#divine writer asks

[yandere-kokeshi]

Can I request a yandere Toga,Bakugo and Deku with a gn! Darling who has a quirk and acts like peko pekoyama from Danganronpa?

Hii love

I'm so sorry but im not gonna be able to do this request!

As much as I'd love too, I'm not well known into the Danganronpa fandom; nor do I understand the dynamics of it.

Please understand :).

#divine writer asks #kokeshi!! #kokeshi answered #im so sorry :(( #id love to do another request from you when requests are back open #again im so sorry #please understand! #requests are closed

[thefuturewithoutus]

house & amber parallels

#the heart #house md #4x15 house's head #4x16 wilson's heart #2x13 skin deep #ask to tag #'oh my god you're sleeping with me' that got way less funny real fast huh 😭 #why were the writers like what if we make a character who's like house but a girl wouldn't that be funny. and then she dies badly #and nothing will ever be the same. and if it felt like divine punishment

[sugarpasteltmnt]

Hi there!

I’ve been reading you fic for a while now and it is amazing! It’s the only fic I’ve got rn that I will stop and read the moment I notice a chapter has been posted. I’m just so invested!

I just wanted to say that you’ve really done amazing things with your story. You’ve nailed the character voices and interactions, the grief the boys all feel is tangible and Leo breaks my heart every time. You’ve had me emotionally invested from the first sentence, and that’s saying something because otherwise I have the attention span of a gnat lol

I just wanted to stop by and tell you that you and your style really inspires me as a writer. While my fics may follow a very different path, you and your story constantly helps to spark my own creativity whenever it feels like I’m getting in a rut.

I hope you have a wonderful day. Take care!

SUCH HIGH PRAISE THANK YOU 😭😭😭😭

#ya'll are on a mission to make my cry tonight THANK U 🩵 #honestly??? hearing i inspire others is the highest form of praise for writer #thank u so much ;w; #go forth and create #because the effort you put into it will make it divine #and i can't wait to see #TNV asks #pastel prattling

[thenixkat]

@rjalker since I see people keep bringing Fullmetal Alchemist in the notes of your ‘dont use magic to be ableist’ disability post.

You know I keep seeing people bring up Fullmetal Alchemist on ‘how good’ its disability representation is and none of them fucking bring up the point that the main character’s disabilities are a punishment inflicted in him by more or less god for perceived sin. And that at least 2 other characters are disabled for the same reason.

Or that the major goal of the main character is to cure himself and his brother of their disabilities.

It is not the disability rep yall keep claiming it is. Regardless of how well written the characters disabilities effecting them is written.

#nix meows #fullmetal alchemist #disability in media #not all of the characters are disabled b/c of divine punishment but several major ones are #the mc does manage to cure his brother of his disability by the end and get one of his amputated limbs back #the wildest one to me is the character who gets #magically blinded (as divine punishment) and then a few chapters later #he gets his blindness cured by using a magic rock made of the souls of a racial group he helped commit genocide against #without asking any of the survivors of that genocide for permission #and the writer saw nothing wrong with this

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

(To S-Writer) If I may ask, who is "The Doctor" that you speak of?

Well, I c-can't TELL you! That information is private.

The Doctor is the one who created us. But I'm sure you could've figured that part out for yourselves.

...!

No harm in telling them that much, is there?

...I s-suppose not...

S-Animator has been causing problems again from the looks of things. I'll have a word and reign him in if you need me to.

Should he refuse to cooperate, I may very well as the Doctor to melt him down into fuel...

...Th-Thanks S-Divine...

#danganronpa survivor #danganronpa #danganronpa 1 #dr1 #danganronpa another 2 #sdra2 #s-writer #s-divine #ask #the day the world stood still arc #seraphim

[k--havok]

🧭An alternative title to your/ one of your WIP(s)?

🧭An alternative title to your/ one of your WIP(s)?

Oh shit even my current titles are tenuous at best because I SUCK at titling things lol.

I had a hard time coming up with a working title for Waking into Divinity. Even that title started out as a placeholder, although it has grown on me. Other titles that I thought of included: In-between Worlds, The Unseen World, and Waking into Myself.

If I were to YA-ify the title it would be something like A Castle of Light and Smoke. Or something along those lines. I was having such a hard time coming up with a title I did briefly think of leaning into that format just to have some kinda name.

But I still think I prefer Waking into Divinity

#writeblr #writers on tumblr #wid #waking into divinity #ask box #ask box game

[recitedemise]

u write good

That, full and vibrant, pulls a rumble of laughter from out his throat. He decides that it's flavored like a sherry, a Myrinjar, and, perhaps, Gale allows, they've drank too much.

But come off it: who here would dare cast their blame? It's the eve after battle, the Last Light delivered from its certain demise. If there'd ever been a time to indulge so shameless, then surely, Gale reasons, it would be right now—right here, with heart and a drink and some hope. He puts on a smile tasting fruit across his gums. And as laughter and chatter soars high unto the bannisters, a color like scarlet climbs up their throats.

"High praise coming from you, surely," Gale half-slurs. Gosh. He stops, aware of the quality of his voice, half-way embarrassed yet deeply pleased. "Word has it that there's something mightier than the sword. The Quill of Frontiers would have wore you beautifully, Wyll. You strike terror into monsters as the man you now are... but I imagine your drunken praise would have done just as well."

His eyes crinkle with a smile. This feels good.

#LIMPFISTED #ASK. #I KNOW THIS WAS OOC BUT I COULDN'T HELP IT. #But you are a FANTASTIC writer yourself. Phenomenal. And I know I said this already #but your Wyll is DIVINE. And I am so very thrilled we have you around because Wyll truly deserves so much more love #and you are just... gosh... giving us exactly what we need. And more. Truly I don't have the words... #But I will pelt you with my praises anyway. #Anyway in my heart of hearts maybe we should've had ANOTHER party after Last Light Inn.

[silverjirachi]

(fan fic writer asks) 5, 17

5. What’s a fic idea you’ve had that you will never write?

An entire like 70-100k fic set in the past with Astor as Ganondorf's royal seer, exploring their relationship and a pact made between them for Astor to resurrect Ganon in the far future. I will never write this on the scale I feel like it deserves because I just don't have enough ideas for it. However I do have a one-shot based on that concept in my drafts that I will release eventually.

17. What’s something you’ve learned about while doing research for a fic?

I know marginally more about sailing and customs aboard pirate ships thanks to some digging I did for The Devil and the Dead Sea but I wouldn't consider myself knowledgable on sailing or boats by any means.

I also learned the entire plot of Black 2 White 2 because I didn't play them including stuff in the manga etc just so I could write Colress and his own fic.

And I know a little bit about shooting guns/historical rifles and clockmaking for Dnd character research (counting it because I'm writing a book about him also)

Fic writer asks!!

#thank you for your questions!! #fic writer asks #asks #the dead sea trilogy #the devil and the dead sea #exile vilify #not counting all the stuff i know about catholicism #cults and rituals etc that was featured in exile//vilify #because that was all pre-existing knowledge #everything on divination there etc #however i need to do more research on fiber arts now

[uglygirlstatus]

what did jughead do when he time-travels in riverdale? Because in the comics he's a member of the Time Police and also supposedly solved world hunger

Technically he was only able to time travel because his divine girlfriend Tabitha Tate had the ability. She used it to enclose herself and Jughead in a time bubble for one day where they lived out their entire lives and experienced raising their family and growing old together in a single booth at Pop Tates Diner. No world hunger was cured.

#I mean divine in the biblical sense but also she is divine in the delightful sense too #Jughead does also have like inter dimensional abilities and I suppose a version of himself exists outside of time #in his physical role as narrator and writer of his friends lives #but I don’t think that technically counts as time travel #Riverdale #ask

[minisugakoobies]

2. If you had to give up your keyboard and write your stories exclusively by hand, could you do it? If you already write everything by hand, a) are you a wizard and b) pen or pencil?

15. Do you write in the margins of your books? Dog-ear your pages? Read in the bath? Why or why not? Do you judge people who do these things? Can we still be friends?

V curious about these 👀 hope you’re well love 💙

Hey Kie, thanks for playing! 💕

2. Oh lord, I'd like to think that I'd keep writing, but truthfully, writing by hand is a nightmare. It takes longer and wears me out faster. Plus my handwriting has gone to shit after so many years of typing. True story: I actually wrote the majority of Divine Intervention by hand, because I wrote it one day while I was working and I was not about to write smut on my company's network, and it nearly killed me. And I wrote it in pen.

15. I have written in my favorite books, but rarely in the margins! I usually just underline passages or phrases that I really love. There are plenty of dog-eared books on my shelves, for sure. And yes, I read in the bath, on the rare occasions I've taken one! When I was a teen, I used to take books into the shower with me. 🫣 I mastered the art of washing with one hand while holding the other out of the spray.

Send me a weird question!

#asks #lovely moots #goodsoop #weird questions for writers #fic: divine intervention

[valen-dreth]

Hey I was curious and I figured if anyone knows it's you lol but I've always wondered if Ahzrukhal's name means something/is from somewhere specific? I remember ch3cking the wiki but not seeing anything on it

ive never really seen a definitive answer, most things on a quick search point back to fallout, sincerely i think it was made up! i would be curious to know who it was that came up with it and how (and if [maybe they thought??] it means anything) but for now it remains a Mystery

#am i crazy or i think i remember seeing a while back one of the writers on twitter mention they wrote charon. was that a thing that happene #even glancing thru relevant parts of divine comedy and paradise lost im not comin up with anything even remotely similar :(( #what was happening there.... #asks

[thewingedwolf]

honestly hard same on all of the above! nj&ta was so fucking good?? it's no longer available legally but i still have my copy of live at the wiltern for good reason. (am i still sad "stay" never got a studio recording? yes, yes, i am.) and all of who i am was just. incredible. (special shout out to "vesper's goodbye" and "who i am" and "conspiracy theory" and. actually just the whole album.)

and lines vines and trying times deserved so much more love than it got. those songs are incredible. ("black keys" still hits hard.)

tbh, i'm still bitter over the fact that "wedding bells" and "meet you in paris" were only weird limited releases. (LiVe for "wedding bells" and then "meet you in paris" was only released on fuckin vinyl) (justice for the 2013 songs damn it)

(also, now i have "jealous" stuck in my head, so thanks for that.)

ANON ARE YOU ME?? that’s Exactly my thoughts, i saw him live in his nj & ta days and he so clearly loved singing conspiracy theory & stay, who i am is such a great anthem song with a cute video, and do not get me STARTED on vesper’s goodbye oh my goddddd the ending line “now i die / kiss your tender lips goodbye / pray to god who hears my cry” and then the song just. ends. HEARTBREAKING. IMMACULATE. THATS A SONG WRITER!!!

i personally mourn the loss of out of this world, it’s very typical early jobros where they were clearly just fucking around and having fun and i want more songs like that!! not just pop songs that are gonna chart!! and wedding bells!!!!!!! ugh!!!! i am also lucky enough to have the administration on cd but my pièce de résistance is that i own their original album as a hard copy!!! it’s so cute i love it and i love the lil religious bent to some of the songs. at least they rereleased please be mine 😭😭

ALSO. if you haven’t heard joe sing jealous absolutely go search for it right now, he really went out onstage 7 days a week and sung nick’s song better than him in front of nick’s face and it’s funny and sexy, i wish they’d release a duet or joe version like they did with give love a try.

#not to say nick doesn’t have a great voice but joe’s lower register is better and hearing his falsetto. divine. #nick deserves t swift’s hype as a song writer tbh but if i say that too loud people will yell at me akskkd #asks #anons #jobros

[incognit0slut]

All I Need

Spencer realizes how much he wants to spend the rest of his life with you. What better time is there to propose if not in the middle of making love? Based on:

Warnings: 18+ mature content but nothing too explicit, this is just sweet love making

words: 2077

A/n: I’m supposed to finish my last kinktober and update my series, but both are very heavy and I needed something sweet to defrost my writer's block. I hope you don’t mind me squeezing something else until I finish my other WIPs🥲

“…every time I look into your eyes I see it, you’re all I need…”

SPENCER KNEW EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU. There wasn't a single thing he wasn't familiar with—from every mole, every scar, to every stretch mark. Any imperfection you considered of yourself he found to be perfect.

He was well aware of the small scar on your hip bone. Or the mole resting at the back of your thigh. Or the way you disliked caffeine, because every time you drank it, it increased your heart rate drastically. Which was why you always judged him every time he had a cup of coffee in his hand, especially with the amount of sugar he never seemed to stop adding.

"That is definitely not healthy," you would always say, to which he simply responded with a small peck on your lips. It was his way to shut you up without saying anything.

He also knew how soft you actually were underneath that hard exterior you always carried. You were an enigma the first time you joined the team, but Spencer always had a soft spot for mystery, and solving you became his mission even when he wasn't the best at maintaining conversations. He remembered making a fool of himself when he talked to you, stuttering about one of the random facts engraved in his brain.

But you still listened to him, and for once in his life, he finally found someone who didn't mind hearing him talk. It was nice to have somebody who found his knowledge interesting, and with that thought in mind, it didn't take long for him to take an interest in you.

Not that he wasn't interested at first, because honestly, you were a splendid sight when you first walked through the door. It was more so an interest that was considered surpassing a simple friendship. An interest that had him push his confidence into asking you out.

Spencer never pegged himself as someone who would be content having a significant other in his daily routine—his past relationships never seemed to work out, after all—but the more time he spent with you, the more he realized he was actually in pure bliss. It seemed as if you had cast a spell, drawing him deeper into your presence, a magnetic force of affection that went beyond the superficial. Every smile, every touch, seemed to emanate a radiant heat, and he couldn't help but be entranced by the sheer magnitude of your warmth.

Especially at this moment, staring into your eyes as they slowly fluttered open from a long night of slumber, he found himself leaning forward. You were so warm, so inviting. The soft light coming from the curtains cast a shadow over your curves and he couldn't help himself from trailing down your body.

You were fully awake now as he pressed his lips on every part of your skin. The slight movement of your arms wrapping around his neck had him grunting, and somehow he was suddenly positioned between your legs, pressing his hot length onto your wet folds, wanting nothing else but to push himself deep into your warmth.

As he watched you beneath him, eyes half closed, mouth open in anticipation, he couldn't help but mutter his next words because you looked breathtakingly beautiful. Heavenly gorgeous covered in a sheen of sweat, so damn pretty with eyes full of desire. You looked like a siren, an angel, and a lustful woman all rolled into one.

Everything about you was so divine, and the desire to consume every part of your existence became an insatiable hunger. It was a need, a yearning that made the idea of spending a lifetime without you seem unfathomable as if oxygen slowly drained from his world, leaving him breathless. 

The words bubbled up from the depths of his heart, and before he could second-guess himself, he blurted out, "Marry me." 

Your eyes snapped open as he finally sank his hips into you, and before you could even respond, before you could even register his words, his rough thrust stole the breath from your lungs. Rational thoughts shattered as he filled you completely, stretching you in a way that was slightly painful yet completely pleasurable.

He slowly pulled out, then pushed back in, your back arching, legs wrapping around his waist. "Spence," you moaned as he started a steady pace, trying to gain your focus but failing miserably. You couldn't think of anything else except the sensation between your legs. "Oh, God."

Languid and smooth, his hips continued to roll into you. "This feels good, doesn't it?"

The feel of his cock sinking in and out of you had your head falling back against the mattress. Your fingernails tightened upon his back, and he drove you gently into the bed with low grunts. His voice was rough, broken by focused breaths. "We could do this every morning."

A whine broke out of you.

"I'd wake up first," he told you. "I'd make you breakfast in bed..." He slipped out again before thrusting into you slowly, dragging his cock along your inner walls that had you mewling. "...right after I wake you with my tongue between your thighs."

You let out another moan. He drank in the sound with a smile before lowering his mouth to the base of your neck. Heated kisses trailed along your skin as his fingers trailed down the outline of your body before they stopped at the warmth between your legs.

Your mouth was wide open against his shoulder, eyes watering with the force of pleasure from having his cock smacking through your wetness, his body forcefully shoving your knees apart. You felt his fingers trailing your clit in slow circles and you arched your back, each tender brush tightened that coil of heat simmering in the pit of your stomach. The simulation drove you further into a haze of pleasure that a soft yes finally escaped your lips without you realizing it.

The barely whispered word didn't go unnoticed by him.

"Yes to this," he wondered as prompted his weight on his other hand. "Or to my proposal?"

You glanced up at him, your face a mixture of pleasure and alarm as you gave him a look. "You're crazy."

He watched you closely, mesmerized by the way your hips were bucking every time his cock hit that soft spot inside you while his fingers continued their tease. "Maybe." He leaned down and softly bit your shoulder. "But I am crazy in love with you."

When you didn't respond, he slowly pulled away and fixed his gaze on you. Your reaction, or lack thereof, spoke volumes, and as his eyes met yours, he found himself captivated by the reflective pools of emotion within. There was a hint of fear and concern, shadows that danced with the flicker of uncertainty. Yet, beneath those layers, he could see the distinct longing in your eyes. It was hard not to distinguish it as it matched the same look in his. Your stare was warm and domineering.

They were so full of love.

And that moment, Spencer realized, that was what you were to him—love. You were the greatest passion he had ever known.

You felt completely in the moment with him as you let your gaze scan over his features. His eyes appeared darker in this light of the room, but you could still see the soft lightness of them. Then, you leaned up, noses brushing gently against each other before you pressed your lips onto his. His body moved again in response, hips bucking into you and you felt him pulsing inside your core as his mouth worked harmoniously along yours.

"Marry." Thrust. "Me." Thrust.

You whimpered. Everything was too much. The intensity of the pleasure was almost intoxicating, a heady concoction that wrapped around you, rendering you momentarily breathless.

"Having you for the rest of my life is a privilege." He continued, grunting as you clenched around him. He lost himself with one final, jagged plea. "Marry me and make me the happiest man alive."

His words, touch, and the stroke of him inside you—it all blurred together. It pushed you so wildly that the coil in your stomach twisted sharply through along your body. He lunged down to kiss you again, tongue pushing deep as he stole your moan before it could break into the air. He tugged you into him at the same time that you submitted to his pull.

There were times when you would appreciate this. The contact, the intimacy, the warmth of your boyfriend connected with you. Right now though, you needed release. So you buried your hand in his curls, all messy and askew.

"Spencer," you breathed out against his lips. Each of his thrusts fed the growing flame in your body as your body turned pliant for him. “Oh god, yes,” you cried, head thrashing side to side as your eyes rolled back, overwhelmed by pleasure.

He peppered kisses over your neck, your jaw, your temple, desperate to be even closer to you, to melt into you. "Yes to what?"

Your senses were heightened, every touch and every breath seemed magnified in the intensity of the moment. Your body shuddered with every vicious thrust.

"Yes, yes, yes." A desperate, needy little whine slipped past your lips and you opened your eyes wide to give him a pleading look. "Spencer, please, please."

You were panting, your breath hot and your skin even hotter, and you could barely hear him when he spoke, "Yes to what, Angel?"

Angel. The syllables carried a warmth that resonated deep within your heart. Sometimes you were his Angel. Sometimes you were his Sweetheart. While you cherished the way he expressed his affection, a yearning for more had taken root.

Marry me.

You could be more than his angel. You could be his wife. But it wasn't just about the affectionate words anymore; it was about a promise, a shared future, and you realized as he hovered above you, all sweaty and desperate, that you wanted to feel this bliss every day. How could you not when he fits so perfectly inside you that you could swear he was made for you?

And then you felt it, his hand trailing down your arm before it stopped right along your fingers, intertwining them with his. Your hand clutched onto his as his thrust sped up a fraction—but it was still deep and lazy, enough to make you squirm. His cock was achingly hard inside you and when you clenched down on him, you adored the twitch and resounding moan it drew out of him.

You wanted this for your life. You wanted him every day. You wanted to wake up each morning in his arms, him whispering sweet nothings as he buried himself inside you.

You wanted him so much you would be a fool not to accept his proposal.

"Yes," you breathed out. "I'll marry you."

He grunted against your lips. "Say that again."

His thrusts were now fast and ruthless, his groans filling the room while the sound of skin slapping together echoed with it. Every time you could feel him deep inside you, it brought you closer to that familiar coil in your stomach. It was a heady sensation, an intoxicating blend of desire that quickened your pulse and set your senses ablaze.

"I—shit," you cried out, legs shaking at the pleasure traveling along your body you were starting to wail desperately for your release. "Fuck, baby, I'll marry you."

A sound of satisfaction erupted from him as he kissed you with every ounce of power he had. He kissed you as he had never kissed anyone before. He kissed you deeply, possessively even, and it was messy and rough and probably looked horrific from different angles, but it felt perfect.

You felt perfect. Your lips. Your curves. Your scent. It was as if you were made especially for him. He was fully consumed with you, consumed by you, and yet he couldn't get enough. Though you were beneath him, he was at your mercy, and the fact that you could still have such control over him made his stomach twist even more.

He was so in love with you. He was so sure of it, so sure of this abundance of passion, for Spencer Reid could sometimes be dense when it came to sudden bursts of emotions, but he was not stupid. He wasn't oblivious, nor was he lacking in perception. It wasn't about intelligence or lack thereof, it was simply about the purity of his emotion. 

And he was deeply, unequivocally in love.

.

Oneshot taglist: @simpingforharryandcevans @strawbeerossi @lightvixxen @dim-i-try @annabellexox @baby-banana @natarataca @wolfbeanpotion @nagemasstuff @alexander-arcturus-black @rosieee491 @s00dastereo @no-honey-no @donttrustlove @tylevx @kailey-rae @sailorholly @ducksong @infinitegalaxiesworld @dreamsarebig @brilliantreid @boimlers-gonna-boim

PLEASE READ: The crossed out ones are blogs I can’t tag. And if any of you asked me to be added and you're not on the list OR you want to be added in the future, please comment on this post so I can see it. But make sure your blog can be searched by anyone or I can't tag you. Thank you :)

Don’t forget to interact with the story!

#spencer reid x you #spencer reid smut #spencer reid x female reader #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x fem!reader #spencer reid x self insert #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid #spencerreid #spencer reid x oc #spencer reid x fem!reader smut #spencer reid x fanfiction #spencer reid fic #criminal minds #criminal minds fanfic #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid fanfiction #Spotify

[yandere-kokeshi]

Oh shit sorry I didn't realize your requests are closed sorry dude

It's fine :]! Make sure next time that you look beforehand. Thank you for sending In the request however!

I also posted your request yesterday, so I hope you enjoyed reading it!

#answering asks #kokeshi!! #kokeshi answered #divine-writer asks

[k--havok]

for the “Talk to Me About the WIP I’m Currently Writing” asks: 1, 3, and 20!

Thank you for the ask!! I am gonna answer for the next chapter in Waking into Divinity since I am having writer's block as I am not sure how I want this chapter to go/end!

Give a 5-word summary of this chapter/fic.

Night out ends in panic.

(you have no idea how many times I rewrote this to make it 5 words lol)

Whose your favorite character for this chapter/fic?

I think Jessica for this chapter. She's a foil to Rylie's more straight man character but I also like using her for a lot of humor as well. Plus she's a great friend!!

Share 3 images that would fit to a mood board for this chapter/fic.

(sorry for weird formatting... lol)

#Waking into Divinity #writeblr #writers on tumblr #am writing #ask game #Saintedseraph

[writingwithcolor]

How can non-Jewish writers include Jewish characters in supernatural stories without erasing their religion in the process?

Anonymous asked:

I have a short story planned revolving around the supernatural with a Jewish character named Danielle (who uses they/them pronouns). Danielle will be one of a trio who will be solving the mystery of two brides' deaths on the day of their wedding. My concern with this is the possibility of accidentally invalidating Danielle's religion by focusing on a secular view of the afterlife. At the same time, I don't want to assume that Jewish people can't exist in paranormal stories, nor do I want to use cultural elements that don't belong to me. So, how do I make sure that Danielle is included in the plot without erasing their Jewishness?

Okay so to start with I think we need to ask a question about the premise: what is a secular afterlife? I’m not asking this to nitpick or be petty, but to offer you expanded ways of thinking through this issue and maybe others as well.

A Secular Afterlife

What is a secular afterlife? To begin with, I get what you mean. The idea of an afterlife we see in pop culture entities like ghost media owes more to a mixture of 19th-century spiritualist tropes drawn from titillating gothic novels than to anything preached from the pulpit of an organized house of worship. Yet those tropes--the ominous knocking noises from beyond, the spectral presences on daguerrotype prints, the sudden chill and the eerie glow, all of those rely on the idea of there being something beyond this life, some continuation of the spirit when the body has ceased to breathe. For that, you need to discount the ideas that the consciousness has moved on to another physical body and is currently living elsewhere, and that it was never separate from the body and has now ceased to exist. Can we say that this is secular?

More so: Gothic literature, as the name suggests, draws heavily on Catholic imagery, even when it avoids explicit references to Catholicism. Aside from the architectural imagery, Catholic religious symbols permeate the genre, as well as the larger horror and supernatural media genres that grew from it: Dracula flinches from a crucifix, priests expel demons from human bodies, Marley’s Ghost haunts Ebenezer Scrooge in chains. The concepts of heaven and hell, and nonhuman beings who dwell in those places, are critical to making the narratives work. 

The basis also draws from a biblical story, that of the Witch of Endor. The main tropes of Victorian spiritualism are present: Saul never sees the ghost of Samuel, only the Witch of Endor is able to see “A divine being rising” from wherever he rises from, and her vague description, “I see an old man rising, wearing a robe,” evokes the cold readings of charlatan mediums into the present (Indeed, some rabbinic sources commenting on this assert that this is exactly what was going on).

While neither of these views of its origin define the genre as the sole property of Catholicism--or of Judaism for that matter--it would be hard exactly to categorize them as secular.

A Jewish Perspective on ghosts

However, it’s not the case that ghost media is incompatible with Jewishness, assuming that it doesn’t commit to a view of heaven and hell duality that specifically embraces a Christian spiritual framework. 

Jewish theology is noncommittal on the subject of the afterlife. The idea of a division between body and soul in the first place is found in ancient Egypt, for instance, earlier than the earliest Jewish texts. In Jewish text it’s present in narratives like the creation story, in which God crafts a human body out of earth and then breathes life into it once it’s complete. It also appears in our liturgy: the blessings prescribed to be recited at the beginning of the day juxtapose Elohai Neshama, a blessing for the soul, with Asher Yatzar, expressing gratitude for the body, recited by many after successfully using the bathroom. 

Yet it’s not clear that this life-force is something separate than the body that lives beyond it, until the apparition of the Witch of Endor. The words we use to describe it, whatever it is, evoke the process of breathing rather than that of eternal life: either ruach (spirit, or wind) or neshama (soul, or breath): neither is a commitment to the idea that it does--or that it doesn’t--go somewhere else when the body returns to the earth. 

Jewish folklore, however, leans into the idea of ghosts and other spiritual beings inhabiting the earthly plane (and others). Perhaps most famous is the 1937 movie The Dybbuk, in which a young scholar engaging in kabbalistic practices calls upon dark forces to unite him and his fated love, only to find himself possessing her body as a dybbuk. It appears that he is about to be successfully exorcized, but ultimately when his soul leaves her body, hers does as well. 

More relevantly to your story, a Jewish folktale inspired the movie The Corpse Bride. In the folktale version, a newly-engaged man jokingly recites the legal formula he will soon recite at his wedding, and places his ring on the finger of a nearby corpse--a reference to a time when antisemitic violence is said to have gotten worse not only at Jewish and Christian holidays as it does still to this day, but around Jewish weddings as well. The murdered bride stands up, a corpse reanimated complete with consciousness, and demands that the bridegroom honor his legal obligation. 

In the movie, the bride gives up her demand willingly: her claim on him is emotional rather than legal, and she finally accepts that he has an emotional connection with another person, that he doesn’t love her. In the folk tale, the dead woman takes him to court to decide whether their marriage is legal, since he spoke the legal words to her in front of witnesses as is required, and the court rules that the dead do not have the right to make legal demands on the living. In this version, the moral of the story is that a legal formula is an obligation; that when he jokingly bound himself to the corpse, he not only disrespected the dead but also the legal framework that structures society, and by so doing risked being obligated to keep his side of a contract he never intended to enact. 

This speaks to the ways that a Jewish outlook can differ from a Christian-influenced “secular” one. Christian-influenced cultural ideas can often focus around feeling the right thing, while Jewish stories will often center on doing the right thing. Does the Corpse Bride leave because she realizes she is not the one he loves? Because she--or he--learned a valuable lesson? Or because she loses her court case? It’s not that the boy’s emotions are irrelevant to the story--the tension, the suspense, the horror of the story takes place primarily within the boy’s emotional landscape--but emotions on their own are not a solution. The question “should he marry her” can be answered emotionally, but “has he married her” can only be answered by a legal expert, and once it has been the deceased bride may not have changed her emotional attachment to him, but she no longer has legal standing to pursue her claim. 

Centering legal rectitude over emotional catharsis isn’t a requirement for having Jewish characters in your story, but it’s worth thinking about what is and isn’t universal, what is and isn’t actually all that secular. 

Meanwhile, back at the topic:

Where does any of this place Danielle?

Well, unless you’re positing a universe in which Christian or other deities or cosmologies are confirmed to exist (See Jewish characters in a universe with author-created fictional pantheons for more on that topic), there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be perfectly fine interacting with whatever the setting you’re building throws at them. 

My wishlist for this character and setting runs more to the general things to consider when writing fantasy settings with Jewish characters: 

Don’t confirm or imply that Jesus is a divine being. That means no supernatural items like splinters of the cross, grails, nails, veils, etc. There’s nothing particularly powerful or empowering about this one guy who lived and died like so many others.

Don’t show God’s body and especially not God’s face, or confirm that any other gods or deities exist, whether that’s Jesus, Aphrodite, or Anubis, or someone you made up for the context. 

Don’t put Danielle in a position where they’re going to play into an antisemitic trope like child murder, blood drinking, world domination, or financial greed. If you have to, name it and let Danielle express discomfort with or distaste for those actions both because Jewish values explicitly oppose all of those things but also because Danielle as a Jewish character would be painfully aware of these stereotypes as present and historical excuses for antisemitic violence. 

Do consider what Danielle’s personal practice might look like. What does Danielle do on Shabbat? What do they eat or refrain from eating? What are their memories of Jewish holidays and how is their current holiday observance different than their childhood? I know I say “Jewishness is diverse” on every ask, but it is, and these questions--which also underscore how very much Judaism is rooted in one’s actions during this life--will help you develop how Judaism actually functions to inform Danielle’s character, even if you don’t spell out the answers to each of these questions in text. 

Do let Danielle find joy, comfort, and identity in their Jewishness not just in contrast with Christianity but simply because it’s part of the wholeness of their character. I know the primary representation of Jewishness is a snappy one-liner in a Christmas episode followed by the Jewish character joining in the Christmas spirit, blue edition, but make room for Jewishness to inform how Danielle approaches the events of your story, or why they decide to get or stay involved.  

-Meir

Hi it’s Shira with some Jewish ghost story recs written from inside–

When The Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb (deliriously good queer YA Jewish paranormal, mainstream enough that it’s got a good chance of being at your local library and won all kinds of awards)

The Dyke and the Dybbuk by Ellen Galford (sorry for the slur, warning for a paragraph of biphobia in the book but it’s an older book. I read this right before my divorce so my memories are super fuzzy but it’s about this modern day lesbian who gets possessed by the ghost of a different lesbian from hundreds of years earlier in Jewish history.) Nine of Swords Reversed by Xan West z’L of blessed memory - another queer Jewish paranormal.

The general plot is that two partners are struggling with how to be honest with each other about the effect disability is having on them. It’s got a very warm and fuzzy cozy vibe but kink culture is central to the worldbuilding so if that isn’t your vibe I didn’t want you to go in unaware.

The Dybbuk in Love by Sonya Taaffe. I don’t remember the details but I remember loving it, it’s m/f and romance between possessor and possessed.

I wrote a really short one called A Man of Taste where a gentile vampire woman and a Jewish ghost/dybbuk get together.

~S

#Jewish #Judaism #supernatural #supernatural beings #settings #fantasy #ghosts #asks