We're Beating Flowery Prose With Razor Sharp Specificity Around Here

the painter’s mistress

The oak cottage has grown mushy in the rain, susceptible to mold.

The boggy air - a warm, wet rag, plugs my mouth 

as I sit and snap split peas into a Blue Black bowl, nostrils blaring 

at the stink of rotting leaves.

My hunched figure is molded from swirls of oil, greasy smears 

of Yellow Ocher, Permanent Mauve;

colors you’d so thoughtfully selected, seen in me.

Now, under coats of glaze, spotty like a bride’s moth-eaten veil,

I’m just a mute, colorless oval to you.

It’s needless to hide my bloated, decaying face;

you turned away before I could.

I'll be like waw I just wrote a paragraph of such striking, such specific, juicy prose—then I'll read a sentence by Nabokov where he described a man running to catch the bus and I'll be crushed forever

plz add me to your taglist, this is awesome!!! :oooo

BLUEBEARD by Yah Yah Scholfield / the shining ( dir. stanley kubrick ) / crimson peak ( dir. guillermo del torro ) / revenge horror / about 4.3k words

Wait, but I think this is actually one of the spiciest, most interesting short stories I’ve done! It’s a very tasty commission for @janeaustenwlw, and I’m super happy to have been given a chance to write it!

The plot is simple—a woman is confronted by a ghost; the ghost gives her a task. I really can’t say much else without spoiling the story for you all, and I desperately want you all to enjoy this!

Inspirations for this piece include; Crimson Peak, The Shining ( specifically the character of Wendy Torrance), and the entire genre of revenge-horror films I suppose.

NOW AVAILABLE TO READ ON MY WEBSITE!

general tag list under the cut! if you’d like to be on my tag list, just dm me!

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ok but the murderyness makes this update so interesting?? I also loved the poetic excerpts, they're stunning !!

Land Mammal | Feeding Habits Update #7

Hello! We are back for another Feeding Habits update, but this time we’re chatting chapter 8, aka Land Mammal.

Just a reminder: This is my original work and plagiarism of any form will not be tolerated.

Scene outline & excerpts under the cut because this one is a long one! If you missed previous updates or are new to the project, check out the novel intro page (which links all the updates) HERE!

Taglist (please ask to be added or removed): @if-one-of-us-falls @qatarcookie, @chloeswords, @alicewestwater, @laughtracksonata, @ev–writes , @jaydewritesfiction, @jennawritesstories , @august-iswriting, @berinswriting​​

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Ok, but who else is drooling over this prose???

HOUSE PLANTS, CHAPTER 20: GLASS, DIVERTED

DISCLAIMER: this is my original writing, do not use / repurpose / plagiarise the excerpt in any form or way.

hello i was feeling very proud of this chapter— wrote this at one am, too! what a vibe!! who needs a stable sleep schedule anyway!!!— and wanted to share it + also you guys have never actually gotten a full chapter excerpt before so enjoy!! also this is one of the vignette chapters™ so that’s why it’s so short + is told in present tense and in the fictive present. i hope you like it as much as i do! [transcript + taglists under the cut]

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Happy WBW! ^^ If you could bring one thing/person/place/etc. from your wip into the real world, which one would it be and why?

Probably Mr. Sinclair, the talking locust from Liquor and Locusts, because although he’s very nihilistic, we’d have a good time drinking brandy and being self-indulgently cynical together.

This sounds amazinggg, I would 100% watch :)

Church Mud - The Netflix Series

thank you @radwrites​ for the template!

Having both finally escaped the cult they were born in - and reunited after four years - twins Dorothy and Felix embrace their newfound freedom, navigate their trauma, and figure out who they are.

Y’all I cannot express how much this fake Netflix series lives! in my head! rent free! I think this story would be so cool as a series and if I weren’t a little terrified of screenwriting, I would 100% play with that as a form alongside the novel. 

The vibes of this came out a lot grittier than I imagine the story? That element is 100% there, but there’s also a very hazy, dreamy element to the story and I think it’d be very interesting to see how those intersect visually. My biggest fantasy for CM as a series is that it’d look like it was actually shot in the 80s and have an all 80s soundtrack (although there are some contemporary gems I’d be sad to cut out the OST). The only comparison I can really draw is Twin Peaks (which I’ve only seen like five episodes of oop) - but not in terms of content at all, rather the hazy vibe of floating between different stories with this growing unease and intensity - and perhaps some of the surreal elements too. Also this one shot is Major CM Vibes:

This isn’t structured exactly like the book - episode 2, Cadmium Yellow, is a combination of chapters 2-3 and also chapter 8, which is the first chapter in Dorothy’s POV. Because of the nature of writing split POV the split between Felix and Dorothy is obviously much “sharper”, but a TV series format would allow me to jump between them in one episode and still have clarity.

I also love the idea of a series for this story because it’d allow the POVs of the non-POV main characters (Beau, Jolie, Isaias) to also be included - hence the episode Pistachio Beach, which would be Beau centric and we’d actually get to directly see his backstory. As much as I love the twins as POVs and the story very much revolves around them, I’m definitely interested in the extra depth the story could get in this form. There are a lot of times when I wish I could add a chapter in Beau or Isaias’ POV but the idea of more than two POV characters is too much to handle lmao

I had so much fun with this, and I would 100% do another for episodes 6-10 when I write more content (ah discovery writer things)! I see my stories as movies playing out in my head and if anyone else does that you’ll know that not everything can be translated into words. So it’s really cool for me to imagine my stories in this format, because in a sense it’s the “truest” to what I see in my head.

Episodes 1-5

Everything Holy

Four years after his twin sister escaped the Christian cult they grew up in, nothing about Felix’s existence has changed. This is why he has to escape too.

Cadmium Yellow

Dorothy’s roommate, Jolie, returns to the city and brings all their repressed baggage with her. Felix struggles to adapt - but a new friend is eager to show him all of San Francisco’s colors.

Pistachio Beach 

Beau doesn’t sleep well. Troubled over a future he doesn’t know and a past he doesn’t understand, he has two coping mechanisms: call Felix; drive to the beach.

Cult Characteristics

The growing number of cults scattered across California is a growing cause for concern. When they hide in plain sight, it is crucial to know the red flags.

Revelations, Revelations

Felix hasn’t spoken to God in a month. Although he doesn’t find Him at the local Church, he does find someone with the same problem. Jolie has a proposal for Dorothy.

The next novel update should be coming soon! My goal is January 11th, because that’s Felix’s and Dorothy’s birthday so we have to celebrate ofc

church mud taglist - @kitblogsthings​​ / @bijouxs​​ / @ezrathings​​ / @isherwoodj​​ / @bookpacking​​ / @alicewestwater​​ / @svpphicwrites​​ / @avi-burton-writing​​ / @aetherwrites​​ / @radiomacbeth​​ / @sunwornpages​​ / @coffeeandcalligraphy​​ / @ladywithalamp​​ / @wolf-oak​​ / @keira-is-writing​​ / @jennawritesstories​​ / @cream-and-tea​​ / @bauliya​​ / @themillionthdraft​​ / @you-are-my-neverland​​ / @lasbrumas​​ / @occiidens​​ / @shaelinwrites​​ / @wri-tten​​ / @catgirlnya​​ / @nbnoyas​ / @oceancold​ / @august-iswriting​ / @write-like-babs​ / @hekat-ie​

i’ve been a big fan of your work and always keep an eye out for your posts, very fascinating person you are, keep it up!

Thank you! This is incredibly kind.

beforehand I'll do like a brainstorm/word vomit in my notebook to get ideas flowing. when actually writing I'll light essential oil candles, open pinterest, wordbook and google, and drink like a gallon?? of ginger tea and disapear for like 3 hrs.

do any of you have writing rituals? tell me about them!

I love this pov!! :oo Please add me to your taglist???

I N T R O D U C I N G: 996 CATHERINE CLOSE. this is a story about a house, which is to say my story, which is to say a story with walls, and doors, and people passing through them. they go and they do not stay. this seems unfair, at least to me. does it seem unfair to you?

GENRE: a ghost story minus ghosts. POV: mostly first person and some third person sections. THEMES: homes as monsters, memory, preservation and loss, good and bad families, letting go, holding on, abandonment, every house is haunted. CONTENT WARNING: abuse, mental illness, some horror elements.

All I could do was watch. 

My voice was too low. I could barely even sing to myself, the walls creaking and shuddering the tiniest bit when I tried to create voice. Jonathan had built me too well. I fit together like one of those puzzle sets, all the edges aligned perfectly, no room for air to whistle through holes and for me to rattle the walls like percussion. I could whisper. I would soften the sounds of my floorboards when Marie was bedridden with one of her headaches, her body turned away from the light streaming through the windows. I couldn’t dim that light. But I could make everything around a little quieter and a little less. She was always dearer to me than Jonathan, so I did more for her.

There were many things I couldn’t do. I couldn’t scrub my floors for her. I couldn’t remove the tiny shards of glass stuck in lines of grout that she painstakingly scoured the kitchen floor for, on her hands and knees, wincing when her palm dragged across one that she hadn’t seen. I couldn’t stitch my walls back together where Jonathan’s fist had opened holes. I couldn’t save Marie.

I’m sorry. This isn’t a tragedy like that.

I have a flair for the dramatic now, from the stories that I’ve heard throughout the years. I have always been an eavesdropper, ever since I was born. But I used to tell things better. So allow me my confusion, and I will correct it. They didn’t die here. They simply left. Only one person has died here, and if they remained as a ghost, then it is not as one that I have ever personally known. When I say that I am haunted, I mean that I am haunting myself. I asked for them to stay, and they did not, but the images do. 

I can hold onto those forever.

find out more.

TAG LIST: @phloxxiing / @nouveauweird / @pilipalea / @starrywritingg /  @carnalbanshee/ @flynnswritings / @ohsugarfoot / @reya-writes / @onfablesandfiction / @reeseweston / @cohldhands / @klaythestoryteller / dm or reply to be added!