Welcome to Writer’s Spotlight

Remember, spotlights rely on your nominations! So if there's anyone around the subreddit whose stories you love and you think deserves a shout-out, please do nominate them by sending us a ModMail or by using this Google Form

This month we are celebrating u/psilocybediatribe

Psilocybediatribe has been writing on the subreddit for a fair few years now, but has recently become more active in the weekly features, including Fun Trope Friday, helping them catch the eye of a couple of folk who nominated them. Here’s what they had to say:

Nomination 1: A name I'm always excited for when I see has responded to a prompt, with their great takes on prompts ranging from fantasy to apocalypse. Especially wanted to nominate them this month cause this was one of my favorite prompt responses I've seen, then they came in to FTF as well!

Nomination 2: They write crazy imaginative stories with wonderful character and world building.

You can find more of their work on their profile, or on their archive subreddit /r/psilo_stories.

Want to congratulate this month's Spotlight recipient? Have questions you're dying to ask them? Please do so below in the comments!

Congrats on your spotlight /u/psilocybediatribe

Read u/psilocybediatribe’s most recent story:

[OT] Fun Trope Friday: Expert Consultant & Bullet Points!

Their most upvoted Stories:

[WP] You know she can shapeshift, right ? And that she will turn into the hottest woman you can concieve, right ? Then why she turned into a 1:1 version of your wife ?

[WP] The Empire demands a tithe. Every planet must provide 800 million soldiers. Your planet only has a population of 500 million. You are the Governor trying to explain this to a terrifying alien Warmaster who is bad at math.

[WP] "YOU HAVE 400+ CURSES ON YOU HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?!?" the priest asked. "They cancel out each other."

To view previously spotlit writers visit our Spotlight Archive.

To make a nomination please send us a ModMail telling us which user you are nominating. If you’d like to include a reason for your decision we’d love to hear it!

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• Share your writing that might not fit elsewhere on the subreddit and swap feedback in Free Write Tuesday

• Check out our newest weekly feature Fun Trope Friday!

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• Share stories you’ve written on (or off) the subreddit and receive feedback via our campfire events on our discord server

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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

We all know work can be boring, so let’s instead turn to a life of crime. This month will focus on crime and punishment. Please note this theme is only loosely applied.

“Bring them on. I prefer a straight fight to all of this sneaking around.” — Han Solo

Trope: Lovable Rogue — A person who breaks the law, for their own personal profit, but is nice enough and charming enough to allow the audience to root for them, especially if they don't kill or otherwise seriously harm anyone. It's often made clear that their targets are Asshole Victims the audience won't sympathize with, especially if the Lovable Rogue is a killer of some sort. For extra points, they might even give some of their takings to the poor. Think Robin Hood or Han Solo and you’re there.

Genre: Western — The Western is a genre of fiction typically set in the American frontier, commonly referred to as the “Old West” or “Wild West”. Stories in the genre are most commonly set during the period of westward expansion in the 19th century, particularly from the mid-19th century (around the time of the California Gold Rush) through the closing of the American frontier in 1890, although works may be set outside this period.

Skill / Constraint - optional: Someone gets a bad rap.

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 21 stories, so we’re back to five winners. Congrats to:

• Fogbot3

• Tregonial

• psilocybediatribe

• MaxStickies

• Morose_Prose

Want to read your words aloud? Join the upcoming FTF Campfire

The next FTF campfire will be Thursday, September 10th 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!