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 Publishers Directory Short Story Ideas Writing Contests Writing Exercises Writing Scholarships
ABOUT
About Reedsy Terms Privacy

CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Start your story with the line, “By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire.” (Whether this is a literal fire is up to you.)

Posted in General on May 9, 2021

Submissions are closed

Sorry, we are not accepting submissions for this prompt as it is not part of an active contest. 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:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 335 stories

“One Last Day” by Felicity Anne (Inactive)

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. Brilliant ruby reds, bright golds, and fluorescent oranges danced across the trees, giving the illusion of flickering. It has been so long since I’ve smelled the fresh, clean air of autumn. A long time since I’ve smelled any fresh air, actually.  “Are you alright, Eliza?” Noah asked, putting an arm around my shoulders to comfort me. He had been there through...

36 comments 36
Read story

“Perfect as it Gets” by Julia Boddie

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. I was too late.~~~~~~~~~~The day started when my alarm clock woke me up that morning. I got out of bed and went to go wake up my five-year-old daughter. I walked down the hallway and to the doorway of her room.“Good morning sleepyhead. It’s time to get up for school.”She sat up. Veronica stretched and yawned. I looked at her, looking at her light brown hair, which was a tangled mess. She started to get up and I w...

53 comments 53
Read story

“Rags to Riches” by ♡ ℂ𝕣𝕪𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕝 ♡

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. I heard screams, but the echo was swallowed by the crackling of fire and screams. Horrified screams, but the source was unknown.  Fire was pouring out of me, immersing my entire body in flames. It quickly seared my thin clothing, burning the fabric with ease.  But it didn’t burn me. I didn’t even feel the warmth of the flames whose mission was to devou...

368 comments 368
Read story

“Apart Together” by ☯️𝒜𝓋𝒾 𝒜𝓀𝒶𝓉𝓈𝓊𝓀𝒾🏳️‍🌈

By the time I step outside, the leaves are on fire. Coming outside was a good and bad idea at the same time, but my house is gone, and I didn’t have a choice. I run and curse into the air, but my words are jumbled up sentences that mean nothing to the thing that is devouring the world. People are screaming, screeching, and crying as they try to avoid the fire, often without success, and hoping not to fall into the endless abyss that is the monster’s mouth. Also without much success. But I don’t care. I only care about running. Running for...

27 comments 27
Read story

“Leaves the Fire 🔥” by Vicky S

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire.The air was thick with smoke and clumps of ash seemed to be falling from the sky. Not that the sky could be seen. It looked like it was midnight. The sun had been blocked by the smoke, great swirls of grey and black and the eerie glow of red as the fire came closer.“Come on Abby, don’t just stand there!”, my dad cried as he ran past, the garden hose clutched in his hands.A trickle of water squirted out of the end as he aimed it at the leaves.The water suppl...

55 comments 55
Read story

“Among Us” by A K S H A T A T A L

By the time I stepped outside of my house, the leaves were on fire. Literally. It was so, super hot. The whole reason I even had to step outside was to get a break from that stupid party of my sister’s.She got into Oxford. So what? It doesn’t mean that you should get a whole party! (Alright fine, maybe she does deserve it, but still!)Mark my words, I’m going to be even better than her. I’m going to be one of the first astronauts to get into The Skeld, the first spaceship to Mars. Human...

85 comments 85
Read story

“To Live for the Future” by Leo Greer 🦅 🕶

To Live for the FutureBy Caden HillBy the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire.Inside my mind, a forest went up in flames….Have you ever wondered about your future?What it will be like?What does future you look like?How do you dress?Are you married? Engaged? To whom?Children? Two....three….four?Do you finally like that vegetable you never liked as a kid?Do you understand what you’ve lived for?You see, these question are pre...

123 comments 123
Read story

“Waiting For Twilight” by 🎀 ɪᴍᴀᴀɴ ᴋʜᴀᴋɪ 🎀

By the time I step outside, the leaves are on fire. Well, they might as well be. The wind comes alive and sends swirls of crimsons, oranges, yellows and golds dancing through the air like flames. A fitting description—for me, the cool, crisp autumn days are nothing short of hell.Suddenly, a thick, cool grey mass obscures my vision. I glare in frustration, trying to break through its dense, watery coat with a beam of warmth, but to no avail. My rays become faint and diluted, powerless against the heavy clumps that have bu...

23 comments 23
Read story

“Coming Home Again” by Be Inspired Abstracts/Etsy Sarah Greenwood

       By the time I stepped outside the leaves were on fire. It was a good time of year for a funeral. Dad had died Tuesday after a long battle with throat cancer, so I had flown in on the red-eye from California to Rhode Island.             I got to TF Green at seven a.m. and went straight to Dad’s house. I guess now it was Beth’s house now. Beth was my younger sister. She moved in a few months ago to help Dad when he got too sick ...

40 comments 40
Read story

“Burning Desire” by Charles Stucker

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. Life in Texas has changed me from the woman I once was. Clearing brush involves eliminating leaves, so Mike burns them late every spring, when seasonal rain means the fire won't spread. This year he's off chasing someone on ranger business, so our nine-years-old son, Cecil, must take the part of a man."You're doing wonderfully, Cece." He grins at the complement. With school out for the summer, we are both at loose ends, though I am still weeping for a daughter, little Gloria, ...

34 comments 34
Read story

“The True Meaning of Autumn ” by ✯𝐋𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚 𝐋𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫✯

The True Meaning of Autumn  By: Haripriya   By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. I couldn’t believe the beauty of the golden shimmers, decorating the floor, with its bright, vivid colors. In multiple shades of yellow, orange, red, green, and dusk brown, there it was, making the ground more colorful. It really was that time of year...

5 comments 5
Read story

“Memories” by Amiable Sorceress

By the time I was outside, the leaves were on fire. Usually, I’m not a stickler for rules, but standing there, watching the leaves; only the leaves light up in flames, it reminded me of you. I would’ve said the leaves shouldn’t have been alight like that; it was against the laws of science, but this isn’t my story, it’s yours.  If you were here you wouldn’t have bothered with the fire extinguisher, so I...

5 comments 5
Read story

“Fall Began” by 𝔘𝔤𝔬𝔠𝔥𝔦 𝔑.

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were seemed to be on fire that day…my first day of high school. … “Cathy Jane??” said Ms. Vero that early cold morning. The first day of Fall had begun. “You can call me C.J.” I replied abruptly like I always do when someone calls me by my full name. “Okay, C.J.” Ms. Vero said then moving on to the next person on the list. Class seemed to...

47 comments 47
Read story

“The Third Lotus Prince” by Yolanda Wu

Trigger warning: Description of suicide, not super graphic, but just something to be warned about.By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. All around me, my temple had gone up in flames.However, we are not up to that part yet.Let us start, as all lives start – with my birth.My Mother, Lady Yin, was pregnant with me for three years and six months.The night before I was born, she had a dream. There was a Taoist, he placed something in her bosom and told her it was a child...

54 comments 54
Read story

“Demon in the Woods” by Leviathan Four

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. In the valley below our cabin, a grove of black walnut, sycamore, and cottonwood trees flickered and popped in the dawn. The stench of acrid smoke filled my lungs as I calculated how far the wildfire had spread overnight. How safe we felt before going to bed. Looking down at the tangle of mountain roads, I wondered fretfully which ones were still passable. We had arrived two days before, a veritable lifetime ago. I...

18 comments 18
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Set your story in a coffee shop that’s just introduced a new line of autumnal drinks.

General – 169 stories

Write about a character making fall decorations out of construction paper.

For Kids – 46 stories

Write a story from the perspective of a bird migrating for the winter.

General – 131 stories

Write about two characters going apple picking.

General – 257 stories

Contest #63

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: Autumnal

$50

Prize money

938

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Oct 16, 2020 EST

Won by Masha Kurbatova 🏆

Title: come to atlanta!

View details

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

We'll send you 5 prompts each week. Respond with your short story and you could win $250!

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 ⭢