Set your story in a magical bookshop.

Posted in Fluff on Dec 9, 2022

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✍️ 46 stories

“Beyond Words” by Matt Francis

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #176

A bell chimes above her as Katy pushes open the old wooden door that leads into Silo’s Books and Curios. She had finally found the small, almost invisible, shop tucked in between a craft store to its right and a health food store to its left. It would have been easy to walk by had you not been expressly looking for it, as Katy had been. Ding, Ding. Katy looks up at the sound, surprised to see not a brass shopkeeper’s bell, but two silver bells that look as though they have just been cut from Santa’s sleigh. The crystal-clear ringin...

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“Opening Geraldine's” by AnneMarie Miles

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #176

Carla inserted her skeleton key into the keyhole, turned it, and heard the unlocking of the bookshop’s door. When she pushed it open, the bell on the other side of it jingled its welcome tune into the stillness of Geraldine’s Books and Bits Bookshop.Carla inhaled the shop’s sleepy aroma, a mixture of must and ambrosia, her mascaraed eyes gleaming excitedly through her bright red cat-eye-framed glasses. “Hello, my dears! Good morning, good morning!” she sang her dark crimson lips into a wide smile. “How was your weekend?”A quiet creak weakly ...

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“The Emporium of Dreams” by Rebecca Miles

Submitted to Contest #176

John Flounder woke with a start from the most amazing dream. Time was of the essence, he must record his recollections; there wasn’t a second to lose. Groping blindly in the dark, he reached over to the bedside table, knocking his phone onto the floor. With a groan, he leaned over the mattress and rooted through the pile of clothes which he’d discarded last night. No phone, it must have slid under the bed. A piece of paper then. If he was quick, he could hold onto the dream with the strange man and his bulbous eyes; the atmospheric setting, ...

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“The Hands of God” by Lindsay Flo

Submitted to Contest #176

My mother likes to tell the story of the magical woman with the hands of God who saved the life of a baby on Christmas Eve. She will tell this tale to anyone, anytime, but she especially loves reliving it on Christmas Eve. Gathered at her house, the holiday energy funnels through the eyes of my children and their cousins, still young enough that the magic of Santa is breathtakingly real, every strange noise a reason to pause and listen, wide-eyed, in case it’s reindeer on the roof. They run rampant through the house, high on sugar and hope...

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“The Book of the Throne” by Bella Fox

Submitted to Contest #176

“What did you say we were looking for?” I grumbled. Thorin and I were in the oldest, most worn down looking bookshop I had ever seen. Dust covered just about every square inch, and books were packed in and piled precariously everywhere. I could barely walk through the aisles without knocking a stack over. “Well, that’s the thing,” Thorin said, catching a small pile of books as it began to topple after he bumpe...

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“A Page Turner” by L.L. Williams

Submitted to Contest #176

Abagail sat in her car outside the nondescript structure, looking back and forth between it and the card in her hand. The invitation was as unremarkable as the building. A matte black postcard with just coordinates, a time, and a date on the back in small white letters. The postcard didn’t even have Abagail’s address or postage on it, so she was not sure how it got to her. Earlier today, she came home from a particularly difficult day of work and school. She had gotten a D on a biology quiz that she had studied hard for. At work, she spill...

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“The Tara Bookshop” by Chad Eastwood

Submitted to Contest #176

The Tara Bookshop sat improbably between two towering, convoluted buildings in a winding alleyway in the centre of Dublin. From the front, it looked as if it was being squeezed in on either side by its neighbors, as if, having finished the street, someone had decided to force in an extra building on either end, squashing the little bookshop into a spindly line. On the inside, however, it was a different matter. It was immense. The roof was high. Huge beams soared upwards in unfathomable triangles. Space warped around itself like a falling ...

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“My last story ” by Jennifer Cameron

Submitted to Contest #176

I stumbled across the word ‘serendipity’ and it’s meaning engulfed me like hot flames. It means the art of finding something beautiful without looking for it. To see a butterfly’s fragile wings in vibrant yellows and muted peaches, the sound of the sea spitting at rocks that had been softened by the cruelty of time, the taste of ripened blackberries breaking apart on your tongue. We don’t look for any of it and yet the world offers it to us anyway. In the same way, the world offered me writing and I graciously accepted. Bookshops had been pu...

