#find more information on these two and the wip on my main

[friendlyshaped]

WRITEBLR INTRO :D

hello! my name is scottie! i am a 20 yr. old nb college student trying to write a fantasy series (among other minor projects!), looking for active writers to be mutuals and interact with (bonus if ur open to beta reading! or want a beta reader!) :D ask/tag open! i love talking to people, so don't be afraid to say hi :)

my current focus is coming-of-age queer fantasy, but i also focus on dystopian themes, horror, romance, and a sprinkle of futuristic sci-fi

CURRENT WIPS!

mya laine and the world of wonder (main)

generally, about creation! coping with being created, and then in turn having to create yourself. also, because i only knonw how to write two things, almost every relationship in this is a lesbian relationship! i am currently trying to make it a bit less Only Lesbians, but also? who fucking cares if it is a fantasy coming of age with literally only lesbian relationships. like... i dont? i'm well aware that i am biased but i still dont care

dehisce

(of a pod or seed vessel, or a cut or wound) gape or burst open.

also lesbians! contains time shenanigans and dragons. set in a world sort of exactly like the Modern Pre-Crown World in fionna and cake. i reference this because my main lady penny is a silly little history buff and decides to go on this expedition to find more information on a lost goddess, and ends up getting entangled with time. after a long, emotional trek that goes wrong more times than it goes right. penny somehow manages to get sent thousands of years in the future when the world has been ravaged by magic and godly power. and then she meets a girl who has a dragon and a dude that does everything she says, and more shit happens!

untitled crime story (now: unorthodox methods!)

i will not stop calling it untitled crime story!!! but i had to come up with a silly and catchy title because i chose this as a premise for the feature film script i'm writing for class. but untitled crime story i'll remember you

you guessed it.... lesbians.............. but they're exes with sooo much unspoken beef and they go off-grid together anyways so neither of them get put in prison ??? it's in a world where magic is normal and a bit frowned upon, now getting out of have because there's a global shortage of the one drug that suppresses magical powers. and this girl's ex calls her one night! the fun ex---she's supposed to be fun!! but she sounds super terrified and serious and chaos ensues! lesbians running from magical authorities and having to face their very long, very loud shared history.

finally edited it! this post just doubles as my wip masterpost :) i do not feel like doing a whole new post i am just here to have fun

ok <3 thats kinda it. thank you for reading!

[stesierra]

Writeblr ReIntro!

I'm posting a new intro because now that I've been on Writeblr a little while, I realize how much information I left out! Hi, I'm Stephanie, I live in the desert with my husband and baby and three cats, and I'm an ace, bipolar fantasy writer! When I was a kid, they said I had ADHD but then I got my Masters degree in biology, so they claim I can't have it. Online tests say I'm probably autistic.

I used to write sci fi twelve years ago but only low tech sci fi about weird aliens, which nobody likes. Now I write fantasy novels! Lots of fantasy novels! I am beginning to post them on my website so if you want to read them, please keep an eye on this post.

My books often but not always have some romance (either m/f or f/f because I prefer female protagonists.) Since I'm ace (and demiromantic), my interpretation of romance and attraction is not exactly what you'd expect from, say, a romance novel.

I am not going to tell you about all my books! I've written eighteen! Four of them are shelved forever! Here's some recent ones (written or revised since 2018) that I haven't given up on. Please ask me questions about them! I LOVE talking about my books! Also, if you want to be added to my taglist for writing samples let me know! Please also tell me if you're interested in alpha or beta reading and for which book! Mutuals only, please!

My books are beneath the cut! As I add WIP intros, I'll update this list with links.

Cast Out

YA fantasy! On her sixteenth birthday, Zisha is cast out of the Plenary Cities for the crime of being born deaf, like her grandmother before her. In the wastelands, she meets Thesil, a depressed and bitter young woman. Zisha wants nothing to do with her — until she sees Thesil's face in a vision. But before she can find out what the visions mean or reach her grandmother's holdings in the wastes, the plague returns to the Plenary Cities. If the disabled really caused the plague thirty years ago, and were cast out to stop the spread, how can it be back when all of them are outcast?

Status: Finished. Being serialized.

WIP intro here.

Now being serialized here. First five chapters up, one posted weekly.

The Bone Queen

This is my NA fantasy about the aftermath of freeing an undead queen and her skeleton army. They take over the kingdom, of course! The main character, Elise, is trapped in Bandrum palace by Aubrey, the ghost who tricked her into falling in love and freeing him (plus everyone else.) He's an animated skeleton now with plans to marry Elise and force her to carry his children. The bone queen has promised him she'll make it happen. Too bad no one cares what Elise wants. If only she had magic of her own...

Status: undergoing a rewrite after developmental edit. Was 109k before revisions. Not available for beta reading.

Draft number? Hahahaha. It has two complete sequels (The Spellbound King (106k) and The Matriarch's Daughter (96k)) I must also rewrite. This series is going to kill me but I love it. My mom, who loves everything I write, complained that it was weird. I'm very proud.

WIP intro here.

First chapter here.

School of Souls

This is my YA contemporary fantasy about a boarding school in the Bighorn Mountains! It's supposed to be a place parents can send "bad" teens to have their problems sorted out, but secretly the founder is using it to train the kids as sorcerers. Even more secretly, the school devours the souls of the students sent there, and the teenagers who graduate aren't the same as the ones who arrived... Warning: does include teenage addiction to sleeping pills and ghosts and and parental death. It's going to have sequels but I haven't written them yet.

Status: Complete first draft. 83k. Available for alpha reading.

WIP intro here.

First chapter here.

The Many-faced Princess

This is YA fantasy with a historical vibe but set in a made up world. Vaguely inspired by ancient Phoenicia. It's about Princess Ameryi, who was blessed by the genderless trickster god, Akihel, to be able to change her face. If her father the king ever found out, he'd have to execute her, of course. Akihel is just plain evil. All the other gods say so. A daughter who's their champion? Impossible. An abomination. So Ameryi will just have to make sure her father never finds out. That was easier to do before the Asirtinsa Empire threatened to invade and her father sent her to secure an alliance with a neighboring king. She's supposed to marry him. Not steal his face and frame him for murder. But sometimes plans just don't work out.

This book was supposed to be about two lesbian princesses who frame the king for murder so they can elope, but both princesses decided to be ace and there was nothing I could do.

Status: Complete first draft. 83k. It's going to have sequels but I haven't written them yet. Available for alpha reading.

First chapter here.

Map here.

Court Phoenix

This is my NA fantasy! Kerra is a blacksmith's apprentice. Not because she wants the job, but because her mother sold her future to him when she was still a toddler who crawled into live fires and giggled as the flames consumed her clothes. Now she's a woman, trapped by the expectations of her family and her village. Until one day, a phoenix crash-lands and dies in her arms. When it's reborn, it chooses Kerra as its keeper. Soon, her dreary future is swept away. A princess from Skyfire, the moving city, offers her a job in the royal court. How could Kerra refuse? Her family's claims that she'll die if she ever leaves the village are just manipulative lies. Aren't they?

Status: Complete third draft. 104k. Available for beta reading.

First chapter here.

The Revenant Trilogy

Adult fantasy. Solving a murder should bring good fortune, but all it brings Mindral Thideet is disaster. Her fame and peaceful life as head researcher at the city of knowledge end abruptly. In retaliation for her investigation into his crimes, Payar Cheref, the head of the powerful Cheref family, burns her beloved cousins alive and scars her face. The scar marks her as a revenant, a body possessed by a godkin, one of the gods' evil children. Her life as a researcher is over. All that's left is revenge.

No one believes her when she denies that godkins have any power over her. But godkins, real ones, are far closer than she realizes. Tearing down Payar Cheref could destroy Mindral, her family, and the nation itself.

-The Halfway Revenant (rewriting draft 4) 120k. Not available for beta reading.

-The Soul-Seer (draft 2) - 130k

-The Godkin's Gambit (draft 2) 121k

First chapter here.

