Daryn Faulkner
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darynwilde.bsky.social
Daryn Faulkner
@darynwilde.bsky.social
260 followers 420 following 180 posts
My heart is pulpy and my prose is purple. #writingcommunity #amwriting #darkfantasy #mystery #horror
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darynwilde.bsky.social
Working on my travel version chart of who is betraying who is betraying who and why in my new WIP… #amwriting (kinda)
Super complicated character motivation chart
December 23, 2023 at 1:12 PM
darynwilde.bsky.social
#HorrorWritersChat … this. whatever this is.

BUT THEN THE CHARACTERS DO WHATEVER THE F*** THEY WANT ANYWAY.

so rude.
Plot wall. String in a plot arch shape with LOTS of sticky notes.
November 29, 2023 at 9:51 PM
darynwilde.bsky.social
So… I’m writing? Kinda?

This has really gotten out of hand.

I just needed help visualizing a few things…
Picture of a table covered in craft supplies and the beginnings of a wire sculpture dragon…
November 9, 2023 at 10:00 PM
darynwilde.bsky.social
For #FantasyIndiesSpooktober Saturday Snippet, a bit late, this little gem from yesterday’s writing session…
She senses word might have spread regarding Tuesday and the Slaying of the Insane Fucking Grizzly Bear, because multiple students stop to stare at her as she walks towards the circulation desk in the library, and Tuesday suspects it's not because she looks particularly alluring today. It is impossible to color coordinate with the hospital leg brace and she can't raise her right hand high enough to do her makeup properly.
October 22, 2023 at 11:00 AM
darynwilde.bsky.social
Hi, #FantasyIndiesSpooktober! For Free Friday… I described a Bed and Breakfast house like a biiiiiig spider today in my spooky WIP…
The Lodge looks more like a giant black spider than ever in the gloom, in the rain, in the night. Even with the headlights sweeping ahead, Tuesday can hardly distinguish the long limbs of rooms from the cephalothorax of the living and dining rooms, from the abdomen of the kitchen at the back. The windows in some of the front rooms could be the eyes, Tuesday thinks blandly. There are eight, though only a few are lit right now. The front porch, with the extensions on either side of the circle drive, are the chelicerae - the mouthparts.
October 20, 2023 at 3:44 PM
darynwilde.bsky.social
I can’t lie to you #FantasyIndiesSpooktober friends… I haven’t been listening to spooky music while I write this WIP. Kodaline has been representing MC’s vibe in my head, while Mumford & Sons has represented LI. A little Lord Huron mixed in occasionally.
October 19, 2023 at 9:00 PM
darynwilde.bsky.social
Oh, #FantasyIndiesSpooktober… So many, but a few are twiiiiiiiiiisty so I can only tell you werewolves, werewolves, a couple of other werewolves, oh, yeah, and that one particular werewolf. Also a witch, or two, or maybe three. Or possibly four. It is hard to tell for sure until the very, very end.
October 18, 2023 at 8:54 PM
darynwilde.bsky.social
Weirdly, for the first time pretty much ever, my current MC doesn’t wax poetic in long paragraphs on food, #FantasyIndiesSpooktober friends. I think her favorite ‘treats’ are probably more things like travel, high end skincare products, maybe clothes… She’s my first Fancy Pants MC…
October 17, 2023 at 7:11 PM
darynwilde.bsky.social
In short, #FantasyIndiesSpooktober, the answer is: Not well. She snaps at the people she cares about when she’s scared. Usually because she’s scared something bad is going to happen to THEM, not necessarily scared for herself.

Luckily, LI finds it kinda endearing.
October 16, 2023 at 9:52 PM
darynwilde.bsky.social
The only photo evidence I have is from my IG. Et voila. (The dog took a while to get used to my costume. The nephew, on the other hand, loved it immediately.)
Woman in a onsie giraffe costume with black and white dog looking nervously at her
October 11, 2023 at 10:27 PM
darynwilde.bsky.social
For #FantasyIndiesSpooktober what would my MC’s tombstone say…

‘When you have eliminated all which is possible, then whatever remains, however impossible, must be the truth.’

(MC and I realize that is a misquote. But she lives by it.) #amwriting
October 11, 2023 at 1:40 PM
darynwilde.bsky.social
For #FantasyIndiesSpooktober I have created… a WIP aesthetic. Just for you. Did I get the creepy vibe about right? Werewolves and witches and zombies and overly friendly fellow B&B guests.

It is a very. scary story.
A kaleidoscope image using a woman’s face, dark and a sickly yellow color
October 9, 2023 at 3:57 PM
darynwilde.bsky.social
MC Phobias for #FantasyIndiesSpooktober

I have to admit, so far my MC has faced serial killers, werewolves, dour hoteliers, small talk with overeager strangers and dark magic rituals and the thing that seems to scare her the most is developing a genuine affection for her LI.
October 8, 2023 at 12:37 PM
darynwilde.bsky.social
#FantasyIndiesSpooktober

I’m sad the ducks are dead. Alas.
Riley is crying so hard now she can’t breathe, gasping and coughing in between her great, big wailing cries of grief. She’s lost her sense of disgust to that grief, and she’s gathered the bloody carcasses, as many pieces as she can, all piled up in her lap, clutching at the one discernable head, pressing the little yellow bill to her chest. The blood is dried and brown. The bodies smell rotten. This wasn’t recent. A few days at least.
October 7, 2023 at 2:07 PM
darynwilde.bsky.social
#FantasyIndiesSpooktober

Honestly, I love my current MC, but she’s a little snooty and uptight, and I can’t see her dressing up for a Halloween party.

Last MC though, she actually put on a masquerade on page and she dressed up as Anna Pigeon. (And if you know who that is, we should be friends.)
October 5, 2023 at 11:52 AM
darynwilde.bsky.social
#HorrorWritersChat

Forgot the tag on the first one. Ya’ll are going to miss out on an awesome WIP description.

I often work out plot issues on hikes with my dog. Year-round, but fall is my favorite season. Like to go early in the morning when it’s quite and the fog is just burning off the fields.
Closeup of black and white dog’s face, lying with stomach in the air
October 4, 2023 at 9:08 PM
darynwilde.bsky.social
#FantasyIndiesSpooktober

I don’t think my MC would tell you she’s brave…

But she slapped one werewolf in the face and ordered another one to ‘Sit!’

So. I think that’s pretty brave.

Or, stupid.

Debatable.
October 4, 2023 at 8:40 PM
darynwilde.bsky.social
I have lots of villains in my WIP, #FantasyIndiesSpooktober. Corrupt politicians and police officers. A serial killer on the loose. A bitter father out for justice. An angry ex-girlfriend. A jealous childhood friend. Persistent self-doubt and an inability to trust. Terror in the face of twue wuv…
October 3, 2023 at 10:46 AM
darynwilde.bsky.social
I thought we might all need to acknowledge that I have one of THESE bang swoopies at the moment, while my hair grows out. I’ve always coveted the floppy bang. Let us enjoy these awkward and glorious few months ahead.
Picture of a woman with bang that curls into her eyes, image tinted purple
October 2, 2023 at 9:08 PM
darynwilde.bsky.social
And for day two of #FantasyIndiesSpooktober, I present to you a snippet from Maybe Killer Werewolves Or Maybe Just Regular Human Killers WIP:
Tuesday can’t see any of the stars, can barely distinguish dark sky from dark leaves reaching out from every side, snagging cloth and scratching her skin on occasion when her feet have trouble finding the blacktop amidst all the other impenetrable black. She’s too scared to walk in the middle of the road, though the yellow line is at least discernable in the dark. But the blind turns. The drunks driving tow trucks up and down these mountain roads in the middle of the night… And yet, the woods. Tuesday is all but certain there aren’t any werewolves, but regular old grey wolves can weigh a hundred and eighty pounds and they are fully vicious enough to rip a victim limb from limb. Just like Alexia was found scattered far and wide. So too might Tuesday be found a few days from now if she walks too close to the edges of the road. If the next sharp thing to snag her skin is teeth, instead of trees.
October 2, 2023 at 1:39 PM
darynwilde.bsky.social
I’m always late, but hi #FantasyIndiesSpooktober:

Daryn. I write murder mysteries, black comedies, absurdist who-knows-what and horror.

Current WIP is possible serial killer werewolves. Or, maybe not.
October 2, 2023 at 1:36 PM
darynwilde.bsky.social
This is my writing buddy most mornings.

No idea why he likes to create abstract art with his limbs, but that’s cool, I guess.
Black and white dog laying oddly on his back on a couch
October 1, 2023 at 11:44 AM
darynwilde.bsky.social
So my MC has decided to skip past healthy, reasonable romantic interest and head straight for frightening obsession.

Just over here writing super intense infatuation scenes. It’s all good.
Her eyes are the same though. Dark and impish and somehow ancient. Like by looking into the nearly black-brown of her eyes you might be catching a glimpse of all the skeletons and secrets buried millions of years down in the layers of dirt. Like those eyes witnessed the Cambrian explosion, and reveled in the plethora of new life. Like those eyes squinted against the hot glow of magma that pushed apart Pangea. Like those eyes finally found their home, staring out of an eternal, exquisite face during the rise of man in the late Cenozoic era.
September 30, 2023 at 2:55 PM
darynwilde.bsky.social
Today MC tried to pull herself together and make amends with her estranged LI.

(Spoiler: It did not go well.)

#amwriting
Absurdly, she feels compelled to try to sort out her hair, wash her face the best she can with a bottle of water and a rearview mirror, pull on a new outfit in the back where the tinted windows make stripping down a bit less scandalous. She keeps a bag of toiletries in the glovebox, so she manages to brush her teeth too, and in about fifteen minutes she’s at least approaching socially acceptable again. She’s got a bit of a Herman Munster vibe happening, but she thinks affable, reanimated corpse might be as close to human as she’s going to get today.
September 27, 2023 at 8:06 PM
darynwilde.bsky.social
So. It’s been a great Monday for my MC.

am. writing.

(super, duper serious stuff)
She has a good, short, explosive cry like she hasn’t had since she was a child, as much frustration and fear as it is that her heart is hurting, though there’s plenty of that too. She falls asleep not long after, exhausted and clammy with anger. She doesn’t remember what she dreams, but her throat feels raw and her jaw aches as much as the rest of her body when she wakes up in the morning.
September 25, 2023 at 7:30 PM