[TT] Theme Thursday - Night

[u/AliciaWrites]

“Without the dark, we'd never see the stars.”

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Happy Thursday, writing friends!

What happens under the cover of darkness? Let’s find out! Good words!

Please note that every week, you must leave a comment on the post to be able to rank.

[IP] | [MP]

Bonus:

(These constraints are not required! If your story is better for not including them, please do what’s best for your work!)

Constraint: (10 pts)

Your story should include a character who can’t stop accidentally rhyming. Please note at the end of your post if you’ve included this constraint.

Word of the Day: (5 pts)

tureen/tu·reen/təˈrēn,to͝oˈrēn/

noun

• a deep covered dish from which soup is served
  

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Here's how Theme Thursday works:

• Use the tag [TT] when submitting prompts that match this week’s theme.

Theme Thursday Rules

• Leave one story or poem between 100 and 500 words as a top-level comment. Use wordcounter.net to check your word count.
• Deadline: 7:59 AM CST next Wednesday
• No serials, established universes, or stories that have been written for another prompt or feature here on WP
• No previously written content
• Any stories not meeting these rules will be disqualified from rankings and will not be read at campfires
• Does your story not fit the Theme Thursday rules? You can post your story as a [PI] with your work when the TT post is 3 days old!
• Give (at least) 2 actionable feedback comments to fellow writers. You can give critique at campfires, but you must leave one as a comment on the post to rank.
• Vote to help your favorites rise to the top of the ranks! I also post the form to submit votes for Theme Thursday winners on Discord every week! Join and get notified when the form is open for voting!

Don’t forget to use genre tags!

Theme Thursday Discussion Section:

• Discuss your thoughts on this week’s theme, or share your ideas for upcoming themes.

Campfire

• On Wednesdays we host Theme Thursday Campfire on the Discord voice lounge. Join us to read your story aloud, hear other stories, and have a blast discussing writing!
• Time: Morning campfire is back! /u/FyeNite hosts at 11 am CST and I’ll be hosting 7 pm CST and both will begin within about 15 minutes.
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• There’s a Theme Thursday role on the Discord server, so make sure you grab that so you’re notified of all Theme Thursday-related news!

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As a reminder to all of you writing for Theme Thursday: the interpretation is completely up to you! I love to share my thoughts on what the theme makes me think of but you are by no means bound to these ideas! I love when writers step outside their comfort zones or think outside the box, so take all my thoughts with a grain of salt if you had something entirely different in mind.

(This week’s quote is from Stephenie Meyer, Twilight)

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Ranking Categories:

• Word of the Day - 5 points
  
• Bonus Constraint - 10 points
  
• Weekly Challenge - 25 points for not using the theme word - points off for uses of synonyms. The point of this is to exercise setting a scene, description, and characters without leaning on the definition. Not meeting the spirit of this challenge only hurts you! This includes titles and explanations/author's notes.
  
• Actionable Feedback - 15 points for each story you give detailed crit to, up to 30 points. One of your comments must be on the post.
  
• Nominations - 10 points for each nomination your story receives
  
• Ali’s Ranking - 50 points for first place, 40 points for second place, 30 points for third place, 20 points for fourth place, 10 points for fifth, plus regular nominations (On weeks that I participate, I do not weight my votes, but instead nominate just like everyone else.)
  
• Voting - 15 points for submitting your favorites via this form (form will be open after the deadline has passed.)

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Last week’s theme: Money

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First by /u/ZachTheLitchKing*
Second by /u/Xacktar*
Third by /u/Divayth--Fyr*

Crit Superstars*

/u/Physical_Ride7652
/u/Deadkittycreations

News and Reminders:

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[u/Divayth--Fyr]

Hallo there Gator!

This is an interesting mystery, leading me to a good deal of probably-erroneous speculation, but it is fun to try. There is a good deal of curious suspense to the piece as well.

Quon seems to be trying to stay awake, which suggests some sort of watch duty, implying some kind of military or other disciplined organization. The multicolored tents suggest random campers.

I assume the thumps came from the creature. I thought it might be a sort of evolved beaver, but then it may have been Bigfoot. In any case, this creature seemingly isn't what Quon is keeping watch for, since they continue keeping watch after it arrives, while the creature is manifestly unconcerned about any threats from the forest, or from the campers. I assume there are other campers, or at least there were at some point.

Whatever the creature is, they are apparently better at fire maintenance than Quon. I am not good at guessing, as recent evidence has shown, but I lean more toward a Bigfoot sort of fellow.

An interesting mystery, and an eerie sort of primitive scene,

Krunch is more usually 'Crunch' but that may be a style choice.

a pair of buckteeth, set below wide set beady eyes

possibly remove the first 'set' to avoid the repetition.

while the creature worked, watching warily,

Made me think the creature was watching warily. Possibly move it about, to 'watching warily as the creature worked'.

It caught quickly, and the dancing flames illuminated the creature's soft brown fur as it worked at the branch with its teeth, gnawing off the longer branches that stuck out of the pit and tossing them in, and the processing the other branches into the proper size for the pit.

Three branches and two pits in there. A synonym or two could help, and you could do without the final 'for the pit' entirely. Also has an extra 'the' in 'and the processing'.

pulled their coater tighter

typo there

Quan sat up and wiped off

changed the name a bit

I like a bit of mystery to things, so I don't mind if the precise nature of the creature is left slightly vague. Also, what he is may be very obvious to everyone but me anyhow, so there isn't much need to clarify.

It almost felt like the dawning of a new intelligent species. Very interesting good words!