#webauthorscafe — Public Fediverse posts

.15. #WebAuthorsCafe 10/27-11/2: This is Halloween, This Halloween: Share something spooky, any length, new, old, excerpted. Anything goes.

#PennedPossibilities 825 — What are your favorite chilling scenarios to write, and how are you able to accomplish this? Through setting, emotion, dialogue, and / or buildup?

Snip from Konbini Idol

Now that I was standing at the barricade, I could see what had appeared to be snowdrifts were ash. Beyond Shiomi, I could see a man; He wore dull navy workmen’s overalls with a name tag of strange glyphs stitched to it. But what caught my attention was his face, or lack of it. Instead, there was a swirling vortex that seemed to suck the very color and essence out of the surrounding darkness. My consciousness seemed to leach, fragment…

a symphony…
into a cacophonic
tapestry of
nothingness.

I jerked my eyes away, and the fragmented whispers in my mind receded. What I had seen was horrific and utterly beyond my understanding.

End Snip

#NMPP #NMWAC #KonbiniIdo. #NMPrompts

#PennedPossibilities 821: Spookiest thing written?

I suppose I'll fall back on the same source as the #WebAuthorsCafe stub I posted a few days ago. Melissa's cases are the spookiest I ever got. We'll go with the lycan instead of the zombie.

.14: #WebAuthorsCafe 10/20-10/26: Show us your talent, share a spooky 100-word drabble. (exactly 100 words excluding the title, hashtags and any comments you make.

#百物語 #HyakuMonogatari: 15 Immortality 永遠

Only darkness and silence, except for the tap, tap, tap of Elderkin's held hands. A slow conversation passed from one to the next. A rhythm that kept the emptiness at bay. They shared memories from when there were suns, planets, and even further back, to when life existed. Memories of hunting warm blood and the promise of eternal life.

Now, only the perpetually tormented by a hunger that could no longer be fed remained, along with the tap, tap, tap.

Tap, tap, tap. The Founder said Myrien had uttered rebellion.

Hands let go.

Myrien spun off into entropy's eternal stasis.

Inspired by @HeliaXyana's post:

#Drabble #Horror #Halloween #NMPrompts #NMFic #NMWAC #MicroFiction #TootFic #Vampire #Spooktober #Drabbletober

.13. #WebAuthorsCafe 10/13-10/19: What is the spookiest thing you have ever written? Can you share a piece? (Don’t be bashful if it’s not very spooky.)

Weekly prompts appear #WebAuthorsCafeQ
A full list of prompts appears at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vuRRfDLFomqnWmUG571wz-5sXmuQZergyRsA8LnBhrM

Week 12. #WebAuthorsCafe 10/06-10/12: Do you plan to write anything spooky this month? If so, can you give us a sneak peek?

No. There's no supernatural in the MC's world. If something comes up that could work out as creepy or scary, I'll consider writing it that way.

[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

#WebAuthorsCafe Oct 6-12: Do you plan to write anything spooky this month? If so, can you give us a sneak peek?

Most likely not. The only think I ever wrote that was Halloweenish in nature was a peom called, "Old Twelve Toes". A peom about a cat with twelve toes on a halloween night walking a brick wall. I don't think I ever had a digital version of it. So it is long lost to time and past halloweens.

#writing

.12. #WebAuthorsCafe 10/06-10/12: Do you plan to write anything spooky this month? If so, can you give us a sneak peek?

Lots. I write lots and lots of spooky stories all the time and plan to do a bunch this month.

Follow #HyakuMonogatari for short spookies.

I also write for #Spooktober #Drabbletober and #百物語

[Note 1] Feel free to join in #Drabbletober (A spooky 100-word story a day.)
[Note 2] Or join in on #HayakuMongogatari. Number your submissions one higher than the last. If we reach 100, a spook is supposed to appear. An internet #youkai. Maybe Ernest Hemingway

#NMWAC #NMPrompts

October #WebAuthorsCafe

This and other prompt reminders can be found at #WebAuthorsCafeQ

And all prompts at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vuRRfDLFomqnWmUG571wz-5sXmuQZergyRsA8LnBhrM

#ScribesAndMakers 21: Define creative rewards?

I don't gain satisfaction from creating. I could place everything in my closet if that were true. I gain it more from the sharing, from feeling like I've made someone else think, progress, or simply made their life more enjoyable.

Social media has both made this easier, and more lonely and terrible. As I said on #WebAuthorsCafe, by most metrics, I see myself as a failure. Maybe if people engaged with my work offline, I'd feel different? Maybe.

#WebAuthorsCafe 1: Introduce yourself and your work. If you want, add a link to where your work can be found.

I'm a published SF and fantasy author who burnt out in 2001 and returned to storytelling using the excuse that fan fiction wasn't real writing—you can't sell it—so I could let go of the fear and angst that had stopped me before. Spoiler: It is real writing. It is also wonderful practice.

I began posting online in 2015. I started by writing stories that continued certain series episodes, extending it where the show lacked depth, but later created original characters and situations that went far beyond the scope of the original material, or would have been flatly incompatible. I specialized in radical backstories and histories that if you squinted properly, might evolve into the rather sketchy characters in the show—sometimes squinting through a microscope.

Since then I've been adapting my characters and plot lines to conventional F&SF stories, and extending those otherwise constrained restrained characters into my own original universe, creating stories that highlight my fervor for telling #gender related and #feminist stories.

When I considered this hashtag in the beginning, I forgot that I do still publish quite often online, now only on Mastodon. Writing short scenes that are satisfyingly complete by themselves was a revelation that occurred only after I started on this site. I'll direct you to two short tootfics (I have a 5,000 character limit, so I by this I mean approximately 750 words). These are not as polished as they could be, but I think they highlight my characters, stories, emotional content, and humor. Both are in the Reluctance Series #RSReluctanceStory. Surprisingly (for me), it turns out I pinned both story posts, so I guess I think they're pretty good. Many of my better samples can be for in my pinned sample story link post; one of these days I have to add my newer stuff to that list…

Reframing the Experience: https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/112497915608418589

The Wanted Poster: https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/110136451462609798

Pinned Sample Story Link Post: https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/110470537747067765

PS: I thought about linking to my 900K of fan fiction, but I don't want to muddy the waters, and do want to maintain a separation. If you know who I am IRL or under another aliase, please keep this to yourself.

[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#Fanfiction #serial #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory

@floofpaldi @saposcat @paranoiapen Just to chime in with a couple of the more specialized ones, #TimeTravelAuthors migrated here (and to BlueSky), also in the WritingWonders days. It's every other day. And #WebAuthorsCafe began this past summer for web-based writing (serials, AO3, etc). It's weekly prompts.

As Panda said, options are great, there's no obligation. If you have a different writing style, could be interesting. All the best either way.

#WebAuthorsCafe Sep 8-14: Have you tried non-web-based writing? How did that work, or why not?

When I first began, there was no web and I let some school friends read my stuff. It went down fairly well, though idk if any of them were very into it. A few of us were Star Trek fans, and wrote and performed a skit. Did one at summer camp and later at a weekend away when I was at university. Those were fun and I’d forgotten them until just now. Those weren’t also Star Trek btw.

#WebAuthorsCafe Sep 1-7: What are your plans for the month?

The concert on 29th August did my #fatigue and back #pain so for now tbh, lie here and try not to mind.

#disability #disabled

September

1. #WebAuthorsCafe 9/1-7: What are your plans for the month?
2. #WebAuthorsCafe 9/8-14: Have you tried non-web-based writing? How did that work, or why not?

3. #WebAuthorsCafe 9/15-21: How do you measure your personal success? (Individual Fics next week.)

4. #WebAuthorsCafe 9/22-28: How do you measure a story's success?

5. #WebAuthorsCafe Date: What writing did you do this month that you are most proud of? (Sept) Add a link if you want.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vuRRfDLFomqnWmUG571wz-5sXmuQZergyRsA8LnBhrM/edit?tab=t.0

#NMPrompts #NMWAC #WebAuthorsCafeQ

#WebAuthorsCafe 8/25-31: What writing did you do this month that you are most proud of? (Aug)

I realized I painted myself into a corner plot-wise and started the finicky work of unpainting.

#WebAuthorsCafe 8/18-24: Do you write in serial format? Why or why not?

I don't, although I have considered it. But I'm too attached to the ability to go back and edit previous chapters. I think you need stronger outlining skills than I have to be successful with serial chapter releases. 1/2

5. #WebAuthorsCafe 8/18-24: Do you write in serial format? Why or why not?

Why yes, I do. I started it because it gave me immediate feedback and manageable deadlines. The first worked as long as I was a major player in a fandom, but not since. Deadlines still work. Write a whole novel, too big a project for me. Turn out a chapter a week, that I can do.

Now it habit, Serials are what I am used to. It is also the conventional long-form format where I publish. And the only way to do long-form publishing on the Fedi.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vuRRfDLFomqnWmUG571wz-5sXmuQZergyRsA8LnBhrM

#NMWAC #NMPrompts

(Fallen down a hole lately so just doing-) #WebAuthorsCafe 8/11-17: Do you prefer fanfiction or original work? Why or why not?

Lately I'm all about my original writing, but overall I read and have written more fanfic.

Fanfic goes straight for the (yes, often horny) id,

1/2

One more fiction writing hashtag showed up. I can't list it at this point, but I can mention it. #MicroPrompt @FrostPoem

Which, if any of the serialized fiction published on the Fedi do you follow:,

Sorry if I missed your serial. You can DM me. I can't add to the poll, but I can be aware of it.

Choose all that apply.

#Poll #Polls #FanFiction #MicroFiction #TootFic #Reading #AmReading #WebAuthorsCafe

If you read online serial fiction, how many episodes is the max, you are comfortable with for short pieces. (Under 2K words.) In some instances on the Fedi, allow up to 3K characters. Which is min. of 3 EP per 1K words.

#AmReading #Poll #Online #WebAuthorsCafe #reading

#WebAuthorsCafe 8/4-10: Tell us about your flagship work. Add a link to it if you want.

That would be my debut novel, Low Dawn! In which a mailman falls down a hole and finds a boyfriend, and two young people have crabs.

https://books2read.com/b/mB86wA

3. #WebAuthorsCafe 8/4-10: Tell us about your flagship work. Add a link to it if you want.

My flagship is whatever major thing I am working on. I hope everything I write is an improvement on the last.

I could go with my erotic story, which is my most popular, but it’s not my best. But it’s reasonable erotica (porn with plot) and wouldn’t interest pure wankers since there is lots of plot. "My Girlfriend Almost Got Me Killed, so We Had Wild Sex."

My flagship, though, is "For Love of a Konbini idol.", the story of a woman who falls in love with a toxic and cursed idol. Shiomi. I am publishing the fourth and concluding volume now. Where hopefully, Ume and her polycule finally defeat Shiomi’s dead lover Mikawa, a woman so possessive she comes back from the grave to claim Shiomi.

https://www.pixiv.net/novel/series/11417104
https://archiveofourown.org/works/52770025

#KonbiniIdol #NMPrompts #NMWAC #Yuri #Polyamory

2. #WebAuthorsCafe 7/28-8/3: What writing did you do this month that you are most proud of? (July) Add a link if you want. (July)

I posted 17 things to #PIXIV
9 posts to #AO3 (They count things differently, and more stuff is going to PIXIV at the moment because of contests.
Another dozen or so Fedi-only flash fiction and drabbles.

Most proud, I finished the plague arc in my main WIP and have moved on to the closing arc. It will be some time before it is posted.

Link: The thing that was most fun was an #ApothecaryDiaries x #TearmoonEmprie #fanfiction, Princess (Wind Head) 王女様（風頭）. It was great working with a pragmatic, slightly cynical MC alongside a high charisma bubblehead. It's a 6 or eight-part serial, depending on whether you read it here or PIXIV. You can follow it here on the #Wss366 hashtag or at:

Princess (Wind Head) 王女様（風頭） https://www.pixiv.net/novel/series/14211627