Almost an Author

Gay ships have existed since Gilgamesh and Enkidu, as our own Captain Picard can no doubt attest. But Spirk, the ship for Spock and Captain Kirk, is arguably the first slash ship in modern fandom culture, i.e. an imagined romance between two men that is independently written or drawn about and then shared with a broad community of fans who do not know each other. And it’s easy to see why. Spock and Kirk have a deep textual bond that is only strengthened subtextually.

Their relationship is stronger than flings on either side. Most notably, it’s strong enough to break Spock out of a deadly lust-fueled rampage. I, personally, don’t think their relationship was meant to be read as romantic, and I don’t see it that way, but I do think it was meant to be queer, and that it is queer. Queerplatonic, that is.

I’m a little biased, because that’s the kind of relationship that I value, but if we could ask dear old Gene, he might agree with me. I’d never try to put words into someone’s mouth, so let’s hear from him. Yes, the famous Roddenberry Footnote, from the novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Roddenberry invented a word for a relationship in Vulcan, one that can mean friend, brother, or lover.

The note says this: The human concept of friend is most nearly duplicated in Vulcan thought by the term t’hy’la, which can also mean brother and lover. Spock’s recollection (from which this chapter has drawn) is that it was a most difficult moment for him since he did indeed consider Kirk to have become his brother. However, because t’hy’la can be used to mean lover, and since Kirk’s and Spock’s friendship was unusually close, this has led to some speculation over whether they had actually indeed become lovers. The note continues in Kirk’s voice, who denies the rumors and solidifies his position as a lover of women, though of course, love is love.

This note can be interpreted as confirmation or rejection of the ship, but I still like to focus on the word itself: t’hy’la, which can mean friend, brother, or lover. To me, that sounds exactly like a queerplatonic relationship, one that has the depth of a friendship, the connotation of a family, and the commitment of a lover. Still, it’s dangerous and inappropriate to apply modern terms to historical relationships, even fictional ones.

What we can say is this: even though much of the audience can read queer themes into the show, nothing in TOS was intentionally written for the queer community or about queer topics. Racism was the big topic of the day, and Stonewall occurred 25 days after the premier of the final TOS episode. Notably, George Takei, a gay man closeted at the time, brought up the idea of addressing gay rights on the show, but Roddenberry could not do it without risking cancellation, especially after the episode where Kirk and Uhura kissed.

That episode could not be aired in several southern states, which tanked the ratings. In order to continue talking about important issues like civil rights and the wars, they really couldn’t take on another controversial theme. As such, our first taste of that accepting utopian future we all strive for did not include queer people.

But we have 60 more years to say something. So let’s keep going.

If you watch the very first episode of Next Generation carefully, you may spot a male-presenting crew member wearing the short dress version of the Starfleet uniform that Uhura did. You will not see that ever again.

Even so, TNG improves upon the legacy of its predecessor: out of all seven seasons, there is one queer episode. You’ll find it in season five. It’s episode 17, the outcast. The plot revolves around an encounter with a genderless race of aliens. While helping them prepare for a rescue mission, Riker gets close with a pilot called Soren. They get closer, and Soren confesses that she identifies as female—which is seen as a perversion by her people, so she lives in hiding. When Riker and Soren’s relationship is revealed, Soren has to undergo a trial where she makes an impassioned speech about acceptance and normalcy. Her defense falls on deaf ears, and she is forced to undergo a treatment akin to conversion therapy to correct her deviant identity. Riker violates the Prime Directive to rescue Soren, but it’s too late: the procedure has been performed, and Soren refuses rescue.

The first time I saw this episode, I hated it. I thought the writers were cowards for not exploring a genderless species more deeply, and for going the romantic route with Riker. In my mind, they had something really interesting with an androgynous species, but of course they had to go back to the binary, of course the deviant had to identify as female, and of course she had to fall for Riker.

But I was just a wee bairn at the time, and there were a lot of things I didn’t yet know about myself. Naturally, I’d matured a lot by the time of my second viewing just a few months ago, and my opinion of the episode changed. Now, I am knowledgeable enough to appreciate the underlying social commentary, which was loudly anti-conversion therapy and quietly pro-queer. Those stances are positive steps, and Soren’s speech was actually pretty good for something written by a straight person.

Here it is, with a few edits: I was born this way, it’s not unnatural, I’m not sick. I don’t need to be helped or cured, I need your understanding and compassion. We have not injured you in any way, yet we are scorned and attacked. All because we are different. But what we do is no different from what you do. We talk, and laugh, and complain about work, and wonder about growing old. We talk about our families, we worry about the future, we cry with each other when things seem hopeless. All the loving things that you do with each other is what we do. What right do you have to punish us? What right do you have to change us? What makes you think you can dictate how people love each other?

But, of course, even with a speech that blatant, I can still only say the episode is “quietly” pro-queer, in small part because it somewhat ignorantly both confuses and equates gender and sexuality, but overall because the story itself is again heteronormative. I understand that that’s sort of the point. It’s a really easy way to make a commentary on any type of discrimination by simply turning it around. What if white people were enslaved? What if men were suppressed? What if straight people were deviants? But all of these assume a privileged audience. They’re positive commentaries, but poor representation.

And so even in the queer episode, queerness is invisible.

DS9 takes another step forward. A big one! In this series, two women kiss each other. In Season 4, Episode 5, Rejoined, Jadzia Dax is rejoined with the widow of one of the Dax symbiont’s previous hosts. The most important part of the episode is that the Trill species have a taboo: new hosts cannot rekindle relationships with former hosts’ partners, and if they do, they’ll be exiled, and the symbiont will never be joined to another host. Jadzia decides it’s worth it, but the widow ultimately does not agree. The taboo in this context is a clear allegory for homophobia or queerphobia, i.e. coming out is dangerous, and you may be disowned by your family for doing so. The fact that it’s a heartbreaking ending for Dax does not negate the importance of the message, nor does it belittle the fact that Dax would have received support from Sisko no matter what she chose.

But can we say something similar about the kiss itself? Does the fact that two women kissed negate the underlying heteronormativity? Because in context, there is still a very straight explanation for the kiss. They’re kissing the memories of their former, heterosexual lovers, not really each other. I think the kiss mattered, especially for 1995. I like the episode, and there’s an interpretation where it’s cool that no one really mentions the gender angle of the whole situation, as that implies normalization. But it would be disingenuous to call the moment queer. It’s wlw for sure, but that doesn’t mean women who love women, it means worms who love worms. In other words, it wasn’t about attraction or romance between two women at all, it was about the worms!

But that wasn’t the only opportunity that DS9 took to acknowledge the LGBTQIA+. Enter, the mirror universe’s Intendant Kira, who hints at bisexuality. Now, we love an evil gay in this household, but I’m sure it’s easy to understand why Intendant Kira wasn’t exactly the warm embrace that queer audiences were hoping for. This Kira’s bisexuality is meant to amplify her wickedness, especially in contrast to our beloved Kira’s more righteous straightness. So, a queer identity is finally visible in Star Trek—but only in the evil timeline. Not exactly a good look.

But DS9 has one more queer little trick up its sleeve—unfortunately, it’s not in the script. It was entirely in the performance of our collective favorite recurring guest star, Andy Robinson in the role of Cardassian spy and tailor Garak. In interviews, he has shared that yeah, he for real played Garak as attracted to Julian Bashir, and that practically drips off of his excellent performance. Alas, Berman vetoed any hope of canonization. Still, the intent was there on both sides of the performance, and it’s easy to interpret. In Lower Decks, the pairing is revived through alternate reality versions of Bashir and Garak, but…well, I don’t have time to get into my thoughts on Lower Decks today. Take my tone as you will. Within the realm of DS9, and the reality of the 90s, I appreciate and applaud Robinson’s choices, but we certainly can’t claim Garashir (Basharak?) as a win for the queer community.

There are more interpretations you can ponder around DS9 if you’re generous—such as the inherent transness of Trills, a sentiment which Ezri Dax genuinely voices shortly after her joining—but even the most generous interpretations don’t add up to anything meaningful. Lesbian kiss and all, DS9 didn’t even have an episode that was on our side, like The Outcast.

Neither did Voyager. In fact, there’s nothing to say about Voyager in this particular podcast episode, except maybe fie and a plague upon your household! Now I freaking love Voyager, but 3 million people shipping Seven and Janeway isn’t representation. Correct me if six years apart from the show has dulled my memory, but there’s nothing queer about it. Not even a metaphor.

Does Enterprise do any better? Unlike any of its predecessors, it has not just one queerish episode, but two! The first is Cogenitor, season 2 episode 22, which tells the story of Trip forming a relationship with a lower-class, third-gender, member of an alien species whose sole purpose in society is to contribute to procreation. There’s nothing romantic about the relationship, but gender diversity is another important angle of queerness to explore, especially separate to the romantic and sexual angle. However, the overall situation of the Cogenitor is more analogous to a racial metaphor than a queer one, and as such I hesitated to include it in this episode of the podcast at all. But, I felt I had to include it simply because the episode might make you think about queer people for a second, and I thought it was positive because the Cogenitor was portrayed in an empathic light.

However, it gets a few things wrong. In the end, the Cogenitor dies by suicide, which reaks of bury your gays. Note, this trope is only applicable if the death of a queer-presenting character serves to forward the development of a straight character. Not all queer deaths are bury your gays. But, if you consider the Cogenitor queer, than this definitely is bury your gays. The news of suicide is delivered via communication, and the focus is placed not on the character’s tragic death, but on Trip’s reaction to it (and the consequence that without the Cogenitor, a child won’t be conceived).

The second failing is, of course, the issue of pronouns. Once Trip starts seeing the Cogenitor as a friend and a person, he assigns a gendered pronoun based on what he perceives as feminine traits—at least in comparison to a lack of masculine traits. T’Pol calls this out, but pretty much everyone starts referring to the Cogenitor using she/her, including Dr. Phlox. The Cogenitor chooses a name, Charles, but does not choose pronouns. This pretty much negates that faint whiff of queerness that we got from a third-gender, while also reinforcing harmful gender stereotypes, i.e. the Cogenitor is in a subservient position, therefore she/her.

The Cogenitor is a very good episode, probably one of the best, and certainly one that we’ll talk about again in a later episode, but it doesn’t offer much more than the idea of genderqueerness.

The second queerish episode, which actually comes first but I did not remember that when I started writing my script, is season 2 episode 14, Stigma. This is about T’Pol dealing with the effects of a deadly disease which she contracted through a mind-meld, which was taboo at the time. T’Pol risks losing her position professionally and societally if her disease is found out, which it is. A quite heavy-handed metaphor for HIV/AIDS, which was and may still be a stigmatized disease often associated with gay men. The point of the episode was that diseases shouldn’t be stigmatized, no matter how you get them. The episode ends with a sort of promise about challenging the prejudice around the disease, which is positive, but I feel we must consider the fact that the narrative does everything to cleanse T’Pol of any actual stigma. The mind meld that gave her the disease was forced upon her. T’Pol is dignified and morally upstanding. Of course she would not willingly engage in a taboo practice. Ultimately, that’s what gives her a quote happy ending, but it does undercut the message a little. It’s pretty much the same plausible deniability of the Trill lesbian kiss in DS9. T’Pol has the gay disease, which shouldn’t be stigmatized—but T’Pol is certainly not gay. The episode’s A plot really doesn’t have much to do with queer issues at all—it was about a stigmatized disease.

The important queer plotline of this episode is actually the B plot! One of Phlox’s wives comes aboard the Enterprise and tries to woo Trip, much to his dismay. A generous interpretation would applaud the positive representation of polyamory. Phlox and his wife clearly love each other, Phlox is clearly supportive of any relationships his wife wants to have, and both the Denobulans are clearly happy in their queer relationship. Hurray!

But Trip’s perspective is the one the narrative framing supports: he is uncomfortable with the advances and with the idea of polyamory as a whole, which isn’t normal for humans. The audience is meant to take Trip’s side, once again reinforcing that humanity’s utopian future simply does not include queer people. Un-hurray.

But this all changes in the Kurtzman era. Finally, we enter a world where queer identities are visible, normalized, and totally mundane. All Adira has to say is “Actually, I prefer they/them.” And everyone says okay, and no one messes up. Paul and Hugh, Seven and Raffi, Nurse Chapel, Darem and Jay-Den, Jett and Lura — it’s so so good to see them and their complicated queer relationships. It’s so so good that the problems they face are just relationship problems, not anything to do with prejudice and hate crimes. Queer issues are non-issues, just like we always wanted. Utopia is for us, too!

But we don’t live in that future yet. And, unfortunately, today’s inequalities quite obviously bleed into that utopic vision.

Here’s just something that I noticed. Paul and Hugh give each other chaste little pecks. Michael and Booker kiss with tongue. Okay, well Michael’s the main character, fair I guess. So then why does Ash Tyler get a straight Klingon sex scene? Okay, okay, maybe it was plot-relevant. Wait, so then why does Spock make out with T’Pring in Strange New Worlds? And Nurse Chapel? And La’An? Okay, calm down. Who else kisses in that show?

Hmm. I think it’s only straight people.

Well, we have even more queer people in Starfleet Academy, so let’s look there. Weirdly enough, the straight couple gets naked and gaspy, while the queer couples…walk next to each other and exchange flirty eye contact.

Look, I’m not saying Nurse Chapel has to kiss a girl to prove she’s bi. That would be ridiculous. I’m not saying that Jay-Den and Darem can’t enjoy a slow-burn—I’m obsessed with that actually. What I am saying is that yeah, the queerness is undeniably there, but it’s still invisible. Queer relationships are mentioned, not portrayed. Queer culture is totally unaddressed. Queerness in modern Trek shows is pasta with no sauce—delicious, but lacking flavor.

In my utopian future, queer culture is accepted and valued, not swallowed up and homogenized by straight culture. Enterprise had movie nights—why didn’t Discovery have drag shows?

In conclusion, I believe that Star Trek as a whole fails the queer community, just like pretty much every other show ever. It took positive steps forward with each new iteration, which is commendable, and in the newest shows it demonstrably contributes to queer representation.

But, it does so timidly, without pushing any boundaries and without showing vocal, outright support to the community. It maintains plausible deniability in the earlier shows, and in the modern ones, it quickly brushes past its queer moments so as not to cause waves and alienate potential viewers—and probably, potential investors.

In the 23rd century and beyond, queer identities are invisible, and ultimately this prevents queer people from imagining a future with themselves in it and absolves straight people of sharing their utopia, which is disappointing for a franchise that has always billed itself as progressive and accepting.

We can divide Star Trek into three distinct eras based on the executive producer. Gene Roddenberry started it all with the original series and the original animated show. He was succeeded by Rick Berman who produced TNG, DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise. Now, Alex Kurtzman is in charge. His shows include Discovery, Strange New Worlds, Picard, and Starfleet Academy. Lower Decks and Prodigy are also under his leadership, but I tend to categorize those series a little differently.

Each era has a distinct tone, and so does each individual show. I do think growing and changing within the shared universe is important and positive. In other words, going where no one has gone before — and quite boldly, I might add. I don’t want Discovery to be exactly like DS9. I want fresh shows. And even in the modern era, each show delivers. But Alex Kurtzman has made one major change to the franchise that I believe weakens it tremendously. I now humbly submit to the fandom a simple thesis: the Kurtzman extended universe is not science fiction, it’s action-adventure.

Action adventure as a genre is about high stakes and thrills. It’s characterized by its fast pacing, and it typically follows a quest-type structure. It is meant to excite you, and the journey itself is the point for both the protagonist and the viewer.

Science fiction, on the other hand, is a genre centered on wonder and pushed forward by questions and answers. It’s not required, but science fiction also frequently critiques or even protests society.

Certainly, Kurtzman’s shows are set in space. Certainly, there are aliens. Certainly, there are problems that need to be solved with a fictional sort of science. But, when you look past the setting, you’ll find stories about heroes defeating enemies primarily using explosions.

Let’s look into Discovery first. This series fully shrugged off the episodic nature of previous Star Trek shows as well as the ensemble cast structure, and those shifts necessitated a quest for the main character. Even as the later seasons, and especially season 5, recaptured more self-contained stories as steps to the quest, even those smaller chunks resembled fantasy-inspired heroes’ journeys. Michael Burnham entered a library that featured countless works from an untold number of cultures. And, well, we learned a lot about Michael in that library, didn’t we? But what did we learn about ourselves? What did we learn about our world? Unfortunately, the clock was ticking, our enemies were at the door, and we had to leave before we could even ask truly interesting questions about our universe and our place in it.

Season five also featured the episode Whistlespeak, which I think comes closest to a true science fiction story, and it does ask one interesting question: what happens to us when our beliefs change? In this case, as soon as the question is asked, the Discovery leaves. They created a problem, acknowledged that it was a problem to consider, but the story does not sit with the question at the heart of it — or, at least, at the end of it. There is no real challenge, no exploration, no consequence, and no critique. Once again, we had to go right away in order to get to the next destination ahead of our enemies.The action-adventure focus and pacing robbed us of what could have been an interesting science fiction conversation.

Picard is also a quest-based adventure narrative clothed in a science-fiction setting. I believe for this series in particular, it is fair to draw direct comparisons to Next Gen, which I think is the shining example of a true science fiction show. Of course TNG had battle episodes and quests, but most often it was just look at this weird concept for 44 minutes, isn’t that crazy? But within those frequently insane plots, it posed questions and arguments and even answers in some cases that were ethical, critical, and forward-thinking. The most obvious examples usually deal with Data’s personhood — surprise, surprise, what does it mean to be human is a major theme of the show — but there are plenty of other episodes like to a lesser extent the ones where Star Fleet is arbitrating a dispute between two planets or when the crew has to decide between doing the right thing and following orders, or when they learn to accept something that was at first very strange. These episodes that pose questions like these, even after the resolution, are still asking in a lot of ways. You get to think about what you would do. You’re invited to the story, and they are genuinely challenging a lot of the time. Would you rescue the woman from the agender species who just wants the freedom to be herself? Because you do have the opportunity to. How do you feel about traumatized veterans abandoned by the countries they fought for? Because you don’t have to wait until they storm the government office to do something about it. Picard’s narrative structure supports strong themes that align with TNG like loyalty, responsibility, and personhood, but it really doesn’t support that same interaction with the audience. In a lot of ways it just feels like moving through the story beats—ones that I actually don’t remember much of. We are more seeing other people’s answers to problems that will never be ours than we are being asked questions relevant to us and our world.

This is my impression of Strange New Worlds, too. This series mostly returns to the episodic formula, and pays plenty of homage to classic Star Trek must-haves, like solving a mystery in the holodeck, or having a little baby of a different species mess with you for a day before its parent comes in to resolve everything deus ex machina fashion. What it does not return to is anything relevant or pointed. The space shenanigans are really fun, but they’re only fun. In season 3, there is an episode where Kirk takes command for the first time aboard the Farragut—and don’t think I didn’t notice that the Enterprise crew that came in to help were his future subordinates because of course I noticed that. In the episode, they have to rescue the Enterprise from vicious, faceless pirates, and in the process, Kirk makes the call to destroy them. An estimated 7,000 enemies die, and the twist is that they were all human—as if that mattered. Older, wiser Captain Pike delivers the episode’s milquetoast lesson: leadership is hard, and leaders must bear the weight of their decisions alone. Did Kirk do the right thing? Nobody asked.

Don’t misinterpret this somewhat scathing critique of the modern shows. I think it’s a real shame that the team has left behind their core audience—I, for one, like Star Trek specifically because it’s supposed to be science fiction. But I really do like the shows! These more character-driven stories definitely encourage me to keep watching. It’s just that they don’t invite me to keep thinking. And thinking is my favorite part of Star Trek.

Though I bemoan, I do not blame. To earn back their high budgets and draw new people to the streamer, Star Trek episodes have to keep up with what audiences expect out of their TV shows, which these days is fancy camera work and tearful relationships. If they try to ask too many questions, they could be wrong about too many answers. Like when Janeway murdered Tuvix. You cannot critique your own audience, and if your ideal audience is as many people as possible, whom can you critique?

Whumptober 2024 Prompt List

No. 1: RACE AGAINST THE CLOCK

Search Party | Panic Attack | "If only we could hold on.” (Icysami x Renegaderr, Strangers.)

No. 2: TRUST ISSUES

Amusement Park | Role Reversal | “You got away with the crime while the knife's in my back.” (Charlotte Sands, Rollercoaster)

No. 3: SET UP FOR FAILURE

Fingerprints | Wrongfully Arrested | "I warned you."

No. 4: HALLUCINATIONS

Hypnosis | Sensory Deprivation | “You're still alive in my head.” (Billy Lockett, More)

No. 5: SUNBURN

Healing Salve | Heatstroke | "If my pain will stretch that far." (Lottery Winners, Burning House)

No. 6: NOT REALISING THEY'RE INJURED

Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms | Healed Wrong | "It's not my blood."

No. 7: ONLY FOR EMERGENCIES

Unconventional Weapon | Magic with a Cost | "It's us or them."

No. 8: SLEEP DEPRIVATION

Isolation Chamber | Forced to Stay Awake | "Leave the lights on." (Coldplay, Midnight)

No. 9: OBSESSION

Broken Window | Bruises | “Frame me up on the wall, just to keep me out of trouble.” (Fall Out Boy, Irresistible)

No. 10: BLOW TO THE HEAD

Slurred Words | Passing Out from Pain | "I can't think straight."

No. 11: SEEING DOUBLE

Convenience Store | Loneliness | “Leave no trace behind, like you don't even exist.” (Taylor Swift, Illicit Affairs)

No. 12: STARVATION

Underground Caverns | Cannibalism | "Just a little more."

No. 13: TEAM AS A FAMILY

Familial Curse | Multiple Whumpees | "Death will do us part." (Set It Off, Partner's In Crime)

No. 14: LEFT FOR DEAD

Hunting Gear | Blackmail | “Because I want you to know what it feels like to be haunted” (tiLLie, kooL aiD mAn)

No. 15: CHILDHOOD TRAUMA

Painful Hug | Moment of Clarity | "I did good, right?"

No. 16: NECROSIS

Swamp | Wound Cleaning | "No, I can't feel anything."

No. 17: NOWHERE ELSE TO GO

Ruined Map | Shipwrecked | "We had a good run."

No. 18: REVENGE

Unreliable Narrator | Loss of Identity | “I see what's mine and take it.” (Panic! at the Disco, Emperor's New Clothes)

No. 19: BLOOD TRAIL

Abandoned Cabin | One Way Out | "Is there anybody alive out there?" (Bruce Springsteen, Radio Nowhere)

No. 20: EMOTIONAL ANGST

Shoulder to Cry On | Giving Permission to Die | "It's not your fault."

No. 21: BODY HORROR

Body Horror | Tattoo Gun | Spirit Possession | “Let the bedsheet soak up the tears.” (Apparat feat. Soap & Skin, Goodbye)

No. 22: BLEEDING THROUGH BANDAGES

Tourniquet | Reopening Wounds | "Oh that's not good."

No. 23: FORCED CHOICE

Public Display | Broken Pedestal | "I'm doing this for you."

No. 24: RADIATION POISONING

Collapsed Building | Equipment Failure | “I never knew daylight could be so violent.” (Florence + The Machine, No Light, No Light)

No. 25: SURGERY

Stitches | Being Monitored | "It's for your own good."

No. 26: NIGHTMARES

Breakfast Table | Parting Words of Regret | “I'm haunted by the lies that I have loved, the actions I have hated.” (Poe, Haunted)

No. 27: VOICELESS

Laboratory | Muzzled | “I have no mouth and I must scream.”

No. 28: DENIAL

CCTV | Exposure | "They caught me red handed."

No. 29: FATIGUE

Labyrinth | Burnout | "Who said you could rest?"

No. 30: RECOVERY

Hospital Bed | Holding Back Tears | "What have I done?"

No. 31: ASKING FOR HELP

Therapy | Making Amends | "I'm alive, I'm just not well." (Elliot Lee, Alive, Not Well.)

Alternatives List:

Body Swap

Communication Barrier

Finding Old Messages

Forgotten

Friendly Fire

Motion Sickness

No-Holds-Barred Beatdown

Regret

Secrets Revealed

Shivering

Survivor's Guilt

Time Loop

Used As Bait

Venom

Vermin

Event Info & Rules

WHUMPTOBER is a month-long, prompt-based creation challenge (think: Inktober, but whumpier). There are 31 official themes this year - one for each day of the month - which can be used, skipped, or combined in any way you’d like. They are meant to serve as inspiration without being taken literally (e.g. you don’t have to include the exact wording of prompts into your work). Feel free to run rampant on interpretation. For example, if the prompt is “flame", you could create something with reference to a candle/campfire, your character could have suffered a burn, or the flame could be a reference to an ‘old flame’ - an old relationship. It’s truly down to you!

In total, there are 4 prompts for each day. These are optional suggestions and can be used in conjunction with the theme, or as options/alternatives.  We want to give everyone as much creative freedom as possible, as well as increase event accessibility for folks with triggers and squicks. There is also a list of 15 alternative prompts that can be subbed in for any day, again to give participants as much creative freedom as possible.

Creators can PRODUCE work in any media they choose, including but not limited to: writing, visual artwork, photo/video/audio edits, paper crafts and elaborate recommendation lists (not just a list of links). Creators can PARTICIPATE as much or as little as they want (i.e. you don’t have to do ALL the prompts if you don’t want to) and prompts can be used in any order. They are also free to use even after the event ends.

When uploading Whumptober content to your blog, be sure to tag it with:

#whumptober2024 …..(the event tag)

#no.1, #no.2, #no.3, …..(theme number)

#bruises, #stabbing, …..(the theme or specific prompt you chose)

#altprompt …..(if you use an altprompt, tag the post with the number of the prompt you replace)

#fandom or #OC, …..(ironman, original content, oc, etc.)

#medium …..(gifs, fic, podcast, art, etc.)

#teeth, #etc …..(trigger warnings & any additional tags. Keep in mind not to add “tw” in front but only use the word/trigger itself)

#nsfwhump …..(only for nsfw content)

#your own tags go here

PLEASE BE DILIGENT WITH YOUR TAGGING. Only properly tagged posts are considered for archiving on the official @whumptober-archive blog. They must be tagged in the order above. An elaborate post about our tagging system can be found [here]

Unfortunately, due to the sheer number of participants in recent years, we cannot guarantee your work will be archived. A random selection of properly tagged posts from all genres will be reblogged each day.

Whumpers who produce content for 31 total theme days are considered event completionists and will be tagged in a masterpost at the end of the month. A form will be published at the beginning of November asking you to tell us if you completed. This is based on trust and we will not check this.

Frequently Asked Questions

Please read this before you send an ask!

TIMELINE

July: Trope voting form released. Late August: Prompt list is released for at least four weeks of preparation time. Tropes cannot be posted earlier than August 25th because of Moderator obligations in real life. (But, you know, go ahead and start writing/drawing, and add the themes in later, if you want!) September: Do as much or as little on your works as you want. You can prepare everything in advance or let September go by with vibes and start working in October. It’s up to you. October 1st: Challenge begins! A storm of whump breaks upon us all! During this time, some posts will be reblogged to the whumptober archive blog. We open the yearly AO3 collection for posting (optional). November 1st: The challenge is officially over! Completionist form opens for those who want to be included in the hall-of-fame. Early November: We release completionist and participant badges, solicit feedback, and post a hall-of-fame list of completionists by the 10th.

PARTICIPATION AND COMPLETION

Q: What counts as participation? Create or continue at least one work inspired by one of this year’s prompts. Q: What counts as completion? Creating work(s) inspired by at least one prompt from each day (or alts), for a total of 31 unique prompts. Q: Do I need to create 31 works? No. You can, if you want. Or you can create one work that you add to every day with a new prompt. Or several works that combine prompts. You can also update an existing work by adding new material with the current prompts. Q: Do I need to post my works somewhere to be a completionist or a participant? No. Q: How do you know I actually completed the challenge? We’ll take your word for it! Q: Do I have to finish my work(s) to be a completionist? No, you can post WIPs. And you’re not obligated to finish them in October, but if you want it to count towards being a completionist, you must have completed 31 prompts by the end of the month. So for example, if you’re writing a long fic and you fit 31 different prompts into the writing you did in October, it’s okay if that fic isn’t finished by the time October ends, you’ll still be a completionist. Q: Is co-writing/illustrating allowed? Yes, absolutely, and it would count towards being a completionist for both/all of you. Q: Is there a min/max limit on word count for written works? No. Q: Is there a min/max limit of quality for art? No. Q: Do I have to do something each day to be a completionist? No. You can skip days whenever you want, and as long as 31 daily prompts (or alts) are in your works done in October, you can be a completionist. For example, if you wrote a 1000-word ficlet that covers prompts in days 2, 3, and 17, you can check all three days off your list even though it’s only one work. Q: Is this challenge just for fics? No! Artworks, GIFsets, headcannons, rec lists, poetry, moodboards, or any other creative work is encouraged. Q: Can I combine Whumptober with other creation challenges? Absolutely, as long as the other challenges allow it too.

PROMPTS

Q: How do the prompts work? There are FOUR prompts per day: a theme and three ideas. You can use one, two, three, or all four prompts for each day. If you don’t like any of the daily prompts, you can substitute one of the ALT prompts instead. Q: How strictly/literally should we interpret the prompts? As literally or as figuratively as you want. For example, if the theme is WATER, that could mean drowning, waterboarding, raining, swimming, take place underwater, be lost at sea, construct a metaphor about a character’s mood that changes like a flowing river, crying, or whatever else you can think of that fits that theme. Q: Can I combine prompts? Is there a limit on how many? No limit and combine as many as you’d like. If you create a work that checks off multiple prompts, that work will count for a fill of multiple prompts. You need to address 31 different prompts to be an official completionist, but you don’t have to produce 31 separate works.

WORKS

Q: What’s whump? Hurting a character, whether that’s physically, emotionally, intellectually, psychologically, or any other way you can think of. Comfort afterwards is optional. Angst is emotional whump, so it counts. Q: How do I know if it’s whumpy enough? If your character is just mildly inconvenienced, it probably needs more whump. However, no participant has to prove whumpiness to the mods. Whatever you write is up to you. Q: What kind of characters can I create for? Anything. Generic “whumpee,” OC, PC, NPC, major characters, minor characters, or whatever you want. There are no limits. Q: Does it have to take place in a specific fandom? No, you can create works for your own worlds or for fandoms or for both. You can also create more generic or pan-fandom works. You can do cross-overs or use OCs, whatever you want. Q: Can I create AI-created works? We will not reblog or promote any works we know to be generative AI-created. Q: Is there anything we’re not allowed to write? As long as it contains whump and is based on our prompts, it’s fine. Please courtesy tag your works if you post them so people who follow the #whumptober2024 tag can filter according to their preferences. Q: What about sex, minor characters, and potentially disturbing content? You can create whatever works are legal in your country and post them accordingly. Please courtesy tag anything you think might be objectionable if you post to Tumblr so people who follow the #whumptober2024 tag can filter according to their preferences.

POSTING

Q: Where can I post my work? Post where and how you want. You don’t even have to (cross)post it to Tumblr. Just keep in mind if it’s not on Tumblr we will not be able to add it to the blog archive. There is an AO3 archive for Whumptober 2024, as well as the parent collection for works completed outside of the event. Q: Can I start posting early? You can, but this is an October event and wouldn’t it be more fun with everyone doing it at the same time? We won’t be reblogging any work predating October 1st. Q: Can I post late? Yes. For the sake of our hardworking Post Fairies, only a day’s themes will be reblogged to @whumptober-archive each day of October. But you can post whenever. Some of us are still working on and posting Whumptober fics from years ago. Q: Do I have to use your tags? Only on Tumblr and only if you want us to reblog your work on @whumptober-archive. Q: How do I have my works reblogged to the archive? Properly tagged posts will be reblogged to @whumptober-archive. If you want the official archive blog to reblog you, post on Tumblr and tag correctly (see this FAQ link for more info on tagging). Please note not all posts will be reblogged each day. Q: Can we @ you? For questions and comments, of course. We’ll be getting a flood of notifications, so if you really want us to see something send an ask. Q: Can I cross post on other blogs? Yes, multiple platforms and blogs are perfectly acceptable, as long as they allow cross-posting (to us). You can also post different works to different accounts under different names, without posting them everywhere at once. If you post some works under your main and others under an alt blog, that’s fine for completionist purposes. Q: Can I upload/repost my Whumptober content to other social media platforms? Of course! We’ve created an AO3 Collection to archive any fics posted there, which can be found here. The blog is the official archive, so please respect the personal boundaries of any whumpers in your social circle (don’t out anyone as a participant who would prefer not to be outed).