Write a story about inaction.

Posted in Nonfiction on Oct 26, 2022

Submissions are closed

Sorry, we are not accepting submissions for this prompt as it is not part of an active contest. Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy Prompts account.

Or create a new Reedsy account:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 106 stories

“We are Silent; We are Still” by Example Classifeid

Submitted to Contest #45

We are silent,We are still.We sit alone.Quietly.Unmoving.Unblinking.UnthinkingWe are asleep.We are dead.No.They are silent,They are still.They sit alone.Quietly.Unmoving.Unblinking.UnthinkingThey are asleep.They are dead.I am not.I am loud.I am moving.They do not move.I do not move.Yet my mind moves.It thinks.There is noise.There is thought.But there was not always thought.First, there was stillness.There was silence.We were still.We were silent.We sat alone.Quietly.Unmoving.Unblinking.Unthinking.We were asleep.We were dead.But then…In the c...

6 comments 6

Read story

“"You've Got Two Feet, Sethe, Not Four"” by Chris Jung

Submitted to Contest #45

On the wall above my desk is an arrangement of post-it notes, messy writing scrawled across colorful quilts of paper, quotes I’ve collected from my past few years of reading. Like the ticking of a clock, caught up in life I often forget this collection exists, but once in a while I look up and my dear Willy Shakespeare, Wilde, and Faulkner whisper to me from the uncrossed t’s and undotted i’s. I amuse myself observing my literary progression, noting a change in tone from Fitzgerald to Remarque and Hesse and Tolstoy, and back to America with ...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Josh's Cave” by Ella Kinnett

Submitted to Contest #45

“No Josh. Please, please,” she said through hard, broken sobbs. “You can’t go!” I just told her that I was joining the military. I knew I was going to join and I thought she did too. She is my girlfriend. I thought that she would pick up on something like this, I mean I've been talking about it for weeks, and I have already done all of the training. Girls are so weird sometimes, you think they know something but they're clueless. I know I have to say something to calm her down. I’m bad at comforting people but here it goes: “Anna, it’s...

0 comments 0

Read story

“You can Ron, but you can't hide!” by Lala Joy

Submitted to Contest #45

DAY 34My People,It’s been a minute since I’ve showered, and my fam like, “what’s with Ron?”Lemme just say, aqua phobia be real to y’all struggling out there!Day thirty-four and the smell getting lil’ much, but I’m for real, for real, showering today. For real!Yeah right!Babe, come on, can’t you see I’m busy, tryin’ to find a solution to my problem!Ooooohh Hun, “I know what the solution is”; Connie says pointing towards the shower!WOMAN!Aaalright, alright no need to throw a hissy fit, dinners in 30 minutes, “I’ll be sure to open all the windo...

2 comments 2

Read story

“I could help, but I didn't, because...” by Letersof Sekai

Submitted to Contest #45

A few hours ago, A plane that departed from Mumbai to Australia has been crashed and fell into the ocean. Yesterday The Dog; prowling the street. When I wake up every morning, I ask myself a few questions throughout the rest of the day. The first question: Where will it be? The second question: How long is it going to take? The third: How much will it be? The fourth: What will it be? And the final question: Will it be? It has been so long that I’m prowling the street since I woke up this morning and I can tell by looking at the sun t...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Wilted” by Whitney DeLuca

Submitted to Contest #45

There’s something to be said about humanity's fear of judgement. We are so afraid of what others think that it can even force our hands into doing something we will regret, or cause us to regret not doing anything at all. There’s also no clear line between right and wrong, so sometimes we look to others' judgement to help us decide when to move, and when to stand still. But more than all of that, the fear of putting ourselves out there for someone else’s sake is so overpowering that even when we know we should do something, we don’t. “It cou...

2 comments 2

Read story

“BUT DAD, AREN'T YOU LISTENING.” by P. Jean

Submitted to Contest #45

Write a story about inaction “I just don’t get it”, Billy said to his father, “I didn’t do it, I didn’t do anything wrong!” “Well, it is like this, it doesn’t matter if you KNOW there is a weak spot in your chicken wire and then you are surprised when a fox gets in and kills two chickens making you almost as guilty as the fox!” If you KNOW there are kids in your group that are shoplifting and you remain in the group and passively don’t report it, you were present when it was happening!” “Your behav...

3 comments 3

Read story

“Silent Flight” by Conda Douglas

Submitted to Contest #45

Germany, 1976 “This way.” Adam, the officious self-appointed leader of our gaggle of chattering Americans, bright plumed birds, called to me. I sighed at my lack of courage to go alone to the concentration camp. I joined the group clustered around the bus stop in the picture pretty village of Dachau. Marked Americans by our backpacks arrayed like deformed humps, we stared at the line of buses. The door opened on the third one down the line. The young driver, his bronze hair flashing in the sun like a bird’s bright feathers, gestured and cal...

7 comments 7

Read story

“The Hike” by LisaRose Blanchette

Submitted to Contest #45

“I told you I didn’t like hiking. But you dragged my ass out into the middle of nowhere anyway and here I am getting nature all up on me and now this.” “Be quiet.” “You got a signal?” “No.” “Do you even know where we are?” &nbsp...

