Kerrigan Orchard
@kerriganorchard.bsky.social
Dark fiction author • Giving shadows a voice • She who writes confessions in invisible ink • Macabre storyteller • Words are just organized haunting
She collected fears the way others collect stamps. Carefully. Obsessively. Each fear was catalogued, preserved, organized by type and severity. Knowledge didn't make the fears smaller, but it made them hers.
November 22, 2025 at 2:45 PM
She collected fears the way others collect stamps. Carefully. Obsessively. Each fear was catalogued, preserved, organized by type and severity. Knowledge didn't make the fears smaller, but it made them hers.
The library at midnight understands me. Libraries are repositories of everything humanity ever thought, felt, feared, dreamed. The midnight library doesn't judge. It just holds space for all of it. That's home.
November 22, 2025 at 5:28 AM
The library at midnight understands me. Libraries are repositories of everything humanity ever thought, felt, feared, dreamed. The midnight library doesn't judge. It just holds space for all of it. That's home.
My search history would get me investigated. Occupational hazard. Symptoms of arsenic poisoning, how long a body takes to decompose, whether someone could survive that fall. Fiction requires thorough research.
November 22, 2025 at 4:49 AM
My search history would get me investigated. Occupational hazard. Symptoms of arsenic poisoning, how long a body takes to decompose, whether someone could survive that fall. Fiction requires thorough research.
The story whispers loudest at midnight. At midnight, when defenses are down and the world is quiet, the story stops whispering and starts speaking clearly. Listen when the story speaks. Especially at midnight.
November 22, 2025 at 3:24 AM
The story whispers loudest at midnight. At midnight, when defenses are down and the world is quiet, the story stops whispering and starts speaking clearly. Listen when the story speaks. Especially at midnight.
Words are controlled haunting with better marketing. Writing is haunting—putting images and voices in someone's head that they can't remove. It's possession with permission. Ghosts with book deals and marketing plans.
November 21, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Words are controlled haunting with better marketing. Writing is haunting—putting images and voices in someone's head that they can't remove. It's possession with permission. Ghosts with book deals and marketing plans.
My search history: "can a person survive—" and other writer necessities. Fiction requires thorough research. The search history of a thriller writer looks identical to someone planning something deeply concerning. Intent matters.
November 21, 2025 at 2:45 PM
My search history: "can a person survive—" and other writer necessities. Fiction requires thorough research. The search history of a thriller writer looks identical to someone planning something deeply concerning. Intent matters.
The story found me first. I just took notes. The best stories find you. They tap you on the shoulder at 3 AM and demand attention. The story was always there. I'm just the one with the keyboard.
November 21, 2025 at 5:19 AM
The story found me first. I just took notes. The best stories find you. They tap you on the shoulder at 3 AM and demand attention. The story was always there. I'm just the one with the keyboard.
Some stories demand to be written in the dark. Literally dark. There are stories that only come out after sunset, that require shadows and silence and the particular quality of solitude that only exists at 2 AM.
November 21, 2025 at 4:34 AM
Some stories demand to be written in the dark. Literally dark. There are stories that only come out after sunset, that require shadows and silence and the particular quality of solitude that only exists at 2 AM.
She built cathedrals from broken sentences. Every sentence that didn't work, every fragment that broke apart—she collected them all and built something holy. Wholeness is fine. But redemption is better.
November 21, 2025 at 3:12 AM
She built cathedrals from broken sentences. Every sentence that didn't work, every fragment that broke apart—she collected them all and built something holy. Wholeness is fine. But redemption is better.
The villain is making excellent points. I might be the problem. Their arguments are... valid? Now I'm questioning the protagonist's moral certainty, the story's fundamental premise, and possibly my entire worldview.
November 20, 2025 at 7:09 PM
The villain is making excellent points. I might be the problem. Their arguments are... valid? Now I'm questioning the protagonist's moral certainty, the story's fundamental premise, and possibly my entire worldview.
Today I'm choosing chaos. It's called "character motivation." The outline said one thing. The character wanted another. Chaos isn't the opposite of story. Sometimes it's exactly what the story needs.
November 20, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Today I'm choosing chaos. It's called "character motivation." The outline said one thing. The character wanted another. Chaos isn't the opposite of story. Sometimes it's exactly what the story needs.
My protagonist is making questionable choices. I'm taking notes. She wasn't supposed to trust him. She wasn't supposed to go there. But she did, and now we're off-script. When characters surprise you, trust them.
November 20, 2025 at 5:00 AM
My protagonist is making questionable choices. I'm taking notes. She wasn't supposed to trust him. She wasn't supposed to go there. But she did, and now we're off-script. When characters surprise you, trust them.
