Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Prof Emily

@professoremily.bsky.social

Oof damn, this is so real! Sam nailed it with brutal precision, as usual 😩💔

🖼️ Samuelo da Vimci 🖌️ @reaper-man.bsky.social · 38m

Found it! The bogeymen are the Undead, btw. Maestro's whole deal is blaming everything on them. (Does that sound familiar? 😮‍💨)

Oh and that last bit is because Scruffy got his head stuck earlier. 😄

People don’t want the truth, Sophie,” said Polo at last. “They want to hear what they already believe. The trick is to slip the truth somewhere in there when they aren’t looking. Almost like hiding heartworm pills in a slice of cheese before feeding it to your dog.”

“So what, you’re saying we lie to them?”

Polo looked at her in disbelief. “Of course we lie to them. What else do you want to do, hand them a pamphlet and hope it erases a lifetime of fear and
pride?”

He shook his head. “They’re far beyond being simply wrong, Soph. They’ve invested in being wrong. It's their bloody pension plan. Maestro handed them a box of bogeymen and said, ‘Everything bad happening to you is their fault’. You can’t take that away in one swipe. Once the bogeymen vanish, they’ll just look for someone else to blame. They’re certainly not at fault, how could they ever be at fault? Tell them anything even distantly related to the truth, and they’ll think you’re attacking them. What they actually want is someone to stab, while their real enemies continue to sell them the swords...”

“And hike up the price of bandages,” added Fishman.

“And privatise the hospitals,” muttered Fia.

“And then fine them for getting blood on the floor!” said a passing teapot.

November 28, 2025 at 11:32 PM

Reposted by Prof Emily

🖼️ Samuelo da Vimci 🖌️

@reaper-man.bsky.social

Although the antagonist's supporters are rioting outside, Sophie believes the truth can change their minds. Polo has spent a lifetime watching the opposite happen. Who's right? 🤔

From an action-comedy novel about the wacky misadventures of a heist crew.

#WIPSnips #AmWriting
#WritingCommunity
💙📖

“What exactly is the truth? Is it really something we can tell those idiots wreaking havoc outside?” said Sophie, watching as Scruffy zigzagged past a vampire engrossed in a debate with a dockworker.

“We treat them like idiots, and rightfully so, since they behave like idiots. But shouting at an idiot won't make him any less of an idiot. And lying to an idiot just points him in a different direction. Have we considered why they believe Maestro’s nonsense in the first place? All they ever hear is shouting, Polo. From Florenti, from Maestro, from us, from every headline pouring panic into their heads. They don’t have a quiet place to listen and learn. They obviously haven’t earned one, I don’t deny that. But even idiots can learn, if you stop beating them with the truth, and start showing it to them instead. Show them that we’re not so different, all of us.”

She gestured towards the bar, where differences of various shapes and sizes were busy getting equally drunk.

“Maybe instead of locking them out, we leave the door open. Let them see for themselves.”

She was wise for her age, Polo had to admit, as he met her earnest gaze. Completely wrong, of course, but wise all the same. In his experience, the truth didn’t change minds so much as harden whichever part of the skull it bounced off. And showing it to them would accomplish no more than showing a haddock a fresco. Sophie was right about the way things ought to be, but people, at their very core, simply didn't work like that. If they did, half the city wouldn't be outside proving her wrong.

November 28, 2025 at 9:22 PM

Prof Emily

@professoremily.bsky.social

#NovemberWorldbuilders 27

There's a legend in Atalantis about the lost city of Jehratan, which was a great settlement built by the Na'aqal people somewhere in North Africa, during a time when they were using kaana crystals to try to conquer the world.

In Jehratan they produced many crystals that🧵

Kira of the Wind (Erika McCorkle) @kiraofthewind.com · 1d

Greetings, #NovemberWorldbuilders. Tell me about a legendary event that happened in your world's history. Perhaps a terrific cataclysm, or maybe something good like the growth of an amazing tree or the greatest rock concert ever. Something that the storytellers in your world love to sing about.

#NovemberWorldbuilders prompt card

Hosted by Kira of the Wind
Week 4: HISTORY
27. A Legendary event

The image in the background is a blurred picture of a foresty/rocky landscape with lightning and a mountain in the background

November 28, 2025 at 8:26 PM

Reposted by Prof Emily

Charlie Delta 🦊🐐

@charliedeltawrites.bsky.social

#NovemberWorldbuilders

I feel like we have been building to this one! The big, world changing event: the disappearance of the dragons!

As far as most of the world knows, they all just vanished one day. Having withdrawn from humanity before this point, they were not seen often, so it took time 🧵

Kira of the Wind (Erika McCorkle) @kiraofthewind.com · 1d

Greetings, #NovemberWorldbuilders. Tell me about a legendary event that happened in your world's history. Perhaps a terrific cataclysm, or maybe something good like the growth of an amazing tree or the greatest rock concert ever. Something that the storytellers in your world love to sing about.

November 27, 2025 at 6:25 AM

Reposted by Prof Emily

Samantha Breaux

@woodenvelt.bsky.social

#AwesomeCharacters

I was in a food coma yesterday, sorry. Spencer always wears his holy symbol, which looks like an infinity sign with wings. It was a gift from his grandfather upon graduating seminary school. He also often carries a spade.

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts #Wrencer

Charlie Delta 🦊🐐 @charliedeltawrites.bsky.social · 1d

Tell me more about your #AwesomeCharacters

What is something your character always carries with them?

In a purse, a bag, a secret pouch, a pocket?

Is there something they never travel without? Why?

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

November 28, 2025 at 7:10 PM

Reposted by Prof Emily

Samantha Breaux

@woodenvelt.bsky.social

Fenholt doesn't have a standing army, but they do issue licenses to mercenary troops. As part of the licensing agreement, the troops are contractually obligated to serve as an army under the command of the minister's council in the event of attack or invasion.

#Wrencer #WritingPrompt

Ian Haramaki 🏳️‍⚧️✨ @cometkins.bsky.social · 7h

Is there a military or other fighting force in your book's setting? How do they function? How do they fight? #WritingPrompt

November 28, 2025 at 7:05 PM

Prof Emily

@professoremily.bsky.social

Ah, Quillbert is a cephalopod of culture I see! Hell yeah, libraries are so amazing and deserve all the support we can give them! 🥰❤️

Wonder where Quillbert's journey will take him next...?
#writesky #writingcommunity #writers #quillbert4ever

Hook & Quill Press @hookandquillpress.com · 6h

Quillbert's getting close to finishing his book-quest: he found himself at a library! Of course we celebrate all libraries and librarians along with Quillbert. Still, this doesn't seem to be quite what he's looking for. What else could be out there??
#writesky #writingcommunity #quillbert4ever

A plush octopus sits on a table in a library with several octopus-themed books in front of him.

November 28, 2025 at 6:17 PM

Prof Emily

@professoremily.bsky.social

Quote reposting so as not to leech off of @khonri.com's lovely art feed 😊❤️

Digital drawing by me of Mireia & Kena, the MCs of my Atlantis trilogy, sharing a romantic kiss by the railing of a boat on a blue river. Behind them is a lush forest, mountains, and a yellow sunrise.

November 28, 2025 at 6:04 PM

Prof Emily

@professoremily.bsky.social

This week I FINALLY played #Riven (2024), the remake of my absolute favorite game ever! It was amazing, like playing it again for the first time.

I do miss the real actors from the 1997 version though. Nothing will ever top the catharsis of finally setting Catherine free.
youtu.be/HavKswNS8rI?...

Riven: The Sequel to Myst - Catherine's Freedom

YouTube video by Ages of Myst

youtu.be

November 28, 2025 at 3:16 PM

Reposted by Prof Emily

Ange

@gunsmile.bsky.social

I’m currently at 27k/30k words written. I don’t know if I’ll be able to write the last 3000 words by the end of the month, but it’d be nice if I could. #pretendpanel

Hiria Dunning @hiriadunning.com · 16h

#pretendpanel, it's time to check in!

November 28th: It's almost the end of November! How did you go this month? (whether you set a goal, or took part in a challenge, or not!)

#WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts

#pretendpanel
a daily prompt tag hosted by @hiriadunning.bsky.social
November 28th: It's almost the end of November! How did you go this month? (whether you set a goal, or took part in a challenge, or not!)
Please support your fellow #pretentpanel posters with replies, likes and reposts
New #pretendpanel questions every Friday and Saturday. Hop in any time!

November 28, 2025 at 2:43 PM

Reposted by Prof Emily

Alyssa Lauseng 🐉🩸🔪

@5feetofredfury.bsky.social

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #writingprompt

Duels of Blood (this was the best I could do, sorry 😂 At least it's short today!)

Daisuke’s lungs burned, but he kept running, weaving from left to right on soundless feet over the roof tiles as he dodged each oncoming ball of blackness. He was almost to safety.

November 28, 2025 at 2:52 PM

Reposted by Prof Emily

Lizzie Blackwood

@lizzieblackwood.bsky.social

Hello, #PretendPanel! Been a while.

November (and honestly September and October also) was consumed with MOVING, so very little writing has been accomplished. But, I'm getting settled now, and though I missed some great community challenges, I'm looking forward to lots of writing to come!

Hiria Dunning @hiriadunning.com · 16h

#pretendpanel, it's time to check in!

November 28th: It's almost the end of November! How did you go this month? (whether you set a goal, or took part in a challenge, or not!)

#WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts

November 28, 2025 at 2:53 PM

Reposted by Prof Emily

Ray Ingles

@ringles.bsky.social

#WIPSnps 28: zigzag

Only one instance, in a snip I've posted before. The MC surveys a city in a divergent timeline.

#SciFi #ScienceFiction

Some buildings clustered around the skyscrapers, “only” maybe half as tall. Outside those central areas, buildings were more of the height I was used to. But way more colorful. And some of the colors were moving?

I had no idea which were businesses, government, apartments. Many of them had holes or gaps; one or two were in a zig-zag shape. I was about sixty percent sure that the round domed one was a stadium or concert hall. But maybe it was a megachurch?

November 28, 2025 at 2:54 PM

Reposted by Prof Emily

Hiria Dunning

@hiriadunning.com

I exceeded the arbitrary 50K goal, #pretendpanel, so I am happy. I don't think I'm going to be finished with the first draft by 11.59pm 30th November, but I won't be far off, maybe a day or two more.
1/2

Hiria Dunning @hiriadunning.com · 16h

#pretendpanel, it's time to check in!

November 28th: It's almost the end of November! How did you go this month? (whether you set a goal, or took part in a challenge, or not!)

#WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts

November 28, 2025 at 8:02 AM

Prof Emily

@professoremily.bsky.social

#PretendPanel Nov 28

Welp. I started off strong & got a big chunk of Act 1 of #Charagma written! My goal was to write 60K words & I only ended up writing about 1/3 of that, but still happy I started the book!

I also wrote 11K words for #Tenement, which was why I didn't get farther on Charagma 😅

Hiria Dunning @hiriadunning.com · 16h

#pretendpanel, it's time to check in!

November 28th: It's almost the end of November! How did you go this month? (whether you set a goal, or took part in a challenge, or not!)

#WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts

November 28, 2025 at 2:58 PM

Reposted by Prof Emily

Samantha Breaux

@woodenvelt.bsky.social

Spencer and Reggie help a ghost move on to the afterlife.

From my romantasy wip about a priest of the dead and a thief with a heart of gold.

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingPrompts #WritingCommunity #Wrencer

The girl stretched out her slender arm to touch Reggie’s smooth pate. The skull dodged and the girl grinned, trying again. Reggie jigged sideways, staying just out of reach as the girl attempted to tag him. As the game unfolded between the two ghosts, a sense of correctness settled in Spencer’s chest. Like a stone dropped in a still pond, certainty sank all the way through him until it rested firmly against the bedrock of his heart.

Thank you, Gray Lady, for always showing me the way.

Out of habit, Spencer reached for his holy symbol then felt like a fool when he remembered the twisted silver loop was still in the rectory, safe around his unconscious neck. Reggie’s eyes flickered, a question tickling at the back of Spencer’s mind. They shared a look and understanding arced like lightning between them.

Had he been in his body, Spencer would have stooped over with his hands on his knees to look the girl in her eyes without looming. As it was, he attempted to hover a little lower.

Are you ready, little one? The girl nodded again, solemnly this time. Follow, Reggie. Play chase with him and think of that feeling lasting forever, the fun and the joy of it never-ending.

Reggie whizzed around her, a green streak, before zipping low between the tombstones. Smiling, the girl gave chase, drifting after the skull as he zigged and zagged wildly through the cemetery. On the third lap around the graveyard, a tinkle of laughter filled the stagnant air. Like tiny silver bells chiming in your very soul, the sound echoed sharply, accompanied by the sweet scent of cookies and cakes. Spencer saw a flash of white ruffles passing behind a tombstone, and then the girl was gone, off to an eternity of fun and games, he hoped.

November 28, 2025 at 2:03 PM

Reposted by Prof Emily

MechaniChris

@chrisakins.bsky.social

Hey book lovers! Wish you could get a deal without supporting a major corporation?

WELL YOU CAN!!

Go to ChristianAkins.com/grimportents and enter code GRIMTHANKS when you order your ebook copy to $2 off till midnight 12/1!

That’s $3 total!!!

#indiebooks #blackfriday #writingcommunity #booksky

Grim Portents — Christian Akins

ChristianAkins.com

November 28, 2025 at 1:37 PM

Reposted by Prof Emily

L.M. du Plessis 🇳🇦 🇺🇦📚💙 ‪✨Drafting TLC✨

@smoking-gnu.bsky.social

G'morning #WIPSnips. I actually wrote this word into TLC in one of the newer sections, but just found this earlier bit and thought it would fit much better.

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

“Miss Jennifer?” someone asks from my right, and I spin my head around to see a very unexpected sight.
A large caterpillar, coloured yellow and green in a dazzling zigzag pattern, stood in the hallway there. Half its body is upright and regarding me with an intense gaze from two large and dark compound eyes, while the other half stretches behind it. I can see that the other occupants in the hallway are avoiding going anywhere near this… person, or even looking at them. Must be someone important.
“Yes?” I say in confirmation.
“Good. I am Dame Voliannas, your legal council in this lawsuit against the Kowellian Entity. I will be handling your case today and for the rest of the trail,” the caterpillar, Voliannas, declares in a crisp, no-nonsense tone that reminds me of the second grade. If Miss Teller had been an insect, this is what she would have looked and sounded like.
I resist the urge to shudder at the memory, and stand up to meet Voliannas eye to eye, and extend my hand.

November 28, 2025 at 9:06 AM

Reposted by Prof Emily

Jan Karlsson

@jangoeswriting.bsky.social

‘Wavy’ instead of ‘zigzag’ today.

From ‘Reign, Dear’.

#WiPSnips

“Look! Stop! Stop this at once! I just want to go to the butcher’s and talk to Merida. That’s it.” Boulder pointed and all the soldiers on the other side flinched. “It’s just there!”

“And here …” The first soldier straightened up, dug the heel of his boot into the dirt and awkwardly stepped back several paces, dragging the heel of the boot into the packed soil and scoring a wavy, but distinct line. “… is the border. It’s the borderline. No-one in or out without Her Majesty Calcifa’s say so.”

“This is ridiculous!” He threw up his arms in despair and the opposing soldiers moved their pointy things closer, but not over the ‘border’. “I just … all I need … this is …”

November 28, 2025 at 9:10 AM

Reposted by Prof Emily

Finn McLellan

@saranadosfiction.com

#WIPSnips | zigzag

Again, not a word I have, so we're doing vibes/mood - this time, back in Blood on the Snow and Sabbat musing on the thieves' roads and rat-runs of Old Town

( saranadosfiction.com/2020/06/15/b... )

The night’d started off bitter, even at street level, and by the time Sabbat had made it back to Old Town the temperature on the rooftops had plummeted to the kind of raw, vicious cold that stopped breath, stole feeling from fingers, and made any attempt at full-speed roof-running suicidal at best.

Lucky, then, that that wasn’t what he was planning.

*There’s a difference between hunting and chasing. No sense wasting time and energy racing over the rooftops when all I need to do is wait for prey to come to me.*

It wasn’t going to be that easy, mind. Old Town was big – bigger than most people gave it credit for, given half of them only ever saw it from the bridges in the other Quarters – and the rooftops were a maze of rat-runs and hidden passages, constantly changing as people added storeys or knocked down half-rotten extensions. Add in the summer fires and the deliberate traps and deadfalls the gangs built along the borders of their territories, and you had a labyrinth easily as deadly as anything the old Adakari mage-kings had been able to dream up and a hundred times more vicious for being home-grown (say what you liked about Sacaan, its reputation for bloodthirstiness was sodding well deserved).

Course, that all meant a good deal less if you knew it – and, for all he’d spent a fair amount of his life so far at sea, Sabbat was more at home on the rooftops of Old Town than half its residents were on the streets.

*Which means this bastard, whoever he is, is in my territory. Which means I get to make the rules.*

November 28, 2025 at 8:47 AM

Prof Emily

@professoremily.bsky.social

#AwesomeCharacters

Once they learn to use them, Mireia & Kena always carry their kaana crystals with them on cords around their neck. Super useful! Kena also usually carries his riina pipe (instrument, not smoking lol) with him, tied to his belt.

Noah often carries the Nwissy (his compass) in 🧵2/2

Charlie Delta 🦊🐐 @charliedeltawrites.bsky.social · 1d

Tell me more about your #AwesomeCharacters

What is something your character always carries with them?

In a purse, a bag, a secret pouch, a pocket?

Is there something they never travel without? Why?

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

November 28, 2025 at 1:56 PM

Reposted by Prof Emily

Eliwood S. Gheist

@eliwoodsgheist.com

Happy #AwesomeCharacters!

As Bludeye Beach is quasi-contemporary, the characters usually have their cell phones with them. There's a few text exchanges, but most of the time they're used as flashlights 😂

Charlie Delta 🦊🐐 @charliedeltawrites.bsky.social · 1d

Tell me more about your #AwesomeCharacters

What is something your character always carries with them?

In a purse, a bag, a secret pouch, a pocket?

Is there something they never travel without? Why?

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

November 28, 2025 at 11:18 AM

Prof Emily

@professoremily.bsky.social

#Bookvember 28

I've done all of the above, but I still love physical books the most. Ebooks are convenient for traveling, but otherwise I want that book-book in my hands.

I used to never do audiobooks, but I like them a lot now! I listen to them often while drawing, walking or doing chores.

Samantha Breaux @woodenvelt.bsky.social · 16h

Welcome to #Bookvember Day 28!

Follow the directions on the prompt card and discuss your reading habits.

#BookSky #WriteSky #Books #Authors #WritingCommunity

Bookvember, a book share prompt game for writers and readers by @woodenvelt.bsky.social

Day 28: How do you do your reading? Paperback, E-reader, audiobook? All of the above? What appeals to you about your favorite format? #Bookvember. Use alt text for images. Have fun and interact with others!

November 28, 2025 at 1:48 PM

Prof Emily

@professoremily.bsky.social

#Novmember 28

I actually shared a whole playlist for #Tenement not long ago. Most of it is instrumental/ambience type music because I can't write with something that'll distract my brain too much.
bsky.app/profile/prof...

But not all of them are! Here's one for Noah 😁
youtu.be/lmc21V-zBq0?...

November 28, 2025 at 1:38 PM

Prof Emily

@professoremily.bsky.social

#WIPSnips #amwriting #writingcommunity #writers #writesky

More of Noah's first meeting with Mr Gellar, when he asks the Librarian to help him solve some of the little mysteries around this place...

From #Tenement, my dystopian mystery about people living in an infinite building.

“Anything else I could help you with?” he asked.
“Ye-e-eah,” I said slowly. “There’s a word here, Lazarus. Really small, right below the center. See? Do you know what that means?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Lazarus? I’m not sure. Could be a family name.”
“I’ve never met anyone named Lazarus.”
“Well, we could find out.” He gestured for me to follow him. “Here, come with me.”
I followed him, zigzagging through aisle after aisle, toward a section of the Library I’d never seen before. At last, we came to a clearing amid the shelves, where sitting atop a sturdy wooden pedestal was a strange off-white boxy device with wires trailing out of it.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“A computer,” said Mr. Gellar. As I followed him around to the front of the device, I saw that its face was like a glossy black mirror. “Think of it as a sort of knowledge machine. It has the whole Library catalogue stored in its memory.”
I was in awe. “Memory? So is it... alive?”
He grinned. “No, no. Not any more alive than the books are. But we can use it to search through the collection for anything we want. Saves a lot of time.”

November 28, 2025 at 1:22 PM

Add to Home Screen

Light up
your news

Add to Home Screen

Light upyour news

Sign in to Lightnews

Sign up to start reading

Connect Bluesky

Connect with Bluesky

Light up
your news