r/WritingPrompts • u/katpoker666 • 5d ago

Off Topic [OT] Fun Trope Friday: Evil Landscape & Gothic Horror!

12 Upvotes

Welcome to Fun Trope Friday, our feature that mashes up tropes and genres!

How’s it work? Glad you asked. :)

 

  • Every week we will have a new spotlight trope.

  • Each week, there will be a new genre assigned to write a story about the trope.

  • You can then either use or subvert the trope and/or genre in a 750-word max story or poem (unless otherwise specified).

  • To qualify for ranking, you will need to provide ONE actionable feedback. More are welcome of course!

 

Three winners will be selected each week based on votes, so remember to read your fellow authors’ works and DM me your votes for the top three.

 

Next up… IP

 

It’s October. The time of falling leaves, jack o’lanterns, and candy. And blood… so much blood. This month will be focusing on all things horror with maybe a treat or two to sweeten the pot. Please note this theme is only loosely applied.

 

"The scariest monsters are the ones that lurk within our souls." — Edgar Allan Poe

 

Trope: Evil Landscape — The trope is where a cemetery, temple, forest, etc. is considered holy... to the forces of evil. Whether it was the site of great and terrible crimes, incredible bloodshed, unholy rituals to malevolent beings or other atrocious acts, the very ground itself and any surrounding lands are now cursed. Exact results vary, but the most common are that evil is stronger, good is weaker and things buried here don't stay down for long.

 

Genre: Gothic Horror — Gothic horror is one of the oldest of the horror genres. Darker, edgier and on the Romanticism end of Romanticism vs. Enlightenment (in fact, it quite literally emerged alongside the Romantic movement in the late 18th century as a reaction against the values of the Enlightenment), it tends to play on both the thrill and the fear of the unknown and places a great importance on atmosphere. It's usually heavily symbolic, sometimes even dreamlike.

 

Skill / Constraint - optional: Smelling salts are required.

 

So, have at it. Lean into the trope heavily or spin it on its head. The choice is yours!

 

Have a great idea for a future topic to discuss or just want to give feedback? FTF is a fun feature, so it’s all about what you want—so please let me know! Please share in the comments or DM me on Discord or Reddit!

 

Last Week’s Winners

PLEASE remember to give feedback—this affects your ranking. PLEASE also remember to DM me your votes for the top five stories via Discord or Reddit—both katpoker666. This is a change from the top three of the past. In weeks where we get over 15 stories, we will do a top five ranking. Weeks with less than 15 stories will show only our top three winners. If you have any questions, please DM me as well.

Some fabulous stories this week and great crit at campfire and on the post! We had 11 stories, so we’re back to three winners. Congrats to:

 

 

Want to read your words aloud? Join the upcoming FTF Campfire

The next FTF campfire will be Thursday, October 22nd from 6-8pm ET. It will be in the Discord Main Voice Lounge. Click on the events tab and mark ‘Interested’ to be kept up to date. No signup or prep needed and you don’t have to have written anything! So join in the fun—and shenanigans! 😊

 

Ground rules:

  • Stories must incorporate both the trope and the genre
  • Leave one story or poem between 100 and 750 words as a top-level comment unless otherwise specified. Use wordcounter.net to check your word count.
  • Deadline: 11:59 PM EDT next Thursday. Please note stories submitted after the 6:00 PM EST campfire start may not be critted.
  • No stories that have been written for another prompt or feature here on WP—please note after consultation with some of our delightful writers, new serials are now welcomed here
  • No previously written content
  • Any stories not meeting these rules will be disqualified from rankings
  • Does your story not fit the Fun Trope Friday rules? You can post your story as a [PI] with your work when the FTF post is 3 days old!
  • Please keep crit about the stories. Any crit deemed too distracting may be deleted. This is a time to focus on our wonderful authors.
  • Vote by next Friday at 11:59 AM EDT to help your favorites rise to the top of the ranks (DM me at katpoker666 on Discord or Reddit)!

 

Thanks for joining in the fun!  

26 comments

r/WritingPrompts • u/katpoker666 • 12d ago

Off Topic [OT] Fun Trope Friday: Undead Laborers and Folk Horror!

13 Upvotes

Welcome to Fun Trope Friday, our feature that mashes up tropes and genres!

How’s it work? Glad you asked. :)

 

  • Every week we will have a new spotlight trope.

  • Each week, there will be a new genre assigned to write a story about the trope.

  • You can then either use or subvert the trope and/or genre in a 750-word max story or poem (unless otherwise specified).

  • To qualify for ranking, you will need to provide ONE actionable feedback. More are welcome of course!

 

Three winners will be selected each week based on votes, so remember to read your fellow authors’ works and DM me your votes for the top three.

 

Next up… IP

 

It’s October. The time of falling leaves, jack o’lanterns, and candy. And blood… so much blood. This month will be focusing on all things horror with maybe a treat or two to sweeten the pot. Please note this theme is only loosely applied.