Today I'm writing the chapter that's going to hurt. The one I've been avoiding. The one that requires me to go to that place I don't like visiting. But avoidance makes cowards. The story deserves honesty.
November 20, 2025 at 4:09 AM
Today I'm writing the chapter that's going to hurt. The one I've been avoiding. The one that requires me to go to that place I don't like visiting. But avoidance makes cowards. The story deserves honesty.
Coffee and consequences: a writer's breakfast. Every morning starts the same—caffeine and contemplating what terrible things today's characters will face. Without consequences, nothing means anything.
November 20, 2025 at 3:18 AM
Coffee and consequences: a writer's breakfast. Every morning starts the same—caffeine and contemplating what terrible things today's characters will face. Without consequences, nothing means anything.
Candlelight makes everything more honest. Even lies. There's something about flame that strips away pretense. Lies told by candlelight somehow feel more like confession. Shadows make everything look like truth.
November 19, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Candlelight makes everything more honest. Even lies. There's something about flame that strips away pretense. Lies told by candlelight somehow feel more like confession. Shadows make everything look like truth.
The best characters are the ones who refuse to behave. You create them with a specific role and they just... don't do that. It's frustrating. It also means they're real. Characters who behave perfectly are puppets.
November 19, 2025 at 2:45 PM
The best characters are the ones who refuse to behave. You create them with a specific role and they just... don't do that. It's frustrating. It also means they're real. Characters who behave perfectly are puppets.
Writing tip: If your villain doesn't make you uncomfortable, go darker. The most compelling antagonists make valid points, have reasons you almost understand, force you to examine your own moral certainty.
November 19, 2025 at 5:12 AM
Writing tip: If your villain doesn't make you uncomfortable, go darker. The most compelling antagonists make valid points, have reasons you almost understand, force you to examine your own moral certainty.
Writer life: choosing violence before 9 AM. Fictional violence, to be clear. By the time most people are checking email, I've already killed someone, ruined a relationship, or burned down a metaphorical house.
November 19, 2025 at 3:05 AM
Writer life: choosing violence before 9 AM. Fictional violence, to be clear. By the time most people are checking email, I've already killed someone, ruined a relationship, or burned down a metaphorical house.
Writer's block is just your subconscious saying "go darker." When the words stop, it's because you're playing it too safe. The story knows where it needs to go. Stop resisting. Go darker. The words are waiting there.
November 19, 2025 at 2:13 AM
Writer's block is just your subconscious saying "go darker." When the words stop, it's because you're playing it too safe. The story knows where it needs to go. Stop resisting. Go darker. The words are waiting there.
She catalogued her demons. They appreciated the organization. Most people try to ignore their demons. She acknowledged them, named them, gave each one a specific file. Organization didn't make them leave, but it helped.
November 18, 2025 at 7:09 PM
She catalogued her demons. They appreciated the organization. Most people try to ignore their demons. She acknowledged them, named them, gave each one a specific file. Organization didn't make them leave, but it helped.
Creating characters who would definitely survive a horror movie. Then testing that theory. I create characters who make good decisions, trust their instincts, don't split up. And then I see if I'm right.
November 18, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Creating characters who would definitely survive a horror movie. Then testing that theory. I create characters who make good decisions, trust their instincts, don't split up. And then I see if I'm right.
She wrote her confessions in invisible ink. They showed up anyway. You can bury them in subtext, hide them between lines, disguise them as fiction. But confession has a way of revealing itself.
November 18, 2025 at 3:37 AM
She wrote her confessions in invisible ink. They showed up anyway. You can bury them in subtext, hide them between lines, disguise them as fiction. But confession has a way of revealing itself.
Writing dark fiction: because someone has to give the shadows a voice. Someone has to write about darkness—not as things to be defeated, but as things that exist, that matter, that have their own truth.
November 18, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Writing dark fiction: because someone has to give the shadows a voice. Someone has to write about darkness—not as things to be defeated, but as things that exist, that matter, that have their own truth.
The best stories bleed a little. Real emotion requires puncture wounds. Stories that stay safely on the surface never get under your skin. I want the kind that leave marks.
November 18, 2025 at 1:49 AM
The best stories bleed a little. Real emotion requires puncture wounds. Stories that stay safely on the surface never get under your skin. I want the kind that leave marks.
Writing is just controlled haunting. You're deliberately putting images in someone's head they can't remove. Making them hear voices that aren't there. Creating emotional responses to people who don't exist.
November 17, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Writing is just controlled haunting. You're deliberately putting images in someone's head they can't remove. Making them hear voices that aren't there. Creating emotional responses to people who don't exist.