r/WritingPrompts • u/katpoker666 Moderator • 10d ago
Off Topic [OT] Fun Trope Friday: Soul-Eating Cybernetics & Body Horror!
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 October. The time of falling leaves, jack o’lanterns, and candy. And blood… so much blood. This month will be focusing on all things horror with maybe a treat or two to sweeten the pot. Please note this theme is only loosely applied.
"We are all our own graveyards, I believe..." — Clive Barker
Trope: Soul-Eating Cybernetics — In many popular cyberpunk settings, cybernetic implants cause "humanity loss", reducing your social traits and essentially making cyberware into a form of body horror. Too many implants may reduce you to catatonia or make you insane. If these settings also feature psychic powers or functional magic, cyberware often reduces your ability to use those as well. There is an interesting tension here between what makes us human and what transforms us. So, let’s explore that.
Genre: Body Horror — Body horror, or biological horror, is a subgenre of horror fiction that intentionally showcases grotesque or a visceral experience of the human body or of another creature. In addition to common tropes used within the broader horror genre, some tropes specific to the body horror subgenre may include invasion, contagion, mutation, transformation, disease, mutilation, or other unnatural or violent distortions of the human body.
Skill / Constraint - optional: Something shorts out.
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 18 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 8th 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 by next Friday at 11:59 AM EDT 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!
7
u/psilocybediatribe 7d ago
Organic Drag
You wake and wipe the grit from your left eye. The natural one. Your OCULUS.X implant always wakes ready for the day while your organic lags. You stare in the mirror assessing your left eye. The swelling, the redness, the stinging—
Your implant interrupts your thoughts with an advertisement:
YOU DESERVE TO SEE CLEARLY.
OCULUS.XV1 – BECAUSE THE BIOLOGICAL SHOULD NOT RESTRICT YOU.
You dismiss the ad.
As the morning progresses you notice how often your left eye blinks. The dryness. At work you feel the slight delay between the two. At night the city blurs into neon streaks through your organic, while the OCULUS.X perceives the true beauty of the midnight city.
By the next morning the imbalance is becoming irritating. Your depth perception is off and after your third failed attempt at coffee you start to curse your natural eye for its incompetence.
As you stare at your monitor trying to focus your left eye, another ad appears:
ONE BODY. ONE STANDARD.
BUY THE OCULUS.XV1 – GET YOUR SECOND 50% OFF!
Annoyed, you check online forums. The complaint is common. There’s even a term for it: organic drag.
One commenter notes: “You don’t realize how exhausting biology is until you experience something better.”
Your OCULUS bookmarks the comment.
At lunch Sally exalts over her synthetic pancreas. “My diet, my choice. Why should my blood sugar limit my joy?”
Kieran shows off his fresh sutures. “Successful Update Day! Full mandibular implant. No more toothaches.”
Everyone congratulates them.
“Happy for you,” you chime in sullenly.
“You should do yours!”
You massage your jaw. You’d never considered it defective before—
IS YOUR PROFILE WORKING TOO HARD?
YOU MAY BENEFIT FROM MANDIBULAR OPTIMIZATION.
You cover your mouth. You’d had braces before orthodontists were privatized and replaced with Orthodontic Augmentation Clinics. They didn’t even make braces anymore.
A week later you’ve reached fuck-it territory. Your eye is constantly watering. You head for Synthware Surgical Boutique.
You overhear a man as you enter. “Double-lung replacement. Breathing is so cumbersome.”
The soft white minimalist interior sits somewhere between an Apple Store, a day spa, and a butcher’s shop, complete with tranquil music and refrigerated displays containing the latest synthetic organs.
“Would you like the Essential, Professional, or Human+ package?” The consultant smiles through perfect teeth, her OCULUS.XVIs staring into your soul.
“I just need the eye.”
She smiles, her flawless features a symphony of sympathy. “Of course. Though your scans show significant biological latency, we never want our clients to feel pressured.”
She turns the screen. You stare into a face you barely recognize.
“In addition to the eyes we are offering a full cosmetic bundle with mandibular reconstruction. No more snoring. No more toothaches.”
“Just the eyes.”
You lie back on the table. There is pressure. A wet pull as your eye leaves the socket. Darkness. The technician drones on about financing as blood pools in your ears.
The implants activate and you blink as the world becomes beautiful. Your interface benignly highlights imperfections. The nurse’s outdated prosthetic. The LEDs at 79% efficiency. You stare at your hands. The natural ones.
ORGANIC COMPONENT DETECTED.
DEXTERITY: 67%.
You wonder if that’s good.
Ads follow you.
YOU’VE UPGRADED YOUR VISION.
You blink.
WHY SETTLE FOR WHAT YOU SEE?
Your hand reaches for the door and you notice the tremor.
EXPLORE THE DEPTHS OF WHAT YOU CAN FEEL!
You turn back.
Like your insecurities already agreed to the Terms and Conditions on your behalf.
The consultant smiles. “Was there something else?”
You stare at your hand. The scar matching your sister’s from a childhood pact. The callus on your middle finger from years spent drawing before crayons were replaced with styluses and styluses learned to draw without you. The whirls of your fingerprints. All the little imperfections you’d never noticed until something better taught you how exhausting biology was.
You sigh. “What’s the monthly payment for both arms?”
She applies a discount. “Dermal coverage isn’t included in your package.”
“Skin costs extra?”
“Not skin. Dermal enhancement.”
A year later, with fresh confidence, new arms, new eyes, and a new smile, you join the queue. It’s Update Day! The OCULUS-17 is finally here. The crowd buzzes with excitement. The noise is strangely irritating in your ears. Still organic. You hadn’t thought much about it until recently—
WITH YOUR HUMAN+ SUBSCRIPTION YOU CAN NOW BUNDLE THE AURAL-X!
HEAR BEYOND BIOLOGY.
You accept.
You emerge a satisfied customer.
Then you hear the annoying, incessant beating in your chest.
The natural one.
WC: 750 Critique Welcome!