I adore this. You perfectly took symbolism and imagery associated with the heart that would usually be framed as comforting, and distorted it in a way that gave me chills. This poem felt extremely powerful because of that, and I love the haunting imagery you've created here.
Cracks are in the molding of the drywall
where my fingers push in the heart
I'm tired of holding
The squelch it makes when it hits the ground
notifies me of my failure and makes my voicebox
attempt to imitate that horrifying sound
My knees slip in the flood of red from it's exit
And I fall in time with it's beating
Gorey giggles bubble from my mouth
when I end up landing face to face with it
Realizing that this is karma's dealing
All of my work to date (1,300,000+ words) has been scraped and added to a dataset shared in multiple places online for the purpose of training Generative AI. If you write fanfic, yours probably has too.
It's years of work—countless hours—countless body aches, missed meals and lost sleep. All of it, for free. For joy, for the love of it. For your love of it—and someone felt entitled to take that and use it for their own personal gain. For profit.
As a writer, it's hard not to be angry about that. I do however, think it's important to highlight this:
Generative AI will never replace us.
AI can't make you feel what I make you feel—what any other writer on earth can make you feel—because real emotion, real connection and real storytelling comes from the heart and it doesn't have one.
AI has never felt hopeless, it's never felt alone, or burdened, or in love, or so ecstatically happy it could cry. It doesn't know grief, it doesn't know joy, it knows simple binary code—zeros and ones, and that's all.
The joy of literature is in connection and in our humanity, and call me sentimental, but that is something that cannot be taught.
Original characters are really just a random assortment of personality traits and physical features taken from myself, from people I saw on the street, and from my favourite characters from other people.
[ABOUT]
I’m Carter (she/him) and I’m a 20 year old Black lesbian. Writing has been my passion and favorite hobby for as long as I can remember, but when I’m not writing I’m out following my second passion in college (environmental science). My activity wanes in and out, but as of May 2025 I’m still here! My main blog is @phantomfemmes, which is where I like and follow from as well as post about whatever my heart desires.
I am going through an obsession with horror, so if you write that, feel free to tell me about your wips. I’m also a big lover of poetry, “flowery” prose, and anything featuring wlwoc as main characters.
[WIPS]
I have two main wips that I work on from time to time:
The Taste of Hallowed Earth (formerly All That Remains)
Twelve years ago, Sadie Copeland’s older sister, Leila, vanished from their hometown in Salvation, Mississippi and her family was never the same again. Sadie’s mother packed their things, driving until Salvation disappeared in the rearview mirror and the whole thing was nothing but a nightmare. But no matter how far they drove or how much time passed, Sadie had never been able to shake the feeling that there’s more to the story than what her mother let on.
Following the death of her mother, nineteen year old Sadie finds herself back in Salvation, the place where it all began. Upon arriving there, it is clear that something sinister is going on—something that no one wants to talk about and that everyone hides from when the sun goes down. And while Sadie has never believed in ghost stories (at least, not in the spectral sense), she can’t help but fear what may be lurking in the darkness that surrounds Salvation.
Themes: gothic horror, southern gothic, unreliable narrator, small towns, unreality, paranoia, death, grief, estranged familial relationships, mother/daughter relationships, paranormal, religion, trauma, ghosts, queerness, psychological horror, religious horror
In the Heart of the Ocean
In the Heart of the Ocean follows Carolina “Caro” Bell as she recounts the disappearance of her best friend Moira from their quiet coastal town as teenagers, and Moira’s subsequent reappearance three years later after emerging from the depths of the ocean with no memory of where she’d been—only to disappear forever the following year. When Caro’s niece, who she has temporary custody of, nearly drowns in that same sea twenty years later, Caro decides to finally explore the secrets contained in its dark and murky depths. But in order to do so, she must first confront the past and the truth surrounding Moira’s disappearance.
Themes: literary fiction, queerness, magical realism, female rage
I am going to make the villain so plural and no one can stop me.
It's time for another writing update. Still working on Every Hero Needs a Villain, my object head project. I'm making my way through the character bios. I am trying to just get the basics down, then I'll go over them again and add more personality. Here's Spark's description, because I thought it was cute:
They have a gently yellow and ruffled lamp shade with a lighter and brighter light bulb on their head. They typically wear a skirt that matches paired with a lighter blouse or suit top. Their clothes typically having a shimmering or glittery component to them. They sometimes wear different lamp shades for different effects, having a particular fondness for colorful glass lamp shades for special events, or cloth dotted lamp shades when they're feeling cute. Sometimes they don't even wear a lamp shade for emphasis.
I definitely want to edit it for readability, but so far so good! I hope to have all the bios down by the end of the week, and will notify y'all on Sunday if this is the case.
Taglist: @aweirdshipp, @floofyboi57, @aralithmenathere
the more girls you add to a story the more yuri situations you're able to produce.... something to consider
so this European clothing retailer decided to advertise their jean cuts on youtube and it's unintentionally the funniest shit I've seen today. why? well.
now important context here: in German, die (pronounced 'dee') is just a feminine article, it literally means "the".
but if an ad gets placed in the middle of an English video and doesn't use a single explicitly German word for most of the ad, even a native speaker is gonna think "they want me to die how?" it keeps getting funnier.
I mean, holy shit
i will use these as reaction images until i die
Hand kissing is sacred, high romance and I think we need to revive it.
I made the community. Let me know if you want an invite!
Tag list: @aweirdshipp, @floofyboi57, @aralithmenathere
Hi peeps! As I work on Every Hero Needs a Villain, do y'all want me to make the community for it so you can see some funny behind the scenes stuff and potentially certain bios as I make them? You can also make suggestions for stuff there if you want. Trying to encourage myself to complete them.
Tag list: @aweirdshipp, @floofyboi57, @aralithmenathere
Beta reading isn't about turning someone's story into your own vision, it's about helping someone make their story into THEIR vision
18+ • System • Host: Essie • Horror Mystery Writers • I curate my space and so should you • Anti AI • Read pinned for more info
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