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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

Submissions are closed

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✍️ 92 stories

“The Amazing (Curious?) Life of Brian (Bill?) Lelland (Smith? Note: Maybe Too Generic)” by Joseph Gordon

Submitted to Contest #266

The timer on the microwave beeped after four minutes, precisely how Brian Lelland enjoyed his French pressed coffee. Two tablespoons of ground, water boiled in an electric kettle, then wait. If it gave a little resistance when he pushed down the plunger, he knew it'd be perfect. It was his measure of how the day would go, a little superstition in a life of cold reality: numbers, cash, meeting room deals. Being a CFO wasn't easy, especially when the company you worked for had their hands full with a series of recalls on parts that turned your...

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“Number Five” by James Gideon

Submitted to Contest #266

I’ve been 40 years old for ten years. At least that much was established and remained early on. Life experience is one thing, but this is beyond ridiculous, to be overly qualified with all possibilities in the fray for the future…I really wish this man would finally make up his mind. And it doesn’t help that Deleerius Shaw is a procrastinator, as this only exacerbates his crippling, fearful indecisiveness, undergirded further by a pestering low esteem in his already traditionally published, award-winning prowess. Four acclaimed novels in, an...

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“Rewritten, Rewired and Really Annoyed ” by Lars-Ole Kjæmpenes

Submitted to Contest #266

I’ve been a lot of things in my life: a pirate captain, a pastry chef, an intergalactic spy, and at one point, I think I was a tree. No joke. A full-grown, oxygen-producing, bark-having tree. If you think that sounds ridiculous, believe me, that’s the least crazy thing that’s happened. My life (or should I say lives) have been out of control, and it’s all because of Him. The Author. I know he’s out there, somewhere. Typing away on his laptop or scribbling in some notebook. Second-guessing every decision, tweaking every line, rearranging my e...

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“Melting December” by Sierra Meckes

Submitted to Contest #266

Hello! My name is Ash- no… Cameron! Ugh, that's wrong too. How about… December. Does December work? No second guesses, I guess it works. Now to get on with our story. One Tuesday… Thursday afternoon, I was walking — no, biking though a park- forest- city. Sigh, sorry, I meant park. I was pedaling up a hill, so I shifted to my lowest gear so pedaling would be easier — but there was a problem. The chain popped off!It was absolutely tragic- catastrophic- awful. …Before I knew it, I was rolling backwards, uncontrollably, and I crashed into a ben...

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“Rough Draft” by Hannah Rose

Submitted to Contest #266

I’m an Aries. Well, technically a Gemini. But actually a Sagittarius. You know what? Forget horoscopes. I was born...once...when the sun was shining. But it was also snowing. Which is a paradox, yes, but stranger things happen, right? 20 or 40 years ago...ok, ok, a solid 31 years ago, classic rock blared from the boom box that my mom had insisted upon lugging into the hospital delivery room. And perhaps in premonition of the chaotic energy I would inflict on the world,  just as AC/DC’s first thunder struck, I came screaming into my fath...

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“On the Existence of Authors ” by Tom Harvey

Submitted to Contest #266

I had long suspected my thoughts were not my own, nor my actions, and I had pondered deeply on the nature of life and the possible existence of someone or something beyond. It was like I was not wholly myself anymore, and that no matter how I tried to nail down some aspect of myself that was truly me, I could not find that essence of self at my core. And try as I may, I could not pinpoint exactly how I felt. It was like being too many selves in one body, with too many conflicting desires and emotions. Too many people I wa...

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“Sonder” by Logan Vardeman

Submitted to Contest #266

A man strolls into a coffee shop alone, taking a seat in the quiet back corner.That man is me and this was no random coffee shop. Or maybe it was, being that it sells books, records, comics, and coffee. If you’re into pinball they have that too. When I come here though, I never buy a single thing. Sitting in the back quiet corner reading a book of my own is all I had ever come here for ever since I was 10 years old. Today my corner was not so quiet. Today, there was a couple arguing about nonsense, an aspiring writer tip tapping aw...