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“A Whimsical Adventure in Jasper Hallow” by Savannah Wagner

Submitted to Contest #176

Under the midnight rainshower, a runaway evenscesed from the stonecold walls of the medieval castle, deep into the Anthraxian Woods. The runaway slipped her royal blonde locks into her hooded tunic. She crunched through dead leaves and roamed past trees resembling upside-down spiders. Moonlight and biolumincensant toadstools glowed, guiding her deeper into the woods. Unicorns trotted past wafting the scent of roses and the songs of the bullfrogs croaked. She was close. Through the break in the terrain was a tea green lake flooded with earthy...

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“Blue Hour” by C. J. Peters

Submitted to Contest #176

Thomas stood outside in the cold, snowflakes landing on his shoulders and melting in his curls. Hands tucked in wool-lined pockets, boots planted on the icy sidewalk, he gazed up at the sign of the new bookstore, Blue Hour Books. He’d thought the name curious when he’d first passed it by days ago, yet curiouser still how he hadn’t truly noticed the building until now.Blue Hour Books, though it had only opened a week before, radiated the quality of a long-standing staple in his small town. The new owner had given the door a fresh coat of navy...

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“Crushes, Books, and Magic” by S N

Submitted to Contest #176

This is the place to be and no one else knows it. I hide behind isles of jars. Macon can see me if he dares to look up. His eyes are fixed on a set of century old chess pieces, greened by age. “I know you’re there.” My breath stalls as I straighten to creep into the light. “You’re busy. I didn’t think you’d notice.” ...

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“Scared books smell of sulphur” by Alexander Valdem

Submitted to Contest #176

The books fluttered when he arrived. They always fluttered when a new customer arrived in the store. They could feel the newness of the customer. What was this customer looking for? The books had to know whether they were the one to please the new customer. Were the new customer looking for a romance so strong that they were literally swept of their feet? Maybe a crime novel so full of blood and hideous acts that the book had to hide from his mother when she visited? A horror so dark that it did not tolerate the sun? A fantasy so thick and p...

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“The Unfinished Novels” by Bianca Jagger

Submitted to Contest #176

It’s the start of a new day! The bookshop owner eagerly gazed out his storefront’s window, awaiting the arrival of his newly acquired customers. Although his London shop had been open for 60 years, with him at the helm for over half its lifetime, every day still felt like its grand opening. His mother was the originator of the shop and the day she shared the family’s secret was forever imprinted in his mind. The secret is hidden deep within every book’s page, completely oblivious to the naked eye. Although hard to uncover, the premise is a...

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“Tales” by Cora Weaver

Submitted to Contest #176

The pile of books lands on my desk with a thud. “You see, Imogen, this is an excellent deal. Twelve exquisite books, all written by elves and laced with magic.” says a man who introduced himself as Oskar and politely demanded to sell me books. I pick one up with a white-gloved hand. “I don’t see any magic.” “It’s there,” Oskar assures me. I flip through the pages. The title reads Literally Everything Anyone Would Ever Need to Know About Plants in a flourishing script. Diagrams fill the pages, along with small handwriting that is only som...

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“Between the Lines” by Nicki Nance

Submitted to Contest #176

“Welcome to Between the Lines. I’ll be right with you,” Rina Roche called from the back of the bookstore. “It’s just me, Babe.” Jack Roche let the stack of boxes he was juggling drop to the stock room floor. He pulled off the tie that held back his dark hair and sighed. His soulful brown eyes met hers. Rina put down the box she was unpacking and went to him. “You look lost, Sweetheart.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and he kissed the top of her head, nuzzling into her chestnut curls before he pulled a lavender envelope out of his ...

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Set your story in a magical bookshop.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 46 stories

“Beyond Words” by Matt Francis

“Opening Geraldine's” by AnneMarie Miles

“The Emporium of Dreams” by Rebecca Miles

“The Hands of God” by Lindsay Flo

“The Book of the Throne” by Bella Fox

“A Page Turner” by L.L. Williams

“The Tara Bookshop” by Chad Eastwood

“My last story ” by Jennifer Cameron

“A Whimsical Adventure in Jasper Hallow” by Savannah Wagner

“Blue Hour” by C. J. Peters

“Crushes, Books, and Magic” by S N

“Scared books smell of sulphur” by Alexander Valdem

“The Unfinished Novels” by Bianca Jagger

“Tales” by Cora Weaver

“Between the Lines” by Nicki Nance

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story involving a magical potion — which may or may not work.

Start your story with someone witnessing magic from a hiding place.

Cast a magician (a real one, or a party entertainer) as your story’s protagonist.

Write a story told from the point of view of an animal.

Contest #176

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

231

Contest entries

111

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: