Aliona Pires Diz

The sun blazes fiercely. Squinting, I step outside to close the shutters - that light stabs straight into the monitors.
I slip back into the half-dark, power up the computer. My ancestors are cave dwellers, creatures of the dark. I open the text. Why go outside, when here I travel so much farther?

The 100-word Microfiction Challenge — nycmidnight The 100-word Microfiction Challenge is an international creative writing competition that challenges participants to create very short stories based on genre, action, and word assignments in just 24 h...

Up for a tiny writing challenge? The 7th annual 100-word Microfiction Challenge by @nycmidnight.bsky.social kicks off on March 20th! Learn more at nycmidnight.com/100

Okay, I’ve submitted a short story for the first round of the contest.
Not sure what pushed me to apply — I’d only recently written a few flash fiction pieces for a marathon, and I guess I just wanted to keep going.

If it doesn’t work out, I’ll still have a story I’m happy with.

The Short Story Challenge — nycmidnight The Short Story Challenge is an annual creative writing competition that challenges writers around the world to create short stories based on genre, subject, and character assignments in as little as ...

Up for a writing challenge? Join me in the 20th annual Short Story Challenge by @nycmidnight.bsky.social on January 23rd! Learn more at nycmidnight.com/ssc

When BL Gets It Right — and When It Doesn’t A deep-dive into the emotional logic of BL — what makes it work, and what makes even the most loyal reader give up halfway.

new post in my rat club - about #blnovells
#bookreview #writersky

open.substack.com/pub/alionapi...

Please, let me further, past what’s safe to name;
admit me inward, where the borders flame—
to touch each scratch, each bleeding seam in you,
as deep as hurt, as close as hurt can do.

#verse #poem

I got carried away with writing a new story, so I’ve been a bit off the radar. It feels like the antidepressants are finally doing their job, and I can be at least a little creative again!

#amwriting #writesky

For three days now I’ve been brewing plots in my head —though usually ideas for short stories come quickly. I think I’ve finally stumbled onto something that might be interesting. It’s terribly hard to scare others—and to scare myself—without slipping into cardboard tropes and clichés...
#amwriting

I decided to explore the theme of horror. I watch so many horror films and true crime, but coming up with a truly disturbing story is difficult for me. I tend to empathize with what’s supposed to be frightening. It’s hard to be afraid of a demon once you know its thoughts and vulnerabilities...

Today in #wipsnips one of my favorite beasts🥰
From one of my recent short stories.
#writingcommunity #amwriting #wordbuilding #fantasyauthor #writesky

As for descriptions, including the highly specific ones—my icon is Janet Fitch. What she does in White Oleander makes me want to reread it forever, and then try literally everything she mentions.
#summerofstory #bookrecomendations

Missed couple of days but here I am!
#wipsnips with my favorite boys🥰

Raise the flags of the motherland!… From the fire escape came the measured, orderly, staccato beat of footsteps. Boots. Heavy, sturdy boots—the kind the Motherland issued to soldiers and police. These days, no one could mistake that sound. Its orderliness and inevitability were meant to strike fear in wrongdoers and pride in law-abiding citizens. I remembered it from childhood—Victory Day parades, ranks of mirror-bright boots coming down hard on warm asphalt—Wham! Wham!—echo snapping off the walls, mingling with balloons and the triumphant blare of trumpets beneath streaming flags… And now I—who’d never done anything worse than paint on a wall—felt my heart pounding in my throat to that same rhythm, threatening to leap out. "They won’t have me," flashed through my mind—a desperate, defiant thought, as if I were about to fight them. The brave guardians of order, packed into black armored suits, their faces hidden behind impenetrable helmets. Those helmets made each of them look like faceless terracotta warriors, buried with their emperor in some distant antiquity. And the sound of their steps was just as heavy, inevitable, as if each of them were made of stone…

hey, my story took third place in a writing competition on @writersblockds.bsky.social
shared third, so it kinda feels like fourth.
joy is sharing the place with a bit of disappointment.
still, proud of the piece and grateful it resonated with readers.

#jupelwrites #WritingContest #AmWriting

A Hare in the Woods I crept up to the hut early in the morning, slipping like a shadow past the fishnets—still damp, hanging from wooden stakes. A startled cat arched its back, dropped a half-eaten fish tail, and darted under the house to hide. Look at him, all skittish! As if he’s any better—black as soot himself…The old planks of the porch groaned under the pointed hooves, and I, catching myself, quickly pulled on the boots strapped to my belt. I’d better check on her, then sweep the path out front with a broom. No sense leaving tracks behind. Decree 772-A People crowded nearly the entire length of Imperial Avenue, the widest and longest street in Teak-An, the proud capital of the Confederation of Allied Regions Naitheren.The festively dressed crowd laughed, chattered, danced, and celebrated with abandon.A young boy, perched on his father’s shoulders could see far into the distance, taking in the full splendor of the parade.His father’s firm hands held him securely by the knees, so he wasn’t afraid of falling.Beside them walked his mother, cheerful and radiant in a flowing sky-blue dress.

This week for the #reedsy prompts I wrote two stories. They turned out quite different, but in both I’m playing around with the theme of #horror. Though so far it never gets past the foreplay stage. You can read them on my page!
#amwriting #shortstory

blog.reedsy.com/creative-wri...

Because what literally happened to me was this: I let a guy into the novell — and he completely took it over. Unexpected af.
He turned out to be way too good to sideline, so I just let him spiral together with the poor MC.

Have you ever created a character who ended up completely reshaping the plot you had originally planned?
What did you do — did you follow where the character led, or did you "make" them do what needed?
what’s easier: changing the plot, or a character who’s already too willful?
#writersprompt

Tried Shadow and Bone because everyone raved about it.
I made it to page 7 and went to die in the pit. As a Russian-speaking writer… Not sure what hurt more: misspelled Russian words — or what she did with them.
People say it gets better by the second book.. should i give it a chance?
#amreading

True story, that's how I burned out haha

happily ever after 🥰

One thing about my writing — someone’s always quoting poetry.
It might be a romantic haiku, a filthy folk rhyme, or a lullaby,
but if the moment allows it, you can be sure a verse will slip in.

I’m no great poet, so the verses are almost always short —
but I’m helpless to stop myself.
#AuthorSky

I’ve written an entire world for my novell, layered thick with legends, literature, saints and their lives, folk tales and old ballads.
Much of it deserves at least a short story of its own.
It’s not exactly shelved away for “someday” — I do plan to write it all.
Unless I die first.

Mor is the master of keeping a straight face —
so when even he can’t, I know something’s really off.

#wipsnips #writesky #wtiterscommunity #amwriting #writingprocess

Rat Club#1: How Not to Get Hit in the Face with a Plot Twist A writer’s notebook on reading, noticing, and trying not to judge (too hard).

So I’ve started a little experiment: a rat’s-eye view on common pitfalls in short fiction.
Just curious notes from a writer learning out loud.
#writingcraft #writingprocess #writingmistakes #jupelwrites #writingtips #substackwriters #writingblog

First entry is up:
substack.com/@alionapires...

not to critique. NOT to critique.
Freud would be proud.
The rat brain slips out sometimes.

As a reader, I spotted a few recurring stumbles-ones I’d likely miss in my own writing. That’s what makes it so terrifying.
I’ll share a few thoughts soon-to critique, but to think aloud, in case something clicks for you too.
If you're curious what rats like me dig up-stay tuned.
#authorstruggles

I’ve been digging through the #reedsy short story pool lately.
Writers love being read, but don’t always read each other. Still, that ever-refreshing stack holds lessons in what works… and what doesn’t quite.
#ratsdiary #writingcraft #amreading #amwriting

Oh, that’s easy! Mo Xiang Tong Xiu made me reconsider whether my intrigues were layered enough. And overall, her vivid, folklore-rich, deeply internal prose made me reread my draft for the hundredth time and deepen what had seemed like shallow waters. I adore her!
#writinginspiration #LoreOutLoud

Even if my writing isn’t perfect today, and it feels like no one but me needs it — they still matter to me. That’s reason enough to keep writing.

This week’s plans: working through burnout, step by step. It once spread from drawing to writing-that’s the risk of creative work. Push too hard, and the spark goes quiet. But I’m still here, and writing again, even a little, feels like a good sign.
#writingmotivation #creativeprocess #writerslife

Laurent is a classic bastard who blazes past us like a comet — but I kind of like him, so I generously granted him a childhood trauma to make him even more endearing. The sacred right of an author!

#wipsnips #writingprocess #characterbuilding #indieauthors #writerscommunity #writesky

I’m still far from that level, since I keep finding ways to improve even after three reading and editing passes - so I’ve still got a lot to learn on this path :) Learning how to let a text go, and not torture it with endless edits, is also a skill I need to master!