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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

“Imagination can be tiring” by Maureen MacLennan

Submitted to Contest #266

Imagination can be tiringDeirdre strolled confidently down Ash Street, turned a corner at Haight, stopped and waited. She’d been down this road several times before, twice the street signs changed names, and more than once, so had she. So far, she’d been a Heather and a Joy, the author finally settled on Deirdre. She felt a subtle push, so continued down Haight. Her thoughts turned to the date ahead with David, nope that was the last alternative, this was Graham. She daydreamed about his blue eyes, and black curls and hoped they’d stayed tha...

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“It Had to be Me” by Mindy Reed

Submitted to Contest #266

The crumpled computer paper was up to her ankles. “I quit!” Maryann shouted. “The only killer is this mystery is me, killing trees.” She stormed out of the room. The ceiling fan was whirring on the highest speed, causing the balls of computer paper below to rustle across the floor like inner-city tumbleweeds. One ball rolled from under the desk to the opposite wall. The black and while tuxedo cat, Hemmingway, bounced it between its paws, and then, hearing the can opener, scampered out to the kitchen. A man in his mid-thirties emerged and str...

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“Twisted Tales” by Andrea Krist

Submitted to Contest #266

Hi, my name is Bella, which is short for Isabella. I live outside the city in a small neighborhood with long sidewalks and few trees. Don't ask what city it is because at the moment I can't remember. I realize I should know where I live, but recently details—especially ones pertaining to my life—have been getting all mixed up. I know it sounds crazy, but I feel like someone is playing a practical joke on me. It's like I'm constantly forgetting who I am. Some days all the details feel right and sometimes they just feel—wrong—like they were s...

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“The Many Pennies” by Lauren Nicole

Submitted to Contest #266

“Want an Almond Joy?” the taxi driver said, leaning back toward me and shuffling through the bag––a monstrously large collection of little blue wrappers.“That’s very nice of you,” I mumbled, nodding my head. When I realized he didn’t see––he was looking straight ahead––I said, “yes, please,” so softly I could barely hear my own voice. I leaned toward the driver so he wouldn’t have to turn around. “Thank you very much.”As I nibbled at the Almond Joy, the driver scooped three more candies for himself. Plopped them in his mouth all at the same ...

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“You Wouldn't Make Up Your Mind, So I Did It For You” by Geneva Plummer

Submitted to Contest #266

I was sitting in a white void, looking at the screen in front of me and listening to the constant tap-tap-tap of the author's keyboard on the laptop. My author, a 20-year-old woman named Erin, was on the other side of screen, furiously writing and re-writing the paragraph that was supposed to describe me. Apparently, I was supposed to be the main character of some sort of modernized fantasy novel. She had been procrastinating with my creation for so long that she had literally written out everything else in the story but me! At first, I didn...

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“A Main Character's Annoyance” by Arianna Porter

Submitted to Contest #266

Joanna, unlike her siblings… No, that can’t be right. Last rewrite I was an only child. Oh well, it’ll be nice to have someone else around the house. Joanna, unlike her siblings, had never been one for academics. That wasn’t to say that she was a bad student, she’d graduated with a solid B average. Oh, I guess I’m not in high school anymore, I wonder how old I am? Joanna had never invested much into math, science, or history. They weren’t hard, just uninteresting. Or, as Maria would say, a total snooze fest. That’s o...

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“What Wally Was, Writing” by Gabriel Constant

Submitted to Contest #266

Wally was sitting at a desk of fine African ivory. The desk was an opulent bit of furniture crafted from the tusks of eleven African bush elephants: 5 adult males, 4 adult females, and 2 adolescents – nearly an entire herd, really. Wally didn’t think of that often. Right now, he was thinking about what to write. He contemplated deeply, undulating with powerful thoughts when suddenly it struck him.“Why not me?” he thought, and then said it out loud, repeating what he had said in his mind. You see, Wally was looking for a protagonist. Wal...

