Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Heronix

@heronix.bsky.social

For my WIP "The Menagerie of Strays"

Muffins the Cat and Kas the Crow steal a valuable pendant, yet as they learn about its magical properties, they unveil a sinister conspiracy that this necklace is at the center of.

#WritingCommuniry #writing #writers #writersky

Ian Haramaki 🏳️‍⚧️✨ @MFF C8 @cometkins.bsky.social · 20h

Time to eat your vegetables again y'all! What's a one-sentence elevator pitch for your book? If you need help, [thing] meets [thing] is a great baseline. #WritingPrompt

December 11, 2025 at 8:33 PM

Heronix

@heronix.bsky.social

Didn't get much writing done today. Made some revisions to my WIP though, though it seems I may have to rewrite the first (and only 🥲) chapter again...

It's got a new (working?) title though! Might call it "The Menagerie of Strays".

#WritingCommunity #writers #writing #writersky

December 11, 2025 at 1:55 AM

Heronix

@heronix.bsky.social

Agh, I wanna start working on a WIP again, but I've been away from it for so long--I have no idea how to start again.

How do you guys resume a project you've been away from for awhile?

#WritingCommunity #writersky #writing #writers #amwriting

December 10, 2025 at 4:36 PM

Heronix

@heronix.bsky.social

Dec 8 - Touch

Her touch was warm; her stare, cold.

#WritingCommunity #writing #writers #writersky #7SyllableSentence

Gabe Valentine ~semi-hiatus~🐬🌊🏝️🧜🐳 @poetguygabe.bsky.social · 3d

Hello everyone.

The #7syllablesentence prompt for December 8 is #touch

December 7-13 @rlincolnharris.bsky.social
Dec 14-20 @raymonds-towers.bsky.social

Let me know if you want to host #7SyllableSentence

Thank you for your fabulous posts! 🐬🏝️🐳

rlincolnharris.bsky.social @rlincolnharris.bsky.social · 4d

Today is the birthday of American poet James Douglas Morrison, who wrote that “without #touch, we all become big blocks of wood.”

Today’s prompt word is #touch.

And put on some #Doors music to celebrate the Lizard King, while you’re at it.

#7syllablesentence #touch

December 8, 2025 at 7:49 PM

Heronix

@heronix.bsky.social

Ooh, this one's a good one, and not one I've considered until now.

It... Depends.

In urban areas, the children are expected to find work/apprenticeship, and then find their own place to live.

In rural areas, farmsteads are passed down.

#WritingCommunity #writing #writers #DecemberWorldbuilders

Kira of the Wind (Erika McCorkle) @kiraofthewind.com · 4d

Hey there, #DecemberWorldbuilders! This week I'll ask you questions related to FAMILIES. Feel free to put it in the context of any characters you've made, or how your societies in general work. Today's Q: How do family units in general work? Are they generational homes? Who moves after marriage?

MonthlyWorldbuilders prompts daily feed card
#DecemberWorldbuilders
Hosted by Kira of the Wind
Week 2: Families
8: What are family units like? Are there generational homes? Who moves after marriage?

The image shows a cozy town during winter with warm lights. Large mountains are in the background. It is blurred. Snowflakes are around the top words

December 8, 2025 at 7:33 PM

Heronix

@heronix.bsky.social

You ever see a random building or tree and think
"Hey, that's neat. I wanna write a story about that!"

#WritingCommunity #writing #writers #writersky

December 8, 2025 at 2:22 PM

Heronix

@heronix.bsky.social

Dec 5 - Screen

This one's weird.

A piece of a short story I wrote recently. Likely never going to finish it. But it was interesting describing what a vtuber is in prose, I guess.

#WritingCommunity #writers #writing #writersky #WIPSnips

I’m not sure when I first noticed she was hiding something. Maybe it was something in her voice. A slight change in intonation. A squirreliness when talking about herself. Maybe it was the self-deprecating tone her humor began to take on.
Not like her fans minded though. They adored her for it. They tuned into their idol’s livestreams, and showered her with praise. Her difficulty in taking those kind words simultaneously bolstered their adoration and incited more of it. And everyone was all too willing to tell this girl how much they loved her. One hopeless romantic behind a computer screen to another. A collective relationship with a stranger. Parasocial.
Not like I can fault them though. I was a part of the same crowd. My messages were drowned out in the digital cacophony of her fans vying for a sliver of her attention. Originally I thought I was above such things. Too knowledgeable of the parasociality of it. But I couldn’t help but be charmed as well.
This girl never presented herself in the traditional sense. In her livestreams, she used a fictional character as the medium to chat with her fans. The girl we saw was merely a construct. Digitally drawn and rendered in the style of anime. Big eyes, small mouth. A cute schoolgirl uniform one day, a gothic maid outfit the next, and maybe a swimsuit the next. Her pink hair was stylish, but too long to be realistic. She also had an all-to-perfect physique.
The perfect girl, her fans must’ve thought. Nothing could’ve ever been wrong with her. She was happy to entertain them, and they were happy to have her there. Everyone was happy.
But something about her, and I’m not sure what, told me that something was wrong.

December 6, 2025 at 2:47 AM

Heronix

@heronix.bsky.social

I can't pinpoint it exactly, but I'd say my world of Entarra is somewhere around the Industrial Revolution. Though, instead of coal, the primary energy source is Mysterium: a magical liquid that allows even a layman to use magic!

#WritingCommunity #writing #writers #writersky #DecemberWorldbuilders

Kira of the Wind (Erika McCorkle) @kiraofthewind.com · 8d

#DecemberWorldbuilders! What is the "level" of technology in your fictional world? Is it a low-tech fantasy? A high-tech sci-fi? Or something in-between? Maybe something outside the tech progression of human history. Did they invent anything ahead of us in time? Any inventions suspiciously absent?

MonthlyWorldbuilders prompts daily feed card
#DecemberWorldbuilders
Hosted by Kira of the Wind
Week 1: Science
4: Scientific development of your world: what's the level of tech?

The image shows a cozy town during winter with warm lights. Large mountains are in the background. It is blurred. Snowflakes are around the top words

December 5, 2025 at 1:18 AM

Heronix

@heronix.bsky.social

Dec 4 - City

A passage from my WIP "Fight or Flight" (working title). This is the place where Muffins the Cat and Kas the Crow get up to their antics.

#WritingCommunity #writing #writers #writersky #fantasywriters #WIPSnips

The carriages started traveling down the main avenue of Alterros. They trundled towards the city center: the dockside marketplace that became so large that it outgrew the space on the ground, having since invaded the sky. Countless bridges crossed from building to storefront to household to building—whatever made things most convenient for someone at some time. And upon every walkable space there were throngs of people. Even in the air between the bridges, people used flying carpets, brooms, or flying whatever-else to get around. Whether it was Alterros’ citizens doing their daily shopping, visitors from other nations coming to trade, or wealthy merchants transporting goods, one fact was true: Anyone and everyone was here in this place affectionately called “The Great Crossing”.
What better place to lose their pursuers? If things went sideways, which they wouldn’t.

December 5, 2025 at 1:04 AM

Heronix

@heronix.bsky.social

Didn't get any writing done today. By the time I had time to write, I just didn't have the energy. >.>

But my semester is almost done. Hopefully I'll get to write more then!

#WritingCommunity #writing #writers #Writersky

December 4, 2025 at 2:47 AM

Heronix

@heronix.bsky.social

Dec. 2 - Percent

A daring space pirate gets a little too greedy. Chaos ensues.

(This from a WIP named "Your Knight in Shining Spacesuit": a writing contest piece that I never finished. I'm using "half" as if it were 50 percent.)

#WIPSnips #WritingCommunity #writing #writersky #writers

They were partly right, though. We were above the planet Asthixios-3. Most people called it Xios though. It once harbored a megalopolis covering most of the planet’s surface, though some war had destroyed it long ago. That didn’t mean the remaining rubble and scrap was useless however. Multiple companies harvested the leftover steel, electronic components, and whatever else, eventually selling it. Our job was to steal that and sell it for ourselves.
The freighters usually had half a dozen storage silos attached to them. We were only going to bust one open, funnel the material into our ships’ quantum storage units, then make a quick escape.
But that particular silo was only half full! I wasn’t about to leave with so little material!
A rogue laser hit my ship’s left-side thruster, killing it. Another set of alarms and lights went off. I careened to the side, narrowly avoiding Longhorn’s ship.
“Hey, watch it!” he exclaimed, showing a rare crack in his calm demeanor. Why was he so perturbed? His ship was bulkier than mine; it could’ve taken a hit. Probably.
“My left thruster’s out!” I yelled back.
“Serves you right!” Grimlock added.

December 2, 2025 at 10:18 PM

Heronix

@heronix.bsky.social

Ooh, this one's fun. In my world of Entarra, the people weren't really created by gods, per se... It's more like they were created by beings who were /playing/ God. Not like the people know that though.

#DecemberWorldbuilders #writers #writing #writersky

Kira of the Wind (Erika McCorkle) @kiraofthewind.com · 10d

Hello, #DecemberWorldbuilders! Tell us about the creation of your people according to the in-world lore. Were they created by gods? Did they evolve from single-celled organisms? Maybe a bit of both? Maybe they don't know, and maybe they have stories about it. What are their creation myths?

MonthlyWorldbuilders prompts daily feed card
#DecemberWorldbuilders
Hosted by Kira of the Wind
Week 1: Science
2: Were your people created by gods or did they evolve? Both?

The image shows a cozy town during winter with warm lights. Large mountains are in the background. It is blurred. Snowflakes are around the top words

December 2, 2025 at 6:43 PM

Heronix

@heronix.bsky.social

Here's the opening lines of one of my WIP's! Might be a bit too slow for a hook, but I still think it's fun. :3

#writing #WritingCommunity #writers #WriterSky #writingfantasy

It was a dark, moonless night in a graveyard somewhere outside the great city. Within it roamed a mage in dark robes, holding a magical staff in one hand, and a book of runes in the other.
…Sounds like an evil necromancer about to ruin everyone’s day, doesn’t it? Well, if we take a closer look, this little necromancer held what may have been a staff some time ago, but now just served as the cracked and beaten handle of the academy gardener’s shovel. While they had also plundered a book on consulting spirits from the school’s library, the spells therein proved confusing, no matter how much he fumbled through its pages.

December 2, 2025 at 4:20 AM

Heronix

@heronix.bsky.social

Actually got some writing done today! Just a matter of finding the project that spoke to me. I think I'll take a break now though. Had enough intellectual work today.

Just hoping the inspiration is still around when I'm ready to get back to it...

#WritingCommunity #writing #writers #WriterSky

December 2, 2025 at 3:14 AM

Heronix

@heronix.bsky.social

Haven't been able to write much fiction the last couple of days. Just haven't been motivated, and it's hard to get back into it. Inertia or something.

How's your writing going today? Or if it's already been done, how'd it go? :3

#WritingCommunity #writers #writing #WriterSky

December 1, 2025 at 1:57 AM

Heronix

@heronix.bsky.social

Ah yes, I have a great idea for a fantasy magic system! But I never received the premium bundle that adds plotline, characters, and setting too. :(

#writing #WritingCommunity #writers #writersky

November 28, 2025 at 9:03 PM

Heronix

@heronix.bsky.social

November 27th - Disorganize

Muffins the cat and Kas the crow attempt a covert theft from a convoy of carriages. It goes very, very wrong...

(Definitely more vibes with this submission than anything.)

#WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts #WIPSnips #Writing #Writers #Writersky

However, as the cat decided what to do, the carriages veered left, towards the city’s north side. That wasn’t in the plan! No one ever needed to transport goods to somewhere other than the Great Crossing!
The danger would now also increase two-fold. Not only would the safety of the maze-like city center get further away, but the north end was where the big merchants and politicians lived. Richer people meant tighter security.
“Ahh!! Get off! Get off!!”
As Muffins mulled what to do, she heard screams of terror from a random citizen. She craned her neck upwards to find Kas was missing. Damn it! For better or worse, he was one step ahead of her, enacting a plan without telling her.
The mercenaries around the convoy turned towards the screaming woman, who now had a crow harassing her. Muffins only had a couple seconds to exploit the distraction, tops! She bolted out from the crowd, and dashed towards the middle carriage. The middle carriage always had the real goods!
She crashed through the flap covering the back of the carriage, and into the lap of someone inside. Why was someone in here??
By instinct, she clawed at the man’s face before backing away. He covered his face in response, and in that brief moment, Muffins’ eyes scanned the contents of the carriage. Among the carriage’s innocuous contents, there was one box that caught her attention. A box of blue and gold that was only big enough to hold a pendant. It was strewn across the ground, and the necklace within had fallen out. It must’ve been knocked out of the carriage-dweller’s hands.
Without thinking, Muffins dashed around the man. He uttered an incantation, and lowered his hands to reveal a healed face. Why would some random mercenaries have a mage with them?? Before she could consider it any further, Muffins snatched the necklace with her mouth, before attempting to leap from the carriage. Yet, the mage was quick, and grabbed her by the tail, sending her plummeting back inside.
“Damn it! Kas! Get over here!”

November 27, 2025 at 5:24 PM

Heronix

@heronix.bsky.social

Ah yes, the ultimate decision: continue a work-in-progress piece, or start YET ANOTHER new project while the inspiration is ripe. 🤔

#writingcommunity #writing #writers #writersky

November 27, 2025 at 4:47 PM

Heronix

@heronix.bsky.social

Finally started writing outside of schoolwork again. Only got 500 words written so far this morning. But it's a start.

How's everyone else's writing going today?

#writingcommunity #writing #writers #writersky

November 26, 2025 at 4:07 PM

Heronix

@heronix.bsky.social

Writing is all about discipline. Clock in some words every day and all that.

But if you're forcing yourself to write every day, how does one prevent burnout? 🤔

#writing #writingcommunity #writers #writersky

November 26, 2025 at 1:48 PM