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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

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

Posted in Short Story on Aug 30, 2024

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✍️ 92 stories

“I don't find your sick sense of humor amusing...” by Jeff Meade

Submitted to Contest #266

Chloro Phil was in big trouble. He had traveled south from his adopted community at Chama in search of someone named “Maxwell.” The boy, still unidentified as far as Phil knew, was, as far as Phil knew, still in a coma. The boy had whimpered “Maxwell needs help,” and Chama’s Council of Elders had decided to send Phil to follow the scrap of paper the boy had in his pocket. This scrap of paper had a line drawn on it, like a map, with three X’s marking locations. One of the X’s was circled, and Phil had discovered that it was an abandoned campg...

5 comments 5
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“Between the Lines” by Becheru D. Dan

Submitted to Contest #266

I was following Mr. Jules in the heavy rain, in New York. The city was drowning under a blanket of relentless gray, the kind of rain that soaks you to the bone no matter how fast you walk, run, or how well you cover up. I knew it would rain. The clouds were heavy with it, threatening to burst from the moment I stepped out of my office this morning. Yet, here I was, without an umbrella. Why the hell didn’t I bring one? A detective should be prepared. Always a step ahead. But not today...The thought gnawed at...

2 comments 2
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“Sun shining in the night. ” by Anonymous Morningstar

Submitted to Contest #266

I was created a week ago. Or at least, I think. It’s not so easy to keep track of time when you’re just a character in a book. Especially when your creator second-guesses every single thing He writes...and keeps re-writing just about everything. Have you ever had your own free will taken away from you by someone who’s supposed to cherish you? If the answer is yes, then you can imagine my entire existence.  For what I know He started this book a week ago and we’re still at the first chapter. I mean, I’m not even one of the main...

4 comments 4
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“Quod Facis, Bene Fac” by Robert Ryan

Submitted to Contest #266

Okay. So I’m this 5th grader who has no idea what he wants to be when he grows up. Not bad. My parents had very little education. They’re in the working class. But they consider true class to be shown by your integrity, not what you do for a living. They brought me up to value good character above everything else.But it’s not that my parents are contemptuous of the upper classes. They still consider getting a good education to be the road to a better life, including a prosperous career. It’s just that they only consider you to be a good pers...

6 comments 6
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“Lance & God” by Carrie Shemanski

Submitted to Contest #266

I do what God tells me to do and try not to ask questions. After all, She created me. Without God, there’d be no Lance Sheldrake. That’s me. Sometimes, God can’t make up her mind. She had me try several careers in rapid succession. Stockboy at an organic grocery store. Drive-thru window at a vegan fast food restaurant. I even worked at a makeup counter at a high-end department store for about a week, but it didn’t stick. (God doesn’t know much about makeup, I don’t think.) Each job was a bit too on-the-nose if you ask me. Wow, a gay guy who ...

1 comment 1
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“The Infinite Phantasm” by Jay Dillon

Submitted to Contest #266

The day started like any other. I woke to the sound of Steve Miller’s "The Joker," the opening drumbeat sending a jolt through my spine. I jumped out of bed, ready to tackle the day. I’m a writer, a damn good one, and this damn good writer has deadlines.After going through the usual routine of bathroom, breakfast, teeth and shower, I sat down to return to the chapter I’d left unfinished. It gnawed at me all night and I was eager to dive back in. Writing was my passion, my religion. It wasn’t easy and it sure as hell didn’t pay well but this ...

2 comments 2
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“Oh, Come on, Not again!” by Pete Gautchier

Submitted to Contest #266

Prompt: Write from the point of view of a character in a story who keeps getting re-written by their second-guessing author. Oh, come on, not again! “Hey man, I am no Pinocchio and you are no Geppetto, so loosen up the puppet strings on my story, stop this madness,” as I shouted from the pages of my author’s tablet journal. There was silence. Outside the realm of the journal pages an introduction began. “My name is Buddy and I am a figment of my author’s imagination who calls himself Harry. But I know differently. If given the chan...

0 comments 0
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“A Million Different Ways” by Sophie Goldstein

Submitted to Contest #266

My name is Joanna-Joan-Jacob-Rory-I have no name-They call me Bernard-Barbara-Barbara.My name is Barbara.If you were to have told me yesterday that I’d be dead-That I’d be married-That I’d be standing on the edge of a cliff-That I’d be erased from the universe because I can’t complete a sentence-That I’d be dead.Dead.Dead as a doornail.Dead as Jacob Marley-If you were to have told me yesterday that I’d be standing over Marley Jacobson’s dead body, I honestly wouldn’t have been surprised.Marley was a piece of shit.I don’t mean to be crass or ...

2 comments 2
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“Blank Slate” by Christina Miller

Submitted to Contest #266

I swing my sword...no, my dagger, towards Princess Acantha. Her golden hair, the same color as my sister's, no, my stepmother's, bounces as she avoids my blow. She smiles, the smirk making me grit my teeth. She's been intentionally grating my nerves since the first time we met. That was one year ago. Or was it a month? A week? Regardless, I dodge her counterattack, then, pressing my dagger to her throat, force her against the closest wall. I frown. Why did I suddenly think this seems cliché? And why am I now the one with my back pressed to t...

0 comments 0
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“Who's story?” by Ella Jones

Submitted to Contest #266

From the second I got out of bed that morning I had been plagued by this unsettling feeling. A sort of unstable feeling; like even the ground under my feet could change or fall away at any moment.I brushed off the uneasy feeling and went to the bathroom to start getting ready - I was meeting my friend Jess for coffee in an hour. I tied my curly brown hair back into a ponytail before splashing some water over my face to wake myself up. I dried my face with a towel; as I pulled the towel away, I noticed something about my reflection. I lo...

2 comments 2
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“After a Deletion” by Jennifer Pletcher Borg

Submitted to Contest #266

This is excruciating. I can literally be doing anything else, but instead I’m stuck here. Waiting. Forever waiting, it seems like.  The sound of clacking keys makes my heart soar but it’s the pauses in between that I dread. Especially when those pauses drag on for way too long.  Make a decision already! Put your idea, however heinous, down on that ancient laptop so I can move on with my life. It figures that I get stuck with the fresh-faced amateur that's still trying to figure out how to write. Tiffany debated whether to accept th...

1 comment 1
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“The Ever-Changing Romance” by Chance Cansler

Submitted to Contest #266

Hello, my name’s Emma. I’m 28, I’m a graphic designer living in New York City, and I’m pretty sure my life is being written by an indecisive author named Logan. How do I know this? Well, it’s a long story—one that keeps changing. It all started on a Tuesday. Or was it a Friday? Honestly, the days blur together when your reality shifts as often as mine does. One minute, I’m working on a logo design for a new eco-friendly smoothie bar in Brooklyn, and the next, I feel a strange tingle at the base of my skull. Suddenly, I’m not in my apartment ...

0 comments 0
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“Plot-bound” by Ocean Boudreau

Submitted to Contest #266

An uncertain hand peeled apart the leather-bound notebook: my companion throughout countless drafts and revisions. The room was dim, and the only light emanated from a cheap candle casting long shadows over the piles of crumpled paper and empty coffee cups that littered my desk. Perfectly developed for my optimal productivity, I say, having spent later days defining a premise for a unique novel—thoughts tangled in frustration and anticipation. I flipped through the marred pages, and a peculiar letter pressed between the sheets tumbled out on...

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“A Very Rough Draft” by Dana Orr

Submitted to Contest #266

Alright where to start? Ah, I know. We’re going to start off easy. Let’s give her a name. Hm, let’s name her Atti. Now we take Atti and place her into the story. We’ll start her off in her bed and she’s going to wake up and go to work at- “Hold on, let me get this straight. First, you name me something as boring as Atti. Then you start my story off with me going to work?! BARF! C’mon, do you have a brain? Give me something goooood. Make me a princess or a siren or how abou-“ Atti. This is my story. And I’ll write you however I choose. You sh...

0 comments 0
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“Another Try” by Israel Olmos

Submitted to Contest #266

The autumn wind shifted, bringing the smell of rain.               “Is she here yet?” Mustafa asked. He fidgeted with his hands. Thomas knew he was itching for his pencil.                      “Why, are you nervous? I’m the one who’s got to talk to her. You’re just moral support” Thomas said. He put on a quick smile and smacked Mustafa on the back. But it was ...

2 comments 2
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