Building a Whump OC

By Envy Throw aesthetic choices out the window.  Pick random colors out of a hat when they’re needed.  There are only four shades of eye colors anyway.  Besides, does it really matter if your OC is tall or short when they’re always on the ground?  Does their weight matter if they’re always being carried around? 

International Whump Day 2021: Daniel Jackson Whump Fic Recs

As many community members know, the term “whump” originated in the Stargate SG-1 community, where the fan favorite whumpee was archaeologist Daniel Jackson. Jackson died — and then returned — again and again over Stargate SG-1’s long run, enough times for a prominent fan wiki to dedicate an entire page to cataloging Daniel’s deaths and

On Defining Whump, and the Motivations of Creators

Note: In this essay, I’ve largely used the terms ‘creator’ and ‘author’ interchangeably, as most of the transformative whump content I personally interact with is written fiction. I’m also using ‘whumper’ in the traditional sense as a real person who enjoys whump, like me and — presumably — you reading this. I’ve been thinking a

Why I Don’t Write Stabbings

Whump can be (and let’s be honest, it usually is) a beautiful thing. It’s one of the few places in popular media today where the consequences of injury, suffering, and hardship are really explored and lingered on. People enjoy every kind of whump under the sun: sickfics, torture, environmental whump, pet whump, and anything you

The Six Types of Whumpers You’ll Meet

(Originally published on Tumblr here. Archived with permission.) 1. The Specifier The Specifier only focuses on a couple of whumpy tropes. They often won’t even care who it’s for, as long as it has those tropes. The tropes can vary in specificity. So your friendly neighborhood Specifier might like electrocution in general, or maybe they

Dispatches from the Whump Archives

by Ari One of my beloved pastimes is falling down wiki rabbit holes. TVTropes is an eternal favorite, Wookieepedia will sometimes do it for me, but in the past year I’ve been spending more time on Fanlore.org, an OTW-run wiki for cataloging 50+ years of fandom. Often, I start somewhere in the “whump” corner. I

Interview: The Revival of Febuwhump

Editor’s Note: When Febuwhump appeared in its original run in 2019, it came at a perfect time in my life. For that reason it will always have a special place in my heart. I was very excited when I discovered (approximately halfway through the event) that it had returned. So thank you to Bethany for

(Whump Meta Archive) To Slay or Not to Slay: Why We Write ‘Get-em’ Stories — & Love ’em!

Editor’s Note: This is one of the earliest pieces of meta on the whump constellation of tropes, focusing on an angst/deathfic/whump subgenre known as “get-em”. It was written by Connie Faddis and Becca Oroukin and was originally published in Interphase #3 in 1976. We’re so excited to share it with our readers as the first

A Brief Introduction to the Whump Community Directory

by justwhumpythings What is the Whump Community Directory?The Whump Community Directory is a database of whump blogs on Tumblr, created by the community, for the community, and based at @whumpcommunity. You can create an entry for your whump blog so others can find you, and browse the Directory to find new blogs to follow. How

No Less Beautiful

by Athena Ryals When I was seven years old, I had a secret. I would sneak down to the computer my parents kept in the office, an ancient thing with a clunky keyboard and a screen that went back several inches until it pressed against the wall behind the desk. We were allowed to use