Set your story in the woods or on a campground.

Posted in Summer on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 82 stories

“The Case of the Missing Children” by Olivia Snead

Submitted to Contest #143

“How can you bring your heart to leave my children all alone in the wood…” Hansel and Gretel Grimm’s Fairy Tales Saturday, October 7 Edgar Nikephoros Huntinger, private investigator, smiled at Amaltheia Amaranthus across the candlelit table, at Spyro’s in downtown Miami. “You look lovely tonight, Amaltheia. Your satin dress complements your ivory skin and dark Grecian features. But it seems an odd color. M-m...

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“Molly and Emily” by Richard Leslie Brock

Submitted to Contest #143

MOLLY AND EMILY This was the summer of their sixteenth year for Molly and her best friend Emily, and it was going to be special. They were going to summer camp. Molly was so excited with anticipation that she had butterflies in her stomach and was sick almost every day anxious for their departure date arrive on August 12th. A charter bus would take their girl scout troop from Nucla to Grand Junction, then Denver, and finally Boulder where it would turn west toward Aspen Camp at the foot of Long’s Peak. For months the girls had pored over t...

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“Gordon” by Michael Regan

Submitted to Contest #143

Courage - the ability to do something that frightens one.When you approach your three score and ten, if you are lucky, you can look back on days that make you smile and feel good about yourself. Not one of the big days, the births and weddings, the days that, hopefully, everyone has enjoyed. But, a day when you were involved in helping someone with a heroic act. You don’t have to be the person diving into a lake to rescue a child. Maybe you just got the blankets and kept them both warm until the ambulance arrives. For some of us it wil...

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“Reaching Through the Woods” by Clara Candace Farr

Submitted to Contest #143

Fort Plain, New York. Square brick buildings randomly sitting alone in fields of overgrowth. Tractor wheels and carts with trees growing out of what used to be the center of farm equipment. Abandon lives frozen in time and taken over by brush and trees. The random building told a story of a different time long forgotten. Highways built that took people far away from the past. Make-shift homes that clung on to staying. What did this place used to be? We speed through on the I90. No one else taking...

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“Two-Faced Views” by K.J Stars

Submitted to Contest #143

Run, run, run. Every wheezing breath and burning muscles aided me with swinging arms and legs going back and forth at such a speed I almost felt like I was hovering on the grassy frown with naturally silent steps instead of running on it.The ever-looming presence of that—that creature felt hot on my heels, darkness jumping from midnight-covered trees to trees.Outside my own accord, I glance back, my vision momentarily blocked by my whitetail seemingly grey in the night before switching to reveal a silver tip that looked l...

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“Water in the Fire” by Cody Cooper

Submitted to Contest #143

The only illumination in these woods were the star lights, moonlight, and the dwindling campfire centered in a small clearance within the woods. Around the campfire were a group of five young adults enjoying the getaway from the hustle and bustle of urban college life. The only sign that any civilization ever touched this section of the woods was the access road that enabled the group’s truck and towed trailer to reach this spot. The only noises were the bugs chirping, the piles of empty beer b...

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“Childhood Memories - my double life ” by M. M.

Submitted to Contest #143

Growing up in the 60s living in the mid-west, my family and I would spend our summer's at a log cabin my late father had built on a lakefront property in Quebec, Canada. Now, this was interesting as I grew up both American/Canadian, born and raised in both countries, my mother being French speaking from Quebec. That said, let's talk about how we spent our summer's driving to Lac du Pimichaugan. Five kids, two cats and our dog Biff, a big yellow mix that really became distraught having been cooped up in a hot non-air conditioned car for hours...

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“City and Nature” by Robert Obszanski

Submitted to Contest #143

I always hated outdoorsy stuff; nature hikes, fishing and especially camping. Why bother going out into the middle of nowhere when you can have all you ever wanted in the city? Besides, there’s Wi-Fi. My friends disagree, of course. They tell me I need to be outdoors once in a while. “It’ll do you some good to escape from the screens you keep staring at all day.” I tell th...

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“Find the bum” by Scott Skinner

Submitted to Contest #143

When Allan took his final inhale, the cherry on the joint burned to its cream-toned crutch, and ash-tainted air rushed to the back of his throat. The rank taste made him purse his lips and lap at his mouth like a dog. As his tongue flipped around his gums, it streaked across his teeth, where he thought he felt the ridges of decaying enamel. In between pinched fingers, he raised the joint in front of him for inspection, but he was downwind, near a smoky campfire, and things were challenging to see.Allan had the makings of what Sara wanted in ...

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“The Nature of Humanity” by Cath Atkins

Submitted to Contest #143

Warning: Substance Abuse/Child Abuse The Nature of Humanity Garrett stood at a lean 6ft, or at least he would have had he not developed a stoop. The funny side of life wasn’t lost on him. He had spent his childhood trying to go unnoticed, mainly by his mother and her endless string of boyfriends but also from the other kids at the trailer park who seemed to make it their mission to terrorise him. Now here he was, finally having mastered the art of invisibility. Quite often he would muse that it’s the only skill his mother ever taught hi...

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“Campground Mystery” by Melinda Madrigal

Submitted to Contest #143

Two years earlier Three best friends Emmie, Theo and Cassie head to North Pines campground for a weekend of fun only to never be seen or heard from again. The search for Emma, Theo and Cassie went on for two weeks, no sign of them has ever been found. Those who go to North Pines for a weekend of camping are haunted by the disappearance of the three friends and they never last the full weekend. A sign is posted at the entrance of the camping ground reads "Camp at your own risk." Now two years after the disappearance of Emmie, Theo and...

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“Family Camping ” by Karen Lethlean

Submitted to Contest #143

Family Camping This was a family event. Heading into the forest, woods or as us Australians like to say. Bush, not the type of bush a surfer keeps in his groin. Unless he or she shaves it off. Another story that I learned in primary school was about Sir John Forest, a dignitary who never wanted Western Australia to join the Commonwealth. As we set off again, wind stiffened sending an armada of clouds scuttling across the sun. Cooler now, and I am glad of my red bobble hat. Angry gusts rustle along the shore, intensifying the briny, slig...

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“The Rowing Boat” by Andrea Doig

Submitted to Contest #143

Like everyone else in the town, he’d heard about the events with the rowing boat. He just couldn’t remember them, and one year later the details remained submerged in his tortured mind.God knows he’d tried, but his memories of that day were as elusive as the whispers of a story he couldn’t quite hear. He’d given up trying to drag them to the surface - along with the recollections of his life before.On this ordinary autumn day, he awoke with the usual birdsong at the usual time. He had his first coffee of the day on the deck, just like every ...

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“Across The Creek ” by Stella Bleu

Submitted to Contest #143

The woods look warm, and inviting. The sun streams through the trees and shines through onto the fallen leaves and pine needles. It looks as if the forest is glowing, or on fire. Past the glowing trees and the squirrels weaving in and out of the tree tops, there is a creek, and well, beyond the creek? Beyond the creek is dangerous, and unknown. This is what Fay sees as she looks off the deck of her grandparents cabin. She’s been visiting the cabin every year, for a week, each June, since she was four. She has explored what seems like ...

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“Through the Woods” by Pat Quenette

Submitted to Contest #143

Daya leaned forward as she tightened the straps of her backpack. Her shoulders shrugged, feeling the weight rise and fall against the small of her back, scrunching her bright pink shirt to reveal her midriff. Adjusting her top, she looked over to find Jake, his bag resting on the ground, leaning against his truck. His grey eyes lingered on her as she tested her equipment. “What?” Daya snickered, hands looped into the shoulder straps. Jake’s lips curled into a grin. “Stop looking at me like that.” Daya turned her back to him, glancin...

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Set your story in the woods or on a campground.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 82 stories

“The Case of the Missing Children” by Olivia Snead

“Molly and Emily” by Richard Leslie Brock

“Gordon” by Michael Regan

“Reaching Through the Woods” by Clara Candace Farr

“Two-Faced Views” by K.J Stars

“Water in the Fire” by Cody Cooper

“Childhood Memories - my double life ” by M. M.

“City and Nature” by Robert Obszanski

“Find the bum” by Scott Skinner

“The Nature of Humanity” by Cath Atkins

“Campground Mystery” by Melinda Madrigal

“Family Camping ” by Karen Lethlean

“The Rowing Boat” by Andrea Doig

“Across The Creek ” by Stella Bleu

“Through the Woods” by Pat Quenette

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a character who loves cloud gazing.

Start or end your story with a person buying a house plant.

Write about a trip to see a natural sight that’s usually only ever seen in photos.

Write a story involving a friendship between two different species.

Contest #143

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

253

Contest entries

139

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: