Menu

More apps built by Reedsy

Assemble a team of professionals

The writing app for authors

Writing courses, events and memberships

Get your book reviewed

Weekly writing prompts and contests

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Directory
Weekly Prompts Contest
Reedsy Literary Prize
Magazine
FAQ

“Include a wake or funeral in your story where the mourners have conflicting feelings about the deceased.”

Posted in Dramatic on May 15, 2026

Submissions are closed

Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy account.

Sign in with Google
Sign in with Facebook

Or use an email address:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 68 stories

A Heart Too Big

Weekly Contest #355

She stood there staring at her body, wondering why her husband opted for an open casket. Even when she was living, she was self-conscious of her looks. But now in the afterlife, she hated the way the mortician made her unrecognizable – at least, to her. It’s been a week since her overdose. Even now, Sarah can’t remember if she did it intentionally or not. She just remembered being overjoyed with happiness one minute and then overcome with sadness the next. And now, as she scanned the room, those surrounding her were sharing the s...

8 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

What Did We Bury?

Weekly Contest #355

INMATE FOUND DEAD IN CELL: Ellis Rucker, 28, found unresponsive in his cell at Kessler Correctional early Thursday. Prison officials say foul play has not been ruled out. Clara read it twice. Then she set her phone face-down on the nightstand and lay there staring at the ceiling for a long time, listening to nothing at all until the silence became unbearable and she got up. These days it feels like she just wants to sleep forever. There were arrangements to make. The funeral home was called Hendricks & Sons. It was beige and carpeted and...

8 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

The Agony Aunt

Weekly Contest #355

Julie peered out of the car window as Nolan carefully steered around the crowd outside the church. The lane was one car width and people squashed up onto the verge to get out of the way.“You didn’t tell me your mother’s funeral would be a circus,” he muttered as the car crawled along. “Come to think of it, you didn’t tell me much about your mother at all.”“Yes, well, being her daughter isn’t something I care to advertise,” Julie said, glowering. “Drop me off here, come back and meet me in the church.”“Hey, wait,” Nolan said as Julie extricat...

8 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

An Irish Wake

Weekly Contest #355

Neala loomed over Grandma Aileen’s casket and stared at the waxy skin etched with makeup-filled crevices. Each line on the old woman’s face held a story. Frown lines told of times when she had scolded Neala for wearing shorts too short or bikinis too small; lip lines told of how many packs of Marlboro Reds she had inhaled over the years; crow’s feet had told tales of glaring at her husband when he would do things that went against what she considered moral. But there were faint smile lines hidden underneath the pastel cream. Those lines tol...

8 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

The Thing In the Casket

Weekly Contest #355

[CW: References to suicide.] The thing in the casket looked nothing like Ryan Cole. Rain poured off the sides of the heavy canvas canopy, turning the graveyard grass to mud. Underneath the tent, the humidity trapped the scent of formal clothes and dying flowers. Most of the three hundred guests saw the pale, handsome face of a devoted pastor taken too soon. But to the few who knew him well, the thing in the casket was not Ryan Cole. *** Jason sat on the front row, squeezing the foam coffee cup too tightly. The hot liquid splashed over the ...

8 likes 3 comments 3
Read story

The Woman Beneath the Bells

Weekly Contest #355

By noon, everyone in Hollowmere had come to see whether Marta Bell was truly dead.They arrived in black coats and polished boots, carrying lilies and candles. The church stood at the top of the hill, narrow and grey against the winter sky, its bell tower leaning slightly to the east. Inside, the air smelled of old incense and the bitter herbs Marta had once hung from the rafters to keep sickness from entering. Her coffin rested before the altar, closed by request of the priest, though everyone knew the request had not come from him. Marta ha...

7 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

Bye, Bitch

Weekly Contest #355

I smother my smile with my hand and a cough when my brother starts to cry at our mother's funeral.Jackson's face is pinched and bright red like an agitated boil. Fat, sloppy tears spill down his cheeks. Runny snot drips onto his white button-up shirt. It reminds me of when we were kids and I gave him a bloody nose. For what? I don't remember, but I'm sure he deserved it. Or the time AJ "the Bulldozer" Richter called him gay before running an offensive play in midget football. My little brother. Sensitive, annoying. The human equivalent of a ...

7 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

The Good In All of Us

Weekly Contest #355

The Good Inside All of Us“The line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.”-Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn It is only natural that we see ourselves as the center of the universe. We see from within, so how could it be otherwise? Henry found it troubling that the world would keep spinning, shoppers would keep shopping, cars would continue speeding down roadways, and children would still be playing, the moments following his exit from this world. Shouldn’t people care enough about his passing that they should stop doing wha...

7 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Brunch Between the Cremation and Funeral

Weekly Contest #355

(TW: Themes and mentions of child abuse, disproportionate punishment of a child) Jayme always knew the reason her mother and grandmother never got along was because they were so similar. So when Grandmother Jemima died, Jayme and her brother Jamie had shared puzzled looks over the outpouring of grief that came from thier mother. From thier Aunt and Uncle as well. From the stories they had all heard growing up, Grandmother Jemima didn’t sound like the kind of mother to be mourned. Memories related to Jayme and all the other grandchildren ...

7 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

The Smile They Remembered

Weekly Contest #355

Father Joseph looked around the sea of black in front of him as he stepped towards the lectern. The polished oak at his fingertips was cold to the touch. The lingering smell of candle wax mingled with the scent of the lilies neatly lined up in brass pots along the aisle. He had completed these motions many times before, spoken the same words, watched the same reactions. But he could confidently say that this funeral service was unlike any other he had experienced. Sunlight streamed weakly between the rain clouds building up outside through t...

6 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

A Room Full Of Quiet Lies

Weekly Contest #355

The hall smelled of old varnish and boiled water. Someone had tried to mask it with lilies, but the scent only settled on top of everything else, like a polite lie. Daniel Pike stood near the back wall, hands clasped loosely in front of him, watching the mourners drift in. He nodded when people glanced his way, offering a small, neutral smile. It was the kind of expression that cost nothing and revealed even less. Raymond Pike’s photograph sat on a folding table at the front of the room. The frame was too polished for the setting, the kind o...

6 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Not My Story to Tell

Weekly Contest #355

It’s a funeral. I don’t know what else you want me to say about it. They all go the same way, don’t they? People are sad. They dress up, then go out to dinner and pretend to be okay afterwards. This one is no different from all the rest, but I suppose I could try. Let’s see, everyone is dressed largely in black, with hair done nicely, beards shaved, and respectfully boring jewelry on the ladies. That old woman in the black blazer over her blouse and string of pearls, that outfit she keeps in her closet specifically for occasions like these. ...

6 likes 3 comments 3
Read story

Bad Mother Funeral

Weekly Contest #355

Chapter 1 “Are you family? I need to know where to seat you.” The man eyes me like he thinks he may have seen me on the wanted posters at the post office.“Could you just put me at the back?” He nods but still looks at me suspiciously. I’m sure with a population of less than a thousand, this man probably knows every soul who lives in Bobo.“You look like her, but I don’t know you.” Apparently, he has concluded that I am an outsider and does not want me to look anything like his fine townsfolk. He seats me in the back row. I am still unsure ab...

6 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

The Light in the dark

Weekly Contest #355

The room was magnificent and it contained undeniable history; it held the laughter, tears and whispers of past events within its walls. There were three large windows on each side of the walls but the beauty of the room lay in the arched, stain-glassed window at the front. At that moment, the rays of the sun shone bright into the room casting a golden glow. The arched window, on the other hand, created a colourful halo around a marble casket laid majestically at the front. The silence of the room was broken by the entrance of a brown-haire...

6 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

Meeting in the Living Room

Weekly Contest #355

The air in the room was heavy with the scent of lilies and the collective weight of things left unsaid. Most of the guests wore black, a uniform of mourning that felt as hollow as the speeches being given and the space left empty at the end of the table.Among them sat a young girl who cared very little for tradition; she was currently waging a private war with a collar of itchy lace. The dress was stiff and drab. Everyone wore black, she had been told, but she hated the dark hue and wanted to wear purple, her favorite colour. It was her fath...

5 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Set your story at a dinner where two or more people share the table. Each is carrying a secret, or hiding something about another person in the room.

– 34 stories

Set your story on the night before a battle or an impossible mission. Show what different characters are thinking and feeling.

– 31 stories

Include an argument between two or more characters that seems to be about one thing, but is actually about another.

– 29 stories

Set your story at a gathering or event (a wedding, gala, celebration, court feast, etc.) where personal, political, romantic, and/or familial stakes collide.

– 44 stories

How to Write a Novel

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

How to Write a Novel