#WTW event

[silent-creed]

WtW Character Event - Day 1 Protagonists

If only she hadn't been so hungry

Image & Quote Credits:

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9

[scaevolawrites]

Glass Butterflies

WELCOME TO WRITEBLR SECRET SANTA Happy Holidays @thousand-page-dreams

Your name was pulled out of the stocking that adorned my wall this festive season, and I got to work on making something that would fit you and your writing. I hope that the following poem (under the cut) does your WIP Glass Butterflies and the characters therein justice.

Glass Butterflies

People see me as a fragile thing To be handled carefully I wouldn’t know a thing about it So I keep my distance and watch Hoping to catch that moment that Makes me understand So I can finally move out of this shadow Hoping others will finally notice me

People see me as a butterfly To be adored and gawked at I do not see myself as such a thing So I keep to myself and try to forget Hoping these expectations will Not anchor me in place So I can finally move out of this limelight Hoping others will see who and not what I am

These images of people are all I have A shallow representation of the person they depict A thing without depth, purely superficial

These images people present themselves as are all I have A shallow representation of the person they want me to see A thing without depth, purely superficial

Others fail to notice his quiet moments Seeing only the extravert But by luck, I saw him A butterfly lost in thought Wholly alone And I wish I could tell him I understand

Others fail to notice his passion Seeing only the oddball But by luck, I saw him A fragile thing lost in thought Wholly engrossed And I wish I could tell him I understand

Perhaps one day I will gather the courage and speak

Perhaps one day I will gather the courage and speak

[on-noon]

WTW Pumpkin Palooza Day#03: Crystal Ball

Crystal Ball - Outline a scene, act, or your entire WIP

So heres the plot i guess (definitly subject to change):

Walvryn and Leofric's mom dies

Walvryn joins the military, the space fighter pilots

Leofric starts to get radicilized into anti-genetic engineering, anti-implants ideas online and makes a video of him cutting out his implant

Walvryn completes training

Leofric starts a breakaway colony, that's not allowed, so there's a war

Walvryn's dad contacts her

Walvryn's ship gets hit, she's really injured (and Leofric now wants to go see her, but can't shes on a military base)

Walvryn turns down the offer to train pilots, and leaves the military, lives with her father and his family for a bit

Walvryn decides she neeeds to spend some time with Leoffric, and so goes to live with him

the war ends i guess? and Leofric's side loses

taglist: @saltysupercomputer

[serpentarii]

M O R D L U S T ; september 22nd, 2024

finally getting around to doing these more often now that i'm making money moves in the draft (this is a lie, i am making moves into my friends' dms to scream) so that means i have an excuse to make self-indulgent WIP edits.

my primary protagonist vératre, formerly known as voir, has been made sufficiently weird, and i think i've found a way to smoothly integrate all of the new scenes i added when i reformatted her half of the plot.

i've also been in my overthinking era to make sure that everything from color symbolism, animal motifs, to the specific variations of words characters use has a purpose. 90% of it will not be apparent in the actual draft so, to paraphrase myself, i'm like gay sisyphus opening and closing notion.

but, i do plan on making some character aesthetic intros, tv show edits, and finally getting around to that animal symbolism post 🐯

transcript below the cut:

Pale blue light flooded into the crate as the lid was pried off, then abruptly overturned, sending Aleksander tumbling out between a set of familiar armchairs. His attention traveled up the front of a familiar desk and landed at an unsmiling familiar face.  Sitting quietly on the other side of the desk was Lady Kos, regal as a queen and ten times wealthier, with pearl droplets woven into her dark braids, dressed in chiffon and lace from trailing hem to high, starched collar.  She was melting wax, her movements swift and assured as she poured a small pool onto the folds of an envelope and stamped it with a sigil Aleksander knew to dread. She took a sip of riesling, soundlessly replacing her glass onto the wood, before setting her sights on him.  “Herr Aleksander Fox,” she said at last. 

and since i haven't done this in like 4 years, surprise bitch. i'm doing a novel prep tag in here now.

first look ;

describe your novel in 1-2 sentences (elevator pitch) ;

a businessman-turned-thief finds himself entangled with a pair of opposing assassins and the roles they unknowingly play in a much grander conspiracy.

how long do you plan for your novel to be (novella, standalone, series, etc.)? ;

a standalone, thank god. the technically term would be roman fleuve, since i am planning future standalone works that take place within the same universe.

