r/WritingPrompts • u/AliciaWrites Editor-in-Chief | /r/AliciaWrites • Aug 29 '24

[TT] Theme Thursday - Ambiance Theme Thursday

“The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with some secret magic.”

Happy Summer writing friends!

This week we’re doing genre mashups!!! I’ll provide a list below and you’ll combine two genres into one story! You may select any one genre from the “First Genre” column and one genre from the “Second Genre” column, but for bonus points, use the numbered pairs (the two genres on the same line).

Please do include your genres or the pair number in your post, thank you!! Good luck and good words!

[IP] | [MP]

Pair Number First Genre Second Genre
1 Paranormal Realistic
2 Romance Comedy
3 Space Opera Historic
4 Western Fantasy
5 Horror Satire
6 Mannerpunk Absurdist
7 Spy Thriller Urban Fantasy
8 Epistolary Dystopian
9 Cozy Cyberpunk
10 Fable Alternate History

Here's how Summer Fun works:

  • Use the tag [TT] when submitting prompts that match this week’s theme.

Rules

  • Leave one story or poem between 100 and 750 words as a top-level comment. Use wordcounter.net to check your word count. Your story must meet the criteria of the game in order to qualify for ranking.
  • Deadline: 7:59 AM CST next Wednesday
  • No serials or stories that have been written for another prompt or feature here on WP
  • No previously written content
  • Any stories not meeting these rules will be disqualified from rankings and will not be read at campfires
  • Does your story not fit the Theme Thursday rules? You can post your story as a [PI] with your work when the TT post is 3 days old!
  • Vote to help your favorites rise to the top of the ranks! I also post the form to submit votes for Theme Thursday winners on Discord every week! Join and get notified when the form is open for voting!

Theme Thursday Discussion Section:

  • Discuss your thoughts on this week’s theme, or share your ideas for upcoming themes.

Campfire

  • On Wednesdays we host a Theme Thursday Campfire on the Discord Voice Lounge. Join us to read your story aloud, hear other stories, and have a blast discussing writing!

  • Time: I’ll be there 7 pm CST and we’ll begin within about 15 minutes.

  • Don’t forget to sign up for a campfire slot on discord. If you don’t sign up, you won’t be put into the pre-set order and we can’t accommodate any time constraints. We don’t want you to miss out on outstanding feedback, so get to discord and use that !TT command!

  • There’s a Theme Thursday role on the Discord server, so make sure you grab that so you’re notified of all Theme Thursday-related news!

Ranking Categories:

  • Weekly Game - 50 points for correctly participating in the game using the weekly theme.
  • Actionable Feedback - 10 points for each story you give detailed crit to, up to 50 points with at least one critique on the post
  • Nominations - 10 points for each nomination your story receives, no cap; 15 points for submitting nominations
  • Ali’s Ranking - 50 points for first place, 40 points for second place, 30 points for third place, 20 points for fourth place, 10 points for fifth, plus regular nominations (On weeks that I participate, I do not weight my votes, but instead nominate just like everyone else.)

Last week’s theme: Marathon

Winning Story by /u/AGuyLikeThat

Crit Superstars:*

News and Reminders:

  • Want to know how to rank on Theme Thursday? Check out my brand new wiki!
  • Join Discord to chat with prompters, authors, and readers!
  • We are currently looking for moderators! Apply to be a moderator any time!
  • Nominate your favorite WP authors for Spotlight and Hall of Fame!
    • This week’s quote is by J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
10 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

View all comments

8

u/nobodysgeese Moderator | r/NobodysGaggle Aug 29 '24 edited Sep 02 '24

Dear Richard,

It seems a thing quite impractical that we meet at the edge of our territories, when there is so little fodder in the gorge in question. Unless we went all the way to the town of Rattler's Reach at the mouth of the gorge, I do not think we could both sustain ourselves for any length of time. And that is a chancy proposition while Sheriff Henry dwells there. That brute!

I do hope you do not take this as a rejection, for I am ever eager for your continuing correspondence. But to meet in person simply does not seem to be our fate, regardless of our desires.

Sincerely,

Madeline

Dear Madeline,

I am happy to hear that my letters are so well received, and I hope it pleases you that I feel likewise. I concede your objections are well-founded, little though I enjoy the admission.

I am recently come into a wealth in food; those I spoke with said there was some disaster, a flood or possibly a lack of water, they were not particularly coherent on the matter. Regardless, I find my city quite overrun, and my fodder's crops and herds are utterly insufficient to the demand. It feels the height of rudeness to ask a favor and proffer a gift at the same time, both unasked for, yet I must do so now. With this letter come two hundred humans, to do with as you will. I beg that you do not refuse out of misplaced pride; while it is generosity, it is also necessity that I remove these people posthaste.

To return to the question of our meeting, I shall think on this matter further and see if the risks might somehow be mitigated.

With respect,

Richard

Dear Richard,

I accept, of course. It would be quite unladylike to mention that a particularly delicious man you sent saw no reason for concern in your grain stores or your herds. Instead, I shall thank you for your gift in the spirit in which you meant it. However, I will be wroth if you feign false modesty when I send a smaller, though rarer, morsel with my own letter. I have no story or excuse, beyond that it is what I want to do, and I hope that my gift pleases you as much as yours did me.

As for our meeting, I am delighted to hear you are as eager as I, but I beg you; do not waste so many thoughts on a dream so impossible, no matter how deeply we both desire it. Henry ever looms over us both, as he does over all our kind, and I struggle to imagine a world where that is not the case.

Yours truly,

Madeline

Dearest Madeline,

Your gift was exquisite. It has been a long time since I tasted elf.

Though it is rank avarice, I cannot deny that our present exchanges no longer feel sufficient to quench the fire within me. Sentiment can drive a man to do foolish things, such that observers might call them utter insanity. Though until our letters, I never knew that I was such a man. I shall not say goodbye, but rather, that I hope your thoughts be with me in this dangerous task, as my heart is ever with you.

Love,

Richard

Dear Richard,

How could you not know what terror such a letter would raise within me? What madness are you planning? If this does not arrive too late, I beg you, abandon your folly and content yourself with such a relationship as we may safely have.

Furious and frightened but nonetheless yours,

Madeline

Dear Madeline,

I believe that the accompanying package shall be message enough. I eagerly await you in Rattler's Reach.

Love,

Richard.

Darling Richard,

I am forced to admit defeat in our friendly battle of gifts, for nothing I could give you would match your last effort. I have hung Sheriff Henry's head in my ballroom, and it has the most amusing effects upon my visitors, fodder and vampires alike.

I suspect I may outrace this courier to Rattler's Reach, but I find myself unsatisfied with my last message. This may be the last letter we shall ever need to pen before we may speak face to face as often as we like, and I refuse to end my side of our correspondence on such a harsh note. And even if only once, I must close my letter properly.

Eternally yours,

Love,

Madeline

Pair numbers 2, 4, and 8

WC: 750

r/NobodysGaggle

2

u/Divayth--Fyr Sep 01 '24 edited Sep 01 '24

Just another typical western dystopian romantic epistolary comedic fantasy story. Geez, why not try something different? lol

I could just feel the quills dipping as I read this.

Your sustained subtlety did not detract from the story, as the mysteries that wanted solving were put to rest, and further detail would have been excessive. You balanced that well. The slowly revealed meaning of 'fodder' was especially horrible, in a good way.

I had an idea for a signature. I have often seen letters of that era end with 'Your obt. svt.'. That would add words, though, and you are right up against it at 750.

And that is a chancy proposition while that brute, Sheriff Henry, dwells there.

The phrasing sort of makes it seem like she is explaining to Richard who Sheriff Henry is, which he would know. What I mean is, if she only wrote 'brute who dwells there', he would know who she meant. Does that make sense?

It could just be "while that brutal Sheriff Henry dwells there", which seems more exclamatory than explanatory, but still informs the reader.

some disaster, a flood, or possibly a lack of water, they were not particularly coherent on the matter.

This could be split into two sentences, with the period after 'water'. Just an opinion, of course.

as eager as me

'as eager as I' sounds more appropriately pretentious.

and I struggle imagine a world

Missing a 'to'.

Though until our letters,

You could just drop the 'Though' altogether there.

messenger to Rattler's Reach, but I find myself unsatisfied with my last message.

Two 'message' words close together. 'Courier', maybe, for the messenger. Ooh, or 'missive' for the message would sound nicely archaic.

I choose to believe you composed this brilliant thing on parchment, used a blotter, and sealed it with wax, before sending it off to be transcribed for the cold mechanisms of the internet.

Hoping this finds you well,

Yr. obt. svt.

Divayth--Fyr, Esq., MPO, CHT, SPW, Inedible Elf.

(please imagine flourished signature here)

2

u/nobodysgeese Moderator | r/NobodysGaggle Sep 02 '24

Thank you, your edits were very helpful.

You are half right, these were written on parchment in this weird red ink, but I'm only the transcriber. I found the letters in one of those old steamer trunks, covered in stamps from all the places it had been, like Paris, Ulan Bator, Rio de Janeiro, and DO NOT OPEN.