As Immortality Fades

Adult fantasy. Five hundred years ago, one of the immortal and unpredictable Valteifur visited the kingdom of Kathild and granted the young queen Nelone immortality. But there was a catch. She'd live forever, youthful and strong, just so long as her subjects were happy. For centuries, she's met her part of the deal. But when the Valteifur returns to check on her progress, he grants her a new gift: the resurrection of every single person in Kathild who's died in the last two hundred years. Then he disappears.

There aren't enough houses for them all. There's not enough food. And winter is here.

Status: Complete first draft. 98k. Available for alpha reading.

Bi MC, enemies to lovers.

First chapter here.

Stitches and Memories

This one's adult fantasy. Antea's father ripped her mind apart, left her for dead, and vanished twelve years ago, and she's going to find out why. But when constables try to kill her and strange truth magic grows inside of her, hunting her father starts to look like suicide. Too bad going home isn't an option.

Status: I exchanged this with a critique partner and now it embarrasses me. Fourth draft. 122k. Available for beta reading.

Trigger warning: magic seizures

First chapter here.

WIP intro here.

Triangle Park

Contemporary Fantasy. I have no idea who it's for. An elf exiled to the middle of nowhere ends up stuck with an unexpected child. It's about reluctant parenting and protecting the needy. And elves and faeries slumming it in a mobile home.

Status: Complete first draft. 86k. Available for alpha reading.

First chapter here.

Mud-Child

Adult fantasy. Rebeka has always heard that a woman who goes through menopause loses her spark (the magic that lets her create children). If she's had children, it just makes the neighbors a little more fertile. But Rebeka never wanted a man, and she never wanted to raise a child. Not since her twin sister died and her beloved Suza left her for a man. The problem is, the spark leaves a childless woman differently, everyone says. A bitter hag? She'll curse her neighbors. A sweet dim biddie? She'll give her spark to inanimate objects and create a monster. Rebeka doesn't know which she is, but she believes it's a myth.

That was before the clay in her clay pit woke up and called her mother.

Status: Third draft. 109k. Needs a rewrite! Not available for beta reading.

First chapter here.

WIP intro here.

I GUESS I'M WRITING A NEW BOOK

The Giant's Gamble

First chapter here.

I started writing this on Friday the 13th, 2023. LET'S SEE HOW LONG IT TAKES TO WRITE WITH A BABY.

Short stories

The Unfamous Dead

VERY OLD CRAP

The Scribe and the Sphinx

Adult historical fantasy

Status: second draft. Shelved for good. 85k.

The Adrift series

The River's Drift. 100k.

The Waking Mountain. 106k.

Low-tech alien sci fi. Shelved for good.

My first book whose name I forget. About 50k. Exists only as a hard copy in my parents' house.

Taglist so far (tell me if you want to be added or removed)

Tag list for everything

@harleyacoincidence

@anonymousfoz

@moremysteriesthantragedies

@elizababie

@sm-writes-chaos

@bellascarousel

@the-dragon-chronicler

@teacupsandstarlight

@vorskra

@wrenofthewords

@amostdelectablescribbler

@mysticstarlightduck

@phantommill

@gracewritesbooks

@aziz-reads

@owlsandwich

@symbioticsimplicity

@squarebracket-trick

@koala2all

@rmgrey-author

@atomatowriter

@cheerfulmelancholies

@delusionisaplace

@janec23

@writing-is-a-martial-art

@authortango

Just chapters and snippets

@da-na-hae

For The Many-faced Princess

@deadlyessencewhispers

@serenanymph

The Halfway Revenant

@acertainmoshke

For Stitches and Memories

@space-writes

@acertainmoshke

The Bone Queen

@janec23

@holdmyteaplease

@digital-chance

@thecrookedwriterspath

@tea-and-mercury

@coven-archives

I love you all!

[eregyrn-falls]

Organizing a Stan Twins-centric Multi-Artist Lyric Comic!

There's a song I've always wanted to see as an AMV or a lyric comic for the Stan Twins, and years pass, and I've never been able to tackle a project that big. So, I wanted to try to organize it as a multi-artist lyric comic!

The song is "Trouble", by Avicii. (See below.)

What is a multi-artist lyric comic? One where people sign up, and each artist is assigned a line from the song. Artists will then do 1 page for their line, and at the end, it's all put together. Here is an example from GF fandom in 2018. (Here is a video version that someone put together with the music.)

This song has 28 lines of lyrics, but it also has some instrumental breaks, and I've thought of a way to fill those that would allow more people to participate (particularly if someone was unsure if they could take on a full page).

Here's the song:

There's a lot of details to go into, so to keep this post from taking up too much dash real estate, I'm going to put more detail below a read-more.

Here is a link to a Google form you can fill out to indicate interest. (But we do urge you to read over the details below!)

The goal would be to complete this in time to make it public on August 31st or Sept. 1st, 2023 -- in line with the actual last days in-story of the show. Therefore, the due date for final art will likely be around August 15th or 20th.

I hope folks will find this intriguing! I think it could be a lot of fun!

@mercury-falls and I are the point-people for this, at the moment!

All right -- the way I've always seen it, the first verse of the song is very Stan-related, and the second verse is very Ford related.

Here is a Google Doc with the lyrics.

My idea for the instrumental breaks was to have people contribute smaller pieces of art that look a bit like Polaroid snapshots. If we can get the lyric comic combined with the music, think of the collection of Polaroids accumulating the way they do at the end of the show's opening credits.

There are two main ways artists can contribute to the project:

For lyrics, full landscape illustrations (which include color, lettering, and a background)

For instrumental breaks, polaroid-style illustrations (smaller, simpler pieces in square format). We will use these in a video edit of the comic and have them accumulate like the show’s intro during the breaks. (We will also figure out a good way to display them in the lyric-comic post itself.)

Your art should be canon-compliant, and can depict any time period of the Stans’ lives (past, present, and near-future)! Do with your art as you best see fit with your lyrics, but keep the focus on the Stans and their relationships with each other and other GF characters. Both original content and screenshot adaptations are welcome!

We also welcome collaborations between artists on full pages! We encourage every artist in the project to help and support each other if they are comfortable. On the interest form, you can tell us if you are interested in volunteering to help others with inking, coloring, or creating backgrounds! Or, you can tell us if you think you will need help.

On the form, you can indicate your preference towards the Stan or Ford verses. But once we have the team of artists doing lyrics chosen, we will randomize the list and then contact people in order, to ask about preferences for lyrics. If you aren't chosen for one of the full pages, we would still like to have you involved for the Polaroids! (And you can indicate willingness to be called on to do a page if others drop out.)

We will have check-in dates through the summer, with goals for people to report on the subject of their piece; to have a sketch or layout ready to show; and to show progress closer to the end.

We will be setting up a Discord server to help share information, and to allow people to post WIPs or just generally discuss things, and keep motivation going. If you really don't use Discord, though, and don't want to sign up for it, that's okay. We will put whatever instructions and details we have in a Google Doc, and will share that link for reference. And we can always communicate via email.

I (Eregyrn speaking!) have been involved in a LOT of fan projects over the years. One of the key things to ask of people who sign up for a project is: communication. That is, if you're having difficulties, just let us know! If you need to drop out, just let us know! Don't feel guilty that you signed up and then had to drop out. The thing that is hardest on organizers of projects like this is when people sign up, but disappear and don't answer DMs or emails. Believe me, I've been in that position where you feel guilty and don't want to admit that you have to drop out -- but it's always much easier on the organizers if you just let them know, instead of keeping them guessing! This is just something to keep in mind when you're signing up -- life happens! It's okay! But please try to let us know if something comes up and you have to bow out.

Here is the link to the Google Form, that you can fill out to indicate interest.

[thepeculiarbird]

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

My WIP : Project.Lmotr/Dgkotr

Genres : Action/Thriller (thanks a lot to all the people who helped me find my wip's genres!) + Romance sideplot

Status : Draft 2 / Chapter 3 done / 6 126 words

!!Some content warnings : Cult, Blood, Dead bodies, murder, homophobia kinda ?? , (the plot is women kidnapping men and forcing them to make the next generation so you can imagine the vibe)!!

Tags for the wip: #project lmotr #project dgkotr #don't get killed on the road #wip quotes + Look at the characters page linked below for the characters tag

Hey! Edit for this wip's informations! (05/04/2024)

Project Dgkotr is a project I started in December 2019.

I reached the end of draft 1 with 30 703 words! I'd like to have enough words to make 200 pages but I guess we'll have to wait and see! For draft 2, I'm planning to finish it in April 2025 so I have enough time to do it without putting pressure on myself.

This will be a trilogy, I think this is the perfect number of books to tell the entire story!

The full title is now "Don't get killed on the road" which makes way more sense than the previous one ("Love me on the road"). However, I know some people know my wip as lmotr so I'm keeping the tag just in case.

Plot : Noe and Madhi had that one childhood dream ; travelling far away from where they live, at least once in their lifetime. For years, Noe wondered how is father went missing and if he was still alive. After collecting some clues, they find a small city where they could find out about what happened to the man and also accomplish their dream. When they arrive, they meet two women with an odd behaviour and seem to hide something. They're right because they soon discover the existence of a cult led exclusively by women who kill men to avenge their ancestors! And those two women are past members of it! People are missing and dying, time is ticking, will they survive ?

(is it a good summary ?? idk)

Well thanks a lot if you read this post all the way through and have fun writing :)

Feel free to ask me about this in the ask box btw!

CHARACTERS

Go see @rowenas-my-fave-child's blog! they make gorgeous fanart of my work!!

My Pinterest: link :)

Art I made: lyric thing, Valentines day, Noe,

Moodboards: main characters, cvlt, Devyn+Alec, Rainbow

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Tagging people who may be interested in knowing more about my WIP : @athenaspeculiardaughter @kaylinalexanderbooks @raiden-makoto @sarandipitywrites

@jaelink @aalinaaaaaa @lyutenw @buffythevampirelover

@nettleandthorne @finxi-writes @arwenschepers @corruptedbread

@whimsical-blood-fairy @unrepentantcheeseaddict @kidukami @ryns-ramblings

@rowenas-my-fave-child @mysticstarlightduck (I will forget to tag so don't worry about it)

[sotwk]

My gosh this is a very wild guess, but is Anariel the maiden in Rivendell in your WIP "The Only Gold"? [main clues I used: Anariel's birth year (fic must be set after TA 496), you mentioned that it was one of your WIP fics, she lived in Rivendell, golden/blonde hair (based on your face claim), Anariel is close to Arvellas and learned a lot from him (potentially including about the dwarves) and the she-elf in the fic knows Khuzdul

My dear friend, this was not a "wild guess", but rather some Sherlock Holmes level of investigative deduction! XD You are 100% correct! I am so impressed and flattered that you took the time to gather information and piece it together to present your proof! You must be really good at finding Easter Eggs from movie franchises.

Because of the "jumping all over the place" approach I have taken to writing out the SotWK AU of Thranduil's (and Middle-earth's) history, there are clues and Easter Eggs all over my stories about plot details that haven't been revealed yet. Mysteries like: Which Son of Fëanor is Maereth's grandfather? Who are the other First Age canons related/connected to Thranduil's family?

"The Only Gold" is my "Durins Live" fix-it fic, told mostly through the eyes of Fili and, as you have guessed, Anariel. It will run through an AU version of The Hobbit/BotFA events and explore the SotWK AU history and (broken) relationship that actually existed between Mirkwood and Erebor. All 3 Sons of Durin (Thorin, Fili and Kili) will live, but the question is how, and what role will Thranduil's family play in it?

Will Fili and Anariel fall in love and end up finally uniting the two kingdoms and races? (Grandpa Thranduil and Uncle Thorin are fighting over who gets to wring my neck first right now. *nervous laugh*) Honestly, the endgame of their relationship remains very fluid my head. (aka undecided) All I know is destiny foretold by the Elvenqueen herself will push these two beautiful blondes together.

Just a few additional notes about the lovely tidbits you picked up on regarding Anariel:

Her birth year: She is actually as close in age to her Uncle Legolas as Legolas is to his brother Mirion! But yes, Anariel was born about 500 years before the Greenwood started to darken, so she enjoyed some happy centuries of peace with her family.

Her life in Rivendell: Sadly, by the events of The Hobbit, her mother had become estranged from Thranduil, which caused Itarildë and Anariel to leave Mirkwood and reside in Rivendell for a period of time. (Aranion stayed because no one is more loyal to Thranduil than he; what a darling grandson!)

Her relation to Elrond: Anariel is a cousin by blood to Elrond. Elrond's paternal great-grandmother Elenwë is the sister of Elemírë (an OC), Anariel's paternal great-great-grandmother. Thus in the story, Elrond refers to her his "kin".

Her closeness to Arvellas and knowledge of the Dwarven culture: By the Third Age, no other Elf in Middle-earth could surpass Prince Arvellas in his knowledge of the Dwarves. For many centuries, he taught his dear niece nearly everything he knew about the Dwarven race, including Khuzdul. Arvellas foresaw he was not destined to live forever on Middle-earth, so he sought to pass on his knowledge to a worthy successor.

Her golden hair: The beauty of Anariel's golden hair is one to rival Galadriel's, due to her strong Vanyarin inheritance. (I mean, her name is "Daughter of the Sun"!) In the SotWK AU, Glorfindel is 3/4 Vanya, and he married the sister of Elenwë (wife of Turgon), who is full Vanya. I made some rough calculations which reveals Itarildë as 22% Vanya, higher than any canon elf left in Middle-earth in the Third Age, save for Glorfindel himself (if you accept my HC that he's part Vanya). So yes, that's why the Dwarves were stunned and mesmerized by the golden hair of Anariel; it likely carries some "magic" in it. I have a self-indulgent HC that Gloin and Gimli would have had heated debates over whose hair was more beautiful--Galadriel's or Anariel's.

Anyway, apologies for my rambling Anon (and everyone who made it this far)! I have a thousand SotWK headcanons in my head that need to be unloaded sometimes to release the pressure. XD.

Anon, I would really love to give you a prize (as I promised) from the Tumblr Mart, any badge of your choice... but if you're not comfortable revealing yourself, I completely understand. Another option would be sending me another Ask and letting me know of a writer/artist whom you want to support, and I will buy them some KoFi on your behalf. Please let me know! :) Thank you again for participating in my little Guessing Game, and for your wonderful support!

Tagging those have historically been interested: @aduialel @fizzyxcustard @lathalea @laneynoir @achromaticerebus @auttumnsayshi @friendofthefellowshipsnerdblog @blueberryrock @scyllas-revenge @glassgulls @ladyweaslette @heilith @absentmindeduniverse @heranintomyknife23times @asianbutnotjapanese @a-world-of-whimsy-5 @lilidurin @beekieboo @albionscastle @jezzibee @g-m-kaye

Interested in more SotWK AU content?

Introduction to SotWK

My Headcanon Masterlist 

My Fanfiction Masterlist

[chronosdawn]

don't be shy, you can rewrite the howl's plot while still making the crossover 💞💞 (the feral dynamic between howl reader and wotw scara would be so funny (tired exasperated reader vs jaded simpering brat scara lmao)

In reference to this post.

You get it anon, you get the dynamic I'm going for.

Sadly I don't think I can commit to rewriting the whole plot of the movie because that would be a fairly tremendous undertaking (especially when I already have quite a few WIPs that I'm slowly chipping away at). However, because I really love this concept and as a thank you for being my first ask, I have written a little drabble for you anon. I hope you enjoy it!

I'm also open to taking asks about this AU and may write some more drabbles for it in the future so keep your eyes peeled!

A lone figure stood at the mouth of the alleyway leading to the main square, the dark colors of his outfit at odds with the cheerful banners and fluttering flags adorning the nearby buildings. His countenance too, did not match that of the other parade-goers, for if one were to peer into the shadow cast by his wide-brimmed hat, they would find his features twisted in bitter fury—his eyes trained not on the merry townsfolk, but the two figures soaring high above them, one with their arm wrapped around the other.

The figure sank his teeth into the skin of his lip. Even though he’d been working at pursuing you for some time now, he hadn’t expected you to make a trip into town today, not with all the soldiers and crowds. It had been so long since he’d been this close to you that it’d made him desperate, acting with far too much haste and not enough forethought to keep you from getting away. It hurt more, somehow, to have come so close only to have you slip right through his fingers. 

Again.

A faint noise like that of shifting fabric alerted the figure to a presence behind him and Scaramouche, the Wizard of the Waste, turned to face one of his poor excuses for a servant. 

The creature made of writhing shadows bowed deeply, arm held over its chest where its heart had once been before the wizard had carved it out and replaced it with his own dark magic.

“My apologies, my Lord,” the thing rasped, “the sorcerer has escaped.”

Scaramouche’s expression twisted further in distaste as he hissed through his teeth, “yes, I could see that much.” He turned back to where your retreating figure still hung in the sky, his fingers twitching at his sides as though he might reach out and pluck you from it. “At least tell me you’re still following them.”

“The others are trailing them from the ground, my Lord. Once they descend, we shall inform you of their whereabouts immediately and attempt to seize the sorcerer—”

“No,” Scaramouche interrupted, keeping his gaze trained on you. “By the time you catch up to them, they’ll be long gone. Follow the other one, the peasant looking fellow they have with them. Find out where he lives and report it to me immediately.” 

“As you wish my Lord.” The creature’s form started to disperse, the shadows that made up its body slithering away into the dark nooks and crannies of the crumbling alleyway stonework.

“One last thing before you go.” Scaramouche raised a hand, black-purple smoke curling around his pale fingers. A hiss of pain came from behind him as the magic making up the creature’s body began to constrict, distorting its shape even further from anything that could have once been called human. “I’ll be lenient on this occasion, but the next time you disappoint me, well,” his tone dropped, turning deadly, “I have no need for useless things, do I?”

“No, m—my Lord,” the thing stammered out, the tearing vocal cords in its throat rendering the sound akin to nails being scrapped across a chalkboard. 

“Go on then.” All at once the magic at the wizard’s fingertips vanished, and the creature wasted no time in making its exit, leaving Scaramouche alone in the alleyway.

You were so far away now it was difficult to make out the shape of your form—where you ended and the irksome worm pressed against your side began. He couldn’t stand it, the thought of someone else at your side—a place that used to belong to him. No, a place that still belonged to him, and would continue to, regardless of your feelings on the matter. 

But no matter how irritating it was to see someone else touching you, he’d have been a fool not to see it for the opportunity it was. 

Scaramouche knew you, knew that no matter how much you liked to run and hide away from your problems, there was a kindness in you that you’d never quite managed to truly ignore. If some unfortunate soul, particularly one you’d already shown a hint of favor to, were to turn up at your door, cursed and bereft of other options, you’d surely allow them into your home.  And if that cursed individual just so happened to be carrying a talisman upon their person that contained enough of a wizard's magic to break past the infernal seal you kept on the door of your so-called castle, they would be able to lead said wizard right to you.

How fortunate then, Scaramouche thought, that he now had someone he wanted to curse with every fiber of his being.

And once the fool allowed him access to your residence, all he had to do was find where you were keeping your heart hidden away and take it for himself.

[fictionadventurer]

Victober Wrap-Up

The Romance of a Shop by Amy Levy: I read this one on October 1st. Very easy, very fun, if very underwritten, read about four sisters who open a photography shop. Gives a fascinating perspective on a different side of Victorian daily life.

The Europeans by Henry James: I forgot this one almost immediately after reading it, but I did enjoy it. The best way I can describe what I like about Henry James is that he writes like a woman. There's a concern for the inner lives of characters and the little moments of daily life that you usually don't see from male authors, and it works really well for the types of stories he tells.

Miss Meredith by Amy Levy: Short novella about a young woman who takes a job as a governess in Italy, and who gets a much nicer romance out of it than most of those types of characters. It's nothing ground-breaking, but it's fun to see her perspective on the setting, and the romance reminded me so much of some scenes from an old, beloved, abandoned WIP that I couldn't help liking it more than it probably deserved.

The Law and the Lady by Wilkie Collins: I loved the heroine of this book. I was so invested in her story. She was going to solve the mystery of her husband's past, no matter who stood in her way. Her (hilariously) pathetic wet napkin of a husband doesn't deserve her, but he needs her, and she loves him a lot, so I can root for them. It's astounding to me that a Victorian man can write such good female characters. They get to be people--strong-willed, intelligent, flawed, the center of their own stories rather than just a prop in someone else's. My love for Valeria papered over a lot of other flaws in this story (some not-great use of disabled characters, for one), and I'm seriously considering picking up another of his books next month. (They have perfect November vibes).

The Leavenworth Case by Anna Katharine Green: Not technically Victorian (it's American), but still the right time period. Apparently, this is where a lot of the detective genre started. I love the detective--he's got a quirk of not making eye contact with people, and I love that he's explicitly so working-class than he can't pass himself off as a gentleman for investigating this high-society crime--but I don't care about any of the characters, and the writing's not great. (Though it's kind of hilarious how often the narrator gets information because people come up to him and go, "You're a lawyer, right? Let me ask for advice about an intricate situation that just happens to tie into the case you're investigating.") I'm about 2/3 done with the audiobook, but it's going to be a bit of a slog to finish.

A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson: I'd probably find this a bit too cutesy most of the time, but I read this on a Sunday when I was feeling under-the-weather, and it was exactly what I needed. Very sweet, easy read.

Wuthering Heights by Emile Brontë: I made it a chapter and a half. It's a Hard No.

Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith: I heard it was short and funny, so I tried a couple of pages. Maybe there's a cultural divide, but I just wasn't feeling it.

The Odd Women by George Gissing: I tried a couple of chapter of the audiobook, because a story about women working as typists in late-Victorian England sounds right up my alley. I'm only two chapters in, but I'm debating whether to go further, because he already writes about women like a man--way too detailed descriptions of their physical appearance that suggest they're already decrepit in their early 30s, a suggestion that "we leave it to the men to decide if she'd be attractive"--and that doesn't bode well for a book with a female cast. It is just about to introduce the "progressive" woman who's about to drag the main characters into this newfangled job, so maybe it'd get better, but I'm not sure I'm invested enough to try.

[ljandersen]

whats ur status on sideways 👀? No joke i think abt it daily.

Thank you for reaching out, Anon! It means a lot to me, knowing that a story I wrote is thought about every day. I think about it every day, too, being the author! It's still the story I'm proudest to have written.

As for the status on Sideways, it currently exists as a hand-written, rough first draft stored in a fire-proof safe. It needs massive changes -- complete scene rewrites and a ton of new scenes (mostly for the paragon timeline). It's currently on my back burner while I focus on an original project.

All the adjustments I made editing the 750k words in Part 1-4 has culminated in a major undertaking editing Part 5.

For instance, the reason Shepard joins the Alliance on Rannoch is different after my changes in Part 4. Before, I didn't have a very good reason for her being there and, because of that peripheral role, she wasn't directly involved in a lot of the things happening. Now she's acting Counselor. She's front and center.

It's a good change, the right change, which is why I did it. However, now a lot of the plot-centric happenings, which were only heard about or referenced through another character, need full scenes with Shepard being impactful and altering the outcomes (much better than being a removed observer).

This will require several new scenes and throwing out old ones that are now unnecessary. Then I need to relocate any extra bits of vital information not in the new scene, to other places in the story.

In addition to whole new scenes, I need to majorily revise whole scenes. There's a party scene on Rannoch, which now the goal behind it and what Shepard is doing during it, has changed. That series of scenes need rewritten.

That example of Shep's purpose on Rannoch changing scenes downstream is just one -- and a mostly spoiler free one -- of the dozens of changes I need to accomodate.

Also, the paragon timeline in particular requires a lot of new writing, maybe 50 k words of new scenes (so, the equivalent of a full novel).

Toward the end of writing the first draft of Sideways, I was starting to get worn down. Writing four storylines sometimes made it feel like I was spending weeks going nowhere, because I wasn't moving forward in the main Renegade timeline. Because of that frustration and wanting to reach the end, I chose to focus less on the paragon timeline, knowing I would need to add more to it during the editing. I left myself with some major work to do on that storyline to do it justice.

All of those reasons aside, the main reason Sideways Part 5 isn't ready is because I shifted focus for the time being. I'm serializing an original sci fi series and trying to establish myself an author. I intended to do this after I finished posting Sideways, but with the emergence of AI, I don't think the opportunity will be there for me if I wait.

Visibility for writing is going to become impossible and slow human writers, like me, will be washed away under the tide of AI mega production. There's an influential author in the indie world, for example, who has stated his intention to produce 10k novels a year, on par with the big publishing houses. That's one person, who with a handful of contractors previously put out a few dozen books a year, if that many, who now intends to do 10k a year!

My opportunity to find readers is now, while AI is still clunky and not universal, before people selling a back catalog of 100k books and with the ad spending to match drive human writers out of the market.

Because of this new priority, I've had to funnel my creativity and focus into my original writing. I'm not someone who can do two things at once. I'm all in on one project at a time. That's probably apparent from my fanfic, where I've only posted one WIP at a time, start to finish before the next. I can't divide my passion on concurrent WIP.

That doesn't mean I don't think about Sideways though -- I do, daily! -- and I intend to finish it. For now, though, unfortunately, Sideways is a draft in some notebooks in a safe. It's not a simple undertaking to edit it, and I need to focus on a personal goal.

Your interest in Sideways is something I treasure, though, and appreciate beyond words. I'm so glad my story isn't forgotten. I love knowing it's still on readers' minds. It makes me feel like, what had so much meaning to me as its writer, truly must carry that meaning through to the reader, too, which is the greatest joy in sharing a story.

Thank you for taking time to check in on Sideways and for letting me know how much it still means to you.

Also, here is a picture of my new puppy as a tiny consolation for not having Sideways ready:

[talesofsorrowandofruin]

The Great OC Alphabet Caper: (Updated) Moth Edition

(Credit to @sleepyowlwrites for this idea)

I did this for the main characters of The Unfortunate Moth, but now I'm updating it with information from the later WIPs!

For characters introduced in the later WIPs, see these posts: Silver Glass • Houses Full of Deceit • Mine Eyes Dazzle • There Stands a Spectre • The Tempest and the Night

Starting with Yo-han himself, then alphabetical order (spoilers ahead):

Yo-han

Name: Seo Yo-han (서 요한)

Age/Pronouns: 30 when he first appears (not counting Mine Eyes Dazzle, where he's 18), he/him

Appears in: The Unfortunate Moth, Silver Glass, Houses Full of Deceit, Mine Eyes Dazzle, There Stands a Spectre, The Tempest and the Night

Brief physical description: This photo of Woo Do-hwan is close to how I picture him (I think this is a screenshot from The King: Eternal Monarch. Just ignore the microphone wire(?) and modern clothes):

Brief list of defining traits: Fundamentally incapable of minding his own business. Would find himself in the middle of a murder mystery if he went to Antarctica.

Excerpt:

If I was an assassin, what would I do? Yo-han asked himself repeatedly as he waited for An to arrive. It was an interesting exercise, but not a useful one. How could he predict what someone as plainly insane as An would do? Those open windows worried him. Leopold said no assassin would fall for such a blatant trap. But was he right? And speaking of Leopold, where was he? Where was Phil? They should have been back before Yo-han. Until he had more evidence to deduce from, all he could do was take up a defensible position. In this house, that meant standing with his back against the wall in the gap between the grandfather clock and the front door. He could hear anything happening in the house and see anyone approaching from the road. He also had a gun in his hand. For an eternity all he could hear was the clock ticking beside him. No one came along the road. Once he saw a distant figure cross it. An? Yo-han waited. Finally he heard what he expected: distant scratching. An was trying to break in through the kitchen. It was a ruse. He wouldn't make so much noise if he was really trying to get in there. Yo-han pretended to fall for it. He started towards the kitchen. The centre of the hallway was carpeted, leaving bare floorboards on the edges. Yo-han deliberately avoided the carpet and trod heavily on the wood. Even though every rule of politeness he'd ever been taught screamed against it, he kept his shoes on indoors. His main motive was so he could flee without having to stop to put them on. They came in handy in another way now. The shoes clattering on the wood made enough noise to wake the dead.

Trivia:

His name is a reference to two of my favourite Kdrama characters: Seo Moon-jo (Strangers From Hell; a hilariously ironic namesake for a detective) and Kang Yo-han (The Devil Judge)

He has at least two half-siblings. Only one of them (Hyeon-su) is named

He's farsighted

Like most of my OCs, he's aro-ace

He speaks at least five languages fluently, is able to hold a basic conversation in seven more, and can understand a few words and sentences in many, many others

Leo

Name: Leopold Colman (alias/stage name), John Peter McIlwee or Peter John McIlwee (real name)

Age/Pronouns: 23 in his first appearance, he/him

Appears in: The Unfortunate Moth, Silver Glass (cameo in the epilogue), Houses Full of Deceit

Brief physical description: Imagine a slightly older Anthony Lockwood from Lockwood and Co., and you've got the general idea:

Brief list of defining traits: Actor, aspiring playwright and set designer, occasional artist, (retired) assassin. Married to Phil.

Excerpt:

"He couldn't smuggle it in—" He broke off and rubbed his forehead with a pained expression. "My head hurts." Oh dear. A drunk Colman was mildly entertaining. A hungover Colman, on the other hand? Yo-han knew from painful experience that the mildest person could feel like committing murder when they had a hangover. What would an assassin feel like doing? "He couldn't smuggle it in," Colman repeated. His voice was clearer but quieter, and he was covering his eyes with both his hands. "So he bought it in England. But he didn't buy enough. Maybe he miscalculated how much he would need, or maybe the chemist got suspicious. So he had to improvise. He used the formaldehyde for the fingers he means to keep for his own collection, and used vinegar to preserve the one he sent to you. He wanted to send a message, so it didn't matter if the finger started to rot." "A plausible theory," Yo-han agreed, "but how does it help us?" Colman tried to turn onto his stomach. He hissed when this tugged at the stitches. Instead he pulled the pillow over his face. "Ask the chemists. If you're right and this Ji An-hun is the killer—" "An Ji-hun." "—then the chemist would definitely remember him. A Korean customer looking for formaldehyde isn't something you see every day in England. Now could you please turn out the light and let me suffer in peace?" Yo-han got up. "Do you want anything to eat?" "Oh god no," Colman groaned. "And if anyone asks about me, tell them I'm dead."

Trivia:

He's bi and was briefly in a relationship with Louis

I got his first name from a character name generator, but I chose his surname as a reference to Ronald Colman (who only became famous in the 1920s, so in-universe Leo named himself after Colman's Mustard)

Has killed at least four people. Three of them deserved it

His real surname is borrowed from some of my distant relatives

Máté

Name: Máté Király

Age/Pronouns: 26 when he first appears, he/him

Appears in: The Unfortunate Moth, Silver Glass, Houses Full of Deceit (cameo at the end)

Brief physical description: Tall, brown hair, brown eyes.

Brief list of defining traits: Rachael's secretary, then Phil's secretary. Married to Vi.

Excerpt:

"You must be joking!" was Király's first reaction when he heard what Yo-han was planning. "Do you think this is a time for play-acting and putting on such a… a ridiculous pantomime?" was what he said next. "It's to expose a murderer," Yo-han said. Király began to speak, stopped, and took a deep breath. "Just confront the murderer and hand him over to the police!" "I can't." Király facepalmed. "Why not?" Because in this case Yo-han really didn't believe that justice was best served by publicly revealing the murderer's identity. Because sometimes murder victims weren't really victims at all. Because there were some criminals who the law couldn't or wouldn't touch, and the only way their victims could get justice was to take matters into their own hands. "I'll explain tomorrow," he said. Király threw his hands up in despair. "Oh, all right. But I still think this is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Vi will never let me live it down."

Trivia:

Is fluent in Hungarian, German, Romanian, and also speaks some French and Russian

His first name is a reference to Hungarian actor Máté Kamarás

Vi

Name: Octavia Király (née Patton)

Age/Pronouns: 22 when she first appears, she/her

Appears in: Silver Glass, Houses Full of Deceit (cameo at the end)

Brief physical description: No specific description, but probably looks like Phil.

Brief list of defining traits: Means well, but can be very tactless. Phil believes she's an idiot. Married to Máté. Does Not Approve of Phil's choice of husband.

Excerpt:

"There's something you haven't told me," Vi said, feeling rather proud of her deduction. "Erm, yes. That is, I…" Phil trailed off. She began to adjust the ribbon around the brim of her hat. "There's someone I want you to meet. I don't expect you to like him, just to be polite." Later Vi would look back and wonder why a realisation of the fatal truth hadn't dawned then. But at the time all she thought of was Mr. Seo. "Be polite? But I've always been polite to Mr. Seo! Even if I am annoyed with him for dragging you into another murder." Phil was going to crush her hat beyond repair if she kept fiddling with it. "Not Mr. Seo. Someone else. I told him to wait outside. I'll just… bring him in, shall I?" She got up, but hesitated instead of heading for the door. For the first time Vi began to fear. "By the way…" Phil stopped, put her hat on, took it off again, and finally put it on back-to-front. "Leopold was involved in this case. And I think I should tell you that… I married him." For a minute the walls, the window, the fireplace and the furniture seemed to skip like lambs before Vi's eyes. She opened and shut her mouth silently. Finally she regained the power of speech. Her yell could have been heard in Edinburgh. "You did WHAT?"

Trivia:

Her first name is a reference to Miss Pole from Cranford. Her surname is borrowed from some of my relatives

Post-canon, she and Leo spend most of their time waging a very polite war against each other. It's waged mainly in biting comments over tea

She and Máté have two children, John and Elizabeth

Phil

Name: Ophelia Patton (later Colman)

Age/Pronouns: 22 when she first appears, she/her

Appears in: The Unfortunate Moth, Silver Glass, Houses Full of Deceit (and possibly Uneasy Money)

Brief physical description: Tall, brown hair, grey eyes

Brief list of defining traits: In book one, is having a very bad time. In book two, is the Watson to Yo-han's Holmes. In book three, is living in a rom-com while everyone else is living in a thriller. Has questionable taste in men. Married to Leo.

Excerpt:

Phil looked thoughtfully at Altounian and Lennox. Now she recognised that something she hadn't been able to place. It was in the way Altounian clutched Lennox's hand like a lifeline, the way Lennox leant towards him, the way he never took his eyes off Altounian's face. She had never realised how similar she and Lennox were until now. What did you do when you learnt someone you loved had murdered someone you hated? How could you make yourself hate them? Could you ever forgive them? Could you ever stop loving them? Leopold was worse than Davit. He had known from very early in their acquaintance that he was going to kill her aunt. He had befriended her anyway. In a way she was worse than Alexander, because she had fallen in love with Leo after the murder. If Leo appeared on her doorstep one day, what would she do? How could she tell him to go to hell when she never wanted him to leave her again? Phil looked at Lennox, and she understood exactly the turmoil going on in his mind. They were both people who loved not wisely but too well.

Trivia:

Her name is, of course, a reference to Ophelia from Hamlet. (Which makes it amusingly suitable that she ends up marrying a Shakespearean actor!)

Her behaviour around Rachael is based on my own experiences with abusive and mentally unstable authority figures

She and Alec are unlikely BFFs. (This is yet another thing Vi doesn't approve of)

Post-canon, she and Leo will have at least one child

Rachael

Name: Rachael Patton-Langdale

Age/Pronouns: 50s, she/her

Brief physical description: No specific description

Brief list of defining traits: An absolutely terrible person. It’s amazing it took so long for her to be murdered.

Excerpt:

Rachael was planning something unpleasant for someone. Phil had seen the symptoms before. Unusual abstraction, frowning and tapping her fingers against her lips, not noticing when she was spoken to, maintaining a stony silence; they were all unpleasantly familiar. Phil immediately began reviewing her recent behaviour to see what might have set Rachael off. Her normal yelling was bad enough. But this sort of behaviour always preceded a particularly nasty outburst. The sort of outburst that lasted for days and could sometimes become physically violent. (Mostly to Rachael herself; during these explosions she would slap her own face and accuse the target of her wrath of driving her to do this. At these times Phil honestly believed her aunt belonged in a padded cell.) Phil spotted the symptoms as soon as she walked into the dining room. What could have happened to cause this in a few minutes? She didn't know, but she immediately switched from trying to provoke Rachael to being as conciliatory as possible. She'd planned to read her magazine during dinner. Instead she kept her handbag firmly closed and greeted Rachael more politely than she had at any time since they left home. Rachael stayed silent all through dinner. It played havoc with Phil's nerves. She kept her head down, then worried that was making her aunt even angrier. She pretended to be absorbed in her meal, but when her knife scraped against the plate she tensed and waited for an explosion that didn't come. She tried to act naturally but felt like a puppet operated by a trainee puppeteer. Every minute she expected Rachael to accuse her of something. Phil almost wished her aunt would just so she would finally know what was wrong.

Trivia:

She’s based on one of my former teachers

Has a son who never appears (he had the luck and good sense to get out while he could)

Hyeon-su

Name: Seo Hyeon-su (서 현수)

Age/Pronouns: 15 when he first appears, he/him

Appears in: The Unfortunate Moth (cameo in the epilogue), Houses Full of Deceit

Brief physical description: No specific description

Brief list of defining traits: Yo-han's half-brother. In book one: very talkative. Likes whales. In book three: nearly killed along with Yo-han.

Excerpt:

Hyeon-su was the only person genuinely glad to see him. The minute Yo-han arrived at the house his half-brother swooped down on him and began talking. Hyeon-su had always had an amazing ability to talk without pausing for breath. Once he had managed ten minutes at once; Yo-han had timed him. Experience had taught him it was impossible to get a word in edgewise. He allowed himself to be dragged into Hyeon-su's room and shown all of the gifts their father had bestowed on his younger son. Yo-han couldn't help reflecting that their father had never given him anything for his birthday, and only had made the most perfunctory acknowledgement of his coming-of-age ceremony. Finally Hyeon-su ran out of presents, but he hadn't yet run out of breath. To Yo-han's surprise the next thing he produced was an envelope. "This came for you in August. I hid it before Mother could see. I would have sent it on, but I didn't know where you were. You don't write enough! What does it say? I can't read English. Is that English? Who's it from? Oh, a newspaper! Is it about one of your cases? Tell me all about them! Look, I framed the photos you took of the whale!" Yo-han took a deep breath. "Hyeon-su, could you please stop talking for five minutes?" Hyeon-su immediately closed his mouth and sat down. He kept his eyes on the clock. Clearly he was going to make sure he said nothing for exactly five minutes and no longer.

Trivia:

He's named after Hyun-su/Hyeon-su from Sweet Home

Adding the general Case-files taglist: @akindofmagictoo, @sam-glade, @sarahlizziewrites, @oh-no-another-idea, @cljordan-imperium,

@mrbexwrites, @lightgriffinsect (Let me know if you want to be added/removed!)

[shay-creates]

Writblr Intro?

I have never done a writblr intro, so here we go.

Hello! You can call me Shay. I'm a writer and artist living in the US. Welcome to my art and writing blog!

About me: I'm 25, asexual, transmasc, nonbinary (he/they/it), and unsure where I fall on the romantic spectrum. Tag and Ask game friendly! Asks and conversation encouraged. I'm more scared of you than you are of me, so it may take me a bit to respond. I never know what I'm doing at any given time, so I'm very sporadic in talking about or making anything related to stories or art. I follow/follow back using Shay-Puppity (my main account).

I'm creating my world "Exalos" through stories and art, filling the world with my beloved characters (distant sobbing and screaming). I mainly write in the genre of fantasy with a smattering of mystery, horror, romance, and slice of life. Many of my characters are LGBT+ and the world they live in has no drama surrounding that.

I'm currently focused on my WIP titled "Dread Secrets," but I have several other stories in various stages of development. Dread Secrets is my first time planning with the intent of actually writing and finishing the story. Volume of projects not indicative of me being put together, it is quite the opposite.

Characters tagged by using- OC: Character name (Ex- OC: Celesto)

WIPs tagged by using- Shay WIP: Story title (Ex- Shay WIP: Dread Secrets)

Art tagged by using- Shay's Art

~My WIPs~

This part will be edited as I work on these stories, so there'll eventually be more information to read here.

Dread Secrets (current main project):

Genre/Rating: Medieval Fantasy, mystery, action, romance, adventure, not young adult

TWs: blood, gore, violence, mental/psychological/emotional abuse mentions/vague depictions, slight body horror, war, war refugees mentions/depictions, deaths, murder,

POV: Xiang, Neph, King Ansellus Kestrel, Celesto, Mystery Plotter

Summary: (WIP intro link)

Fifteen years ago, King Ansellus Kestrel of the kingdom Wisea made a last stand against the Dread Queen Celesto, his first love, as the benevolent kingdoms banded together to lay siege to the aptly named, Dread Kingdom. Against all odds, Celesto was beaten. Turned against by the Ancient of the Dread Forest, an unstable Celesto's final moments saw her body transform into a dark and twisted tree that screamed angrily into nothingness without a sound.

They had been in love, Ansellus willing to give Celesto anything he could give her. In four short years, their perfect life together fell to shambles as Celesto betrayed not only Ansellus, but friends and even her own goddaughter, Hibiki, who, even now, clings to her father to feel safe.

Xiang, a student of Prophis, attempts to aid a friend who is cursed to sleep with Grim Twilight Ivy growing around and from his body. His good intentions are rewarded by having a similar curse placed on Xiang himself. A strange mark over his heart and plagued by nightmares of being hunted by the Dread Queen Celesto in the ruins of the Dread Kingdom, Xiang leaves the ancient towers of Prophis to find a way to break the curse before succumbing to it himself. He is given a protector in the form of Malianna Ash, a half-immortal from the fiery Kingdom of Rosha.

Neph, a half-immortal in their early twenties, lives comfortably in the independent city of Rudrian with caretakers Sasha and Bryn Creek and their soft-spoken friend, Celine. Neph longs to gain recognition so they may ascend to immortality in the hopes of reuniting with their immortal mother in Elorial, the realm of immortals. They seize their chance after rescuing Xiang after the Prophis student is separated from Malianna by the crowds. Through the use of incessant nagging and a sprinkle of charisma, Neph manages to join the two strangers on their quest. Celine, who has always been at Neph's side, joins the group to aid them as both a healer and strong nature magic user.

What secrets hide in the past? Will Xiang be able to lift the curse from himself before it's too late? What dreadful secrets hide within the ruins of the Dread Kingdom? Did Celesto find some way to survive and lay low all those years ago, or is the curse the doing of someone else?

Progress: semi-complete timeline, Character illustrations done

Cast: Xiang, Malianna Ash, Neph, Scy Drakenscale, Phelan Noctus, Lorne, Kubo Hibiki, No Eiko, Celine, Scorch (Malianna's unicorn), Flit (Malianna's magic pigeon), Celesto Krone/Kestrel (Dread Queen), Felix Kestrel, King Ansellus Kestrel, Queen Tianna Kestrel, Artos Oak, Kubo Mai, Ling Yazhu, Bao Mingmei, Bao Yating, King Snydus Ash, Silas Ash, Draco, Dissonantia, Bryn Creek, Sasha Creek, Leandra Ash, Xaver Ash, Ferna Krone, Obelus Krone, Imposa Kestrel, Mightrus Kestrel, Ling Chao, Bessarion Thorne, Characters

Gods/Ancients/Primordials of note: God of Memories, God of Sanctuary, God of Guardians, God of Passion, God of Vengeance, God of Lore (Lorne), Ancient of Wisdom, Ancient of Knowledge, God of Dreams, The 11 Immortal Villains (See: Corruption of Heroes), Ancient of the Dread Forest/Forests, Primordial of Death, Primordial of Life

Song association: Guns For Hire by Woodkid + What Could Have Been by Sting and Ray Chen.

Excerpt: Nothing written yet. :3

Tinnitus:

Moodboard Goes Here

Genre/Rating: fantasy, modern setting, dimension hopping, coming of age, suspense, adventure, series, not young adult

POV: Gong Jiahao, Soul Warren, Maddox High, Taeil, Fable Book, Kace Asher, Zhang Remy, Nym Cardinal

Summary: something goes here. Idk if each character gets a book or if characters share a book or whatever, but they do all get some POV. There will be some angst. Also there's a mysterious person who is trying to make a deal or contract with each of the characters. Idk what contracts yet, but there's shenanigans. Also a dumb and campy fight scene because it's dumb and makes me laugh. (They're using the power of dance and music to fight and distract a fucking dragon, it's so dumb. Dumb fight scene go brr.)

Progress: vibes and vague ideas, character concepts concepted

Characters: Primordial of Chaos, Gong Jiahao, Zhang Remy, Soul Warren, Fable Book, Nym Cardinal, Maddox High, Kace Asher, Ace Siren, Mirroh, Pavel Nox, Jung Taeil, Rune Siren, Neph, Xiang, Runais, Xadrian, Phelan, Mirroh Characters

Song association: Illusion by Ateez

Excerpt: Nothing written yet. :3

Heir of Chaos:

Moodboard Goes Here

Genre/Rating: fantasy, modern setting?, medieval setting?, dimension hopping, mystery, series, not young adult

POV: Deimos Muse, Song Kwan, Adriel Sky, Warrick Red, Zhang Remy

Summary: Something goes here. You read that right! Remy is a POV here too. This story and Tinnitus are intertwined with reoccurring characters and that mysterious person is here too. Don't ask me how I plan to write these two stories, I just know they are intertwined.

Progress: vibes and vague ideas

Characters: Deimos Muse, Zhang Remy, Warrick Red, Song Kwan, Adriel Sky, Primordial of Chaos, Lucas String, Mirroh, Shen Saint, Gong Jiahao, Soul Warren, Fable Book, Nym Cardinal, Maddox High, Kace Asher Characters

Song association: Frost or Crown by Tomorrow X Together

Excerpt: Nothing written yet :3

Corruption of Heroes:

Moodboard Goes Here

Genre/Rating: medieval fantasy, mystery, action, not young adult

POV: Kallista and/or Shysie

Summary: A fantasy story that follows the formation and eventual fall from grace of the Eleven Immortal Villains of the Dread Forest. A time when the citizens of Rusa and Centuros were ruled by Dissonantia Krone and her husband Draco Krone, before the two rulers became God of Chaos and Discord respectively. When Rusa and Centuros were constantly in a closely tied battle without bloodshed or animosity. Before the Dread Forest gained its name and the Ancient of Forests was worshiped by both Rusa and Centuros. When the Primordial of Life had curved horns upon its head and Immortals walked the same earth as mortals. How the mighty fall. How the Eleven Immortal Villains came to be (they're mentioned and may cameo in Dread Secrets). We've got Kallista, Shysie, twins Faraph and Gwin, brothers Leucis and Valrus, sapphic throuple Echo/Nyssa/and Whisper, sapphic couple Vasha and Eilla, and Lux as characters.

