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? 

Neurophysiology of Whump: A Research Proposal

By S.E. Klein A note from the author: “I wrote this paper in the format of a formal scientific research proposal as part of a project for an undergraduate-level psychology class last year, and have since touched it up a bit. I first got the idea to study the neuropsychology behind the whump fandom about

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

Bloodied, Broken, and Bridal-Carried by Lynn

The concept of putting characters through peril and pain has fascinated me for as long as I can remember. Back when my friends and I explored fantastical worlds in our games of “play pretend”, I was the one to suggest scenes of our characters getting hurt by the bad guys and having to be patched

Best Whump of 2020

We all know that 2020 had a lot of, shall we say, rough patches. It was also, all things considered, a pretty good year for whump. (What better to help you get through those rough patches, right?) We asked you to nominate your favorite whump published in the past year(ish) — original, fandom, derivative work,

Head on Down to Your Local Whumpapedia!

Tired of consuming the same old whump over and over again? The lack of new whump content from your favorite shows got you down? Well, stop what you’re doing right now and pay attention, because your days of searching desperately for new whump content are over.   Introducing: The Whumpapedia! Created in 2017 by several members

Wince Magazine: Issue #4

This is it, dear readers: it’s been one year since we got Wince off the ground! Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who’s submitted fiction, read articles reblogged calls for submissions, and left us helpful feedback. We wouldn’t be here without you. After a year of running Wince as a quarterly magazine, we’ve

Wince Magazine: Issue #2

NOTE: Wince is formatted for WordPress, so your best reading experience will right here. If you’d like, you can also download Issue #2 as a lightly formatted pdf: If you’d like to convert this to an .epub or other format for personal use, you may. Letter from the Editor Dear Whumpers, Sometimes, to kill time,