Start your story with a character saying “Where I come from, …”

Posted in Middle School on Nov 1, 2022

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✍️ 85 stories

“I Didn't Realize ” by Kim Walker

Submitted to Contest #164

I didn’t ask the question, where am I from?... but once. Until she was gone! The look on her face didn’t say: I don’t know. It said have I not done a good job? Barbara was the oldest of twelve children. So, caring for others was expected and necessary.Growing up in the thirties, her parents worked for the local market owner. My grandmother Rainey, my mom’s mother worked as a maid in the Pair’s house. As a child, I remember mom telling the story of her birth on the floor of that store. She would say that grandma had to pay for the loss i...

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“Where I come from...” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #164

“Where I come from, we don’t do it like that.” That’s not the first time that I heard Allen say that. It began when I picked him up at the airport. I was waiting for what I thought was where his plane was letting off its passengers, when he snuck up behind me and tapped me on the shoulder. When I turned around, those were the first words he said as he pointed at something at the nearest cafeteria.&nbsp...

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“Dear Ladybird, I'm homesick...” by J.M. De Jong

Submitted to Contest #164

[Contains a frightening scene]She flashed me the sweetest smile I think I’ve ever seen from someone. It was so pure and as if I was her favorite person in all the world... yet we had only just met twenty minutes ago. She spoke with that special smile, the one I didn’t feel worthy of, “Where I come from...” but then she paused to shove a French fry against her lips before continuing. She handed me one as well, and I tossed it into my mouth and chewed, anxious for her to finish that sentence. “Where I come from... there i...

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“The Edge” by Gregg Voss

Submitted to Contest #164

August “Where I come from, it’s the bottom line that counts. Business is a zero-sum game.” Gerald’s initial collegial introduction, which included a rundown of his various high-profile achievements on behalf of Severance Incorporated, Westchester County’s largest employer, had now devolved into sarcasm as he held up his palm in an apparent effort to make Catherine feel like a doofus. But she foresaw ...

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“Me and Stanley” by Kit Fremont

Submitted to Contest #164

“Where I come from, you take what you’re given and you’re happy to have it,” he said as he took his eyes off the road and glared at me for a quick second. I could feel the judgment literally shooting through his pupils and piercing my soul as he said it.I turned my eyes back to the road at about the same time he did, so I don’t think he saw me roll them almost all the way to the back of my head. And he definitely didn’t hear me scoff over the road noise. That would have started an entirely new scolding session. This wasn’t the first tim...

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“The City Cries Blue” by Allyson Pang

Submitted to Contest #164

Where I come from, everyone avoids the rain. I slip out from beneath an awning and around blue puddles from the last thunderstorm. Windows cry long streaks and buildings are left stained with dark smears. Nature's paint. At least nature couldn't get arrested. After art became illegal, I watched cities lose their souls and the rain tried to paint it blue instead. With free speech and creative voices out of the picture, the government’s new focus is fixing the weather. Except they were the ones to blame when the rain started falling i...

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“My Heart and the Sea” by Von Armstead

Submitted to Contest #164

Where I come from, people worship an invisible snake. It’s always been our protector and provider, though no one has actually seen it. Old stories written on yellowed papers named it the Saffron Serpent, and people have called it that ever since. Its skin color is like the peel of a banana, its body stretching across eleven straw houses, its width the height of two food chambers. My parents would tell me about how, at night, people would go missing and food would get stolen by the Saffron Serpent. The only evidence were the slithering and hi...

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“A Biting Clown” by Dana Hammer

Submitted to Contest #164

“Where I come from, clowns don’t bite people,” says Matt, glaring down at me, with his arms crossed, like an asshole. Matt is in charge here. He’s a “rehabilitation specialist” which means he gets to sit around and berate me for my supposed crimes. Matt is short, and fat, with pasty, doughy chins that droop down, covering his neck. He wears a trucker hat, un-ironically. He has never bitten anyone in his life, or made anyone laugh on purpose, and it shows. He is the opposite of a clown. Not that all clowns bite. Obviously not, or...

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“Home” by Pene Worth

Submitted to Contest #164

Where I come from the sea is wild. The beach is a forest of torn up forests one day, a jungle of seaweed ripped from its beds the next. Waves crash relentlessly over jagged rocks spouting foam high into the air. My village nestles in a protected cove, cliffs soar high behind. Access is by a road for the stout of heart that twists over the bay, or a narrow channel to be braved only at high tides. Not surprisingly the population is small. It had grown though, over the years of my absence. Until now. I have been aware of a sudden drop in ...

