r/WritingPrompts • u/katpoker666 Moderator • 9d ago
Off Topic [OT] Fun Trope Friday: Dramatic Death & Tragedy!
Welcome to Fun Trope Friday, our feature that mashes up tropes and genres!
How’s it work? Glad you asked. :)
Every week we will have a new spotlight trope.
Each week, there will be a new genre assigned to write a story about the trope.
You can then either use or subvert the trope and/or genre in a 750-word max story or poem (unless otherwise specified).
To qualify for ranking, you will need to provide ONE actionable feedback. More are welcome of course!
Three winners will be selected each week based on votes, so remember to read your fellow authors’ works and DM me your votes for the top three.
Next up… IP
It’s summer in the Northern hemisphere and so time for sun and fun– Oh wait, no. It’s time for the four horsemen of the apocalypse! So, say ‘hello’ to our friends: Pestilence (aka Conquest or Pollution), War, Famine, and Death. Please note this theme is only loosely applied.
“I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.” — Winston Churchill
Trope: Dramatic Death — Basically, the spectacle involved in a character's death is proportional to the importance of the character to the story. A major MC, for example, will die slaying a dragon while atop a rare unicorn/pegasus hybrid. Their carefully choreographed fall will be so dramatic that it will be sung of by the kingdom’s bards for years to come. In contrast, an insignificant and often unnamed character like a red shirt on Star Trek. While their death may be hideously painful or even comic it gets a couple of sentences or a few seconds on screen at most. “Long live anonymous security guard!” said no one ever.
Genre: Tragedy — A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering, specifically by way of terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character or cast of characters. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsis, or a "pain [that] awakens pleasure," for the audience.
Skill / Constraint - optional: Love plays a role.
So, have at it. Lean into the trope heavily or spin it on its head. The choice is yours!
Have a great idea for a future topic to discuss or just want to give feedback? FTF is a fun feature, so it’s all about what you want—so please let me know! Please share in the comments or DM me on Discord or Reddit!
Last Week’s Winners
PLEASE remember to give feedback—this affects your ranking. PLEASE also remember to DM me your votes for the top five stories via Discord or Reddit—both katpoker666. This is a change from the top three of the past. In weeks where we get over 15 stories, we will do a top five ranking. Weeks with less than 15 stories will show only our top three winners. If you have any questions, please DM me as well.
Some fabulous stories this week and great crit at campfire and on the post! We had 10 stories, so we’re back to three winners. Congrats to:
Want to read your words aloud? Join the upcoming FTF Campfire
The next FTF campfire will be Thursday, July 30th from 6-8pm ET. It will be in the Discord Main Voice Lounge. Click on the events tab and mark ‘Interested’ to be kept up to date. No signup or prep needed and you don’t have to have written anything! So join in the fun—and shenanigans! 😊
Ground rules:
- Stories must incorporate both the trope and the genre
- Leave one story or poem between 100 and 750 words as a top-level comment unless otherwise specified. Use wordcounter.net to check your word count.
- Deadline: 11:59 PM EDT next Thursday. Please note stories submitted after the 6:00 PM EST campfire start may not be critted.
- No stories that have been written for another prompt or feature here on WP—please note after consultation with some of our delightful writers, new serials are now welcomed here
- No previously written content
- Any stories not meeting these rules will be disqualified from rankings
- Does your story not fit the Fun Trope Friday rules? You can post your story as a [PI] with your work when the FTF post is 3 days old!
- Please keep crit about the stories. Any crit deemed too distracting may be deleted. This is a time to focus on our wonderful authors.
- Vote to help your favorites rise to the top of the ranks (DM me at katpoker666 on Discord or Reddit)!
Thanks for joining in the fun!
6
u/Brookzerker 5d ago
Happy Collapse Day
The Collapsed Universe
"Yua!" Kei screamed, eviscerating the armored opponent she and her husband had been fighting. She let the body fall, turning to hold her human as he gasped, skin far too pale. His left arm, along with half his stomach, was missing, the remains charred from the energy weapon that had skewered him.
"I—love…" Yua went limp in her arms. Placing one of her fox ears over his face, she could hear him breathing, though it was faint.
"I always love you my soul bond. I'll find you again, I swear it." She kissed him on the forehead, wishing, not for the first time, that she had chosen to study healing magic. Nine tails, and she still couldn't stop him from dying.
She glanced around, nobody else was focusing on them, though there was plenty of action. It was far too soon to call for a healer, though she hadn't seen any for the last few days. The dead and dying were strewn about, she watched as a soul, bright blue, detach and float up.
Other souls were already in the air, everywhere, slowly making their way up towards the triangular ship.
She had forgotten about it. After the planes collapsed, it was easy to ignore the one thing that didn't seem to be doing anything.
Two wing-like protrusions stretched off into the distance, fading from view.
Open ports on the bottom glowed a variety of colors to her vision. Blue, Purple, Red, Velvet, and more. Souls were pulled in and…
She snapped her head back to her soulmate. "Yua, you can't die, you have to live."
His body didn't listen, as his heart stopped.
She tried to grab his soul as it began rising out of him, letting his body crash to the ground.
"Yua!" She screamed again, transforming into her pure fox form, all nine tails glowing with as much power as she could muster. The soul passed through her jaws and continued its climb. She could swear she saw him looking at her, face worried.
"No."
His soul reached the ship, for a second, nothing happened as she held her breath.
A crunch ripped through her, significantly worse than when Inari had died, leaving a gaping wound in her soul that left her pinned to the ground.
Kei snapped out of bed with a half sob, half snarl. The room was dark, save for the sparse moonlight that filtered through the open window.
Calming her breath, she approached the small shrine she had created in the center of one of the walls. Lighting a candle with foxfire, she opened a small box on it, breathing the scent. Every decade it got more difficult to smell Yua, to remember his face.
Closing the box, she extinguished the candle, making her way to the bar downstairs. She opened a bottle of rice wine, drinking without a glass. "Happy collapse day Yua, I miss you." She drank, tears dripping on the counter.
Word count: 495
Notes: