u/ChaoticStanley

Hello,

Just a reminder that these flairs are not to be used for stories. We're having to correct about an average of 10 stories a day because people are using these flairs incorrectly. Tried to make it clear by putting (advice) in the flair, but it hasn't worked.

These flairs are not to be misused. I understand some people want to use it for "immersion," but they aren't there just for visuals. The flairs have important organization functions and are searchable in the subreddit so any new writers can use them to sift through advice.

Any story using these flairs will be removed. Don't worry though. The user will just have to change the flair and we can reinstate them. The reason we remove instead of just changing ourselves is because it actually lets the user know instead of silently changing the flair without notice.

Thank you and keep up the great contributions to the subreddit!

—Mod Stanley

Hello everyone,

I know this is late and I'm sincerely sorry. I've been very much caught up with IRL events and the other mod has also been very busy. We will also be implementing a big change to the subreddit, so the August contest will have to be cancelled.

However, if any of you want to arrange a collaboration or your own fan run contest, go right ahead! Just modmail us so we can look over it.

Anywho, here are the links to vote for July Winner! They'll be announced along with a post regarding the upcoming subreddit update we are planning.

Centipede in Your Sinuses

I Traded My Life for Water

Drink the Warmth

Thank you,

-Mod Stanley

View Poll

Hello everyone!

This month's prompt contest is now closed! Thank you to everyone who posted submissions!

Please comment your favorite story (not your own) down below. The three finalists (based mostly on mod opinion but community feedback does factor in somewhat) will be announced June 27th in a poll where the community will vote. winner will be announced July 1st and their story will be pinned front and center at the top of the subreddit for the rest of the month until the next winner is chosen! Here are all the submissions for you guys to check out!

Whistling in the Wind

Bait

Dear Sandy

A Winter Tragedy

Freeze Your Brain

There's Something in the Cave at Steel-Side

The Fangs of Winter

Meat.

A Wolf in White Clothing

A Song Made of Pine

Crypts of Lieberkuhn

Klondike Bar

All We Wanted Was Mom's Tree

The Dead of Winter

Puppet

"Centipedes in Your Sinuses"

There's an infection about to spread in California

Winter's Disease

Cold Storage

30 Below

Murders at the Mountaintop

It was never about the Varish Mar.

Frostbite

Andy's Coming Home

The Seer, The Seeing, and the Seen

The Man

Fear of The Cold

The Retirement of David Clark

He Warned Us Not to Go There

The Red in the White

Savage

The Last Munro

Drink The Warmth

The Last Park Ranger

There are no more Polar bears in the arctic

Heater in The Glow

Port of Call

Abominable

Where have I been all this time

I traded my life for water

The Ember in the Cold

The Icy Temptrest -Miltonic Verse

The Sun Swellers

Hello,

Mod Stanley here! I wanted to make this post in hopes of getting more fan stories on the show. However, I also want to shine a spotlight on any underrated gems on r/talesfromthecreeps. Stories that haven't gotten the attention y'all think they deserve! Please drop the titles of your underrated favs below, preferably with direct links!

And please do not recommend your own stories! This isn't a self promotion thread.

Thank you!

Hello everyone. Sorry about the delay!

The winner of the final three poll is u/theAbominableMantis for their story "Butterflies Beneath My Skin" and special thanks to the runner ups u/ShatteredTestimony and u/NarrowDirector911! AbominableMantis's story will be pinned until the start of the next contest!

And now for the July Contest!

Subgenre: Any Genre
Other details: Any pov, feel free to rewrite prompt however you want as long as the central concept remains intact.

Prompt: Something changed and I could feel my heart start to slow. Despite the icy wind cutting into my skin, a warmth passed over my burning blue hands like a soothing balm. The snow no longer felt like a thousand needles pricking my flesh but a cloud-like cushion. My thoughts, as well as my vision, became muddled. Yet, there was still a noticeable voice in the back of my mind. Slightly muffled by the sirens in my head lulling me to a final slumber, but it was still there--still screaming at me to get help. It would come for them next. I knew that, yet... all I wanted to do was sleep.

Task: Write the leadup this finale

Rules/Requirements: Written submissions only. Submissions MUST have “[insert month] Submission” after the title. Otherwise, they will be not be entered. Limit submission to one post (Reddit’s character limit is 40K) but you can write more parts for yourself. Follow the rules of the subreddit. Winner of the previous month is not eligible for winning this month.

Submissions will be closed July 24th. I’ll make an announcement post and you guys can tell me what are your favorite stories (NO SELF PROMO). I’ll take feedback into account, but ultimately, me and the other mods will be the final judges–meaning that we will consider your picks but if we like a story better that went under the radar, we’ll most likely go with that. Just an example of what I mean. On July 29th, we’ll announce the top three and that’s when you guys vote. August1st is when I’ll announce the winner and the next challenge!

