Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Directory
Contests
Magazine
FAQ

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

Posted in Historical Fiction on Feb 21, 2020

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?

✍️ 41 stories

The Albatross

Submitted to Contest #26

“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-” “QUIET!”  The lone singer was suddenly silenced by a booming voice, followed by a clattering of scrubbers and scrambling of boots as the men working upon the deck sprung to their feet at attention. A blue clad, white wigged admiral made his way through the sea of dusty servants until he reached the musical perpetrator, a young lad in disheveled garments, frozen under the superior’s sour gaze. “Per...

6 likes 8 comments 8
Read story

Three o’clock Midnight

Submitted to Contest #26

If I cross through Lincoln and Square at three o’clock, and head East for three minutes, I can turn into Aimee’s, and wait there until the next ceasefire. If they shoot till six, I’ll have to risk it, if I plan to get to the venue before dark. It hasn’t snowed all winter, but the lack of it hasn’t stopped the sun from dying early.It’s thirty steps from here till Lincoln, and I’ll arrive to Lincoln by two fifty-four. That’s six minutes until the cease. Everyday at three o’clock, both sides lower their guns in honor of the children lost or gon...

6 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Silence in the Wake of War

Submitted to Contest #26

Sometimes it seemed that the dead were louder than the living. The wind howled through the alleys and over the buildings like an angry spirit in search of vengeance. The trees shivered in its wake, their branches almost entirely bare of leaves in the wake of the winter's chill. Nobody would leave their shelters to face the weather or the sad reality of what had become of their homes. Nobody spoke. Only one soul roamed the streets that day. Her figure was almost indiscernible in the dark of the day. The clouds had obscured the sun, ...

5 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

1857

Submitted to Contest #26

Sonni was helping her step mother wash the dishes and clean their house which didn't require much physical exertion as their house was petite but immaculate. Always as immaculate as a newly bought mirror the primary reason for this is that their special focus lied on cleaning which in Islam is described as a law.However in subcontinent Muslims were given a status of big Oasis of uncivilized people. Now according to the Britishers they have enough information to prove that the statement that they make is correct. That Muslims refused their En...

5 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

Diggory Parks A Folk Hero

Submitted to Contest #26

   Vietnam. The Vietnam War. The Protest War. It stole more people than the official body count. It stole more people than we know. My friend Diggory was one, one of the ones lost to the Protest War. But I don’t think he realized that. I don’t think he realized the toll his “low number” and his hatred of war took in his psyche. I don’t think he realized how it tore him apart and lead finally to his acrophobia and his eventual death, accidental or suicide.But that’s the end...

5 likes 3 comments 3
Read story

One Evening

Submitted to Contest #26

My teacher used to tell me that music was found everywhere; you can hear it in the trees when the wind blows, in the waves of the ocean or the buzz of a bee. On his dying breath, he told me to find music in every part of the world around me and bring it with me for the listener who needs it. Even now years later, I find myself wondering what he meant. What music could I possibly find in the world around me, now filled with the shriek of air raid sirens and the terrified cries of innocent civilians? And who would need music in times like thes...

5 likes 3 comments 3
Read story

MUSIC STRIKES BACK

Submitted to Contest #26

Wars can never bring any good for any country, it's people and their art among them. In August 1971, Narayanganj, Situated on the outskirts of Dhaka, a place small enough to be missed easily on the map but still managed to engrave itself in the history of Bangladesh, erstwhile Pakistan. It got its present name after the battle of Plassey when a religious leader leased this town from East India Company and endowed it in turn for the service of God ( Narayan). It was the first half of 71’, the place was rife with atrocities of the Pa...

5 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

Sparking Joy

Submitted to Contest #26

Since the war began, times had been tough for everyone. Nearly every man and a fair few women were off doing their parts for their country, putting their lives on the line to take down the enemy. Women and teens searched for work day in and day out, though most were turned away. Those were the ones who wanted to fight most of all, or to at least feel as though they were doing something that made them a valuable and productive member of their society.     The men that were left behind fought as well, but in a differen...

4 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

Keep Those Keys Movin'

Submitted to Contest #26

It was just after dawn when the shooting started, and Edgar Brones hadn’t even finished his rabbit stew.  “Oh fiddle!” The lanky American yelled before he flung his arms through the straps of his backpack, slammed his helmet on his head, and downed the last of his stew. It was still warm, one of the privates had picked off a rabbit and cooked it up for them around midnight. The smoldering coals had kept the stew warm for the men during the chilling night on the French countryside, which did improve morale. Morale was in short supply, wh...

4 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

Carnegie Alone

Submitted to Contest #26

Time felt still to Damien. He was alone, dancing with the beautiful melody of Bach, his fingers filming over each black and white as smoothly as the sound of rain against the hall ceiling. It was a date, romantic and intimate. It couldn’t be anything less or anything more, it was only him and his partner—only music could make him feel like flying.The world around him crumbled as he soared high above all the troubles that carried the globe and the seas on its jagged back. The empty seats before him fell away beneath his wings of ink and vanis...

4 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Si vis pacem, para bellum

Submitted to Contest #26

Between the lights of distant street lamps, I write among the trash, the scum of the beer quivers in my glass , as I recount the touches of my fingers on this narrative. All the while the house band bounces off the walls out the door, down to the harbor. I nod to Freddie as if to say "Si vis pacem, para bellum" as he starts his solo. Thus the pebble is cast into the pond of eyes.  So here I am looking at the city map again: Three streets west, and 2 down. I heard they need more heads, but they can't pay much more than 3 cockta...

4 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

A Song for You

Submitted to Contest #26

Note: This story is entirely fictional. I am not well-versed in history, so please excuse me if some of the facts are wrong. Also, I do not mean to disrespect anyone mentioned in this story.It was the bloody time of the Second World War, when countries were forced to choose sides— whether they wanted to join the Axis Powers or the Allied Powers in battle. Truth to be told, no one really wanted to go into war. People didn’t want their line of life to be interrupted by the splatter of blood and the smell of gun powder. But a human wanted to sa...

4 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

For the Boys and Girls

Submitted to Contest #26

A few months ago, I was playing a concert nearly every night. People would flock to the stadiums and concert halls, paying exorbitant sums just to sit closer to the stage on which I played. Talk shows, radio interviews, these things had slowly become a way of life. I loved it. I loved the attention and adoration of the people who called themselves my greatest fans. I hope  they are still out there, even though I can’t see them anymore.  The stadiums and concert halls have all been seized or destroyed. People no longer have any penn...

4 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Lost and Won

Submitted to Contest #26

“Play for free, or we break that thing,” the sergeant said, adding a casual glance to Jack’s flute to clarify what “thing” would be broken. Jack was sure these men would break a few other things, just for posterity, should he decide to not play. The threat was sealed as two men stood up, positioned so as to easily snare the musician should he attempt to flee. Jack made no move to do so, only looking down into his hands to see what lay there: an ancient bamboo xiao. The instrument stretched from Jack’s shoulder clear to his thigh, looking as ...

4 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

For There is no Final Silence

Submitted to Contest #26

The Lobster lives immortal.Or so the fishermen say, when the day is fair and the beer is good and the shadows beg a tale. On this evening, the sea is calm, raked only with tides painted with the slow and sundry winds. The storm is far away.Yet the docks are deserted, the boats all moored, and what few men still linger in the pier have clustered at the tables of the Widowed Whaler, where they quaff cheap ale with cheerful abandon. Occasionally, one of them will free himself from the talk of his companions, or else the solemn quietude of the b...

4 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

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

Fiction – 61 stories

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

Character – 50 stories

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

High School – 49 stories

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

Adults – 24 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