Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Directory
Contests
Magazine
FAQ

Begin or end your story with a character taking a selfie.

Posted in Fluff on Mar 29, 2024

Submissions are closed

Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy account.

Sign in with Google
Sign in with Facebook

Or use an email address:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 32 stories

Photographs and Memories

Submitted to Contest #244

Saturday, 30 March 2024To: ericaclark-steele@gmail.comFrom: david.steele@gmail.comSUBJECT: Photos in Google DriveHi, Honey,I hope you’re doing all right there. Oh goodness I miss you already.I know; I know. You’re going to say I’m being sappy again. If you were here, you’d roll those beautiful sapphire eyes and shake your head at me sighing as I stare at the 20x24 shot mounted in our bedroom of our first dance as a married couple whilst Jim Croce’s “Photographs and Memories” --- the song you always love to hum whilst you work -- plays i...

56 likes 68 comments 68
Read story

Wall Street Wiseguys

Submitted to Contest #244

Not for nuthin’ but this stugots had it comin’. If you are gonna treat your subordinates like fuckin’ dogshit, maybe one of them might push back a little. You know what I mean or no? A few minutes earlier, I was doing something very uncharacteristic and taking a selfie for my dating profile. I was that hard up. It was either that or I could start paying for it. After all, I was an accountant. We had the dubious distinction of being over-represented in the percentage of our ignoble profession to become CEO and the percentage that were still v...

54 likes 28 comments 28
Read story

The Last Ceaseless

Submitted to Contest #244

California, 2160 Theo’s eyes shifted uneasily to the body beside him. He’s not dead, he tried to reassure himself. Well, he’s not alive either, his conscience retorted. Guilt ate at him like a zombie. But how was this his fault? He never asked to be a dead man’s babysitter . . . Well, not dead. And he’s 700 and some years older than you. It was hard to imagine what it would be like to be frozen, asleep in a tank, even as Theo pressed his finger pads against the frosty glass. Not when the earth was burning. Dry. How bad could a pr...

42 likes 36 comments 36
Read story

There were way too many flies for an empty house

Submitted to Contest #244

Schizophrenia is a bitch, and I don't usually curse when I'm writing; I like the classic style of Stephen Crane and the refined worlds of Oscar Wilde, and I know things have changed a lot since this kind of gentleman went extinct, but still... there is something about correct writing that turns everything into poetry... even these stories. I continue now; schizophrenia is a bitch, medicated or unmedicated; dealing with not knowing what is real or not can still be challenging day by day. From the happy little bunnies hopping out of an un...

32 likes 10 comments 10
Read story

The selfie of Dorian Gray

Shortlisted for Contest #244 ⭐️

[Content note: substance misuse, suicide, transphobia]Picture this: Dorian Gray, 25, gorgeous bachelor of the Brighton gay scene #handsomeAF #queen #slay. Picture his blazing blue eyes set above aquiline nose and a rosebud pout of a mouth. Cheeks ready to blush under the lick of glitter from a make-up brush. Deep gold locks styled to perfection. Forehead wide and empty as a summer sky #beautynotbrains #imageiseverything #skindeep.Picture this: Dorian perched on the sleek leather and chrome of a barstool in the Poison Ivy, margarita in one ha...

32 likes 23 comments 23
Read story

My Big Fat Viral Wedding

Submitted to Contest #244

Kerry angled the camera just right so she would catch the golden light playing off in her perfectly coiffed hair. Her dad had dropped a boatload of money on this wedding and she meant to make full use of it. She snapped a few photos with her phone. “Instagram, baby,” she said to the empty room though her pursed duck lips..  Her dress was the perfect shade of ecru to add cottagecore ambiance to her selfie. Her hair had taken 5 solid hours to coif to achieve the artful messiness of the curls. The look was designed to be glamor-casual. She...

31 likes 18 comments 18
Read story

Take Me To Your Leader

Submitted to Contest #244

"We need beautiful art around here," Gladise said with a chuckle. Lady Nimmo sat in the corner of the "art" room, sewing a new dress. She laughed at her mother, who was painting a self-portrait from a mirror's reflection leaning against a wall. "And you're making sure we do?" Lady Nimmo said. "Naturally." "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're conceited." Gladise peeked around her canvas, staring at her reflection, playfully ignoring her daughter's jibe. She returned to her canvas and skillfully added strokes. It was Gladise's way of u...

