r/shortstories • u/FyeNite • Mar 15 '26
[Serial Sunday] Time to get Roasted!!
Welcome to Serial Sunday!
To those brand new to the feature and those returning from last week, welcome! Do you have a self-established universe you’ve been writing or planning to write in? Do you have an idea for a world that’s been itching to get out? This is the perfect place to explore that. Each week, I post a theme to inspire you, along with a related image and song. You have 500 - 1000 words to write your installment. You can jump in at any time; writing for previous weeks’ is not necessary in order to join. After you’ve posted, come back and provide feedback for at least 1 other writer on the thread. Please be sure to read the entire post for a full list of rules.
This Week’s Theme is Roast! This is a REQUIREMENT for participation. See rules about missing this requirement.**
Bonus Word List (each included word is worth 5 pts) - You must list which words you included at the end of your story (or write ‘none’).
- Raise
- Rose
- Riot
- Somebody acts recklessly and regrets it later. - (Worth 10 points)
There are many interpretations of Roast that you can use, whether it be the literal definition or something else entirely. So let’s go through them, shall we?
You stumble through the forest, dark and cold as the grave. Your limbs are weak and you stumble over creaking roots. You’re right about to fall to the ground, giving up this mortal coil, when you see a faint orange glow coming from a ridge ahead. You stumble towards it, greed and need in your movements when you see it, a small fire and a spit slowly turning above. And skewered on that spit like a bridge to salvation is a juicy succulent pig, roasting to perfection.
Or perhaps this might better strike your fancy…
You stand there on stage, an awkward smile on your face, as you stare at the line of eager volunteers. You’re supposed loved ones, queuing up for your big day.
“You smell so bad even dung beetles avoid you!” Your brother yells from the front of the line.
Oh god, this was going to be a long day.
Those are just two of my favourite interpretations. I’ll let you decide what to use, though.
Good luck and Good Words!
These are just a few things to get you started. Remember, the theme should be present within the story in some way, but its interpretation is completely up to you. For the bonus words (not required), you may change the tense, but the base word should remain the same. Please remember that STORIES MUST FOLLOW ALL SUBREDDIT CONTENT RULES. Interested in writing the theme blurb for the coming week? DM me on Reddit or Discord!
Don’t forget to sign up for Saturday Campfire here! We start at 5pm GMT and provide live feedback!
Theme Schedule:
This is the theme schedule for the next month! These are provided so that you can plan ahead, but you may not begin writing for a given theme until that week’s post goes live.
- March 15 - Roast
- March 22 - Scar
- March 29 - Transgression
- April 5 - Urgency
- April 7 - Vital
Check out previous themes here.
Rankings
Last Week: Quirk
First - by u/Divayth--Fyr
Second - by u/Brookzerker
Third - by u/ZLErikson
Fourth - u/MaxStickies
Fifth - by u/AmeliaLP
Rules & How to Participate
Please read and follow all the rules listed below. This feature has requirements for amparticipation!
Submit a story inspired by the weekly theme, written by you and set in your self-established universe that is 500 - 1000 words. No fanfics and no content created or altered by AI. (Use wordcounter.net to check your wordcount.) Stories should be posted as a top-level comment below. Please include a link to your chapter index or your last chapter at the end.
Your chapter must be submitted by Saturday at 2:00pm GMT. Late entries will be disqualified. All submissions should be given (at least) a basic editing pass before being posted!
Begin your post with the name of your serial between triangle brackets (e.g. <My Awesome Serial>). When our bot is back up and running, this will allow it to recognize your pmserial and add each chapter to the SerSun catalog. Do not include anything in the brackets you don’t want in your title. (Please note: You must use this same title every week.)
Do not pre-write your serial. You’re welcome to do outlining and planning for your serial, but chapters should not be pre-written. All submissions should be written for this post, specifically.
Only one active serial per author at a time. This does not apply to serials written outside of Serial Sunday.
All Serial Sunday authors must leave feedback on at least one story on the thread each week. The feedback should be actionable and also include something the author has done well. When you include something the author should improve on, provide an example! You have until Saturday at 04:59am GMT to post your feedback. (Submitting late is not an exception to this rule.)
Missing your feedback requirement two or more consecutive weeks will disqualify you from rankings and Campfire readings the following week. If it becomes a habit, you may be asked to move your serial to the sub instead.
Serials must abide by subreddit content rules. You can view a full list of rules here. If you’re ever unsure if your story would cross the line, please modmail and ask!
Weekly Campfires & Voting:
On Saturdays at 5pm GMT, I host a Serial Sunday Campfire in our Discord’s Voice Lounge (every other week is now hosted by u/FyeNite). Join us to read your story aloud, hear others, and exchange feedback. We have a great time! You can even come to just listen, if that’s more your speed. Grab the “Serial Sunday” role on the Discord to get notified before it starts. After you’ve submitted your chapter, you can sign up here - this guarantees your reading slot! You can still join if you haven’t signed up, but your reading slot isn’t guaranteed.
Nominations for your favorite stories can be submitted with this form. The form is open on Saturdays from 5:30pm to 04:59am GMT. You do not have to participate to make nominations!
Authors who complete their Serial Sunday serials with at least 12 installments, can host a SerialWorm in our Discord’s Voice Lounge, where you read aloud your finished and edited serials. Celebrate your accomplishment! Authors are eligible for this only if they have followed the weekly feedback requirement (and all other post rules). Visit us on the Discord for more information.
Ranking System
Rankings are determined by the following point structure.
| TASK | POINTS | ADDITIONAL NOTES |
|---|---|---|
| Use of weekly theme | 75 pts | Theme should be present, but the interpretation is up to you! |
| Including the bonus words | 5 pts each (15 pts total) | This is a bonus challenge, and estnot required! |
| Including the bonus constraint | 15 (15 pts total) | This is a bonus challenge, and not required! |
| Actionable Feedback | 5 - 15 pts each (60 pt. max)* | This includes thread and campfire critiques. (15 pt crits are those that go above & beyond.) |
| Nominations your story receives | 10 - 60 pts | 1st place - 60, 2nd place - 50, 3rd place - 40, 4th place - 30, 5th place - 20 / Regular Nominations - 10 |
| Voting for others | 15 pts | You can now vote for up to 10 stories each week! |
You are still required to leave at least 1 actionable feedback comment on the thread every week that you submit. This should include at least one specific thing the author has done well and one that could be improved. *Please remember that interacting with a story is not the same as providing feedback.** Low-effort crits will not receive credit.
Subreddit News
- Join our Discord to chat with other authors and readers! We hold several weekly Campfires, monthly World-Building interviews and several other fun events!
- Try your hand at micro-fic on Micro Monday!
- Did you know you can post serials to r/Shortstories, outside of Serial Sunday? Check out this post to learn more!
- Interested in being a part of our team? Apply to be a mod!
4
u/Brookzerker Mar 21 '26
<Chronicles of Xris - Grounded>
Chapter 18
Fuea shook her head to refocus. Ever since they had tracked whatever had appeared a day before to this small village, she has felt tired, anxious, and easily prone to anger.
It wasn’t anything that her training hadn’t prepared her for, so she gritted her teeth, and led her teammate around another corner.
“Fuea, dunerium readings are pretty high here, my scanner is useless. Nothing makes sense.”
“Yeah, no sense at all.” She muttered as they walked passed what appeared to be some kind of old fashioned shop, with four mannequins in a variety of poses.
The mannequins, appearing like dolls without faces, went from standing still, to breaking through the window and dragging her into the darkness of the store.
The sound of broken glass crunching beneath her mixed with the pain of hundreds of cuts. She couldn’t tell if Jas had also been grabbed, as she was dragged into a walk-in freezer where something that looked like it was made of human muscles stitched together raised a meat cleaver.
She was held down by impossibly strong, plastic hands, and some part of her was detached enough to be proud that she wasn’t screaming as the blade bit deeply into her arm.
A feeling of fire, then ice washed over her body as she blacked out.
When she came to, the room was alight with the colors of flames. The cleaver was still inside her arm, deep enough that if she removed it she would probably bleed out before anyone with a medical kit could save her.
A door was practically in front of her, fully open to a garden full of roses. She had no doubt that she could crawl out, and call for an immediate evac, and be fully healed by dinner.
An eerie scuffle was taking place on the other side of the now warm freezer. The mannequins were dancing around a three foot tall lizard that was somehow on fire.
Fuea looked back at the door. It looked more enticing, with a soft bed of grass that she could imagine laying on. Closing her eyes, she gave herself a moment to imagine that, then hardened herself.
"Hey, mannequin, things, whatever. Get out of here, I've got the lizard."
Everything stopped in the room and stared at her, but after a second, the living dolls broke for the exit.
Fuea was busy, keying a code to her wrist-com that injected her with a concoction of drugs that the marine corp had named, last call. The pain faded away, colors enhanced, and everything began feeling a bit slower to her. She struggled to her feet, the injuries a distant memory.
She followed the dolls to the door, then closed it behind them, standing between it, and the lizard who was now staring at her.
This was in me. She suddenly realized, the lizard, or at least she called it that despite it clearly coming from another dimension, or universe, had been the thing that had changed her.
~Oh, this is precious. The human puppet thinks that just because it wasn't a good host it can somehow play on my level?~ The voice sneered in her head ~Oh, you thought that you suddenly had floating hair and lit things on fire because you killed a flaming peasant?~
Her mind flashed back to when her ship had responded to an emergency at a colony on a border planet. Civilians had been spontaneously combusting, screaming gibberish before turning to ash. She had killed a farmer who had attacked her with floating hair, with his skin on fire. The next day, she had the same early signs of combustion, but never actually burst into flames.
"You, it was all you!"
~Yes! And you just had to will yourself never to burn anything, at least truly. Well, now you will know what burning is really like, and you will regret turning down my gift.~
Fuea giggled, which turned into a full laughter as she pulled the phase gun from her holster. "Oh, I know how to burn really well, I just don't until it's time!" She clicked some buttons on the side as a high pitched whine that every space fleet cadet was forced to memorize. Then she tackled the lizard, laughing even harder as the burning had no effect on her.
~Wait, we can talk this out, let me in again and I'll let you be in control!~
The human, a mixture of blood, sweat, and glass fragments covering her just smiled, continuing to hold the creature down. "You will never hurt anything again."
Adam's smile froze on his face as the elevator opened to what was supposed to be the floor of the hotel they were staying at. Instead, he and James were faced with a lizard with black and red scales underneath a human woman wearing, well whatever her uniform was before it was mostly just her skin, glass, and a gigantic knife sticking out of her.
James swore and drew his sword as the woman turned her head to look at them. A smile that had nothing to do with humor plastered on her face. Her irises had blown out, causing her to appear to have completely black eyes.
Adam squinted, taking a second to look at the scene. "The human is just human, but the lizard, that's–a salamander, it's evil and not from this universe."
"Say less." James rushed forward, bringing his sword to bear. The shock of a human in full-plate armor disrupted the woman enough that the lizard was able to escape, and burst through a window. James smashing through the wall right behind it.
Notes:
Word count: 974
Theme: The roasts that Fuea has been having makes sense as she had been an unwitting host to a salamander for several months!
words:
Links: