Write a story that weaves together multiple lives through their connection to a particular tree.

Posted in Spring on Oct 26, 2022

Submissions are closed

Sorry, we are not accepting submissions for this prompt as it is not part of an active contest. Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy Prompts account.

Or create a new Reedsy account:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 246 stories

“Divine Bloodline” by Shannon McGill

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #90

Divine Bloodline “How can you tell the Tree is a girl, Gran?” The shea butter applied to my scalp in neat little rows slid onto my forehead and mixed with beads of sweat as I sat on the front porch between my grandmother’s knees. Every Sunday, we took my braids down and washed my hair. Then Gran braided it right back up again, greasing my scalp as she went. I can’t imagine a Sunday that we didn’t spend together, managing the mane that fell past my waist. It took all day, but the best part was sittin’ on that porch, listening to her t...

17 comments 17

Read story

“The Right Decision” by Writer Maniac

Submitted to Contest #90

Gaurav’s back was beginning to hurt. The rough texture of the bark was reassuring at short intervals of time but having sat on a branch for almost an hour now, it was beginning to poke at his back and legs, leaving scars he knew would stay. He would keep coming back again and again, and he would sit on that same branch in the same position, with his legs extended in front, and it would hurt later. It was good, good that he still felt something. Pain was better than feeling numb. The green leaves smelt fresh, even in the ...

89 comments 89

Read story

“The Kissing Tree” by A.Dot Ram

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #90

Content warning: racist abuse, homophobia Dale + Eva, 1969 We heard them before we saw them—loud boots over the stones and their rowdy hee-hawing. We knew they were trouble based on that alone. Dale dropped his hand from my waist and took a small step backward. I hated how that was his instinct. I closed my eyes and willed the low-hanging branches to hide us, wished for them to pass by. They did not. I recognized Lucian Hardy as he poked his tow-head through the leaves into our sanctuary. Lucian and hi...

51 comments 51

Read story

“Today is Not Meant to be Pretty” by Scout Tahoe

Submitted to Contest #90

Today is not meant to be pretty. Today is the day for a fight. Today also has no time for late-comers. Kiyoko makes this clear with her eyes like iridescent beetle wings and wild hand gestures. I navigate the tree she’s perched in like my childhood years on the monkey bars. When I finally bend my ragdoll-limbs into an acrobatic criss-cross-applesauce, she lectures me about native Arizona trees. I’m not listening. I’m surveying the beautiful sunrise projected like a utopian film over the Golden Canyon Golf Course bunkers. They’re su...

63 comments 63

Read story

“moore hall ” by KED KED

Submitted to Contest #90

Muckloon Hill, Ireland 1923 Little Neasa, who her family affectionately called Nee, was in the garden taking a solitary lunch under the Blackthorn tree. As far as she knew, they were the only household for leagues that had one prominently displayed in the front of their estate. Her mother, skillful at feigning religious piety outside of the home, had instilled in young Nee a soft and clandestine devotion to the Old Ways and of Druids long passed. They would secretly honor their connection to the land and reverence for the na...

30 comments 30

Read story

“Rooted” by H L McQuaid

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #90

Content warning: racial violence, violence against women On a fresh spring day, a girl in a deerskin dress pushes me into the dirt with her small brown hands, hiding me from the squirrels and deer and mice who savour the taste of acorns. A voice calls out, “Nokomis!” `Her footsteps pad softly away. *** A taproot burrows deep into the soil anchoring me to the earth. A green sprout reaches toward the sun. When I'm a sapling, buds grow and unfurl into leaves, which turn from green to yellow and red, falling in a fiery carpe...

85 comments 85

Read story

“Choose Wisely ” by Scott Skinner

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #90

Content warning: abuse I used to put my dirty socks on my brother’s pillow. I’d put them on top of the pillowcase so when he walked into our room he would see them lying there like dead fish. Then I got better, and to delay my gratification, I’d stuff them in the pillowcase. I’d always use my stinkiest socks - basketball practice, skatepark, rainy day - but my brother had a notoriously bad nose and never smelled them right away. Usually, a couple of days would go by while these foot condoms stewed in his pillowcase. He’d notice zits on his f...

29 comments 29

Read story

“The Tree of Life” by Nainika Gupta

Submitted to Contest #90

The tree, by all outward appearances, was completely normal. Gnarled olive branches intertwined with increasingly leafy foliage twisted up into the sky. The ancient and monumental trunk was engraved with the bark that told a hundred stories. In the spring, the buds of life blossomed hundred-fold upon the myriad of branches eagerly awaiting the companionship of the leaves and flowers. In the summer, its leafy branches would swish, inviting the weary passerby to sit beneath it and revel in the endless possibilities of life. In f...

23 comments 23

Read story

“Elysian” by 𝙰𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚢𝚜𝚝 ~

Submitted to Contest #90

Once, there was a tree. That tree was a beautiful one; it had a dark oak trunk, and it was shiny with scented oil. The leaves were a dark purple, ranging from light lavender to the deepest violet of space, and the branches were the same, glossy oak as the trunk. The roots wove in and out of the universe, back and forth, forth and back so you couldn’t tell where it was anymore. It had a soul inside of it, of whom no one knows, but there was a soul that begged for companionship, to not be lonely anymore. It had laid there to rest so many years...

