TJ Leach - Serial Fiction Writer

Unstable Fiction | TJ Leach | Substack The stories you'll find here don’t just break characters. They follow them through the aftermath, every haunted step, every fragile rebuild, every jagged edge that refuses to smooth. Will there be a h...

unstablefiction.substack.com

In a quiet institution, Dr. Grace Kessler makes a dangerous request: “Let them talk to each other.”
It’s not protocol. It’s not safe.But neither is silence.
Grace isn’t here to manage symptoms.She’s here to see the forgotten.To remind them they’re still human.
Even if no one else believes they are.

What if the monster under the bed wasn’t imaginary, just unnoticed?

In a world where monsters thrive on emotional pain, she’s just discovered the most dangerous truth of all:

It was real.
And it didn’t know she knew.

The Feeling of Shadows now live!
unstablefiction.substack.com/p/the-feelin...

He places the ring inside. It fits perfectly. Clicks it shut.

Behind him, a shelf groans. Something shifts.
He freezes.

Listens.

Then,

“Didn’t think anyone’d still be stupid enough to come here,” a voice says.

What happens next? What do you think so far?

#booksky

Instead, he sets down his pack and unzips it carefully. Gently, reverently, he pulls out a small velvet box, the kind you only ever saw in the hand of someone on one knee. Or on old movie screens, before.

The fabric’s ruined. The hinge a little rusted.
But it still opens.

#booksky

Not bones.
A mannequin’s hand.

He huffs out a shaky breath, then chuckles under it. Sheepish. Reaches in again, slower this time, and lifts the hand.

On one stiff finger: a ring.

Not flashy. Not gold. Just a dull silver band. Simple. Solid.

He stares at it a long time.

Doesn’t take it. Not yet.

Something rattles in the back.

He holds his breath. Reaches in, ready to be bitten. But still, hopeful.

Fingers brush something smooth. Cold.

Then, a hand.

He yanks back, heart kicking, and whips the flashlight down into the drawer.

#booksky

A jewelry counter looms at the back. Glass spiderwebbed. Dust thick on the surface. Undisturbed.

He crouches. Quiet. Deliberate. Like the right thing might vanish if he moves too fast.

Pulls open a drawer.

Empty.

Then a second one.

#booksky

Plastic bears with water-damaged fur. Mugs that say “#1 Dad” in faded print. Half a scented candle, crusted with mildew. It looks like a memorial now. A place people used to come to feel better about things.

He keeps going. Deeper into the building.
#booksky

Shelves stand crooked, half-collapsed, bloated with rot or picked clean. Floor tiles curl at the edges. A distant buzzing, maybe a dying battery. Maybe flies.

He moves from aisle to aisle, scanning labels. Not looking for food. Not medicine. Just... looking.

Then comes the gift section.

#booksky

He clicks on one of his prized possessions.
A flashlight.

The beam wobbles, then steadies, narrow and yellow, but strong. He exhales. A good battery is worth more than a knife these days.

Dust hangs in the air like slow-moving fog.

#booksky

Wrote this this morning.

The doors don’t work. Not anymore.

He slips through the gap sideways, one hand on the crowbar, the other brushing glass off his jacket sleeve. Trying to be silent. Somewhere above, a loose panel clatters in the wind.

The rest is still.

#booksky

Yes!!

Like a phrase that they always say to each other and the other responds the same. "I love you." "I love you more." Then later in the story you find out why.

Love it! I try to put these moments in.

What’s a small detail you love seeing in stories?

A quiet moment. A repeated phrase. A meaningful scar.
Not plot-moving, just human.

Writers: do you include them?
Readers: do you notice them?

#WritersOfBluesky #ReadersOfBluesky #AmWriting #StoryCraft #booksky

Same!! It all stems from wanting to entertain and feeling joy when they found it enjoyable!

What’s a single moment that made you fall in love with storytelling?

Not the first book you read.
The first time you felt the spark, the “I want to do this” moment.

I’ll share mine in the replies. What’s yours?

#WritersOfBluesky #AmWriting #StoryCraft #CreativeRoots #booksky

A little Tuesday #inspiration from @catandcatcomics.bsky.social. Carry on weaving words, super-writers!

#Writer #Author #IndieAuthor #BookSky #NewWorlds #Creative #RachelChurcherWriting

I feel this animation. Much of my family was behind me but it seemed everyone else in my life was this.

It's so great!! I love watching them grow.

Those are amazing! I have those too!

I know right?! It's amazing!

Writers of Bluesky, what part of the writing process makes you feel most like a storyteller?

The outlining? The late-night drafting? The weird moment you solve a plot hole in the shower?

Tell me your favorite part. I want to hear what lights you up.

#WritersOfBluesky #AmWriting #booksky

I think we are always our toughest critic though. At least I am mine.

The book cover, a fetus grows not knowing that it just might hold the fate of the world. Even an unborn child can start a revolution.

Thanks so much for the space!

In a future where birth requires permission, Nora and Jack finally earn their chance to start a family. The test results come back and something's wrong.

Genetic purity. Emotional stability. Government-approved life.

They are running for their unborn child's life

"Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.” ― Carl Sagan #booksky

Oh that's better.... I think? Do the small tasks have the same deadline? 😂🤣

What’s a storytelling skill you’re proud of developing?

Maybe it’s something you used to struggle with. Maybe it came naturally.

Mine? Dialogue that feels real, so it doesn't feel forced, still working on it.

Your turn. Let’s hype our strengths.

#AmWriting #WritingCommunity #StoryCraft
#boomsky

Children tend to do that 🤣