Wulf Moon's SUPER SECRETS Workshop & Challenge!

Hmmm...zoo?

@wulfmoon oooh! The ideas this triggers... thank you.

Posted by: @crlisle

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Hmmm...zoo?

That could work. Got a speculative element to add to it for WotF? We are trying to help you write your winner!  

Posted by: @glenda-thompson

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@wulfmoon oooh! The ideas this triggers... thank you.

Glad it helped, Glenda.

Go forth and conquer!

Beastmaster Moon

Your KYD "Kill Your Darlings" Weekly Prompt

Let's go dark this week. This could work well for our fantasy writers.

Nightshade

I'm not talking about the edible varieties of nightshade, like tomatoes and potatoes. I'm talking about deadly nightshade, as in poisonous.

I've seen this plant come up in a number of fantasy stories. Be sure to give it a unique twist!

All the beast!

Beastmaster Moon

Your KYD "Kill Your Darlings" Weekly Prompt

Here's an interesting situation that could make for a unique KYD twist!

Doctor becomes the patient.

This would be especially fun with a doctor that had a god complex and now the tables have turned and circumstances place him under the medical care of another doctor with a god complex. I'd title this story, "A Taste of His Own Medicine." That title is so good I've got to believe someone else has thought of it. But here's the good news: You can't copyright titles! Or else I would right now! Go for it!

Have fun! And don't wait until the last day of the quarter or even the contest year to write your WotF story. Who could ever win doing that?  

Okay, a few of us have, but it's not ideal. Think your stories through, get them under development, or you run the great danger of missing the deadline. March 31st might come in like a lamb, but it goes out like a lion. Don't get caught in its fearsome jaws!

Oh, and if you're in the Utah area, I'm teaching masterclasses again at LTUE: the Life, The Universe, and Everything Seminar. I'll be teaching a morning and an afternoon masterclass based on these Super Secrets of Writing on Wednesday, February 11th, 2026. This convention is filled with serious SFF readers and fans. John Goodwin will be there, and so will Emily--in fact, she will be their Toastmaster! We'll all be on the Writers of the Future panel, ready to give you our tips on how to win the Contest! (My advice? Write fresh, original stories!) Come join the fun in Provo, Utah that weekend! It's a beautiful seminar.

Seminar link HERE.

All the beast!

Beastmaster Moon

Ok, I really love the title! Very fun, Moon. Can’t wait to see you at LTUE!

Your KYD "Kill Your Darlings" Weekly Prompt

I'm off to Superstars Seminar, and them I'm teaching Super Secrets of Writing masterclasses at LTUE Seminar after that. Emily Goodwin is the Toastmaster--looking forward to seeing her and John there!

Your prompt is:

Black Tears

Have fun writing! I'm looking forward to seeing at least a dozen Wulf Pack Writers at LTUE!

Cheers!

Beastmaster Moon

Posted by: @lauraholley

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Ok, I really love the title! Very fun, Moon. Can’t wait to see you at LTUE!

Awesome, Laura! I look forward to seeing you, too! Almost time!

Cheers!

Your KYD "Kill Your Darlings" Weekly Prompt

I just finished attending the Superstars Writing Seminar in Colorado Springs, and now I'm in Provo, Utah, getting ready to teach my Super Secrets of Writing masterclasses tomorrow for the LTUE Seminar! We're also holding our Wulf Pack Gathering here this year and at least a dozen wulves will be attending! It's so fun to run with a Pack!

And, we created a $1200 scholarship to help a writer to attend, and our committee awarded it to Amy Wethington, a WotF Forum member! So excited to see her in a few hours and to get her checked in to her deluxe room!

Hmmm. Run. Running from something creates tension! Let's do a "Run, Lola, Run" prompt! But maybe don't make the whole story about a nonstop run. Readers need a breather!

Your KYD prompt:

On the run.

See you at LTUE! I'm on the program under ... wait for it .... wait for it ... Wulf MOON!

All the BEAST!

Beastmaster Moon

Your KYD "Kill Your Darlings" Weekly Prompt

I'm back from Superstars Seminar, and teaching my Super Secrets of Writing masterclasses at the LTUE Seminar after that. Emily Goodwin nailed it as their Toastmaster at the banquet. She had some great stories about The Little Mermaid and Aladdin and getting her whole class out of high school to see Aladdin under the guise of an educational field trip! So funny!

Your prompt is:

Delulu

This is a slang adjective defined as "believing things that are not real or true, usually because you choose to." Fantastical potential dwells within that word!

Have fun writing! I had a great time seeing at least a dozen Wulf Pack Writers at LTUE! Next stop? My own live workshop and writers' retreat in St. Augustine, Florida, in May! I've rented the conference room in the Hilton Garden Inn and blocked rooms to bring the Super Secrets to the oldest town in the US! How much the Super Secrets of Writing has expanded from its early beginnings right here in the Forum. So excited for this next adventure! 

Keep writing! Keep pursuing your dreams and making them happen! Win this Contest! It can make dreams come true.

Cheers!

Beastmaster Moon

Your KYD "Kill Your Darlings" Weekly Prompt

I completed a new article for DreamForge on writer's block yesterday, and it was accepted. I included lots of great methods writers use to break writer's block, or to drive around the block if they can't get past it. I'll post it when it comes out in early March. It's going to help a lot of writers.

My Wulf Pack Writers group asked for a snow prompt, given how much many of them are facing out East. You'd think they wouldn't want MORE snow, but they've asked me to bring it on, so here's your prompt!

Eternal blizzard.

You're welcome! Grab your shovels and have at it! Do stay safe if you're in the bomb cyclone's zone! What a mess!

In other news, my three day writer's workshop and retreat in St. Augustine, Florida, at the Hilton Garden Inn in May is about to sell out of rooms in our discounted room block! I went out on a limb renting the 1500 sq. ft. conference room there, but I'm happy to say it's already a success. Looking forward to teaching the Super Secrets of Writing in the oldest city in the US! So much history in that town! Ponce de Leon landed there and established the first Spanish settlement!

One month before this quarter ends. Keep writing!

All the beast!

Beastmaster Moon

Great prompt! St. Augustine will be above and beyond!

Really looking forward to the writer's block article. When will it be published?

Posted by: @glenda-thompson

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Great prompt! St. Augustine will be above and beyond!

May the Force be with you, Wulf Pack Writer! I do hope to see you there!

Posted by: @robertflowell

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Really looking forward to the writer's block article. When will it be published?

It came out yesterday, Robert "Fred" Lowell!  

I'll make the post on it next! Thank you for your interest!

Best,

Beastmaster Moon

Your KYD "Kill Your Darlings" Super Secrets Writing Prompt

Since some have been hunkering down for days now below ground in Israel, and undoubtedly in Iran and elsewhere, today's prompt seems timely:

The bunker.

I've seen many bunker stories in fiction and movies, and they never get old because of the tension that a closed environment like a bunker automatically creates. Why are these people in a bunker? What's happening above, and is it safe to finally come out? When they do come out, what awaits them?

Lots of fear and mystery in bunker stories. Create yours and if it's in an obvious speculative environment, send it before the end of the month to Writers of the Future. The quarter ends soon! Don't be left in your bunker wondering what's going on up top. Dare to go out ... and send that story in!

All the beast!

Beastmaster Moon

@wulfmoon even if I wasn't already planning to read this (which I was), I would have clicked for the shiny red Mustang!! 😆

Posted by: @bootzenkatzen

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@wulfmoon even if I wasn't already planning to read this (which I was), I would have clicked for the shiny red Mustang!! 😆

Thanks, Bootzen! That's the exact model I had in high school, except I had a black hardtop. Alas, my brother rolled it a few months after I got it. But I like using the '67 Stang in my writing articles, and wish I still had it, in its more perfect state!

Enjoy the article! Let me know here what you think!

Cheers!

Your KYD "Kill Your Darlings" Super Secrets Writing Prompt

Since I'm trying to complete a novel, I shall just post the prompt, which is fitting in my case. 

Where's the fire?

Now go put fire in your story or put your story in the fire!

Three weeks left on this WotF quarter! Don't wait until the last day like I did with my winner! (I did have a good excuse.) Yeah, I wrote "Super-Duper Moongirl and the Amazing Moon Dawdler" in WotF Vol. 35 in a day. I just read it again last night and still don't know how I did it ... except for one reason. FLOW STATE. I was in it from morning until 11:15 pm on the last day of that contest year.

UNLEASH THE KRAKEN! YOU CAN DO THIS! ESPECIALLY IF YOU'VE DONE THE KYD TRAINING.

All the beast,

Beastmaster Moon

Your KYD "Kill Your Darlings" Super Secrets Writing Prompt

Since there are so many record snowfalls going on, especially in my former homeland of Wisconsin, I think today's prompt is appropriate:

On Thin Ice

Every year when I lived in Wisconsin, people would drive to work across the frozen St. Croix River to get to Stillwater and beyond. Short cut! And every year, someone would cut it too close as the weather warmed up, and their car would go through the ice. 

We take risks. We think we'll be okay. But sometimes, we're skating on thin ice, and there can be consequences ....

Have fun with the prompt!

Just two weeks left on this Q2 quarter! Get those WotF stories written early so you can proofread them out loud. Reading your story aloud will help you catch many errors, especially clunky sentences. Cut those compound sentences down! Don't stuff too much into a sentence! Meter is important!

Best of success!

Beastmaster Moon

Over 1,100,000 views of this SUPER SECRETS Workshop thread!

Wow! Thanks for reading!!!

And kudos to those that participated in this workshop over the years. Many are now WotF winners!

Posted by: @wulfmoon

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Every year when I lived in Wisconsin, people would drive to work across the frozen St. Croix River to get to Stillwater and beyond. Short cut! And every year, someone would cut it too close as the weather warmed up, and their car would go through the ice. 

That's crazy!