Congratulations to our winner from the last WritPrompt rotation, UncannyClown, with the entry patchwork warrior!

For general information on this contest, see the hub page: The WritPrompt Rotation

The Promptening

UncannyClown has delivered our prompt for this coming month of February: Strength: what it is, what it means, what it should look like. A nuanced and timely prompt for where in the world we all find ourselves. Bring us your inner strength, Wanderers!

Important! New this month is a full week of time to gather critique and workshop drafts, entering into the collaborative community on site. And to that end, for all months of WritPrompt going forward, we will be offering a shiny new month-long Discord role to the person with the most critique credits in WritPrompt author posts for the month! Additionally, we will also give each month's CritPrompt champ the ability to select a second prompt for the following month, as a big thank-you for entering enthusiastically in the collaborative writing process. Please see the contest page for further details.

Go forth and WritPromp strong-style! We can't wait to see what you come up with.

Our posting schedule is as follows:

• Writing Period: 2 February 2026 10:00 AM CST (UTC-6) until 16 February 10:00 AM CST
• Critique Period: 16 February 10:00 AM until 23 February 10:00 AM
• Posting and Reading Period: 23 February 10:00 AM until 2 March 10:00 AM

The posting period for the Wing Three Contest has come to a close, which now means the nomination period has begun.

Rules for nomination:

• You may not nominate yourself.

• You may nominate a given article only once.
• The maximum is FIVE nominations per person, though if you want to nominate only one or two, that's fine.

• You may not edit your nominations post. Once you've made your picks they're set in stone.

• Nominations open now. The thread will be closed a week from now, on 4 January 2026 12:00 CST.

You are to post your nominations in order of how much you like them. For example:


1. The Wrong Side of the Bread

2. Speakerboxxx/The Love Below

3. I Ask for Nothing

4. of sight, of mind

5. Touching Grass


Where no.1 is your favorite and no.5 your fifth favorite.

Important correction to previous information on the hub page! Scoring will be determined by the following scale: First place votes will award 3 points, second place 2.5 points, third place 2 point, fourth place 1.5 points, and fifth place 1 point.

Happy reading and happy nominating!

This site gives me a strong "Ruined City" vibe. Every time I go here, I feel like I'm wandering through a maze of remnants of buildings, all the things I come across would have been beautiful, and I'm sure they were, but now they're just rotting, there are no more roofs, the walls are all crumbled down, even the grandest places here smell of dust. Sometimes, I do come across some pockets of a few tents, often led by the ancients who helped build the city, and they feel like either the last pockets of resistance of the sorry place or attempts to reclaim what was lost. I do believe this place is either at the end of its downfall or just starting its upstroke, either way, it is the moment when, due to the chaotic nature of time, a clear direction is the most needed if anyone wants this place to find glory (not its former glory, that would be a tragic thing to happen).

In my opinion, this "ruin" vibe is the reason why it feels so different for many people, and why there's not much activity. Who wants to live in a ruin except people who can't live anywhere else, ruin-enjoyers and the people who knew the place before it fell ? I don't think we should slow down the fall, it's already happened, but instead prepare the climb, be like critters on a rotting corpse, and eat detrimental elements of the old site to poop, (i guess ?) new things that ought to be tried, until a place that can last (somewhat) is created.

But that might also just be my over-dramatic mind, idk.

A very hearty congratulations to WritPrompt #3 winner, 20minutespast, with the gorgeous and disgusting entry Tapeworm!

A big thank you as well to all of last month's participants, immortalized here for eternity:
Plilt, with Arctic Lichen Frog Profile
Maxyfran73, with Fragrata Portuguesa
UncannyClown, with twin human highway flares
Din-Bidor, with Moonchild
Stygian Blue, with Riparian Fulgurzone

For general information on this contest, see The Writprompt Rotation.

The Promptening

20minutespast has graciously provided to us, we hungry readers and enthusiastic writers, the prompt for September. And here it is: Patchwork! This, of course, can be interpreted any way you like. Drawing on themes of being pieced together? Or piecing the work together from several themes? Or several canons? Or maybe it really is all just about quilts? The choice, as is tradition by now, is yours. It's time to compete for fame, glory, and a hot pink name on Discord for a month!

Our posting schedule is as follows:

• Writing Period: 3 September 2025 2:00 PM CDT (UTC -5) to 17 September 2025 11:59 PM CDT
• Posting and Voting Period: 18 September 2025 12:00 AM to 30 September 2025 11:59 PM

Ready set go!

Here we are again, hand in hand, staring at the sky as the sun sets on another episode of the now decently-attended WritPrompt extravaganza. The pieces posted have been incredibly delectable, little treats for us all. WritPrompt 2 was won by our talented authors PallidAlbumen and lzhoudidion with the stellar Journal Entry: Seasalt and Kerosene. Thusly, their chosen prompt was symbiosis. This can be interpreteted in any way you desire; two characters in a dependent relationship, the joining of species in nature, character-driven pieces about the self and others. It's very open and I hope y'all bring your all. Our (now standardized) posting schedule is as follows:

• Writing Period: August 11th 9PM EST to August 24th 11:59 CST.
• Posting and Reading Period: August 25th 12:00 AM CST to August 31st 11:59 CST.

Good luck, go crazy y'all. I know I will.

Wowee! Apologies for the bumps but we've now made it to WritPrompt #2. There were a couple bumps and changes, and I thank y'all for riding the train with me. So, here's our second prompt, courtesy of UncannyClown.

• Write a piece that responds in some way (narratively, thematically, symbolically, etc.) to a library piece written by somebody else.

This is a fantastic prompt, I have to say. I'm excited to see y'all's entries. Our (very revised) posting schedule is as follows:

• Writing Period: July 1st, 9am EST to July 13th 11:59pm EST
• Posting and Reading Period: July 14th 12:00am EST to August 8th 12:00am EST.

Congratulations and thank you to everyone who posted in our previous prompt. Today we begin our second prompt. As before, just drop your posts in the thread below once the posting period starts.

Because it's that time of the month, I've decided that our first prompt will be homosexual in nature.

PRIDE PROMPTS

1. The feeling of gender euphoria
2. The sensation of dating someone who aligns with a sexuality you've been struggling with for years.
3. The first gay kiss
4. The absolute and pure knowing of oneself
5. How it feels to take hormones for the first time
6. Or, simply, being gay, being prideful, being within oneself.

Just throw your posts below linking to your finished contest entries. Sign up is automatic and I know you're entering by your post. Writing begins now (roughly 8:30 PM EST on June 1st) until the posting period starts from 8:30PM EST June 15th to 12AM EST June 30th.

PLEASE ENJOY.

In the past year we have had:

212 new entries
About 500 new members
One SSS event
Two contests
Three brand new staff members
(and a partridge in a pear tree)

So where are we going from here? Most importantly, Wing Two is getting quite full, which means the Wing Three contest is rapidly approaching! While we can't be sure exactly when it'll be, my guess is we'll be seeing it sometime around June or July. Tagging Wing One is still underway, and will hopefully be reaching a conclusion in the near future. Thanks to everyone who's chipped in to help with that!

As a lot of people have observed, the site has been in a bit of a lull recently: Posting and new member numbers are down from last year, and readership numbers are a bit declined as well. That said, the people we have here are still just as passionate about their work as ever, and there's been lots of great writing to come out of the site over the past 365 days. While I can't give exact promises or details, staff is actively discussing what we can do to try to draw in new people and improve the site experience. The new staff members have been a great help already, and I'm optimistic the infusion of new blood is giving us the energy we need to start pushing the Library to even greater heights.

As a personal reminiscence, I've been with this site for 14 years, and every year has brought great new members, great new stories, and more joy to see it become something I always hoped it would be when there was just a dozen of us hanging out in IRC, swapping stories. Thank you all for being here, and thank you all for the passion and love you bring to the site!

The posting period for the 2024 Phantom's Promenade event has come to a close, which now means the nomination period has begun.

Rules for nomination:
• You may not nominate yourself.
• The maximum is FIVE nominations per person, though if you want to nominate only one or two, that's fine.
• You may not edit your nominations post. Once you've made your picks they're set in stone.
• Nominations open now. The thread will be closed a week from now, at 23:59 GMT on November 4th.

You are to post your nominations in order of how much you like them. For example:
• Wumbo's Waltz
• The Poltergeist of the Library
• Danger Disco
• In Which The Square Teaches Other Polygons To Dance
• Sunwalking
Where no.1 is your favorite and no.5 your fifth favorite. Happy reading, and good luck out there!

☀️ ART FROM THE SUN ☀️

Available slots: 0/5 CLOSED

Q: what
A: I'm offering free art! BUT it MUST fit a predetermined theme. The theme changes whenever I feel like it lol. Max of five slots at a time so that I don't get overwhelmed. There's no guarantee that the final product will look like a masterpiece, be done by a certain date, or even necessarily be completed (esp. if life circumstances come up). On the plus side: free art

Q: why
A: i wanna draw lol

Q: why here
A: I really love forums + organizing art requests through the WL discord server would be literal hell

Q: how do i request
A: fill out the form at the bottom of this post and post it to this thread! It may change with each theme.

**Creature Requested:** --- optional --- **Medium:** pixel art OR digital **Flavor Text:** yes OR no **Wacky Scale:** 1-10

have fun [*dies*]

-DrSoot

I'm happy to announce another up-swing year for the Library — looking around now, it's hard to imagine there was ever a time where the doors were closed and the shelves were empty. It's important to think back to those times, but it's just as important to recognize how far we've come, and how much effort and creativity our community has brought to the site.

From April 2023 to April 2024, we've had

• 363 surviving entries posted to the site
• ~700 new members join the site
• 1 explosive and exciting contest

This has been an interesting year for the Library — particularly interesting to me, because I've been watching it very much as an outsider for once. It's been fascinating to see the community grow and develop and change in so many ways.

Right off the bat, so many entries! Some really great new series and canons arising out of them, with dedicated fans and enthusiasts. The Library has always struggled with continuity in works, so seeing series and serials arise and get a warm reception as they have is super heartening.

Contests! We only had the one proper contest this year, but what a contest it was! ComboCon was a novel effort spearheaded by LAN and went super well — having read all of the entries, I can say that the average quality was super high, and an absolutely fantastic way to reacquaint myself with where the site is at. Some truly stellar works came out of that contest — congratulations to everyone who participated!

We also had a new SSS event this year, TitanClash LIVE! A community-crafted cyberpunk setting of corporate dystopia and kaiju beatdowns. Seeing the setting and lore come together was awesome, plus everyone's high-octane entries for it and earning their wings/roles. The event may be over but the setting is, of course, still entirely open for contribution — if you want to write giant horrifying lab-created monstrosities fighting each other for fun and profit, hit up UC's fantastic hub and give it a gander!

Overall, I think this year was more of a relaxed one for the Library — not every year can be back-to-back-to-back contests and events, and that's good! This year has been a great opportunity to let the community settle into a rhythm of reading and writing, a nice natural baseline. But even that baseline comes with constantly-impressive works, creations, series, and collections from you guys.

Looking Forward

I have a happy announcement — Wing One is basically fully tagged according to the new tag system! Our new system has been on a slow rollout for nearly two years now, and it's super exciting to have it in a place where we can formalize it as the default. It's much more flexible and makes it so much easier to categorize and search works by genre, tone, style, and content — super important as the Library diversifies ever-further in the kinds of content we host. We're planning on rolling out an initiative for you guys to tag your own works according to the new system and hopefully get everything brought under the same umbrella pretty soon.

We're also planning on running more contests and events this year than we did this past year. For a number of reasons, contests and events kind of took a backseat for us this year, both because of how many were being run on SCP and our staff's own lives. But with Wing Two being nearly three-quarters full, it's looking like that contest might be on the horizon, and of course we always love offering our writers new opportunities to explore styles. We have been asked to repeat some contest ideas like Debate Club, and we're definitely considering those, but we think that there's still a lot of new contest ideas we'd like to explore first before returning to the old classics. Keep an eye out for those!

I'd also like to explore analyzing our critique culture on the site. We've had a few conversations about the role and position downvotes and 'harsh' critique hold on our site, and it's an interesting conversation! I think the Library is a really chill place for a lot of writers, but we could definitely afford to be more critical in how we process and interact with the works posted to the site if we want to uphold our responsibility to make each other better writers. But that's a big conversation for some time in the future.

It's been a wonderful year for the site, and I'm sure the next will be just as great — happy birthday, Library!

• You may not nominate yourself.
• The maximum is three nominations per person, though if you want to nominate only one or two, that's fine.
• You may not edit your nominations post. Once you've made your picks they're set in stone.
• Nominations open now. The thread will be closed a week from now, on the night of April 4th.

You are to post your nominations in order of how much you like them. For example:

1. Crab World
2. The Wanderers' Bribery
3. Dipped in Mama Liz' Chili Oil

Where no.1 is your favourite and no.3 your third favourite. Happy reading, and good luck out there!