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professoremily.bsky.social
Prof Emily
@professoremily.bsky.social
5.3K followers 2.6K following 9.8K posts
English teacher, writer, lover of cats & dogs. Recovering conservative, now Agnostic Christian Democratic Socialist. Unfortunately stuck in Texas. 🥲

A feed of my writing samples: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:br2rslmo7elrd3hp5dfsx3ye/feed/aaaksewrcngo4
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professoremily.bsky.social
Prof Emily @professoremily.bsky.social · Aug 22
Showing off this excellent piece I commissioned from @sarkastiklover.bsky.social! Tysm you rock! ❤️

Noah & his mom Cassie from #Tenement, my dystopian mystery about people living in an infinite building.

"Things don't have to be like this. There could be other ways. There could be other worlds."
Digital illustration by @sarkastiklover.bsky.social of Noah Walker, a young man with medium-dark skin, very short brown hair, and a loose-fitting beige shirt standing in a long narrow corridor with yellow/brown wallpaper with a rose pattern near the base, wooden floors, & a naked lightbulb hanging from a slightly cracked ceiling. He is standing back-to-back with his mom Cassie, a woman with large curly brown hair, who is looking back over her shoulder fearfully toward him. Diagonal cross-sections separate the two, with Noah in the present & colored, while Cassie is in the past & black and white. In Noah's left hand he holds the Nwissy (a compass).
Reposted by Prof Emily
muzetrigger.bsky.social
#NovemberWorldBuilders

The Caretakers are a fragmented group across the Library with ideologies ranging from “maybe Curses can be rehabilitated” to “the Library purposefully maligns and oppresses Curses to maintain their rigid world view”

Predictably, the more extreme cells are seen as terrorists
kiraofthewind.com Kira of the Wind (Erika McCorkle) @kiraofthewind.com · 12h
Hey there, #NovemberWorldbuilders! It's GOOD and EVIL week. Today, tell me about the ethics/morals of your VILLAIN. If you don't have one of those, talk about another character, particularly one who might deviate from protagonist's moral philosophy
#NovemberWorldbuilders prompt card Hosted by Kira of the Wind Week 2: Good and Evil 12. Villain's (or other important character's) ethics The image in the background is a blurred picture of a foresty/rocky landscape with lightning and a mountain in the background
November 12, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Reposted by Prof Emily
charliedeltawrites.bsky.social
November 12th – shirt

Anthropomorphic, today!

Ray has been in a small car accident. She doesn’t get why everyone is fussing about it so much.

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
Jessica prodded my facial bruise gently; I resisted the urge to bat her hand away. “Lift your shirt, I want to see your abdomen.” “Here, in the hall?” Jessica just scowled at me. I did as I was told. She shook her head at the bruise running from left to right across my chest, where the seat belt had been, then examined my stomach and ribs. Finally satisfied, she stepped away, and I lowered my shirt. “You were lucky. This could have been much worse,” she said. “That’s me, lucky. I didn’t even get a new scar for my collection. Now, your concern is touching, everyone.” I moved to step past them; they had had enough fun. “But I should really get back to work…” “No, you shouldn’t.” Jim stepped in front of me. I gave him a questioning look. “Go home, Rayna. Take Terry’s advice. Get some rest, recover.” “I’m fine. A bit stiff. It’s not a big deal. I can take another case,” I protested. “No, you cannot. There aren’t any cases for you right now. You are going to take the weekend off. If I see you back here before Monday, I will have you forcibly escorted out of the building. Do you understand me?” James raised an eyebrow.
November 12, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Reposted by Prof Emily
zprospero.bsky.social
#WIPSnips

Lucifer's anxiety causes him to spill coffee on his shirt during a meeting. So, he decides to change... in front of Virgil.

While Virgil is ace, the thing that's wrecking him here is the look.

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity
November 12, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Reposted by Prof Emily
pamelaelaela.bsky.social
Sometimes you delve deep into your character’s psyche, and sometimes you need a little frivolous fun for them. I remember this truth or dare scene being such fun to write.

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #AmWriting #AmQuerying
📚💙
Eye contact is deadly in this game, but I can’t resist peeking, and, true to form, there’s the crooked smile. The dimple too. “Dare.” My heart thumps inexplicably when [REDACTED]’s eyes flash to mine, so quickly that I convince myself I imagined it. The light in this ice cave plays tricks. “I dare you…” Elio begins, then after an appropriately dramatic pause, “to go for a swim in that hot spring. Naked.” There are whistles and cat-calls, and a very loosened-up Brooke shouts, “Woo! Take it off!” But [REDACTED]’s smirk doesn’t waver. Elio’s smile stretches ear to ear as he bounces his legs up and down in excitement. “Little do you know,” [REDACTED] says, standing, “undress is my preferred state of being.” He pulls his shirt up over his head and tosses it. It lands on Elio’s face, much to his delight. Don’t look, my brain commands. But my mutinous eyes skim the indentations of his hip bones, just above the waistband of his jeans, and up the defined lines of his stomach as he brushes by. I blame the party punch entirely.
November 12, 2025 at 12:45 PM
professoremily.bsky.social
#Novmemeber 12

What do you mean writing the draft is only Step One??? 😭
November 12, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Reposted by Prof Emily
ellielieberman.bsky.social
His approach gave her a better, more complete view of him from his "beautiful" face down to his shirtless chest. He's the kind of man artists build statues of, Gracelynn thought. The very concept of a shirt suddenly seemed like a vice.
- my WIP, When Morning Comes
#WIPSnips
November 12, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Reposted by Prof Emily
stevewestenra.bsky.social
#WIPSnips - "Shirt"

From The Erstwhile Tyler Kyle

I feel like I've shared either this or the bits around it a lot, but oh well 🤣

Still part of this awesome itchio bundle of trans authors!: itch.io/b/3352/trans...

Or wide!: books2read.com/u/boB9YL

#transhorror #queerhorror #indiehorror
My chest doesn’t just hitch, it’s made of hitches. I shove a pile of shirts into the bottom of the dresser, trying to cauterize the part of my brain that gives a shit, which, unfortunately, is most of it. I could fool myself thinking this is the beginning of some grandiose gesture, some declaration. I could do that, but it would be cruel, and even I don’t hate myself that much. Still, the possibility floats in the silence, and part of me reaches for it because if there’s a way in which Josh and I are equally stupid it’s that we’re both romantics. -The Erstwhile Tyler Kyle
November 12, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Reposted by Prof Emily
woodenvelt.bsky.social
Wren and Spencer have to figure out sleeping arrangements for the night.

From book 2 of my romantasy wip about a priest of the dead and a thief with a heart of gold.

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingPrompts #WritingCommunity #Wrencer
“Is it really only ninth bell? I swear it feels like midnight.” Wren’s voice startled Spencer, coming up behind him out of the dark recesses of the attic. He jumped a little and clutched his linen shirt to his bare chest, then felt like an awkward fool trying to figure out whether to leave it off or put it back on. “It has been the day that never ends, hasn’t it?” Spencer settled for tugging the shirt back over his head as Wren stepped out of the shadows with her pack in hand. Her damp hair hung loose around her shoulders and she was wearing a knee length sleeping shift over a pair of trousers. “Do you mind if I sleep on this side of the curtain? I can take the pallet if you’d prefer the bed?” “You didn’t want to bunk with Molly?” Spencer didn’t know whether to be flattered or flustered by the request and landed somewhere in the middle, closer to confused. “She and Bruce have their armor all spread out, oiling it and… things,” Wren scrunched up her face and waved one hand around as if that gesture contained all there was to know about the finer arts of properly maintaining one’s equipment. “I could wait for them to finish, but it looks like it’ll be a while.” As if to drive the point home, she yawned, covering her mouth with her hand as her jaw stretched impossibly wide. “You’ll be thanking me later when you want to stand behind me and poke at people with your little knife,” Bruce called from the other side of the curtain. “I’d thank you right now if you’d quit stinking the whole place up with clove oil…” Wren called back, rolling her eyes and grinning. “Of course,” Spencer answered before Bruce could launch another sarcastic volley, “but please, take the bed. My feet just end up dangling off the end anyways.”
November 12, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Reposted by Prof Emily
ringles.bsky.social
#WIPSnips 12: shirt

When you don't even *know* what you don't know... at least you get endless surprises. 🤷

#SciFi #ScienceFiction
I called Manayka in. He looked me over, smiled and nodded. He was carrying a short baton(?) in one hand, and a bag in the other. “Kaylay, zoma.” I turned around, as he’d asked. Something passed along the back of my shirt; I yelped when the fabric began to contract around me, and jumped away. “What the fuck?” Manayka’s eyes were wide, his mouth in a little ‘o’ of astonishment. Then he looked at the baton in his hand, and sighed. “Is… ‘oh-kay.’” He struggled to remember some English. “For clothes only.”
November 12, 2025 at 12:22 PM
professoremily.bsky.social
#NovemberWorldbuilders 12

Jasana was raised to believe that she's the true Sea Mother destined to save Atalantis from doom. When Mireia gets chosen as the SM instead... She goes a little nuts 😭 Her entire worldview & sense of self can't take it.

Everything she does, in her mind, is to protect🧵
kiraofthewind.com Kira of the Wind (Erika McCorkle) @kiraofthewind.com · 12h
Hey there, #NovemberWorldbuilders! It's GOOD and EVIL week. Today, tell me about the ethics/morals of your VILLAIN. If you don't have one of those, talk about another character, particularly one who might deviate from protagonist's moral philosophy
#NovemberWorldbuilders prompt card Hosted by Kira of the Wind Week 2: Good and Evil 12. Villain's (or other important character's) ethics The image in the background is a blurred picture of a foresty/rocky landscape with lightning and a mountain in the background
November 12, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Reposted by Prof Emily
tarasgeir.bsky.social
What’s better than a dead person’s bloody shirt? Socks! #WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
November 12, 2025 at 9:51 AM
Reposted by Prof Emily
sayaashrah.bsky.social
#WIPSnips 12. "Shirt"

Going with "kebaya" for, uh, something different today. I decided to write an AU sequence scene for that first Kinktober short, as a wee treat before writing another emotionally heavy EF chapter, so... here's a tease 👀

#ChroniclesOfTheRealms #Ashtara #QueerWriters #WriteSky
With the defeated expression of a bodyguard who wanted to protect and an ambassador who could not deny the princess, Tanya complied. Heart clenched by a dread she could not explain, Mileena brought the telescope to her eye. Citizens dressed in ragtag clothes were lined against a wall. Soldiers, at least a dozen of them, and two mages, all wearing the purple and black of the Suêòng Dynasty, surrounded the commoners. A soldier grabbed a dĩn'huei by her shirt, the protests of the other prisoners curbed by the threat of swords, and she was forced onto her knees before a mage. Mileena shook her head, not comprehending what her eyes were showing her. Then she did. “I thought you wanted to show me the ship.” “I lied.” A giggle escaped Ashrah as lips caressed her neck, her collarbone. “I smelt you.” Nitara pushed the kebaya open, the pendants popping out, and bit Ashrah’s exposed shoulder—not enough to draw blood, but enough to stoke Ashrah’s longing to feel those fangs inside her again. “All the way from my cabin.” Her tongue carved a path from Ashrah’s shoulder to her chest, a kiss placed on the hollow between her breasts. “It was driving me fucking wild.”
November 12, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Reposted by Prof Emily
jimthevampire.bsky.social
Okay got a kinder one today. It's happy Ben! The most motivated guy ever to step on a Titanis Systems Hauler ☺️

#WIPSnips
#WritingCommunity
#WriteSky
#WritingPrompts
#SciFiWriters
#sff
He smiled and stretched leisurely, bed covers falling away; all sleepiness gone, he felt alive! He leapt out of bed and scooted across the floor hopping from foot to foot. “My Lord, that is cold.” Rifling through the small possessions drawer he quickly wrangled some socks on to his size tens, felt the warm relief instantly. No time to dally. A few stretches, a hatful of sit ups, some pull ups on the protruding pipe and some slow press ups until his arms shook with the effort. He checked the dressing on his forearm, amazed at the lack of pain, it stayed resolutely stuck in place. The pang in his belly told him it was time for breakfast. He rolled up the shirt sleeve for the dressing and put on actual trousers. No need for overalls! The three hours until he was on shift meant three hours of Ben time. The cavernous warehouse could wait. He picked a clean white towel from the back of the door and left the bunk, moving softly through quiet corridors, the dim yellow glow of night cycle illumination felt like the first glow of sunrise. Somewhere in amongst the slow gurgle of the pipe work, he heard a squeaking. Even aboard ship, there was life, untamed by humans
November 12, 2025 at 8:37 AM
professoremily.bsky.social
#WIPSnips #amwriting #writingcommunity #writers #writesky

Another shorter one today! It's Rent Day, so everyone's expected to wear their "good" clothes (i.e. the least shitty ones, lol)

From #Tenement, my dystopian mystery about people living in an infinite building.
I hated to leave her like that, but I had to go. The clock in the hall read 4:37, and the Rent-Collectors would be coming around 5:00. “Oh good, you’re back!” Nan Enokido exclaimed when I walked through the door. She was heating an iron on the potbelly stove, with my father’s good shirt spread on the ironing board. “Hurry up and change. You didn’t see the twins out there, did you?” “Nope.” I gave Ozzie a pat as he bounded up to greet me, and hurried to the bedroom to hide my contraband book. Kazuo nearly bowled me over. “Coming through, dingus!” he barked. “Hey, Nan, where’s my good belt?”
November 12, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Reposted by Prof Emily
khonri.com
I had to scroll by like 9 slutty instances of shirt in their section before finding the flirty, but still slutty, one. 😁

#WIPSnips
#WritingCommunity
Morgan shook his head. “Nothing too crazy, I'll tell you on the ride over. But Kai wanted us to meet him in Noho later. You down with skipping a day?” He glanced down, puzzled, as Therion struggled to slip a finger under the hem of the sleeve. “Think it's time to size up, love. And yes. To both. Mama's, I'm assuming?” He nodded as he clicked his tongue, flexing his arm slightly to gently trap the finger between the sleeve and his bicep. “Morzhoka! Behave yourself, I have class today,” Therion said with obvious feigned indignation as he moved to walk back to the front of their apartment to finish getting ready. “Tight-shirt-wearing vile harlot!” The yell came playfully from the kitchen.
November 12, 2025 at 11:37 AM
Reposted by Prof Emily
khonri.com
#NovemberWorldbuilders

So, Eru. I mentioned back in #MythAugust he could be considered a truly neutral entity.

He's got self-imposed rules, because he's always been afraid of direct physical conflict which was worsened by The Incident. But, over time, he doesn't bat an eye if others do it.

🧵1/3
kiraofthewind.com Kira of the Wind (Erika McCorkle) @kiraofthewind.com · 12h
Hey there, #NovemberWorldbuilders! It's GOOD and EVIL week. Today, tell me about the ethics/morals of your VILLAIN. If you don't have one of those, talk about another character, particularly one who might deviate from protagonist's moral philosophy
#NovemberWorldbuilders prompt card Hosted by Kira of the Wind Week 2: Good and Evil 12. Villain's (or other important character's) ethics The image in the background is a blurred picture of a foresty/rocky landscape with lightning and a mountain in the background
November 12, 2025 at 11:28 AM
Reposted by Prof Emily
kiraofthewind.com
#NovemberWorldbuilders 12

Sidonay has a God complex. He wants to become a god and rule the world... But mostly so he can free the slaves in Ophidia and eradicate the demons of the Makai. He believes he is good, since he has good intentions.

