Write about someone who still practices a skill that used to be necessary but has long since been replaced by technology.

Posted in Fiction on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 133 stories

“Measuring Time, Finding Place” by Kathleen March

Submitted to Contest #78

Today Lavinia was especially drawn to the lace fragments that were included in the little box that had appeared during the remodeling of the old bar into the new A Tertulia. She put aside her interest in the literary texts to look at the threads that had been twisted and tied into tiny, almost weightless treasures, their designs planned rather than haphazard. As she looked, she thought that maybe they weren't fragments at all, but rather had been deliberately begun and completed, like a poem. They weren't remnants of a garment or an adornmen...

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“Dear Michael” by Izzie Chan

Submitted to Contest #78

The ink bottle clinked against her wooden desk as she took it out of the drawer. Quick scratches as she touched pen to paper, writing heartfelt letters to the same person, all while knowing they would never respond. She wrote to her son, whom she lost so many years back, she eventually gave up counting. Beginning with the usual "Dear Michael," she proceeded to write with frail hands, tapping her foot rhythmically against the hardwood floors. She informed him about her day, asked how he was doing, and put her heart into each word, ignori...

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“Deliberately Anachronistic” by Philip Clayberg

Submitted to Contest #78

The smell of tannin was strong in my nostrils. My great-granddaughter's more refined nostrils probably found it far more unpleasant than mine did. I opened the front door, letting in fresh air. “Great-grandfather, why do you even bother when there are machines that can do what you do?” she asked in frustration. And not for the first time, either. I shrugged. “Maybe I prefer to do it for myself. Even if it means deliberately being an anachronism in this day and age.” I turned over the uneven square of tanned leather, checking it for imper...

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“Inked” by Nandini Sharma

Submitted to Contest #78

“Letters, they used to be necessary.” I said as I flipped another page of my copy of Pride and Prejudice. I was curled up in my blanket burrito and relishing my hot coffee with the ideal downpour that I witnessed through the little window in my room. It was almost as if mother nature gave me a surprise. The usual site of sunlight penetration became the bearer of mist and petrichor. Plus, rain in January in India is utterly contrary to what one would expect of the weather. At that point, learning HOW TO WRITE A FORMAL OR INFORMAL LETTER ...

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“The Open Road Before Us” by Valerie June

Submitted to Contest #78

“Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road, Healthy, free, the world before me, The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.” -Walt Whitman Mountains of words. Valleys of sentences. Rivers and lakes full of alphabet fish. Meadows overflowing with paragraphs. I’ve always noticed these things, but I’ve had no one to share them with. That’s probably because I traveled too much due to my father’s job. Fun fact, I’ve never stayed in the same state for an entire year. I wasn't complaining though because I liked my life a whol...

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“Better than Perfect” by Carole Cobos

Submitted to Contest #78

Jax was 16, in 2 months he will be 17- and he'll meet his match.Problem?He already liked someone.There was none.---“Watch,” said his grandpa, “this is an important family recipe.”Jax bit his retort down. He’d really like to be outside, gliding with the other guys in the city but instead, he was here. In an old fashioned house, in a kitchen filled with relics.One of the relics was square-shaped, it was hollow and had metal shelves. The sides of the inside had slits. Grandpa Johnathan called it an ‘oven’. Jax was pretty sure he saw one of thos...

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“The Sacked Society” by David Brown

Submitted to Contest #78

An older gentleman in a dark-gray mac sipped a cocktail served to him by a robotic-bartender. The robot was nothing more than a couple of mechanical arms connected to the ceiling above the bar; they were just long enough to reach all the various bottles, taps, and serving glassware. The robot’s head was a touch-screen attached to a third arm that currently displayed a smiling computer-generated face. However, the robot’s expression changed to a frown when it observed its customer’s reaction to the drink it had just served.The old man slammed...

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“A Good Neighbor” by Anne Ryan

Submitted to Contest #78

“Anything you need, you need to just take that phone and ring my number!” Ariya said, smiling, as she waved at the middle-aged woman in front of her. “You’re always so kind, you know,” Tami commented, her eyes twinkling as she shut the door after Ariya. “No one ever bothers to wave anymore.” Ariya nodded wistfully. “It’s sad, isn’t it?” Ariya turned and breathed in the sweet January air. ...

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“'All my love, Anna' ” by Rose Cartwright

Submitted to Contest #78

‘You know you don't have to do that right?'The pen scratches to a stop and I lookup'Write. You don't have to write every day like someone's waiting to hear from you, no one cares you know. Just stop it already, the sound annoys me.'I say nothing, just look at her, my older sisters satisfied smirk mocking my page.' Just type it weirdo'. What is it she thinks I'm doing? Writing to hear other people's opinions? To get Society's stamp of approval? 'Seriously'. I shrug at her and open my mouth to hit back with a 'that sounds l...

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“1963” by William Flautt

Submitted to Contest #78

1963Violet walked to the front window to see what was coming into view at the edge of the high beams. “Slow down.”Her vehicle began to decelerate smoothly, but she felt nothing. Must not have heard. “Slow down,” she repeated, louder this time. Still, nothing. She frowned."Slow down!”The vehicle replied by displaying a speedometer on the smooth glass. She glanced at the screen. A number was slowly ticking down: 147…146... 145. She glanced to the side. It was dark, but the penumbra of the headlights was just enough to see s...

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“The Craftsman” by Arrey Edwards

Submitted to Contest #78

Edward Torsche awoke this morning the same as he did each time the sun shone threw his window, achy and tired. He never fussed with appearances. That was for younger men. Still, he always had a clean pair of socks ready along with his apple cap. He dressed as he always did. Socks, for it was his father who had told him a man dresses his foot first, slacks, a tucked in Henly, underthings, and his cap. He walked the length of his room, which hadn't more than eight feet, and grabbed his pocket watch from the vanity of his beloved Eleanor. He'd...

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“The Right Machine” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #78

Author's Note. This story is fictional, though it contains autobiographical elements. But the two typewriters most definitely existed! It’s my Mum I have to thank. And most of the time I don’t mean the word “thank” ironically. It’s one of those things that prompts you to say “it’s a long story”, except it isn’t, not really. She’s the kind of person who doesn’t get irritated easily, but has things that really irritate her. I suspect I take after her in that respect. Anyway, when she was a young woman – and I mean really young, only a coup...

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“Cupcake Dan I” by Matt Render

Submitted to Contest #78

When Rosa entered the hotel bar, not a single head turned to see her wearing the fur coat over her skimpy dress, tight enough to expose the unflattering sagging of her skin, and the lights dim enough to expose the crease marks from her underbelly all the way to the scars in her cheeks. Outside, it was the five o’clock blueness of a winter evening casted out across cold steel skyscraper windows, into porcelain bedrooms and marble countertops, heated tile bathrooms and stainless steel light fixtures glowing and radiant like glossy ma...

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“ The Archeress Bow” by A. Nelson

Submitted to Contest #78

The archeress bow the story will be in long dialogue, like a play.Flashback:“Pull back.....slowly.....and.....FIRE”!“THUNK” “Yes, bullseye”“Nice shot, Anastasia, you know hitting a bullseye like that is gonna get you somewhere someday”.“I know that and thank you, not to mention this isn’t the first bullseye I’ve made”.“You are literally the best archeress I’ve ever known and met”.“Haha I’m the only archeress you’ve ever met and I’m probably gonna be the only one you know that can hit 4 bullseyes in a row”.“That’s true, I mean who c...

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“A False Sense of Serenity” by James Holgate

Submitted to Contest #78

Today was yet another day containing an ongoing hebetude aroma throughout the continuous bunkum of the office. Felix inverted this sense via his pure existence, as he transformed the dull depressive sense into an ambrosial scent of jubilation and appraisal. Felix strode into the incongruous greyscale office building with an everlasting look of beneficence plastered upon his visage. Dirty blond hair and viridescent pupils truly sparked his imagery as well as the obvious gleeful smile implanted upon his face; these facial features were in addi...

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Write about someone who still practices a skill that used to be necessary but has long since been replaced by technology.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 133 stories

“Measuring Time, Finding Place” by Kathleen March

“Dear Michael” by Izzie Chan

“Deliberately Anachronistic” by Philip Clayberg

“Inked” by Nandini Sharma

“The Open Road Before Us” by Valerie June

“Better than Perfect” by Carole Cobos

“The Sacked Society” by David Brown

“A Good Neighbor” by Anne Ryan

“'All my love, Anna' ” by Rose Cartwright

“1963” by William Flautt

“The Craftsman” by Arrey Edwards

“The Right Machine” by Deborah Mercer

“Cupcake Dan I” by Matt Render

“ The Archeress Bow” by A. Nelson

“A False Sense of Serenity” by James Holgate

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with one character trying to convince another to take up their favorite hobby.

Write about someone who keeps an unusual animal as a pet.

Set your story at a convention for a hobby most people have never heard of.

Write about someone who keeps picking up different hobbies but never manages to stick with them.

Contest #78

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

736

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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