Write a story that starts with a life-changing event.

Posted in Novel 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?

✍️ 175 stories

“What If...” by Ramyani Bhattacharya

Submitted to Contest #44

IAlia was standing there, at the same spot on the platform, for almost twenty minutes now. Her legs had gone limp but, she could almost not feel it. Her heart was thumping slowly, in non rhythmic beats. The throbbing fit in with the slow music in her ears and the humdrum urgency of the faceless crowd. They couldn't care less about her predicament. The panic was mounting in her heart, at a slow pace so much so that she couldn’t have known when it would beat right out of her chest. Her eyes darted across the platform every few minutes, scannin...

13 comments 13

Read story

“They called it a near miss...” by Jennifer Braveheart

Submitted to Contest #44

They called it a near miss, but I called it a direct hit as years of pent-up anger surged through my veins. The porcelain coffee cup sailed through the air and smashed directly where I was aiming it; just next to my husband's head. He had been quietly reading the Desert Sun Newspaper while he sat on the bar stool in our breakfast nook. It shattered with a loud bang against the wall. I had made my point. He recoiled in shock and disbelief as he looked at the pieces of the white cup scattered on the floor beneath his bare feet. The ...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Hell Hounds” by Greg Gillis

Submitted to Contest #44

Like the fires of hell, the burning embers raged within the eyes of the beasts. Nobody knew what to expect when they had awoken that morning, but now the world faced wrath beyond all belief or understanding. Is this the Apocalypse as predicted in the Holy Bible, or have the hounds of hell been released onto the surface of the planet to ravage eve...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Just Peppers, Wine, and Cheese” by Kathleen March

Submitted to Contest #44

I think this is a journal.***Life-changing events, for the most part, are a dime a dozen. Birth, marriage, death, things like that. This one wasn’t in that group. Not at all. I’m not sure if the biggest factor in making this event life-changing is the seed or the coarse salt, but maybe we can determine that by the end of this story.***It was an accident that I visited to Galicia for a few days. We went to a well-known restaurant, because they insisted. It was a very quaint place, like so many in the area. The people I was with ordered some t...

4 comments 4

Read story

“Best Friends Even If One Is Furry ” by Kailee Haiden

Submitted to Contest #44

Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Margie, she is seven years old, a tall slender brown headed girl and with the most beautiful blue eyes you will ever see. She lived in a big town named Renetta, she had a few friends but not many. One morning, she woke up at 8:00 AM, ate blueberry pancakes with whipped cream on top for breakfast and decided to take a walking around her community with her skipping rope. It was a breezy day with the sun blaring down. She had seen so many trees and bushes everywhere, after hours and hours of skipp...

1 comment 1

Read story

“Darkness” by Ash Praveen

Submitted to Contest #44

I am standing outside the ICU, waiting for my mom’s reports. Will she be alive, or will she be sent to Heaven? My mother was diagnosed with COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). When I was 6 years old, she and I decided to have a race. We ran and she won. However, as soon as we got to the end she stopped abruptly. I was confused. Her face became the color of tomatoes. She fell to the floor and started wheezing. I yelled for dad to come. He ran to help her. He picked her up and ran to the car to put her in. We took her to the hospital...

0 comments 0

Read story

“The Only One Left” by Felicity Edwards

Submitted to Contest #44

She flew on and on until there was an ache across the base of her leathery wings. However, that was as nothing compared to the ache in her heart. At last, she saw a black shape winding between the trees. She was nearing her destination. She felt it in her bones. While still small in the hatchery, her mother told her she would leave. It was her destiny to carry out great deeds, her destiny to save her kind.None of it made any sense to her. There were at least twenty young dragons of all colours and ages. The adult dragons also...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Tomorrow?” by Cath Suter

Submitted to Contest #44

Leaves weigh down her body, every limb submerged in a heavy moss. Though her surroundings are unfamiliar she does not move. She does not wrestle with her situation or make any attempt to escape. Not until the pressure of nature subsides and the gravity of the situation releases her. By now the early morning breeze she often found herself enjoying with a nice tea or coffee has morphed into a stagnant late morning air. She finally musters the strength to attempt an escape when the leaves and moss practically peel away on their own accord. She ...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Happy Ending” by Cindy Bennett

Submitted to Contest #44

My feet were aching and my purse was looking a lot lighter than it had earlier on in the evening. But I wanted this night to last forever. Not just because it was my birthday, or that it was the first time i had gone on a wild night out since my ex and i broke up 6 months earlier. It was because I was finally free to be me! I had spent most of my last relationship running around and bending over backwards, just to make sure my man felt happy and loved.Fast forward eleven years later...It felt so good to let my hair hang loose, to dance the n...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Beyond the Seas” by Rhonda Valentine Dixon

Submitted to Contest #44

“I’m sorry Janet. I can’t take you too,” Jayne said to her niece. “You’re a good worker and I’m grateful for the help you’ve given me when I’ve needed you, but I can’t employ you permanently and I can’t afford another mouth to feed. I’ll see if Mr Duff in Nicolson Street will take you on as a housemaid.” “I don’t want to be a housemaid, Aunt. I want to stay with my sisters. They need me. It was hard enough when Mother died, then Father died too and now our stepmother has abandoned us. It’s all too much,” Janet replied. “I...

