Write a story about a musician struggling to find work during wartime.

Posted in Historical Fiction on Feb 21, 2020

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✍️ 42 stories

“The Orphan's Song” by Claire Tucker

There was something about the way the wind was blowing that day that echoed how I felt. It had the same notes of rising hopelessness, of despair descending into depression, that I stopped to listen. A building across the street was hit last night, and men are digging through the rubble. The staccato of bricks striking each other provides a funeral march’s percussion to the lament of the wind. A perfect accompaniment to my thoughts. William Taylor’s Orchestra was my last hope. Or had be...

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“And Then The Wars Broke Out” by Laurentz Baker

I could hold a note when needed, learning to dance took much more effort. My bread and butter? What kept people believing I was the next big thing? I could tickle the ivories. I could play any Earth Standard, jump straight into Universal pop music, jazz and gospel. And I was acting in a good number of theater productions of the galaxy as well. I helped write some lyrics and music for the shows I participated in.

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“A Musician’s Place to Fight” by Keri Dyck

War. When it first started, all I heard was Beethoven’s 5th. Urgency. Terror. Climax after climax.But then it sunk in. It stayed and festered as families separated to march on alone. We were cursed to keep moving on while the air was saturated with Adagio for Strings. I watched my father leave in his uniform, his old gun clutched tightly in his calloused hands. My mother kept the house in the country, opening it for people to send their children to when the bombs came. I had a little sister and brother who stayed ...

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“Apollo's Unsung Love” by Aniruddh Pramod

Apollo’s chariot ride was coming to an end. As he slowed down for one long last look at the sky, he lit the sky up with lustrous shades of gold and red. It was a sight to witness, certainly. Yet, the throngs of people below in the town weren’t interested. Not a single soul looked at his magnificent chariot, although just one look could have calmed down the anxiety of their dying men, fighting a useless war on their insignificant battlefield. Insignificant, even for mortal standards. Nevertheless wartime it was, and all humans lose their p...

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“A Song For A Flower” by Jennifer Riley

Leda noticed the guitar case as soon as the man entered the inn. Too small for a guitar, actually. A mandolin, maybe. She narrowed her eyes as she watched him, her hands busy with her barkeep tasks. He stayed by the door for a minute, looking around the taproom, at the tables only sparsely filled with customers, every single one of whom had been there at The Sow’s Ear a dozen or a hundred times before. This man by the door, this musician, was a newcomer. Newcomers were a ra...

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“The Silent Song” by Randi W

Austria, 1944 The shouts continued to ring out as objects were thrown and broken, yet he remained completely still in his hiding place behind the wall. Jonas had originally built the secret space in the wall for his violin. The moment he found out musicians were being taken away like the others, he knew that he needed to hide his violin; to protect his precious violin from the destruction would surely befall the instrument. When he s...

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“Playing in the Key of German” by Kate Strong

Pierre St. Lacouis squinted at the page shivering before him in the night air, the gentle wind rustling the tree leaves that shimmered in the moonlight. Even in the dim light, his sharp eyes caught every single note of Camille Saint-Saens’ piece, a piece he knew by heart. It was another one of those songs that instantly touched his heart—instantly made his fingers yearn with the eagerness to produce the sweet notes on his own instrument. The violin he held balanced under his chin waited, the bow held just so above the strings, and ...

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“The Albatross” by Cora V

“My lady the sea, so vast and grand.She beckons to me from beyond the land.I set sail with the Albatross, far and freeTill I reach my desti-”

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“A Veteran Fiddle” by Dakota Geiger

First was my Pop. He served in the Civil War, a drummer boy, and an excellent one at that. Somewhere buried deep in my drawers I bet I could find his badge he willed to me. He was only 16, but he still marched just as tall –if not taller– than the other soldiers. Fighting for the unity of our country, he was my idol. I never quite knew how he was able to play music after the war. He told me the bloody details...

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“Buskin” by Karin Mabry

Orion woke up first although I usually do. He can’t be quiet when he is excited. He is so happy to wake me up, he stifles cried of joy as I rise from slumber. I try to keep his environment somewhat predictable to help him feel calm but things are not exactly stable around here. I never know who I am going to be from one day to the next. Literally. Mom makes me tell people I have a different name and told me to keep track of who knew me as what name. It was an impossible task but I told her I had it down. I used to be a...

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“Five Years Afterwards” by Deborah Mercer

An urban vocalist. That’s what I’m “supposed” to call myself. Not that I’m the only one. Begging is illegal (officially) and street singer makes it sound as if we’re poverty stricken here (which we are). It saves the state having to pay benefits (which it rarely does) or making the hard-pressed and supposedly neutral charities even more over-stretched, when those of us with some talent – that glorious, clumsy, old-fashioned word ACCOMPLISHMENT springs to mind – can eke out our own in...

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“Love Songs in Wartime” by Daniel Brown

Ever since North Korea began to demolish the US in World War 3, the general landscape of the country proved as brittle as the hope of its citizens nationwide. President Jeremy Laramie refused to concede and Florida, specifically Aketonka Bay where I’m from, has become a target of North Korean dictator Ji-Woo Hyeon-see. I am a musician who penned mushy love songs for commercials and films for ten years and my lucrative business was leveled in the latest attack by Ji-Woo’s fo...

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“The Violinist” by Adelia Marsa Calista

Indonesia Dutch East Indies World War II 1943 “Eat it, or I will.” I look down at a lump of boiled corn in front of that doesn’t look appetizing at all. It is one of those days when we have to eat plain foods—corn or ration rice that’s so bad that there is no nutrition left. Ibu—Mother—talks all the time about being grateful that we still have food on our table, “Paiman’s fa...

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“Le Pétomane” by Martin Leigh

The old man shuffled into the smoky, dingy office of Lieutenant Colonel Marcel Dugarry, escorted and assisted by a youthful soldier with an empty sleeve pinned to the chest of his tunic. A window pane rattled from the concussion of the mighty artillery pieces lobbing high explosives into the German lines seven miles away. Dugarry waved his hand in the air, gesturing to the man to take a seat opposite him at the large, hardwood desk. The old man, walking with a cane, wore a set of dusty tails that had seen better days, white g...

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“In Drink and In Music” by Ellen Grace

“Can you stop doing that, please?”“Hmmm?” Zemira followed Willa’s gaze to her fingers, lightly scraping against the table. “Oh. Sorry.”“You’ve been fidgeting all evening, what’s the matter?”“I miss my lute.”“It’s on your back.”“I miss playing my lute.”Willa took a deep swig from the tankard in front of her. Wiping the froth from her chin, she said, “You shouldn’t charge so much. The king’s putting up the taxes again next week.”Zemira slumped in her seat. “Damn war. I’ll never get h...

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Write a story about a musician struggling to find work during wartime.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 42 stories

“The Orphan's Song” by Claire Tucker

“And Then The Wars Broke Out” by Laurentz Baker

“A Musician’s Place to Fight” by Keri Dyck

“Apollo's Unsung Love” by Aniruddh Pramod

“A Song For A Flower” by Jennifer Riley

“The Silent Song” by Randi W

“Playing in the Key of German” by Kate Strong

“The Albatross” by Cora V

“A Veteran Fiddle” by Dakota Geiger

“Buskin” by Karin Mabry

“Five Years Afterwards” by Deborah Mercer

“Love Songs in Wartime” by Daniel Brown

“The Violinist” by Adelia Marsa Calista

“Le Pétomane” by Martin Leigh

“In Drink and In Music” by Ellen Grace

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a character who was considered a prodigy when they were young.

Write about a character who goes by many different names throughout their life.

Write about a character who was raised in a musical family.

Write a story about a character obsessed with one of the long-dead “greats” in their profession.

Contest #26

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

233

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Tired of MS Word?

Explore more writing prompt ideas: