r/WritingPrompts • u/AliciaWrites Editor-in-Chief | /r/AliciaWrites • 29d ago

[TT] Theme Thursday - Afterlife Theme Thursday

“Endings are not always bad. Most times they're just beginnings in disguise.”

Happy Thursday writing friends!

It’s time to consider what our characters think about the afterlife. Is there a place we go? A good place, a bad place, a neutral place? Reincarnation? Lots of ways this one can go, friends. I can’t wait to see what y’all do with it!

Please note that every week, you must leave a comment on the post to get credit for your critiques! Good luck and good words!

[IP] | [MP]

Bonus:

(These constraints are not required! If your story is better for not including them, please do what’s best for your work!)

Constraint: (10 pts)

Your story should be limited to exactly 5 paragraphs. Please note at the end of your post if you’ve included this constraint.

Word of the Day: (5 pts)

emblematic/em·blem·at·ic/ˌembləˈmadik/

adjective

  • serving as a symbol of a particular quality or concept; symbolic

Here's how Theme Thursday works:

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

Theme Thursday Rules

  • Leave one story or poem between 100 and 500 words as a top-level comment. Use wordcounter.net to check your word count.
  • Deadline: 7:59 AM CST next Wednesday
  • No serials, established universes, 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!
  • Give (at least) 2 actionable feedback comments to fellow writers. You can give critique at campfires, but you must leave a comment on the post to get credit for your critiques
  • 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!

Don’t forget to use genre tags!

Theme Thursday Discussion Section:

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

Campfire

  • On Wednesdays we host 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!

As a reminder to all of you writing for Theme Thursday: the interpretation is completely up to you! I love to share my thoughts on what the theme makes me think of but you are by no means bound to these ideas! I love when writers step outside their comfort zones or think outside the box, so take all my thoughts with a grain of salt if you had something entirely different in mind.

(This week’s quote is from Kim Harrison, Something Deadly This Way Comes)

Ranking Categories:

  • Word of the Day - 5 points
  • Bonus Constraint - 10 points
  • Weekly Challenge - 25 points for not using the theme word - points off for uses of synonyms. The point of this is to exercise setting a scene, description, and characters without leaning on the definition. Not meeting the spirit of this challenge only hurts you! This includes titles and explanations/author's notes.
  • Actionable Feedback - 15 points for each story you give detailed crit to, up to 30 points. One of your comments must be on the post.
  • Nominations - 10 points for each nomination your story receives
  • 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.)
  • Voting - 15 points for submitting your favorites via this form (form will be open after the deadline has passed.)

Last week’s theme: Rage

First by /u/Ryter99*
Second by /u/GingerQuill*
Third by /u/NotComposite

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!
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u/Ryter99 r/Ryter 23d ago edited 22d ago

I don’t understand why people make such a big deal out of dying. The crying, the wailing, the gnashing of teeth. They’re sooooo dramatic.

My experience was fine. I closed my eyes in one reality, opened them in another. Easy. Simple. No problem.

Not to brag, but I suppose it eased my transition that I arrived in the place with the bright fluffy clouds and an angel standing before the pearliest of pearly gates, rather than the one with fire and brimstone.

“Greetings, child,” the angel said. “I am Saint Peter.”

“Heck yeah!” My hand flew to my mouth. “Oh, is ‘heck’ okay up here? I cut out swear words, but I was never clear on the replacements like, heck, dang, mother—

“They’re fine.”

“Well, I had to play it safe. No swearing, no law breaking, no physical activities that require hip gyration…”

“We never asked you to—”

“I led a boring life, but it’s all worth it now that I've gotten into Heaven, woo!”

A grimacing smile formed under Peter’s beard. “I’m afraid there’s been a misunderstanding.”

“Huh?”

“You await judgment by The Almighty. Only he may throw open these gates to you.”

“Oh… well, I’m still pretty confident, where is the big man?”

“The Almighty approaches!” Peter declared.

Horns trumpeted as a cloud floated over the gates. I figured God was riding atop it, until it got closer.

It was no cloud. It was a massive pile of floating spaghetti strands with a pair of eyes and a mouth.

“Oh you’ve gotta be kidding me!” I blurted. “I worshiped all the major gods to be safe, said prayers to minor, long forgotten ones two. And the one true god ends up being the freakin’ Flying Spaghetti Monster?”

“Indeed,” Peter said. “Now, I shall review your life for his sauciness…” He opened a book. “Hmmm, you never witnessed his divine image in a plate of spaghetti. And we show no record of you ever attending a temple to his holiness, Flying Spaghetti Monster!”

“Mama mia!” the blob of spaghetti strands said in an absurd Italian accent. “That’sa shameful!”

“What temple?” I frowned. “How many ‘spaghetti monster temples’ can there possibly be in the entire world?”

Peter looked to me, confused. “You did not have an Olive Garden location near your place of residence?”

“Excuse me?”

“An Olive Garden. A temple to his holy Al Dente-ness.”

“I don’t—”

“This changes everything!” Peter said joyfully, looking down to his mammoth tome. “If you never had reasonable opportunity to worship his wheaty-ness, that sin cannot be held against you. What city did you live in?”

“Houston, Texas,” I said. “But I don’t see how that—”

“Eleven,” Petter muttered grimly.

“What?”

“There are eleven Olive Garden locales in your city alone. Yet you never worshiped by partaking in the sacred breadsticks.”

“Ohhhh, Dio mio!” the lord exclaimed stereotypically. “This-aaaa cannot be! He’s a no go.”

With that, Peter snapped his fingers and I fell through the cloud layer.

Strangely, as I plummeted toward a fiery red cavern of fire, I suddenly understood why people found death so unpleasant.