r/WritingPrompts • u/katpoker666 Moderator • 11d ago
Off Topic [OT] Fun Trope Friday: Evil Landscape & Gothic Horror!
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!
11
u/Visible-Ad8263 10d ago edited 9d ago
THEIRS IS THE KINGDOM
Blessed are the poor...
The City does not measure the quality of his rags, or spit at the sores on his feet. He stumbles in, past yawning gates, delirious and alone. Roads mutter at his footsteps, and abandoned markets sate his weary soul.
He bites, and the juice dribbles down into the dust like blood. He drinks, and the wine stains his teeth with murder.
If you are hungry, you must eat. If you are weary, you must sleep. This is the way.He does not question the open door.
He is home.
---
Blessed are those who mourn...
The letter. Oh, the letter.
To have heard from him after so long.
She finds him just as she remembers, and sighs at his wolfish smile and the way he kisses every crease on her now weathered face.
You found me, my love. You found our new home.She nods.
The words no longer come as easily as they used to, and her breath catches at the hunger in his eyes. In this strange ancient City, her heart finally settles.
He leads her inside, and closes the door.
The roses in her hands wither.
---
Blessed are the meek...
They say a King rode in,
His court a rictus of sin,
His riches he laid, for knowledge he paid,
And sought the Wisdom therein.
Conjoin, the City said,
So upon his final bed,
His Lords walked in, and with a grin
He stitched them head to head.
---
Blessed are those who hunger for righteousness...
They mutter their prayers, and the gods are silent. They collect alms, and the denizens grin, and offer generously; bloodied coin, severed ear, a fevered kiss—
Always, always, they try to find a way back out. They search, and they climb, and they crawl.
Always, a new god whispers in the lack.
The City is patient.
---
Blessed are the merciful...
They mill into his courtroom.
They sit in his pews and stare, and wait, and watch.
"Guilty, " he pronounces, now and always. "Death."
His sweat prickles as they howl and tide and bear the screaming supplicant into the darkness beyond the doors. His doors. Their doors.
He does not look at their faces as they mill back in. Their steps are bloody. The latest petitioner wails and whimpers, clawing and pulling at old markings in their irons.
They sit in his pews. And stare. And wait. And watch.
---
Blessed are the pure at heart...
Dear Diary
Mother and Father haven't stopped eating me whenever I sleep.
I asked them to stop, but they just smiled and told me good girls help their mommies and daddies.
They bought me a puppy last week. I was so happy. None of my friends come outside any more. Wendy used to wave at me from her bedroom window, but I think they finally finished eating her arm.
I miss my friends. And when I tried to hug Lucky last night, he ate the tip of my little finger.
I think I'm gonna crawl downstairs and ask Mother and Father, one more time.
---
Blessed are the peacemakers...
They shower the Crusaders' March in garlands and wreaths.
There is dancing in the streets as summer sweet lasses tease soldiers off of their lathered horses, and into sopping taverns and shadowed alleys. There is song, and verse, and poetry as harp and minstrel tell of the War in the East, and the salvation of its heathens in a baptism of blood and steel.
A Feasting Day is declared.
Later, in the chuckling light of the harvest moon, the crusaders lift their voices up into the night in a chorus of suffering. The true feast begins.
A final litany for an undeserving god.
---
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness...
The monk, in his prison of mind and flesh, asks the dark his questions. And the dark answers.
Always.
His blood, his soul, his service, for a god that speaks! A god that listens!
And so, he spreads the good word, aching footstep by aching footstep. Until the City sees fit to call him home.
---
Blessed are the reviled and the persecuted...
"Rejoice!" preached the blind man on the podium.
"There is a reward! For It is the Light of the World! It is the City on the Hill That Cannot Be Hidden."
"Find her, all ye weary masses! Find her, all who seek, but cannot find."
"Come home, my brothers and sisters. Come home!"
"We miss you."
__________________________________________
Word Count = 747