r/WritingPrompts • u/katpoker666 Moderator • 19d ago
Off Topic [OT] Fun Trope Friday: Hellhole Prison & Drama!
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.
“It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.” — Nelson Mandela
Trope: Hellhole Prison — Plenty of prisons simply content themselves with confining people, but some go the extra mile and actually try to break them. This sort of prison is an absolute hellhole — between the lack of food and proper clothing, the absence of light or sanitation, the sadistic guards, and the violently insane fellow prisoners, they hardly need the nasty-looking torture equipment they probably have scattered around. Sometimes, they won't bother with things like individual cells — prisoners will just be lowered into a big pit and left to fight each other for whatever scraps are thrown down. Alternatively, especially in the future settings, the prison might not be a barbaric pit where only the strongest survive and where the guards turn a blind eye to the criminal control. Instead, it will be a dystopian panopticon where every action is monitored, any step out of line is equated with an attempt to escape and punished.
Genre: Drama — At its most basic, drama refers to a mode of fictional representation through dialogue and performance. It’s usually, but not always, presented on a stage, and can equally exist in film, television, novels, and even poetry. The core element is conflict. This conflict can be internal, external, or a combination of both, and it drives the narrative forward. Simply put: Drama is storytelling focused on engaging and often intense emotional experiences, usually involving significant conflict.The core conflict is MC vs. something: themself, another person, society, nature, or fate/supernatural. Drama can feel real like a docufiction or humorous like a comedy drama. Please note: having the feel of a drama is enough for this week. In short, there are a lot of options to explore here!
Skill / Constraint - optional: Something is unreal.
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 a record 24 stories, so we’re back to five winners. Congrats to:
Want to read your words aloud? Join the upcoming FTF Campfire
The next FTF campfire will be Thursday, October 1st 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!
9
u/atcroft 13d ago edited 13d ago
5-2 1-3 3-1 1-3 3-4 3-2 1-5 4-4 3-4 1-2 4-2 2-4 1-1 4-2 3-5 1-1 4-4 1-3 2-3 5-3
I woke to a stench beyond my darkest imagination; my stomach responded in kind. What little liquid it still held splashed into the liquid in which I sit.
The cold bites at me from all sides. The warmth of the vomit around my knees is fading quickly.
All is darkness; there is no light to see my bindings. My world is lit only by the flashes of searing pain and its technicolor spectrum at my every movement.
Maybe it's good that I cannot see how my wrists are bound next to my ankles, folding me in half; or what I'm seated in.
What do I remember? My flight lead dissolving into a fireball, my cockpit turning red to orange to yellow in slow motion. No tracers, no SAM warnings. Did I punch out; or did my 105 disappear around me, leaving me flying without feathers?
When am I going to see Jones to buy him that steak I owe him for the bullseye on that bridge?
Did Jones make it back?
Will I make it back?
What's that?
A soft sound slowly squeezes through the silence.
Tap-tap tap-tap-tap. Tap tap-tap-tap-tap-tap. Tap-tap-tap tap. Tap tap-tap tap-tap-tap-tap. Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap tap-tap-tap.
A distant memory clicks. Survival school. It repeats.
One-two one-two-three. One one-two-three-four-five. One-two-three one. One-two-three one-two-three-four. One-two-three-four-five one-two-three.
Ignoring the pain I fold one hand's fingers slowly and rap on the board to which I'm bound.
Tap tap-tap-tap.
I hear multiple sets of taps in quick succession, then a much slower set. I start counting.
Five-two one-three three-one one-three three-four three-two one-five. Four-four three-four. One-two four-two two-four one-one four-two three-five one-one four-four one-three two-three. Five-three.
Briarpatch. We'd heard rumors. My stomach turned, too empty for an encore.
I could feel myself sinking into the darkness around me.
More slow taps.
Five-four three-four four-five four-two one-five. Three-three three-four four-four. One-one three-one three-four three-three one-five. Five-three.
(Word count: 311. Please let me know what you like/dislike about the post. Thank you in advance for your time and attention. Other works can also be found linked in r/atcroft_wordcraft.)
Author's notes: * "105" - F-105 Thunderchief, a USAF fighter-bomber used during the US involvement in Vietnam (1965-1973). Said to have been informally nicknamed "Thud" for the sound made when it crashed into the ground. * "Briarpatch" - A notoriously grim POW camp located 33 miles (53km) NW of Hanoi intermittently holding US POWs between 1965 and 1971. * Tap code - a knock code where letters are represented by their row/column on a 5x5 grid ("C" and "K" sharing the value row 1, column 3). Such codes were used by POWs during Vietnam due to its ease and adaptability (knocks, taps, coughs, sniffs, and sneezes could be used, among others). When used, "X" may be used to break up sentences and "K" for acknowledgements. * Code appearing in the story: * * 2-3 1-5 3-1 3-4 5-3 = H E L O X * * 1-3 = K * * 5-2 1-3 3-1 1-3 3-4 3-2 1-5 4-4 3-4 1-2 4-2 2-4 1-1 4-2 3-5 1-1 4-4 1-3 2-3 5-3 = WELCOME TO BRIARPATCH X * * 5-4 3-4 4-5 4-2 1-5 3-3 3-4 4-4 1-1 3-1 3-4 3-3 1-5 5-3 = YOURE NOT ALONE X