Write about someone grappling with an insecurity.

Posted in Narrative on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 37 stories

“Persistent Dynamics” by Ginger Collins

Submitted to Contest #114

“I thought everyone played logic games on Friday night,” Lorie shrugged her shoulders with a smirk as she explained her personal journey to becoming an aerospace engineer. All six of the interns sitting around the conference table snickered with knowing glances when Ruby’s boss, Lorie, made this quip. What is a logic game, Ruby wondered. These interns are in high school...so how long has Lorie been playing them on Friday nights? Their hour with the interns ended. Ruby and Lorie passed the next crew of company leaders as they walked o...

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“Born Z” by Kelita Sim

Submitted to Contest #114

My name is Zeva. And I am reminded of it every day.*At the superstore, the cashier scans through my allowance and double-takes the chocolate that I put in a special request for. She bounces it up and down to feel its weight. It’s a 500g bar, barely weighing anything. It’s nothing compared to the others’ shopping, but it’s everything to me. My heart almost stops when she pushes my chocolate aside without scanning it and totals the rest of my bill.“That’ll be 42,” she says with a straight steady stare. Her face is hard, with dark eyebrows in a...

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“Disgustingly Beautiful” by Matthew Ruby

Submitted to Contest #114

Hideous? That’s what the stories say at least. Depicted with frog-like skin texture, matted hair and teeth black as death. Some say her fingernails are claws, others say her nails are short and filled with grime. People have told tales about her for an age-long. Tales that said her breath could rot an apple to its core. Tales that said her laugh cracked like whips against the ears. Every story told made its way around the world, making her feel small, alone and insecure. Her image was her curse. A person said to be so hideous her own ...

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“Hang Ups (And Please Be Patient, I'll Get to the Story in a Minute)” by James Tweedie

Submitted to Contest #114

Have you ever played the word game called “Hangman?” To be honest, I don’t really care one way or the other if you have or you haven’t. It’s just that if you ever do play it, and you really want to stump the person you’re playing against, give them the word “phlegm.” You’ll win every time.“Phlegm” . . . and “mucus”—that’s another good one. Or you could try “mucous,” which is how you spell the word when it is an adjective instead of a noun. But wait, now that I think of it, most bodily fluid-type words would work . . .Thinking of bodily fluid...

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“Small Comforts ” by Erica Vogel

Submitted to Contest #114

I was the kind of child who spent a lot of time in their head. Books were shrines wherein I could bear my suspicions about the world and then take something like knowledge for myself. They were always there, and always willing to take in a quiet, lonely kid. The local library was a well-trod landmark throughout my young life, from the time I could read. Beginning around age twelve, I’d go there for a few hours until my mother would pick me up after her workday ended. During this time, middle school, I’d suspected that the after-school book c...

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“Falling over my own feet” by Wren Laurel Frost

Submitted to Contest #114

I don’t feel like I……. This is the most frustrating sentence I have come across. I have heard it from others many, many times and have had to use it myself quite a few times. But still should I begin the sentence now, I still find myself in front of a wall. I don’t feel like I am the person for this job. A job I have never tried. I don’t think I will be able to do it. In response to something I had heard for the first time that day. I don’t think I will be a good fit. When I was job searching. They all prece...

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“Gray Matters” by Aiyana Henderson

Submitted to Contest #114

Darkness.The light had never comforted Carson.He knew that blasted Sun was trying to blind him. It should have died out like all of the other planets. Even though that was scientifically impossible to do on many levels, he wouldn’t be able to stop the Sun from rising and leaving no more that he could stop the press from harassing him.It made him really pissed off. Carson was more than pissed off. He was seeing red.That fateful day when his world changed forever. The news outlets wouldn’t let him get off easily, either. They had become so ent...

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“The Right Moves” by Dale Bird

Submitted to Contest #114

“I don’t use social media,” Henry lamented to his friend, planted at the adjacent bar stool, “I’ll have to wait until summer and maybe then I could join a club or somethi..” “Comon man it’s been over a year now. You never leave your house and the only club you’ll join is an online chess club. You can always delete the app if you don’t use it.” Miguel had had this same argument with Henry at least five times before over the past year, in the same dive bar, and in same round, worn leather seats that smelled like someone soaked them i...

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“Learning not to care.” by Charlie Brightwell

Submitted to Contest #114

You know when I was younger I used to love running. Like, playing tag, stuck in the mud, even bulldog. I loved the rush, the adrenaline. I wasn't the fastest child, but at that age who cares. All I cared about was having fun. I remember I used to come home, and my mum would always have a snack of some sort ready and waiting for me and my little sister. A chocolate spread sandwich with the crusts cut off, or maybe some biscuits. Her way of showing love was to make sure we were happy, and I was always happy with snacks. My favourite food ...

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“Teenage Angst” by Michael Lewis

Submitted to Contest #114

Teenage Angst The phone call came as Donald was sitting in the only decent chair in his house. " Hello!" " Hi, Donald, it's Brian." "Hi, Brian, what's up?" "Are you doing anything this weekend?" "Not really. Why?" " It's my sister's fifteenth birthday, and I wondered if you want to come to the party." "Yeah, sure, when, and what time is it happening?" "Saturday night, don't com...

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“Somnolence” by Taylor F

Submitted to Contest #114

“Another F?” The smack of the test papers hitting the desk followed. I didn’t have to look over my shoulder to know Dad’s disappointment. “Where’d you get that?” I mumbled out, the large, circled, red “F” glaring at me. “Look, kiddo.” He gently pulled me by the shoulder, twisting my desk chair around, and knelt down in front of me. “You didn’t have to hide this from me. I’m here to help you.” His eyes looked sad. I bit at my short thumbnail. “I know you are, Dad,” I said, turning back toward my open textbook. “I’m fine.” I st...

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“Uptight & Light” by William Crawford

Submitted to Contest #114

Today was like any other day, I was going to Rivertown High School, and my first class happened to be homeroom. Here was where I started the day, with the teacher writing important notes on the whiteboard and calling out our names. “Tracy Donald,” he said. “Here” “Jack Diamond” There was a silence, so this student was marked absent. “Jacklyn Evergreen” “Here” The teacher continued to call out the other students’ names until ... “John McDougall” “H-here” That was me who responded after hearing my name called out. I was always known ...

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“Something is going on” by Ruth Zschoche

Submitted to Contest #114

CW: sexually suggestive language, mild domestic violenceThe baby was making noises off and on. Marie heard it dimly, half awake. She moved to sit up and then fell back with a thump. Cassy was talking, babbling softly. Not crying. She would go back to sleep.A black wave hit Marie’s face and crested over her brow, pulling her back into sleep.***She heard a cry in the distance as she sat at the table. Yellow and hard plastic. School tables outside in the quad for lunch. Cement floor. Gray trays with plates and cardboard milk. It was pizza day. ...

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“I Am Me: Everything and Nothing ” by Mackenzie Hebner

Submitted to Contest #114

I Am Me: Everything and Nothing By: Mackenzie M. Hebner You don’t know me. And you never will. My name is of no consequence: only my words. The world won’t ever know my name, or see my face, or hear my story, or give me a second look. It will only ever, God willing, hear my words. I may never amount to anything. I may be alone forever, but I hope and pray my words live on past my inconsequential existence. Not so inconsequential, now that I’ve finally taken the leap to write things down. Now, I said the world would never hear...

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“Stupid” by Nichole Anderson

Submitted to Contest #114

I can feel it inside of me. Its blanket of darkness covers me and holds me down until I can barely breathe. I push, kick and scream; I know I can’t win but I will never stop fighting it. I don’t know why. Others have the ability to see it too but I don’t want them to. If I am to survive, I must find a way to hide it from them. Sometimes it’s so loud and clings to every part of my body, melting into the crevasses of my skin. We become one and it defines me. Other times, I am able to push it deep within me and it becomes quiet and obed...

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Write about someone grappling with an insecurity.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 37 stories

“Persistent Dynamics” by Ginger Collins

“Born Z” by Kelita Sim

“Disgustingly Beautiful” by Matthew Ruby

“Hang Ups (And Please Be Patient, I'll Get to the Story in a Minute)” by James Tweedie

“Small Comforts ” by Erica Vogel

“Falling over my own feet” by Wren Laurel Frost

“Gray Matters” by Aiyana Henderson

“The Right Moves” by Dale Bird

“Learning not to care.” by Charlie Brightwell

“Teenage Angst” by Michael Lewis

“Somnolence” by Taylor F

“Uptight & Light” by William Crawford

“Something is going on” by Ruth Zschoche

“I Am Me: Everything and Nothing ” by Mackenzie Hebner

“Stupid” by Nichole Anderson

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with the line, “You wanna do something fun?”

Write about a clique that dominates your story’s social scene.

Write a story that involves sabotage.

Set your story at a talent show.

Contest #114

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

122

Contest entries

114

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: