Out of Season

The Prompt

Some things just feel wrong when they show up at the wrong time. Snow in July. Fireworks in January. A Halloween decoration that definitely wasn’t there yesterday, especially considering it’s April.

For this challenge, throw something out of season and see what happens. It could be funny, eerie, romantic, inconvenient, or completely inexplicable. Maybe something returns long after everyone thought its time had passed. Maybe a familiar tradition arrives months too early. Maybe the weather has apparently stopped checking the calendar.

Whatever you choose, make the bad timing matter. Let your characters react to it, question it, take advantage of it, or make the terrible decision to ignore it. Something is happening when it shouldn’t be, and now everyone has to deal with it.

In order for your submission to qualify, it must be:

• 3,000 words or less.
• Submitted to the Fiction community. Your story will be disqualified if it is submitted to any other community.
• Submitted before September 25, 2026 at 11:59 PM EST.
• Your work must be original and unpublished.

The Prizes

• Grand Prize: $1000
• 4 Winners: $200 each
• 10 Honorable Mentions: $15 each

For your story to be eligible, it must be 3,000 words or less and adhere to our Community Guidelines.

Stories published on Vocal and entered into the Challenge up until September 25, 2026 at 11:59 PM EST will be entered for consideration. Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here.

The Out of Season Challenge is exclusive to Vocal+ members. To learn more and upgrade to Vocal+, visit https://vocal.media/vocal-plus.

To be eligible to win, you must be over the age of 13 and reside in a country where Stripe is available at the time of entry. A complete list of countries where Stripe is available can be found here—winners will need a Stripe account created and connected to receive prizes. Entrants located outside of these countries will not be eligible to win.