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HI I am so sorry I haven't been responding/interacting lately, the last couple weeks have been SWAMPED. But I still got an STS! Has Tristan had any pets growing up? If so, which did he cherish the most? Is he an animal person?

No worries at all!!!!! Real Life™️ can be exceedingly demanding.

Tristan did not. :( He wasn't permitted to have any, lest they should "excite" him and thus cause his illness to worsen. That said, he wasn't necessarily begging for a pet. An animal he did want growing up was a horse or pony. His siblings were given one once they reached a certain age and as he wasn't allowed outside, obviously he wasn't. He didn't want it for an actual interest in horses, but instead because he wanted to ride and go hunting and have fun like his siblings. Every once in a while he probably encountered his father's hunting dogs, but was likely focused on preventing them from barking and revealing he was in a part of the house he shouldn't be.

As for whether he's an animal person..not really. He is enraptured by Nature in general, but doesn't much focus on animals in specific. He loves the sound of birdsong and all the little creatures and bugs he encounters when he finally gets to experience them. He kind of has to get used to interacting with creatures lol.

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WIP Acrostic

Thank you so much for tagging me @spideronthesun !!

Rules: Post sentences from your WIP that each start with the letter of the given word!

I was given the word WARM (or HOT)

H:

He returned to the writing desk where his diary still lay open, and in it he wrote one last melancholy entry.

O:

Others theorized, and lamented over the theory, that the child wouldn’t be half so displeasing to look at if not for his debility.

T:

Tristan breathed, more of a gasp really, and noticed it was his first breath since the shadow manifested.

Tagging: @drchenquill, @sidhewrites, @chauceryfairytales and

@avaseofpeonies !

Your word is: BEST

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Happy STS! Are you researching anything in particular right now for Lambswool? If not, is there something you'd like to look into for your WIP in the future?

I'm always technically researching so many different things haha. I can't help but jump around, plus I get recommended videos and come across other stuff online organically and collect info that way as it comes. I guess right now I'm trying to focus book-wise on this book I got from the library (so I can then RETURN it once I finish):

I'm particularly interested in the info here about prehistoric magical practice. It's written by an archaeologist, so it details a super interesting analysis of what the supernatural beliefs may have been for people in Europe in prehistory based on objects and structures that survive. As the cover says, the book goes back to the Ice Age.

Some fun facts I've gathered so far:

the end of the Ice Age might have been explained by new spirits entering the land and darkness being banished

apparently in the British isles earthen long barrows were lived in, as well as being places for depositing human remains. they were houses.

even in other types of houses/locations in Europe houses were also where people buried their dead

there seems to be a shift in Britain around 2000 BC from interest in the sun to emphasizing the moon

a monument called Woodhenge had a large village within it. meanwhile there's no evidence of people living in Stonehenge

field systems laid out in Britain around 1500 BC to align with the solstices lasted into the period when Britain was Christianized

But yeah as it seems not much is known about beliefs in the British isles at this time period I love that this book attempts to paint a fuzzy picture of it based on physical evidence. It's giving me loads of ideas.

I guess besides that lately I've been particularly obsessed with documenting linguistics from the different time periods of my characters (some are regency, some speak in 17th century English). Even though it doesn't matter much to the big picture, I adore learning about how my period characters would *actually* talk; it makes them more real for me, and applying what I've learnt to their dialogue will (ideally) make the story more immersive/feel more like stepping back in time.

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Seven Sentence Sunday

Thanks for the tag @willtheweaver, @theink-stainedfolk, @gioia-writes-and-others

and @melpomene-grey !!

So many tags for this game I've neglected 😭Thanks to all who tagged me!! Here's seven lines about one of my main characters, Crispin:

Crispin was not certain what he was, only that he was. He was, his name was Crispin, and he lived in the castle. Crispin did not remember anywhere else but the castle in the full expanse of memory he held of his short dark life in his small skull. Its choke-dry corridors, vast arched ceilings, and musty crypts were all he knew, all his eyes had passed over. The idea of an outside of the castle was as dim to him as his own origins. There was only the castle, Crispin, and the Dread Lords. And Crispin knew well to keep out of their way most of the time.

Passing the game along to: @talesofsorrowandofruin, @theboarsbride,

@taylorandi-author, @flowerprose, @vesanal, and @armentas !

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Emma. (2020) dir. Autumn de Wilde

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Mamãe por que você dá comida pros passarinhos só de noite?

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This blog is a safe space for nightgown clad women with candelabras and scared byronic men

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For the OC of your choice: 🌑 - A nightmare

I decided to do both Tristan and Crispin for this! These are weird but let's just call it.. surrealism ?? From this ask game!

At last, an excuse to draw Tristan in his Ebenezer Scrooge fit. This is a nightmare that Tristan used to have when he lived at home. At least, he thought it was a nightmare. As you can see, he's quite awake. In this waking terror, a sopping wet woman is at the end of his bed wearing working-class clothing that is behind the fashion. And she stands there. Menacingly.

I'd imagine that what would be a nightmare for anyone else would be a run-of-the-mill dream for Crispin, maybe even one he'd enjoy. So alas, he's still not suffering. (And yes, that's Tristan beheaded there.)

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if you're writing and find yourself thinking 'this is too weird/gross/offputting/esoteric/ambitious/catered to my specific interests + sure to push away a broader audience' that is the devil speaking and it is a lie. you are already firmly on the right path and you need to double down

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For the OC of your choice: 🌑 - A nightmare

I decided to do both Tristan and Crispin for this! These are weird but let's just call it.. surrealism ?? From this ask game!

At last, an excuse to draw Tristan in his Ebenezer Scrooge fit. This is a nightmare that Tristan used to have when he lived at home. At least, he thought it was a nightmare. As you can see, he's quite awake. In this waking terror, a sopping wet woman is at the end of his bed wearing working-class clothing that is behind the fashion. And she stands there. Menacingly.

I'd imagine that what would be a nightmare for anyone else would be a run-of-the-mill dream for Crispin, maybe even one he'd enjoy. So alas, he's still not suffering. (And yes, that's Tristan beheaded there.)

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🧩 How to Outline Without Feeling Like You’re Dying

(a non-suffering writer’s guide to structure, sanity, and staying mildly hydrated)

Hey besties. Let’s talk outlines. Specifically: how to do them without crawling into the floorboards and screaming like a Victorian ghost.

If just hearing the word “outline” sends your brain into chaos-mode, welcome. You’re not broken, you’re just a writer whose process has been hijacked by Very Serious Advice™ that doesn’t fit you. You don’t need to build a military-grade beat sheet. You don’t need a sixteen-tab spreadsheet. You don’t need to suffer to be legitimate. You just need a structure that feels like it’s helping you, not haunting you.

So. Here’s how to outline your book without losing your soul (or all your serotonin).

—

🍓 1. Stop thinking of it as “outlining.” That word is cursed. Try “story sketch.” “Narrative roadmap.” “Planning soup.” Whatever gets your brain to chill out. The goal here is to understand your story, not architect it to death.

Outlining isn’t predicting everything. It’s just building a scaffold so your plot doesn't fall over mid-draft.

—

🧠 2. Find your plot skeleton. There are lots of plot structures floating around: 3-Act. Save the Cat. Hero’s Journey. Take what helps, ignore the rest.

If all else fails, try this dirt-simple one I use when my brain is mush:

Act I: What’s the problem?

Act II: Why can’t we fix it?

Act III: What finally makes us change?

Ending: What does that change cost?

You don’t need to fill in every detail. You just need to know what’s driving your character, what’s blocking them, and what choices will change them.

—

🛒 3. Make a “scene bucket list.” Before you start plotting in order, write down a list of scenes you know you want: key vibes, emotional beats, dramatic reveals, whatever.

These are your anchors. Even if you don’t know where they go yet, they’re proof your story already exists, it just needs connecting tissue.

Bonus: when you inevitably get stuck later, one of these might be the scene that pulls you back in.

—

🧩 4. Start with 5 key scenes. That’s it. Here’s a minimalist approach that won’t kill your momentum:

Opening (what sucks about their world?)

Catalyst (what throws them off course?)

Midpoint (what makes them confront themselves?)

Climax (what breaks or remakes them?)

Ending (what’s changed?)

Plot the spaces between those after you’ve nailed these. Think of it like nailing down corners of a poster before smoothing the rest.

You’re not “doing it wrong” if you start messy. A messy start is a start.

—

🔧 5. Use the outline to ask questions, not just answer them. Every section of your outline should provoke a question that the scene must answer.

Instead of: — “Chapter 5: Sarah finds a journal.”

Try: — “Chapter 5: What truth does Sarah find that complicates her next move?”

This makes your story active, not just a list of stuff that happens. Outlines aren’t just there to record, they’re tools for curiosity.

—

🪤 6. Beware of the Perfectionist Trap™. You will not get the entire plot perfect before you write. Don’t stall your momentum waiting for a divine lightning bolt of Clarity. You get clarity by writing.

Think of your outline as a map drawn in pencil, not ink. It’s allowed to evolve. It should evolve.

You’re not building a museum exhibit. You’re making a prototype.

—

🧼 7. Clean up after you start drafting. Here’s the secret: the first draft will teach you what the story’s actually about. You can go back and revise the outline to fit that. It’s not wasted work, it’s evolving scaffolding.

You don’t have to build the house before you live in it. You can live in the mess while you figure out where the kitchen goes.

—

🛟 8. If you’re a discovery writer, hybrid it. A lot of “pantsers” aren’t anti-outline, they’re just anti-stiff-outline. That’s fair.

Try using “signposts,” not full scenes:

Here’s a secret someone’s hiding.

Here’s the emotional breakdown scene.

Here’s a betrayal. Maybe not sure by who yet.

Let the plot breathe. Let the characters argue with your outline. That tension is where the fun happens.

—

🪴 TL;DR but emotionally: You don’t need a flawless outline to write a good book. You just need a loose net of ideas, a couple of emotional anchors, and the willingness to pivot when your story teaches you something new.

Outlines should support you, not suffocate you.

Let yourself try. Let it be imperfect. That’s where the good stuff lives.

Go forth and outline like a gently chaotic legend 🧃

— written with snacks in hand by Rin T. @ thewriteadviceforwriters 🍓🧠✍️

Sometimes the problem isn’t your plot. It’s your first 5 pages. Fix it here → 🖤 Free eBook: 5 Opening Pages Mistakes to Stop Making:

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the narrow ass staircases in old houses are scary enough but imagine walking down that while drunk and lowkey suffering from lead poisoning and multiple vitamin deficiencies. like goddamn our ancestors were going through it.

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Make a face

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"The witch hunt as a phenomenon of 'primitive accumulation': just as land, air, and water must first be enclosed as 'resources' before the capitalist may profit from the commodities they are then used to produce, so were women enclosed (reduced to) mere bodies by way of the witch hunts. The persecution of 'magic' among 'witches' throughout the peasantry was, in fact, a disciplinary measure directed specifically at poor women insofar as it served to enforce the logic of private property, wage work, and the transformation of women into (re)producers of labor. [...] Of course, the fear-mongering by authorities that inspired the witch hunts focused excessively on baby-killing, and women's traditional knowledge of birth control ('magic') was indeed being put to good use at the time: the poor dispossessed by the enclosure of the commons could no longer afford to raise children. Fears around a declining population (workforce) and the reproductive autonomy of lower-class women (practicing birth control) was ultimately what distinguished the witch from the Renaissance magician, who demonologists consistently passed over. In fact, the devilish activities of the 'baby-killing' witch were often plagiarized from the High Magical repertoire."

--from Occult Features of Anarchism by Erica Lagalisse