Start your story with someone who wants to give up on their career right before their big break.

Posted in Short Story on Aug 30, 2024

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✍️ 39 stories

“A pirates wale” by Wayne Steele

Submitted to Contest #266

The sun dips in the bloody ocean as our ship travels across the hellish ocean. The wind shrieked like ghosts as they ripped the ship's sail from top to bottom. “This is all because of that damned box full of cargo,” he mutter to myself, slurring his words as I took another sip from the bottle. The snoring kept me up as the surrounding men rolled around in slumber. Edward held a candle and stumbled around the ship. The rain made it difficult to hear the pitter-patter of the rat's feet as he walked around. Edwards' bare feet plunged into a mys...

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“Nashville” by James Spurlock

Submitted to Contest #266

Interstate 24 heading toward downtown even at midday was like a race track. Six lanes of traffic were speeding toward the tall buildings on the famous skyline. Barbara Jo’s radio was tuned to the local country music station, WSIX-FM, and she was singing along to all the songs. Six months ago, she had moved here from a small town named Waycross in southern Georgia, where there was never a problem with traffic. She called Nashville her home now, and she realized this was an everyday problem.The traffic stopped! Barbara Jo thought she knew what...

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“Misery's Company” by Ariah Em

Submitted to Contest #266

The bar filled with drunken cheers pays little mind to the moping men who hide on the dim side of the table. Most of the occupants watch the TV with fervor and thrust their glasses in the air whenever their football team scores. All their glee swirls together creating quite the scene. To them, everything else is solely background noise in their busy life, including the feeble golden glow that reaches the far side of the room. The light illuminates the lone detective slumped on the table in front of him. He never took off the heavy brown coat...

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“A Work of Truly Staggering Genius” by Benjamin Rice

Submitted to Contest #266

"Where y'at, Ken?" "Hey, Phil. Um... this is going to sound dumb, but I am going by John now." The young professor slumps down on a stool at Phil's bar. Phil had not seen the man in at least a few weeks, maybe a month or two, now that he thought about it. He could not say that he was not a bit shaken by the man’s appearance now. Haggard, unshaven, and pale in complexion. Now he wanted to be called John? "John's your old man, ain't 'e? Seems confusin'. But whatcha want. Speaking a which -- Sazerac?" Phil wipes down the old wooden bar in front...

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“Aaliyah” by Max Wang

Submitted to Contest #266

Chapter 1: Aaliyah It was early morning, and Aaliyah, still rubbing her eyes as usual, stepped into the blinding sunlight as warmth began to crawl across her skin. Younger than her peers, the elderly women of her community would often ask her to run errands near the bustling marketplace in the morning, such as purchasing herbs, flowers, oils, and fish, and to wash the dishes and clothes at night. “Why do I have to go?” she shouted to a eunuch, ordered to guard the walls of the ...

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“Little Blue Book ” by Grace Fleming-Williams

Submitted to Contest #266

The final paragraph gently came to rest on the page. A life time of secrets perfectly and privately captured within the world of my characters. My box of blue diaries sat neatly on the kitchen table. What was once a lively little box of tangled, wriggling memories was now as peaceful as a sleeping child. 60 years worth of diary writing compacted into one story. Hannah’s wet nose nudged my forearm. I must have been sitting too still. For the first time in many years, my mind was straight. My skin was calm. The door knocked. Tabatha was l...

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“Rubidoux” by Anna Stasko

Submitted to Contest #266

“Hot food, hot food!”Meghan peeked at me through the serving window, her red curly hair sticking out through the hair net and her brows furrowed in an irritated expression.“What’s the matter with you?” she said. “Hot food’s getting cold!”“Nothing,” I said as I grabbed the hot plates and placed them on a tray. “Got a lot on my mind. You don’t need to holler about it, I got it.”“Yeah, but you’re slow today, poking around like you’re planting a garden or something.”“Not slow today,” I said. “We’re just busier than usual.”Meghan was all bark, no...

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“The Office” by Enrique Melendez

Submitted to Contest #266

My morning is nothing special, woke up at 7 am, washed up, had coffee, and off to work. The horns and screams from all sides gave me anxiety and the 35-minute time to get there only gave me reasons to turn around. “Come on, the turn is right there, you idiot,” I said to an old man who couldn’t use a turn signal. I gave ...

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“Is It Time To Go?” by Allysa Agnes

Submitted to Contest #266

‘I’ve been doing this for ten years… And I’ve never felt more tired in my life. Still nobody understands my poetry, people refuse to read my books… What am I supposed to do now? Is it time to give up on my whole life?’ This is what Alice was thinking certain summer day. She’s been professionally working in this industry as a poet and writer for four years now, but it started with blogging ten years ago, indeed. She’s worked hard for her own name all this time, and in the end, she grew tired of trying… Could it not be her destiny after all…? ...

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“Right before you fly.” by Anonymous Morningstar

Submitted to Contest #266

Jamie was in the airport’s bathroom, and she couldn’t believe that she was actually about to walk out and go home instead of getting herself to the gate and on the flight that would change her life. It was the occasion of a lifetime, the moment she had been waiting for. But she wanted to give up, if she were to be honest, she had been wanting to give up for a while now. It all seemed so useless sometimes, she just felt like she had waisted 24 years of her life for nothing. Did it really matter if she finally had a breakthrough in ...

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“Maze” by Prem Swamy

Submitted to Contest #266

It’s a Maze. If you’re hung from the ceiling, you see a huge space bounded by glass walls, Filled with boxes: more of half cut boxes with each having an opening to enter and exit and a computer on the table inside it. Groups of these boxes are interconnected by wide walkways which can fit two people at a time. There are special glass boxes too, with large rectangular table, chairs, a projector and screen.People fill up these boxes over the morning, move around throughout the day, leisurely retire by the evening. And some even reserving half ...

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“A cliff of a ravine with shallow water” by Faris Suljic

Submitted to Contest #266

A cliff of a ravine with shallow waterThough void of decorations, such as paintings or family portraits, the white wall which Frank starred at was all the canvas necessary to compliment his inner world. He was motionless and expressionless, and one could only hope there was something happening behind those hopeless eyes – his chest occasionally stretching to signal air coming in and out was about the greatest indicator that he was, in fact, among the living. In his rented one room apartment, located on the second floor of a building not too ...

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“Morx on Site” by William Simon

Submitted to Contest #266

Morx gripped the armrest of his seat a little tighter and tried to think steadying thoughts. He wondered if it was too late for different career path as the ambassadorial class cruiser skipped nimbly past the sixth planet of this solar system and flickered down the astral shute towards their destination. Each short quantum leap carrying them rapidly forward and skipping chasms of empty space. The sensation for a passenger was like that of your foot reaching for a step that is just a little further away than was anticipated. A mild drop you...

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“Down and Out in Desperation” by Sierra Hall

Submitted to Contest #266

The night was young and tranquil in the small town of Chester, Vermont. A young man walked the undisturbed streets with his head down. Anybody to pass by could tell there was something troubling his heart. The streets were dark with only the moon and a few street lights illuminating the area. The man grew tired of walking and decided to settle himself inside a bar, empty just as the streets were. He sat there waiting for his drink in his own solitude. The slow patter of rain sounded on the windows making the night even more dreadful. The man...

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“A Blank Canvas” by Jessica Goss

Submitted to Contest #266

What is art? I mean, what truly is it? It means nothing to me. It but a simple fragment of what is all but meaningless to me now. A canvas with a vague colour, is all but a blank canvas to me. A stroke of nothingness--ironic really--reflective almost, like a mirror into the window of myself and what I have become. Perhaps what I always have been. How long have I been staring at this canvas? Could it have been minutes? Hours? If canvases were to age in the way we do, I am sure it would be well seasoned with age, wrinkled lines fabricating the...

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Start your story with someone who wants to give up on their career right before their big break.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 39 stories

“A pirates wale” by Wayne Steele

“Nashville” by James Spurlock

“Misery's Company” by Ariah Em

“A Work of Truly Staggering Genius” by Benjamin Rice

“Aaliyah” by Max Wang

“Little Blue Book ” by Grace Fleming-Williams

“Rubidoux” by Anna Stasko

“The Office” by Enrique Melendez

“Is It Time To Go?” by Allysa Agnes

“Right before you fly.” by Anonymous Morningstar

“Maze” by Prem Swamy

“A cliff of a ravine with shallow water” by Faris Suljic

“Morx on Site” by William Simon

“Down and Out in Desperation” by Sierra Hall

“A Blank Canvas” by Jessica Goss

🌟 Similar prompts

Your protagonist discovers that everything they type comes true. What happens next?

Write from the POV of a character in a story who keeps getting re-written by their second-guessing author.

Your protagonist has the perfect day scheduled — but things don’t go according to plan.

Write about someone who summons the creative muse through a convoluted ritual or method.

Contest #266

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

281

Contest entries

108

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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