Set your story in a place that’s frozen in time — literally or metaphorically.

Posted in Narrative on Jan 19, 2024

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✍️ 56 stories

“Oh, What I'd Do If I Had More Time With You” by Azia Bounds

Submitted to Contest #234

With the turn of a key, the roar of the engine went silent. The soft snores from the back passenger seats of the car fill the void. Cassandra smiled gently at her children, from her place in the front passenger seat. A boy and girl slept head-to-head sprawled on the center console wrapped in towels. Brown curly hair mingled together, on the warm spring day. “That waterpark really tired them out, huh.” “Yeah,” said the man, ...

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“Your flames left me frozen.” by TyJheir Shipman

Submitted to Contest #234

"If Time never halts, it remains eternally frozen. Yet, if it persists unceasingly, discerning its moments of stillness becomes a puzzle.In the realm I inhabit, shaped yet not crafted by my hand, future and past are illusions, nonexistent. This timeless expanse, paradoxically, began and will inevitably cease just to do it again.Here, the end precedes birth, and in its shadow, we exist. In this eternal twilight, the end looms, always out of reach, yet inescapable. Before our last breath, a new genesis murmurs. In this endless dawn, we live, p...

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“True To Form” by Marc Wilks

Submitted to Contest #234

I never thought that I would be back in this town. But here I am, driving down the main street of Billings, Georgia, heading to the same bar we snuck into in high school. I could close my eyes and not miss one turn or stop light. That is how much this town has not changed. The same people are walking the same streets, working the same jobs, and discussing the same things. Don't get me wrong, it’s not all bad. Billings is a small town, but lakes and forests surround it. If you are the outdoor type, this place has plenty to offer. Billings is...

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“Morning Glow” by Rebecca Sophia

Submitted to Contest #234

The wind beats at a young woman’s skirt as she looks towards the dark horizon. The air whipping around her smells fresh and sharp Where are you? What are you doing? Her mind screams at her to answer, but she can barely herself think over the deafening crash of the waves beneath, and the answers to her question feel locked away behind the door of a heavy safe. The cold coastal air nips her as her black skirt flutters around her. How’d you get here? She’s out of breath, her short pumps are muddied as the heels sink into the ground. Why were yo...

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“Folly Dogs” by Andre Carter

Submitted to Contest #234

The driver honked, irritably, his shout and squealing tires sending a shrill arpeggio into the cold, listless air. Gesturing apologetic, Lev hastened through the intersection with renewed purpose, unable to un-equate this near miss to his life trajectory, similarly on a collision course with some unforeseen catastrophe. He continued on, his rapid steps and fixed gaze of one trying to outpace their thoughts. Wind bit at his nose and ears but he barely registered the discomfort, mind elsewhere, mired in despairing fog. The weight of missed opp...

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“The White Plantation Dream” by Denise A Nisbet (Wallis)

Submitted to Contest #234

The White Plantation Dream The white pioneer episode in Papua was brief [and] will soon have disappeared completely … Hardly a structure will be left standing or an original planter’s name remembered. … Their white history will recede into memory…. And among living Australians too the ‘Papuan planter’ experience will soon be extinguished. These outcomes could not have been known in advance of course, however inevitable they seem now in retrospect (Lewis 1996)[1]. I made the adventurous move to live in the Territory of Papua New Guinea ...

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“It was D!” by Ms Fox

Submitted to Contest #234

A Dondle McGrewfin fealt uneasy about Clara's situation.B The author used juxtaposition to emphasize the importance of humility.C Clara is a wombat.D Clara wanted to show off her talents.“I don’t know!” The question in question is, of course, asking what is the best description for the scene in which Clara wet her bed. If only Tanya could remember what juxtaposition meant! She figured she would guess ‘B’ anyway because the rest of the answers didn’t require learning any hard words and it was definitely not D. Then again, Clara certainly coul...

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“Ever Northward” by J.B. Redel

Submitted to Contest #234

An endless expanse of white lay before me, the frozen horizon barely discernible from a monochromatic canvas that is the sky. No signs of life dot the landscape, no distant mirage of foliage. Only an endless slab of white marred by gusting winds carrying even more snow to coat the world around me. The sting of frostbite nips at my fingertips and toes, occasionally breaking me from the trance I’m lured into by my endless march. I don’t know how long I have been traveling. It could have been days, weeks, or even a month. Time h...

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“No Time” by Paul McDermott

Submitted to Contest #234

No Time Coming off the ferry late on a Sunday evening, they’d run into traffic, which wasn’t the best possible start to a much-needed and eagerly anticipated holiday. On the other hand, it was immediately obvious that the Home team had won, and Dublin’s victory over Limerick in the Hurling finals looked as if it would be celebrated long into the night. The traffic all seemed to be moving west, the same direction they were travelling, and there really wasn’t any significant delay. “Can you imagine what it’d be like if we’d run into th...

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“Lost in time” by Hannah Abrams

Submitted to Contest #234

“Ugh! Just ugh!” A teenage girl yelled and stormed out of her foster home, letting the screen door slam behind her. She was angry. She was mad at the world, mad at her foster parents, mad at everyone. She raced into the woods, tears rolling down her cheeks. After a while, while the teenage girl was wandering around in the woods, not entirely sure where she was going or where was, angrily muttering to herself, it began to rain. She kicked the ground and ...

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“The Angel Mast” by Zavier M. Ames

Submitted to Contest #234

Jim was always fascinated with pirates. He was always infatuated with the rebellion, the adventures, and the hunger for endless riches. After decades of specializing in American and Caribbean history, his focus on Blackbeard and Long John Silver’s stories particularly fascinated him. In the bright and early seascape on the Caribbean Sea not too far from the Bermuda Triangle, Jim is on a trip to the Caribbean with a marine treasure search crew. He’s asked to go diving with Jerrod, the leader of the marine crew. He’s just as eccentric and dari...

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Set your story in a place that’s frozen in time — literally or metaphorically.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 56 stories

“Oh, What I'd Do If I Had More Time With You” by Azia Bounds

“Your flames left me frozen.” by TyJheir Shipman

“True To Form” by Marc Wilks

“Morning Glow” by Rebecca Sophia

“Folly Dogs” by Andre Carter

“The White Plantation Dream” by Denise A Nisbet (Wallis)

“It was D!” by Ms Fox

“Ever Northward” by J.B. Redel

“No Time” by Paul McDermott

“Lost in time” by Hannah Abrams

“The Angel Mast” by Zavier M. Ames

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story about someone whose time is running out.

Write a story about someone who wishes they could turn back time.

Write about someone taking advantage of some unexpected free time.

Start or end your story with someone saying, “We have all the time in the world.”

Contest #234

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

340

Contest entries

132

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: