jinnybinghamsghost

[jinnybinghamsghost]

At the Tone, Please Record Your Message

@flashfictionfridayofficial Inspired by "Dad's Old Number" by Cole Swindell, and [spoiler]

“Hey, Mom. I just wanted to call and say… I miss you? It’s weird because I don’t think I ever left you a voicemail before you… you know. When you were alive. It just felt like a way to talk to you that wasn’t… that was better than going to… your grave… Anyway. I miss you. I love you. Bye.”

“Hey, Mom. I got my first college acceptance. Can you believe it? I bet you’d be jumping up and down with me. I miss you. Bye.”

“Hey, Mom. So I decided where I’m going to college and Danny isn’t going to the same place. Which is why I thought of you because I know you and Dad were long distance for a while. I wish I could ask you for tips. I guess I could ask Dad but… I don’t know, it feels like more of a mother-daughter thing. Plus I think he thinks we’re not going to stay together. Which is weird when you and him were literally long distance. Anyway. I miss you. Bye.”

“Hi, Mom. This is weird because the last few times I tried to call you—call your number, whatever—  it didn’t go to voicemail, so I thought maybe Dad took your phone off the plan, but it worked this time. Anyway, I had to tell you I met this guy—and I bet you’d be grinning like ‘I told you so’ right now because I thought I’d never find someone after Danny—but I really like this guy. It’s just so—I just love hanging out with him. I wish I could tell you all of the details, but it would never fit in one voicemail… I think—”

“Hi, Mom—oh and hi, Jerry. And thanks for saying I can still call Mom’s number and leave voicemails, even though it’s your number now. I really, really appreciate it. So—Mom, I’m still talking to that guy—his name is Sawyer—and he still hasn’t asked me out. So I wish I could ask you if I should ask him. I just really don’t want to make the first move because what if he’s not really interested? I really like him though! …anyway, I love you. Bye.”

“Hi, Rose. Yeah, I don’t mind you listened to my voicemail for my mom. It’s your voicemail! And how personal can I get in like, a minute? So—I took your ‘unsolicited advice’ and, well, this message is for Mom too—he’s my boyfriend! I’m so excited! He was also nervous about asking me out, which, yeah, seems kind of obvious in hindsight. I just had to tell you, Mom, because… he’s such a great guy. I think you’d like him. I wish you got to meet him. I miss you so much… bye.”

“Hi, Mom. My senior project is all scheduled. I just called Dad to invite him, because we get to invite people when we present it, so I had to call you too. I wish you could be there. I’m going to be wearing your pearl necklace—Dad asked if I wanted to which was so sweet. And Sawyer will be there and some of my friends. I’ll be picturing you in the audience too. I love you. Bye.”

“Hi, Mom. I got an A on the project! They said it was really good work. I can officially graduate now! Oh—thanks for the good luck wishes, Jerry and Rose!”

“Hi, Mom. I’m literally about to go line up for graduation. Can you believe I’m graduating college? I’m wearing your pearl necklace again. Dad said I can keep it. I always miss you on days like this and just want to talk to you. Ack, I really have to go line up!”

“Hi, Mom. I don’t think I finished my message but I graduatedddd! Whoo! Jerry and Rose, I got your congrats message while I was at dinner—thank you! Dad asked who you were and I kind of fudged the answer, but I told Sawyer later. He said you sounded like great people. I thought you should know.”

“Hi, Mom. I got a job! I’m like a real adult now, can you believe it? Makes it harder to go see Sawyer though. He’s still at college because he’s getting a Master’s degree. It makes me think of wishing I could ask you for long distance advice, but you know what? I know I can do it this time. Because I’m really pretty sure this relationship is it. I bet that’s how you and Dad felt. I do really wish you could meet him—he’s the best. Love you. Bye.”

“Mom. I’m engaged! He got this coffee shop we really like to do a special called the Match Made in Heaven that was my favorite flavors and then when we went out on the porch he got on one knee and said he’d be honored to spend the rest of his life with me and the ring is so pretty! I literally rehearsed that to fit it into a voicemail. But, uh, I love talking about it so, um, Rose, if you want to hear more about it feel free to call me? Mom, I love you and I miss you and I can’t believe I’m getting married and you’re not going to be at my wedding. I know I’ll be thinking of you all day. We all will.”

“Hey, Jerry or Rose. Both of you, really. It’s Ellie, and this message is not for Mom, it’s for you… I was wondering if you’d like to come to my wedding? You’ve sort of been there for my whole relationship so I’d love to have you there, and I was going to send a Save the Date but I don’t have your address. It’s November 16th. If you want to come just give me a call back and give me your address, okay? I’d really love to have you. Okay, bye.”

(...also inspired by that guy who gained a grandma when she accidentally texted him)

[jinnybinghamsghost]

WIP INTRO - LUDO

this idea sparked on the 25th of august during the final days of summer like a miracle. my summer was really bad in terms of writing i was frustrated, lost, and heavily demotivated.

anyways, i had so. much. fun. outlining. it started out as eerie vibes, no plot. i remember, in 2022, when I was drafting my first litfic novel titled fly anatomy, i typed this exactly:

next project?

celebrity

busy city

crowd = addiction, crushing

And that stuck, it’s exactly how this idea came to be.

so! the story was taking shape slowly but nicely for four full months. wait five. FIVE? ok time???

even though i have an extensive outline doc, it doesn't reveal the total number of chapters or the exact chain of events, meaning i will write freely and messily and i'm so excited.

okay, enough.

introducing the strangest, most eccentric, straight from the heart story i've ever come up with. it’s everything i’m passionate about, i was, am, will be, wish for, mourn, yearn for, and today, i'll introduce it to you to make certain it gets written, one way or another.

!! DISCLAIMER: this is my own work. please refrain from plagiarism of any sort, it will not be tolerated !!

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genre: literary fiction, novella possibly (?), mystery

pov + tense: first person past tense

status: drafting! i've been brainstorming this book for months, and i decided winter was the perfect time to begin.

setting: 1980s England, particularly Manchester. Edale and Buxton as well. i hold manchester very close to my heart.

aesthetic / feel: cherry seeds sliding down your throat accidentally, a single star in the night sky, feeling like you're being watched, stitches all around the neck, scattered egg shells and yolk, dancing on a tiled rooftop, molecules, animal masks that cover the full head, the sound of a camera click, nausea, black cabs on busy streets, voices overlapping, weirdly shaped metal scissors, running towards a flock of birds so they fly off, rolling green hills

synopsis: In the heart of 1980s England, 25-year-old Ludo, a retired celebrity actor with a troubled past and the second youngest of three brothers, has traded the spotlight for a quieter life as a teacher at a small secondary school. He imagines he's found solace until a bizarre event shatters his routine: a young girl hatches from a human-sized egg in his backyard.

Ludo soon learns of a notorious, elite scientist known as Frankenstein, who leads a secretive cult and aims to exploit the girl's kind for his experiments and discoveries. As the cult begins to close in, Ludo feels an urgent, instinctive responsibility to shield her from them.

While on the run from Frankenstein, the girl awakens in Ludo a sense of hope long buried beneath his cynicism. Through her eyes that have never seen life, never seen earth, he begins to rediscover the real meaning of life, questioning whether it's ever too late to start anew, to rewind, to find purpose.

But can he hide her away for so long? After all, there is always an end to a game of hide-and-seek.

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themes: rebirth in your mid-twenties, loosening up and reconnecting with nature, the realization that you are only human, what it means to leave the past behind and accept that you can’t rewind, what it means to, instead, choose to unwind and relearn.

also: greed, betrayal, misogyny and how someone's true nature only slips through in times of great adversity.

project label: i'll call this project north star.

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characters:

Ludo (narrator):

25

chemistry teacher

trying his best at life

impulsive

loves intensely

reflective and sentimental

has trouble trusting others

very suffocating past

identity crisis

guilt-ridden

he seeks freedom, freedom from the spotlight. he just wants to live simple away from the noise.

Polaris:

the girl who hatched from the egg

curious and lively

likes to take photographs

i'm still learning about her

now, ludo's brothers in MANCHESTER:

Nigel (OLDEST):

31 years old

not married

still not well-developed.

Allister a.k.a Alien (SECOND OLDEST):

28 years old

university student still

charismatic but in reality weak and cowardly, controlling, selfish, emotionally immature, insensitive

i'm sorry he's not the best character ever

doesn't act like one of the older brothers

not married

Eugene (YOUNGEST):

20 years old

married

friendly

follows the crowd to avoid conflict, dependent on others for validation

will do anything to be perceived as innocent and good.

dishonest

can be kind, can't have genuinely ill intentions

Anaïs:

eugene's wife

extremely long frizzy hair

in BUXTON:

Maude:

literature teacher at the same school ludo works at

only staff member close to him

my favorite love story EVER ack

sweetest, most genuine soul. ludo's gotta step up his game or i'll marry her myself

considering involving hollywood actors he's worked with???

oh and back to Manchester:

FRANKENSTEIN ⚡️:

mad scientist freak elite billionaire proud mysterious crazy freak elite proud crazy

yeah and freak

cult leader

psychopath

inspiration is drawn from the concept of mary shelley’s frankenstein of course. the monster, victor frankenstein, and their relationship. i’m really excited about that aspect i came up with some cool horrid stuff!!

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thank you for reading. if you read this post all the way through wow i love you.

i intend to post updates every once in a while with excerpts. i've only just started writing the day before yesterday, so i’ll take it slow as i figure things out. as soon as i feel like i’ve adjusted to the voice and set the mood, hopefully i’ll speed through.

i'm posting this intro so soon to feel held accountable. this draft is a need seriously.

okay goodbye thanks for stopping by! it was a dream to have you here as always.

taglist (for all of my writings | ask to be added or removed): --

with all love and soul,

- tadpollatibule

[jinnybinghamsghost]

Me opening up the word doc and getting stuck in the exact same place as last time

[jinnybinghamsghost]

the writing process by Chuck Wendig

[jinnybinghamsghost]

“we need more weird art!” but not anything that makes me feel uncomfortable or alienated or challenged. “weird art” but i don’t want to consider the perspective of anyone i might have real irrevocable differences from. “weird art” but everything must be carefully couched in the language of white middle-class american sensibilities at all times. “weird art” but it has to be picked from a list of pre-established “weird” tropes that i recognize from carefully curated lists on letterboxd.

[jinnybinghamsghost]

a (sort of) christmas-themed snippet today! i had hoped to finish the first draft of this by christmas but i'm yet to decide on an ending i'm happy with, so maybe next year.

[jinnybinghamsghost]

Lola Dupre - Cover art for Ray Russell's 'Haunted Castles: The Complete Gothic Stories', 2016 edition

[jinnybinghamsghost]

𝔰𝔫𝔬𝔴𝔶 𝔠𝔞𝔪𝔭𝔲𝔰 ❄️

[jinnybinghamsghost]

Oh honey, that’s just how old houses are. They settle. They sometimes creak or groan, or quietly weep, or demand blood sacrifice in voices that sounds like the fluttering wings of a thousand moths. It’s just the house settling. For whatever it can get. Go back to sleep.

[jinnybinghamsghost]

I think the best writing tip I can give is to just not shut up

Ramble about the things that make you happy, vent about the things that make you sad, rant about the things that piss you off, babble about the random things that come to your head, monologue your way through the train of thought that has you pacing the room, share your logic loop out loud

Nothing is too small or too insignificant to write down. Even if only to yourself, write it. What doesn’t work can be changed. What doesn’t bring joy or catharsis can be removed. Scream into the void and soon you’ll get more than echoes in response

[jinnybinghamsghost]

Insomnia by Vincenzo Lamolinara

[jinnybinghamsghost]

Autopsy

[jinnybinghamsghost]

Brittle Skeletons Crocheted from Discarded Textiles by Caitlin McCormack

[jinnybinghamsghost]

hiii shirley jackson fans i finally got my hands on tricia lootens' essay "whose hand was i holding?" familial and sexual politics in shirley jackson's the haunting of hill house that i was talking about last week! you can read and download it here. apologies for the quality of certain pages, i was fighting for my life with zeta (hehe) scanners at the british library<3

[jinnybinghamsghost]

The Seal and the Ravens

Prologue: Astra Astra's mother becomes pregnant with her and receives horrible news.

Excerpt below the cut! TW: mentions of ending a pregnancy

The legacy of the Sun Maidens haunted the palace of Iarannor in a way Princess Astra would not discover until she was fifteen. Their golden rays cast a shadow upon her family before she was even born.

Queen Mara used to find her husband’s fascination with the Sun Maidens endearing, a quirk of his that led to little more than being subjected to retellings of the tales, some fascinating, some mundane and dull. But when she fell pregnant again, she found herself praying for a daughter before she could stop herself.

Bram, her youngest was almost five years old when Mara felt the signs of another baby. She dreaded telling her husband, put it off for as long she could. When she finally broke the news, he said nothing for a long moment. The skin beneath his eyes was blue, his jaw in a constant twitch, his fingers always tapping. It was in this moment she understood he was truly mad. Driven to lunacy by the legacies of old.

He took a glance at her belly, still flat, as though she were not there, and said, “One day, we will have a daughter. And perhaps the gods will bless her with the sun. But either way, the kingdom must fall to her alone. Her possessions must be great. She must be our sole heir. And to do that, her brothers must be put to death.”

Mara fell to her knees and pleaded with him to change his mind. She feared running away with her children, because surely he would find her. Especially if she were to have a daughter. And she couldn’t leave the daughter here.

Reynard had already had a room lined with five caskets for their sons, a key dangling around Mara’s neck. Every time she passed that room, dread clawed at her heart, seeped into her lungs. She would stand in front of that door with her hands on her belly, thinking about what might happen if she were to throw herself down the stairs and crush this baby beneath her weight, or to cut it out before it could be born. But these evil thoughts only made her cling to her belly tighter.

If she ran away, he would run her down. He would seek out his heir, and perhaps kill her sons anyway. Their sons. But she could see now that perhaps they were only hers. What would become of her children, her family? What had become of her husband? Was there no ending his madness?

More on The Seal and the Ravens here! Leave a comment or an ask to be added to the taglist.

[jinnybinghamsghost]

writing tip: searching "[place of origin]ish names" will get you a lot of stuff and nonsense made up by baby bloggers.

searching "[place] census [year]" will get you lists of real names of real people who lived in that place.

[jinnybinghamsghost]

SACRAMENT ✝ M/M/M vampire dark romance ✝ valentine's day 2025