what is your novel’s aesthetic? ;

ancient buildings overtaken by nature, cemeteries at midnight, poisonous flowers, venomous snakes, whispering in shadowy alcoves, masquerade balls, bloodstained feathers, veiled truths

what other stories inspire your novel? ;

the his dark materials series by philip pullman, uprooted by naomi novik, classic gothic lit, fairy tales in general, and uh,,,,,,,exodus.

share 3+ images that give a feel for your novel ;

main character ;

who is your protagonist? ;

my two main protagonists/POVs are liferuiner and wannabe businessman aleksander fox, and vératre, a notorious poisoner struggling her way through a quarter-life crisis.

who is their closest ally? ;

aleksander's closest ally, at least in the beginning, is his friend heidi, an information broker with a secret :) and vératre begrudgingly accepts the help of salicaire, another assassin, since they are both nosy and want answers.

who is their enemy? ;

aleksander vs. the ospirin family (a fight he is nawt winning) and the church

what do they want more than anything? ;

so, to be cryptic, 3/4 of the leads in mordlust are all reflections of each other, what they could have been and what they want to be. the last of them is the mirror. they see in him what they want to see. and what they want, shockingly, is prestige, power, belonging, etc. they've always felt like strangers in their own skin and will go to terrible lengths to fit themselves into a society that was not made for them.

why can’t they have it? ;

dirty dirty politics for which they are mere pawns ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

what do they wrongly believe about themselves? ;

that because they've been hurt, they are justified in hurting others in pursuit of their goals.

draw your protagonist! (or share a description) ;

aleksander is a classic dandy with a hyperfixation on his vintage fox fur coat, which he wears even when it's wildly out of season and out of fashion because it's the nicest thing he owns. he's also usually seen wearing kid leather gloves and a golden cravat pin he received from his patroness. he's got green eyes, short auburn hair, lots of freckles, and more people would find him handsome if he didn't smile like he knew your fly was down and was refusing to tell you.

vératre's lips are stained purple due to. reasons. and so she wears a veil, which is not uncommon for particularly devout women. she has medium length brown hair she keeps pinned up into tight plaits and a notably long neck. also, she has pretty privilege because shits fucked and having attractive lay servants representing the house/church is common practice. since she works as a kitchen maid most of the week, she's often wearing her uniform w/ an apron. and sometimes she wears isme's black feathered cloak.

drawing wise, i do have this chart, courtesy of alex @bitethebard:

plot points ;

what is the internal conflict? ;

aleksander and vératre, being parallels of each other, have somewhat similar internal conflicts. they both came from nameless villages out in the countryside and share a burning desire to be more. in vératre's case it's v much a "be careful what you wish for" situation, because in receiving everything she thought she wanted she's no longer herself and unhappier than ever. aleksander is younger and earlier along in his journey, but barreling down the same path. except the choices he makes fucks shit up for the people around him more than they effect himself.

what is the external conflict? ;

again, cutthroat politics (literally). everyone has something they'd kill for.

what is the worst thing that could happen to your protagonist? ;

other than dying horribly, probably being tethered to an uncaring master, praying to uncaring gods, and trying to find comfort in an uncaring church for the rest of their miserable lives.

what secret will be revealed that changes the course of the story? ;

aleksander is entangled in a pseudo-liar revealed plot, which i kinda hate, but as an extremely unreliable narrator his priorities are not in proper order... vératre is witnessing the horrors.

do you know how it ends? ;

yeah

bits & bobs ;

what is the theme? ;

blind faith is dangerous. you must learn to take responsibility for both the good and the bad actions you take, and attaching yourself to someone or something at random to validate your own existence isn't healthy. holiness exists not only in gods but in small moments of happiness and in the people we love. and lastly don't fucking steal someone's skin and sell it on the black market.

what is a recurring symbol? ;

thorns.

where is the story set? (share a description!) ;

niederbrinn, the capital city of falkenreik, which is loosely inspired by pre-german empire prussia. it's filled with tons of gothic™ architecture and fun locations like cathedrals, catacombs, and creature shops. it's situated closer to the malevolent eldritch forest than most would like.

do you have any images or scenes in your mind already? ;

hell yeah

what excited you about this story? ;

mostly isme. and then the other 3 protags ig 🙄

tell us about your usual writing method! ;

these days, i usually write a rough outline and expand it using the snowflake method, incorporating ideas, themes, and worldbuilding along the way. then i make a proper outline where i figure out chapters, acts, the dreaded midpoint, etc. i don't write in chronological order so this helps a ton with out-of-context lines since i have a reference for where i want them based on the location/emotional state of the characters. getting myself to actually sit down and WRITE the damn thing is the problem, shout out to my fellow procrastinating perfectionists <33

if you made it to this point you are sexy and i love you, byeeee !!

