SFS 8: Pear Tree

Welcome to Vocal's Summer Fiction Series! This series is comprised of eight short fiction Challenges ranging in length from one week to eight weeks long. Each prompt is inspired by a different book from a traditional summer reading list, full of the classics that so many of us read and reread throughout childhood and adolescence to prepare for the school year ahead. We'll start with childhood classics like Matilda and Charlotte's Web, and work our way up through those high school staples like Catcher in the Rye and The Bluest Eye. It’s a little nostalgia, and a whole lot of creativity.

Keep in mind that just because each prompt is inspired by an old classic doesn't mean that your story is required to draw inspiration from that story. Free to write in your own style, or your preferred genre. As long as you've taken the prompt into account, the rest is up to you.

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This longest Challenge in the series is inspired by Their Eyes Were Watching God. In one of the most beautiful coming of age passages of all time, Hurston describes: "She was stretched on her back beneath the pear tree soaking in the alto chant of the visiting bees, the gold of the sun and the panting breath of the breeze when the inaudible voice of it all came to her." So now, we’re asking you to write a short fiction story including a pear tree at some point in your story. Whether the tree appears as a shadow on the horizon, is being climbed by your protagonist, or is simply used as a metaphor like in the novel, its purpose is entirely your call, as long as it makes an appearance.

For your story to be eligible, it should be between 600 and 2,000 words and adhere to our Community Guidelines. Stories published on Vocal and entered into the contest up until August 31, 2021, at 11:59 PM EST will be entered for consideration. Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here.

The SFS 8: Pear Tree Challenge is exclusive to Vocal+ members. To learn more and upgrade to Vocal+ visit https://vocal.media/vocal-plus.

To be eligible to win the grand prize, second place, or third place prizes, you must be over the age of 13 and residing 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 to have a Stripe account created and connected in order to receive the prizes. For this reason, entrants located outside of any of these countries will not be eligible to win.