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@vampireantihero.comSep 21, 2026, 12:39 PM

#Sustember | 21

Do you typically use red herrings in your work? What's your favorite type to use?

Is it a lying character? A suspicious object? Some sort of direction that leads your characters astray? 👀

A brown graphic with a skeleton holding a sketchbook on a messy desk. It says: Sustember 21 A red herring is a distraction, clue, or argument intended to mislead or divert attention from the primary issue, subject, or truth. Red herrings are important particularly to mystery, but can also be used as effective false leads in any genre. Do you use them? What's your favorite type of red herring to use? Please COMMENT, LIKE, and SHARE others' posts. All genres welcome, so long as you're using suspense or surprise!
@ellieyellu.bsky.socialSep 21, 2026, 12:15 PM

#Sustember historical settings: I thought about setting Untitled Sapphic Thriller in the early 2000s because so much of the teenage and Sapphic stuff is based in my high school experience but I decided to make the adult leads obsessed with high school instead as a personality quirk

@lockheartfiction.bsky.socialSep 21, 2026, 3:43 AM

Busy day, late post.

Yes... kinda. Since Resist has vampires, their backstories are sprinkled throughout history.

I love sewing history in. Some are major events and some mundane, but it all shapes how the characters react and interact with each other and the events in the story.

#Sustember

@nikibond.bsky.socialSep 20, 2026, 8:48 PM

#Sustember

I haven't 'cause I mostly do my own fantasy worlds 😅 The closest to real world stuff I've done are TWEWY fanfics, but that's modern day and still very different.

I have had random historical ideas, but I just personally prefer working in fantasy worlds with my own worldbuilding~

@maximejaz.bsky.socialSep 20, 2026, 1:51 PM

#Sustember
My characters in my Ancient Rome trilogy where almost the first to appear in 2019 when I started writing again. Turns out a short story grew into a trilogy and now the sequel is a WIP. I don't control where my characters appear or of they want to continue their story some 20 years later.😁

@trishcwilson.bsky.socialSep 20, 2026, 1:46 PM

#Sustember Sept 20

I set my short horror story FOG OVER MONS during WWI. It's based upon the Angels of Mons legend, in which German forces were pushed back by the British due to the appearance of phantom bowmen from the sky during the Battle at Mons. I liked researching WWI history for this story.

@trishcwilson.bsky.socialSep 20, 2026, 1:15 PM

#Sustember Sept 19

This snippet is from my horror story "Dreadful Dissonance", which is about a musician playing cursed instruments. When the pitch is so high humans can't hear it, animals attack. Snippet is attached to the book cover image. Enjoy!

From DREADFUL DISSONANCE, a horror story. Breath burst from my mouth in a cloud of vapor. Why had the temperature dropped? I shivered, partly from the cold but mostly from terror. There was no turning back. I sat on my chair, fingers poised over yellowed keys, and waited. What would those keys feel like once I touched them? Would they numb my hands again? Would I feel pain jolt each finger through to my wrist, much like the Little Mermaid felt stabbing agony with each furtive footstep? Once I pressed those keys the music would wreak havoc. It would silence the audience in a snap. Heads would turn towards me. People would stop chattering mid-sentence. Chewing food and slurping drink would cease. I felt the power of these instruments and although I knew they would fight me, I needed to control them.
@melwaverly.bsky.socialSep 20, 2026, 12:32 PM

#Sustember

Most of my books are very much based in the real world. Most events, locations, things are real-life locations that I've researched and crosschecked for accuracy. Some were made up to suit the narrative needs of the books, but where I could include real-life/historical things, I did.⬇️

@amber-hathaway.bsky.socialSep 20, 2026, 12:14 PM

I have a short story connected to my LWF series set in 1965 that I'm currently working on as a potential newsletter incentive. I also hope to write a prequel duology set in 1943. It's fun to explore how the town came to be what it is in the contemporary books.

#Sustember

@vampireantihero.comSep 20, 2026, 11:59 AM

My own #Sustember answer -- I have used historical fiction in my dark fantasy before. Some of #TFTNG (which I need to be better about tagging) is set in the far past, and there are several points through the middle ages and enlightenment era that are important to Acanthus' story.

@vampireantihero.comSep 20, 2026, 11:57 AM

#Sustember | 20

2/3rds of the way through the month!

Another setting question today — Have you used historical settings in your suspense? What about writing historical fiction?

What do you like about it? If not, are you curious about exploring it? Tell us!

A brown graphic with a skeleton holding a sketchbook on a messy desk. It says: Sustember 20 Have you used historical settings in your suspense? What about writing historical fiction? Please COMMENT, LIKE, and SHARE others' posts. All genres welcome, so long as you're using suspense or surprise!
@maximejaz.bsky.socialSep 19, 2026, 8:39 PM

#Sustember
Eric knows Nate doesn't want to kiss, but after several fuck dates, Eric really would like that kiss.

A small smile on Eric’s lips. “I want more though.” “More?” “Yes. More. A kiss.” He met Nate’s eyes, those eyes going a bit wide, filling with dread. “Ugh… No, ok? I don’t kiss.” Drawing a deep breath to steady his nerves. “I don’t kiss on fuck dates. At all.” Eric’s eyebrows arched up. “I think we’re passed the fuck date stage.” “Are we?” This came out weak, almost losing his voice. “Aren’t we? I was hoping we had something here.” He slid closer, his hand on the back of the sofa grazing Nate’s shoulder. Nate, who stayed put, torn. “I… I don’t know.” Eric grazed his fingers down his shoulder to his neck. Leaving them there on that warm pulse. “What do we have then?” “We fuck.” “Tsk…” Grazing his skin, it sent shivers down Nate’s spine. “Don’t you want more?” His green eyes, soft, pleading. “Because you do?” “I told you… yes. A kiss. And maybe more… Just one kiss. One. We can stop after. You can sleep on the sofa or run.” Grazing his neck. “It’s just a kiss. Not a ring, ok?” Nate scoffed, almost out of breath. “Right.” Debating inside, that soft caress on his neck melting his walls. “Alright. One kiss.” Eric’s eyes sparked and he slid his hand behind Nate’s neck, shifting closer. His other hand going to Nate’s chest. “How long has it been? Being kissed?” Nate’s eyes welled up. “A long time. And I don’t want to remember it.” Eric pulled closer, sliding his hand behind Nate’s back, his hand on his neck, at the base of Nate’s jaw. His thumb slid up to his cheek, rubbing gently. “Let me make you forget then…” Parting his lips, pulling Nate closer.
@lockheartfiction.bsky.socialSep 19, 2026, 6:55 PM

#Sustember

"Shiver" as Rollan rallies himself.

This entire time, Rollan had been wrong. While he had nothing to lose, everyone around him did. That was the noose around his neck. That was what Master displayed in that room. A clear message: ‘Obey, or I will make you kill everything you care about.’ /Rose. Ursula. Kris. Marty./ Numbed, Rollan slumped to the floor. Guttural and bile-filled, saliva pulled at his mouth as he released a cascading scream. Tears mixed with the water from the shower as they streamed down his face. As quick as the distress and tears came, they died as exhaustion took hold. Rollan shivered as he leaned against the cold tile of the half-wall. /They can’t win./ In order to make sure he could withstand them, Rollan needed to center himself. He needed clarity and time to decide his next course of action with a defined purpose. With closed eyes, he focused, for whatever brief moment he could, on the trickle of the water near the drain and the slowing rise and gentle fall of each breath.
@nikibond.bsky.socialSep 19, 2026, 5:42 PM

#Sustember

The introduction to the urban legend of the face-snatcher on Zeto~

“It’s because you look like you got cursed by the face-snatcher,” a small voice spoke up, and a preteen girl approached. Like the children outside, she wore a mask that covered all except her mouth, though hers was painted mostly with a deep crimson in artistic—or perhaps sadistic—splotches. Her blonde hair was pulled up into two high pigtails, and she wore a sweater that seemed almost too big for her. “The what-snatcher?” Ritos asked. “I heard some other kids talking about that,” Meri said. “What is it exactly? Some sort of monster?” The girl laughed, shaking her head. “Oh no, this thing isn’t like the monsters around at all. It’s way worse. Some say it may even be undead.” A shiver rushed down Meri’s spine. “W-what?” “It’s a malevolent creature that haunts our town at night, slinking in the shadows around the willows. Some even say its many hands look like deformed willow branches.” A grin spread below the girl’s mask. “And if you get too close, well… It’ll pull you under the water.” “So why’s it called a face-snatcher, then?” Ritos asked. “Sounds to me more like a water-snatcher or… something.” “Because next, after your mask falls off, it’ll steal your face and use it to lure in someone else. Of course, I guess your group makes it easier for the creature since you don’t have masks,” she mused with a shrug. “It never shows how it really looks—that’d be too easy. So instead, it pretends to be someone you know.” Meri bit her lip, clamping her eyes shut as she drew back. “T-that’s just some urban legend, though, right?”
@leeheffer.bsky.socialSep 19, 2026, 2:45 PM

#Sustember
Iris Olive Crane

@amber-hathaway.bsky.socialSep 19, 2026, 2:35 PM

I just finished this when I saw the prompt, so I had to go with it:

Carrie glanced over her shoulder one last time, and a chill swept down her spine. A swish of dark fabric disappeared around the corner of the house on the opposite side of the road.

#Sustember

@vampireantihero.comSep 19, 2026, 1:49 PM

My own #Sustember answer --

I have two WIPs right now, so here's one from Aloe and one from Such Sweet Sorrow.

A snippet from Aloe by Artemis Quinn from Acanthus' POV. It says: “If you went to our church first,” I finally answered, “you found a bombed out hovel covered in silver dust.” She nodded, then attempted to speak again. I suppressed the urge to shiver as that strange, reedy tone came forth. It was akin to a death rattle. “There was silver everywhere.”A snippet from Such Sweet Sorrow by Artemis Quinn. It says: I brushed my hands over my arms, shivering in the frozen air. He shrugged, his shoulders dropping dramatically. "I know you don't believe in any of that shit the way that I do, but regardles, the rain is dangerous. Spookily, scientifically, or otherwise. And, isn't it like a fifteen hour drive?"