#the problem is that both High Fantasy WIP and Divinity WIP are going to be *very* hard to write from a technical standpoint

[memento-morri-writes]

Dream goal is make some progress (any progress, honestly) on a real, true wip that I'm writing completely from scratch. Ideally it would be Divinity WIP, or maybe High Fantasy WIP (they take place in the same world, I'm pretty sure), but at this point I'll take literally anything. As much as I adore my dnd writing, I miss writing a story that is completely 100% my own.

But I really am going to have my work cut out for me. Divinity WIP is currently just a big pile of concepts and themes with no plot or developed characters, and High Fantasy WIP is literally just vibes. I don't even have the faintest idea what kind of characters I want, not to mention the complete and utter lack of any kind of plot whatsoever. So even just doing character work and worldbuilding would be good enough for me, but I'd love to also get the ball rolling on some plot ideas for one or both of these stories...

If I can't manage that, then I'd like to write more of my dnd character snippets, especially ones that aren't just session scene rewrites, be they backstory vignettes, AU / what if things, or just fun little character exploration.

✨ What are your writing goals for 2025? ✨

This can be anything from “write one sentence” to “publish a book!” It’s all valid!

[midnights-call]

Home Base

Here's a standard "how to navigate my blog and such" post.

About Me

Hi, I'm Declan/Riley (please use both/interchange them) and I'm a transmasc artist and writer living in the USA. I have some health issues that are a mystery as of right now, but have left me disabled. Currently trying to figure out my life and what I want to do for a career, since my last one relied on me being physically healthy and all that. I'm also autistic and am prone to going on hyperfixation sprees, usually about my ocs/wips but occasionally about other media like Dragon Age.

You're welcome to tag me in any posts and send me messages at any time. I might not always have the energy to get to everything right away, but I like chatting and participating in fun things.

My Carrd

For my other socials and a bit more about me, you can check out my carrd linked here.

Commission Info

For a direct link to my commission information, you can go right here. It's updated as commissions open and close, detailing what types you can get along with visual examples of each.

General Tags

For all posts made by my pals: #friend posts

Every post made by me will be tagged with: #my post

Any art I draw and share will be tagged as: #my art

Wip posts/reblogs will always have the formate of: [wip title] wip (ex. fated wip)

Oc posts/reblogs will have the format: oc: [oc name] (ex. oc: teali thakur)

Ship posts/reblogs will have the format: ship: [ship name] (ex. ship: wrestling)

Information on each wip with links to their intro posts are below the cut

Arcanist's Gambit

Three people are brought together in this dark high fantasy novel after one makes a decision that will permanently alter the course of their lives. In a world where it feels like everyone is against you, will you allow yourself to be loved or fill yourself with wrath?

Bloodied Hands, Tainted Hearts

In this combination supernatural, fantasy, and sci-fi novel, an unlikely group of people must come together and find the cure for a plague that's ripping through the nation. Affecting both normal humans and the monstrous krovolk, people with an infection that gives them a bestial form and a hunger for blood, it seems impossible that anyone could stop the thing that has left thousands dead. But someone has to try, don't they?

Darkest Depths

When the messiah starts to hear the call of the dark god he's been warned about all of his life, he can't help but want to heed it. In this dark fantasy novella, follow Caspain as he gets drawn deeper and deeper into the ocean's inky depths, questioning if he should ever come back up for air again.

Fated

A high fantasy novel following an unlikely chosen one who wants nothing to do with being chosen, and the people tasked with protecting them. But as the group ventures forward, they begin to discover that the danger the prophecy dictates is not what they think.

Sign of the Times

When two exes are brought back together again to fight back against an oppressive government that seeks to wipe out those with divine power, they are forced to find a way to put aside their past and work for a new future. But what lies in the past may be the key to saving the world, and stopping a foe neither knew they were fighting in this modern fantasy novel.

Starcrossed

The top two agents in a shadowy organization known only as The Company are assigned a mission together. The only problem is, they hate each other. Unfortunately for them, it seems they're the only ones capable of saving the world from a nefarious plot made to frame them for starting World War 3 in this action thriller. Go figure.

Other OC Tags

#micah dugal (he/they) is my tiefling moon druid 5e character from a campaign I'm playing in. He's an aloof and guarded person who, once loyal to you, would die for you in a heartbeat.

[encrucijada]

list of current wips (UPDATE: 4/06/2025)

KEEP STARING AND I'LL NEVER FALL ASLEEP

aka GREEK TRAGEDY!

genre & category: contemporary fantasy, adult

summary: the murder of one of the oneiroi, the dreams walking among waking people, has left the city scarred. now, barely a year later adam has been given instructions on where to find those responsible—his former friends, most importantly his ex-partner: piedad. with them is a bomb waiting to go off, a child with the deadly ability to kill people in their sleep. the city has its hooks on them but there is no version where they all make it to the end.

cw: unhealthy obsession for the person you hate to be in love with so might as well kill them about it

co-created with @on-the-river-lethe

[ insp + tag + ship ]

HAZE DOGS

genre & category: low fantasy, horror, adult

summary: an isolated town is haunted by otherworldly canines incapable of dying. when connor hidalgo comes back to life after being sacrificed by her old classmates, the town finds a temporary solution to their problem that will keep more people from dying: they offer connor and only connor to the animals.

cw: cults, blood and gore, religious blasphemy, cannibalism

tone & themes: feminine horror, corruption, bottled rage, divinity, unhinged, atmospheric, eerie

[ insp + tag ]

A GUIDE TO LOST SOULS

genre & category: historical (80s), adult

summary: world famous rock band psychopomp had its inevitable fate foretold, but in 1980 they were just another voice in the chorus of sunset strip. the climb was arduous and the fall extraordinary.

cw: drug use, drug abuse, alcohol consumption, alcohol abuse, different brands of toxic relationships, various flavours of queerphobia, anachronisms

borrowing liberally from daisy jones & the six by taylor jenkins reed. ongoing rp w/ the same mfs as always.

[ insp + tag ]

LET SLEEPERS LIE

genre & category: high soft fantasy, adult

summary: sword of the gods, zaccai, has only one purpose instilled in him: give his life for that of the godling the old ones left behind after ending the world. in the wake of a land trying to learn how to live again is ismene, all that remains of divine blood, and what she is meant to do for the people is unclear. they are alone with all the gods left for them being a temple, a ruined land, and each other.

cw: unhealthy power dynamics, dehumanisation, discussion of religion

co-authored with @teddywriting

god x worshipper, guard dog x object of affection. this is a love story.

[ tag + ship ]

BABYLON BOY

genre & category: literary fiction, adult

summary: having independently run away from home for their own reasons, theo and maripaz meet while homeless on the streets and form an alliance of convenience to survive. while theo vehemently denies the drug addiction he’s nursing, maripaz tries to deal with the way both want and revulsion seem to exist in her at the same time. falling in love is probably the easiest thing they do.

cw: drug addiction, child neglect, homelessness, imperfect recovery, unmedicated mental illness

book 1 in a duology that also includes at least two novellas

co-authored by @teddywriting

[ insp + tag + ship ]

DAMA DEL LABERINTO

genre & category: fantasy, adult

summary: the labyrinth, a neon hub housing all manner of hybrids tossed aside from fear and hatred. nónacris has arrived just in time to witness a hero's attempt at slaying the biggest prize of them all: the princess' brother, asterion. aka gods of divine punishment but make it neon

novelisation of my short story ¡BIENVENIDOS AL LABERINTO!

i wanted to write something in spanish to maybe turn into a physical book with the help of my designer cousins

[shadowdianne]

The question for writers, 1-50 ;)

 Uhhh, you mean like all of them? xd This is going to be long…

Thank you for the ask anon. I hope you don’t get bored…

01: When did you first start writing?

I don’t have a clear memory of the moment I really started to write down my stories but I remember pretending to write when I couldn’t be more than six a story about a group of smugglers that were discovered by a group of children and therefore put in jail. (I read the whole series of the Famous Five and The three investigators about that age so I was quite influenced xd) However, my first story was when I was around nine in where I wrote a story about a girl that chatted with several greek deities… I don’t really remember how the story ended though xd

02: What was your favorite book growing up?

My favourite book is the divine comedy and has been for a really long time. I also loved (when I was a tween)  The Phantom Tollbooth and several others… I think I would need a really long list to put them all together!

03: Are you an avid reader?

Yup! I love to read, reading is, as writing, something that is a part of who I am. 

04: Have you ever thrown a book across the room?

Never xd I had the idea with my math’s textbook though because I sucked at them but a book I enjoyed reading? Never.

05: Did you take writing courses in school/college?

I did several courses back in school/high school and I’ve attended several short courses over my years at college, yes.

06: Have you read any writing-advice books?

Not entire books but I’ve always read about the worldbuilding of a world in order to make them more authentic, kind of phrases and character building. However, I tend to have the problem that I find that some of the books are very strong on the kind of rules they are trying to apply to one’s writing work and so even though I try to learn as much as possible I tend to not follow them as much as I should.

07: Have you ever been part of a critique group?

Nope. Not because I didn’t want but because the occasion never presented itself. 

08: What’s the best piece of feedback you’ve ever gotten?

Uhm… I had a teacher when I was in my last year of high school that learnt that I wrote short stories in english xd He asked me to give one to him and I gave him one called Synopados in where I explored the idea of a girl looking at her emotions through a mirror as she fell in love with a girl. I still have the note he wrote me about how I had courage for writing that stories in a city like the one that is my childhood town. He told me I should keep writing, no matter what. I had already started to write fanfics but sparsely and almost everything in spanish so I’m deeply humbled and grateful by what he did.

09: What’s the worst piece of feedback you’ve ever gotten?

One in where I was asked to end my writing because it wasn’t good enough, never would be and it was a joke how I tried to be something when I couldn’t put one letter after the other.

10: What’s your biggest writer pet-peeve?

I can’t stand first POV(?) I mean, I’ve written some stories with that pov and I’ve read them as well but I always link that to roleplaying and not stories so in my head it doesn’t sound quite right.

11: What’s your favorite book cover?

There are too many lol But I think that one of the recent ones I like is Perdido street station from China Miéville

12: Who is your favorite author?

I don’t have one that surpases the others I’m afraid. However, one of the authors I deeply respect is Rowling so I will go with her and PD.James.

13: What’s your favorite writing quote?

If a story is in you it has got to come out. I believe it was said by Faulkner but I could be wrong.

14: What’s your favorite writing blog? c;

Hahaha, too many to count :P

15: What would you say has inspired you the most?

Reading. Without reading I wouldn’t want to create because I wouldn’t have the ideas of so many worlds and characters already in my head. There may be people who think otherwise but for me reading is a very big part of writing.

16: How do you feel about movies based on books?

That they tend to be an absolute disaster but not because of the general idea of “They didn’t put this scene in that moment.” but because they try to create a visual of abstract ideas sometimes the authors make the reader see by description that don’t necessarily need to be linked to a visual scene. The way that’s often presented make some ideas look cheaper than they are. There are some movies that got that beautifully though.

17: Would you like your books to be turned into TV shows, movies, video games, or none?

Mine? -looks down- I… would first need to believe that they could be turned into something xd However, I think I would like to see some of my ideas transformed into a game.

18: How do you feel about love triangles?

That they are boring and done again and again and again. I really don’t like them as well as most of the romantic tropes done so many times it’s impossible to escape them. 

19: Do you prefer writing on a computer or longhand?

My handwriting is awful so I only tend to write the general idea of my stories instead of the full-fleshed thing because, otherwise, it would be a nightmare to understand it all.

20: What’s your favorite writing program?

I really don’t have one to be honest.

21: Do you outline?

For short stories I always have a general idea on my head of what I want to write. It’s on long stories in where I outline full plot points, dialogue ideas and characters.

22: Do you start with characters or plot?

Plot, always plot. I prefer to know where I’m going to put my characters in because then I know how to move them through that space.

23: What’s your favorite & least favorite part of making characters?

My favourite is their inner voices, how all of them has different ideas and how I can write that into the story is amazing. From movement to how they talk. The least one is their names when I’m making them from scratch and if I’m writing with already created characters the style of clothing I want to describe them in. xd

24: What’s your favorite & least favorite part of plotting?

My favourite would be almost everything that involves worldbuilding, searching information and creating. The least would be the “filler” scenes in where nothing happens but helps to create a more realistic pace for a story. 

25: What advice would you give to young writers?

I’m still young! I’m still a novice! I don’t really know what I would say to them lol. Perhaps… write? Feedback will be sparse, bad words will stand out more than good ones and it’s okay to feel bad for that but writing and understanding how a story is created will help you greatly.

26: Which do you enjoy reading the most: physical, ebook, or both?

I have an ebook and I use it a lot but I prefer the physical copy of the book.

27: Which is your favorite genre to write?

Fantasy, Sci-Fi… and that taking into account all subgenres like cyberpunk, steampunk… I adore the new-weird but I don’t see myself writing that yet. It requires a level of expertise I don’t have.

28: Which do you find hardest: the beginning, the middle, or the end?

The end, but it’s also the part I enjoy the most.

29: Which do you find easiest: writing or editing?

-Groans- I prefer writing. Editing is a pain in the ass.

30: Have you ever written fan-fiction?

-snorts- Yuuup.

31: Have you ever been published?

Nope, I haven’t. I wish someday will be able to be good enough to even think about it tho’

32: How do you feel about friends and close relatives reading your work?

My relatives don’t so….. My girlfriend does it from time to time tho. It’s strange to see her read my stories but funny at the same time. Same goes with the friends that I manage to trick them into reading me.

33: Are you interested in having your work published?

As I said… yes. But I don’t know if I will ever be good enough.

34: Describe your writing space.

Almost everywhere. However I tend to prefer writing in my bed, with my pc propped up on my knees and a cup of tea next to me. Everything very instragram-ish.

35: What’s your favorite time of day for writing?

Night. I’m a night person.

36: Do you listen to music when you write?

Yup, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to focus.

37: What’s your oldest WIP?

Wow xd I think… The recognizable stranger is one of my oldest for this fandom.

38: What’s your current WIP?

Too many to count…

39: What’s the weirdest story idea you’ve ever had?

That I could write? nah, just kidding. (No really) I think it was the one about the mirror and the girl I said before. I’ve had weirded ones but I don’t really remember them as being impossible to tackle.

40: Which is your favorite original character, and why?

Samantha Somnos xd In fact, this character was written for a roleplaying community at twitter a few years back. Her avatar was Emily Blunt and she was this cold woman, effective on her job and lethal. She had a very convoluted relationship with a man on her youth… I loved writing for that character, not only her background but her history which I wrote alongside with my girlfriend. I adored how, at the end, she is just a bad person, one that doesn’t want to change but it’s that what leads the reader. I wish I could keep on writing her.

41: What do you do when characters don’t follow the outline?

I murder them… nah. I keep myself flexible. Some things need to be written down but others not so whenever that happens I redirect the situation using what the characters are giving me.

42: Do you enjoy making your characters suffer?

Not in a gore-way but I like making them suffer pain or loss. I like how creative I can get with that because I can work them inside and out and see how they can react to several things.

43: Have you ever killed a main character?

-nods- Several times.

44: What’s the weirdest character concept you’ve ever come up with?

An old woman whose imagination has kept her trapped into an ink cage from where she is able to see stories that are dreamt in the minds of those who seek sleep. She collects those stories in the form of ever growing chains around her wrists.

45: What’s your favorite character name?

I don’t really have one although I tend to prefer to choose names who have a hidden meaning for me, like a private joke.

46: Describe your perfect writing space.

As previously said I don’t have a preferred writing space since I write in almost everywhere so… perhaps a place in where I never felt cold?

47: If you could steal one character from another author and make then yours, who would it be and why?

By stealing them I would transform them in something different since I’m not the author that created them. However, since I write fanfiction as well as my own work I’m used to write characters that aren’t mine by default so… I would love to explore Katsa from Graceling. Or Alana from the Saga series.

48: If you could write the next book of any series, which one would it be, and what would you make the book about?

I’d probably transform it into a fantasy-driven book so… I will leave the series I would destroy as “not chosen” haha

49: If you could write a collaboration with another author, who would it be and what would you write about?

Currently I’m in love with China Miéville’s work so I will choose him. And taking into account what he write we would write a new-weird genre book lol-

50: If you could live in any fictional world, which would it be?

Perhaps Philip Pullman’s  Dark Material’s world.