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Ghoulish Gang AU

Summary ~

Savannah Caston moved to Amity Park in Middle school where she became close friends with Danny Fenton. Years of being friends has landed them in high school but after a freak accident in Danny's parents' basement, their entire friend group lives changed.

Please be aware that this is an AU of the Danny Phantom fandom where witchcraft and magic exists and is tied directly to the ghostly world.

Also while alot of the myths, legends, folklore and entities that I will be writing about are real in specific cultures, I will provide as much actual folklore as I can in my fiction but please be reminded that the representation of these myths, folklore, etc is still fictional inside this work and should not be taken for fact.

Author's Note ~

I'll be honest when I say I haven't written in over like 7 years but am trying real hard to get back into it because its something I love !! If anyone is willing to offer constructive criticism it would be appreciated.

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Chapter One - Basement Wailers

Savannah's (Sav) POV:

“Guys it’s fine. My parents don’t even suspect a thing!” Danny chimed, his locker door swiftly opening as a stockpile of papers and textbooks topple free.

“Okay, maybe your parents, don’t but Jazz will sooner or later and you can’t deny that your sister isn’t also a genius,” I was trying to explain to my best friend, Danny, that while we were all very happy he’s enjoying his new ghastly powers, they were still very much unstable.

“Sav is right, you know? Last week you nearly took out the McDonalds sign while fighting. If you really wanna do this ghost thing then you need to train.” Our other friend, Sam, gives him a knowing look as Danny sheepishly tries to just return to picking up the mountain of spilled notes.

“You guys are right but how am I supposed to even train? It wouldn’t exactly be socially acceptable to fly around as a ghost punching things.” Danny groaned as he began putting all spilled junk back into his locker, a loud thud sounds out as everything was once again trapped back inside, inevitably going to cause the same issues when he opens it next.

“When have we ever been known to be socially acceptable?” I deadpan stare at him sarcastically, as he takes a look between all of us.

We really were a rag tag group of friends. Mostly formed on the base aspect of a general lack of want or willingness to abide by social normatives.

First we had Samantha, though she’ll yell if you call her that. Sam calls herself an ultra recyclo vegetarian. She’s a super passionate activist who hasn’t given a fuck her whole life. Despite her all black and purple outfits, she's proven to be actually someone very sweet.

Next up there's Tucker, our own personal super nerd. A boy driven off meat, electronics, and the power of copious amounts of caffeine, You’re having trouble with your laptop? Ask Tucker, he’ll help and get you a free download link to the newest movies. Nothing exists in the online world that Tucker can’t access. A klutz in person, he wears his heart on his sleeve. 

Then we have Danny. Danny has been my best friend since middle school. We met before he became this new Danny. Deemed a social outcast mainly because he is a “skinny wimpy man” (if you ask Dash). I’ve asked Danny if it’s something that bothers him but he says not really. Well now he exists half boy and half ghost after the accident. Danny now uses these new rare powers to help keep us, his loved ones and Amity Park safe.

Finally I guess there's me; I prefer being alone. I was originally raised deep in the heart of the Bakkrak forest, learning the practices of my Forest witch ancestors before being sent off to live with my aunt in order to learn how to mingle with more normal people. My aunt says I’ve been doing well but I just don’t see it. People tell me my “social disregard and eerie behaviors” make me unapproachable. 

Together we make up the team known as Ghoul Gang, Danny was of course our hero, he did most of the major fighting when we came across other ghosts. 

Tucker is in charge of tracking and locating ghosts, as well as capturing the ghosts in the Fenton thermos.

Sam is in charge of ghostly research as well as making sure Danny’s parents stay distracted when we are in the midst of a battle.

My job is on the magical side of things; being a witch has proven to be extremely beneficial in our ghostly duties. I make sure anything magical gets taken care of and disposed of, as well as helping to mend to any injuries.

As we’re walking to our next glass, blue vapor starts seeping out of Danny’s mouth. We all pause for a second, waiting for whatever is to come next.

“Something is here...” Danny whispers, the blue smoke still oozing from his mouth. 

We all pause in the now empty hallway. The bell had rung already and everyone had made their way to class. 

The blue smoke continued flowing from Danny’s mouth, as he gave out directions to the rest of us.

“Tucker, go search the school and see if you can find anything. Make sure you grab the Fenton thermos. Sam I want you to make a distraction. We can’t have everyone in the school with whatever we may be dealing with. Sav, I’m gonna need you with me till we find out what we are up against.”

