#HorrorWritersChat My chisel cracks the seal open. Only then, did I understand the folly of my curiosity. A face slowly lifts, eyes squinting in the light of my flashlight beam cutting through the darkness. Then another. And another. Thousands. There are thousands, and I'd just woken them all.

#HorrorWritersChat No truth, terrible or otherwise, should be hidden from humanity. Not one. A terrible truth that I wish more people would accept: Most people are one bad day from total destruction, and it is almost always the fault of Capitalism. There are better ways, they just require work.

#HorrorWritersChat An ideal seal containing a terrible truth would, more than likely, be incredibly intricate and complicated, require a dangerous quest and a difficult sacrifice to open. But then, a seal containing a terrible truth should be easy to open. Many terrible truths need to be known.

#HorrorWritersChat Hey! I'm Opal, I write mostly horror and gothic romance. As a trans woman, the seal I own that contains a terrible truth hidden from (most of) Humanity is the seal on my bottle of estrogen. It whispers that you can change what you cannot accept, no matter what they say.

#HorrorWritersChat No book yet, but I'll brag about my WIPs. Gothic vampire/cowboy lesbian romance sits at 35 pages. Ghost story is currently sitting at 81 pages. And I'm fending off the urge to start a new WIP, a dark modern fantasy about a group of punk teens who run into an eldritch horror.

#HorrorWritersChat That's a tough question. I think very few fears have actually been 'forgotten', they've just evolved. Not to get too political, but it would be nice if we could bring back the fear of greed as a sin. Too many people see wealth as an indicator of good morals.

#HorrorWritersChat I try to keep the old in my stories. I find it difficult to write about things like the horrors of modern day (ongoing genocides, climate change, AI taking over, etc.), it's all too real. Writing is my escape. It's so much easier to deal with a vampire than it is capitalism.

#HorrorWritersChat Tons of folklore still resonate with me. Couldn't possibly pick just one. Tales of werewolves, vampires, ghosts, fae, and all sorts of creatures go back millennia. I have considered getting a degree in folklore, just for the knowledge and what it would add to my writing.

#HorrorWritersChat Hello! I'm Opal. I write mostly horror, fantasy, and gothic romance. My biggest childhood fear was abandonment. My silliest childhood fear was looking out my window and seeing a werewolf. Now, I look out my window and hope to see one.

I have been watching a show called "We Bought A Funeral Home", about a family converting a 12,000 sq ft Victorian era HAUNTED funeral home into their residential home. The envy, it is real. ...I may have been scrolling "funeral homes for sale" during the last episode.

#HorrorWritersChat "Quote post" on all the questions for this week are disabled. Have those been locked for some reason? Quote post seems to work on everything else.

Just a reminder that you can own (not merely rent a license for) ALL of my books and stories for $30 with this bundle that helps me raise money for my upcoming move and return to school. itch.io/s/159177/the...

It is World Suicide Prevention Day I planned but did not carry out several attempts through my teens & 20s #LGBTQIA+ folks are at higher risk because of the pressures the world puts on us 🏳️‍⚧️⚧️🏳️‍🌈 You are not alone There are ways out of that bleak forest, but they start with asking for help.

Unrelated, I am working with my spouse to create our own TTRPG. We each have more than 15 years of TTRPG and LARP experience, and we're using it all to make the best game we can. Don't want to spoil anything yet, but I think it'll be a good one. Stay tuned.

Just watched Godzilla: King of Monsters. In my opinion, there was some good acting and the (minimal, but more than other movies) kaiju fighting was well done. Overall though, it's a movie about a team of really dumb smart people, and also kaiju happen to be there.

🎉BIPOC Artists in TTRPGs Starter Pack!🎉 This time we're highlighting POC artists who showcase TTRPG related artworks covering a many areas: characters, creatures/monsters, items, maps & more! Share around + tag artists not already listed💜 Feel free to share your work below! go.bsky.app/46s3i4J

#HorrorWritersChat "We stayed up to watch the Perseids. My dad and I do this every year, spending the whole night on lawn chairs in the front yard. This year has been different though. He doesn't seem to notice when I point out the shooting stars, and he didn't thank me once for digging him up."

#HorrorWritersChat WIP #1: "Local Woman Talks With Ghosts; Uncovers Serial Killer" WIP #2: "Vampire Kidnaps Cowgirl, Invites Pursuers to Wedding!"

#HorrorWritersChat What would make me give up writing horror? Probably nothing short of losing my hands. Even if I were to win "I won capitalism!" money in the lottery, I can't imagine not writing. Alternatively, being given "I won capitalism!" levels of money to write a different genre.

#HorrorWritersChat Hello! I'm Opal. I write mostly horror, fantasy, and sci-fi, with some gothic romance mixed in. The most unusual place I've found inspiration for horror is 1950's PSA videos. I wrote a short film script about what to do when being hunted by a serial killer.

#HorrorWritersChat Time stopped but the shadows kept moving. Time, the one thing I wish I had more of. I wasn't fast enough. I write this from my only refuge, a patch of sunlight from the window that shrinks with every passing moment. If you find this, stay in the light. The shadows have teeth.

#HorrorWritersChat The WIP that isn't my main focus, that I call my 'other WIP', takes place in 1867. I have had to do SO MUCH RESEARCH. My current WIP takes place in the modern day. It's easiest for the reader to relate to, I think, but history lends itself very well to horror.

#HorrorWritersChat My current WIP takes place over several months, early autumn to late winter. My other WIP takes place over the course of a year, as they travel across the entire continental USA. Time definitely plays a factor, from sharp, painful moments to lingering dread and tension.

#HorrorWritersChat Hi, I'm Opal! I write horror, fantasy, sci-fi, and gothic romance. I should have been in 'the latter third of the 24th century'. A time when money is all but eliminated, and I could focus on my writing without having to worry about survival and discrimination.

1200 words today. 22k total on the current WIP. Shooting for 80k-ish.

#HorrorWritersChat I currently work for a lawyer (which is why I'm not using my real name), so the vampire jokes basically write themselves. I think any monstrous creature would work though, if it fits within the themes of authority, greed, and manipulation.

#HorrorWritersChat Tough one. I could probably turn any workplace into a horror story. My initial thought is 'office' because I work in one currently, but I also used to work retail and before that, fast food. Talk about horror! Schools and police stations also lend themselves easily to horror.

#HorrorWritersChat I believe "write what you know" means "write what you understand". You can write anything as long as you've done your research. My current protagonist is a court stenographer. My other WIP's protagonist is a train robber. I've not done either, and probably shouldn't try.

#HorrorWritersChat Hey! I'm Opal! I wrote mostly horror, fantasy, sci-fi, and occasionally queer gothic romance. I currently work for an immigration law firm. I'm sure you can guess how that's going.

Three months (ish) til my birthday. Can I get my first draft done by then? Maybe... ...would be a nice birthday present to myself.

A little rant abt zombie media. I don't like how overweight people, usually overweight women, are always made out to be the grossest (and often the scariest) zombies. They spit, they explode into infectious slime, they're 'tanks' that won't go down. 1/? #horror #zombies

#HorrorWritersChat I recently finished reading "The Girls Are Never Gone" by Sarah Glenn Marsh. I thought it was fantastic! @theeyeofsarahn.bsky.social

#HorrorWritersChat I hadn't planned on Parish (bisexual man) and Rebecca (trans lesbian) having a past fling, but as soon as they interacted together, it came out on the page in their overt hostility toward one another, lol.

#HorrorWritersChat Rebecca would be throwing bricks, she's a feisty trans lady. Evelynn would be giving the speech, she's an opinionated French lesbian vampire, and the French have made protests an art form. Parish would be handing out food and drink. He's a quietly confident bisexual man.

#HorrorWritersChat I'm Opal, I write mostly horror, sci-fi/fantasy, and gothic romance. My writing goals for June are to progress as much as possible on my current WIP. A horror story about grief, ghosts, and serial killers, involving a predominantly LGBT+ cast.

Executive dysfunction sucks. I have 100's of good ideas, I LOVE writing, creating stories, and imagining whole new worlds. ...can't get a fucking word on the page today.

Number 14284756298 in the list of ways AI is terrible: No, Microsoft Word, I did not misspell "Applicant". No, I do not want to replace it with "Appliquant". Why would you even ask me that?

#HorrorWritersChat I don't drink or use drugs, so if I found a note in my own handwriting that I don't remember, it means I was drugged at some point. I'm running. Which means finding an embassy before nightfall, and sticking to crowded areas so I can avoid those two men following me...

#HorrorWritersChat I'm a cautious traveler by nature and necessity, so the horror trope that always bugs me is when the protagonist CLEARLY senses danger, but chooses to ignore it. For me, I know I'd get got if the villain was a pretty woman. I am a useless lesbian and I fully admit to it.

#HorrorWritersChat The first thing I notice about the little inn is just that, it doesn't feel empty. It's just me and the owner, but it feels like I'm pushing through a crowd, claustrophobic. A sense of being watched comes from the narrow stairwell, and the murmur of voices floats down the hall.

#HorrorWritersChat Late to the party this week. I'm Opal, I dabble in all kinds of horror but am currently focusing on an atmospheric ghost story/serial killer tale. I'm creeping in from a foggy mountain town in rural Canada. Very inspiring!

Warning, slight spoilers ahead! Two quick notes for horror fans out there: 1. Sinners is the best movie I've seen in a long time. 2. Sinners is possibly (still giving it some thought, tbh) the best vampire movie of all time, in my opinion. If nothing else, it's decidedly top 3. Go see it.

So, I didn't get the Pope job I applied to. Apparently not being Catholic is a big stickler for these cardinals. Who put birds in charge anyway? Oh well, guess I'll go back to working on my WIP.

The last thing I need today is 'the algorithm' telling me to prepare for the recession that's coming by saving more money. Just save money! Have a 9 month buffer in savings! Just save more! I'm lucky if I break even every month. I have zero extra dollars. Where am I getting a 9 month buffer???

#HorrorWritersChat We looked at each other. She wept. I wished I could. The undead can't cry, no matter how much they want to. She always could read me. She knew how much I wanted it to end. It's funny, isn't it? How, on rare occasions such as this... Even a gunshot can sound like a love song.

#HorrorWritersChat I would want Josie, because she's an outlaw from the 1870s and would definitely help me survive. I would also want Evelyn. She's a 700 year old vampire who would have no issue destroying zombies. She WOULD eventually see me as food if enough humans died, but... worth it.

#HorrorWritersChat I don't have a completed book, but my WIP would change from "Voices" to "Groans". Here are my two completed film script titles: "Autumn's Fall" becomes "Autumn's Fall Into The Plague Pit" and "Written Off" becomes "Bitten Off"

#HorrorWritersChat I'm Opal! I write mostly horror, scifi, fantasy, and gothic romance. I would embrace life as a zombie by hosting a youtube channel cooking show about how to make delicious, low cost meals out of 1%ers.

#horrorwriterschat In my current modern-day WIP, the Wild Hunt would appear. My protagonist is plagued by ghosts demanding she help them seek justice. The Wild Hunt could easily force her to join them in their pursuit of a worthy target.

#horrorwriterschat In my gothic horror/romance WIP, the two protagonists were pulled together under an Autumn moon, but nothing would have changed if it was a May moon. Their lives are irrevocably bound from that chance meeting, and it leads to love, chaos, and far too much violence.