by listening to it. And you were in a band and made an album and everything!”“I- uh, heh, yeah, that all did happen.”“Well, can you show me how to play?”Terry held up their guitar to Henry- it was a very basic electric guitar, with nylon strings that w...

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“Imposter Syndrome” by Lizzie Ross

Submitted to Contest #26

I feel scraped thin. Like butter over too much bread. Not enough. Not enough at all. There was a time I was enough. I was more than enough. As just a young child, I could play in a way that could charm snakes, stop wars, bring tears to the eyes of anyone who's ears my sweet melodies fell upon. At just nine, I had won the international young musicians award at a grade eight standard. There was no failure - my life was just success after success. Sunshine Child, my parents and grandparents would call me. It felt as though I was made of those s...

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“Cleaning Out the Closet” by Asher David

Submitted to Contest #26

Mina closes her eyes and draws in a deep breath. She pats her thigh to the beat of the click track coming through her headphones. It’s been a long day. She’s in the middle of recording vocals for a song she wrote less than twenty-four hours ago. It should have been one or two takes, tops. But her voice keeps breaking at the key change. Her producer, Jim, is patiently sitting outside the booth, his hands folded in front of his mouth, praying that Mina can finally wrap this song. She barely even opens her mouth before she freezes. She kn...

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“Josephina” by Raechel Hall

Submitted to Contest #26

Josephina, Josie, Kilgore has always been a special girl. Or at least that's what people said. Josie, however, didn't see it. Yeah, she had a special gift for music, but that's it, and that wasn't special right? I mean Mozart was a musical prodigy as well. Among plenty of others. So Josephina couldn't be special, or so it seemed. Along with being musically talented, she aced school. Her report cards were always a's, she was the best speller in the district, she was in magnet math, English, and science. She was even learning a new langua...

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Write about a character who was considered a prodigy when they were young.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 61 stories

“The Piano Player” by Bethany Hackett

“A Mother's Love” by Karen Piagesti

“Almost” by Geneva Savage

“The Golden Blanket” by Joanne Mack

“Tooting My Own Horn” by Linda Peterson

“The Long Happy Life Of Amadeus” by G. Miller

“Miracle Children” by Story Teller

“What an amazing life awaits him!” by Maruš Čechová

“Becoming “Normal”” by Nigel Holmes

“Cords of Euphoria” by Shayna Dull

“Child is the Father of Man” by Mukul Agrawal

“Wunderkind” by Billy Cola

“Imposter Syndrome” by Lizzie Ross

“Cleaning Out the Closet” by Asher David

“Josephina” by Raechel Hall

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a character who goes by many different names throughout their life.

Write about a character who was raised in a musical family.

Write a story about a musician struggling to find work during wartime.

Write a story about a character obsessed with one of the long-dead “greats” in their profession.

Contest #26

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

226

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: