Ghost's Writeblr

I’m Dorian, Malice, or Ghost. Call me whichever. I'm 33. Non-binary. All pronouns are applicable. Main blog is ghostcaterwaul. This is my writeblr. Currently having major writers block so it’s just kind of a place to show off my OCs and bitch about writer problems for the time being. Send me some writing prompts and I’ll try to do them! Antis DNI Ask Me Stuff

[ghostcaterwaul-doesnt-write]

Writeblr Intro

About Me:

Name(s): Dorian, Malice, and Ghost. Call me whichever you’d like!

Age: 32

Gender: Non-binary/Genderfluid (fluidity stays outside the binary)

Pronouns: All pronouns are applicable.

Genre(s): I tend to write realistic fiction. More specifically, I like writing angst, hurt/comfort (sometimes hurt/no comfort), and romance (usually dark romance or romantic tragedies). I would like to experiment more with speculative fiction, especially fantasy and horror. I also write fanfic from time to time, as well as poetry. I also tend to write about a lot of queer, mentally ill and neurodivergent characters. I have some BIPOC characters that I haven’t posted too much about because they’re still being developed. I have appearances and personalities for them all, I’m just working on backstories right now. I just recently started writing some dark fantasy for the first time.

Other: I’m disabled, mentally ill, and neurodivergent.

This is a sideblog, my main is @ghostcaterwaul.

Original Fic WIPs:

A Chaotic Love (working title) Mallory Blythe is tired of her life with her fundamentalist Christian family in the small town of Cherry Valley. When the town’s local bad boy, Jeremy Wolfe, offers her an escape from her mundane world, a turbulent romance ensues between them, and Mallory begins to question if she was ready to start a life in the real world like she’s always longed for.

Suburban Secrets (working title) A look at the darker side of suburbia, centering around two outcast sisters, Lieselotte and Heloise Moon. What lies beneath the facade of the perfect suburb of Hollow Falls, with its white picket fences, perfectly manicured lawns, and top-of-the-line schools?

Devyn and The Roses (working title) Chronicles the career of an electro-glam-punk band fronted by Devyn Valentyne, Prince of Hearts. Told through a collection of articles, transcripts, interviews, lyrics, journal entries, and letters. Will Devyn and his bandmates, Levi and Natalie Rose, survive the turbulent life of sex, drugs, and rock & roll? Or will the band go down in history as another rock & roll tragedy?

An Untitled Occult Detective Series The spooky adventures of Wesley Williams and his non-binary significant other Elliot Alexander. Think along the lines of The X-Files, Supernatural, etc. but with an indie emo hipster hacker who sees dead things and a punk rock sci-fi nerd and they’re in love.

Changeling Girl (HIATUS) I’m currently brainstorming and researching my current idea which is a gothic horror/dark fantasy story that takes place in 1920s Ireland about two sisters, the daughters of a Cumann na mBan member and an IRA member, being drawn in by the fae.

Untitled Surreal Suburban Horror Short Story The summer before she goes off to college, 18 year old Ashleigh Smith leaves to pick up her friends so they can go to a music festival but her neighborhood morphs into a complex suburban maze that’s impossible to escape.

Untitled Party Story The events of a house party that was supposed to be a singular scene but grew into multiple scenes as I kept writing.

Fanfic WIPs:

Untitled Metal Lords Fic The story of my OC, Alice Hansen, and her relationships with the characters in the movie. I hope to tell this in a non-linear narrative that will jump around to events before, during, and after the movie. ABANDONED

I’ve been struggling with writer’s block on for the past several years so I’m experimenting with other genres and focusing mostly on Untitled Surreal Suburban Horror Short Story and Untitled Party Story. A Chaotic Love, Suburban Secrets, Devyn and The Roses, and An Untitled Occult Detective Series are no longer being worked on but the characters involved and some of the ideas are being recycled as we speak.

Finished Stories:

Struggling (Link will take you to AO3) - A The 100 polyamorous Memori x Gender neutral reader fic in which the reader’s relationship with Murphy and Emori is already established and the reader struggles with their mental health and Murphy and Emori do their best to be supportive while witnessing the worst of it.

Tarot Writing Prompts - I use Joseph Vargo’s The Gothic Tarot deck and the book Tarot For Writers by Corrine Kenner as writing prompts. Most of them take place in the same dark fantasy world. My first time writing fantasy and my first time worldbuilding.

Snippet #1 - Found in one of my old notebooks. About my characters Mallory and Jeremy from a WIP.

Snippet #2 - Found in one of my old notebooks. Horror and gory. It’s from the point of view of someone who’s been kidnapped by a killer.

Writing Prompt Response - A situation where 1 character is very comfortable and the other is deeply uncomfortable.

Writing Prompt Response #2 - Alice experiences secondhand embarrassment.

Emoji Writing Prompt Response - I made a post of different writing prompt ask ideas and one of them was send 3-10 emojis to my ask box and I’d write something based off of them.

Atmosphere Writing Exercise #1 - A spooky graveyard setting in autumn

Atmosphere Writing Exercise #2 - An unsettling forest setting in springtime

Atmosphere Writing Exercise #3 - Ancient ruins in a spooky and ethereal winter setting.

