Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog

Menu

✕
CONNECT
Editing Design Marketing Publicity Ghostwriting Websites
BLOG
Success Stories
APPS
TOOLS
Book Promotion Sites Book Review Blogs Booktube Channel Guide Book Title Generator Character Name Generator Independent Publishers Literary Agents Literary Magazines Pen Name Generator Plot Generator Publishers Directory Short Story Ideas Writing Contests Writing Exercises Writing Scholarships
ABOUT
About Reedsy Terms Privacy

CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write about the longest day of the year, or a day that never seems to end.

Posted in Summer 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.

Sign in with Google
Sign in with Facebook

Or create a new Reedsy account:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 99 stories

“Purgatory” by Lucine Hanna

Submitted to Contest #99

I suddenly woke up to light peering through my window, but it wasn’t a new day. It was the same day as yesterday. And the same day as the day before that. I turn around in my bed, pulling the comforter over my face. Eventually, I’ll get out of bed when my Mom gently knocks on my door. She'll end up pleading with me to get out of bed. Then, I’ll drive to school and show up a few minutes late. Between periods, I’ll slowly walk to my next class in a trance-like state. While everyone around me is joking with friends or trying to get last-minute ...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Long Rites of Day” by Joe S

Submitted to Contest #99

   The gorge's name was Tybus. A crooked lesion of sun bleached sandstone and exposed shale, marked by the passage of a dead river bed. Yellow sunlight swallowed the gorge in its predatory immensity, locked leech-like upon the crooked stone like some eternal unavoidable predator, weathering the fissured rise of rock on either side.     A fitty place for endings.    Valen suppressed a shudder at the sight, closing his eyes to the oppressive sunlight glaring all around him. He breathed deep, fe...

2 comments 2
Read story

“In Just One Day” by Philip Baker

Submitted to Contest #99

Under the protection of the slanted rainbow umbrella, rooted inside the infinitesimal grain of the sand that was light enough for the wind to blow around as he pleased, there stood Alice over a blue-white striped deck-chair with wooden frame in the color of the beach and tenuous hair carefully skewed in her face to hide the strong reflection of the sunlight.  She had planned this trip months ago for the summer, with her boyfriend Michael who was lying with his sunglasses on, right next to her and she had finally managed to get the much...

0 comments 0
Read story

“The Cursed Summer Solstice” by Penny Polendina

Submitted to Contest #99

     June 21st. Summer solstice. The longest day of the year. Well…here we go.      I believe summer solstices are jerks.      You know, like how they last forever? When you stare at the sky, and the sun seems to be moving at snail-pace? And then you go, come onnnn sun! Just let this stupid day be over!      I usually like writing stories. Crossovers, picking up unfinished plot threads in my favorite anime, and those activities drag the ...

2 comments 2
Read story

“The Earth Strikes Back” by Rami Dhanoa

Submitted to Contest #99

Inhaling the crisp morning air in the first moments of wakeful consciousness, I realized with glee that I hadn't overslept, especially on such an important day. Arising from my stack of sleeping mats bundled together for makeshift comfort, I walked toward the mouth of the cave I was sleeping in, and peered outside. A vast vista of barely illuminated mountain peaks were starting to make themselves visible, painted a prominent pink-orange by the light of the rising sun. The birds were as of yet silent, and with the wind barely blowing through ...

0 comments 0
Read story

“The Longest Day” by Carol Carll

Submitted to Contest #99

The airport in Portland was so quiet at 4:00 am. I guess not that many people were traveling at 4:00 am on January 30th, 2021. The echo of my phone ringing bounced off the empty walls, floor, and window.  The call I dreaded, more than any other, in my seventy-five years had come. I knew who it was calling and headed for a bench. “Hello,” That word began the longest day of my life. My sobbing granddaughter stuttered out the most hurtful words of my life.  “He’s gone, Grandma!” I was weeping as I went into a merciful fog ...

0 comments 0
Read story

“June 20th” by Mandy McCool

Submitted to Contest #99

Have you ever lived a day that stretched on past the usual twenty-four hours? I'm not talking about one of those days at work that seem to last forever. No. I'm talking about a day that goes on for weeks, months, and even a full rotation around the sun. Oh, it's impossible? Obviously you must not remember June 20th. At least, not the June 20th that I just lived through. It began innocently enough. It was a Sunday this year, and also fell on Father's Day... not that that detail matters too terribly for the sake of this story, just a pointle...

2 comments 2
Read story

“A Days-Long Journey ” by SCOTT GEORGE

Submitted to Contest #99

The small alarm on Jerry's Perpetual Stopwatch let off a small chirping sound. The noise was so soft that it took Jerry a full minute to wake up, but, when he did, he quickly shut it off and removed his blindfold. A barrage of white sunlight immediately assaulted his vision, and Jerry had to blink and rub his eyes until he became accustomed to it. After two weeks on the road, he had gotten used to this procedure, but that didn't make it less annoying or uncomfortable. When his vision cleared, Jerry, as usual, found himself in the interior ...

4 comments 4
Read story

“A disease we don't even know we have” by Uma Coffey

Submitted to Contest #99

If one more person over fifty tells me to enjoy my youth (‘It’s the most exciting time of your entire life!’), I think I’ll tackle them. I don’t think that I’ll be able to stop myself physically tackling them. I don’t know if they’ve forgotten what youth is like, or whether what they’re saying is true, so I’m either just the only teenager ever not having the best time of my life, or the rest of my life is going to be even more boring and depressing than what I’m experiencing right now. And I can’t figure out which I prefer, ho...

0 comments 0
Read story

“The Day The Sun Rose the Highest...” by Lennox Ducksworth

Submitted to Contest #99

It was June 20th when it happened. Remember that day Heidi? It was another day like any other. Heard that a million times though right? Thinking about it now, I wish it was. I wish we would have just continued walking from the park to my house, where we would finish the rest of the afternoon watching old VHS tapes while eating trail mix. Too bad that never happened. Even worse than that day, the world changed. This was harder than I thought. My therapist advised me to come to talk to you as it would be helpful, therapeutic even. Yet the only...

0 comments 0
Read story

“The Speaking Bee” by Zachery Anderson

Submitted to Contest #99

I realized that it was the summer solstice, and the day did feel longer than usual. The line inched forward. I looked at the scribbled paper in my hand. I still hadn’t decided which word I was going to say. A man ahead of me stepped up to the microphone. The crowd was quiet. He lifted his carbon filter and said, “wife”. There was a murmur in the audience, and he exited the stage. The line moved forward, and as I stepped I could feel the vial in my back pocket. I had lived in New Toronto for 10 years. I came voluntarily which was not how mo...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Tyrants of time” by Anderson Lemus - Del Cid

Submitted to Contest #99

Betrayed by the compliance to my conformity, as if by doing so I’d be contented. Rather, I do not know what “wonder” they speak of, or “joy”. Insidiously listening to those congregated at the water cooler, drenching their unsatisfiable mouths, contaminating the atmosphere with their vague minds. Complying to subside with this awfulness, it has begun to prove impossible. My every day involves a routine of hot air sweeping to mix with the dead, dry, cold air prevalent in here to brew the tornado of thoughts that I have about myself and those i...

0 comments 0
Read story

“The Play ” by Angel Gonzales

Submitted to Contest #99

Students came running the exit doors as soon as they heard the bell rang; signaling that their last class has finally ended. All too excited to have the best vacation of their lives. Yet, Sonya’s class still stuck in the theater room practicing for their full-length play.  Their sweat dripping from all over their body as if they're melting with this hot weather. They even opened the enormous windows in the room hoping to get some fresh air but it did nothing in fact, the room got hotter. They ended up closing the windows. Most of th...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Open the Door!!!” by Aali Pant

Submitted to Contest #99

Life in the late twenties is a transition. Career starts taking shape; mood keeps swinging from being calm and meditative to an urge to go out for the late-night parties. One is too wise for the young Instagram-driven life coaches and too young for the experience-driven experts. In short, it is nothing less than going through puberty all over again, transformational, and occasionally painful. The pain this time is not the cramps or random body developments but that of a constant nudge of random people into your personal life. The life of Vib...

2 comments 2
Read story

“Valentine's Day, Sort of” by Eve Y

Submitted to Contest #99

“RINGGG!! RINGGG!!”  I woke to the ballistic sounds of my alarm, rolling over in bed to smack the OFF button.  “Macy!” my roommate yelled at me from across our compact dorm room, “How many times have I told you to get rid of that thing!”  “If it wasn’t for that alarm Jenny,  we’d have been expelled from campus a long time ago, and you know it.” I retorted as I sluggishly dragged myself out of bed. Jenny followed in suit. “Yeah, yeah, I know.” she said, folding her sheets neatly on her bed.  “And yet you always fo...

0 comments 0
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Begin your story with somebody watching the sunrise, or sunset.

Fluff – 275 stories

End your story with somebody stepping out into the sunshine.

Summer – 211 stories

Write a story about somebody reminiscing on an event that happened many summers ago.

Summer – 217 stories

Write a story about characters going on a summer road trip.

Summer – 104 stories

Contest #99

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: Summer Solstice

$50

Prize money

909

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jun 25, 2021 EST

Won by Tom Vandel 🏆

Title: The Men and the Lake

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!

NEW VIDEO COURSE 🎉

How to Write a Novel

Join Tom Bromley for a writing master class and finish your first draft in 3 months. Learn more →

Explore more writing prompt ideas:

Adults Writing Prompts ⭢

Adventure Writing Prompts ⭢

Angst Writing Prompts ⭢

Character Writing Prompts ⭢

Christmas Writing Prompts ⭢

Dark Writing Prompts ⭢

Dialogue Writing Prompts ⭢

Dramatic Writing Prompts ⭢

Dystopian Writing Prompts ⭢

Fall Writing Prompts ⭢

Fantasy Writing Prompts ⭢

Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Fluff Writing Prompts ⭢

Funny Writing Prompts ⭢

Halloween Writing Prompts ⭢

High School Writing Prompts ⭢

Historical Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Holiday Writing Prompts ⭢

Horror Writing Prompts ⭢

Kids Writing Prompts ⭢

Middle School Writing Prompts ⭢

Mystery Writing Prompts ⭢

Narrative Writing Prompts ⭢

Nonfiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Novel Writing Prompts ⭢

Poetry Writing Prompts ⭢

Romance Writing Prompts ⭢

Sad Writing Prompts ⭢

Science Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Short Story Writing Prompts ⭢

Spring Writing Prompts ⭢

Summer Writing Prompts ⭢

Teens Writing Prompts ⭢

Thanksgiving Writing Prompts ⭢

Thriller and Suspense Writing Prompts ⭢

Valentine's Day Writing Prompts ⭢

Vampire Writing Prompts ⭢

Winter Writing Prompts ⭢