We all gave a quick nod and I watched as my two other friends scurried off. I turned to Danny and gave him a puzzled look. His face contorts into one of pain and confusion as he grabs my hand, leading me into a nearby broom closet.

“Woah Danny, what’s going on?”  

“Sav, this isn’t good. Whatever it is, it’s not good and it’s not from here.” Danny whispered, his breath fanned across my face, the blue vapor dancing across my cheeks causing me to shiver from the chilliness.  

I was in the middle of agreeing with him when a loud chime came from my back pocket. It had to have been the group chat.

“Tucker says the basement door is covered in some sort of strange lettering...hold on a photo is loading.” I read out loud for Danny as a picture waited to download. 

“Oh gods no…no that can’t be…” I softly whisper to myself once I see what the doors look like.Danny tried to take a peek over my screen but I quickly shoved my phone back into my pocket and grabbed his arm, dragging him behind me as we made our way over towards my lockers.

“Wait! Savannah what’s going on? What did you see?” Danny tried to tug his arm free but I held him with an iron grip. My brain was too focused on the task at hand; getting us to my locker before anything major happened.

“Bad bad things, a new portal opened. There will be ghosts and worse if we don't handle this now. I need my book of shadows now!” I explained choppily, tearing into my locker. Books and papers flew as I searched for the one thing that would be able to help us. 

My hands clasped around the small green pleather journal and I shoved it into my back pocket for keeping. Hurriedly I threw all the papers and books back in before grabbing Danny and wheeling us both off to the basement doors. 

I booked it down the hall, taking sharp turns and nearly running into several other students and faculty members who were still milling around or skipping class. Danny had chosen to go ghost incase we needed him immediately so while I ran down the halls like a lunatic, he floated above me, invisible to the naked eye.

Seeing Tucker staring at the basement doors; the normally pale blue doors were now shining a bright green with odd ancient symbols scattered around glowing an eerie shade of purple.

“Oh gods, this isn’t good.” I thought I had whispered to myself but Tucker looked at me quizzically; before I could explain though, the double doors began shaking violently. 

As the door began threatening to fly on its hinges, these skull piercing wails echoed from behind. Instinctively my hands flew to my ears as I crumbled to the ground. I could feel these screams of horror just rattling my bones. 

The doors shaking grew more violent as the wails grew louder and harsher, like whoever or whatever was incredibly distraught. Until eventually the doors come flying off their hinges towards us. Four incredibly long haired women in white came flying out from behind the doors, their wails following them into the distance.

“Sav! Tucker! Get back!” Danny yelled just as the doors finally blew wide open.

Danny had turned the three of us intangible just as the door from the right would’ve smashed into all three of us, effectively making us pancakes.

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Trying to get the first chapter of this fic to a standard I'm happy with before I post it but it's taking several hundred revisions and AAAaaaahhh!!!

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"You could've killed me!"

"Yeah but I didn't, cmon now keep up!!"

"...Im going to get you back for this..."

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I finally managed to make them a Character File not at all motivated by the Artfight

M-055 (Moss) they/them

Discontinued war android in a post-apocalyptic setting (overgrown)

They woke up many years in the future after a broken robot (called B33-t) found them and replaced their photosynthetic battery cell. M-055 fixed him in exchange (they’re good at mechanical repairs) and they’re been traveling together ever since. M-055 protect them from dangers and B33-t takes care of their biological side (he’s good at cooking, gardening and driving, as domestic robot)

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THE WAY THIS CHARACTER IS RUINING MY LIFE AND THEY’RE NOT EVEN REAL. I MADE THEM UP. THEY LIVE IN MY BRAIN AND PAY NO RENT

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The writing gods possessed my body the other day but i started a Danny Phantom Au fic and wrote 2,000 words straight no break

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i write because i love it. i also write because i’m a little bit mentally unwell and the characters in my head won’t stop talking. balance.

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Dialogue Tags Aren’t the Problem, Your Dialogue Rhythm Is

friendly reminder that the word “said” did not kill your scene.

you don’t need to replace every line of dialogue with “he rasped” or “she intoned” or “they gasped breathlessly” (please no). your dialogue is not dying because of your tags. it’s dying because the rhythm is off.

👀 let me explain:

✨ what is dialogue rhythm?

it’s the flow of speech between characters. the beats. the pacing. the way words bounce, interrupt, cut off, trail, clash. it’s less about the words themselves and more about the energy they carry.

dialogue rhythm is what makes two people arguing feel like a boxing match, or a confession feel like a car crash. it’s how you keep tension in the room. if your rhythm sucks, no amount of fancy tags is gonna save you.

🔪 signs your dialogue rhythm is off:

every character is speaking in full, polished sentences like it’s a staged play

nobody ever interrupts, stammers, hesitates, or doubles back

the emotional pace stays flat, even in high-stakes scenes

all the action beats are “he nodded” “she smiled” “they looked at her” over and over

you read it out loud and it feels like a middle school skit

👂 here’s how to fix it:

Read your dialogue out loud. Like, actually out loud. if it sounds robotic, it is robotic. listen for places where people would realistically pause, ramble, get cut off, or trail off. insert those beats. add the mess.

Use white space and formatting to control speed. short lines = fast pace. long blocks = slow burn. a line break right before someone says something unhinged? elite move. example: “You really think I’d betray you?” Pause. “You already did.”

Cut 30% of your dialogue. if you can remove the line and nothing breaks, it was filler. chop chop. more silence = more tension. not every reply needs a full answer.

Let action interrupt speech. don’t wait for the character to finish talking before you show what they’re doing. intercut body language or physical actions mid-line. it mimics how people actually talk. like this: “Don’t touch that—” she lunged forward, grabbing his wrist. “���you don’t know what it is.”

Stop overexplaining with tags. you don’t need to say “she shouted angrily” if the line is literally “GET OUT.” trust the line. if the dialogue’s strong, “said” works just fine. if the dialogue’s weak, “murmured” won’t save it.

🛑 but what about dialogue tags?

use them! but treat them like punctuation, not prose. the goal is clarity, not ✨flair✨. you want the reader to know who’s speaking without noticing the machinery.

“Said” is invisible. “Snarled” is a spice. Use spices sparingly.

better yet: mix tags with beats to keep rhythm tight. example:

BAD: “I hate you,” he said angrily. “I hate you,” she snapped back.

BETTER: “I hate you,” he said, jaw clenched. She didn’t even blink. “Good. Then we’re even.”

💡 TL;DR: your scene doesn’t need fancy tags. it needs movement. conflict. silence. interruptions. character-specific tone. you fix that by fixing the rhythm, not the verbs.

go back to your WIP, open your messiest conversation scene, and test it. read it aloud. break it up. cut what drags. add one beat of silence. give someone a half-finished sentence and a reason to storm out.

watch how fast it starts to breathe.

P.S. I made a free mini eBook about the 5 biggest mistakes writers make in the first 10 pages 👀 you can grab it here for FREE:

🕯️ download the pack & write something cursed:

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I can come up with all the settings and world building, I can design and flesh out the characters, I can even figure out the smaller plot holes, but as soon as it comes to the major plot line its like all the writing gremlins in my head just stop working

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He's my little brain bastard and I will throw him through as much emotional turmoil as I want!!

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Daily prompt #72: ≽^• ˕ • ྀི≼

A story follows a couple as they slowly fall out of love. Their marriage is like a death, and they both experience the five stages of grief, with no clue where it all went wrong.

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"We're lost aren't we?"

"Would I ever let you get lost?"

"You lost me in the grocery store on Wednesday.."

"Well that was different!"

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Picking up writing means I can finally take the skrungly bastards I've created in my head and do something with them.

Playing house inside my head for so long, it's time they get their own story.

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"I really did'nt expect it to go that way-"

"How else do you expect something like this to go?"

"I dunno, less- sticky I guess?"

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Nothing affects you more than Death. It’s the ultimate punch to the gut that life can give you. Nobody ever really expects Death, it just slithers on up and steals your days away.

Sometimes it’s a slow and agonizing theft; it drags on and you never know when the time comes that you don't wake up the next morning. Other times Death is quick, reaching its claws out to steal you into the shadows before you can ever guess.

Death is intangible yet everyone will feel it. If we all knew when we would die then we would try to stop it from happening but Death does not play when it comes to his job.

Death had snuck up on me; reaching his claws out and ripping me from the life that I was still planning on living.

"IM TOO YOUNG FOR THIS!" I scream as the cloaked figure continues to drag me away from my own body lying in the street.

Death was never meant to find me this early.