6 comments 6

Read story

“Becoming a prince” by Jesper Jee

Submitted to Contest #44

”The hardest part about becoming a frog was that his clothes no longer fit”Konstantine pondered this for a minute as he lay there, feeling his back grow hotter by the second. It was mid-day and the sun stood high in the July sky. Why on earth would that be the hardest part?, he asked himself examining the statement made by Roald just a minute ago. Surely, there were far more difficulties associated with becoming a frog all of a sudden. Forget about clothes; you wouldn’t be able to drive your car, go to work, book a table, make money, se...

0 comments 0

Read story

“GIFTED” by Iman Fatima

Submitted to Contest #44

GIFTEDJust one more day of normalcy, just one more day till being gifted. Just one more day till turning eighteen. I couldn’t believe I was going to get extraordinary abilities, one which normal humans couldn’t think of having.I wonder what gift I would get. It’s all random, our teacher says. But I disagree, thinking of the numerous rich and powerful people getting whatever gift they wanted. It’s all a conspiracy.My mother wakes me up and looks at me with concern.“You’re still thinking of the gifting ceremony tomorrow, aren’t you?” She asks....

1 comment 1

Read story

“Miami Revelations” by Vicki Wade

Submitted to Contest #44

“Hey, Dad, I’m going to be hooker,” is not something every father dreams of hearing. But in my case, it came as a blessing, because Dad knew I had to do what it took to get the job done right. Even so, the uniform was a bitch. It’s 1985 and the center of Miami is a cesspool of a swamp and not the kind of gators, mosquitoes, snakes and the garden-variety wildlife. This is the Miami that Scarface shit out after all the prisoners and miscreants from Castro’s boatlift became wards of Florida, giving new meaning to the words natur...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Forget-Me-Nots” by Kristine Murdock

Submitted to Contest #44

Near the post office, the one occupying the lot next to the black opera house, an old, worn wooden bench stood by a lamppost. Its arms were smooth as stone, but for the shallow indents made by nails and dog claws. Wrought iron legs twisted up the back. It was very obviously a bench that had stood there for some time, and seen many people walk busily past it. Its rusted feet molded to imitate a great cat’s paw told of the years spent in harsh weather. The beaten-down grayish colour showed also that the rain had not missed it over ...

1 comment 1

Read story

“Einstein’s Cognition” by Kamiko Tashiro

Submitted to Contest #44

He cracked it. He had really cracked the mathematical code for human and maybe even animal thoughts. The only thing Martin could think in that moment was that everything, from here on out, would change forever. But before he got ahead of himself he decided he had better retest the formula several times before submitting it to his peers.Stepping back from the chalkboard he took in the whole formula that spanned four fifths of the board in front of him. Looking at it in its entirety he could not believe something so simple could represent...

3 comments 3

Read story

Load more stories

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story that starts with two characters saying goodbye.

Character – 248 stories

Write a story that starts with someone returning from a trip.

Character – 111 stories

Write a story that starts with a character-revealing something unusual about themselves.

Character – 142 stories

Write a story that starts by establishing its setting in a different time period — without explicitly stating what that period is.

Historical Fiction – 114 stories

Contest #44

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: Just the Beginning

$50

Prize money

790

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jun 05, 2020 EST

Won by D. Holmes 🏆

Title: A Gamble

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 that starts with a life-changing event.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 175 stories

“What If...” by Ramyani Bhattacharya

“They called it a near miss...” by Jennifer Braveheart

“Hell Hounds” by Greg Gillis

“Just Peppers, Wine, and Cheese” by Kathleen March

“Best Friends Even If One Is Furry ” by Kailee Haiden

“Darkness” by Ash Praveen

“The Only One Left” by Felicity Edwards

“Tomorrow?” by Cath Suter

“Happy Ending” by Cindy Bennett

“Beyond the Seas” by Rhonda Valentine Dixon

“Becoming a prince” by Jesper Jee

“GIFTED” by Iman Fatima

“Miami Revelations” by Vicki Wade

“Forget-Me-Nots” by Kristine Murdock

“Einstein’s Cognition” by Kamiko Tashiro

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story that starts with two characters saying goodbye.

Write a story that starts with someone returning from a trip.

Write a story that starts with a character-revealing something unusual about themselves.

Write a story that starts by establishing its setting in a different time period — without explicitly stating what that period is.

Contest #44

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

790

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: