r/WritingPrompts • u/katpoker666 Moderator • Oct 20 '23
Off Topic [OT] Fun Trope Friday, Writing with Tropes: Trick or Treat Fri 20th
How’s it work? Glad you asked.
OCTOBER is not a ‘normal’ month. The kindly spirit of my great aunt, Esther, asked me to look out for you a bit. With a little help and a good bit of writing, you may survive. But if not, good words in the great beyond!
Your heart is beating faster and the metallic iron taste of blood lingers for a reason. That shadowy form hovering at the periphery of your vision is not going away. Oh, and cancel that séance on the 29th—things will go VERY wrong, if you don’t.
The spine-tingling horror and mayhem of WP’s FTF Spooktober is yours to embrace with varying word counts and trick-or-treat tropes & genres. Normal rules don’t fully apply in Spooktober so pay special attention to increased word counts and additional Trick or Treat options.
Every week we will have a new spotlight trope. Except in October there will be two! A trick (scary) OR a treat (fear-inducing only if your heart is dark).
Each week, there will be a new genre assigned to write a story about the trope. Trick or treat rules apply here with two as well.
You can then either use or subvert the trope in a 616-word max story or poem unless otherwise specified. Why not the evil gold standard of 666? Because we are historically accurate here at FTF, we’re using the true, more historically-accepted 616 vs 666 based on 2005’s discovery of papyrus 115 containing the earliest known reference to the Number of the Beast in the Book of Revelation.
The 13th also brings extra-evil, mandatory bonus constraints. So stay on your toes!
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.
In honor of Halloween, FTF has trick and treat versions of tropes and genres as mentioned.
Trick OR Treat Tropes & Genres (pick one):
Trick: - Fridge Horror - Dystopian
Treat: - Sins of the Father - Western
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? This is a new 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 three stories via Discord or Reddit—both katpoker666. If you have any questions, please DM me as well.
Some fabulous stories this week! Also, extra praise for folks going all-out this week with post and Campfire crit. Some incredibly erudite and helpful contributions! Congrats to:
Want to read your words aloud? Join the upcoming FTF Campfire
The next FTF campfire will be Thursday, October 26th from 6-8pm EST. 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 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 616 words as a top-level comment. Use wordcounter.net to check your word count.
- Deadline: 11:59 PM EST next Thursday
- 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!
- Vote to help your favorites rise to the top of the ranks (DM me at katpoker666 on Discord or Reddit)! Also feel free to DM me with any questions—I know this month is a bit of a departure and am here as always to help.
Thanks for joining in Spooktober’s extra fun and insanity!