Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog

Menu

✕
CONNECT
Editing Design Marketing Publicity Ghostwriting Websites
BLOG
Success Stories
APPS
TOOLS
Book Promotion Sites Book Review Blogs Booktube Channel Guide Book Title Generator Character Name Generator Independent Publishers Literary Agents Literary Magazines Pen Name Generator Plot Generator Short Story Ideas Writing Contests Writing Exercises Writing Scholarships
ABOUT
About Reedsy Terms Privacy

CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Halfway through a fierce competition, your character is given the opportunity to cheat their way to victory: do they take it?

Posted in General on Jul 23, 2021

Submissions are closed!

Sorry, we are no longer accepting submissions. Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy Prompts account.

Sign in with Google
Sign in with Facebook

Or create a new Reedsy account:

✍️ 54 stories

“Pressure” by Angelina Tran

“Work harder!”“Do better!”“Try again!”“No- not like that!”“Do it again!”The sounds of his mother’s ‘encouragement’ —or lack of— had pressured him to work harder, do better, and try again.And he needed to work harder, do better, and try again to win the 2020 Sportsman of the Year annual competition at his school. It was only for seniors, and this year was his chance to shine— especially because winners go to the national competitions...

135 comments 135
Read story

“Villainous Standards” by Meggy House

           I just have to preface with the fact that standards for current villains are ridiculously high. You know how hard it is to get away with anything nowadays? There are cameras literally everywhere. Once upon a time, my great grandfather was able to murder somebody in cold blood and stand next to said cold blood, with the very same blood on his hands, and the police were none the wiser.           “I wonder who could...

10 comments 10
Read story

“The Tortoise and the...” by Leilani Lane

The crowd cheered as Theodore and Harry stood at the starting line. The tortoise watched the hare bounce from foot to foot, his ears flopping with every jump. “Show off,” muttered Theodore. “Come again?” asked Harry. He cartwheeled over Theordore and the crowd cheered louder. “READY?” shouted the announcer, Mayor Squire the squirrel. He stood on a small stage to the side, m...

31 comments 31
Read story

“Wedding Games” by Amy Hodges Laurenzo

               The Elderblood was a particular blood line that traveled through the High Elf people. The blood line had been known for their lunar good looks and their magick and fighting capability and they were the stuff that Kings and Queens could be made of. Every so often a girl was born into the blood line in a predominantly male blood line.                ...

10 comments 10
Read story

“Candice Takes the Challenge” by Gip Roberts

Candice couldn't lose. The stakes were too high. A slew of ingredients covered the kitchen table: carton of eggs, sticks of margarine, sack of all-purpose flour, five-pound bag of sugar, the chocolate chips, everything the online recipe she'd printed said to use.She grimaced at herself. Sixteen years old and had never so much as even boiled a pan of water. But somehow, she had to pull through on this. The timer was ticking, and she felt lost as a foreigner in a new land. Her frizzy, strawberry hair was already soaked wit...

13 comments 13
Read story

“The Empty Cup” by Ben Franklin

It was the 18th hole of the Austin Valley Open, and Hugh Grace had a one stroke lead. He could finish this final hole with a par and still win the tournament. It would be his first tour victory, and along with the over-sized trophy he would receive a 1-million dollar purse.  It began to lightly rain as Hugh and his caddy, Sam, hustled up the final fairway and into the rough. The wind whipped at their umbrellas as they began to search the tall grass for Hugh's golf ball. As they hunted for the ball, Sam was all...

15 comments 15
Read story

“Luck by chance..or by worth?” by Pratheeksha R

There’s a cold breeze blowing up that gives me goosebumps. I’m normally acquainted with the cold, given that I’m in Canada where the temperature drops to -45° C. We spend nearly 7-8 months in a year in snow, but today, I’m not my usual self. I have been summoned to the “Provincial Centre of Speakers Bureau” for a debacle that happened 3 days ago at the Area Contest where I was contesting. However, I’m not alone. Along with me, there is Dimple Mehta - the Area Director, Meena Bhat - the Division Director, and Lily Mu...

8 comments 8
Read story

“CyberAthena” by Leviathan Four

Marisol had been ready, willing and able to earn the contract the right way. After all, her cybersecurity firm, CyberAthena, was the best, and Nicholas Kozlosky needed the best.Kozlosky, Inc. was a multinational hedge fund, voraciously engaged in trading on financial markets around the globe. As far as Marisol could see, if a firm ever needed CyberAthena’s expertise in keeping the trading volume of short selling, leveraging, and derivatives safe, it was a target as rich as Kozlosky, Inc.  She'd shown up an...

7 comments 7
Read story

“The Darkest Path that Leads to Light” by Emmanuel Olaleye

This was a battle you had lost three times before, even after you had made great speeches and grand promises. You carried along with you the laymen, even as you rose to the highest point of diction, to outshine your competitors, at every Presidential Debate floor. But it all came to nought, as you lost... again... and again... till your fire began to die slowly on its hearth.This is your lifelong dream, and you're at it again, probably for the last time. The Presidential Debate was a success, just like the previous three...

10 comments 10
Read story

“Would you cheat? ” by Gabi =)

"Ten more minutes!" Eliza's brow furrowed as she stared at the paper. The numbers seemed to blur and the bright white of the paper made her blink. She read the problem again. Five people were eating apples, A finished before B, but behind C. D finished before E, but behind B. What was the finishing order? Uh, maybe the next question. A man has 53 socks in his drawer: 21 identical blue, 15 identical black and...

3 comments 3
Read story

“Assistant Manager” by Kk Nelson

You know the movies you watch when the main character competing for something that could make or break them? I'm not gonna say that's my situation, but it kind of is. It all started on a nice fall day. The old assistant manager had just retired, so we were looking for someone to fill the job. My boss had the brilliant idea of giving us little "assignments," similar to those of our assistant manager's tasks, to se...

1 comment 1
Read story

“ THE THIRTY YEAR GUILT” by Claire Tennant

It is not often that I get nervous, but then it had been a long time since I sat waiting to be interviewed. I looked up at the others in the room, as I turned the page, of the only magazine available. I assumed these busy beavers were the staff. Glancing back, I stared at the picture on the page; it was of a young girl with a pretty smile. I did not read the blurb so I did not know whether it was an article or an advert,...

1 comment 1
Read story

“Spicy Noodles Soup” by Francis Lavoie

“Cheating is the only way of winning in this world.” Her mother’s words were already engraved in her, echoing endlessly in her mind walls. Even before it was announced that for the last Cooking Round of the Acornia Purifying Match, all ten of them would be allowed to do any type of immorality or in other words “cheating”, Eraline was very much prepared to cheat her way into glory, or in their case, survival at least. King Huxley II was the wor...

9 comments 9
Read story

“At the Edge of the Cliff” by Grace Larson

The sun burned down on my sweat-streaked face as I sprinted around the corner and began the last lap up the mountain. The boy beside me was clearly as tired as myself; his face was flushed dark red and he was breathing heavily, yet he kept on with the same determination. Darn it, would he ever fall behind? All the other kids had dropped out long ago, yet this one kept on. This could present a problem. I put on an...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Just That One Chance ” by Soumya Garg

It was midway between his medical entrance, his nerves were wrecking up and his fingers were frozen. It was the worst exam of his life. He could feel a panic attack approaching consuming his soul as a whole. He closed his eyes, the air conditioner was too cold in that room. The time was running out and yet fifteen whole questions were pending on that paper.He had studied hard but not hard enough to get him to crack that exam. He could feel his eyes had started to water and his hands were trembling holding that...

5 comments 5
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with one character telling another, “It doesn’t count if you’re already planning your defeat.”

General – 145 stories

Write about a character who makes a dramatic life change to pursue a goal they’ve secretly always wanted.

General – 128 stories

Write about a contest with life or death stakes.

Adventure – 156 stories

Write about a character who’s finally on the verge of achieving their lifelong dream.

Dramatic – 149 stories

Contest #66

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: Ready, Set, Go!

$50

Prize money

682

Submissions

Ended on 22:59 - Nov 06, 2020 EST

Won by David Gottfried 🏆

Title: Mahalo King Cod Filet

View details

Win $50 in our short story competition 🏆

We'll send you 5 prompts each week. Respond with your short story and you could win $50!

Tired of MS Word?

Join the revolution and write your book in a tool designed for authors. 🙌

Includes FREE typesetting to print-ready PDF & EPUB files, track changes and collaborative editing.

Explore more writing prompt ideas:

Adventure Writing Prompts ⭢

Comedy Writing Prompts ⭢

Creative Nonfiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Dramatic Writing Prompts ⭢

Fantasy Writing Prompts ⭢

For Kids Writing Prompts ⭢

General Writing Prompts ⭢

Historical Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Holiday Writing Prompts ⭢

Mystery Writing Prompts ⭢

Romance Writing Prompts ⭢

Science Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Thriller and Suspense Writing Prompts ⭢