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“The Douche Hunt” by Agnieszka Baczkowska-Maśluszczak

Submitted to Contest #164

„Where I come from, the air is unbreathable,” Jack murmured to himself and took a deep breath. Here, in the countryside, the air was clean, fresh and warm. He was a bald man in his thirties, dressed in black leggings, shorts and a black hoodie. He now jogged down the road like he did every evening on his weekend getaways in the countryside. He adjusted his airpods. The sun started to set and the sky took on a beautiful shade of pink. No human in sight. Behind him, a triangle of lights flew over the evening sky a...

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“Anti-intelligent Species” by P. T. Golden

Submitted to Contest #164

”Where I come from no longer exists. The last time I saw my home, there was nothing much left but ash.” Speaking about it was painful. Urgency however diffused the traumatic nature of the discourse and required the story to be imparted.My quivering voice may have exposed my apprehension. The small group gathered to hear my warnings and fidgeted nervously. While I had their full and undivided attention, their eyes were averted, as if meeting my gaze they too would share in my pain. C’est la vie. Some experiences can only be shared with a slig...

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“Nowhere, really” by Nikki Potgieter

Submitted to Contest #164

Where I come from isn’t really anywhere at all. It’s a shell of something that was hardly worth calling anything, really… when anyone still called it anything. It’s somewhere people pass through quickly, without a second glance, without looking back, hoping they make it to wherever they’re trying to get, hoping that they don’t suffer some kind of breakdown on their way to, well, somewhere… anywhere that isn’t here. You could call it a ghost town, but, if you ask me, not even ghosts want to roam here. People would jokingly say that it looks...

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“MISSING LEAVES” by Mae Siu-Wai Stroshane

Submitted to Contest #164

Where I come from, people’s family names come first. Family trees trace long ancestral lines back to a home village, and those who fall from their branches become missing leaves.My father came into Hong Kong along with thousands of refugees from China’s mainland who were desperate to escape Mao’s regime. He could have been the first leaf to fall from an ancient family tree. I’ll never know.My mother was an orphan, also from Guangdong Province. Right from the start, then, I was a missing leaf from two family trees.My parents met at the r...

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“1942” by Howard Seeley

Submitted to Contest #164

Where I come from, men and women become afraid as soon as they saw me. You may think my face is grotesque or has a frightening appearance, but nothing could be farther from the truth. My name is Franz Heinz, and I am a Nazi soldier stationed at Dachau, Germany. It was the spring of 1942, when I received my orders stationing me here, and I couldn’t have been happier. Like most of my comrades, I sighed a breath of relief when the scourge of duty assignment was absent from my orders: Auschwitz. Though I personally didn’t know anyone stationed...

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“Out of Ft. Worth” by Dustin Brewer

Submitted to Contest #164

“Where I come from,” Norma said, “doing something like that is liable to get you poisoned.”For a moment, Larry stopped chewing the steak she had made for him. It was rare. The steak and to have a pretty, younger woman interested in him. Norma’s short hair was dyed bright red and her dark eyes were as sharp as razor blades while she stared at him from across the kitchen table.“Well, honey,” he said, after swallowing. “I didn’t mean anything by it. I just thought it would be funny. And where are you from, anyway?”Norma stood, left the table, a...

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Start your story with a character saying “Where I come from, …”

Submissions are closed

✍️ 85 stories

“I Didn't Realize ” by Kim Walker

“Where I come from...” by John Steckley

“Dear Ladybird, I'm homesick...” by J.M. De Jong

“The Edge” by Gregg Voss

“Me and Stanley” by Kit Fremont

“The City Cries Blue” by Allyson Pang

“My Heart and the Sea” by Von Armstead

“A Biting Clown” by Dana Hammer

“Home” by Pene Worth

“The Douche Hunt” by Agnieszka Baczkowska-Maśluszczak

“Anti-intelligent Species” by P. T. Golden

“Nowhere, really” by Nikki Potgieter

“MISSING LEAVES” by Mae Siu-Wai Stroshane

“1942” by Howard Seeley

“Out of Ft. Worth” by Dustin Brewer

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story in which someone returns to their hometown.

Write a story about coming of age in a big city.

Write a story where a local takes a newcomer under their wing.

Think of someone who stood on the periphery of your childhood memories (a classmate, a teacher, a neighbor) and cast them as the main character of your story.

Contest #164

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

235

Contest entries

91

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: