Submitted by Cody_Fox23 t3_y5vc5g in WritingPrompts
#Welcome back to Smash ‘Em Up Sunday!
##SEUSfire
On Sunday morning at 9:30 AM Eastern in our Discord server’s voice chat, come hang out and listen to the stories that have been submitted be read. I’d love to have you there! You can be a reader and/or a listener. Plus if you wrote we can offer crit in-chat if you like!
##Last Week
####Community Choice
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/u/Least-Bison-1294 - “The Prophet” -
####Cody’s Choices
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/u/bunnyrabbit2 - “Gate Drop” -
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/u/rainbow--penguin - “Join Me” -
##This Week’s Challenge
Wooo! Spooktober is upon us! This is my favorite month of the year where I get to read and write a bunch of horror stories. Each week I’ll be spotlighting some niche bit of the big umbrella that is horror and asking all you wonderful folk to write for it with the usual constraints. The good news is that the genre I define is worth six points as it takes up both defining feature slots! I’ll try to give you some interesting angles to play from and I look forward to seeing what you all do with the same building blocks!
Week 3 we move from the enormity of existence and the unknowable mysteries making themselves known and zoom in on the most intimate type of horror: Invasion. When you believe yourself to be safe and secure, that the area you are in is impervious to danger and evil is a lie and the illusion cruelly broken is the core of this style. A half brother to thriller this is one of the most common crossovers. Tension and thrill as the story is forced into a type of claustrophobia. The blood pumping and creeping dread wondering what will happen is the horror. Will the invaded survive? Why did it start? What are the repercussions? These are things to keep in mind.
Invasion can take different forms. Look to The Strangers iconic reason for breaking into a family’s home for a great example of how a home invasion can be scary. There is of course the Supernatural invasion like in Blatty’s [The Exorcist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exorcist_(novel)). Shirley Jackson (because of course I had to include her) has an anthology Dark Tales that plays in suburban gothic, where perfect daily life is encroached upon by an outside force. Of course we can also enjoy an interesting psychological horror crossover with The Nightmare on Elm Street as well.
I will say a haunted house doesn’t quite count unless it was fine beforehand. So your muderhouse or Poltergeist stories don’t work as the sanctity of the home hasn’t been established. It was never safe in those situations.
So get to breaking the peace. Hit us close and where it hurts the most!
###How to Contribute
Write a story or poem, no more than 800 words in the comments using at least two things from the three categories below. The more you use, the more points you get. Because yes! There are points! You have until 11:59 PM EDT 22 Oct 2022 to submit a response.
After you are done writing please be sure to take some time to read through the stories before the next SEUS is posted and tell me which stories you liked the best. You can give me just a number one, or a top 5 and I’ll enter them in with appropriate weighting. Feel free to DM me on Reddit or Discord!
Category | Points |
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Word List | 1 Point |
Sentence Block | 2 Points |
Defining Features | 3 Points |
####Word List
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Breach
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Knock
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Sacred
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Caliginous
####Sentence Block
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In the right situation, we are all capable of the most terrible crimes.
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I saw through you too.
####Defining Features
- Genre: Invasion Horror - A story that creates fear and tension by having an area that is safe to an almost sacred level be infringed upon. It could be as small scale as a home invasion / robbery, to something bigger like a community replaced.
##What’s happening at /r/WritingPrompts?
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Nominate your favourite WP authors or commenters for Spotlight and Hall of Fame! We count on your nominations to make our selections.
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Come hang out at The Writing Prompts Discord! I apologize in advance if I kinda fanboy when you join. I love my SEUS participants <3 Heck you might influence a future month’s choices!
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Want to help the community run smoothly? Try applying for a mod position. Everytime you ban someone, the number tattoo on your arm increases by one!
AutoModerator t1_islxk0d wrote
Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.
Reminders:
>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include "[Poem]" >* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail >* See Reality Fiction and Simple Prompts for stricter titles >* Be civil in any feedback and follow the rules
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