WHUMPTOBER is a month-long, prompt-based creation CHALLENGE (think: Inktober, but whumpier). There are four prompts for each day of the month, giving 124 for you to play with! There is also a list of 18 alternative prompts that can be subbed in for any day to give participants as much creative freedom as possible.
All prompts are meant to serve as inspiration without being taken literally (e.g. you don’t have to include the exact wording of prompts into your work). Feel free to run rampant on interpretation. For example, if the prompt is “flame", you could create something with reference to a candle/campfire, your character could have suffered a burn, or the flame could be a reference to an ‘old flame’ - an old relationship. It’s truly down to you!
You can produce work in any media you choose, including but not limited to: writing, visual artwork, photo/video/audio edits, paper crafts and elaborate recommendation lists (not just a list of links). You can participate as much or as little as you want (i.e. you don’t have to do ALL the prompts if you don’t want to) and prompts can be used in any order. They are also free to use even after the event ends.
Please make sure to read the Event Info and FAQ carefully, as most of your questions will be answered there already. For everything else, you are welcome to come to our ask box or ask questions in our Discord server here.
Information on how to TAG is here.
This year’s AO3 Collection can be found here.
This year’s playlist can be found here.
The ‘Anatomy of a Whumptober Prompt’ post can be found here.
And our 'Resources for Writing Sensitive Topics’ post is here.
We’re very excited to see the community come together for yet another year of Whumptober! Go ham with the prompts, and support your fellow creators - we wish you all the best of luck, but most importantly: HAVE FUN!
Happy whumping,
Mods Vanne, Yenn, Kitty and Surro
Text versions of the prompts, including a google doc format, are posted below the cut!
A Google Doc of the prompts can be found here for easy copy-and-pasting!
Whumptober 2025 Prompt List
No. 1: “Please don’t cry”
Lamb to Slaughter | Ceremony | Beg for Forgiveness
No. 2: “You’ve got a lot of nerve to dredge up all my fears.”
Prophecy | Sewer | Taking Accountability
No. 3: “I look in people’s windows, transfixed by rose golden glows.”
Isolation | Candlelight | Found Family
No. 4: “Don’t be scared, I’ve done this before.”
Non-Human Whumper | Iron Rod | Loss of Powers
No. 5: “My panic’s at the ceiling, but I’m face down on the carpet.”
Quivering | Dream Journal | Phobia
No. 6: “No grave can hold my body down.”
Caught in a Net | Medical Restraints | Pinned to the Wall
No. 7: “Tell me that you’re okay, and I’m fine.”
Trapped with the Enemy | Elevator | Pushed Beyond Breaking Point
No. 8: “Oh horror, oh horror, what did you see?”
Self-Inflicted Injury | Held at Gunpoint | Dissociation
No. 9: “We’ll make it alright to come undone.”
Touch | Flashbacks | Scalding
No. 10: “There’s nothing you can ever say, nothing you can ever do.”
Without Consent | Secrets | Lips Sewn Shut
No. 11: “Can you get through all the pain inside you?”
Hidden Injury | Laceration | Forced Reveal
No. 12: “It’ll be for nothing.”
Cardiac Arrest | Sacred Place | Withholding Medical Treatment
No. 13: “How dull is it to pause, to make an end, to rust unburnished.”
Never Enough | Insignia | Forced Retirement
No. 14: “In the end, it’s worthwhile.”
Ignoring an Illness | Body Bag | Wounded Caretaker
No. 15: “You can take a break, if you just tell me that it hurts.”
Failed Rescue Attempt | Body Part in the Mail | Live-Streamed Torture
No. 16: “I’ve had the rug pulled beneath my feet.”
Repressed Trauma | Permanent Marker | Disorientation
No. 17: “Tell me there’s a hope for me.”
Internal Bleeding | Coma | Redemption
No. 18: “As the world caves in.”
Dystopia | Ruins | Environmental Whump
No. 19: “You’re on your own, lost in the wild.”
Dehumanisation | Living Weapon | On Patrol
Don't you think it's easier for you to deal with your Trauma (tm) because you have a perfect marriage, a child who adores you, and a leisurely life as a housewife? It's harder for those who are single and alone and also need to work a full time job in order to survive.
No, I don’t think my trauma is easier to deal with. It’s different, but not easier.
For starters: No marriage is perfect. No child adores their parents 100% of the time. A housewife’s life is not leisurely.
So the assumptions Anon have started off with are very much out of sync with reality. Btw: I like Izumi Curtis. Quite a lot. Here she is, in her natural habitat, efficiently dealing with obstacles. :-)
Yeah - no. No. Trauma doesn’t magically become easier to deal with just because you’re married, with a kid, and not fulfilling a role at a place where you clock in and out of work.
It’s a lot of straight-up refusing to listen to the voices in my head that I literally grew up with, and trying to manage all of the emotional/mental/physical needs of a household while simultaneously being aware of my own needs, and to actually remember to take care of myself - which is very hard to do, because growing up, I literally locked away pieces of myself to cope with all the shitshow that was going on.
Breaking the cycle of generational abuse doesn’t really look, or feel, awesome. It’s worth it, but it’s hard. It’s looking through your possessions, and deciding to give away most of them. It’s having a handful of pictures from your childhood, because too many of them brought back vivid memories of assault and pain. It’s blocking a lot of phone numbers. It’s deleting anniversaries, birthdays, and upcoming events from your calendar. It’s putting down solid, unyielding boundaries to keep you, and those you love, safe, even when it also means saying goodbye - perhaps forever - to things that meant the world to you when you were growing up.
When the poison’s in the well, you have to stop drinking the water.
Stuff isn’t automatically ‘better’ just because of surroundings in your life. It’s just different terrain. Like, sure, I’m not on a mountainside in the middle of a snowstorm, but I am still in the middle of a storm on the ocean, on a ship, and oh crap if that was Uwa’toka we might need to portal out asap, because my kid isn’t up to a strong enough fighting level yet, and I need my Boots of Haste to take that giant sea snake on. Maybe a Vestige or two. (Vox Machina fans: I salute you).
Last thing: If you haven’t watched Ducktales 2017, please try to do so - that show is one of the best I’ve seen in ages. So sweet, funny, smart, and hopeful. A truly wonderful way to spend your time. <3
thank you for the tags @sunsfancyscooter (here) and @idletype (here)! I love fun little games <3
this is pretty accurate to me! I'm just a silly little guy your honor 🫶
Tagging: @qt-qtoey @cornflowershade @welcome-to-the-shit-library @jojotichakorn @perfectlypeachbear @bubbaknowlton @jjsanguine @petrich0-r @karumizai @errorkey and anyone else who sees this <333
This was so much fun! :D Tagging @callaeidae3 @arwenride @justheretobreakthingsblog @jpnpr @brushes-of-sage @haleykim84 @familyofpaladins and anyone else who would like to join in! :D
hiiii! it's my first time doing this ehehehhehh i don't know what i'm doing c:
tysm, @matching-dresses!!! you're amazing!!!
Last song: Operation by Three Days Grace
Favourite colour: PURPLE!!!!!! [all shades. i go crazy for purple] also crimson and smoky pink. and idk if that counts as a colour but glitter/unicorn skin.
Sweet/savoury/spicy: spicy. spicy all the goddamn way. please put me in as much pain as humanely possible. or inhumanely, that's fine by me, too.
Currently watching: Dunegon Meshi! GO WATCH IT ASAP IT'S SO GOOD AHSIXGSHIDHDJ [i finished episode 4 and i feel shit going down very soon]
Relationship status: I am in one, yes! Very happy to finally have someone who is capable of keeping me in check!!
Current obsession: so many. but most notably, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure [especially Cioccolata and Secco, naturally], Naruto [especially Hidan and Kakuzu, naturally], death, meat, tea, my guitar and re-learning life!
and lot other of people who i wanted to tag but have seen tagged already eeeeeeh >n< but i hope they know that i really really like them and would love to know more about them without spamming their inbox!
please, don't feel pressured to do this, i'm just. just giving the option. it's like getting bapped with a cat paw. a. a boop... ;u;
I haven't done this before!! Thank you, @tea-stained !!!
Last song - Crosstown Traffic by Jimi Hendrix.
Favorite color - Purple (I'm thinking between lavender and midnight purple).
Sweet/Savory/Spicy - Hard to pick, really. But I'd probably go spicy. There's nothing wrong with a little spice.
Currently watching - idk if this counts because I finished all the shows I was watching. But, I'm listening to an audiobook of Purple Haze Feedback!
Relationship status - Single, and I'd like to keep it that way for a while. I want to work I'm bettering myself before I bring all that onto another person
Current obsession - you could never guess ( just kidding!) probably a tie between JoJo's Bizarre Adventure or Jimi Hendrix ( we'll sneak in Prince, David Bowie, Link Floyd, and King Crimson for the music
Here you go: @dearest-tulip @dawnstarllight @dreamtopies @ambyandony @ilepigg @yokiteryokiter @bruabbastars
They're not my moots, just people I admire the art of ( sorry abt that)
Last song: either Hell is Forever, Stayed Gone, or Whatever it Takes
Favorite color: Dark blues and purples, also black
Sweet/Savory/Spicy: savory
Currently watching: a documentary about doctor Marcel Petiot
Relationship status: single
Current obsession: moose, shed hunting, loa, manifesting, mlp (still), tekken (esp. Sergei and *deep breath* DIMITRI), memeing the shit out of prev. mentioned. (mentally), päronbiskvier
thank you for the tag!!! <3 (I dont think I said it before, but you were a major part of get my boop counter past 1000 lol)
Last song: Love from the Other Side by fall out boy
Favorite color: GREEN (especially lime/grass green. but a lot of greens are good)
Sweet/savory/spicy: sweet! Sometimes savory
Currently watching: I'm rewatching the 2003 Teenage mutant ninja turtles! Almost done with season 5 :D (also just saw kung fu panda 4 day before yesterday)
Relationship status: single pringle lol
Current obsession: tmnt mostly! Various ones, but mostly 03 since I'm rewatching it. but I've also started an au in my mind and literally wrote 3k worth of words of background about it yesterday lol. Thinking about rewatching Monkie Kid here sometime, and I'll probably get obsessed again lol. Things are getting very interesting in the MY hero academia manga. So I may or may not be getting back into that lol
Tagging: @haleykim84 @berryblu-arts @rangergirl3 @psy(you know who you are) @groundzero-and-deku @eastofthemoon @bloo-the-dragon @archangeltama @bookwyrm-art-stuff @confusednymphinayellowdress @i-dont-know-i-suck-with-names and anyone else who wants to share! :D
Thank you so much for the tag @familyofpaladins ! So kind of you to include me! <3
Last song: Warriors by League of Legends, 2WEI and Edda Hayes
Favorite color: purple
Sweet/savory/spicy: sweet! I cannot handle spicy at all!
Currently watching: Outlander. My friend @noisypaintersong recommended this show to me years ago (seriously, back in 2021!), and I've only now gotten around to watching it o_O It's great though, I love it!
Relationship status: single
Current obsession: Outlander (I love and adore Jamie!), but also The Green Creek series by T.J. Klune (gay werewolves, brotherly love, found family, magic, what's not to love?)!
Tagging: @brushes-of-sage @noisypaintersong @hotarubi-e @airstyledraconos and anyone-else who wants to join in!
Ahhhhh, It’s been forever since doing a tag game!! Thanks for the tag @haleykim84 !!
Last Song: “Top One” from the BNHA Stage Play (y’all, I’m OBSESSED with the stage plays y’all have no idea 😭😭😭)
Favorite Color: P U R P L E
Sweet/Savory/Spicy: savory and sweet (rip my Mexican heritage, I cannot handle spice 😭)
Currently Watching: Star Trek TOS movies (I’ve just finished “The Search for Spock” and need to read the novelization before moving on)
Relationship Status: Single Pringle who will mingle for robots
Current Obsession: Boku no Hero Academia 🦸 and Star Trek 🌟 (finally reading through the manga all the way through plus stage plays + my nerds in space)
Tagging: @jade-kyo, @rangergirl3, @theballadear, @im-nice-but-i-dont-like-you, @webrokethe4thwall, and anyone else who’d like to join!
Last Song: I’m Dangerous by The Everlove (Very satisfying to listen to :D)
Favorite Color: Blue
Sweet/Savory/Spicy: Sweet
Currently Watching: Critical Role, Campaign Three
Relationship Status: Married (coming up on - 9?! YEARS :D)
Current Obsession: Clearing out my email inbox/F I N A L L Y sitting down to read Brandon Sanderson’s book ‘Defiant’ after literally buying it last year and never opening it up until JUST NOW because spoons
Tagging: @callaeidae3 @jpnpr @drizzlydaybeforethespring @arwenride @justheretobreakthingsblog @actress4him and anyone else who wants to join in!
The thing about gradually coming to terms with long-repressed traumatic memories is:
Well, you tend to make jokes that no one else finds funny, but it’s how you cope. Sort of.
Mostly to fend off the screaming in your head.
Which can work. Until you have enough faculties to deal with it, which I thankfully do.
Trauma mentions after the cut. Nothing graphic, just yucky.
I made the following joke upon realizing that there is 100% no way I should ever trust my biological father or mother within 100 miles of me or any kids I have.
Let’s just say that waking up sweating, and visceral panic attacks, intrusive flashbacks, and a literal textbook worth of gradual realizations are a real bitch to work with when it ends up that I also have survived: incest. Wish that was a mistype. But it’s not.
Ugh.
Just YUCK.
Although the stuff my mother would tell me as a kid (aka If you ever tell anyone about the stuff that happens at home the social workers will come and take away your siblings and you’ll NEVER SEE THEM AGAIN) really starts to make sense now. (She was a real mean piece of work too. Each of my parental figures really does deserve the other. It’s a match made in Hades. I wish them a very predictably miserable eternity together.)
At the time, I just figured she really hated anyone knowing we, I don’t know, were noisy and messy at times, like kids tend to be.
But instead, my mind was just doing this: Running from anything I felt I couldn’t control. Which was everything.
Thank goodness I have stable relationships now. I mean, it still is nasty to deal with all of the health consequences - past and present - and I’ve definitely begun an overhaul of the house, instead of just a typical spring cleaning. Something about just throwing myself into a mountain of tasks can help me feel a little less lost when the noise inside my head gets too loud. (As long as I make sure I get enough sleep, rest, and relaxation, too.)
But yes, that’s…well, the biggest reason I took so much time off of Tumblr. There were other memories I uncovered - to no one’s surprise, I witnessed a LOT of messed up stuff in my early life that just got stuffed under the rug - including two suicides of total strangers because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time- side note - Please Please Please LIVE. Each life is such an irreplaceable treasure. Please choose to live. Please.
So. That was a lot. I’m a little bit nervous posting this, mostly due to some very cruel anons that have interacted with me in the past, but I wanted to update you, my friends🥰, on what all’s been up these last several months.
Just as a reassurance: I’m safe. I’m truly very happy. And I’m not going anywhere. Except maybe the library. Every time I get another set of books, and cart them back home, my husband just looks up at me and laughs, because it’s not even surprising anymore. 😂
Also my kiddo has asked for a Belle dress as a future gift so that she can ‘look and act just like my mama!’ Which made me supremely delighted.
And now, I’m going to go bake some zucchini bread. And brainstorm my next book. 😎 Because I think some people could really benefit from hearing that people with a terribly painful backstory can still snort milk out through their nose in delight at a funny joke. It just takes some time to get to that point.
I watched a skit on YouTube where each ‘personality’ had to deal with complete isolation and mine (the ISFJ) just spent it re-enacting their favorite TV show line by line and I felt very seen
Aka
I couldn’t stop laughing because that was 100% me, in my head, during a very difficult childhood, which probably saved my sanity
Because now, despite literally everything trying to kill me off, I’m quirky, instead of flat-out NUTS
*But instead of a TV show it was a medley of Disney lyrics, character quotations from books, and a self-insert character in the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy
So what I’m saying is fiction is VERY GOOD FOR YOU
Short update: Life is (still) busy. Lots of things to manage; but going well. 🥰
Long(er) update: Just after Christmas, I found out that some of the meds I’ve been taking for…oooh, about six years? It had fruit in it (or, at least, a fruit based derivative aka polysorbate which absolutely contributed to the skin on my hands being so, so bad these last few years). So, I ended up switching up some meds last month, and boy, that’s been an adjustment. Not a bad one, as things go, but it was definitely a lot to tackle on top of other stuff.😅 Hubby changed jobs (yay!), lots of paperwork came due (ack!), and I ended a long-term friendship which…eh. It sucks, but it was neccessary. Sad, though, too, not gonna lie.
Good news is, I have finally been able to work on relaxing! And I know that sounds odd, but I really have to W-O-R-K on that - and I’ve been sort of getting better at it!
I’ve been crafting (lots and LOTS of cross-stitching), and reading (Brandon Sanderson and Drew Hayes), and also occasionally brainstorming new fun stories! I don’t have anything definite planned right now, but we’ll see what happens.
Anyway, that’s the latest update from me - more to come soon! I hope. If I have the energy/spoons to do so. 🥰 Hope you’re all well!
What does your husband do for work? Being a stay at home mom sounds like the dream life. I know, I know, it’s still busy and yadda yadda yadda but there are many women who do all that while working a full time job outside the house. It’s a huge privilege to have a hubby who makes enough to support a family on one income and I’m super jealous.
This…well, this strikes me as a bit of a rude question.
What should it matter what my husband does for work?
Like. I can’t even.
But I’ll answer truthfully, because I am honestly so proud of him, and of us as a team. ❤️
My husband does everything and anything he needs to do to support our family. This has included taking on additional part-time jobs, free-lancing, and contractor work. He’s my super-hero. ❤️
And, while it is truly a blessing for me to be able to stay home with our kiddo, it has come with some significant sacrifices on our end.
Since he uses the car for work, weather permitting, I walk to appointments. (Due to multiple skin and respiratory issues, I find it wisest to avoid public transportation). Until my skin sensitivity became something I could no longer ignore, I donated plasma twice a week to stretch our grocery budget a little bit further.
We do all our own yard work, house work, laundry, cooking, cleaning, and home projects. If we want a new look for our living room, we spend a weekend measuring and moving the furniture we already have around. Side Note: It’s awesome when you hit upon just the right configuration for your living room!
We do not eat out at restaurants. We do not purchase wine, juice, or soft drinks. (I do love me a good mead, but that’s not in the budget right now).
I do not buy clothes, shoes, books, makeup, jewelry, or other wants (like stickers, planners, pictures, or organizational baskets). My big treat of the week is a mocha from Starbucks, which I pay cash for, because I want to use my resources wisely. My husband also does not buy things he wants, because there are other priorities that need - well, prioritizing.
Like rent, kid’s clothes, kids shoes, groceries, doctors visits, medications, and, as a one-time expense, a 100% cotton comforter for our bed that’s made a night and day difference for my skin, as it seems that polyester (which is in a LOT of warm winter clothing and blankets) has been a major, ongoing factor for years in my skin irritation.
So, Anon, please don’t be jealous.
I’m incredibly happy with my life, but it still takes a lot of work to make it work.
However, this song and amv is superbly done with the timing of the music and movements! I've easily watched it though...five or six times in row. Just now.
I tend to hyper-focus on stuff to distract myself from other stuff. It's great when it works. :-)
All I want for Christmas is: for my skin to actually. For five minutes at a time. To not drive me crazy.
Like, the skin is literally the largest organ of the body. I just want it to work the way it should! aka to not freak out with what feels like a full body allergic reaction to anything and everything, leaveing me half-crazed with irritated skin and the inability to touch anything! GAAHH!
Especially on my fingers, because it is VERY ANNOYING to want to do anything and have to factor in things like 'Well I could, but should I?"
So I end up doing this:
And it makes me grumpy. Because I want to do EVERYTHING. And not being able to use my fingers/hands really puts a damper on that.