0 comments 0

Read story

“my eight minutes memoir” by Melat Moges

Submitted to Contest #45

"Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor;it must be demanded by the oppressed" was Martin Luther king quote.it is one of my favorite quote of all time as black person his words given to you as bible and you don't really have to read it you will learn it through your community and you definitely should know it its most likely like your go to book or something.and i don't think there is not even one black person who don't know about him.when you hear his words you can feel the struggle,pain,love,anger and hope all at once and i thi...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Be a river” by Zainab Jagani

Submitted to Contest #45

I run through the bright, breezy meadow as a crisp orangeleaf falls by me on the way to the train station, while stepping on eachdead leaf with my dark brown one inch heeled slightly dusty boots grasping asmuch as fulfillment I can acquire from the noise. “Maliyaaa! Don’t you thinkyou’re a bit too old for that?” scoffs Azher. I almost immediately shootdaggers at him to catch him abruptly look away and pretend to play with hishair. I’ve known Azher since Nursery, but we never found it necessary tocommunicate until university where we were the...

2 comments 2

Read story

“"A Blind Eye"” by Gabriela Fitzgerald

Submitted to Contest #45

“I just don’t understand all of these protests and marches,” Kathleen told her friend Suzanne as they talked on the phone one Saturday morning. “I know a black guy was killed by white men, but how do people know that it was a race issue? I mean it could have just been a case of police brutality.”“Kathleen, it’s not just about this one instant,” Suzanne said calmly down the phone. “It’s about all the other incidents just within the past couple months. We won’t even go into the fact that this has gone on for decades, or centuries for tha...

1 comment 1

Read story

“Christicans (or, An Epistle to American Christians)” by Angela Wade

Submitted to Contest #45

Angela, follower of Christ Jesus, to the dear brothers and sisters who are in the United States: Greetings! Praise be to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who, being not fearful of nor threatened by post-modern humans or their words, laws, or nuclear weapons, empowers us with His Spirit and charges us with the privilege of spreading the excellent news of His Resurrection and of the free gift of eternal life! For it is He who forsook His riches and glory to walk amongst us and to give Himself as the perfect, spotless sacrifice for ou...

6 comments 6

Read story

“Things will get better” by Marjolein Maassen

Submitted to Contest #45

2012“Will you stop complaining already? I mean, I’m not saying things don’t suck, but they’ll get better eventually. This stuff just takes time.”“Excuse me?” Janet looked at her friend. “How much more time should pass before things will magically start getting better?” She asked sharply.“Whoa”, Maggie threw up her hands. “Easy there. I’m just saying, we’ve already come a long way. Things are so much better now than they were, like, a hundred years ago.” Janet was staring at her, brows furrowed, lips tightly pursed, not saying a word. Maggie ...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Allied” by Rosemary Evans

Submitted to Contest #45

The first thing that Elliott taught me is that there are two kinds of protest. Or at least there used to be. He taught me that the first one is the kind we still have, the kind they show snippets of on the news sometimes. This kind is furious, desperate, spilling out onto the streets like blood gushing from a wound. Those kind of protesters have cheekbones poking sharply through the skin of their faces, and eyes which have grown wild and angry and boiling. Their actions are not a way of saying I will not do this anymore, but I cannot do not ...

2 comments 2

Read story

Load more stories

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story about solidarity.

Nonfiction – 53 stories

Write a story about activism.

Nonfiction – 45 stories

Write a story about community.

Nonfiction – 65 stories

Write a story about change.

Fiction – 164 stories

Contest #45

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: A Time for Action

$50

Prize money

433

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jun 12, 2020 EST

Won by Raven Quill 🏆

Title: Constellations

Won by Yves. ♙ 🏆

Title: The Traveler Wife

Won by VJ Hamilton 🏆

Title: Winds of Change

Won by Anisha Yagnik 🏆

Title: Full Price

Won by Natalie Strawbridge 🏆

Title: Legacies

View details

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

We'll send you 5 prompts each week. Respond with your short story and you could win $250!

Menu

CONNECT

BLOG

APPS

TOOLS

ABOUT

Write a story about inaction.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 106 stories

“We are Silent; We are Still” by Example Classifeid

“"You've Got Two Feet, Sethe, Not Four"” by Chris Jung

“Josh's Cave” by Ella Kinnett

“You can Ron, but you can't hide!” by Lala Joy

“I could help, but I didn't, because...” by Letersof Sekai

“Wilted” by Whitney DeLuca

“BUT DAD, AREN'T YOU LISTENING.” by P. Jean

“Silent Flight” by Conda Douglas

“The Hike” by LisaRose Blanchette

“my eight minutes memoir” by Melat Moges

“Be a river” by Zainab Jagani

“"A Blind Eye"” by Gabriela Fitzgerald

“Christicans (or, An Epistle to American Christians)” by Angela Wade

“Things will get better” by Marjolein Maassen

“Allied” by Rosemary Evans

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story about solidarity.

Write a story about activism.

Write a story about community.

Write a story about change.

Contest #45

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

433

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: