Write about a character who’s expected to follow in someone’s footsteps.

Posted in Kids on Oct 31, 2022

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✍️ 40 stories

“How to Seek the Sun” by Claire Lindsey

Keep your head down. Eyes low.Tread softly, placing your boots with their duct-taped soles in the prints left by the person in front of you.Don’t go too fast, for the person behind.Don’t stop. Don’t look back.And don’t look up.~~~Keep your head down. The wind is strong, strong enough to pull you off course, if you let it.The wind carries things with it. Dust that grits up in your eyes and your mouth, a reminder of ...

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“The All-Star” by Kathleen Fine

Theodore Hurlbutt III scratched at the poison ivy inching its way up his twig-like, pale arm as he heard a whistle blow from across the field. Good thing I never got chicken pox, he thought as he picked at the bumpy blisters on his skin- clear liquid oozing out. He couldn’t resist a good scratch, even if it might spread the dreadful rash.He’d gotten the outbreak the weekend before on a camping trip with his father in West Virginia. “It’ll be good for your bones!” his dad had announced as he packed up his Chevy Tahoe with a...

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“Just Words” by A.G. Scott

[CW: a couple slurs]Inventing new hate speech is not as easy as people think. When I was a kid, putting a cuss word next to a filthy animal was a pretty safe bet. Shit pig, pig shit, those sorts of things were the gold standard. Nowadays? I'm sorry, those things won't fly. The world we live in wants inclusive put-downs from fresh perspectives, pancultural verbal barbs sharpened by cruel and unusual minds. That's where I come in.One way to generate ideas for new hate speech is to p...

6 comments 6

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“Callused” by H.R. Glick

My hands ain’t bled since I turned five years old, and my brothers all followed my lead. Bobby’s stopped ‘round six, Colton was ‘bout seven, even Dusty’s hands was hard as a rock by the time he turned eight. But Emma’s hands didn’t callous ‘til she turned eleven. Papa says it’s because Emma’s a girl, and she’s got different obligations than us boys do, but she and I both know her being a girl’s got nothin’ to do with it....

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“Gobbler” by Murray Burns

Gobbler &...

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“Time for God” by Mark Sheehan

Hank settled in for the fifty-one minute journey from Perth to Mandurah. The train eased cautiously out of Perth Underground, like a turtle’s head from its shell. Picking up speed, the train settled into the lulling clickety-clack train track rhythm. Managing to stay awake during the short stop at Elizabeth Quay, Hank drifted off soon after. Letting his hoodie swaddled head loll against the window, he basked in...

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“Baptism of Acid” by Graham Kinross

Alien insects were chewing on Sir Danielle Longbow beneath her armour. Her feet were tired of running from hunters with long spears. A godly herald floated above her as she ran. Blood fell as drizzle from the hellish sky. Danielle’s green Crann Kingdom tabard was turning from green to blackish brown. Her sword slapped her side in its scabbard. Her shield took the scratches of vicious thorns on every br...

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“If the Shoe Fits” by John K Adams

People often described Noah as a trouble-maker. Or at least a problem. No one disputed his fierce independence. He held high standards for himself. To quote Winston Churchill, “There were things, up with which he would not put.” His exacting standards often confused those offering assistance. His curt responses to such offers earned him a variety of nick-names. Noah felt such names reflected more upon thos...

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“Life of a cherry blossom” by Neko Ikemoto

Toshiro galloped across the battlefield, his stallion’s hooves thundering in the quiet reverence that had descended when the last swords were sheathed. The rhythm was soothing, assuring him he would soon see his lord. The generals’ reports he had gathered were not the only reason he stood in the stirrups and kept urging his mount forward. They were not even the most important reason. Trusting his horse to pick ...

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“Marienvoglein” by Lonnie Russo

The first ladybug of the season found me on one of those unseasonably warm days when the autumn dared retreat—when a high morning sun and the right amount of haze could conspire to make a person forget the summer had already gone. It was not the first one I had seen that year, of course. They had been flitting about in flashes of red since the spring. I had figured by now, though, they would all be hiding, holed up in damp crevices and corners to wait out the approaching winter.This one had six spots. It landed easily in...

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“Paved in Dark Gold” by R W Mack

An ocean away from his west-coast California office, a man stepped into bright Milan sunshine. Less than an hour before, he'd decided he deserved a vacation. Crowds had cheered the first successful quantum-transport of live humans half a decade earlier. Commercial pods became available soon after, at premium prices. Business, finance and leisure luxuries changed overnight. Every global corporate district and opulent resort proposed installing transport hubs to stay competitive.Back at the Los Angeles Aphi-Solutions transport hub, t...

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“Footsteps” by Jed Cope

“It wasn’t me.” They all say that, or most of them anyways. When it gets to this stage of the game, the ones that admit it are just as much of a problem. Those ones enjoy themselves too much. Revel in it. I suppose the deniers do too. It’s all a game to them and they think they have already won by the time they are sitting here. I look into those baby blue eyes of...

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“Hurling Chunks” by Jim Firth

Aqueous groans filled the interior of the Land Rover. With a trembling finger, Charlie pressed the stop button on the tape deck. The operatics of the Humpbacks ceased. Although whale song was all the rage during the ‘Nu Age’, it wasn’t his preferred listening. He would rather sit in near silence and hear the ghostly hum of airport traffic and planes taking off nearby. While Charlie fiddled nervously wi...

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“The blueprint” by Paul Tanner

"What am I supposed to do? What is life and what is my purpose?". There comes a time when parents must answer these questions. Mr. Noh knew that. He had asked the very same questions to his mum a long time ago, as she had done herself with her parents in her own time. Following a cycle yet to be broken. "We live to serve God!" his mum had proclaimed that day. She was a strong believer, she had lived her life bas...

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“Follow in These Bloody Footsteps” by Kristen Nazzaro Keller

[Trigger warning for language and violence] He woke up with the gun in his hand. Even before he opened his eyes, he knew what he was holding. He wrapped his fingers around it, and a sense of familiarity rushed over him. There was an incessant beeping from an alarm clock on the bedside table that only quieted when he slammed his fist down on it. As he sat up, his calloused forefinger found the tri...

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Write about a character who’s expected to follow in someone’s footsteps.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 40 stories

“How to Seek the Sun” by Claire Lindsey

“The All-Star” by Kathleen Fine

“Just Words” by A.G. Scott

“Callused” by H.R. Glick

“Gobbler” by Murray Burns

“Time for God” by Mark Sheehan

“Baptism of Acid” by Graham Kinross

“If the Shoe Fits” by John K Adams

“Life of a cherry blossom” by Neko Ikemoto

“Marienvoglein” by Lonnie Russo

“Paved in Dark Gold” by R W Mack

“Footsteps” by Jed Cope

“Hurling Chunks” by Jim Firth

“The blueprint” by Paul Tanner

“Follow in These Bloody Footsteps” by Kristen Nazzaro Keller

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a character who wakes up in their past life, or as a future reincarnation of themself.

Write about somebody breaking a cycle.

Write about a character who keeps ending up in the same place.

Repeat the same line of dialogue, from the same character, three separate times.

Contest #151

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

244

Contest entries

119

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Tired of MS Word?

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