[milekael]

IS E5 TIME THE VENTURE IS BACK ⚡⚡⚡

[helioselene]

WTW CHARACTER WEEK DAY 1 -> PROTAGONISTS

JULIETTE EDEVANE;

She pauses, needing a moment with her thoughts to remind herself that she is death itself, and he is simply another pigeon caught within her lethal embrace.

psd colouring credit to the darling @cavalierfou <3

[urmomsfavelesbian]

gift upon ye

gift upon moi??? dayangie……..hmmm im absolutely not opposed to such a thing and also being hand fed by daya……god i wish that were me 😮‍💨 oh by the way i just looked at your blog and im a day late but happy birthday !!!! here’s a gift upon ye, uno reverse card, it’s a day late please forgive me, here’s Them 💛

[encrucijada]

i hope u know ur greek tragedy characters have been living rent free in my brain i’m obsessed with them

[athena-xox]

To anyone who has been keeping up with my dilemma on the timeline, I solved it! Well kinda…

So I was wondering if the school started in September or if it started later because true hearts day takes place in spring.

It does canonically go from September to June

The first photo is from the legacy orchard which the narrators say is at the start of the year. And the second is from tri-castle-on which is said to be the last sporting event before the end of the year.

All the webisodes from wtw-dragon games have calendars at the start.

Also fun fact, spring starts in February in ever after (for those who don’t know in the real world the first day of spring is March 20th)

(That’s from heart struck where the narrators say it’s the first day of spring)

Also keep in mind that most of those episodes HAVE TO take place in the following year

Also check the reblogs, I’m going to post all the calendars and their context. I just can’t because I’m on mobile

[welcometowriteblr]

WTW PRESENTS OUR 41ST EVENT!

WelcomeToWriteblr brings you another prompt event, this one themed around the planets of our solar system! Like our last prompt event, this month is a redux of an older event that we’d once again like to bring to the community! 

From MAY 25TH TO JUNE 2ND create something in response to that day’s prompt and post it. You’re welcome to do absolutely anything for the prompt of the day, whether it be a drawing, an excerpt, a playlist, or a moodboard. This event is aimed to get everyone involved and we will accept all submissions! 

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

Tag your posts as #WTWEVENT and #WTWCOMMUNITY

Format your posts like this: WTW PLANET PROMPTS - PLANET NAME: CHOSEN PROMPT

Wait for your post to be added to the queue. 

NSFW content will not be posted to the blog. 

OPTIONAL: Join our discord server if you would like to ensure your post makes it onto the blog! Tumblr’s tagging system can be unreliable and we want to make sure everyone’s creations are shared! Please note, you must be 15 OR OLDER to enter our server! 

PROMPT LIST 

Day 1 - Mercury - Locations or Travel 

Day 2 - Venus - Politics 

Day 3 - Earth - Nature 

Day 4 - Mars - War or Conflict 

Day 5 - Jupiter - Religion or Commerce 

Day 6 - Saturn - Luxury or Cuisine 

Day 7 - Uranus - History or Science 

Day 8 - Neptune - Lore or Mythology 

Day 9 - Pluto - Death 

GO BEYOND THE STARS, JOIN OUR SERVER HERE! (discord.gg/earlgrey)

[vmpiires]

hi!! i just read your intro and first can i just say, ayyyyy brooklyn and congrats on graduating!!!

for my request, it’s for our good boi choso. how would he react to falling in love with someone who previously had a bf who died during shibuya? 👀 (like, this first love but y/n’s second)

𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐒𝐎 𝐊𝐀𝐌𝐎

„𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐘𝐀𝐋 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐃𝐘”

: ̗̀➛ SENSITIVE CONTENT!!

: ̗̀➛ afab!reader, no nasty stuff. all fluff or the regular stuff. mature themes (attempted su*cide, depression, etc. if these said topics trigger you, please do not continue reading.) not proofread so i apologize in advance for any mistakes if they’re made.

: ̗̀➛ art creds by;; currently unknown. dividers are not mine, if you own these, you may claim them in comments.

: ̗̀➛ WORD COUNT;; 1.7K

* dark mode recommended

* do not copy this plot. i’m perfectly fine with inspirations but give creds. if this plot his stolen in any way, the post will be taken down and you will be blocked.

𝐃𝐀𝐊𝐎𝐓𝐀𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒 ✉️🖇️;; hii wtw and thank you. and ykw this a good ass plot. reblog to support meeee and if you want more :D

red arrows ripped through the flesh of the non-sorcerers. their blood splattering all over the ground and whatever wall it could touch. it was hell. the average human wouldn’t even be able to process what it was like to be in the midst of the shibuya incident. and the survivors of shibuya…their stories were different.

a traumatic event. tears were shed as much as blood had been. memories flooded back into the mind of the blinded and they were set free from what they feared, vowing to protect what was valuable to them.

feeling like a monster, they stumble away. how could you hurt what you should’ve protected? the answers were impossible to find. they wanted change. they wanted to be released from such shackles that held them down.

dawn. you’re awake early. you glance around to find your partner but you immediately sigh. the sad feelings starting to rush into your head and you burst into tears. during the shibuya incident, your boyfriend had died. he promised that he’d come home after he ran a few errands but he never returned. that’s when you heard about the deaths. your heart sank and you felt sick. you couldn’t even place a finger on who could’ve done something as cruel as this.

you crawl out of bed and stagger into the bathroom, doing your hygiene. showering, cleaning your teeth, brushing your hair and throwing it into a messy bun. you had errands to run yourself so you’d put on something simple. a white shirt with baby blue hoodie on top with some grey cargos and a pair of high top dunks that matched your hoodie.

you make your way back into the bathroom and gave yourself some eye drops to remove the red from your eyes after crying for hours on end. you then put on some eyeliner. you decided to attempt to make yourself look presentable rather than depressed when you left your cozy apartment.

you’d apply lotion to your face so it wasn’t dry and ashy when the gentle winds that blew outside would pick up hit your face. you even put on lip gloss. you force a smile on your face and remind yourself that everything would be okay.

in town, it’s awkward being outside again. though, it looks like some people have recovered from the incident and healed from their emotional scars, you knew that was impossible for you at the moment. and you knew they were all putting on acts for the public. you wanted to grimace but you didn’t have the time to be angry.

you were walking into you bumped into someone. it was an accident, so you immediately apologized. when you looked up at them, you noticed it was a male who might’ve stood at the height of maybe 5’11 or even 6 feet. you quickly examined him.

‘purple eyes. brown hair…tied back into two fluffy ponytails. a black line across his nose. bored expression. is he sleep deprived? what is all that stuff around his eyes?’ you thought. after the two of you exchanged a couple words apologizing, you quickly scurried off. something about him made you suspicious. it was odd.

choso watched as you walked off, having an odd feeling in his chest. ‘what the hell is this?’ he wanted that feeling to die. to go away. but the longer he watched you leave, it just wouldn’t go. he shoved his hands into his pockets, sinking his bottom lip into his mouth and gently biting down.

pathetic.

he didn’t even know you, yet he was taking some kind of interest in you. you were a human. why should he take an interest in the likes of you? he didn’t know why himself. the half cursed spirit would stop his staring and pull himself back into reality, walking away to process what he had been thinking of.

it was becoming odd now. as the days go by, you seemed to keep seeing the spirit everywhere. even in your dreams. you couldn’t say that you were being followed though. you pinned it in the back of your mind as a coincidence. a coincidence that the random male you bumped into accidentally where everywhere you treaded your feet upon.

what was the next move? confrontation? talking to him? him talking to you? what would you even say to him? nothing? good answer. because that’s exactly what you were gonna do.

you were about to return to your lonely but cozy apartment. you’ve done what you had to do for the day and you were tired, eager to get some sleep even if it was only early in the afternoon.

the light turned white, registering that pedestrians could bypass the crosswalk while cars were forced to stop for you. as you began to walk, you weren’t aware of the car that was still speeding down the street. the second you stepped down onto the asphalt, you were immediately pulled back and the metal body zoomed past you. you were sure that it grazed you just a bit.

you turned and looked up to see that same man again. he was holding your wrist a bit tight but soon enough he let go of you. a breath escaped you as your heart pumped rapidly after almost dying.

“i…thanks,” you say after you were to catch your breath. choso was quiet. he’d shove his hands back into his pocket before mumbling something.

“are you hurt?”

his voice was deep. it was a voice that could shake the ground if he spoke any louder. you just looked at him. you didn’t know what to say. but you couldn’t just leave him there in awkward silence.

“i’m okay…” you mutter, “..thank you again.”

you didn’t know why but your heart was racing. you felt like you’d pass out right there if you didn’t calm down. you weren’t scared of the fact that you were almost killed by a car anymore.

it was him. you couldn’t put your finger on it. he had an effect on you and you didn’t even know his name. what were you thinking? you didn’t know.

“behave…” choso mumbled to himself, holding onto a chess piece, which ended up snapping in half after applying too much pressure against it between his thumb and two fingers. the pieces fell onto the floor and his tired eyes lowered.

“shit…”

you were driving him crazy. keeping him up late. throwing him off of his work. what the hell was so special about you that you were messing him up this badly?

he should’ve been asking himself this when he asked for your phone number when you bumped into each other for the umpteenth time now. you should’ve been asking yourself the same question also. he was in your dreams.

a man you didn’t know was in your dreams. in those dreams, you touched him. kissed him. held him. you never imagined that you’d do such a thing with a mystery man. well, you’ve known him long enough now. you could practically say you were acquaintances. those random coincidences turned into something that happened for months.

maybe you missed your boyfriend. there wasn’t anything wrong with that. you lost the man you loved the most above anyone else. the memories you had with him was colliding with the image of choso in his place.

it made him look perfect to you. choso was something you needed…no. not yet. not ever. you can’t do that. your dreams were setting you up for failure. you didn’t want anyone else but your deceased partner…but you knew he couldn’t come back.

you stared at the text from choso, asking you if you were okay with eyes filled with tears. the salty puddles slid from the corners of your eyes and fell onto your screen. you weren’t okay. you weren’t okay at all. the world was overwhelming you. why was this higher power yelling in your ear telling you to let go and feel the pleasure of another? someone that wasn’t yours.

the dreams. that’s what it was. they were causing you so much pain and you hated it. the voices in your head were telling you so many things that you just wanted it all to go quiet.

the bathtub was full and you say there, fully clothed, letting the water that was slowly stained with your blood consume you. your eyes closed and tears were forming in your eyes. you were feeling so much at once that it hurt.

ding.

an interruption.

your eyes flicker open and your irises travel down to the bathroom door, which was open, showing off your hallway. you climbed out of the bathtub, feeling weak and sore.

the doorbell rang again and it made your eye twitch. you quickly dried yourself off and changed into some new clothes then dragged yourself to the front door. you opened it and saw him again. the two of you made eye contact. you were feeling embarrassed, knowing you were just about to remove yourself from the land of the living a few moments ago.

“you’re bleeding,” choso begins, taking your hand gently and lifting your arm to scan for any more injuries. he seemed concerned, despite his facial expression and his deadpanned tone. you were about to snatch your hand away but you needed this. maybe you did need him.

“what happened?”

“nothing-” you answered, choking back on your words, trying not to cry, “nothing happened, i’m okay. i must’ve accidentally cut myself on something.” you add, trying to smile. but choso wasn’t taking that. he’d pull you into a hug. it made you feel like you had to confess everything to him. your emotions were overriding your original intentions. you felt like you were betraying yourself in some way.

“you’re not okay.” choso said. “tell me.”

his gentle but rough voice broke you. you finally put your arms around the 5’11 male and bursted into tears, confessing everything. shibuya, the fact that you lost your boyfriend, what you felt when you met him, the dreams, what happened moments ago. words spilled out of you like water in a shattered glass.

choso pressed your head against his chest, his hand holding the back of your head as he held you close. he comforted you with his words and soothing voice. he made you think everything would truly be okay.

your throat began to get sore with all your crying and your body felt exhausted. the second your eyes closed, you fell asleep in his arms. he was a bit surprised himself but he continued to hold you. he’d carry you to your couch, gently placing you down so you could sleep and adding a kiss on your cheek.

“dream of nothing but paradise and blue skies...”

𝐄𝐍𝐃.

⋆｡࿇ ·࣭࣪̇˖ 𖦹°༅༚

[silent-creed]

WTW PLANET PROMPTS - VENUS: POLITICS

Royal Wedding

The marriage of Queen Velara the Golden and Caidek, the eldest son of the Drakon Chief will be the event of the century. Never before has a royal of Farosek married one of the drakon of the north, this union is set to bring about an unprecedented era of unity and strength. With a dragon mage on the throne other nations will be all the more wary before approaching Farosek with ill will.

Image Credits:

1 // 2 // 3

[on-noon]

WTW Pumpkin Palooza Day #02: Raven

Day #02: Raven - Create a tagline for your WIP

Walvryn, an exhausted space pilot has to fight against her brother's army.

[yvesdot]

yves, if only theoretically wanted to break into publishing or lit mags, do you have recommendations or advice?

My primary advice is to get to know as many writers as you can, as well as you can, quickly. I’ve recommended joining Discord servers for this in the past and will do so again; the most active ones I’m in are Max's @goose-books server (I think you have to ask for an invite?), WTW, and writeblr garden. Participate in book events virtually and in person when you can. When you like someone's work, tell them! And mention that you're an author, too.

Disclaimer: I haven't made it into any paid magazines, largely because I find submitting and waiting for months at a time before working on edits exhausting, particularly in comparison to instant money on Patreon—so have that grain of salt at the ready! All I've done is publish the one book, twice, and release a substantial amount of short fiction on my own. People read it and liked it, and now I have lovely anons like you who seem to respect me enough to ask for industry advice. Thank you! Hope you like long posts.

The reason I say the above is that, in my experience, the entirety of publishing is just one big who-do-you-know. Utterly non-exhaustive list of ways "knowing people" has helped me in my writing career below.

I left a middling review on a trans author's book, and in the correspondence that followed we became friends. Rysz Merey went on to start tRaum Books, and because we were friends, we put out the Something's Not Right anniversary edition together.

When I was at my university, I was loudly opinionated about books and writing and art in all of my classes, and a professor's words about me in an email to an author they knew became the blurb for that same edition of Something's Not Right.

I read Tragic Accident (a flash piece originally rejected by an online magazine for, in my opinion, cisgender reasons) last night at Flash Fiction Forum, the heads of which I know personally because, after a high school internship, I was directed to a friend of theirs to volunteer at her writing camp. I sold a lot of copies of the original SNR to teens at that camp, and I've sold dozens of copies since by linking to the book in the Zoom chat and bringing physical copies to in-person readings.

Tragic Accident may have ultimately been rejected from the venue I sent it to, but I only had that venue on my list because my beloved friend Fer @asablehart posted in WTW a spreadsheet of places to submit. I still use that spreadsheet, filled with dozens of extra places I researched on my own, and pass it on to anyone who asks. Fer also read The Traveler Wife and gave extremely insightful feedback on it; we've since done tons of great critique4critiques together and they're still my go-to if I need wise words on a piece of writing.

When I held my event at Bookshop Santa Cruz, I marketed my ass off. I'd learned from my previous event at the Diversity Center in town and focused heavily on reaching out to individual people: posting in Discord servers, DMing everyone I knew, and telling everybody I met in December that by the way I would be reading at Bookshop Santa Cruz in January. I worked my job as an author and my book and my event into every conversation I had with a stranger that month. Everyone responded positively! People want to know what you're working on.

But at the end of the day, under a third of attendees were people I hadn't previously considered friends in some way. The majority of the people who came were family, friends, coworkers, friends-of-friends dragged along by someone I knew well, etc. One coworker couldn't come but invited their housemates, who bought books and left saying they would read Band Girls at home. One of the friends who came met me when we would ride the same bus every week to class, and I initially spoke to him because I fully thought he was a transgender woman (he turned out to just be an extremely fashionable individual). That guy helped code my website. Of the three people who interviewed me locally for promotion, two are people I'm friends with and one I cold-emailed due to his past work.

One of the major servers I used to invite people to both of my events is one I was only added to because I met a goth girl who invited me to her dorm to watch her inject E into her thigh and when I reported back on this to another transfem friend that friend instantly named her because they were in the server together and multiple people in it knew me from my creative writing efforts so everybody agreed to add me. I literally only had that space to network because I said "nice boots" to a girl whose special interest turned out to be DIY HRT at a protest party about the chancellor getting a raise.

Claire Oshetsky came to my event and I made a point of finally starting to read their book beforehand so I could honestly tell them it was cool when I signed their copy of Something's Not Right (it was cool, and everyone should read Chouette, and also Poor Deer, which I am on page 10 on and can already certify is fantastic). They were incredibly nice to me for no reason—well, because of those interviews I had, which led to them noticing another nonbinary author in the area—and ultimately reviewed SNR very positively on GoodReads. You can see what happened to the numbers afterwards. (I also sold a copy that day; when you sell roughly a copy of a book per week, you can absolutely make these connections directly.)

Tonight was Claire Oshetsky's event, so I showed up having read Chouette in full and asked a question during the Q&A and told them how cool their book was, and they invited me to a little post-event author dinner. (One of the authors introduced herself as "Karen" and described a prolific writing career very opaquely until her friend mentioned the name of her latest novel: Booth.) Everyone was incredibly nice and wanted to buy my book which was unfortunately sold out because of the aforementioned event, and a couple of people gave me email addresses so they could buy it later. I've been trying to meet local authors for over a year, and I met seven by accident because one of them came up to me to say it was nice to see Bookshop Santa Cruz had two nonbinary readers in a row.

Talking to David Sedaris at an event got me a job! He complimented my outfit, I said thank you I wore it for the interview with [x], and he did everything he could to help me network with the [x] people there. I was later told that my "chemistry" with Sedaris, among other things, helped me get the position. I would also find out that David specifically loves the last people in the signing line because they're the most patient; I happened to have waited until last because I wanted to have more time to talk to him.

I have emailed several authors with fanmail, and depending on how popular they are, I have gotten responses! I'm in a correspondence right now which netted me a behind-the-scenes look at an incredible draft, and thank you for reminding me because I need to respond and tell them how good it was.

Patreon is on pause right now, but I believe over half the subscribers are people I'm friends with in one way or another. I've tried nearly everything under the sun to advertise, and so far the only thing that's worked is "telling someone who has the disposable income."

The people who beta-read my latest release, Band Girls (18+), for me (which is the only reason it wasn't an unmitigated disaster) include my butch, who met me in a Locked Tomb server (naturally), a friend from a creative writing class in university who later became my housemate, and a good buddy of my butch's whom they rescued from the aforementioned TLT server. I literally didn't even notice that guy when we were in the server together and it turns out he's also a writer with a Giant Lesbian Women project who also wound up really liking Long Line (18+). Glories are all around you.

(Also, apparently my butch had that "how to write a blurb" post bookmarked and immediately recognized me, which is crazy. Imagine meeting some random author in a fandom server and they ask to see your [redacted] in DMs.)

Hell, my buddy Max Franciscovich read my book five years ago in the back of a car and had a transcendental nonbinary lesbian experience, and because he happened to be mutuals with a high school friend of mine, that friend sent me screenshots of him panicking about how he couldn't talk to me because I was too cool. I DMed him, and we are like each other's female husbands now. Undoubtedly we have each gained a substantive reader base from hyping each other's work at anyone in earshot. Maxserver, which I shouted out above, only has me in it because I know the darn guy. It's a lot more populous than yvescord in part because he is that much more active than I am, and can engage with other people's work more. I'm mooching off the labor of my best friend who pseudo-reached-out to me because I put a pronoun pin on a character's bag in the book I self-published in 2018.

Speaking of which: I self-published the original edition of Something's Not Right as a thank-you birthday gift to the Beta Reader. I seem to remember him reading my writing for the first time and saying something along the lines of "You do realize this is really good, right?" (I did not realize.) That was the first person to appreciate any of my original fiction, and it led to my entire career. We met on a class trip because he was the only person who would listen to me talk about Star Wars.

I try to never ingenuinely be nice to people. This is not particularly difficult, because I like people and give the benefit of the doubt to a pretty extreme fault. I will occasionally be nice out of politeness, but everyone I mentioned here is someone I genuinely like whose work is fantastic. It wasn't hard to honestly say I liked them and their writing.

I also recognize that much of this is kind of just me blathering about Ws with no actionable advice... but it might give you ideas for where to go or who to talk to about your writing. I also want you to feel just how much of writing is about "networking" in a way that is not cold and manipulative and moneyhungry but actually just involves being genuine friends with other people. I think the sheer quantity of evidence here is helpful to understand just how much you can do for yourself by talking to the people you like.

I also think it's good practice to own the fact that very little of my microcelebrity success has anything to do with how good my work is. I mean, sure, I think it's good, but this should make it clear that my greatest strength has been my perseverance and my friendliness.

(Also, obviously, I have the immense privilege to have gone to college, to live in California, to get to all these places and meet these people and work with them. I had the money in the bank to publish and promote a book. This is not a small factor. I'm hoping to do a full rundown of costs and efforts to promote Something's Not Right's anniversary edition sometime this year.)

I also don't think I'm particularly good at socializing—I have a knack for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, a difficulty with meeting people's eyes, and a mild stutter when I talk too quickly (which is often). A lot of people find me annoying or insincere because I act like a sentient powder puff, and when I'm not jumping up and down and meowing at people instead of saying "on your right," I'm complaining about the most widely-beloved pieces of pop culture and making two-hour rant videos about video games I think insufficiently scrutinize the concept of the nuclear family. I say all this to head off any concerns that perhaps I am just secretly very suave and social; I love talking to people, but I don't believe this is the case.

If I can summarize: nearly every time I've had any success with my writing, it's been because I made an effort to be kind to people I respected and share my passion for books and writing. I hit upon enough privileges and lucky circumstances to get the right circle of people to make all of the above happen. I think you can do it, too! I wish you the best. Thanks for asking ^__^

[veneritia]

when comes the dawn monthly update { 9.30.23 }

And here's to the revival of WCTD and the first ever WCTD monthly post! But first things first, let's get some basics out of the way

↳ WHAT IS WCTD?

FENICE VI AETIER, a portent of ill omens and the estranged daughter of the Vasilier, ignites a dangerous succession game between her and her half-siblings, where losing means death and winning means an empire. But to compete in this game requires the acknowledgement of the Vasilier himself, one that he isn't willing to give Fenice unless she gives him something in return: the head of the deposed king of Hesperia.

When Comes the Dawn is a new adult fantasy court intrigue novel featuring succession battles, an aro/ace lead, shifting alliances, cut-throat relatives, and a family that's torn themselves apart in the name of ambition for eons. You can find the wip intro here or follow the wip's main tag (#series.wctd)

↳ WHAT IS WCTD MONTHLY?

I've had this wip for a long time but have never made much significant progress before shoving it to the side because of work, school, life, or just being burnt out. WCTD Monthly is my way to try and motivate myself by giving myself a space to talk about all of the different work I've done on this wip. (And to pressure me into actually working on it so I have something to talk about.) You can follow along with my updates with the #wctd-monthy tag

↳ NOW, ONTO THE SHOW

outline → the first 9 chapters have been outlined. outline document is currently at 4k+ words. The main plot beats for Act 1 and Act 2 have been outlined

notion → I rebuild and organized my wip notion, as well as all of the character pages

series → because of the different character arcs and plot beats that I wanted to explore, I decided to officially make WCTD a duology as opposed to a standalone like originally planned. No official title for book two as of yet, though Crowning of the Sun is a tentative one.

worldbuiling → realized that the majority of book 1 takes place in the now subjugated kingdom of Hesperia as opposed to Aetier, where I focused the majority of my worldbuilding. This means that I'm starting to worldbuilding from...almost the ground up. It helps that I'm mostly focused on the province of Isidore.

characters → the vi Aetier family has been expanded! Fenice and Charles now have 3 other half-siblings (Euphemia, Konstantine, and Basil) as well as their siblings' respective mothers. I've added 9 noble houses to form the unofficial oligarchy of influence in Isidore, and I've given Leda a rival-turned-girlfriend-turned-ex to help flesh out her character.

extraneous content → attempted to make the vi Aetier family tree starting from the beginning of the vi Drochona dynasty (I'll probably clean it up and post it separately at a later date). I also added another god to the pantheon (Heleia, goddess of the wild nature, the hunt, liberation, and childhood), and finally re-introduced wctd (linked above)

events → I participated in WTW's character event week! You can find all posts here: protagonist / tropes / representation / antagonists / relationships / traits / wildcard

↳ WHAT'S NEXT?

I'll be using preptober to outline as much as I can for nano! My goal is to finish outlining act 1 and my stretch goal is to reach half-way to act 2

posting 1 or 2 character intros or worldbuilding posts

Find more WCTD content with the series tag #series.wctd and keep an eye out for monthly progress updates with #wctd-monthly

↳ Taglist under the cut (ask to be +/-):

GENERAL → @charlesjosephwrites | @bearunicorn154 I @seasteading| @writting-in-blood | @trapped-inadystopianovel | @inky-duchess | @thats-my-type-writer | @serpentarii | @myhusbandsasemni | @aphaimaniis | @writinglyra | @belialwrites | @amoranza | @pseudepigraphic | @mel-writes-with-her-dragons | @uppoffringar | @fantasydisease | @sourrcandy

WCTD → @zmlorenz | @andiwriteunderthemoon | @ryns-ramblings | @marchdove | @cielnocturnes | @wren-is-writing | @lord-fallen | @tragicbackstoryenjoyer | @bloomingwrites | @kaatiba | @writerjodie | @worldbuildng

[anoelleart]

My First Writeblr Event

I've very new to the writing Tumblr community. I just finished the WTW Character Week Event, and I had so much fun!

1. Protagonists | Introducing Soon-to-be Lady Charlotte

2. Tropes | "A Fantasy Setting for my Romance Tropes"

3. Representation | "Representation in Fantasy Settings"

4. Antagonists | "What makes an antagonist?"

5. Relationships | Introducing Edith [Women Friendships]

6. Traits | Introducing Nathaniel [Exploring Character Motivation]

7. Wildcard | Introducing General Marc [Comedic Characters]

* Honorable Mention | Introducing Commander Byron [Love Interest]

You can see all of my posts here! Thanks for listening to my rambling!