Hello, Blood Benders and Sanguineers!

Oh yes. Your blood is such a lovely shade of red, my dear. Oh you mustn’t run! There’s nowhere to run anyways, because…

This week’s Writing Group prompt is:

Fueled By Blood

RULES AND GUIDELINES BELOW!
Make sure you scroll down and read them if you haven’t! You may not be eligible if you don’t!

This is a perfect prompt to start off the spooky season. Many stories tell of a cycle of blood, or else a thirst for blood—be it the motives of the villain, a cycle of revenge, or a war a corrupt ruler refuses to stop waging. 

Vampires are likely where most people’s minds will first go. They are very literally fueled by blood as their food source. But there are lots of other creatures, living and undead, who require—or simply desire—blood. You could write about one such creature looking for its next meal, or about what happens when they’re deprived of that necessary fuel. 

Many rituals and experiments require blood. Perhaps you could write about a college student trying to discreetly buy blood for the ritual they’re doing in their dorm room. Or perhaps a necromancer needs blood to power their reanimated corpses. The Black Butler manga has a good example of the latter; one of the characters reanimates corpses, but the corpses require a constant supply of blood in order to keep walking around. It can be difficult to procure the rarer types of blood—and require sinister means.

You could take the prompt more literally. Perhaps you could write about some sort of machine that runs on blood. Maybe a sword can only use its magic abilities when it is drenched in blood. Maybe a special type of car runs on blood instead of gasoline. Perhaps someone’s blood could be put into a gemstone, carrying their life force inside it. 

You could write about some sort of fuel that looks like blood upon first glance. Like how in Crimson Peak the red clay Thomas uses to fuel his machine looks like blood. You could write about how someone is horrified to see another character using blood as fuel…only to realize it’s not blood at all. 

You may be surprised to find that this prompt doesn’t have to be purely gruesome, or negative. One character might sacrifice their life for another, and the second character might keep fighting in order to honor their sacrifice—fueled in their heart by this selfless act. Blood could also refer to a familial bond; someone could be motivated by the blood bond they share with a sibling, parent, child, or other relative.  

Now hold still. And stop screaming. This’ll only hurt a bit.

—Kaylie

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Remember, this is part of our weekly Writing Group stream! Submit a little piece following the rules and guidelines below, and there’s a chance your entry will be read live on stream! In addition, we’ll discuss it for a minute and give you some feedback.

Tune into the stream this Saturday at 3:00pm CST to see if you made the cut!

The whole purpose of this is to show off the creativity of the community, while also helping each other to become better writers. Lean into that spirit! Get ready not just to share what you’ve got, but to give back to the other writers here as well.

Rules and Guidelines

We read at least five stories during each stream, two of which come from the public post, and three of which come from the much smaller private post. Submissions are randomly selected by a bot, but likes on your post will improve your chances of selection, so be sure to share your submission on social media!

1. Text and Formatting

   1. English only.
   2. Prose only, no poetry or lyrics.
   3. Use proper spelling, grammar, and syntax.
   4. Your piece must be between 250-350 words (you can use this website to see your wordcount).
   5. Use two paragraph breaks between each paragraph so that they have a proper space between them (press “enter” or “return” twice).
   6. Include a submission title and an author name (doesn’t have to be your real name). Do not include any additional symbols or flourishes in this part of your submission. Format them exactly as you see in this example, or your submission may not be eligible: Example Submission.
   7. No additional text styling (such as italics or bold text). Do not use asterisks, hyphens, or any other symbol to indicate whether text should be bold, italic, or styled in any other way. CAPS are okay, though.

2. What to Submit

   1. Keep submissions “safe-for-work”; be sparing with sexuality, violence, and profanity.
   2. Try to focus on making your submission a single meaningful moment rather than an entire story.
   3. Write something brand new; no re-submitting past entries or pieces written for other purposes
   4. No fan fiction whatsoever. Take inspiration from whatever you’d like, but be transformative and creative with it. By submitting, you also agree that your piece does not infringe on any existing copyrights or trademarks, and you have full license to use it.
   5. Submissions must be self-contained (everything essential to understanding the piece is contained within the context of the piece itself—no mandatory reading outside the piece required. e.g., if you want to write two different pieces in the same setting or larger narrative, you cannot rely on information from one piece to fill in for the other—they must both give that context independently).

3. Submission Rules

   1. One submission per participant.
   2. Submit your entry in a comment on this post.
   3. Submissions close at 12:00pm CST each Friday.
   4. You must like and leave a review on two other submissions to be eligible. Your reviews must be at least 50 words long, and must be left directly on the submission you are reviewing, not on another comment. If you’re submitting to the private post, feel free to leave these reviews on either the private or the public post. The two submissions you like need not be the same as the submissions you review.
   5. Be constructive and uplifting. These submissions are not for a professional market, and shouldn’t be treated as such. We do this, first and foremost, for the joy of the craft. Help other writers to feel like their work is valuable, and be considerate and gentle with critique when you offer it. Authors who leave particularly abrasive or disheartening remarks on this post will be disqualified from selection for readings.
   6. Use the same e-mail for your posts, reviews, and likes, or you may be rendered ineligible (you may change your username or author name between posts without problem, however).
   7. You may submit to either or both the public/private groups if you have access, but if you decide to submit to both, only the private group submission will be eligible.
   8. Understand that by submitting here, you are giving us permission to read your submission aloud live on stream and upload public, archived recordings of said stream to our social media platforms. You will always be credited, but only by the author name you supply as per these rules. No other links or attributions are guaranteed.

Comments on this post that aren’t submissions will be deleted, except for replies/reviews left on existing submissions.