Important OC Posts:

Alice’s Intro

Jeremy’s Intro

Mallory’s Intro

Luna’s Aesthetic Board

Glitch’s Aesthetic Board

Davonte’s Aesthetic Board

Chris’s Aesthetic Board

Luna’s Outfits

Luna’s Outfits 2

Glitch’s Outfits

Davonte’s Outfits

Olly’s Outfits

Jet’s Outfit

Character Spotlight: Alice Part 1 (Basics: Name, Age, Appearance, etc) Part 2 (Personality) Part 3 (Backstory) Part 4 (Other: Income source/Mode of Transportation/Pets/Hobbies/Habits/Interests)

Updated on December 11th, 2025.

[mortalityplays]

This is a dangerous sentiment for me to express, as an editor who spends most of my working life telling writers to knock it off with the 45-word sentences and the adverbs and tortured metaphors, but I do think we're living through a period of weird pragmatic puritanism in mainstream literary taste.

e.g. I keep seeing people talk about 'purple prose' when they actually mean 'the writer uses vivid and/or metaphorical descriptive language'. I've seen people who present themselves as educators offer some of the best genre writing in western canon as examples of 'purple prose' because it engages strategically in prose-poetry to evoke mood and I guess that's sheer decadence when you could instead say "it was dark and scary outside". But that's not what purple prose means. Purple means the construction of the prose itself gets in the way of conveying meaning. mid-00s horse RPers know what I'm talking about. Cerulean orbs flash'd fire as they turn'd 'pon rollforth land, yonder horizonways. <= if I had to read this when I was 12, you don't get to call Ray Bradbury's prose 'purple'.

I griped on here recently about the prepossession with fictional characters in fictional narratives behaving 'rationally' and 'realistically' as if the sole purpose of a made-up story is to convince you it could have happened. No wonder the epistolary form is having a tumblr renaissance. One million billion arguments and thought experiments about The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas that almost all evade the point of the story: that you can't wriggle out of it. The narrator is telling you how it was, is and will be, and you must confront the dissonances it evokes and digest your discomfort. 'Realistic' begins on the author's terms, that's what gives them the power to reach into your brain and fiddle about until sparks happen. You kind of have to trust the process a little bit.

This ultra-orthodox attitude to writing shares a lot of common ground with the tight, tight commodification of art in online spaces. And I mean commodification in the truest sense - the reconstruction of the thing to maximise its capacity to interface with markets. Form and function are overwhelmingly privileged over cloudy ideas like meaning, intent and possibility, because you can apply a sliding value scale to the material aspects of a work. But you can't charge extra for 'more challenging conceptual response to the milieu' in a commission drive. So that shit becomes vestigial. It isn't valued, it isn't taught, so eventually it isn't sought out. At best it's mystified as part of a given writer/artist's 'talent', but either way it grows incumbent on the individual to care enough about that kind of skill to cultivate it.

And it's risky, because unmeasurables come with the possibility of rejection or failure. Drop in too many allegorical descriptions of the rose garden and someone will decide your prose is 'purple' and unserious. A lot of online audiences seem to be terrified of being considered pretentious in their tastes. That creates a real unwillingness to step out into discursive spaces where you 🫵 are expected to develop and explore a personal relationship with each element of a work. No guard rails, no right answers. Word of god is shit to us out here. But fear of getting that kind of analysis wrong makes people hove to work that slavishly explains itself on every page. And I'm left wondering, what's the point of art that leads every single participant to the same conclusion? See Spot run. Run, Spot, run. Down the rollforth land, yonder horizonways. I just want to read more weird stuff.

[teaandcrowns]

Preserving previous' tags because firelxdykatara also makes excellent additions in them

[ghostcaterwaul-doesnt-write]

Thinking about changing Alice’s surname to McGowan, but I don’t want to go back and edit everything with her surname in it. 😭

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Realized I never posted this. I updated my photobash of Glitch and gave them a beanie!

[ghostcaterwaul-doesnt-write]

I’ve come up with a plan to get my writer brain working again where I’m building a routine and adding a task on every week. I’m using the app Habitica to track my tasks and have scheduled new tasks to be added to my routine every week in the app.

I started with reading and journaling. For reading, I am focusing on short stories. I just finished reading Wormwood, a collection of short stories by Poppy Z Brite. I had been in a reading slump for awhile and it took my brain some time to actually start comprehending what I was reading so I might reread some of the stories at some point. I just started reading Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery and Other Stories. I’ve read The Lottery a couple times. I just finished the story Intoxicated.

Then I added copywork which is when you take passages from books/stories by your favorite authors and write it down word for word and it’s supposed to get you thinking about sentence structure and word choice and stuff and help certain techniques cement into your brain. Jack London and Hunter S. Thomson did copywork and if it was good enough for them, it’s good enough for me!

Then I started using tarot cards as journal prompts. I use this post on Gem Blackthorn, questions from the journal prompt entries on Mysticryst, and the journal prompts on The Tarot Lady’s card meanings pages to find prompts related to the cards I pull. I mostly just pick one question from the Mysticryst prompts. I may start just using Mysticryst exclusively and doing all the questions on the journal prompt entries for each card at some point.

Then I started using tarot cards as prompts for fiction, using the book Tarot for Writers by Corrine Kenner. I was planning on basing stories or scenes off of each card I pulled, but I ended up just writing short summaries of scenes or stories.

And this week I was supposed to start editing the fiction I wrote based off of my tarot card pulls but I realized I don’t ever recall reading Tarot for Writers all the way through, so I’m reading a chapter of that a day now.

Next week, I’m supposed to start working on character profiles again. I’m using OneStopForWriters’ character builder and thesauruses for that.

The week after that, I’m going to start doing the Writing Practice exercises from Tarot for Writers, but just interpreting the spreads they give for the Writing Practice exercises, not writing out full stories based on them. I tried a few of these today but I was trying to get through all the Writing Practice exercises in the chapter I read today and I only got to 4 out of 5 before I felt really mentally fatigued, so I will start one a day on the week of April 20th.

Then I will start working on fleshing out my settings the next week.

Then I’ll start working on literary analysis which I’m a little intimidated by because I tried to apply literary analysis to some of the stories I’ve been reading and it’s like I forgot how to do this? I found some literary analysis questions for a couple of my favorite short stories so hopefully that will help jumpstart that part of my brain again.

Then I will work on fleshing out some of the story ideas I got from my tarot fiction prompts and the Writing Practice exercises from Tarot for Writers. I won’t flesh out every single one, just the ones that stick out to me.

I’m not sure what task I’ll add after that week but the last week I have scheduled into Habitica is May 11th, so I have time to figure it out.

It’s a slow process but I spent years just brainrotting and I’m thinking about this in terms of an exercise routine. If you haven’t exercised at all in years and you want to get back into it, you don’t start with 100 pushups a day, right? You’ve got to slowly work back up to where you were before you stopped, right? So that’s what I’m trying to do.

Anyways, I feel like I’m running low on steam for all this stuff so maybe send me some encouraging words or I’ll take a like on this post as encouragement even. I’m using online interaction to harness creative energy! (I’m kidding… Kind of.)

But yeah, that’s where I’m at with my writing which kinda feels like I’m in the middle of a dark forest where all the pathways are overgrown and I have no clue where I’m going but I’m trying to have fun with it!

[ghostcaterwaul-doesnt-write]

Your mystery question is here :)

🐦‍🔥Phoenix: What is something that ended in your character's life (like a relationship or job or loss) that changed them in a big way?

🐉Dragon: What is one thing your character would protect at all costs?

🦄Unicorn: What do you consider to be the most unique thing about your character? What would they say is the most unique thing about themself?

I used a random number generator online to pick from my numbered list of OCs to decide which ones I would apply these questions to.

🐦‍🔥Phoenix: What is something that ended in your character's life (like a relationship or job or loss) that changed them in a big way?

I got 13 for this, and that’s my OC, Luca.

Well, he’s a vampire so his life ended when he was bitten and he’s not human anymore. I think that counts, right?

🐉Dragon: What is one thing your character would protect at all costs?

I got 48 for this, and that’s my OC, Jack.

His community. He puts on a lot of events catering to alternative subcultures and he’d do anything to protect and preserve the scene.

🦄Unicorn: What do you consider to be the most unique thing about your character? What would they say is the most unique thing about themself?

I got 43 for this, and that’s my OC, Alice.

She’s an artist and musician who keeps her skills a secret. Her creative works are very personal for her and she feels like it’s the only thing she has that’s fully hers. She feels that if she shares her art or music, it won’t just be hers anymore. She never discloses to anyone that she’s a creative type at all, because she doesn’t want people asking to see her art or hear her music, She would tell you that her most unique quality is her platinum, almost white, hair.

[did-i-do-this-write]

Want an ask about your writing and characters? No problem! Reblog this post with an emoji for a corresponding mystery question in your inbox! 

🐦‍🔥Pheonix 

🐉Dragon 

🦄Unicorn 

(accepting requests until March 31st, 2026) 

[ghostcaterwaul-doesnt-write]

Photobash of my OCs, Lottie and Heloise. They’re sisters.

[creativepromptsforwriting]

Friendship Masterpost

Prompts about friends.

Friends Prompt Challenge

Platonic activities for friends

Online Friends Prompts

Group of Friends Prompts

Opening Sentences (Friend group in NYC)

Road Trip Ideas

Party Games Prompts

Drunk Friendgroup

Amusement Park Activities

Surprise party gone wrong

Settings for conversations

Girls’ night out ideas

Rekindling Friendship Dialogue

Not Wanting to Rekindle Friendship Dialogue

Reconnecting Friends Prompts

Slow dancing with a friend

How to write

How to write friendships

Friendship+ and more

Friends with benefits (Masterpost)

Enemies/Friends to Lovers & more (Masterpost)

If you like my blog and want to support me, you can buy me a coffee or become a member! 🥰

[ghostcaterwaul-doesnt-write]

(apologies for the meh prompts, my brain is sludge today. But I wanted to at least try to lend a hand if possible.) - 2(+) characters interacting with the same animal. (bonus points if their reactions are very different) - A situation where 1 character is very comfortable and the other is deeply uncomfortable. - A quiet, private moment. (if these are shit or just don't work for what you're writing, dw about it, you can just ignore the ask 👍no offense will be taken)

Okay, I suck at editing my own stuff and I don’t have anyone else to edit this. I chose a situation where one character is comfortable and the other is deeply uncomfortable to challenge myself. I struggle with writing emotion so hopefully I did okay.

I kind of end it abruptly because if I keep going this will become a week long endeavor and I don’t really want to take on anything that will take too long while having a big WIP to focus on. I also really suck at ending scenes and scene transitions but I’m working on that.

Any feedback is welcome and appreciated!

Content warning for alcohol, weed, and vague mention of other substances.

💜🩵💜🩵💜

Alice drove through the warehouse district, Luna sat in the passenger seat. Flashing headlights from a pickup truck caught their attention.

“Here! Here it is!” Luna pointed to the flashing headlights.

Alice parked the car. A tiny pewter fairy that stood on one vertical leg with the other leg out horizontally behind her, as if in flight, fell over on the dashboard as the silver haired teen took the parking space, the blue sticky tack on it’s base no longer maintaining enough stick to keep it up right. Alice carefully stood the tiny fairy back up and after a couple tries, managed to get it to say. Luna couldn’t help but giggle at Alice’s failed attempts to get the fairy to stand.

Alice’s heart was racing as she looked at the truck that flashed its headlights at them. She’d never done anything like this before and was beginning to second guess her decision to come.

“You sure you wanna do this?” Luna asked. “You know you can just drop me off. I’ll call if I need to be picked up.”

Alice thought for a moment, then took a deep breath, and sighed. “It’s fine. I’m already here anyways and I’m not sure I’ll be able to find this place again without you.”

Alice reached into the back seat and grabbed her gray slouch bag from the floor as well as Luna’s alien head backpack. She handed the alien backpack to her cotton-candy haired friend and they both exited the car.

They both made noise as they move, Alice’s silver jewelry and chains jingling while Luna’s plastic beaded bracelets clunked against each other.

Their amount of jewelry and their ripped tights, Alice’s tights being smoky purple nylon and Luna’s being black thigh-high fishnets, is where the similarities in their outfits ended. Alice wore a smoky purple spaghetti strap tank top that matched perfectly with her tights; a knee length, medium gray handkerchief skirt; gray boots; and a long gray lace cardigan. She was adorned with silver jewelry, crystals, and fantasy-themed charms such as gargoyles, dragons, and fairies. Luna wore a black cropped T shirt with the Sick Sad World logo from Daria on it, a camo miniskirt, and black combat boots.

Luna bounced in place on the sidewalk as she waited for Alice to lock up her car.

“Okay, where do we go from here?” Alice asked, looking around at her surroundings then back at Luna as she toyed with her bracelets.

“Just follow me!” Luna began skipping down the road that the truck was parked on. Alice followed, walking just fast enough to trail behind Luna only a few feet.

They soon came to a white canopy tent where they were met by two people. They could already hear the 808s even though the warehouse wasn’t in their sights just yet, Luna paid both her own and Alice’s admission fee and they were both marked with a bold, black X drawn on the back of their right hands in Sharpie. They were then directed down a dirt and gravel road, which they walked down until they reached the warehouse.

Once inside, Alice vision was assaulted by strobe lights, causing her sight to become impaired. She could hear Luna greeting someone and managed to catch a blurred image of her friend hugging someone with a green buzz cut.

Once Alice adjusted to the flashing strobes, she wrapped her arms around herself and glanced around, her blue-gray eyes dilated, but not from the use of drugs like some others at the warehouse. She could tell that several people there had indulged in substances already that night.

She realized she already lost Luna in the sea of people and began breathing heavily as she looked around the warehouse. Where could she have gone? She was right next to me a second ago! Alice thought to herself. She turned a full 360 degrees four or five times before she felt a hand on her shoulder, causing her to jump and gasp from being startled.

She turned to face who the hand belonged to and found herself looking right into Luna’s hazel eyes, lined with pink and blue makeup to match her hair that night. Luna let out a joyous giggle.

“You alright?” Luna asked her, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. Alice only nodded in response.

Their conversation was then interrupted by a scrawny person with a flat chest wearing a neon green mesh shirt and black ripped jeans. “Hey! Luna!” The person said, embracing Luna in a hug. Alice immediately realized the person had a stutter.

“Glitch! This is my friend, Alice. It’s her first rave!” Luna’s voice had the same excitement as a parent taking their child to Disneyland and it made Alice feel better about tagging along that night.

Glitch had greasy, straggly shoulder length hair dyed a dark reddish-purple color with about two inches of visible medium brown roots and crystal blue eyes. They extended a hand out to Alice and smiled. Alice shook their hand and noticed their chipped neon lime green nail polish.

Glitch took interest in a ring that had a glowing purple crystal ball on it. “Woah! That’s awesome.” They said, leaning in closer to look at it.

Alice giggled, still feeling tense, but trying to relax. “Thanks. I have a bunch of UV reactive stuff.” She lifted her other hand to show her UV reactive charm bracelets mixed in with her amethyst and rose quartz beaded bracelets and silver bangles. Glitch smiled and released Alice’s hand from their grasp then proceeded to give her a piece of raver kandi off of their wrist. It was made of purple and clear beads and had a purple plastic butterfly charm on it.

Alice could feel the tension leave her shoulders as she received the bracelet. While Luna had given her her first piece of raver kandi before they left the house, this was the first piece Alice received at an actual rave.

“I like your vibes!” Glitch shouted to Alice over the music, causing a big smile to spread across her face, matching the one on Luna’s.

Luna grabbed both Glitch and Alice by their wrists and dragged them to the dance floor. Glitch immediately began to dance on beat but this was far out of Alice’s comfort zone. Alice was fine dancing to Type O Negative by the fire on camping trips with her goth friends, but she didn’t know how to dance to the music that was currently pulsing in the concrete beneath her boots. She looked around at everyone else. The movements were more jerky than what Alice was used to, as she usually flowed to music more than anything. She looked over at Glitch and Luna and began to copy their movements. She quickly picked up on the dance style, but still preferred flowing to Type O over dancing to techno.

In a matter of seconds, Luna had some how gotten all the way on the other side of the warehouse and was now talking to a tall man with a sharp jawline and a messy auburn bun in his hair. His sides were shaved and he had piercing green eyes. He wore ripped blue jeans and a tie-dyed faux fur jacket. Alice, feeling a little lost without her friend right beside her, made her way over to Luna and the auburn-haired man.

Luna was putting something in her bag and handing the auburn-haired man money when Alice reached them.

“Oh, Leo, this is Alice.” Luna said.

Leo reached out his tattoo covered arms and pulled Alice into a bear hug. Luna giggled as Alice’s eyes grew wide in surprise.

“Always good to meet a new friend!” Leo exclaimed as he released Alice from his embrace.

Leo reached into his pocket and pulled out a joint. “You ladies wanna smoke this with me?” He asked. Both Luna and Alice nodded eagerly.

The three of them went outside and Glitch joined them soon after. The group smoked a joint and sipped from a flask that Leo brought. Eventually, the vodka in Leo’s flask ran dry and Alice offered up her flask, a silver flask with a unicorn engraved on it.

“It’s absinthe.” She said. “From the Hollow Grove Distillery.”

Leo nodded. “Good stuff.”

Leo and Alice were the only ones in their group who had drank absinthe before, but Luna and Glitch were still eager to try.

The rest of the night was a blur. Alice could clearly remember going back to the dance floor and meeting several more of Luna’s friends, but at some point, she couldn’t remember much more.

[ghostcaterwaul-doesnt-write]

I’m a little burnt out on the tarot card writing prompts I was doing so this is an old piece of writing that I’m looking for feedback on. I’ve posted it before but I believe that was on a now deleted blog.

Content warning for descriptions of gore.

Word count: 183

I’m tied to a wobbly wooden chair. I don’t know how I got here. I remember falling asleep, but I don’t remember waking up. It’s dark and I can’t see anything. The smell of rotting meat permeates the air and invades my nostrils. I hear flies buzzing. A door opens in front of me, blinding me with light. A tall figure stands in the doorway. He steps inside the room, closing the door behind him and turning on a light, basking the room in a dim red-orange glow. I now realize I’m surrounded by decomposing corpses. I scream in horror and feel the corners of my mouth tear and my face split open. I begin to cry. What does he want? Why am I here? Why me? He walks behind me and grabs a fist full of my hair, forcing my head back. A shiny razor glistens in the light. I feel a sharp pain and blood drips down my face, mingling with my sweat and tears. I feel my skin peel off my skull as he pulls my scalp from my head.

[ghostcaterwaul-doesnt-write]

My tarot writing prompt for this week is taking me awhile so I’m posting something else instead. This is an old snippet of writing that I’m looking for feedback on about my characters, Jeremy and Mallory. I’ve posted it before but I believe that was on a now deleted blog.

Content warning for brief mention of alcohol.

Word count: 249

They sit a few feet away from each other, tormenting themselves, auto cannibalizing from the inside out, drowning in the blood of their feelings and choking on the emotional word vomit that threatens to spill from their mouths if they dare to part their lips to even breathe.

But it’s okay.

Everything’s okay.

Everything’s o-fucking-kay.

She feels so full that she doesn’t know if she can hold back any longer.

Everything’s okay.

He fills the void with cheap liquor, she uses it to drown out the constant noise in her head.

It’s okay.

They’re okay.

It’s all o-fucking-kay.

He passes out on the couch, still sitting up, arms crossed over the albatross tattooed on his bare chest. She stands up, wobbling at first. She can’t tell if the dizziness is from drinking so much or if she stood up too fast. She makes her way to her room, or rather, their room. Though, she doesn’t consider it their room anymore, as he’s been passing out on the couch drunk every night and never sleeps with her in bed. She slips out of her sundress and sprawls out on her stomach on the bed like a snow angel. She misses him.

 It’s not okay.

It never was.

It never will be.

She’s not sure how much longer she can continue to hold on.

She’s not sure how much longer she can continue to pretend that it’s all okay.

Because she knows it’s not.

And she thinks he knows it too.

[ghostcaterwaul-doesnt-write]

Photobash of my OC, Jade.

[ghostcaterwaul-doesnt-write]

Tarot prompt #10! I used a prompt from Tarot for Writers by Corrine Kenner for this one. I’ll be taking a break from the tarot writing prompts for a bit after this because I’m feeling a little burnt out on them.

The draft was written over a few days, then edited and revised over another few days, then beta’d by @celestialwiccan-blogs

I’m not going to do the tarot prompts again, at least for a while, since I’m kind of getting bored of them. I’m not sure if I’ll come back to them or not.

I made a masterlist of my previous prompts and relevant posts.

Constructive feedback or words of encouragement are always welcome!

Deck used: Joseph Vargo's The Gothic

Tarot Card: 5 of Wands

Prompt from Tarot for Writers by Corrine Kenner: An Argument

Word Count: 1064

Alice and Gareth arrived at a small ranch style home. The place reeked of manure, leather, and clove tobacco. Alice felt soothed by the sound of branches nearby trees swooshing in the wind and the creak of the rocking chair on the front porch. Gareth led the way along a dusty gravel trail, lined with cattle guards and wooden fencing, that led around back to the stables. As they got closer to the stables, they could hear a creaking cattle gate and two gravelly voices.

“I can’t believe you left the gate open, again!”

“It wasn’t me, it was you!”

As Alice and Gareth rounded the corner of the home, two horned skeletal specters, or wraiths, as Alice had heard them called, came into view. One had a mullet and the other wore a studded cowboy hat and had a gauged septum piercing.

“It was not!” The pierced one shouted. “You always leave the gate open! Now look at what's happened! The unicorns got out again!”

“Oh, they’ll be fine!” The one with the mullet replied. “They always come back!”

Gareth cleared his throat to draw attention to his and Alice’s presence and the two wraiths turned their attention to their unexpected but very welcome guests. “Lose the herd again?” The gargoyle asked.

“Wretch left the stable gate open last night.” The one with the piercing said, pointing a slender, clawed finger at the one with the mullet.

“No, Wricket did!” Wretch insisted, pointing back.

“You really oughtta get one of the witches to set up a barrier for you.” Gareth said. “Or at least put tracking spells on them.”

“That’s what I keep saying but this idiot won’t go see Astrid about it!” Wricket said, gesturing to Wretch once again.

“I keep forgetting! Why don’t you go see her?” Wretch snapped back.

Gareth interrupted. “Alice is new around here and wanted to see some unicorns up close, so we’ll help you find them. Then we’ll go ask Astrid for the spells.”

Alice smiled softly as she was introduced and gave a small wave. “Hi.” She said in a small, soft voice.

“Well, hello there, Alice!” Wretch said in a warm, welcoming voice that greatly contrasted with his aggressive tone from just a few seconds before. “I’m Wretch, and this is my useless twin brother, Wricket.”

“Hey, I’m not useless!” Wricket interjected, pouting.

Alice had to stifle a giggle, finding the bickering between the two silly.

“We better get searching before your herd wanders too far.” Gareth said.

They all went off into the forest to search for the unicorns, Wretch and Gareth went in one direction and Alice and Wricket went in another.

The weathered trees creaked and groaned as the branches swayed in the gentle breeze and created flickering shadows. The faint hum of the fairy’s music could just barely be heard. The terrain was uneven, so Alice had to hold on to the trees, occasionally scraping her hands on the rough ridges of the ebony bark while Wricket simply floated along the trails.

“What kind of trees are these?” Alice asked, looking up at the cascading branches and bioluminescent star-shaped flowers.

“Prisumbra Willows.” Wricket answered.

“They’re pretty.”

“Yeah, well, gawk at them some other time. We gotta find the unicorns my brother let out.” The wraith said with an annoyed tone.

Alice went quiet and didn’t say much from that point forward, not wanting to upset Wricket by getting too distracted. Twigs snapped underneath Alice’s boots, heels sinking into the mud and moisture seeping into the suede with every step.

 After some time, when the peach sun started to set and the skies began to turn indigo, Alice and Wricket heard whinnying and the clop of hooves on the ground. They followed the sound and came to a meadow where the unicorns were grazing among the same flowers and perennials that Alice saw while on the train.

Wricket rose straight up, high above the trees and shouted. “Wretch! Gareth! We found the herd!”

Wretch shot up into the air and jetted towards Wricket while Gareth glided from tree to tree, causing the branches to tremble and sometimes snap with each leap. Wricket reached the meadow about two or three minutes before Gareth did.

In the moments that they waited, Alice had spotted a powder blue unicorn with lavender swirl markings. The unicorn’s long, curly, mint green main, beard, and tail gently waved in the breeze and his lavender horn was spotless, unlike the ones on the feral unicorns that Alice saw earlier on the train. The unicorn’s mauve colored eyes met Alice’s blue-grey eyes and then he started moving towards her at a slow trot. Alice gasped and took a few steps back, feeling slightly intimidated by the unicorn’s large size. The unicorn stopped a few inches away from her and Alice could now see the mauve feathering on the unicorn’s lower legs. The unicorn snorted and began nuzzling Alice’s face, causing her to giggle,

“That’s Snuzzle.” Wretch said. “He’s a sweetheart.”

“Can I ride him?” Alice asked, still giggling 

“Sure! He’s pretty docile, so he’s good for beginners.”

Gareth helped Alice up onto Snuzzle’s back and Alice held on tight to the unicorn’s neck. There was no saddle or bridle and she’d never even ridden a horse before so she was nervous and beginning to second guess her decision.

“Don’t worry, he won’t let you fall.” Wretch reassured her.

Snuzzle began trotting and Alice’s heart raced. Once she got used to the feeling of riding a live animal, she began to calm down. Since Wretch seemed more pleasant than Wricket, she decided to ask a few questions.

“How long have you owned unicorns?”

“Our whole lives. We come from a long line of unicorn ranchers. Our family was one of the first to domesticate them.”

Alice’s face lit up. “Wow!” She whispered, excitedly. “How do you take care of them?”

“Well, they need about 40 lbs of raw meat and sugar a day, grooming 3-4 times a week, and about 5-7 hours of exercise a day.” Wretch said. “Today is grooming day. If you got time to stick around, I’ll show you how it’s done.”

Alice looked over at Gareth who was on the other side of her. “Can we?” She asked, hopefully.

Gareth sighed. “Sure, kid. Why not?”

After a few more minutes, they arrived back at the stables.

[ghostcaterwaul-doesnt-write]

Tarot Prompt #9! I used my own prompt for this one.

The draft was written in about 8 minutes, stream of consciousness, then edited and revised over the course of a week, then beta’d by @luckiestgirl13

I’m thinking of doing a taglist for these, by the way, if anyone’s interested! Should I do that?

I made a masterlist of my previous prompts and relevant posts.

Constructive feedback or words of encouragement are always welcome!

Deck used: Joseph Vargo's The Gothic Tarot

Card: The Sun

Prompt: Daylight

Word Count: 548

Alice woke up and expected everything to have been a dream, but she was still on the train. Light peaked through the opening in the stained glass window that was slightly ajar and Alice realized she’d never seen this odd world in daylight before so she opened the window a little wider.

The train was going past a field of tall flowers. They had large aubergine central disks and their velvety heart shaped petals were dark teal. They stood alongside equally tall spire-shaped perennials with glowing pastel pink flowers.

The peachy sun was just rising, peaking through the lavender clouds and you could still see the bioluminescence of the plant life. The sky farthest from the sun was indigo, and a pastel salmon closest to the sun.

The silvery lavender fog of the night was powder pink with rose gold hues during the day. The sun reflected off the dew, making the scenery appear to be covered in glitter.

Alice gasped in awe of the ethereal beauty. She took in a deep breath of the morning air, which had a sweet citrus smell with soft herbal undertones.

The light shined on Gareth’s smooth, crystalline face, causing him to groan, turn his head, and block the light with his arm. The sun reflected off of his rose colored form, forming little rainbow patches on the surfaces of the train compartment.

“Close that window, kid. It’s too damn bright!”

Alice grimaced a bit. “Sorry.” She whispered before closing the window more and leaving it open just enough to peek one grey-green eye out to take in the view.

Gareth was still annoyed by this and grumbled incoherently under his breath, but didn’t complain.

Alice did her best to look outside while blocking any light from coming in. Even in the daylight, the flowers still seemed to glow. Out in the field, there was a herd of what Alice could only assume to be unicorns. They were about 9 feet tall with long curly mains and tails with tufts of hair on their chins, feathering on their lower legs, and red and brown spiral horns in the center of their foreheads that curved upward. They were a variety of muted tones of sea-greens, olives, dusty blues, lavenders and mauves with various unique markings like starbursts and swirls. Alice perked up and looked back at Gareth, who was awake, but trying to get back to sleep.

“Hey, Gareth?”

The gargoyle sighed. “What?”

“Can you take me to meet the unicorns?”

Gareth chuckled. “Not those wild ones out there. They’d skewer you like a kebab.”

“Really? They don’t look violent.”

“Take a look at the horns.”

Alice squinted but eventually saw that the red and brown on the horns was actually both dried and fresh blood. A chill ran up her spine. While she’d always hoped that unicorns existed out there somewhere, it had never occurred to her that they would be violent or dangerous.

“I got a friend who breeds captive ones. I’ll take you to see those if you want.” Gareth said. “But only if you let me get back to sleep.” He added with a sharp grumble.

Alice nodded quickly. “Okay. Sorry.” She whispered before turning her head to look out the window, still keeping it open only a sliver.

[ghostcaterwaul-doesnt-write]

Tarot Prompt #8! Prompt from Tarot for Writers by Corrine Kenner.

The draft was written in about 7 minutes, stream of consciousness, then edited and revised over the course of a week.

I’m thinking of doing a taglist for these, by the way, if anyone’s interested! Should I do that?

I’m also thinking of looking for a beta reader for these, as I’m finding it difficult to edit and revise my own work.

I made a masterlist of my previous prompts and relevant posts.

Constructive criticism and feedback or words of encouragement are always welcome!

Deck used: Joseph Vargo's The Gothic

Tarot Card: The Lovers

Prompt from Tarot For Writers by Corrine Kenner: An Ancient Tree

Word Count: 384

The forest was lukewarm, slightly humid, and smelled of musk, soiled earth, crushed leaves, and moss with a resinous, smoky scent and undertones of a cool, sweet floral softness, the ghost of a crisp fruity note, and the slightest hint of licorice.

The wind rustled through the leaves in a rhythmic fashion and twigs crunched as they walked. Glowing flower petals fell elegantly from the trees. The heels of Alice’s boots were sinking into the wet soil. There was a faint sound of humming or muffled singing and an even quieter flute and harp that was barely audible, Alice couldn’t tell which. Gareth didn’t seem to hear it. Alice looked around to see where it was coming from.

“Do you hear that?” She asked her gargoyle companion.

“Hear what?”

“I hear some sort of music or something.”

“Oh, that’s just the fairies.”

“Where are they?”

“Oh they’re everywhere in here. They’re just teeny tiny right now. If they want you to see them, you will.”

“I won’t accidentally step on any, will I?”

“Nah, they’re in the trees.” Alice looked closer at the trees, squinting in hopes of being able to see the fairies. Her face fell into a frown and her shoulders slumped when she didn’t see them, though she perked up again when she instead noticed very small windows and doors in tree trunks and branches. The lights inside radiated neon colors of teal, pink, green, purple, and blue. They blended in so well with the bioluminescence of the forest, she hadn’t noticed them before.

While walking through the forest, Alice and Gareth came across The First Tree.

Like the rest of the trees in the forest, it was a weeping tree with a twisted and knotty trunk, spiraled and curly branches, gnarled roots, and black bark with a rainbow luster. It towered over all the other trees with an umbrella-like canopy and spidery, cascading branches, adorned with teal heart-shaped leaves and violet and magenta bioluminescent star-shaped flowers with pointed petals. It’s large, jagged roots were threaded in and out of the soil like skeletal tentacles and it was difficult to tell them apart from the leaning and fallen trees of the forest. Alice and Gareth could walk underneath the arches of the roots. It was truly a monster of a tree.

[ghostcaterwaul-doesnt-write]

Tarot Prompt #7! I used another prompt from Tarot for Writers by Corrine Kenner.

The draft was written in about 7 minutes, stream of consciousness, then edited and revised over the course of a week.

Picks up where the last one left off.

I’m thinking of doing a taglist for these, by the way, if anyone’s interested! Should I do that? I’m probably going to make a masterpost of them as well.

Constructive feedback or words of encouragement are always welcome!

This snippet contains mentions of alcohol as it takes place in a bar.

Deck used: Joseph Vargo's The Gothic Tarot

Card: 10 of Swords

Prompt from Tarot For Writers by Corrine Kenner: Gossip

Alice sipped on her absinthe, savoring the sweet, herbal, licorice flavor of the chartreuse liquid. She looked around the tavern as Gareth talked to the other patrons. The Tavern was a circle, with a circular bar in the middle made of a pitch black wood with a rainbow opalescence. Booths with purple velvet upholstery lined the gray brick walls. The floor was marble tile designed to take the shape of a purple goblet with an olive green jewel. All the windows were blocked out with stained glass designs depicting various goblets except for the front window, which was clear with the exception of stained glass script spelling out The Ghastly Goblet. Crystal sconces adorned  the wall, radiating teal, violet, and magenta light and there were matching centerpieces on the tables and every 3 seats at the bar. A silver chandelier that’s arms only held incense hung from the ceiling. The tavern had a warm, sweet, earthy smell with hints of spice and vanilla and a smoky resinous scent. 

Alice gazed around in awe, eyes wide and mouth agape,, her heart pounding with excitement. She almost forgot about her drink until she saw Gareth take a sip of his Bourbon Manhattan. She sipped her drink and looked around once more, her eyes landing on an unnaturally large black-purple vulture with piercing fluorescent green eyes that had flown into the front window’s view and perched on a planter hanging from a street pole. The planter held a plant with cascading stems of blue and purple bell-shaped, bioluminescent flowers with gently flared petals.

Suddenly, whispers filled the tavern.

“There’s that old crone’s bird again.”

“Why does it come all the way out here?”

“Probably looking for Astrid’s next victim.”

“Do you really think she killed her husband?”

“Oh, now all of you shut up.” Gareth’s voice boomed throughout the tavern and reverberated off the walls, shocking the rest of the patrons into silence and causing Alice to jump a bit. He continued, “We all know Astrid did no such thing. And you all go to her for spells and potions anyways. How dare you take advantage of her skills only to talk behind her back!”

There was a hum of murmurs for a moment before regular conversations began to pick up again.

Alice was still partially transfixed on the vulture outside as she gazed into the carrion’s mesmerizing eyes. “Who’s Astrid?” She asked, her curiosity getting the best of her. Alice couldn’t help but be intrigued by this mysterious witch.

“An old witch that lives out in the swamp.” Gareth said. “That bird is her familiar, Edgar.” 

“A familiar? That’s a really special animal to a witch, right?”

“To put it simply.”

Alice went quiet for a moment as she still admired Edgar until he eventually took flight.

She turned to Gareth. “Can I meet her?”

“Astrid? Yeah. Sure, kid, I’ll take you out there later.”