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All the Fixin's 🌽


Next weekend is Thanksgiving in the United States! And while people have their own various traditions when it comes to marking the holiday, one thing remains fairly consistent: you get together with loved ones and you eat.

And in between mouthfuls, you talk! In fact, dinner conversation can be an excellent and overflowing source of writing inspiration — from family dynamics and long-observed dinner-time rituals, to new-comer partners meeting the family for the first time. A family dinner often follows traditional story structure: with a beginning, followed by rising action, peaking with a climax, and then wrapping up with a denouement.

This week, each of our prompts challenges you to write a short story involving a family dinner.

P.S – Know some kiddos who will be excited to do some reading over the holidays? Check out this list of the 35 best Thanksgiving books to read with kids.
  1. Write a story about a family dinner from the perspective of an in-law who's married into the family.
     
  2. Write a story about a family dinner that includes someone unexpected showing up.
     
  3. Write a story about a "chosen family" dinner, where no one is related by blood, but they still feel like family.
     
  4. Write a story about a family dinner that takes place in any time period other than the present.
     
  5. Write a story about a family dinner that involves some kind of reconciliation.

Short Story Contest — $50 Reward


Reedsy challenges you to create a short story based on these prompts. Winners will be featured on Reedsy Prompts and receive $50 via PayPal! In order to have your story considered, it is important you follow the submission guidelines.

The latest winner 🏆
Congratulations to the latest winner, Caitlin Mullin! Their short story, “In the Veins of the Night,” is based on the prompt: "Write about one character’s fundamental misunderstanding of another character’s job."

The 'Everyone's An Expert' edition of our contest received 213 submissions! Thank you to all who submitted! You can read all of the entries here.

Submission Guidelines:
  • Go to this week's Reedsy Prompts contest page
  • Select the prompt you'd like to submit a story to.
  • If you haven't already, sign up for a free Reedsy Prompts account.
  • Enter your title and story, and then hit "Submit story."
  • The length should be 1,000-3,000 words.
  • The deadline to submit a short story based on any of the above prompts is the end of the day on November 29th, at 11:59pm EST. 
Any other questions? Check out our Terms of Use or FAQ!
Looking forward to reading your stories!

– Arielle, Blog Editor @ Reedsy

P.S - Want to brush up on your short-story-writing skills? Our free, online course can help you out. Check it out here!
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