oldsonnets

[oldsonnets]

16 Villain Archetypes

The TYRANT: the bullying despot, he wants power at any price. He ruthlessly conquers all he surveys, crushing his enemies beneath his feet. People are but pawns to him, and he holds all the power pieces. Hesitate before getting in this man’s way – he’ll think nothing of destroying you. The BASTARD: the dispossessed son, he burns with resentment. He can’t have what he wants, so he lashes out to hurt those around him. His deeds are often for effect – he wants to provoke action in others. He proudly announces his rebellious dealings. Don’t be fooled by his boyish demeanor – he’s a bundle of hate. The DEVIL: the charming fiend, he gives people what he thinks they deserve. Charisma allows him to lure his victims to their own destruction. His ability to discover the moral weaknesses in others serves him well. Close your ears to his cajolery – he’ll tempt you to disaster. The TRAITOR: the double agent, he betrays those who trust him most. No one suspects the evil that lurks in his heart. Despite supportive smiles and sympathetic ears, he plots the destruction of his friends. Never turn your back on him — he means you harm. The OUTCAST: the lonely outsider, he wants desperately to belong. Tortured and unforgiving, he has been set off from others, and usually for good cause. He craves redemption, but is willing to gain it by sacrificing others. Waste no sympathy on him - he’ll have none for you. The EVIL GENIUS: the malevolent mastermind, he loves to show off his superior intelligence. Intellectual inferiors are contemptible to him and that includes just about everyone. Elaborate puzzles and experiments are his trademark. Don’t let him pull your strings – the game is always rigged in his favor. The SADIST: the savage predator, he enjoys cruelty for its own sake. Violence and psychological brutality are games to this man; and he plays those games with daring and skill. Run, don’t walk, away from this man – he’ll tear out your heart, and laugh while doing it. The TERRORIST: the dark knight, he serves a warped code of honor. Self-righteous, he believes in his own virtue, and judges all around him by a strict set of laws. The end will always justify his nefarious means, and no conventional morality will give him pause. Don’t try to appeal to his sense of justice – his does not resemble yours. The BITCH: the abusive autocrat, she lies, cheats, and steals her way to the top. Her climb to success has left many a heel mark on the backs of others. She doesn’t care about the peons around her – only the achievement of her dreams matters. Forget expecting a helping hand from her – she doesn’t help anyone but herself. The BLACK WIDOW: the beguiling siren, she lures victims into her web. She goes after anyone who has something she wants, and she wants a lot. But she does her best to make the victim want to be deceived. An expert at seduction of every variety, she uses her charms to get her way. Don’t be fooled by her claims of love – it’s all a lie. The BACKSTABBER: the two-faced friend, she delights in duping the unsuspecting. Her sympathetic smiles enable her to learn her victims’ secrets, which she then uses to feather her nest. Her seemingly helpful advice is just the thing to hinder. Put no faith in her – she’ll betray you every time. The LUNATIC: the unbalanced madwoman, she draws others into her crazy environment. The drum to which she marches misses many a beat, but to her, it is the rest of the world that is out of step. Don’t even try to understand her logic – she is unfathomable. The PARASITE: the poisonous vine, she collaborates for her own comfort. She goes along with any atrocity, so long as her own security is assured. She sees herself as a victim who had no choice, and blames others for her crimes. Expect no mercy from her – she won’t lift a finger to save anyone but herself. The SCHEMER: the lethal plotter, she devises the ruin of others. Like a cat with a mouse, she plays with lives. Elaborate plans, intricate schemes; nothing pleases her more than to trap the unwary. Watch out for her complex designs – she means you no good. The FANATIC: the uncompromising extremist, she does wrong in the name of good. She justifies hers action by her intent, and merely shrugs her shoulders at collateral damage. Anyone not an ally is an enemy, and therefore, fair game. Give up any hope of showing her the error of her ways – she firmly believes you are wrong, wrong, wrong. The MATRIARCH: the motherly oppressor, she smothers her loved ones. She knows what’s best and will do all in her power to controls the lives of those who surround her – all for their own good. A classic enabler, she sees no fault with her darlings, unless they don’t follow her dictates. Don’t be lured into her family nest – you’ll never get out alive.

[oldsonnets]

QUESTION did it hurt when you fell from heaven?