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“Eyeryones' gods” by Bea Staab

Submitted to Contest #266

“There are several wolfs in each of us. Some are benevolent and good. Some are mean and evil. Be careful which one you feed most!”Just another author I am sure, you’ve had a deja vu before. Like, you’re totally stuck not knowing what you wanted to do a second ago – and suddenly you want to overthrow the whole world order. I keep getting more of those lately. Maybe it is a first sign of dementia. Yesterday, I wanted to feed my cat and I was absolutely sure, I had bought her favourite food at the supermarket – and at a discount on top! The thi...

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“A bad case of writer's block” by Cat Lockhart

Submitted to Contest #266

I see what he’s doing and I think I like it. Cropped dark hair, chiselled jaw, bulging arm muscles, tee-shirt stretched tight across my buff chest. I feel strong, invincible, an alpha male at my peak. I’m what you’d call a fine specimen. No one can defeat me. Ha, yes, I could get to like this, very much indeed. His bare arms rippled in the sun. He sprinted, leaping three metres and mounting the motorbike from behind. He revved wildly sending a cloud of fumes into the path of the red-headed gorilla chasing him on foot. The gorilla, a KGB hitm...

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“Dandelion Tenacity” by Judy Shank Cyg

Submitted to Contest #266

First, let me make this clear. I, Thyra “Dandelion” Teague, am real and no fictional wizard, regardless of what Auryn Rowe is writing in her latest online story chapters. Hanzi called me at work today. “You didn’t tell me you knew the author of Rose and Crown. How about dinner tonight at my house?” “I wish I did,” I said, “and yes, I read her latest story beginning. too. All right, but warn me if you’re serving macaroni and cheese so I can eat something substantial first.” “You’d criticize a free meal?” he said. “I d...

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“Uncertainty” by Bec Newton

Submitted to Contest #266

Bright light burned through my eyelids, the spidery veins pulsing in time with my throbbing head. There had been too much cheer, too much merriment, and now there was a price to be paid.  It seemed like it would be worth it at the time. We were, after all, celebrating a great victory and such things should be celebrated to the fullest extent. But oddly, I couldn't seem to remember what that great feat was or who else was in my company. Losing the night after in a fog of ale was to be expected but to forget what we were celebrating… A so...

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“A Few Minutes with the Fictional Character Support Group” by Bill Richter

Submitted to Contest #266

Thank you for letting me be here on such short notice, I had no idea something like this even existed and I appreciate you all giving me this time. OK, I’ll give you a little background about me first, as much as I can. Based on all the drafts of this story so far, I can tell you I’m a pretty reserved person and I am the calmer one in the relationship I have with a woman named Kara. While Kara has had a few minor re-writes along the way, she’s generally stayed the same and is the one who is more outgoing, more impulsive, and the one who has ...

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“The Ever-Changing Story” by Lindsay Nicole

Submitted to Contest #266

Elliot I know I'm not supposed to be aware of these things, but here I am, stuck in this ever-changing maze of words and edits. To be honest, it’s a rather peculiar way to exist, if I even exist at all. My name is Elliot, although it has sometimes been spelled with one "L" and once with two "T's". Although, there are moments when I am simply referred to as "the protagonist." Honestly, that’s not the biggest concern on my mind. What I think about most is how every few paragraphs the world changes around me. For example, one minute I’m brave...

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“Clarity” by Allen Pearcy

Submitted to Contest #266

Clarity A Short Recollection by Allen Pearcy Friday, September 13, 9:45 pm: How do you even start one of these things? Dear diary? To whom it may concern? Dear future me? A lot has come together for me recently and in a short period of time so I thought it would be a good time for me to start journaling. I just want to capture some daily musings if nothing else. Maybe the occasional deep thought. Who knows, maybe even an earth-shattering revelation. But, for today, I’m going to set my bar a little lower. I just started a new job and I’m ...

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“Apex ” by Dane Andersen

Submitted to Contest #266

Without you, I am still something. Surely I am here existing even if you see me as nothing more than your next meal. Those below me are nothing. The sound of his voice echoed throughout his hollow chamber of sticks and mud; each individual part of the mold was a part of a greater ornately laid design which if examined long enough appeared to be collapsing and expanding simultaneously in a dizzying, dancing, embrace. This house of sticks and mud had been built by the strength of his parents and their parents before them. This was his home and...

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