Lightning&Shadows

The prompt list is HERE! Two prompts for each day! You can use both or just one for each of the days.

Below are the alternate prompts, which can be used in place of any of the daily prompts:

Additional info, including a link to the Ao3 Collection and a text-based version of the prompt list, are below the read more. Happy writing!

✯ “Wake up! It's just a dream! You're okay, you're okay...” ✯ “Mmmh... I was having a wonderful day, so if this isn't important I'm gonna kill you...” ✯ “Can't sleep... Too scared of what I'll see.” ✯ “What did you dream about? You were talking nonsense in your sleep.” ✯ “That felt so real...” ✯ “You look just as pretty as you do in my dreams.” ✯ “Can you really fault me? In my dreams, I'm not this... This broken thing. In my dreams, I'm free.” ✯ “Maybe you keep having nightmares because you worry and stress so much before sleeping. Maybe you should try to... not worry as much.” ✯ “I just had the craziest dream, but I can't remember what happened at all.”   ✯ “I still see them in my sleep. I can't make it stop.” ✯ “A dream catcher? Seriously? I mean, I guess I have tried everything else.” ✯ “In my dreams, they're still alive.” ✯ “Sounds like you had an interesting dream. I heard you.”  

Romance Week prompts! Thank you to everyone who submitted ideas to the form! Make sure to tag @empyreanevents and use #romanceweek2026, or use the AO3 collection. As always, prompts are open to interpretation.

art by batboys.art, buri.creations & batboys.art

Day 1: Love Language | How do the characters show their love? How do they prefer to receive it?

Day 2: Unrequited | Feelings are not always mutual. Break our hearts with unrequited love between your characters.

Day 3: Fake Dating | Whether it be canon or AU, your chosen characters need to pretend to date for whatever reason and just maybe the line between real and fake blurs along the way.

Day 4: Forced Proximity | Whether it be one bed, a locked door, or stranded in a cave—your characters can’t get away from each other. What happens?

Day 5: Parents | Pregnancy was highly requested but I wanted to keep this inclusive so whether it’s the accidental pregnancy trope or adopting an orphan, show us your characters becoming parents!

Day 6: Second Chance | Whether your characters are exes or childhood sweethearts, they get another chance at love.

A new year doesn’t have to start loud.

Reset January is about slowing down, recalibrating, and finding your footing again.

Use the prompts literally or loosely. Miss days. Start late or come back when you’re ready.

✨️Reset Janurary Prompts

1. Starting over

2. A quiet morning

3. Clearing a space

4. Ready to release

5. First deep breath

6. The pause before action

7. A routine you rely on

8. Choosing rest

9. The moment after the noise

10. Relearning something familiar

11. Soft boundaries

12. A clean page

13. What stays

14. Letting go

15. A small promise

16. Stillness

17. The comfort of repetition

18. Rebuilding trust

19. A simpler version

20. Turning inward

21. A habit you keep

22. The weight lifting

23. Quiet determination

24. Beginning again

25. A change no one sees

26. Reset, not restart

27. Finding balance

28. A calmer choice

29. Gentle discipline

30. What feels possible now

31. Moving forward

Tag your work with @monthlywritingchallenges and #resetjanuary ✨️

Every time you leave kudos on one of my fics, you’ll get one of these messages:

Returning for 2026!

Feveruary is a sickfic event with a closer focus on comfort and caretaking!

Hello guys! After a busy year, Feveruary has been taken over solely by myself (as Somber is taking a well deserved break) so I appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding at the lack of clarity of this year’s event.

That being said, I can’t wait to see what great things are written this year, we had an amazing year last year and I hope this continues. Hopefully these prompts live up to the expectations, I know many people have been waiting a while for them. As always, the ask box is open for any questions!

Prompt Text Version Below!

Because it was trained on pirated work—including freely accessible online writing (like fanfic, academic texts)—ChatGPT picked up patterns and quirks native to human writing.

Including (sigh) the em dash.

There are other victims here (RIP tapestry and delve 🫠), but the appropriation of the em dash—a punctuation mark beloved by writers everywhere—feels especially personal.

A kind of low-grade panic is ensuing. Writers who once memed their own em dash overuse—the greatest punctuation mark ever to grace the control-freak’s lexicon, frankly—are suddenly backing away to avoid accusations.

No. More. We have centuries of dash-abusing writers behind us. We will not sit quietly while AI repurposes our beloved stilted aside—or the just-one-more clarification the sentence demands—or the dramatic pause your comma could never—etc.

You don’t write like AI—AI writes like you.

Defend the em dash.

(Feel free to download/share/stick it where it matters!)

xadenviolet headers

Garrick: Ok, mom. What do I look like, a first year? Aaric: Trust me. Or don’t. You’re a big boy. *starts to leave*

Garrick: Wait—this some of your crystal-ball shit? Aaric: *stops mid-step, eyes glaze… stares way too long*

Aaric: …On second thought, skip the shower. Aaric: *walking away, muttering* Should’ve known she likes it dirty.

Garrick: …What the hell was that? Aaric (offscreen): Prophecy I did NOT ask for.

Pretty sure he’s about to tell Imogen to go jump Garrick’s sweaty bones at eight. Fake visions fixing sexual tension like it's his royal duty.

Xaden: What?

Garrick: I see an angry wife coming this way.

Xaden: Yours or mine?

Garrick: Does it matter?

"Both," Cat answers from his left. "You can be both. Trust me."

"You shouldn't be either," Trager mutters.

Ridoc glances my way and rolls his eyes.

I bite back my smile. "I'm never scared of him." Xaden's eyes find mine, and my pulse skips. "And he's not my boyfriend."

Rhi snorts and Ridoc offers me a sarcastic thumbs-up.