Well, it’s not a new genre in the world (as we’ll see, fanfiction has had it for ages, and I think a lot of original fiction has, too – this post ends with several book recs). But it’s a bit new to me, and possibly to you, dear reader. In fact, what follows may sound as if I’m trying to persuade you not to check it out. I would like you to read it – but only if it seems like the sort of thing you’d enjoy.
I have a short story, “Ransomed” (as well as a flash fiction, “Was and Wasn’t”) coming out in the After the Hurt anthology from the Whumpy Printing Press. In the words of the editor, “This anthology brings together stories of the aftermath: trauma, grief, and sometimes recovery. 50% of any profit raised in excess of our goal will be donated to the National Network to End Domestic Violence.”
After the Hurt is up for preorder on BackerKit until October 1. (BackerKit even has a by-the-second countdown tool so you can see how much time is left. The anthology already met its goal in the first 24 hours it was up, but has a few stretch goals.)
“Ransomed” and “Was and Wasn’t” are excerpted from a long project I’ve been working on in the background for several years. You may remember me referring to a duology here and there. This is it! A little over a year ago, I described it as “polyamorous hurt/comfort following a bisexual knight who’s been ransomed out of (metaphorical) hell and has to put himself back together, with the help of the commoner friend he’s falling in love with and the wife who has hesitated to consummate their arranged marriage for reasons of her own. There’s plenty of angst and plenty of sweetness to go around (and a fair bit of creative sex once the slow burn of the first book has ignited). It’s set in the fictional kingdoms neighboring Hartlorn, the setting of my Lady Elise Crayl series — and yes, Elise and Adam have roles as side characters.” In fact, Adam Tynae is a character in the “Ransomed” short story!
But these excerpts are neither romance nor erotica. After the Hurt overall may include some romantic relationships, but it’s primarily a whump anthology, as the name of its publisher says.
Okay, so. What’s whump? And why am I writing it?
Let’s start with something we already know I write and am a fan of: hurt/comfort. I appreciate it when characters go through a terrible time and find refuge and healing. While I like purely happy stories too, the “fluff” often feels more powerful when it’s contrasted with past pain. A hurt/comfort fan I know compares it to the coziness of a mug of hot tea when it’s raining outside: the tea isn’t as good when it’s sunny out. Hurt/comfort sometimes shares a lot of detail about the “hurt,” and sometimes less; both work for different stories, but knowing how a character has been hurt can offer context to their healing. I often find depictions of grief, trauma, and survival both cathartic and relatable in various ways.
And for when you have all or mostly “hurt” but not much “comfort”? Well, one word for that is whump.
Image source: dear-ao3 on Tumblr
The term “whump” originates in the Stargate SG-1 fandom, but it describes a tendency that goes back much longer – Joanna Russ, in her essay “Pornography by Women for Women, With Love,” discusses “hurt-comfort” in Star Trek fandom, where the genre was also known as “get ’em“!
Whump can have “comfort” elements and even romantic ones – the character surviving the terrible time, referred to as the “whumpee,” is often paired with a “caretaker.” (This pairing doesn’t need to be romantic, though – in “Ransomed,” Adam is a platonic caretaker/comforter to the young knight Konstantin. Who will have other non-platonic caretakers later on, out of the scope of this piece.) In online places like Tumblr, where it’s really hard to tag or search by terms with a / in them, hurt/comfort fans often find a place in whump. But whump is also its own thing, and it can be stronger and harsher than hurt/comfort. To oversimplify: I’m a romance writer coming to whump by way of hurt/comfort. I have companions in the whump community who are nearer thriller or horror fans. In fact, After the Hurt is in a “Horror and Thriller” event on BackerKit.
Whump offers many of its fans an adrenaline rush (often described as “whumperflies”) and catharsis, a chance to safely express fear and anger and sadness through fiction. Some may ask, is it a kink thing? It can be, but it isn’t necessarily. (I enjoy tied-up men menaced with knives as a kink thing and owe many awakenings to my youthful watching of Supernatural. Still, most of my own whump enjoyment isn’t erotic; it hits different emotional and psychological buttons and squeezes different parts of my chest. No judgement on those who feel otherwise!) Some people find whump therapeutic, and some simply find it entertaining. Horror novels and movies are very popular for a reason, or actually for many different reasons.
Still, this is a case where you’ll want to heed the content warnings, which the Whumpy Printing Press includes before each story in its anthologies. For “Ransomed” and “Was and Wasn’t,” content includes an abusive relationship, sexual assault, injury, needles, and imprisonment including solitary confinement. While I have long-term plans for a happy ending, the endings of both stories leave a lot unresolved (though they aren’t completely comfortless.)
If this isn’t your thing, no sweat! There are lots of other stories you might enjoy instead.
If you’re intrigued by the idea of whump – or if you already know you like it – this anthology and similar books, from the Whumpy Printing Press and elsewhere*, might have a place on your shelf.
*A longtime favorite whumpy romance of mine – nowadays I see it called “dark romance,” though while the themes are dark, the main couple aren’t enemies-to-lovers as many dark romances are** – is Tabitha McGowan’s The Tied Man, which I described to friends as “heroin grade wish-fulfillment for everyone who as a little girl dreamed of being a brave and talented young woman rescuing a handsome young man from his terrible plight.” I’m finally reading the sequel, The Tied Man Unbound, which follows the challenges of recovery afterward.
**Though if you want something similar with an enemies-to-lovers angle, the historical romance The Lily Brand by Sandra Schwab may be up your alley. Quick pitch: Troy, an English prisoner of the French during the Napoleonic wars, is dragged to a remote manor where a wealthy widow keeps a harem of men as playthings for her sadism–as well as her stepdaughter, Lillian, who receives Troy as a birthday gift. The “brand” of the title is literal. The two of them eventually escape, but the trauma and resentment that fester after their imprisonment mean it’s a long, painful process before they can heal and admit their passion for each other. Like Tied Man, I affectionately think of this one as “Good Domme/Bad Domme,” though my one wish is that the Good Dommes could be a tad more dommy; both are about brave young women rescuing gorgeous men from the cruel captivity of an older dominatrix-type. We could unpick the gender politics and perceptions of women with power in mainstream romance (or just-left-of-mainstream romance) but here in this post, we’ve come for whump There’s also Laura Kinsale’s medieval romance Shadowheart, which in addition to being an enemies-to-lovers story between two tormented protagonists, sent me into a delighted and nearly bewildered tizzy because it has actual femdom!
Some other whumpy romance stories include Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Ichidian League series and J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood. I loved Adriana Ander’s contemporary Under Her Skin and look forward to reading the other two books in the series. For milder hurt/comfort (though still plenty tragic in the tragic backstory department), I recommend Mary Balough’s Survivor’s Club series. Cat Sebastian and K.J. Charles both offer a lot of hurt/comfort elements in their historical romances. Meanwhile, for pure tragedy, Maria McCann’s As Meat Loves Salt is rich with historical detail, beautifully written, and heartbreaking.
