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study the folklore and myth of your actual local region. live your daily life under the logic of fairytales. communicate as heavily as possible in proverbs and riddles. humans are a storytelling creature and there is a reason these archetypes and motifs appear to humans across times/cultures/places
Feb 13, 2024
Related Recs
look at all the art and cultural detritus you love, or whatever most compells you (even if you dislike it, maybe especially so!). see if there are poses, objects, creatures, ideas etc that keep popping up. these are your prompts!!
𓅽 to use my own expierence as an example:
i kept finding human-bird hybrids everywhere in the stuff i return to. angels, harpies, Sirin & Alkonost, etc clearly something about the union of beast/bird with (often femme) humanity to create something either deceptive and dangerous or divine and distant made me excited! so that became my prompt. it made me start having questions i could only answer through making art: how many ways can i depict a human-bird hybrid? what details transform it from an angel into a siren, or perhaps into something all together new and different? etc
this leads me to:
𓅽 explore mythology, fairy and folktales! i personally don't buy into the jungian shit AT ALL (and don't even get me started on joseph campell, booo) but! there's a reason these stories and their imagery have stuck around! they're endlessly fascinating and adaptable, and they make for a great first step to take in creating something that speaks to you and so many others across time and space
Jan 28, 2025
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we tell ourselves (and each other) stories in order to live!
Sep 21, 2024
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if you find yourself telling the same stories over and over like I do (I have bad memory), let people inform you of the fact and take it as a sign that you’ve got some living to do. then go out into the world and create more intriguing lore.
Nov 12, 2024
Top Recs from @bisonspider
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Substack that emails you the entirety of Bram Stoker’s Dracula in real time. since the novel is composed of diary entries, it sends you the diary entries day by day so you can read it on the same timeline in which it takes place. it started earlier this month but it’s not too late to catch up!! or you could wait until next may. classics can be intimidating but this gives you the opportunity to read it in daily segments in your email and follow along in an immersive way :)
May 20, 2024
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lots of great recs here, but if you want horror that is more based in storytelling and has a bit more on its mind than just slashers or gore you should check out folk horror or older horror films from the 60s/70s. as others have recommended, The Wicker Man (1973) is a must. Rosemary’s Baby (1968) is also a classic. The VVitch (2015) is also fantastic as an intro to more conceptual horror. you said you wanted deeper cuts, so check out Viy (1967) or Alucarda (1977), both of which i’ve posted more detailed recs for on my profile. also!!!! i don’t know how you feel about silent/b&w films but Nosferatu (1922) is an all-time genre mainstay that still holds up. Ari Aster’s work is great but it’s probably more gruesome than you’re looking for. have fun!!!
Apr 24, 2024
sooo many people read wikipedia regularly but just don’t get the app?? why?? much better interface and more features than the plain old browser version. so easy to edit on there too. real wikipediaheads know
Apr 18, 2024