Start your story in the middle of the action.

Posted in Short Story on Jun 16, 2023

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✍️ 69 stories

“Stormvald” by Sam Beckard

Submitted to Contest #203

Master Agothe waved his arms and beckoned lightning to strike. As if waiting on his word, a fork of lightning was brought down from the heavens and struck a nearby oak tree. “Now that, young disciple is true magic at work, not that commoner’s play with cards,” he said chidingly. “I was just having fun playing cards. Why do you have to turn everything into a competition? This is why no one else at the Academy wanted to be your disciple. You’re so goddamn lucky I was desperate enough to choose you,” replied Disciple Keddock, supremely exasper...

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“Rainfall” by Amie Moorehead

Submitted to Contest #203

“You have to stop.” Clayton’s head pounded, filled with an intense ringing that made it nearly impossible to focus on the man before him. Outside, a heavy downpour watered the streets of Sturgis, thundering upon the warehouse roof above him. Enough to create a soundproof barrier so that any unlucky bastard wandering outside would be none the wiser. And there Clayton was – thirsty, starved, and sitting in a wooden chair, wrists wounded by a thick rope restraining them behind his back. “Stop stalling. Stop crying out for help. Stop...

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“Who wants who dead? ” by Ksenija Rubež

Submitted to Contest #203

How can I keep on breathing when all I can concentrate on is not being able to breathe? The rope around my neck tightens. Its rough material peels the skin off my neck. I try to reach her head or any part of her body, just to catch a bit more breath. I cannot reach the candle that I hit the other one with. I can hear her groaning. She is tired as well. My senses grow weaker. If I do not do something, I won't see another day. I remember the small staircase with a tangible height. It is right behind her. She is probably not thinking of th...

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“Orange; My Former Favorite Color” by Jane Hillson Aiello

Submitted to Contest #203

My head was resting on a pillow flatter than a failed souffle. I was wearing a county issued get-up that memory has erased all details of; I cannot recall the color, or if it was a two-piece combo or a jumpsuit. I had a small plastic cup of water wedged between said pillow and the metal bars of the frame that supported a rubber wrapped mattress. I had woken up in the Criminal Detention Center, or some such euphemism, to describe where I had slept on the worst night of my life. The incident that landed me in the hospitality o...

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“Never Double Cross a Latina Chick” by JF Dawson

Submitted to Contest #203

“No! What are you doing? I haven’t done anything!” Keisha realized that Camila was intimidating indeed, but she could make a run for it. How fast could she be? But then Keisha wondered if Camila had a gun. If she did, there would be no point in running. She didn’t know for a fact she had a gun. It was a risk she was not willing to take. “Get out of the car. No funny business,” Camila instructed sternly. Keisha obeyed, thoughts of running away ran away themselves. It was like Camila read her mind, which spooked Keisha into trailing her i...

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“Deluge ” by Cole Brodeur

Submitted to Contest #203

Torrential rain cascaded from the heavens, an unrelenting deluge that drowned the world in its watery veil. Each drop was a hammer blow, assaulting the earth with a ferocity that defied reason. The downpour transformed the forest into an eerie tableau, cloaking the ancient wood in an impenetrable shroud of mist and darkness. Merchant pressed forward, his every step sinking into the treacherous mire with a repugnant squelch. The relentless onslaught of weather proved to be an unbearable trial, a tempest far surpassing his expectations of an...

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“Run-a-way” by John Minnaar

Submitted to Contest #203

Start your story in the middle of the action. ‘Run-a-way’ The siren wailed out across the ravine echoing against the mountain and down the river gorge. The speakers round the camp crackled as the message blasted the stillness of the evening. “This is an emergency! Man the rescue Wasps! Get the four-wheel drives to the rail line at...

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“To the Sound of Coincidences, Intelligence Debases” by Lucía Llavero

Submitted to Contest #203

Forty minutes had passed since Katherine entered the room. It was her first time carrying out the interrogation after she came into the Police Investigation Department. Lord Dominik observed through the glass. Katherine felt she was being thoroughly analyzed. - You are not completely unrelated to the case, Mister Williams. You have repeatedly attended several events in the city, with the randomness of having coincided in every one of them with one or more Miss Anastasia’s regular guests. Mister Williams reflected an elegant appeara...

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“Penny for your Thoughts” by Megan DeRouin

Submitted to Contest #203

Penny for your Thoughts There was the sensation of falling, but not the type of falling that was only a slight drop in your stomach before the ground came roughly up to meet parts of your body you’d have preferred to remain out of the dirt. No, this was falling that felt like flying, like there was this infinitesimal moment when you could forget that gravity applied to you. Everything seemed to be happing frame by frame. Each second dragged out into minutes, perhaps hours as my brain dashed thoughts together was no clear direction. ...

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“Tunnel Vision” by Lindsay Burns

Submitted to Contest #203

The well-worn soles of Katie’s trainers slammed down on the gravel track, the cold, damp air that she was desperately swallowing threatening to blow her lungs apart. It was funny to her, what she was thinking about in those crucial seconds, about how she was running so fast she felt like she could almost take off, and about how odd it was that the pounding of her feet had managed to synchronise itself with the hammering of her heart. She was paying less and less attention to the footsteps behind her, the ones that only a hundred metres ago h...

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“Rachel” by Gennadii Seliverstov

Submitted to Contest #203

David gazed at Rachel with oily eyes, a mix of surprise and complete absence of fear and shame, as if he were not caught red-handed with his young mistress, a thin girl who appeared so to Rachel at the time. There was no remorse or regret in his gaze, which hurt the woman standing in the doorway, waiting for that absurd justification, confession, revelation. But there was nothing but silence and occasional sobs from that wretched whore, who had shattered the already cracked vessel of their marital happiness. Perhaps in such situations, somet...

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“Swordfight” by Dragon The Poet

Submitted to Contest #203

Clash! Clash! Bong! Swish! “This is getting boring.” “Better surrender soon then, pathetic pirate of the sea, Jaya.” the ugly Captain Roob sneered, puffing his chess and holding his black sword above his head. “First of all, its Captain Jaya. And every pirate is technically of the sea.” “You aren’t even human, sea monster!” “I am a sea person, ” I swirled my sword dramatically, “You wound me with words more than your sword.” I skillfully ducked another jab to the right. “I have hair, unlike sea monsters, though it is of different shades of ...

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“Maev and the Dawn of War” by Daniel Rosas

Submitted to Contest #203

The smoke stung Erylis’ eyes while a dense choking dust swirled about the battlefield such that all she could see were vague shadows of her opponents. But she knew they were there. Surging and kicking, hitting, and smashing their way through her troops. Letting out a baleful scream the likes that sounded alien to her own ears she brought her broadsword down blindly. It crunched on an opponent's helmet, embedding it in a divot under the force of the blow. She didn’t stop to remove the body from her sword. Instead, she heaved her sword...

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“The Unique Hell of Finding an Adequate Wedding Dress” by Kristine Mayer

Submitted to Contest #203

“Hey, mom! Sorry to wake you up, but we got engaged, and I want to get married and the Hotel Thayer in October – can you call them tomorrow? – No, not this October, next October – Ok, thanks, Night!” My parents had watched “Father of the Bride” that night, so the late-night call from France was not unexpected. As soon as I hung up, I put holds on all the wedding-related books at the local library. Getting married is just another project, right? Thomas and I returned from France and confirmed to everyone that I’d warned of a “possible eng...

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“Three Queens of Rome” by Samantha Jones

Submitted to Contest #203

The carbon steel sword came down hard on the raised wooden shield, slicing across it and leaving a nasty dig in the purple paint. The yellow daisy painted in the front was looking more like a shredded paper flower sliced through with a hundred cuts. The woman behind the shield wore a silver circlet with a bright teardrop diamond in the center of her forehead. Her white-blonde hair fell in bouncy curls around her shoulders as she parried and thrust her shield up with all her might against the blows. Her thin white arm shook under the o...

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Start your story in the middle of the action.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 69 stories

“Stormvald” by Sam Beckard

“Rainfall” by Amie Moorehead

“Who wants who dead? ” by Ksenija Rubež

“Orange; My Former Favorite Color” by Jane Hillson Aiello

“Never Double Cross a Latina Chick” by JF Dawson

“Deluge ” by Cole Brodeur

“Run-a-way” by John Minnaar

“To the Sound of Coincidences, Intelligence Debases” by Lucía Llavero

“Penny for your Thoughts” by Megan DeRouin

“Tunnel Vision” by Lindsay Burns

“Rachel” by Gennadii Seliverstov

“Swordfight” by Dragon The Poet

“Maev and the Dawn of War” by Daniel Rosas

“The Unique Hell of Finding an Adequate Wedding Dress” by Kristine Mayer

“Three Queens of Rome” by Samantha Jones

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story during which two conversations happen simultaneously.

Write about how a single event affects a seemingly unrelated area of a character’s life (their friendships, career, romantic relationships, etc.)

Write about two friends getting into a fist fight.

Write a story that experiments with tone — perhaps a difficult subject dealt with in a playful way, or an ostensibly happy scene that hints at darkness lurking beneath.

Contest #203

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

226

Contest entries

121

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: