Superhero Central

writing is this ginger's agenda

[gingerly-writing]

Masterpost

Writing

My writing:

Superhero shenanigans, fantasy romps, and anything else that takes my fancy

Can be found under the #my-writing tag on my blog here

I rarely write continuations but feel free to ask for one 

My prompts:

Primarily about heroes and villains, with some paranormal, fantasy, and royalty thrown in

Can be found under the #my-prompt tag here

Feel free to write any story inspired by them, to only take a single line or turn of phrase, to change the characters, or anything else you desire! All I ask is that you credit me somewhere

Also please tag me if you post it on tumblr and would like me to read your work! I’m always happy to r&r 💚

You can request prompts in my asks, happy to receive these any time but no promises on when I’ll get around to them

Paid Writing

Patreon:

Found here

Currently one tier, $3 for several short stories a month

Patrons can request specific stories, or continuations of old stories!

Also comes with a cosy Discord server

Kofi:

Found here

Primarily used for expedited prompt requests:

Buy a kofi and include your request in the message

Send me the same ask on tumblr so I can respond to it (this will make sure you are notified when I post)

I will write you 3+ personalised prompts within a few days (aka as fast as possible barring difficulties or disasters)

Sometimes people also send random kofis because they liked a piece of my writing, I’m obviously happy to accept these too!

Tags

As stated above, please do tag me in any writing spawned from my prompts! I love reading it

I don’t typically answer tag games, but I don’t object to being tagged

Please don’t add me to any tag lists I haven’t requested to be on

Please don’t get upset if I don’t see something you tagged me in, chances are that tumblr.hellsite.com ate it

Favourite Tropes

a little fun section ;P

kidnappings, especially reverse kidnappings

living weapon

soldier/prince/general captured by their enemy counterpart

pushed up against the wall and kissed

cranky teamups

that’s it for now, happy creating!

(header banner by @creweemmaeec11!)

[assortedcriminality]

prompt #25

Villain crept through the hideout, silently moving through room after room in the pitch-black. It was bigger than they’d expected—enormous, to be entirely accurate. And there were way more newspaper clippings and conspiracy boards than they thought Hero would have. The crimefighter wasn’t really a person who was interested in meticulous research and detective work. At least, Villain hadn’t really taken the big lug to be the type.

“I didn’t know Hero was this smart,” they remarked to themself as they studied some scribbled notes that had surprisingly accurate theories on Villain’s own tactics and weapons.

“They’re not,” said a voice behind them. “I am.” 

[autocrats-in-love]

Prompt (652)

“I miss you,” the villain said, solemnly.

“I miss you too,” the hero said. “You realize you didn’t have to kidnap me to tell me this, though, right?”

“Well you’re so busy now, when else would you have time?”

[rederiswrites]

There used to be a lot of activities that took place around a populated area like a village or town, which you would encounter before you reached the town itself. Most of those crafts have either been eliminated in the developed world or now take place out of view on private land, and so modern authors don't think of them when creating fantasy worlds or writing historical fiction. I think that sprinkling those in could both enrich the worlds you're writing in and, potentially, add useful plot devices.

For example, your travelers might know that they're near civilization when they start finding trees in the woods that have been tapped, for pitch or for sap. They might find a forester's trap line and trace it back to his hut to get medical care. Maybe they retrace the passage of a peasant and his pig out hunting for truffles. If they're coming along a coast, maybe your travelers come across the pools where sea water is dried down to salt, or the furnaces where bog iron ore is smelted.

Maybe they see a column of smoke and follow it to the house-sized kilns of a potter's yard where men work making bricks or roof tiles. From miles away they could smell the unmistakeable odor of pine sap being rendered down into pitch, and follow that to a village. Or they hear the flute playing of a shepherd boy whiling away the hours in the high pasture.

They could find the clearing where the charcoal burners recently broke down an earth kiln, and follow the hoof prints and drag marks of their horse and sledge as they hauled the charcoal back to civilization. Or follow the sound of metal on stone to a quarry or gravel pit. Maybe they know they're nearly to town when they come across a clay bank with signs of recent clay gathering.

Of course around every town and city there will be farms, more densely packed the closer you are. But don't just think of fields of grains or vegetables. Think of managed woodlands, like maybe trees coppiced-- cut and then regrown--to customize the shape or size of the branches. Cows being grazed in a communal green. Waiting as a huge flock of ducks is driven across the road. Orchards in bloom.

If they're approaching by road, there will be things best done out of town. The threshing floor where grain is beaten with flails or run through crushing wheels to separate the grain from its casing, and then winnowed, using the wind to carry away the chaff. Laundresses working in the river, their linens bleaching on the grass at the drying yard. The stench of the tanners, barred from town for stinking so badly. The rushing wheel-race and great creaking wheel of the flour mill.

If it's a larger town, there might be a livestock market outside the gates, with goats milling in woven willow pens or chickens in wooden cages. Or a line of horses for the wealthier buyer or your desperate travelers. There might be a red light district, escaping the regulations of the city proper, or plain old slums. More industrial yards, like the yards where fabric is dyed (these might also smell quite bad, like rotting plant material, or urine).

There are so many things that preindustrial people did and would find familiar that we just don't know about now. So much of life was lived out in the open for anyone to see. Make your world busy and loud and colorful!

[alexanderwales]

You mentioned coppicing:

The coppice and pollard systems are one of my favorite pre-modern things, it's just so visually unique and sensible, but most people haven't heard about it.

When you coppice, you cut the tree close to the ground, so only the trunk is left, then the tree puts out fairly straight shoots that are great for firewood. They would typically have these trees harvested on rotation so new trees would be ready every year.