415 comments 415

Read story

“'On my 75th birthday'” by Asha Pillay

Submitted to Contest #90

Troy had planted me on his fifth birthday, a gift from his parents. He came to live in this garden house, with his parents many summers ago. I grew up along with him. He nurtured me with love and care, with smiles and kisses, with lullabies and poems , very soon I grew into tall huge fig tree, with massive branches spreading far and wide.Troy and I were soul brothers, He would talk to me, play with me, and would even share his secrets with me.In college, he fell in love with a pret...

28 comments 28

Read story

“The Sacrifice” by Daniel R. Hayes

Submitted to Contest #90

On a faraway planet in the land of Zellnoid, a peaceful civilization built a fully functional city around the tree of life - the Ishka tree. This tree has the power to bring back the dead, and for centuries the Zellnots have thrived and worshiped the tree. A great stone palace was built around the Ishka tree centuries ago to showcase and protect its incredible power.The Ishka tree stands proud and tall with its white bark and golden leaves spread across its thick twisting branches. A soft resplendent light pulsates in the center of the tree ...

26 comments 26

Read story

“Seven Seeds” by Christina Marie

Submitted to Contest #90

Before Adam made love to his wife on the outskirts of paradise, Eve fell upon the cursed dust of their banishment and coughed up seven seeds that rooted in the flesh of the earth from which humankind was doomed to coax mortal sustenance. - Alexander King Alexander watched on with pride as his son stood in the sparring ring amongst a defeated circle of his peers, brandishing his wooden practice sword with mighty arrogance. At only ten years old, everyone could see the boy was destined to be the world’s fiercest warrior. For years, t...

17 comments 17

Read story

“Underneath Me She Dances” by Mary Rothery

Submitted to Contest #90

Alone, I have stood in this earth for many years. Life sparks and shoots around and within me as I stand. The sun sings to me of summer and my leaves rustle in reply. I am loved. I am young. I am hers and she is mine. She places me here as they guide her small hands, caressing me into life, her tiny reaching fingers stroking as she whispers to me of her bright life to come. Underneath me she dances, small feet in the snow. Laughter and light scatter as she twirls in my shadow. They look on with lined eyes and tired smiles. The air ta...

15 comments 15

Read story

“Friends and Forever ” by ᏒᏬᏖᏂᎩ_ ᎷᏗᎩ

Submitted to Contest #90

You can see her in the distance, perched on a branch--feet dangling to and fro when the crack of the rising sun commences. You can still see her slight figure when the sun cowardly sinks into its daily game of hiding. She comes into the house with shoes full of leaves. She says it’s to keep the tree always near her. I say it’s only for spite because as she stated yesterday, “I don’t give her enough freedom”. She’s loved that useless, big piece of bark the way I wish I loved her father. He’s not here now-he’s gone--gone like that ra...

42 comments 42

Read story

“We As One” by Charli Britton

Submitted to Contest #90

My bare feet spring across the wood gracefully as I bound over the branch and to the main Hollow. I will be picking splinters out of my heels for days, but right now I don't care. I’m late. Today of all days, I had to be late. I decided to take a quick nap before this, I knew I would be up all night and it had seemed smart at the time, but I overslept, and now I was late to possibly the biggest day of my life. I pause at the circular door and rake my fingers through my dark auburn hair, trying to tame my wild strands. I try to catch my b...

11 comments 11

Read story

Load more stories

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story in which an endangered species (of plant or animal) plays a central role.

Middle School – 94 stories

Set your story in a world living with the consequences of a climate apocalypse.

Science Fiction – 134 stories

Write about a community that worships Mother Nature.

Summer – 82 stories

Start your story with someone sitting on a crowded train and end it with them looking out over beautiful natural scenery.

Spring – 258 stories

Contest #90

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: Down to Earth

$50

Prize money

814

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Apr 23, 2021 EST

Won by Nina Chyll 🏆

Title: The Tree Surgeon's Dictionary

View details

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

We'll send you 5 prompts each week. Respond with your short story and you could win $250!

Menu

CONNECT

BLOG

APPS

TOOLS

ABOUT

Write a story that weaves together multiple lives through their connection to a particular tree.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 246 stories

“Divine Bloodline” by Shannon McGill

“The Right Decision” by Writer Maniac

“The Kissing Tree” by A.Dot Ram

“Today is Not Meant to be Pretty” by Scout Tahoe

“moore hall ” by KED KED

“Rooted” by H L McQuaid

“Choose Wisely ” by Scott Skinner

“The Tree of Life” by Nainika Gupta

“Elysian” by 𝙰𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚢𝚜𝚝 ~

“'On my 75th birthday'” by Asha Pillay

“The Sacrifice” by Daniel R. Hayes

“Seven Seeds” by Christina Marie

“Underneath Me She Dances” by Mary Rothery

“Friends and Forever ” by ᏒᏬᏖᏂᎩ_ ᎷᏗᎩ

“We As One” by Charli Britton

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story in which an endangered species (of plant or animal) plays a central role.

Set your story in a world living with the consequences of a climate apocalypse.

Write about a community that worships Mother Nature.

Start your story with someone sitting on a crowded train and end it with them looking out over beautiful natural scenery.

Contest #90

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

814

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: