2023 Year of Whump
For everyone who can’t commit to or is intimidated by a daily writing/art challenge, I present a different take on the whump writing/art prompt challenge, reframed for those who create slowly, inconsistently, and on crip time.
In this yearlong writing/art prompt challenge, you choose monthly or weekly. You can go back and forth between monthly or weekly each month. If you choose monthly, you can pick prompts from any week during that month. You’ll end up with anywhere from 12-52 completed contributions at the end of it. The weeks begin on Sunday.
Tag contributions with “2023 Year of Whump” and then “2023 Year of Whump January” (or another month) for any prompt done during that month, so people can see all contributions.
For each week’s available prompts, there are physical/sensory, emotional/psychological, environmental/situation, comfort/caregiving, and dialogue prompts (in that order). You are welcome to mix and match, use only one or a combination of any or all, and to interpret each liberally. You can interpret them creatively, and there are probably infinite possible ways to do so for each prompt. I suggest (but can’t really require) tagging descriptively to help people find content they’re interested in and/or filter out content in their squicks or triggers.
Choose your own adventure
January 1: caged / deceived / unemployed / whispered reassurances / “Who would ever believe you?”
January 8: restrained with belt buckles / abandoned / icy tundra / holding hands / “Save your tears”
January 15: experimental injection / threatening loved ones / warehouse / warm bubble bath / “I promise this won’t hurt”
January 22: grabbed in the dark / public humiliation / hospital emergency department / soft weighted blanket / “You must have imagined that, dear”
January 29: chained to a table / betrayal / end of a relationship / handwritten notes of encouragement / “I’m begging you; I’ll do anything”
February 5: impaled / death wish / jungle / home cooked meal / “Don’t leave me”
February 12: involuntary implant / feeling like a burden / museum / cat cuddles / “I don’t know who I am anymore”
February 19: lightheaded and faint / appeasing out of desperation / abandoned lighthouse / gentle wound care / “I’m your only choice now”
February 26: gunshot wound / trembling with fear / library with soaring shelves / leaving the lights on / “You’re home now”
March 5: emergency surgery / denial / palatial mansion / getting a private bedroom / “Don’t you know; I’ll always know where you are”
March 12: amputation / mockery / apocalyptic nuclear wasteland / firefighter carry / “Just keep looking at me”
March 19: severe fever / rejection / cocktail party / swaddled in blankets / “Do you have any idea what I’ve done for you?”
March 26: starvation / losing the last bit of hope / maximum security prison / getting pain medication for the first time / “Missed me yet?”
April 2: infected wound / resignation / forced to watch / tight hugs / “I promise I’ll be good”
April 9: tied to a pole in the sun / weakening resolve / bustling city square / standing up to threats and mockery / “There’s nothing to apologize for”
April 16: poisoned meals / death of loved one / cursed mountain / hot bowl of soup / “You’ll never get out alive”
April 23: branded / constant insults / forced labor camp / forced to participate / taking bullets in their place / “I’m doing this because I love you. One day you’ll understand.”
April 30: painful wound care / sarcastic defiance / psychiatric hospital / walking them home / “I don’t need help; I’m fine”
May 7: whipping / trying to hold back tears / airplane / offering a kind smile / “I wish it had been me instead”
May 14: tracking chip / hypervigilance / county jail / warm bread / “You don’t know who I really am”
May 21: drained of blood / violated / ancient ruins / soft slippers / “Not my face, please; I’m begging you”
May 28: shackled to a radiator / heartbroken / deconsecrated temple / back rub / “Be careful what you ask for”
June 4: gagged / ineffectual rage / soaring skyscraper in a glittering city / new, clean clothes / “I didn’t mean it; I’m sorry”
June 11: broken jaw / quiet despair / yawning canyon / going to appointments with them / “Oh you WILL be sorry now”
June 18: burned / rules with moving goalposts / arid steppes / whispered reassurance in public / “I don’t remember where that one came from”
June 25: drowning / losing grounding in reality / trash pit / offering a hand / “You’re hurting me; please”
July 2: kidnapped / ostracized / civil war / safe house / “I would say I’m sorry but then I’d be lying”
July 9: defenestration / stalking / shantytown / paying the ransom / “Don’t fool yourself; you LET this happen to you”
July 16: crushed hand / online harassment / courthouse building / cuddling / “You wanted this, didn’t you”
July 23: detonating bomb / existential dread / lakeside villa / getting a ride / “I know exactly what you need”
July 30: earthquake / homesick / horse barn / compliments / “Get up and walk.”
August 6: nausea / panic / dusty attic / human shield / “I don’t think I can stand up anymore”
August 13: collapsing building / exhaustion / mountain village / helping with food / “RUN.”
August 20: tied to another captive / desperation / public housing projects / new shoes / “You don’t have to pretend anymore”
August 27: strangled / overwhelmed and frozen in place / secret lab in basement / respecting boundaries / “You didn’t have to do this”
September 3: poison gas / screaming uncontrollably / left for dead / combing hair / “Everything I’ve done, I did it for you”
September 10: thrown against wall / painful involuntary spasms / mom’s house / rubbing shoulder / “Your life means nothing”
September 17: smashed kneecaps / dividing loyalties / seat of government / vigilante revenge / “I haven’t taken everything from you. Not yet.”
September 24: stomped on / lies / failed escape / watching TV together / “I promise I’m telling the truth; you have the wrong person!”
October 1: heavy shackles / separated from child / rapid-flowing river / getting a guard dog / “No matter what, you’ll always have me”
October 8: suspended by wrists / exiled / fortress / helping make good an escape / “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to hurt you”
October 15: coughing up blood / detested by peers / train tracks / holding them up to walk / “Looks like you forgot something”
October 22: forced drugging / gaslit into doubting reality / university / financial support / “Sorry, I can’t hear you over the screaming”
October 29: collapsing to the floor / waking up from nightmares / big box retail store / baking cupcakes / “You’ll stop crying if you know what’s good for you”
November 5: handcuffs so tight they’re bleeding / discrimination / small town diner / proper medical care / “No one should have to go through this alone”
November 12: brutal beatdown / helpless / history repeating itself / having choices / “You look so pretty like that”
November 19: suffocation / bystanders refusing to help / schoolhouse / protection in public / “Just one more time, I promise”
November 26: stabbed / flashbacks / castle / reminders of home / “I can’t remember the last time I did this”
December 3: tooth knocked out / panic attack / boat / photographs from before / “Stay still, or it’s going to hurt”
December 10: forced to eat something vile / forgotten by loved ones / homeless shelter / help with paperwork / “Do it if you know what’s good for you”
December 17: electric shock / shivering / boot camp / verbal reassurance / “It’s for your own good”
December 24: stress position / filth / recording studio / wiping away tears / “It’s not as bad as it looks”
December 31: left out in the cold / disgrace / conference / foot washing / “I didn’t mean it; you have to believe me”