29 likes 9 comments 9
Read story

A Royal Pain In The Grass

Submitted to Contest #244

April 1stAlone in the wide expanse of green, Arabella, stood with the building’s majestic facade behind her. She was careful to adhere to the 2024 selfie guidelines from Glam! Magazine: hold the camera at a distance, angle it slightly downward, reveal a hint of teeth, but not too much. An intelligent woman shouldn't smile as if she's in a children’s birthday photo. And, never let the worry on the inside show to her 340K followers. She felt a wave of intense anxiety. There were a million possibilities that could go wrong. Her hair might ...

25 likes 12 comments 12
Read story

Death by Selfie

Submitted to Contest #244

The blue and white Wedgwood patterned bone china plate, a present from their wedding list, span in a circular motion, similar to a UFO crossing your line of sight, as it whizzed through the kitchen window, and smashed into a thousand shimmering shards of glass into the garden beyond. Natasha screamed and ran into the front room, wailing and sobbing.She heard her husband of three years stomping around the kitchen, complaining about the mess which he’d just created. Natasha was terrified the neighbours would hear the commotion. She projected a...

20 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

Exposure

Submitted to Contest #244

Trigger Warning: Suicide/Mental Health. I step with a stutter, one foot slowly after the other, neck bent towards potholed pavement as I break through the angular shapes of shade signaling my departure from safety. The sun overhead sears my scalp as my shadow pools into a circle of darkness at my feet, moving with me like a small protective forcefield as I take each step into this bleak new world I will ever so briefly call home. Seven years with no sun, no pollen, and no people have left me fragile and unsteady as I cross the threshold to t...

18 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

Selfie Vengeance

Submitted to Contest #244

'Nina stood in her dimly lit bedroom, phone in hand. The soft glow of the screen illuminated her face as she angled the camera for a selfie. Her green eyes reflected a mix of lies and unease. The room felt heavy, memories clung to its walls like cobwebs. The house was empty of other life; not one relative in sight.' Three years ago, on a stormy night, her boyfriend, Alex, had been brutally murdered. The police never found the killer, and Nina's grief had consumed her. She knew she had to move away, hoping to escape the pain that haunted her....

17 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

Life Goes On

Submitted to Contest #244

The two of them did their best, on-demand smiles, and stared directly into the screen of the camera, as Joel held his phone away from their faces, and pointed the screen at them both. Even though, like all selfies, there was something artificial about it, you could see tangibly the connection between the two of them, comfortable to be in each other’s personal space. It was evident in the photo that the two of them were on a boat of some kind in the sparkling city harbour, the imposing figure of the harbour bridge visible between th...

15 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

No Drama, Piranha.

Submitted to Contest #244

"Yah!" Kai, the midget of Smallville Secondary College, woke up on the first day of the Spring holidays. The sun was shining beneath his blinds, he had no plans to do holiday assignments. No indeed. Kai left all that energetic, competitive stuff to the the Year Seven nerds. Way too active. Holidays are for resting, and adventure. What a thinking male needs for holiday fun is a pet! Yes, touchdown. He sneaked to his mother's handbag again, and once more 'borrowed' her credit card. Retail therapy was cool for kids, in Kai's opinion. What to b...

14 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

Regret Hurts

Submitted to Contest #244

The air was musty, the scent of rotting fish thick in the air. My breathing was ragged as I looked down on the pale figure. His eyes were dreamy, but somehow lost at the same time. It seemed like he was searching for something that didn't exist. Or maybe he was. Maybe he was searching for life. But his body is lifeless now. I was the one that caused that. The 9 mm pistol in my hand fell loose of my grasp and it dropped with a soft thud onto the moist ground. My breathing got heavier as I heard the blare of police sirens. This is it. I'...

12 likes 6 comments 6
Read story

It Started With a Selca

Submitted to Contest #244

I lifted my phone in front of my face for the third time and grimaced at my reflection. Ugh. I hated taking selfies, but my sister, Bethany, insisted I take them and post them online so she knew I was alive. She said it was part of the experience of coming to South Korea.As if my audition tomorrow wasn’t enough of an experience.I put my phone face down on the table and smoothed a hand over my black hair. I took a deep breath and tried to quell the anxiety rushing through me. Tomorrow was a big day. The audition started at 7 AM and I had to b...

11 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Center your story around a photo that goes viral.

Funny – 29 stories

Start your story with a character staring at a picture they don’t remember taking.

Mystery – 71 stories

Write a story about a character who risks their life to take a photo.

Adventure – 38 stories

Write about a character who sees a photo they shouldn’t have seen.

Dramatic – 63 stories

How to Write a Novel

Join Tom Bromley for a writing master class and finish your first draft in 3 months. Learn more →

How to Write a Novel