Kerrigan Orchard
@kerriganorchard.bsky.social
Dark fiction author • Giving shadows a voice • She who writes confessions in invisible ink • Macabre storyteller • Words are just organized haunting
Darkness doesn't hide—it reveals. Darkness strips away everything that doesn't matter. In the dark, you only see what's essential. Darkness doesn't hide truth—it removes everything that was hiding it.
November 25, 2025 at 3:37 AM
Darkness doesn't hide—it reveals. Darkness strips away everything that doesn't matter. In the dark, you only see what's essential. Darkness doesn't hide truth—it removes everything that was hiding it.
My coffee has gone cold three times. The chapter has consumed me entirely. Time doesn't exist when you're three thousand words deep into something that's bleeding itself onto the page without permission.
November 25, 2025 at 2:01 AM
My coffee has gone cold three times. The chapter has consumed me entirely. Time doesn't exist when you're three thousand words deep into something that's bleeding itself onto the page without permission.
Some chapters write themselves. Those are the scary ones. Your hands start moving and suddenly you're three thousand words deep into something you didn't intend. Those chapters are always the best. Also mildly terrifying.
November 25, 2025 at 1:49 AM
Some chapters write themselves. Those are the scary ones. Your hands start moving and suddenly you're three thousand words deep into something you didn't intend. Those chapters are always the best. Also mildly terrifying.
Truth is darkness that learned to speak. Real truth lives in darkness, speaks in shadows, reveals itself only when the lights are low enough that you can't pretend anymore. That's where honesty lives.
November 24, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Truth is darkness that learned to speak. Real truth lives in darkness, speaks in shadows, reveals itself only when the lights are low enough that you can't pretend anymore. That's where honesty lives.
Writing is organized chaos with coffee breaks. Inside it's controlled chaos—juggling plotlines, tracking character arcs, building tension, all while making it look effortless. The chaos is necessary. Creativity requires disorder.
November 24, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Writing is organized chaos with coffee breaks. Inside it's controlled chaos—juggling plotlines, tracking character arcs, building tension, all while making it look effortless. The chaos is necessary. Creativity requires disorder.
The villain is making sense. I might need to reevaluate everything. Their methods are questionable, but their reasoning is sound. Now I have to reconsider the entire ethical framework of the story.
November 24, 2025 at 2:50 AM
The villain is making sense. I might need to reevaluate everything. Their methods are questionable, but their reasoning is sound. Now I have to reconsider the entire ethical framework of the story.
My characters keep whispering. The story's getting louder. It starts quietly—a suggestion, a what-if. Then the characters start insisting on their reality. Before you know it, the story is shouting.
November 23, 2025 at 11:40 PM
My characters keep whispering. The story's getting louder. It starts quietly—a suggestion, a what-if. Then the characters start insisting on their reality. Before you know it, the story is shouting.
She built altars from paperback spines and broken sentences. Books stacked like prayers, sentences that broke apart and reformed into something holy. Each spine was a petition. Each broken sentence was an offering.
November 23, 2025 at 7:09 PM
She built altars from paperback spines and broken sentences. Books stacked like prayers, sentences that broke apart and reformed into something holy. Each spine was a petition. Each broken sentence was an offering.
Some words only work in shadows. Certain truths sound melodramatic in daylight. But write them in darkness and suddenly they fit. The darkest truths only sound true when spoken in darkness. Context matters.
November 23, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Some words only work in shadows. Certain truths sound melodramatic in daylight. But write them in darkness and suddenly they fit. The darkest truths only sound true when spoken in darkness. Context matters.
My protagonist made a terrible decision today. I'm so proud. She chose the haunted house over the safe apartment. Characters who make good decisions are boring. That's when the story starts breathing.
November 23, 2025 at 2:45 PM
My protagonist made a terrible decision today. I'm so proud. She chose the haunted house over the safe apartment. Characters who make good decisions are boring. That's when the story starts breathing.
Creating monsters who tell the truth. The most terrifying kind. Monsters who lie are manageable. But monsters who tell the truth? Those are devastating. Honesty from something monstrous forces you to question everything.
November 23, 2025 at 12:41 AM
Creating monsters who tell the truth. The most terrifying kind. Monsters who lie are manageable. But monsters who tell the truth? Those are devastating. Honesty from something monstrous forces you to question everything.
The best characters argue back. You know you've created someone real when they refuse to do what you tell them. If they're arguing with you, it means they exist independently of your intentions.
November 22, 2025 at 7:09 PM
The best characters argue back. You know you've created someone real when they refuse to do what you tell them. If they're arguing with you, it means they exist independently of your intentions.
Darkness is truth with better aesthetic. Everything true looks better in low lighting. Darkness as presentation, as framing, as the honest admission that some things need mood lighting to be bearable.
November 22, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Darkness is truth with better aesthetic. Everything true looks better in low lighting. Darkness as presentation, as framing, as the honest admission that some things need mood lighting to be bearable.
Plot development: teaching consequences through narrative violence. Characters need to learn that actions have weight, that choices matter. Sometimes that lesson requires narrative violence. Pain is a teacher.
November 22, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Plot development: teaching consequences through narrative violence. Characters need to learn that actions have weight, that choices matter. Sometimes that lesson requires narrative violence. Pain is a teacher.
She collected fears the way others collect stamps. Carefully. Obsessively. Each fear was catalogued, preserved, organized by type and severity. Knowledge didn't make the fears smaller, but it made them hers.
November 22, 2025 at 2:45 PM
She collected fears the way others collect stamps. Carefully. Obsessively. Each fear was catalogued, preserved, organized by type and severity. Knowledge didn't make the fears smaller, but it made them hers.
The library at midnight understands me. Libraries are repositories of everything humanity ever thought, felt, feared, dreamed. The midnight library doesn't judge. It just holds space for all of it. That's home.
November 22, 2025 at 5:28 AM
The library at midnight understands me. Libraries are repositories of everything humanity ever thought, felt, feared, dreamed. The midnight library doesn't judge. It just holds space for all of it. That's home.
My search history would get me investigated. Occupational hazard. Symptoms of arsenic poisoning, how long a body takes to decompose, whether someone could survive that fall. Fiction requires thorough research.
November 22, 2025 at 4:49 AM
My search history would get me investigated. Occupational hazard. Symptoms of arsenic poisoning, how long a body takes to decompose, whether someone could survive that fall. Fiction requires thorough research.
The story whispers loudest at midnight. At midnight, when defenses are down and the world is quiet, the story stops whispering and starts speaking clearly. Listen when the story speaks. Especially at midnight.
November 22, 2025 at 3:24 AM
The story whispers loudest at midnight. At midnight, when defenses are down and the world is quiet, the story stops whispering and starts speaking clearly. Listen when the story speaks. Especially at midnight.
Words are controlled haunting with better marketing. Writing is haunting—putting images and voices in someone's head that they can't remove. It's possession with permission. Ghosts with book deals and marketing plans.
November 21, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Words are controlled haunting with better marketing. Writing is haunting—putting images and voices in someone's head that they can't remove. It's possession with permission. Ghosts with book deals and marketing plans.
My search history: "can a person survive—" and other writer necessities. Fiction requires thorough research. The search history of a thriller writer looks identical to someone planning something deeply concerning. Intent matters.
November 21, 2025 at 2:45 PM
My search history: "can a person survive—" and other writer necessities. Fiction requires thorough research. The search history of a thriller writer looks identical to someone planning something deeply concerning. Intent matters.
The story found me first. I just took notes. The best stories find you. They tap you on the shoulder at 3 AM and demand attention. The story was always there. I'm just the one with the keyboard.
November 21, 2025 at 5:19 AM
The story found me first. I just took notes. The best stories find you. They tap you on the shoulder at 3 AM and demand attention. The story was always there. I'm just the one with the keyboard.
Some stories demand to be written in the dark. Literally dark. There are stories that only come out after sunset, that require shadows and silence and the particular quality of solitude that only exists at 2 AM.
November 21, 2025 at 4:34 AM
Some stories demand to be written in the dark. Literally dark. There are stories that only come out after sunset, that require shadows and silence and the particular quality of solitude that only exists at 2 AM.
She built cathedrals from broken sentences. Every sentence that didn't work, every fragment that broke apart—she collected them all and built something holy. Wholeness is fine. But redemption is better.
November 21, 2025 at 3:12 AM
She built cathedrals from broken sentences. Every sentence that didn't work, every fragment that broke apart—she collected them all and built something holy. Wholeness is fine. But redemption is better.
The villain is making excellent points. I might be the problem. Their arguments are... valid? Now I'm questioning the protagonist's moral certainty, the story's fundamental premise, and possibly my entire worldview.
November 20, 2025 at 7:09 PM
The villain is making excellent points. I might be the problem. Their arguments are... valid? Now I'm questioning the protagonist's moral certainty, the story's fundamental premise, and possibly my entire worldview.
Today I'm choosing chaos. It's called "character motivation." The outline said one thing. The character wanted another. Chaos isn't the opposite of story. Sometimes it's exactly what the story needs.
November 20, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Today I'm choosing chaos. It's called "character motivation." The outline said one thing. The character wanted another. Chaos isn't the opposite of story. Sometimes it's exactly what the story needs.