But he still has a God complex. He wants to be worshipped
kiraofthewind.com Kira of the Wind (Erika McCorkle) @kiraofthewind.com · 12h
Hey there, #NovemberWorldbuilders! It's GOOD and EVIL week. Today, tell me about the ethics/morals of your VILLAIN. If you don't have one of those, talk about another character, particularly one who might deviate from protagonist's moral philosophy
#NovemberWorldbuilders prompt card Hosted by Kira of the Wind Week 2: Good and Evil 12. Villain's (or other important character's) ethics The image in the background is a blurred picture of a foresty/rocky landscape with lightning and a mountain in the background
November 12, 2025 at 11:14 AM
Reposted by Prof Emily
mycelialwriter.bsky.social
An unexpected encounter… #WIPSnips from SoS for “shirt”
November 12, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Reposted by Prof Emily
saranadosfiction.com
#WIPSnips | shirt

Start of Blood on the Snow, and Sabbat having a completely proportional reaction to Archer lending Viola a shirt (Jealous? Course not, why the fuck would he be jealous?)

(In his defence, Viola *did* hit him over the head with a basin)

( saranadosfiction.com/2020/05/02/b... )
“I know, Sabbat.” “-th’fuck’s she got your shirt for?” “Because someone stabbed her,” Archer said, leaning forward to place his tea glass back under the spigot of the samovar. “And, unlike in Old Town, people walking around covered in blood in this particular district tend to attract a certain amount of unwanted attention.” He twisted the tap, savouring the sudden cloud of fragrant steam as the boiling water hit the dark layer of concentrated tea in the bottom of the glass. “Given the fact that her shirt was utterly ruined, lending her one of mine seemed like the logical choice.” Sabbat scowled, obviously unconvinced by the argument (though for the life of him Archer couldn’t figure out why). Finally, he said, slowly: “So you gave her your shirt.” “…That is in fact what I just said, yes.” “Fuckin’ chivalrous of you,” the assassin commented, venomously. Archer rolled his eye, taking a spoonful of jam from the open jar on the table and stirring it into his freshly-poured glass of tea. “I could hardly let her walk around half-naked, Sabbat. And besides, I don’t see why it’s anything to do with you. It’s my shirt.” “An’ you’re givin’ it t’some werewolf bitch who fuckin’ jumped me – after she *broke into your sixdamn house*,” Sabbat snarled. He took a swig of his own tea, slamming the glass down hard enough on the table to make Archer jump slightly. “Y’don’t see why that might – just might – be a fuckin’ *problem*, Archer?”
November 12, 2025 at 8:40 AM
Reposted by Prof Emily
abdicatedblood.bsky.social
#NovemberWorldbuilders
The morals of the Federal Interstellar Commission are the morals of the Church of the Saint of the New Dawn.
They believe in a single, communal human soul, which all individuals are a part of. They believe a human body is a physical manifestation of the communal soul.
1/4
kiraofthewind.com Kira of the Wind (Erika McCorkle) @kiraofthewind.com · 12h
Hey there, #NovemberWorldbuilders! It's GOOD and EVIL week. Today, tell me about the ethics/morals of your VILLAIN. If you don't have one of those, talk about another character, particularly one who might deviate from protagonist's moral philosophy
#NovemberWorldbuilders prompt card Hosted by Kira of the Wind Week 2: Good and Evil 12. Villain's (or other important character's) ethics The image in the background is a blurred picture of a foresty/rocky landscape with lightning and a mountain in the background
November 12, 2025 at 6:11 AM
Reposted by Prof Emily
charliedeltawrites.bsky.social
#Novmemeber 12

An accurate recreation of me having a conversation with my past self, who wrote the sentence I am editing:
November 12, 2025 at 6:24 AM
Reposted by Prof Emily
jangoeswriting.bsky.social
A few frayed tempers … and cuffs …

From ‘The Big Feat’.

#WiPSnips
“Do continue, Mister Rimsitter.” Bolsivver shook his head at Grumf as the dwarf wiggled his, or her, hirsute eyebrows at Delkin’s knees. There really did seem to be a lot of raucous noise in the next room, causing Bolsivver to frown. “Grumf, go see what that noise is about. Mister Rimsitter, if you please.” Rimsitter took a deep, long drag of his cigarette, hissing through his teeth as he leaned over again, supporting himself on his knees. That patience of Bolsivver’s, cultivated after many, many long years of dealing with the most intelligence deprived unwashed of the city, had started to not only fray at the edges, but had actively started shedding a great deal of strands through the stress of not being able to cope with a mage who had, apparently, made procrastination something of an art form. Grumf had left, meaning that if Delkin annoyed Bolsivver any more he would have to soil hus hands with the blood of another man and the last lot of blood still hadn’t washed out of the cuffs of his favourite shirt.
November 12, 2025 at 9:22 AM
Reposted by Prof Emily
jundlife.bsky.social
Day job blues...
(Missed opportunity not posting this on real Tuesday...whoops)
From 'HatWIP'
#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts #WIPSnips
I grab a change of clothes off my floor. It is Tuesday, which means I also have to grab my work shirt. Stupid Tuesday. Tuesday should not exist. There was no such thing as Tuesday before we decided it should exist. We wished it into existence. Tuesday is nothing more than a tulpa we created so we can enforce order over time itself. All so I can make it to work on time and make sure some soccer mom gets her turkey and mayo club at exactly 4:45. Fuck, I hate work.
November 12, 2025 at 10:11 AM
Reposted by Prof Emily
smoking-gnu.bsky.social
G'morning #WIPSnips! Busy morning today, but not as busy as Jennifer is experiencing in this particular snip.
#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
The sirens still blare behind me. The road I’ve just come from is in audible uproar, and I think there are aliens in pursuit. I swear to myself and try to remain inconspicuous in the crowd. It really doesn’t work. The uproar spreads around me I’m halfway across the new square when I feel a large, strong hand grasp my shirt at the back of my neck and begin dragging me in a new direction. I grasp and claw at the thick, muscular arm in a futile attempt to break free. “Ow! Let go! You’re hurting me!” Someone responds harshly, tugging me from side to side, and the pace of my dragging increases. Before I know it, I’m through a set of doors into a building, then through another set, then two single doors and finally I’m in a small room straight from a sci-fi movie, filled with tech and tools I have no chance of ever identifying. The hand throws me forward, just a bit roughly, and a sprawl over a stack of presumably cargo containers. Only then, as I turn around, do I manage to get a glimpse of who was dragging me.
November 12, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Reposted by Prof Emily
charliedeltawrites.bsky.social
#NovemberWorldbuilders

You might think, from the buildup so far, that the villain might be a god. And we will get there. But that will take some time.

So, for the first story my antagonist is simply a perfectly ordinary* man who cares deeply about balance. He views himself as a guardian of 🧵
kiraofthewind.com Kira of the Wind (Erika McCorkle) @kiraofthewind.com · 12h
Hey there, #NovemberWorldbuilders! It's GOOD and EVIL week. Today, tell me about the ethics/morals of your VILLAIN. If you don't have one of those, talk about another character, particularly one who might deviate from protagonist's moral philosophy
#NovemberWorldbuilders prompt card Hosted by Kira of the Wind Week 2: Good and Evil 12. Villain's (or other important character's) ethics The image in the background is a blurred picture of a foresty/rocky landscape with lightning and a mountain in the background
November 12, 2025 at 6:48 AM