 

"Humanity is mind-controlled and only slightly more conscious than your average zombie." — David Icke

 

Trope: Undead Laborers — When someone uses The Undead, such as zombies and reanimated corpses, as a cheap labor force for simple but time-consuming tasks, such as mining. From a business perspective, using undead workers is a very cost-efficient strategy: zombies and skeletons don't need to sleep or eat, never get sick, and are unlikely to spontaneously form undead trade unions due to lacking free will. As such, it is one of the least morally objectionable ways to use Human Resources, although it always depends on where exactly the dead are coming from and what the local culture considers desecration.

 

Genre: Folk Horror — Folk horror is a subgenre of horror that draws on folklore, rural settings, and ancient rituals to evoke fear and unease. It often explores themes of isolation, the supernatural, and the tension between modernity and ancient beliefs.Includes folklore elements, rural settings, and rituals.

 

Skill / Constraint - optional: Someone trips in some form.

 

So, have at it. Lean into the trope heavily or spin it on its head. The choice is yours!

 

Have a great idea for a future topic to discuss or just want to give feedback? FTF is a fun feature, so it’s all about what you want—so please let me know! Please share in the comments or DM me on Discord or Reddit!

 

Last Week’s Winners

PLEASE remember to give feedback—this affects your ranking. PLEASE also remember to DM me your votes for the top five stories via Discord or Reddit—both katpoker666. This is a change from the top three of the past. In weeks where we get over 15 stories, we will do a top five ranking. Weeks with less than 15 stories will show only our top three winners. If you have any questions, please DM me as well.

Some fabulous stories this week and great crit at campfire and on the post! We had 18 stories, so we’re back to five winners. Congrats to:

 

 

Want to read your words aloud? Join the upcoming FTF Campfire

The next FTF campfire will be Thursday, October 15th from 6-8pm ET. It will be in the Discord Main Voice Lounge. Click on the events tab and mark ‘Interested’ to be kept up to date. No signup or prep needed and you don’t have to have written anything! So join in the fun—and shenanigans! 😊

 

Ground rules:

  • Stories must incorporate both the trope and the genre
  • Leave one story or poem between 100 and 750 words as a top-level comment unless otherwise specified. Use wordcounter.net to check your word count.
  • Deadline: 11:59 PM EDT next Thursday. Please note stories submitted after the 6:00 PM EST campfire start may not be critted.
  • No stories that have been written for another prompt or feature here on WP—please note after consultation with some of our delightful writers, new serials are now welcomed here
  • No previously written content
  • Any stories not meeting these rules will be disqualified from rankings
  • Does your story not fit the Fun Trope Friday rules? You can post your story as a [PI] with your work when the FTF post is 3 days old!
  • Please keep crit about the stories. Any crit deemed too distracting may be deleted. This is a time to focus on our wonderful authors.
  • Vote by next Friday at 11:59 AM EDT to help your favorites rise to the top of the ranks (DM me at katpoker666 on Discord or Reddit)!

 

Thanks for joining in the fun!  

28 comments

r/WritingPrompts • u/Kitty_Fuchs • 7h ago

Writing Prompt [WP] You are a superhero known for resolving conflicts peacefully. Not because you cant fight, but because in combat you are kind of a one-trick pony. All you can do is utterly annihilate your opponent, with no ability to regulate your power, leaving you with very little options in battle.

218 Upvotes
6 comments

r/WritingPrompts • u/HenryChess • 11h ago

Writing Prompt [WP] "Choose a game. If you beat me in that game, you get to live longer," said Death. "But, since you are a chess grandmaster, you cannot choose chess."

115 Upvotes
23 comments

r/WritingPrompts • u/CrestlessYeoman • 2h ago

Writing Prompt [WP] You are a lowly country esquire and member of the household of the Queen Dowager. You’d assume that, as the mother of a King, she’d be mature, but she’s still in her twenties. She forms a bond with you, and despite needing parliamentary approval to do so, she wants to marry you.

17 Upvotes
2 comments

r/WritingPrompts • u/Worldly_Lab_7061 • 15h ago

Writing Prompt [WP] As a witch living alone in the woods, you often get lost children, desperate women, and greedy men who seek out your gifts. But one day you get a guest that surprises you.

110 Upvotes
6 comments

r/WritingPrompts • u/FinalAd6453 • 7h ago

Writing Prompt [WP] Hades had never been great at courting women. Kidnapping and forced proximity had worked for him before, so he tried it again with you.

22 Upvotes

First time posting here.

1 comment

r/WritingPrompts • u/BlastUpYourAss • 1h ago

Writing Prompt [WP] It is discovered that the concept of death ceases to exist for exactly 1 day a year, however this day changes every year and you think you might know how to pinpoint it.

• Upvotes
1 comment

r/WritingPrompts • u/DuckLordOfTheSith • 5h ago

Writing Prompt [WP] The service is called Deference. A patron chooses a single aspect of their life - anything from financial debt to physical ailment - and with one signature can erase it for however long they choose. But when the term ends, it returns with double effect.

