Explore

@vampireantihero.com Sep 27, 2026, 11:06 PM

We're coming up to the end of the month! Any other tips you'd like to share about writing suspense?

A brown graphic with a skeleton holding a sketchbook on a messy desk. It says: Sustember 27

Any other tips you'd like to share about writing suspense?

Please COMMENT, LIKE, and SHARE others' posts. All genres welcome, so long as you're using suspense or surprise!

@vampireantihero.com Sep 27, 2026, 4:26 PM

I forgot to post #Sustember, and now i'm in a forest! Will post it when I return home. Here's some mushrooms for penance.

@lockheartfiction.bsky.social Sep 26, 2026, 6:39 PM

I decided to go with 'short-lived' and an excerpt from Shadow Cursed, which is coming out Oct 17th.

#Sustember

Another two bodies in the standard forensics lab.
Shit. Seven total. Manny hangs his head. We are
exhausted. Him more so. A sign of what is yet to come.
The resident made the cut. He has to finish. I hold in the
glee of vindication it gives me. It’s short-lived as a
twisting in my gut takes over. What kind of magic did
this?

@maximejaz.bsky.social Sep 26, 2026, 5:44 PM

#Sustember
Nate's thoughts on getting back to doing sports are short-lived. (in this scene, he wakes from a nightmare and has to start his day at dawn).

He walked then to the kitchen, his eyes on the clock. 4 a.m. Shit. No sleep would come, not anymore, so he flicked on a light and fired up the coffee machine. Sitting, his back to the shadows of that silent house. Waiting for the coffee to flow into that large jug. He bites… Shuddering, but he waited for the coffee, pouring a mug, sipping that dark scorching liquid, that glow at the edge of the night. The sun, soon, greying the air. He got up and dressed, strapping his gun on. Out in that crisp air. I should run… The thought gone, like mist in that early heat, the air drenched with dew, heavy with the scent of sap.

@vampireantihero.com Sep 26, 2026, 12:56 PM

My own #Sustember -- I'm going to shamelessly self-promo here.

This is a snippet from #s3, or Such Sweet Sorrow, which is crowdfunding with @the-book-bazaar.com on @backerkit.com from October 29th - November 19th.

Check out more info here if you're interested! www.backerkit.com/c/projects/a...

A snippet from Such Sweet Sorrow by Artemis Quinn. It says:

The gate was original, and the doors had been more aesthetic than function. I don't think I'd ever seen them swung shut. I barely spared a glance at the impressive wrought iron as I passed them and drove the final quarter mile to the Queen Anne that haunted the memories of every summer in my childhood. The house loomed in front of me with the air of a forgotten gravestone; tall, thin, and austere, until the driveway curved to the right. There was an ephemeral sadness that hung around the eaves like a shroud.

@vampireantihero.com Sep 26, 2026, 12:19 PM

#Sustember | 26

Share a Snippet. Prompt: "ephemeral"/"ethereal"/"short-lived"

#WritingPrompts #WriteSky

@vampireantihero.com Sep 26, 2026, 1:55 AM

My own #Sustember --

The house grows cold with the scream,and I shiver. I know better than to open that door, even as the handle starts to shake.

Then, they echo from all sides. The lights cut.

*scraaatch* comes from the door.

@justsomephil.bsky.social Sep 25, 2026, 4:24 PM

#Sustember I said I wouldn’t have any remorse. That I ripped my soul out when I made this deal to get this house. I didn't know souls grow back. So does remorse. Every day my ghosts are stronger and louder; I breathe them, I see them, I hear them.
I have no way out. Tonight, I open the door.

@lockheartfiction.bsky.social Sep 25, 2026, 3:25 PM

(This is giving me talipo/banshee vibes) #Sustember

Ian stood at the window to see what had been screaming in the mist over the last several nights. Tonight the mist felt different. Even the dog, Roost, was up and sniffing at the door despite his old age.

An hour passed and Ian grew bored.
🧵

@vampireantihero.com Sep 25, 2026, 1:56 PM

#Sustember | 25

It's Friday, which means it's flash fiction time! Write us a scene based on the prompt in the image! Try to keep it under five posts or link to a blog post. ♥

#WritingPrompt #WritingQ #WritingCommunity #WriteSky

A brown graphic with a skeleton holding a sketchbook on a messy desk. It says: Sustember 25

Flash fiction time! Every morning, the house that your character has been staying in is surrounded by mist. When it rolls in during the night, your character begins to hear screams off in the distance. One night, the scream is right outside the front door. Write us the scene! Try to keep it under 5 posts, or link to a blog post using the prompt.

Please COMMENT, LIKE, and SHARE others' posts. All genres welcome, so long as you're using suspense or surprise!

@amber-hathaway.bsky.social Sep 25, 2026, 12:50 PM

It depends on the book, since I feel like some genres and formats call for cliffhangers more than others. For example, they were a big part of the Fear Street series, so my Fear Street-inspired 90s story has more true cliffhanger than my LWF series.

#Sustember

@jmweaverauthor.bsky.social Sep 25, 2026, 4:22 AM

#Sustember

Sparingly. I leave a few threads wide open in SaY. I really hope it doesn't bother people too much. 8-Book series and all. I generally hate cliffhangers at the end of a story unless it's done really well. I do use tiny ones to cap off some chapters, ideally to keep readers motivated.

@skarabraeauthor.bsky.social Sep 24, 2026, 10:13 PM

#Sustember

I try to put one at the end of every chapter. I don't often succeed.

#WritingCommunity #WriteSky #WritingPrompts #ReadingCommunity

@norashear.bsky.social Sep 24, 2026, 5:48 PM

... I HAAATE them at the end of a book. (Again, both reading & writing.) They don't drive me to read the next one anymore.

I'll add "push the horror side of the series forward" moments at the end, but nothing that makes my readers scream.

#Sustember #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #WritingPrompts

@norashear.bsky.social Sep 24, 2026, 5:48 PM

I love them between chapters, iffy when they're between parts. (Both reading & writing.)

Between chapters, they pull me fwd in the narrative & keep me immersed. Yes it means a book is hard to put down, but I like being drawn in. That said...

#Sustember #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #WritingPrompts

@trishcwilson.bsky.social Sep 24, 2026, 5:09 PM

#Sustember Sept 24

I write horror. I use cliffhangers like a fractal. Chapters & paragraphs within chapters with scene changes will end with either a shock or a cliffhanger so you can't resist turning the page to the next chapter. I don't end stories with cliffhangers. That's cruel to the reader.

@nikibond.bsky.social Sep 24, 2026, 3:22 PM

#Sustember

Oh I *love* a good cliffhanger~ I'll use them at the end of chapters with a major reveal or with something big going on the reader would worry about.

And I might use them at the end of books sometimes... >.>~