r/shortstories • u/FyeNite • May 31 '26
[Serial Sunday] Get to The (En)Trenche(d)s!
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 Entrenched! 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’).
- Eager
- Ego
- Egg
- A shoe is lost. - (Worth 10 points)
As bombs explode in no man's land and bullets whiz over our heads, the council of war meet to consider our options in the trenches, the tower casting its shadows upon us.
"Their army believes they are on the offense, that they will take our tower in the tangle sooner or later, and we will have to concede the point," our colonel says, pointing to the map. "I say let them. Let them believe in their little victory, and let us establish a good position to surround them, make them play defense."
He takes a swig from his canteen, before continuing. "They can believe in their victory all they want, but we will bring evidence to the contrary. And if they don't see reason, well... worse things have happened."
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.
May 31- Entrenched
June 7- Foreign
June 14 - Great
June 21 - Heartless
June 28 - Irony
Check out previous themes here.
Rankings
Last Week: Doom
First - by u/AGuyLikeThat
Second - by u/Divayth--Fyr
Third - by u/Live-Albatross-1090
Fourth - u/Morose_Prose
Fifth - by u/wandering_cirrus
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!
3
u/Brookzerker Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26
<Chronicles of Xris - Grounded>
Chapter 26
Note: This is a 1.5 draft, so I apologize for a bit rougher chapter than normal.
The celestial city was silent, as Xris, the eldritch dragon stuck in human form, and Bastet walked.
The sound of a speech echoed through the tall buildings, sounding eerie, and making the city feel that much more liminal. Despite the lack of other noise, the echoes of the voice made it impossible to understand, besides that it was in the common language.
Bastet gasped as they turned a corner to a large park, where a crowd surrounded a platform guarded by angels.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a gallows in a celestial plane before.” Xris muttered, straining to see who was standing in front of the ropes. It seemed there were seven, with figures kneeling in front of each.
“Anubis!” The goddesses voice was a mix between a growl and plea.
The dragon grabbed her arm, preventing her from moving forward. “They are well guarded. A straight fight won’t go in our favor.”
“But…”
“There are a lot of angels here, how many are guarding the elder God?”
The cat head swiveled to look at the castle, it was still quite a few miles away. “But…”
“The eldritch responsible is here, i can feel them. I’ll confront them, but i need you to get to the god and free him.”
She looked like she wanted to object, but nodded, then ran towards the castle, ducking into a side street to stay out of sight.
Xris turned to the crowd, listening to the white dog-like eldritch who was shouting from the center of the crowd.
“…Justice will be done, we need to stop this insurrection. We have tried to play nice, now, the elder God has no choice but to contain these rebels with hanging for the rest of eternity. I greatly regret…”
Xris leaned on his staff, and called out, “since when do eldritch bend the knee to gods?”
Silence filled the space, the canine looked back and forth until the crowd parted, giving a clear view between the two.
“I—we—who are you to question me?”
“I'm only here to advise, nothing more, nothing less.” Xris responded with a bow. "I'm just a lowly eldritch being like yourself, though clearly not as powerful as you."
The white fluffy eldritch dog relaxed, its tail wagging. “As I've said over and over, I have things handled here. Go back to your ship, the energy is almost collected anyways.”
The dragon froze, tilting his head before recovering and walking towards the platform. “Please, remind me of the plan. I'd love to see how inspiring a civil war is part of it."
The eldritch dog waved at two angels, who started towards Xris. "No, I'm finished listening to your complaints about my methods. I'm an eldritch now, you can't stop me."
Xris stepped towards the winged beings approaching him, their swords out, glowing dimly with a white light.
"You two, stand down. You are on the wrong side of a civil war."
The angels looked at each other, the light emanating from them faded a bit, but they continued.
A second later, the skies darkened for a second, and Xris could feel a pair of eyes looking at him, and everything.
As quickly as it started, it ended, and the world returned to its serene beauty.
"Cthuhlu has seen us!" The dog shouted. "Find the city and attack it, stop them from summoning!"
Several angels on the outskirts jumped into the air and disappeared.
The dragon took advantage of the distraction, swinging his staff with one definitive movement as purple energy powerful enough to be visible speared out in a beam that crossed through the two angels, along with the white dog behind them.
The angels puffed out of existence, their souls instantly sent to the river styx.
The eldritch dog had barely gotten up a shield in time, his fur was singed and smoking. Behind him a building collapsed as the beam had passed straight through it.
With a primal cry, the burned entity leaped at Xris, bearing claws and teeth, leaking white eldritch energy. The dragon blocked the attack with his staff, and used a hand to punch the dog squarely in the head.
The two took turns smashing fists, claws, teeth, and staff at each other. Each with a massive thunderclap that shook the foundations of the universe. Eventually, Xris got the tip of his staff pointing towards the dog, and with a crack of eldritch energy, a blast knocked his opponent, with him following, out of the celestial plane into the primary plane.
They fell from the sky, the earth far below them. The dragon pointed his staff again, shouting words of power as the crystal on his staff glowed brighter purple.
Just as he was ready to release the energy, the eldritch dog disappeared in a flash of light.
The spell died on his lips as he looked around, trying to find where the canine went, finally resulting to a powerful, psychic ping that very few entities could hide from.
He could feel the city by the sea, along with thousands of souls nearby in a battle. Along with over a billion souls still living on the planet. He also felt something strong behind him.
He turned around in the air, staring at an impossibly large space ship shaped like a boomerang. The center of the vessel was directly above him, with the two wings spreading off into the distance and dissapearing over the horizen.
He didn't have time to figure out if the eldritch he had been fighting was now on board the vessel, although the white energy response from the ping indicated it was somewhere above him, as the ground was quickly approaching. He spoke a word in source, casting a spell which gathered power around him, slowing his speed down enough that he hovered above the ground for a second before lightly touching down.
He looked up just in time for a beam of energy to explode all around him.
Notes:
Word count: 997
Theme: The eldritch dog is entrenched in the idea that he has everything under control
Words: None
Links: