Set your story on (or in) a winding river.

Posted in Middle School on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 122 stories

“The Need to Think ” by Alex Arias

Submitted to Contest #98

He was scared out of his mind. He’d been smugly thinking how it’d been clever for him to delay maturation, to keep looking female, to sneak around and catch more flies. There would be time for mating, next year. Now the flat-backed lizard was hurling down the side of a boulder, into a rushing river, about to die. It was a long fall. After the initial terror, he began to think. Maybe he could propel himself with his tail enough to claw onto the side of the boulder. Maybe there was a weed or a twig angling out of the rock’s cracks that he co...

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“The River's Warning” by Erin O'Donoghue

Submitted to Contest #98

The River’s Warning For millennia, Aboriginal folk have explored the relationship between the land, the people and the animals. Our totems, or our ‘spirit animals’ (so to speak), are our protectors. We must never eat or harm them. A lot of the time, our totems are like our guardian angels, forever watching over us in this life and the next. There is a story in our family where my dad, being a man from the Gamillaraay (Kamilaroi) clan, had a recurring dream. It has turned into a ‘Familial Dreamtime Story’, one where the river and its creature...

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“A Beautiful Smile ” by Hans B

Submitted to Contest #98

This time of year was never fun. It is just a constant reminder of how everything has changed and there is no going back. The cold crisp air would burn my lungs with every breath. The clear blue sky showed no signs of clouds, yet the air was filled with falling frost. These extreme temperatures freeze the little humidity there is in the atmosphere. Any small breeze cuts through the smallest opening in your clothing. Exposed skin can freeze in minutes. Moving water becomes solid on the surface, but it still moves underneath. This moving water...

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“Eddie Baby” by Aurelio Martin

Submitted to Contest #98

"Hey Richie, where do you think this river leads to? A brunette had said, pointing down the long gushing river. Charlie, a black haired boy had looked over and adjusted his glasses. blinking with his auburn eyes as he picked up a large toad. The toad had croaked in displeasure from being lifted up from its grassy terrain. "I'm... not sure. I heard it goes many places, maybe back into your mom." "richie not now-" "Fine eds, but being honest, i dunno where it goes. probably far away from derry..." Richie had seemed to think for a while. tak...

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“Brave little Seed ” by Anna Tishchenko

Submitted to Contest #98

“Gramma tell me a story.” Begged Guinna as she fingered the large crystal bowl on the table. The power had gone out and now they sat in the warm glow of a single candle as outside a snowstorm blew snow and ice as though it were confetti. The sky dark grey speckled with tiny white dots as the wind raced them back and from outside the window. “What kind of story?” her grandmother asked, she put down her knitting needles and adjusted her glasses. Took...

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“Martian Honour ” by Joe S

Submitted to Contest #98

Jhagan held himself rigid, forcing his vision to remain forward as the river water shuddered and screamed. He breathed in, tasting the salty tang of the deep sea, steadying himself deep within his awareness. Before him the old martian river wailed and roared as his adversary arrived. The warrior breathed within the natural rebellion. Slowly, rhythmically he spoke, reciting the litanies and vigils taught to him since childhood. Tension bled from him, flowing down the steep river bank to mingle with th...

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“Done Deal” by Lucky Ooog

Submitted to Contest #98

“Hey, Earp.” I could tell from the way Buddy said these two words that we were about to have a talk. We’d been friends and neighbors for about 30 years now and you don’t spend that much time around another man without getting to know him a little. “Hey, Earp,” was Buddy’s universal language for everything. It could mean “Good morning”, “How are you?”, “Something’s wrong”, “We have to talk”, “I’m great”, “I’m not doing so good” or a million other things, depending on how he said it. “Yep?” I answered. “You believe in fairies?” That ques...

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“The Orphan's Camp” by Deep Blue Sea 🌊

Submitted to Contest #98

The elderly woman diverts her attention for a moment, just a moment, to the beauty of her surroundings.Her gentle eyes take in the water around her, the delicate ripples which stimulate one another in a sort of domino effect. She remembers playing dominoes as a child. She recalls the delight her toddler self would feel when she would poke that first domino, sending to lot of them falling down.The thought of fallen dominoes reminds her of a heartwarming scene she had witnessed at the camp, roughly a week ago. Three of the members, girls aged ...