12 Upvotes
3 comments

r/WritingPrompts • u/Gregamonster • 21h ago

Established Universe [EU] At Gotham University you jokingly made a list of what kinds of supervillains your classmates would become based on their names. After the third prediction cam true, your joke got a lot less funny.

160 Upvotes
3 comments

r/WritingPrompts • u/pasgotti • 18m ago

Writing Prompt [WP] Two decades and trillions of dollars later the first thing the Alpha Intelligence Program did when it came online was ask for you, a humble priest.

• Upvotes
1 comment

r/WritingPrompts • u/TheBeardedAntt • 6h ago

Established Universe [EU] “Well it was a good run. I knew stealing galactic cargo on the outer rim wouldn’t last forever. So what’s my punishment? Death? Slave camp?” Hooded one: “Even worse, Pod Racing for me.”

10 Upvotes
1 comment

r/WritingPrompts • u/Clear_Ad4106 • 11h ago

Established Universe [EU] "So Doctor, I heard you are quite found of this new apprentice you got. Very found I dare to say." "What are you implying?" "Everyone knows she enters and exits your house whenever she pleases." "I asure you my relationship with Miss Hide is entirely professional." "If you say so, Jeckyl..."

21 Upvotes
2 comments

r/WritingPrompts • u/Ok_Fisherman8770 • 8h ago

Writing Prompt [WP] A vampire coven prepares to raid a party that will be attended by almost 100 of the richest, scummiest people to ever walk the earth.

13 Upvotes
4 comments

r/WritingPrompts • u/Visible-Ad8263 • 4h ago

Writing Prompt [WP] Farewell; a 100% mortality rate pandemic, ravages across the World—with the odd side effect of those suffering from it returning back to 100% perfect health and clarity for exactly 24hrs before they die.

7 Upvotes
1 comment

r/WritingPrompts • u/younGrandon • 2h ago

Writing Prompt [WP] Everywhere you turned, it was there. That damned advertisement. That damn slogan. That damn jingle. Fine. If you had to procure it to get rid of it, then so be it.

3 Upvotes
1 comment

r/WritingPrompts • u/NoSloppyStakes • 37m ago

Image Prompt [IP] A Raider shooting a 'Wasp' and causing it to explode.

• Upvotes

Media: https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fxnb7otic0kwh1.jpg
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/ArcRaidersPhotography/comments/1xaj8wm/explosions/

Forgive me if this is not how you request an "Image Prompt" but if so please enjoy :)

The Game is Arc Raiders if you want to do research before writing your story - though, it doesn't have to be game-specific. Any story that you are inspired to write based on the photo is welcome!

1 comment

r/WritingPrompts • u/Mindless-Show4468 • 5h ago

Writing Prompt [WP] The guard made a quick inspection of our papers holding the documents up against our faces. He ignored all explanations with a doubtful expression but finally let us pass. We tried to figure out why so many had be detained and how we could help them.

4 Upvotes
1 comment

r/WritingPrompts • u/plogan56 • 5h ago

Writing Prompt [WP] you are a Earth's ambassador for joining the intergalactic federation, "how and why" you may ask, that's because you managed to accidentally court a federation council member's offspring 😅

5 Upvotes
1 comment

r/WritingPrompts • u/Mr_Swade • 1d ago

Writing Prompt [WP] Humans have found a crashed alien ship and have scavenged the technology for themselves. When the aliens who lost the ship finally meet humanity, they are horrified to learn that the humans have been using the teleporters on themselves…

338 Upvotes
36 comments

r/WritingPrompts • u/Equivalent_Can2971 • 1d ago

Writing Prompt [WP] The fairy economy is built on an un-currency: instead of being valuable an un-currency is something you want to get rid of, but can't simply throw away. To buy something from a fairy you have to agree to take some of their un-currency in exchange.

344 Upvotes

Example: you buy an apple from a fairy, but the fairy also gives you 10 [insert name of un-currency]

9 comments

r/WritingPrompts • u/New-Sheepherder-1373 • 1d ago

Established Universe [EU] Mr. Wilson passed peacefully in his sleep. Away from all his pain and turmoil. He woke up inside his home again, all too suddenly, in a salt circle he cant leave. He looks down to find an older Dennis the Menace, looking up from the Ouija Board. He summoned him to annoy him, beyond the grave.

63 Upvotes
2 comments

r/WritingPrompts • u/dark-phoenix-lady • 10h ago

Writing Prompt [WP] Your beloved familiar has just enacted the 'my life for yours' rite to save you from a fatal injury. As you're blacking out from the stress of switching bodies, you're vaguely aware of someone chanting the words to a major healing spell.

3 Upvotes
1 comment

r/WritingPrompts • u/FennecWF • 1d ago

Writing Prompt [WP] On this episode of Undercover Boss, a Lich dresses down as a Skeleton Soldier and goes to the first level of his own Dungeon to learn how his First Level Boss, Falgar the Fallen, handles things. And he does not like what he finds.

392 Upvotes
7 comments

r/WritingPrompts • u/MeganBessel • 12h ago

Simple Prompt [SP] Two necromancers argue over the labor rights of a reanimated corpse

5 Upvotes
1 comment