ANSWER yes. my wings decayed.  i clutched at star systems to slow the fall  and the burns still smoulder, faint shadows of feathers seared  into bleeding skin. this is pain? i don’t like it. i want to go back. this aching… this is aching? why are my hands shaking?

l.s. | PICK UP LINES FOR FALLEN ANGELS © 2016

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Lord Byron, in a journal entry dated 26 November 1813

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i love my boy a whole lot. 

[oldsonnets]

sew your characters with flaws that are bone deep. stitch your characters together with kindness, or intentions that aren’t always pure. build them from the ground up, so that you never stop learning.

[oldsonnets]

i’m very defensive of the tragedy as a story structure because there is a Huge difference between a story that’s just depressing and unsatisfying and a really well-written tragedy, whose job is literally to provide emotional catharsis.  tragedy has existed as long as drama has existed as an art form and it’s beautiful! it allows us to safely explore and process really intense emotions like grief and sorrow, which just genuinely helps us be more emotionally intelligent human beings

like happy endings are important too, and especially given the current climate of the world i get why there’s such a strong desire for them — thats literally just how art movements work — but it’s important to also not deny or repress our more unpleasant feelings. a good tragedy tells you from the beginning what you’re getting into and gives you time to come to terms with how it will inevitably end as well as providing insights along the way, and a full range of emotions good And bad 

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TO WEAR A FOX ⠀─── ⠀ .   fraternal twins amara and amir chaudhary are sent to the united states for university, only to find themselves prey for the foxes. there is a game beginning one that will cut apart  the very identities of the twins if they lose. 

❪ the plot ❫ ⠀

the premise of the game revolves around the twins falling into the interest of the foxes. on arriving to the united states, both twins become  integral points to the unfastening of boundaries for the foxes in that they are not quite like what they have seen and used.  and so they come into  hunt,  which neither of the twins are knowing why their lives have been disturbed. they are given a series  of tasks and must outmaneuver the foxes before the things inside of them are exposed as the demands get more complex.   there is an undercurrent between foxes and their prey that spells out a larger need and reason to this hunt.  the game is as following : 

you shall participate . you have one day to complete the order , if you do not you shall be punished and withdrawing is not allowed.

❪ ch ❫ ⠀:

amara chaudhary :  citrus and honey ,  patterns and law,  neon memories and open eyes.   wildly clever ,  piano commanded , hands fisted and mouth playing the spine of advancement.  paper cuts and blood speaking of a girl more maze then you can hold. lightning in form.

amir chaudhary : silent boy, somber colors,  ink stained ,  blue undercurrents and a wash of spice. delicate, sweet to the touch , mouth cut and back stood upon. there are dangers in his vicinity.

lysander grey : ichor mad , deceit  made and gilded eyes. knife picked and savage beauty. master of the games , first bind and watching red.

jonathan o’connor ;  fashioned from drugs, overly  trusting and sporting a sense of hero worship. an almost brother, bought and then remade.  the second bind a dastardly outcome.

❪ triggers  ❫ ⠀:

murder, abuse, violence, and death.

❪ parts ❫ ⠀:

 amara looks straight into the bronze  masked face of the man before her, his blade pinching the the run of her throat, yet fear does not settle in.. “_________________ what do you hope to get out of this? you’ve a long selection of people who you’ve hunted, disarrayed with drugs and abuses i don’t get why you’d come after us?”  she had thought to go to the police only to be brushed off as though she were a mad women. her  tone is matter of fact, so far the game had required a string of strange events  ( kiss the XXXXX statue on campus on the feet, lick a doorknob , shoplift at  a convenience store.) all that she completes on worry of her brother. she’s practiced physical defensives as well as mental, two aspects her brother had become unstable over.  there were things that if got out would reopen the chasms in his emotions. and so she becomes a knight for them both, and she does as they ask. she knows the golden fox has found interest in amir, and if she wants to save them she would play, for no matter how hard she tried to hide she had secrets as well. in now she waits for his answer, as she pushes her throat back on the blade to see if he’d actually cut her. for she had seen the slowness of him at times, the hunched guilt and tipsy emotions that rolled off him. “ ____________ you wear this mask jonathan to look like a beast, but what is more terrifying is looking at the face of a man who knows what he has been doing is wrong, that it tears him apart but he keeps doing it to belong to the person who has cast them aside.”  she can feel his hand bind her arm tighter rage striking down him like fire and in the hour that they have been muddled together  he speaks his first full statement on his own behalf. ____________ “ who are you to judge me? you and your brother as misfits, accented miscolored and unneeded.” he wants to break her now, he does not want to wait for lysander’s second step, in which she would be tired and punished. she was prying too deep and she needed to be blinded.

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[oldsonnets]

PARTING BIRDS

short summer novel about why artists can’t love each other.

Long, autumn evenings exist so we can remember what happened in the summer. They exist so we can think about the taste of lips we kissed, about the smell of jam and croissants, about the sound of the cars passing the streets of Paris. During long, autumn evenings we can stop smoking cigarettes and for the last time think about people we lost. Estèe Violin is the person I will think about not only this autumn, but also this winter, this spring and the next summer. I will remember the taste of her lips for years, feel her touch on my skin, hear her quiet breath next to my ear. And for the rest of my life I will ask myself why it ended like this - why our love died in such a bittersweet way.

[oldsonnets]

“You will outgrow something that was once a comfort; you will replace it with a song you hum in the soft parts of yourself.”

— Liv Walton, from “You Will Feel A Flash of Orange,” published c. April 2019

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OUR LADY OF SALT AND SEA - WIP INTRO

GENRE: fantasy CATEGORY: young adult STATUS: first draft POV: third person, past tense THEMES: grief, politics, lgbt, pagan religion, hidden depths, history CONTENT WARNING: death, mentions of incest, loss of family

STARTED: september 20th 2019

SYNOPSIS: 

In a world ruled by seven great houses and their monarchy, Mara has lived her whole life in her father’s coastal manor. As the eldest and only child of the ancient House of Salt, she’s had expectations put upon her since birth - she would take over for her father when he died and she would marry someone from another great house, and continue her family’s line. 

With her father at sea and only her step mother and sisters for company, the last thing Mara expected was to be summoned by the King.

The King’s son has come of age and the eldest daughter of each house has been summoned to take part in the Goddess’s Trials; and whoever wins will be the Princess Consort to the future King.

Alone in the capital, Mara has to learn the mysterious and convoluted ways of the court. Her family history haunts her wherever she goes and becoming privy to the Prince’s heartfelt secrets puts her in more danger than she ever expected. But Mara isn’t alone - everyone she meets has secrets, especially the dark haired Varon, the eldest son from the cryptic House of Night.

There’s more than meets the eye at the Trials; Mara must learn the mechanics of her country and her family’s history before she drowns.

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POISON ORCHIDS ― WORLDBUILDING 1/??

They were by birth rothroi, gifted by God. In nature as apart as they could be, they were each fluent in one language of the world. CAELIBONES were those born of the wind, wild and hardy and free just like VACUBONES were experts of empty vessels, the children of nobody. Those who were called SOLIBONE were gifted by the earth; hard work and loyalty clung to them like a second skin. Then there were the AQUABONES, harsh as the ocean, ever-flowing, continuous and fair. They were the fiercest of them all, the ones you’d take first to war. IGNISBONE stood for strong and resilient, ever the honest and brave at heart as you would expect from the descendants of the mortal pyre. But like a shadow to all these gifts, a jester in a diamond mine, were the TRUEBONES. They were the strongest of them all, a darker truth to all these gifts. Born of greed and drunk on power, put them together and sometimes you got magic and sometimes collateral damage. 

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POISON ORCHIDS  (a wip introduction).

(genre): young adult, fantasy, romance.    (narrator): two narrators, ines santiago and clarke roehl.    (themes/features): lgbtq+, fantasy, world-building, magic warriors, gangs & mafia, spies.    (status): planning, drafting.

ines santiago knows knives and knows death. she likes to think she knows her surroundings, knows what people want and knows why people want what they want. but no matter how much she tries, she doesn’t why the greydaggers bailed her out of a crime she’d unexpectedly committed and why everyone thinks she’s going to kill clarke roehl, a girl they don’t even know for sure exists, when she’s never killed anyone before (not on purpose, at least). 

tagging a few mutuals so this doesn’t flop: @liarede @vandorens @theforgottencoolkid @phaantomly @semblanche @adrestaie @emdrabbles @whorizcn @uhngelic (will be out on my wattpad soon!)

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“As everyone drifts off to sleep, I am still gazing at the stars.”

— Rumi

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The dark grey sea was more than a home to her, the stone of the coast was the same that built her father’s house and the gnarled, sparsely populated trees gave their wood to furnish her room. Her father had often told her that she was born with the salt of the sea in her blood.

salt book; ch.1 | j. b.