This is a coppiced tree:

When you pollard, you cut the tree to the trunk, but higher, and let the branches grow for longer. They'll be be nice and straight (depending on species) with fewer knots, and suitable to various crafts without much need to work the wood. Sadly seems to be etymologically unrelated to "pole", though the branches from these trees were used to make poles. Part of why you do this instead of coppicing is that the shoots are out of reach of animals.

This is a pollarded tree:

It's very likely that you'd see something like this as a sign of civilization as you came toward a town or village, depending on the species of tree that they have available, though note that this is something you do when you have a timeline of many years, rather than something you set up for the year after.

[tarragonthedragon]

i love that star wars comic where padmé's surviving handmaidens hold a last stand against vader but honestly if i were them i would have dedicated the rest of my life to the most comprehensive and inescapable fake haunting in the history of the galaxy. man should not be allowed two successive heartbeats without seeing his dead wife's face gazing soulfully at him across the room and slipping away before anyone sees. literally what else is the point of being a highly trained operative capable of perfectly imitating your best friend if not to torment her husband for decades after she's gone.

[skltart]

i'm going to the end of the world to experience freedom and beauty in desolation, anyone want anything?

[benmce-art]

Replanting

[bettedavisgf]

[kragehund-est]

dont piss me off. next time you go on a trip im filling your house with galapagos finches. by the time you return, they've evolved to fill your niche. they're a better spouse to your partner. they're a better parent for your child. and? they're a better friend to me than you ever were.

[0x1-deactivated20220826]

[jessaerys]

i love when you read/watch an influential piece of storytelling and you're like ohhhhhh ok i see. so everyone else was copying this guy's homework

[wollemi-whump]

i love enemy caretakers. people who shouldnt be helping the injured person but their morals just wont let them stand by. a soldier patching up an opposing soldier even knowing it might put their own life at risk. a criminal talking down a gang leader to keep a detective from being killed or leaving them an anonymous tip to a dangerous situation. a vigilante keeping the person who wants to arrest them alive even if it increases the chance they get arrested. theres just so many great versions of enemy caretakers!!

[candyskiez]

I love when a character wants to be someone's dog so so bad. Dont mean it in a sexual way (although that can also be a part of it) I mean like. Let me be your loyal companion let me stay by your side give me a purpose in exchange for endless unconditional love let me stop being a person love me like it's my only use. Love me like that's the only thing I was made for. As you can tell. I'm normal.

[gingerly-writing]

Prompt #3326

“Why didn’t you call me?! I would’ve helped, I would’ve-”

“Felt used,” the hero rasped. “Didn’t want to…use our relationship…to have you…fight my battles.”

“You idiot,” the villain sobbed. “You self-sacrificing idiot.”

[brightgoat]

my goat washed. my goat aflame

[ryan-sometimes]

Some names just sound so ridiculously fake that had they been fictional, people would’ve rolled their eyes in complete disbelief. Like seriously. Wdym there’s a mf called Galileo Galilei. Stfu. You just made that up

[ryan-sometimes]

Fastest man on earth is a guy called Usain Bolt. Sure I guess. There’s a poker player whose real name is Chris Moneymaker. Whatever. Scott Speed is a racecar driver. Founder of Tito’s Vodka is some guy called Bert Beveridge. There’s a former CNN bureau chief called William Headline. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.

[championoftheoppressed]

I've just finished the first Murderbot book and it's very funny coming from Star Trek to this. In Star Trek you have androids and such actively campaigning for themselves to be considered full people with rights that deserve the same considerations as anyone else. Meanwhile in Murderbot all the humans are telling this guy that it's a person with rights and it's their friend and they like it and its response is basically

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

One thing I've been meaning to write an essay about for a while and never got around to is the difference between older, Data-style robot people and more modern iterations like Murderbot. You've got two levels of striving for rights here, the modern one built on having internalised the older one. Every time I reflect on them I'm reminded strongly of the public-facing part of the queer rights movement.

Data, who strongly admires and desires humanity, has his story centred around being as humanlike as possible. In Data stories, to be more like a human is viewed as improvement, to be called humanlike is a compliment; everything is framed around his ability to seem similar to humans and he's good because he strives to be more human. He's similar to the nineties and early millennium push of "we're just like you! Our differences are something we were born with and we can't help :( but we can be same as you! Trans people were just born in the wrong body; if we get the right one, we fit in! Gay people can form lifelong partnerships and raise kids! Love is love! <3" in order to appeal for basic rights, safety and autonomy. Data is safe. He asks you to listen to his plea to let him through the gates, not to tear the fences down.

Murderbot is different. Murderbot knows what it is and doesn't strive for humanity. Murderbot does not see being called human as a compliment and, while it will fake being human for strategic reasons, prefers not to be confused for one. The humans in book 1 gaining sympathy for it because of how humanlike it is and talking about it in human terms is not seen as uplifting and positive but as awkward and painfully naive, something that drives Murderbot away and that they have to address in themselves when it comes back. The Preservation Aux system of allowing bots in only with human sponsors to guide them is seen as obviously unfair and condescending, a way for humans to roleplay being charitable sympathetic guides for the poor bots who clearly need their help. Murderbot is the post-aughts queer wave of "whether we are like you or not is irrelevant. We are entitled to rights and safety whether or not we fit into your systems and stroke your egos. Whether you understand us or approve of us is not relevant to this question. It is not our job to treat you as an ideal we are failing to reach in order to make you feel better." Murderbot is not safe. Murderbot does not plead at the gate that it should be let in. Murderbot is not grateful and appreciative of your generosity for opening the gate because in Murderbot's world, the fact that you're still manning the gate means you're a naive annoyance.