Hello, everyone! It is Mod Stanley's turn to pick the theme and run this month's contest!

The theme this month is going to be a celebration of the channel hitting 1 million subscribers! The art must include the boys and the announcement of the 1 million subscribers. You can include any characters, bits or settings you want as well.

**Rules:**

1. **Use the art contest flair.** If you use the regular "Fanart" flair, it is not eligible for submission

2. **No pre-existing submissions.** Do not re-post any art you've already submitted to the subreddit.

3. **Last month's winner is not eligible for winning this month.**

**The submission with the most upvotes win!**

Good luck!

Hello, everyone!

I'll try to keep this as short as I possibly can to not take up too much of your time. For those of you who don't recognize my username, a little over a year ago, I was honored enough to be contacted by Harry to have Isaiah and Hunter read my story "My Crew and I are Stuck Aboard an Abandoned Ship" on the podcast. I'll be completely honest, when I found out something of mine was going to be read by them, and seen by hundreds of thousands, potentially millions of people, it would be an understatement to say I was nervous.

As much as I'd like to make writing a career, I was, and still am only an amateur. Not to mention I already, even as some people claimed to have liked it when narrated on other YouTube channels, was slightly unhappy with being forced to compromise my vision for the story in order to fit the format that was required to post it on a certain subreddit that I will not name directly. But even still, I felt proud of my work.

So, when the episode aired, I was an amalgamation of excited, and a bundle of nerves. I watched them read through it, stoked when I saw they seemed to like it. And then, towards the end of the story, something happened that, at the time, was the most stinging sensation a writer can experience, but in the end, was one of the best things to happen to me.

The guys critiqued my work.

Even as I laughed at their jokes and their lines, I fully admit, part of me didn't exactly take it well. After all, to most writers, their creations are special, things that parts of yourselves embedded into them. When I was younger, I was told that the first time you have your work properly critiqued, it would be the hardest thing to experience, simply because of your own biases, believing that it is perfect as is. Well, they were not wrong.

I was faced with the reality of my own shortcomings; repetitive verbage (The infamous "Chill up the spine and scream" meme is likely going to forever be part of Creepcast lore), slow, slogging plot at times, what one other YouTuber dubbed "The Sccoby-Doo Effect", glaring plot holes, and the unsatisfying ending.

I didn't really take it well, as ashamed as I am to say it.

I ended up backing away from writing after that, especially after making the mistake of looking at the YouTube comments and seeing some people mercilessly tearing into the story (Rightfully so, in some cases, in hindsight). I think I put out only two stories after that, and then stopped entirely. For roughly close to a year, I simply went about my life with no desire to return to writing. I still watched Creepcast, though, still also let narrators narrate some of my older stories.

Then, 2026 rolled around. Something began stirring inside of me. The desire to write again.

I began simply writing stories for myself. Ones that are bad, and will never see the light of day, as a way to get over my self imposed writer's block, and my flabby creative muscles. Then, about three months ago, I posted my first story to Tales From the Creeps. It was something similar to the stories I'd written years ago, the same format. I took one look at it, and wasn't happy. It was the same format that led me to where I'd ended up. I wasn't writing what I wanted to. For a moment, I thought about giving up.

Then, I remembered Isaiah's praise at the end of my episode.

"You certainly have a talent as an author; Keep working at it, and keep making stories." To which Hunter agreed, saying that's all you can do.

That decided it for me. I decided right then and there, "The hell with it." Even if I felt sure that the style of writing I truly like and enjoy wouldn't go well on Reddit, I didn't care. I decided I no longer wanted to write things in a style I didn't enjoy, just because it was what certain subreddits had popularized. I wanted to write things I, as a reader, would love to read myself, influenced by writers I've always loved like Stephen King, Shirley Jackson, Richard Matheson, Robert Aickman and others, and with the same style or prose and verbage I'd grown up reading. I wrote my first story in that style, a story ironically called First. I crossed my fingers and posted it.

I never expected what would come next.

People liked it. Praise, and even still, a little constructive criticism began to roll in. I wasn't getting the massive amount of upvotes I had chasing the trends or posting to the big places, but I was getting far more positive traction than I had before, short of my most upvoted older stories. And you know what? It felt good. In fact, it felt great. And so, buoyed by that confidence, I wrote my second story in that style. And again, people really liked it. It even got a shout out for how good it was. I even had a highly respected member of Tales From the Creeps state they'd like the guys to cover one of my new stories. And finally, coming to now, I wrote and posted my newest story so far.

And again, it got a huge amount of positive reception and support, telling me it was great and to keep going. As of writing this, I'm already working on preparing to write my next story. I can't say I'm fully back yet, that'll take time. Rome wasn't built in a day, and you don't recover from a year of no writing immediately. But, I'm actually working, and writing what I feel I've always wanted to.

I've improved my craft, making sure not to make the same mistakes I have before with vocabulary, pacing, character development or story structure. And for that, it feels rewarding beyond description.

And none of that would have happened, if it hadn't been for Isaiah, Hunter, and yeah, even Harry, since he was the one who found my story.

If they hadn't read, critiqued, and been brutally honest about my work, if they'd only been gentle and mentioned the parts they did like, right now I either wouldn't be writing again. Or worse. I would still be writing, but stuck in the rut I had been a year to three years ago. I would still be writing mediocre stories that my heart wasn't fully invested in, compromising the visions of my stories to fit arbitrary constraints, and perhaps most importantly, I would still be repeating every mistake I had before, simply because I would have believed that I was writing at my best, and I didn't need to improve. I would have eventually published work that was mediocre at best, and it would have been deader than disco.

Isaiah, Hunter, Harry? I'm not sure if you'll ever see this. But, if you do, from the bottom of my heart. I just wanted to thank you. And, by extension, the fans of Creepcast. You guys actually opened my eyes to my mistakes as a writer, acted similarly to the person in someone's life who isn't cruel, but is going to be bluntly honest with you and tell you where your weaknesses are, where you screw up. You've made me a better writer, and also a happier one. And for that, I will eternally appreciate it.

Merci Beaucoup, guys. Have a great week, and thanks for reading all this.

Hello,

Mod Stanley here. We have an important announcement. We have pulled the "Narrated" flair and will not be allowing people to post about their story getting narrated.

If you browse the tag (which will always still be searchable regardless of deactivation) you'll see a lot of channels being promoted that utilize AI thumbnails. Some even use AI narration. As you know, we have a firm anti-AI stance and it always felt sort of sleazy and hypocritical to allow people to promote channels using AI.

Now, obviously users aren't doing that intentionally. We know you all just wanted to proudly show off your story being narrated as it is a big achievement. However, we just don't want to risk promoting AI content in any way and every other post was just AI art over and over. So, we've decided to just pull the tag as it was overrun with that content and we don't want to be promoting that at all on the main feed like that. The AI art issue isn't going away anytime soon. So many creepypasta reading channels are utilizing it and it's a shame to see.

We do want to provide you all with ways to compromise on this ruling. You can go back and add a link in the comments or edit it in the actual story that was narrated. Or on your next upload, you can add a link there letting users know one of your previous stories was narrated.

We will also still be allowing people to ask for stories to be submitted for readings too. That's all fine and dandy as it's a contribution to the community and an opportunity for those writers. Those who want to ask for submissions may do so under the "Offering Help" flair as they've done before.

We're sorry about this and if the AI art ever stops being used (although we doubt it unfortunately) we'll happily put the flair back up. We just don't want to allow any opportunities for AI art to be promoted front and center on the main feed and this flair was one of them.

Thank you,

Mod Stanley, Mod Devi

Thank you for the fun submissions! It was a great time, as usual, reading through them! Also, wishing y'all one last Happy Pride before the month ends 💚

View Poll

Hello everyone!

This month's prompt contest is now closed! Thank you to everyone who posted submissions!

Please comment your favorite story (not your own) down below. The three finalists (based mostly on mod opinion but community feedback does factor in somewhat) will be announced June 27h in a poll where the community will vote. winner will be announced July 1st and their story will be pinned front and center at the top of the subreddit for the rest of the month until the next winner is chosen! Here are all the submissions for you guys to check out!

Fire In The Skies Over West Virginia

Sour

"H-Hello"

Fracture

A Shadow's a Heavy Burden

The Atomic Shadow

Cold, Cold Heart

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Butterflies Beneath My Skin

Everything Beth Left Behind

Holding Room

That's Not My face

Divided Soul

Same and Amie

The Seam

Voicemail

Jesus Remembers

How To Survive Your First Day of Camp

The Impersonation of Venus

She Fell in Love With the Voice Behind the Door

Extracurricular Erasure

Livin' Libido Loca

I Haven't Seen My Parents Since Junior Year

Bitter Beings

Bears

Found Soul

Casket Echoes

The Cubicle Shadow

Thank you to everyone who submitted a story for the May contest!

So, the winner of the final three poll is u/TheLastWhiteKid for their story "Signal" and special thanks to the runner ups u/OffKilterFilter and u/FoggyGlassEye! TheLastWhiteKid's story will be pinned for the entire month.

And now for the June Contest!

Subgenre: Any Horror + Queer Horror (Happy Pride lol)
Other details: Any POV

Prompt: (Thank you to TheLastWhiteKid for the prompt) Shadow under the door: Wait. Under the door, sliding across the seam. The light doesn't catch on the floor like that... Did a light burn out? No that... that's a shadow... someone's shadow! How long has it been there? Couldn't have been that long, but I just noticed... Who are they? Why are they just standing there? Whether in a closet, bathroom, laboratory, a bedroom at a college party, your character(s) notice the lingering shadow under the door. What is it? A perverted peeping-Tom? A die-hard stalker? An infected police officer? An axe murdering chimpanzee? Whatever it is, it must be revealed and the story must include LGBTQ+ characters for the month of June.

Rules/Requirements: Written submissions only. Submissions MUST have “[insert month] Submission” after the title. Otherwise, they will be not be entered. Limit submission to one post (Reddit’s character limit is 40K) but you can write more parts for yourself. Follow the rules of the subreddit. Winner of the previous month is not eligible for winning this month.

Submissions will be closed June 14th. I’ll make an announcement post and you guys can tell me what are your favorite stories (NO SELF PROMO). I’ll take feedback into account, but ultimately, me and the other mods will be the final judges–meaning that we will consider your picks but if we like a story better that went under the radar, we’ll most likely go with that. Just an example of what I mean. On June 27th, we’ll announce the top three and that’s when you guys vote. July 1st is when I’ll announce the winner and the next challenge!

​

Let’s take a trip this week and discover the mysteries that lie in the town of Point Pine.

Official Discussion Thread for this week Creep Cast Episode. Please enjoy.

Hello, everyone! We just added a new rule to the sub and thought it'd be best to make a PSA with it as it's very important. (Thought it'd be a no brainer but guess not)

WE DO NOT TOLERATE PLAGIARISM IN THIS SUBREDDIT. Anyone caught plagiarizing will be permanently banned. No second chances.

Now, I want to be clear, this does not apply to having similar concepts or ideas. No idea is 100% original and when it comes to writing in general (but especially amateur horror stories), there will obviously be commonly used tropes, themes, all that jazz. And in a space filled with new writers and constant submissions, some stories will be similar to others. Its just inevitable.

This is in regards to just lazily ripping off other users/authors. Stealing text, blatantly copying a story beat for beat, etc.

So, if you see a story and feel like it is plagiarizing you or another author, PLEASE DO NOT PUBLICLY CALL THEM OUT. I cannot stress this enough. Every single time a public call out happens of another user, it just ends up creating drama that pulls focus away from the actual issue. Especially if the accusations end up false so now a user has been witch hunted for no reason.

Please just report the story to the moderators with any proof you can provide.

Also included in the new rule, is a section about reposts. While not an outright bannable offense, any stories that are just reposted from other websites/subreddits/etc. will be removed. Even if credit is given, even if the original author gives permission. If the original author wanted to post here, then they would.

And while not a new rule, this is a reminder to REPORT ANY GENERATIVE AI MATERIAL! Again, please do not call them out. It just makes investigating them even harder. Use the report function and the story will be removed until the author proves otherwise.

Thank you

Hello,

As I'm sure some of you have noticed, we've received a major influx of new users and have ran into similar issues over and over again in modmail. So, just making a PSA for all new users on this sub and anyone else who is unaware of this information.

If your post has been removed with a message "this post has been removed by Reddit's filters" then that means the automated moderator flagged it. Normally they only flag low karma accounts to make sure it's not a spam bot or troll, but sometimes it fucked up and flags a random user.

When this happens the post is sent to a queue for manual review and approval by a moderator. We check the queue multiple times a day so just give it a few hours if this happens. By then, one of us will have come around to check the queue.

Please do not spam your post over and over. This will only result in more work for us and Reddit flagging your account as a spammer, resulting in a possible shadow ban. Also, do not privately DM any of the mods. We ignore any and all private DMs from users regarding subreddit issues.

Please modmail only if you have a concern! If you don't know what modmail is... honestly just Google it. You'll get a more comprehensive and faster answer. But in short, modmail appears as sort of like an email chain on our end and all the mods can see it. Whereas private DMs are just that, a private DM that only can be seen by that one person.

Another reminder, PLEASE BREAK UP POSTS BY 24HRS. I know to some this seems unfair, but it's to prevent people from spamming the feed with their 10 part series and burying other stories.

Thank you and happy writing!

Might as well ask y'all since you guys have been so helpful with each other. Love to see that.

But I have an issue with maintaining motivation. I'll have the motivation to write when I'm at work or when I'm in bed at 2am. But when I actually sit down to start writing, I suddenly lose all motivation. Like, I suddenly dread writing and feel so lazy in the moment despite a part of me really wanting to write. I have ADHD and so I'll try to pop an Adderall, but obviously pills don't fix everything. It's also a mind battle too which is the part I need help with.

If anyone has tips or tricks, I'd love to hear it. Thank you