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“AKOKO, The Village with A River” by Poweful Music

Submitted to Contest #98

Looking down outside the pirogue, I saw the reflection of my fizzog in the slightly mucky waters. I inhaled deeply, paused, then exhaled a cloud compressed air inadvertently attracting the attention Okumbo, who was rowing the pirogue.We had nicknamed him Okumbo because of his forehead. He deserved to win Guinness world title for man with the biggest forehead. It was protruding like an elbow when one folds their arms; thus the name Okumbo, which means elbow.I didn’t have a canoe, my come-we-stay husband was the one who had a canoe in our home...

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“Dragon boat” by F.O. Morier

Submitted to Contest #98

Chen lived with his grandmother in a poor mud-covered village. Most of the people who lived there were full of bitterness and resentment due to their poverty. Chen´s grandmother used to be a lively and beautiful woman. All the children of the village would come sit by their house and listen to grandma tell thrilling stories. But now grandmother has fallen ill. The healer had visited her a few times, but he couldn´t help her and now was at his wits end. Chen did as best he could to take care of grandmother, but every day she got a litt...

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“Cherry River” by Eva Gryder

Submitted to Contest #98

TW: domestic violence I am dying, I think. Instead of inducing panic, this realization calms me with a flood of peace. As my long brown hair flows ethereally around me in the dark murky water, I think back to the events of the day that led to this moment. I close my eyes and see Damon’s face materialize crystal-clear in my mind’s eye. His face twists with rage as he looks down at the small stick in my hand that determines my entire future. The double red lines seem to taunt me as they sit there, confirming my worst fears. Damon s...

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“Retired On The River” by Carolyn McBride

Submitted to Contest #98

When she’d expressed an interest in retiring, Mack had laughed at first. At least until he realized she was serious. Then he’d peered at her through narrowed eyes and shook his head. “People in our business don’t retire. You know that.” “I don’t want to be someone else’s loose end, Mack,” she’d told him. “I want to live long enough to have silver hair and grandchildren.” “Then you’re in the wrong business, Dante. You know that.” As if they’d not even had the conversation, he sent her out on another job. Six months and two jobs later she be...

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“Winding River Falls ” by Christian Hinrichsen

Submitted to Contest #98

Winding River Falls Jordero Arriving at one of the key port cities of the A-rake jungles. Saze Abdul and his crew are eating in one of the better port city restaurants. Ordering a popular meal of shrimp and parsnip dinners. A lone female figure approaches the lead crew. “Excuse me, I was told by a priest of Valkur that you are adventurers who may be able to help me.” The cloaked female removes her hood and shows a lovely A-rake women with pale hair and elf ears. “Please my lady, have a seat. Bartender please bring this woman a cup of t...

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“WE ARE THE RIVER” by Joy Strouse

Submitted to Contest #98

WE ARE THE RIVER By Joy Strouse From the sky, the Magothy River is a brown lizard that crawls through trees, camps, and houses big and small, until it opens its mouth and spills its algal contents into the Chesapeake Bay. Its water is dark and cool and home to my brother and me. I grew up in a small wood-frame house surrounded by pines and sycamores atop a clay-laced bank that overlooked its sandy shore. Twenty stairs wound down the bank to a wooden pier that we shared with our neighbors. Their house was further up the lane and could bare...

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“THE WINDING RIVER” by Ramya Pannem

Submitted to Contest #98

Melting glaciers being my source and power for downstream follow. I am born, because of the ice mountains giving in to the heat and pouring down, creating me. Passing through smaller hills, jumping off the mountains, rushing at the bends, quenching many species thirsts, and resting a bit during my journey between valleys and mountains, carrying numerous varieties of inhabitants within and allowing the huge population to utilize me at the surface, I travel restlessly taking note of everything that I touch. ...

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Set your story on (or in) a winding river.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 122 stories

“The Need to Think ” by Alex Arias

“The River's Warning” by Erin O'Donoghue

“A Beautiful Smile ” by Hans B

“Eddie Baby” by Aurelio Martin

“Brave little Seed ” by Anna Tishchenko

“Martian Honour ” by Joe S

“Done Deal” by Lucky Ooog

“The Orphan's Camp” by Deep Blue Sea 🌊

“AKOKO, The Village with A River” by Poweful Music

“Dragon boat” by F.O. Morier

“Cherry River” by Eva Gryder

“Retired On The River” by Carolyn McBride

“Winding River Falls ” by Christian Hinrichsen

“WE ARE THE RIVER” by Joy Strouse

“THE WINDING RIVER” by Ramya Pannem

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a family with a long-standing tradition, whose members all have conflicting origin stories for it.

Start your story with a character having a premonition, but no one believes them.

Write about someone who’s desperately trying to change their luck.

Write a story involving a character who cannot return home.

Contest #98

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

751

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: