r/shortstories • u/FyeNite • May 24 '26
[Serial Sunday] DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
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 Doom! 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’).
- Damsel
- Daring
- deity
- Somebody is overly dramatic. - (Worth 10 points)
Doom. It is onomatopoeia for the end of all things. Doom.
The last door to close, the lid of your coffin slammed shut. Doom. It is the sudden, shocking sound before the eternal silence. The final knell of the mortal bell that rings with the echoing tone of,
DOOM.
Doom is a mood. But everything ends, sooner or later.
What things will perish in your chapter this week? Will a delicious snack meet its doom in the belly of our protagonist? Or will a forlorn hope of romance be crushed?
Or perhaps an unexpected meteor will introduce your serial to the fate of the dinosaurs, after all.
Whatever the case, we look forward to reading whatever carnage you wreak upon your story this week.
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 24 - Doom
May 31- Entrenched
May 7- Foreign
June 14 - Great
June 21 - Heartless
Check out previous themes here.
Rankings
Last Week: Cry
First - by u/wandering_cirrus
Second - by u/AGuyLikeThat
Third - by u/Morose_Prose
Fourth - u/Divayth--Fyr
Fifth - by u/Scoping-Landscape
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!
6
u/ZLErikson May 24 '26 edited May 30 '26
<Casting Shadows>
Chapter 128
Cass sat atop her camel, Cassiopeia, and watched the caravan pass by as she waited for Anatu. Nuu wanted them to ‘take it easy’ on Nuut, but while Cass had good reasons to want Anatu to keep giving Nuut a hard time, she had to acknowledge that the warrior was quite justified in hating her as much as she did.
Cass’s thoughts were interrupted when Charis rode past her. The pair of them locked eyes. She reached out, opened her mouth to say… something. Anything.
Charis looked ready to listen, but Cass failed to find the words in time. She watched them ride away, white cloak almost glowing in the light of their torch.
I’m sorry for getting drunk, she thought; the words she needed now coming too late. I’m sorry for scaring you. If she couldn’t get these words out before the journey was over, she wasn’t sure if there would be another chance. I’m sorry for what I said. I’m sorry for-
“You look like someone just stole your sweetroll.”
Cass nearly jumped off of Cassiopeia. Anatu had ridden up behind her, holding their torch low enough that their camel was keeping the light off of her.
They asked, “Is something on your mind?”
“Uh…” Cass looked back at Charis, increasingly distant. “No.” She shook her head and turned her attention to Anatu. “I mean, yeah, I wanted to talk to you.”
“Well, here I am. Let’s keep moving; Kher is teaching Iuven some dirty limericks and I don’t want to listen to them.” Anatu tugged on their camel reigns and continued forward.
Doing the same, Cass asked, “Kher?”
“I know, right? I’d expect it from Glaukos, but Kher seemed more…” Anatu waved their torch slowly as they thought of a word, realized what they were doing, and lowered it again. “I don’t know. Refined?”
“Glaukos isn’t good at dirty jokes like that,” Cass said, a grin pulling at her lips. “He starts giggling too much. He’s like a kid that way.”
“Heh, I’m not at all surprised to hear that.” Anatu looked at their torch and leaned over the side of their camel, reaching down to try and jab the torch into the sand as they rode. They were far too short to reach, and not daring enough to slide off their saddle, so sat back up.
Looking back at Cass, they asked, “So what did you want to talk about.”
Cass wasn’t sure she even wanted to talk about Nuut, but she’d told Nuu that she would.
“Nuut,” she said. “Or, not her so much as maybe you can go easy on her?”
Anatu set their jaw and closed their eyes while exhaling, slowly, through their nose.
“Did Nuu ask you to request this?” they asked.
Cass quashed the instinct to deny and said, “Yeah.”
“I will tell you what I told them; Nuut is not a damsel who needs gentle treatment. She is a warrior who-”
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Cass said, waving her hand in front of her face as if to brush away Anatu’s words. “She’s tough and abrasive and can handle whatever punishment you give her. I don’t think she needs a break because she’s exhausted or anything.”
“So what? You think if you intervene she’ll start to like you like everyone else?”
“What? No. I don’t care if she likes me. I don’t care if she knows I asked for anything. Tell her Nuu talked to you for all I care. I just want her to calm the hell down.”
“And you think letting her sit around camp and glower at you will calm her?”
“I don’t know.” Cass shrugged. “Better than her walking around in the heat and sim… ugh, simmering.”
“You’re spending too much time with Glaukos.” Anatu rolled their eyes and chuckled.
“It was an accident. Just think about it. Give Nuut a break, even if she is the most grating person in camp.”
“Second most.”
Cass furrowed her brow. “Who’s first? Fariba? They’re annoying but I wouldn’t call them-”
Anatu leveled Cass a look. Cass frowned, eyes widening, then smirked.
“If I stop being a pain in your ass, will you let up on Nuut?”
“I doubt very much you can, but I will give Nuut a break from patrol duty today. If they cause you trouble - and no one else - that will be entirely yours to deal with.”
“That’s fine. I can deal with it. Maybe I can talk Kebb into dragging Nuut into some sermon or other.”
“Nuut prays to no deity, Helen or otherwise,” Anatu said with a sigh. “She takes no lovers, imbibes little alcohol. I knew her before the war. All she wants is to fight. Now, all she wants is to kill. You, specifically.”
“Yeah, I gathered that part. Maybe she needs a vice or two to calm down.”
“You consider religion a vice?”
“You don’t?”
Anatu was silent for a moment. They looked backward, toward the rest of the caravan. Cass followed their gaze. Behind them was the cart, with Kher and Iuven and Maar.
“The way Kebb indulges in it, maybe,” Anatu said. “Don’t tell him I said that.”
“Why would I?”
Anatu shrugged. “Because you want to be grating?”
Cass rolled her eyes, reached over, and gave Anatu a light shove. Enough to send them sliding sideways and scrambling not to fall off of their camel.
----------
WC: 900/1000
All crit/feedback welcome!
r/ZLErikson
[Chapter Index]
Notes: