#SyntheticWriting

[syntheticmortal]

Reoutlined the last two chapters of my cyberpunk vampire novel 😭🙏 So SO ready to get this thing DONE! It's the most pleased I've been with anything I've ever made!

[syntheticmortal]

“So, like, before my Grandparents were even born?” Nia said, her face scrunching up. She's a Fledgling, and eternity hasn't settled into her teeth yet.

Sheriff Hessler had used a military saber in San Bernardino. His Sire the Prince used Ghouls to speak on her behalf. He opened Kindred like champagne for their immortality, heads rarely old enough to leave dust on the laminated oakwood floor.

An abandoned Mom-and-Pop housed a Coterie of the Clanless. Nuance like Caitiff and Thin Blood wouldn't become worth noting for years. They had sought independence and safety, and received neither.

Cyrus the Anarch knows a Viking, an ice mummy pulled out of a shipment to the University of Michigan. The Jarl speaks of war and grudges Cyrus cannot comprehend. Cyrus hadn't thought eternity had settled into his teeth either, the Methuselahs were too different.

But Cyrus knew Nia was looking at him the same way. His sins on the bloodied edge of sharpened steel were not absolved, but instead aged and dead.

Redemption was outliving everyone who cared.

THE FOOL | CYRUS HESSLER

waking each night is like starting again.

------------------------------------------------------------

Very excited to be trying out a new art challenge 👀

[syntheticmortal]

Onto Chapter 17 of my Cyberpunk Vampire novel, ALL IT COST💪🥰

[syntheticmortal]

HANDLE IT

A retail horror

I wrote a short story inspired by my time behind a cash register in a butcher's shop, presented in Twine as an experiment in controlling the flow of text. I'm immensely proud of it, and my friends like it, so hopefully you will too!

It's free on Itch.io and only takes about 20 minutes of your time. If you read it please let me know what you think, I'd be ecstatic to hear from people either on Itch or on here!

Feel free to check it out here!

Lots of love and thanks to my darling partner @the-art-block for the cover image - I mean LOOK at it!!

And if you're the kind of person to want ambience when reading spooky stuff here is what I listened to when making it!

[syntheticmortal]

It's Itch.io creator's day!! I have a short retail horror story in Twine (HANDLE IT) and a Vampire the Masquerade zine from me and

@the-art-block's Fangfest entries (FORTUNES OF THE DEAD) Both are FREE✨and very short time investments!! I think you'll probably love them

[syntheticmortal]

I'm feeling so profoundly blessed right now that so many people are enjoying my prose contributions to @the-art-block's art for Fangfest 🥰✨

It's a whirlwind of typing and editing but man it feels good to be churning out pieces I feel proud of so quicklyyyy~!

So thank you everyone who's reblogging and leaving nice tags and to the mutuals who are consistently showing up - today will feel great because of all of you 🥰

[syntheticmortal]

I intended to make every Fangfest writing entirely individual but I think today's is going to end up referencing quite a few of the past ones by coincidence - like some sort of lynchpin Elden Ring item description (shout out to my best boy Twinbird Kite Shield)

We'll see though, I can end up doing a whole bunch of rewriting!

[syntheticmortal]

I got tagged by the lovely @crownedinmarigolds! Thank you so much mate!! I'm absolutely charmed 🥰

Now my rat bastard spouse stole most of my tagging options on their post so to not double-tag I will add:

@skaerdir, @klaciate, @tzimizce and @vamp-orwave!!

If anyone who sees this wants to be an honourary tagee, then go for it XD

For those who don't know - Hi I am Alex! (He/They) and I'm a writer and an English immigrant to the USA!

3 ships: oh mate all of these are OCxOC with @c-n-i-d-a-r-i-a-n

Victor and Gloria – A Nos and his unbound Ghoulfriend. Making your touchstone one of your mission Ghouls is dangerous af but live fast love hard, lads.

Jeff and Lamb – Another of Vic's unbound Ghouls and the Thin Blood Nos that joined the Warren. Disgustingly fucking cute injected into the den of the rejected and disgruntled.

Ventan/Taakur Rig and Rozanin Rig – My and Daz's SWTOR PCs respectively. A Chiss Cipher Agent that ends up having to go hide with his Mandalorian hireling with her Clan and Roz's unrequited love becomes hella requited and suddenly Ventan/Cipher Five-now-Taakur has step kids??

I love it so much.

first ship: Oh god this takes me back to being little. Probably a Sonic one??

Shadow and Rouge if I had to take a guess??

last song: Temptation by Sean Paul! A proper bop

But honestly massive shout out to the second Nostalgia Synthwave mix by Odysseus on youtube

This thing keeps me sane, and has all the songs marked! – that opening one, Realign by Cerulean, can usually just melt my brain into peace whenever I hear it

last film: Snatch – Like VTMB it's a problematic fave that oozes style and characterisation throughout. Watched it as prep for a Setite I'm going to play in a V5 game >:D

currently reading: Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan as part of genre research. Finished The Vampyre recently too! Really I should pick AC up today, I've been working hard on my editing and outlining of my own pieces and neglecting the reading part of the craft for a few weeks >.>;

currently craving: So I'm drinking far less booze to save money whilst I'm out of work trying to get some Proper Writing done. So when I hit a good worthy milestone I'm getting a bottle of whiskey and I am ready.

fav color: Green! Sometimes purple!

relationship status: Maaarriiied to @c-n-i-d-a-r-i-a-n

last google search: I had to double check the spelling of Taakur for the ship section, so it was 'mandoa' :')

and before that I'm pretty use I searched Scryfall last night to go look at MTG cards even though I have no one to play with right now :'D (at least it's saving me money >.>)

current obsessions: Was tempted to add my own work here but I'll tag that on the very end XD

There's a lot of fandoms I don't leave – World of Darkness and Warhammer 40k predominantly as settings I always have another angle I want to see explored in!

I do however have the Magic the Gathering bug, even though I haven't really played in years and years now – but card interaction as a generation for narrative has always kind of captivated me? Like there's a couple big mean Ogre cards that make Rats more dangerous, but due to the way the systems work they also empower the Ratfolk of Kamigawa, the Nezumi, as they count as 'Rat' cards still. So big Ogre spellcasters improving Rat people as part of a contained bit of narrative kind of fascinates me as a concept.

Plus each deck presupposes a Planeswalker character who's casting those spells – and I was always intrigued by that notion and so most of my OCs are representative of decks I played (or wanted to :P) and then in turn each Planeswalker needs a Plane to come from, probably from a still existing culture on that Plane too, and so it can kind of wonderfully reverberate inspiration.

Like how every VTM Kindred OC presupposes a Sire!

BONUS ALEX SECTION

So if you want to get to know me, let me tell you about what writing I'm working on/have made recently.

Out now!

The Mutilation of Finley Reid

A short story of masculine horror, about a young man by the name of Finley who suffers in the pursuit of having his place as a man affirmed by his peers.

The world of Torranham Nights is an anachronistic reflection of England set in the coastal city state of Torranham, drawing from contemporary culture and folklore as well as the legends and reality of the cultures that came before – without being fetishistic about it like a lot of stories will.

Handle It

A short retail horror, about working the cash register of a butcher's counter, and the customer who orders increasing amounts of ground beef...

Inspired by my own work in a same spot, anyone who's done service work should get a kick out of this – plus it's free and only takes 20 minutes to read! XD

On the way!

Defector – name subject to change

A short story of grief, shame, suicidal ideation, alcoholism, and community. On the moon.

A Special Recon mech pilot, “Crash”, from Earth has defected to the Moon rebels, and now lives in Magnolia City, rotting away in her tiny apartment. Then the Provisional Government sends one of its elite commanders, a former enemy of Crash's, to pull her out.

Elhart: Arrival

The first of a short story fantasy anthology about a city of refugees at the edge of time and space, hiding from the end of the multi-planar universe. A super soldier has washed up with a near-fatal headwound and no memory, and she must learn to live in a far more peaceful world than the one her instincts suggest she came from. But who was she? And can she earn the trust of people who fear her potential to kill?

Neon Sun

A novel! Cyberpunk Vampires! If we're mutuals you can come ask about this but I'm not ready to share things too publicly for this one yet, but the outlining has gone beautifully in my opinion, and the worldbuilding is singing.

Speartip

I'm making a TTRPG!! It's a Powered by the Apocalypse engine game, about serving as the primary field agents of a faction of people who need your support and protection. Because if you're going to be a hero, who are you doing it for if not your kin?

Setting agnostic as hell, excluding some implicit need for magic in the class moves – I'm prepping to playtest this in sci-fi and fantasy settings to see how well my mechanics hold up in both swords and firearms based stories. Plus I'm going to explore a variety of perspectives of what the faction can be – from ethnic groups, to gangs, to guilds, to neighbourhoods.

I'm VERY excited about all this!!

[syntheticmortal]

Hello!! for the fic writing ask <3

💕 whats your favorite part of your writing process?

🤔 why do you write fic?

Heyyyyyyy~!

💕I'm going to give a second favourite here for fun! As I get closer and closer to the end of my novel draft and preparing to put it down for a time, I'm getting incredibly energised by the start up process for new projects. I have... a number of stories I would like to do, and I now feel very ready to do pretty much all of them, so I'm having a TON of fun going over their start up processes. Themes, tone, character designs, medium, the five act structure.

A huge part is looking at similar projects in my notes and really working on what makes them distinct from each other in all those categories and worldbuilding too.

But I'm also going to start doing some more short collaborative work and that's very exciting too!

🤔 Legit if I stopped doing everything, and had everything I'd need to live in luxury, the first thing I'd do is start a new story.

Stories energise me, the process of designing them helps me understand the world or at least how I view it, and it connects me to others. All stories are emotion and ideas, and I love that exchange between audience and creator

[syntheticmortal]

💕 what's your favorite part of your writing process?

🌅 do you typically know the ending to something before you start writing it?

Thank you love~!!

💕This one has definitely changed over the years. At the moment, 50k words into a novel, the act of a good writing zen is just divine. Just absolutely cranking out that draft, no looking back, no editing as I go.

Sometimes it's a tired day and it's not going to work like that (doing the work when you're unmotivated is good, and sometimes you need to rest. You learn the difference in time) but those moments where the vibes align all is right in the world

🌅On the projects that actually got put out there - yes. A lot gets worked out in the writing process, but I often try to have the start and ending worked out in the outlining stage. I very much find for my own process it keeps me on track.

That said, it wont surprise me if sometimes that wobbles. Calling an audible and deviating from the outline where necessary (to the point of stopping writing and reoutlining on a couple of occasions) is an important tool I use too

[syntheticmortal]

Been managing to get back to writing a 1000+ words most days for my novel after the election took some wind out of my sail

Still immensely proud of this novel, and what it tries to do. Really hoping other people can fall in love with it too! 💖

[syntheticmortal]

Wrote 1000 words in an hour and a half 🙌 Very into the new mindset stuff I've been trying out, and very excited that I'm stuck into my novel proper! 🥰

Wish me luck!

[syntheticmortal]

Writing is immensely freeing, and I'm so glad I had the ability to get back to it after my far-too-long job hunt 💖

Life is very stressful but I hope those of you who have stories you want to explore or tell will continue to pursue that path

[syntheticmortal]

The Mutilation of Finley Reid, a masculine horror short set in an anachronistic sunless fantasy derived from British Folklore and Celtic Myth is now available!!

I am immensely proud of not only the hard work that went into learning how to write much more lovingly, but also for getting over the faff of editing and working with the damn Amazon website

I hope that those who read it enjoy it ❤ (it's also only 2 bucks/ a pound and a half)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CCJSL4FX - American store https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CCJSL4FX - British store

Much love in particular to my darling @the-art-block for the cover art and for helping me rework the original Heraldry you see at the top there!

[syntheticmortal]

Had the most lovely writing sesson as I start a new project - a sequential fantasy story about a city at the edge of time and space and the people who are hiding from the end times in their own community <3

Writing was always something in my bones, but it's been rather hard to do. I feel like I've managed to change my perspective now though. It's not that it's not work, because it very much is, but it's so much more pleasurable.

Maybe it's a lot of progress made over the years with therapy, and with putting myself on the life path I most want to do. Maybe it's the better means of making a writing environment conducive to me individually.

But I'm really just happy with the work content, and the work progress. I'm even excited to return to editing again, I got a real handle on that too when doing The Mutilation of Finley Reid at the end there.

<3

[syntheticmortal]

Outlining my Cyberpunk Vampires novel

It's time >:D

I can only hope it stands apart from VTM but also all the VTM fans still think it's cool :')