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“Second Draft” by D.C. Reed

Submitted to Contest #266

“Jake? Is that you Jake?” The weathered bartender of Kill Your Darlings, said through squinted eyes as he welcomed who he thought was his regular Jake Mathist, into the bar.  “Onix. Onix Rock Harden, now my friend.” “I’ll get you a tall one. Maybe two,” “Sounds great,” Onix said, because it was the only thing to say. Onix didn’t know if he would like the coming stout beer. Once Jake, Onix, came in to have a draft of his favorite light beer only to unearth a new gluten intolerance. “Who writes allergies into a character?” Onix asked, ...

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“Edge of Nothing” by Fi Riley

Submitted to Contest #266

Yesterday I died. It was a sad, sombre affair. I was alone. Except for Joel. Joel, who was always with me. Even at the very end. Or, I suppose, especially so. Facing death held a magnificent horror for me. Most people either have faith or don’t. Think they’re worm food or else are going to meet their maker. I was on close personal terms with my maker. I knew the end was the end. Whenever he was brave enough to see it through. But it was done. It was over. I could let go. At least, that’s what I thought. Joel had other ideas. It was he who ne...

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“Make Up Your Mind” by Micah Woodbridge

Submitted to Contest #266

“Young man, destiny has chosen you for greatness!” Llwyd looked up from his mug to see an old man with the longest beard and the bushiest eyebrows he had ever seen was looking at him. “Are…are you talking to me?” Llwyd asked hesitantly, looking around the tavern. There must be a mistake. Why would anyone talk to him? He was just a humble farmhand from the backwater village of Burr, the smallest village in the land of Made-Upia. “Yes,” the old man crowed, “my boy, our kingdom is in danger! The princess has been kidnapped by the Evil Lord of ...

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“A Murdered Story” by Charlie Christmann

Submitted to Contest #266

Charley the Clown pushed open the door to his trailer, the rickety thing creaking like an ancient circus elephant's knees. He kicked a stray juggling ball out of his path, muttering to himself about the perils of living in a mobile home with insulation thinner than a tightrope walker's leotard.Great, Charley thought, another night in the world's most depressing clown car. At least I'm not packed in with a small army of seltzer-wielding buffoons.The faint sounds of the circus winding down echoed through the thin walls—the roar of the lion bei...

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“Ardent Cosmonaut” by Daniel Coniff

Submitted to Contest #266

I distinctly remember mining for gold on Mars at the young age of 8 when an uproar blasted throughout the cave walls. Or maybe I was cleaning the toilets at Grand Central Space Station… No, I was definitely mining for silver. Gold, I mean. The year was 2256. Somebody shouted, “It’s happening! It’s happening!” The next thing I knew, a stampede of men, women, and children - most of the children were older than me - flew out of the tunnels in droves. I was downright perplexed at this strange sight because mass exodus on this scale only took pla...

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“The Wandering Arab” by Bushra Mutlq

Submitted to Contest #266

It was a sunny afternoon. The heat escaped me, but I could somehow sense its presence, like the pain of a lost limb. That being the only knowledge the world left me with, my mind wandered. Unknown, unseen, I started to doubt my own existence. It’s hard to sympathize with one’s self when it is out of reach. The world has turned its back on me in the purgatory where I now abide. Even in emptiness, traces of a former life resides, haunting me, prying on my peace of mind for what seemed like an eternity. A body resembling mine lay on the floor, ...

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“Deja Vu” by Nina Shylo

Submitted to Contest #266

This story is set in a war zone. There's some swearing and a brief episode of gore. I crouch low behind a pile of rubble barely big enough to protect my ass, let alone the rest of me. I aim to get all the vital bits tucked in and lay low—trying to make it damn near impossible for the sniper to get me with a one-and-done shot. Where the hell is he sitting? I scan the decimated buildings around me for any sign of my nemesis. A flash of sunlight off metal, a shadow that doesn’t quite fit in—but the rubble, the dark empty holes in the walls and...

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“Revisions, Revisions” by LC Reid

Submitted to Contest #266

“Emily, do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?” I grin and look at Ben. His golden blond hair is perfectly in place for the first time in his life, and his eyes are still glassy from when he cried as I walked down the aisle. Today is the most magical, perfect day – except it’s not. “No,” I answer, and several people in the crowd gasp and there’s a murmur of voices questioning whether they’ve heard right. “I’m sorry, but I can’t get married today. Actually, there’s somewhere else I need to be right now.” I scoop up the front...

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