Progress: vibes and vague ideas, character concepts concepted

Characters: Lux, Shysie Crimson, Kallista Rose, Gwin Snow, Faraph Snow, Echo Song, Vasha Alice, Eilla Alice, Whisper Song, Nyssa Song, Leucis Bard, Valrus Bard, Dissonantia Krone, Draco Krone, Anarvale, Thronk, (more characters to come) Characters

Song association: It Seemed the Better Way by Leonard Cohen or Hunt You Down by The Hit House and Ruby Friedman

Excerpt: Nothing written yet :3

Finding Family:

Moodboard Goes Here

Genre/Rating: slice of life, medieval fantasy, comedy?, pg/pg 13

POV: Pangari, Fintan, Demarcus, Amphon, and/or Yvonna

Summary: A fantasy, slice of life story about a family of Gods in the Immortal Realm. Amphon, God of Blacksmiths, and Yvonna, God of Seamsters, adopted three young Immortals who’ve ascended to godhood. Fintan, God of Flames, is often sleeping in Amphon’s smelter, his blonde hair and skin stained with soot and ash, and he only leaves the home if it’s for his twin sister, Pangari, or adopted brother, Demarcus. Pangari, God of Shadows, is a bubbly and kind-hearted young woman with bright eyes and light blonde waves. She spends as much time as she can with her family, often dragging Fintan out of the smelter to go on walks. Demarcus, God of Artisans, is dutiful and is often working hard on a new blueprint or helping his adopted father design a new sword or gift for Yvonna. This is a story about found family and the bonds that are formed by accepting each other and protecting each other.

Cast: Amphon, Yvonna, Pangari, Demarcus, Fintan, Bunsom, Lorne

Progress: vibes and vague ideas, some characters concepted

Characters

Song association: Family by Mother Mother

Excerpt: Nothing written yet :3

Shadow of Doubt:

Moodboard Goes Here

Genre/Rating: Mystery, thriller, psychological thriller, horror, Crime, mature

POV: Kit Tong

Summary: something goes here. There's a single part that I will legitimately cry while writing, it's the only thing I know will happen and it makes me sad. Great character moment though. Kit has a cat named Milo and I love their cat, it's the beacon of light in the bloody dark. That's all I've got so far. One scene and the MC has a cute cat. That's all you really need though...right?

Progress: vibes and vague ideas

Characters: Kit Tong, Kim Jae-soon, Ito Genji, Sunnie Lee, Zander Blight, Freddie Smith, Mik Forest, (more characters to come) Characters

Song association: You'd Be Paranoid Too by Waterparks or Saints by Echos

Excerpt: Nothing written yet :3

Background of Love:

Moodboard Goes Here

Genre/Rating: romance, comedy, slice of life, BL, GL, fantasy, modern setting, series, not young adult

POV: Elio, Tia, Season, Wins, Rowan, Mingi, Jun

Summary: something goes here. One of the MCs is probably the main MC because he's aro/ace and everyone around them is falling in love left, right, and center so it's like he's in the background if that makes sense? I haven't decided if that character is going to be called Season or Elio. This is the story with the most gay focus of any of my stories.

(old summary for some context: This story follows three couples as they pursue love. Elio has had feelings for his childhood friend Rowan for five years with the other not noticing and soon developing a crush on someone else. Elio decides to stop his feelings for Rowan, no matter how difficult, and allows his friends Dom and Dai to set him up with a temporary boyfriend Mingi. Once Elio decides to move on, Rowan soon discovers how much Elio has done for him over the years and abandons his crush to pursue Elio. Tia, friend of Elio and Dom and Dai has caught herself pining after her neighbor across the street named Mian. Despite all of her bravado and confident air, she can’t bring herself to talk coherently around Mian. No longer being pursued by Rowan, Wins begins to spend more time with Jun since they have many of the same interests. Jun stops spending time with Wins, putting Mingi first as the latter might have developed feelings for his temporary boyfriend. Can Amais, God of Love, help his heartless or will the God have them figure it out for themselves?)

Progress: vibes and vague ideas

Characters: Elio Santiago, Rowan Winters, Kim Mingi, Huang Jun, Xu Mian, Tia Amor, Season Light, Takara Haru, Dom Wong, Dai Angsan, Wins Michaels, God of Soulmates (Amais) Characters

Song association: Fake Protagonist by Getsunova or Lose (english version) by Wonho

Excerpt: Nothing written yet :3

Misfortune:

Moodboard Goes Here

Genre/Rating: fantasy, medieval fantasy?, mystery, suspense, comedy, romance, not young adult

POV: Runais, Xadrian, and/or Lykos (maybe Mirroh?)

Summary: something goes here. Everyone else is having a bad time but Runais and Xadrian are just chaotic dumb and chaotic dumber and I love that for them. This story kind of absorbed another WIP idea I had called "Deja Vu" and I'm not mad about it. I like this story a bit more.

Progress: vibes and vague ideas, some characters concepted

Characters: Xiang, Neph, Runais, Xadrian, Lykos, Mirroh, Primordial of Chaos, Malianna Ash, Scorch, Flit, Phelan, (more characters to come?) Characters

Song association: Seraph by DPR Ian or Who Are You by Sam Kim

Excerpt: Nothing written yet :3

Love Afterlife:

Moodboard Goes Here

Genre/Rating: medieval fantasy, romance, GL, not young adult

POV: Tahari or Nocturne/Aqualise

Summary: something goes here, but I know it's sapphic. The location is the afterlife and I do think I'm clever. Because...they...they find love...in the afterlife....so...love...afterlife.... A sapphic tale between the God of Death and an Immortal Spirit.

Progress: vibes

Characters: Tahari, Nocturne/Aqualise, (more characters to come) Characters

Song association: ???

Excerpt: Nothing written yet :3

Demon Eye:

Moodboard Goes Here

Genre/Rating: fantasy, action, dark fantasy, romance, not young adult

POV: ??? I don't have any characters thought up yet, no names or anything. RIP

Summary: something goes here. It feels really cool in my brain, cool fight scenes go brrr. Cool character concept vibes go brr too.

Progress: vibes

Characters

Song association: ???

Excerpt: Nothing written yet :3

Deja Vu:

Moodboard Goes here

Genre/Rating: fantasy, modern setting?, dimension hopping, mystery, not young adult

POV: Pavel Night

Summary: (technically scrapped) A fantasy, mystery, suspense. Living under the same roof to save money with his six friends, Pavel has had the luxury of having a room to himself thanks to winning a long game of rock, paper, scissors. His ideal world is flipped when one of his friends, Lucas, asks if a friend of his could move in. Though Pavel doesn’t know the friend well, he trusts Lucas’ judgement of character and agrees to let the friend share a room with himself since it’d be easier than Malia moving her things out of one room and into another. As soon as this friend, Mirroh, arrives, Pavel feels a strange distrust of the stranger. Mirroh keeps to himself unless he’s with Lucas, and seems to settle in well enough. But when an accident leaves his friend Shen dead and Ambrose in critical condition, strange things begin to happen. Mirroh’s personality becomes stranger and he seems to know when something bad is about to happen, though he doesn’t seem to lift a finger to stop it. What’s stranger is Pavel wakes up to find himself back to the day of the first accident that began it all. What can Pavel do to prevent the accidents? Does Mirroh know something and is keeping it a secret? Who is the stranger that confirms that Pavel should not trust Mirroh? Should he listen to the stranger?

Progress: Technically scrapped, vibes, vague ideas, 5 chapters written

Cast: ???, Lucas String, Mirroh, Shen Saint, Ambrose Saint, Malia Shield, Pavel Nox, Rune Siren, Ace Siren, Pavel Night

Song Association: ???

Excerpt: ):

[ace-malarky]

intro post 2024

sup lads, it's been like two years and I figured the pinned post probably needed updating

wait it has almost exactly been two years that's hilarious

Anyway. some things haven't changed. Name's still Ace, no matter what I write on the notes I send to my old library

I'm always up for tag games and random asks!! throw 'em my way as you like :3

pronouns are in flux! predominantly they/them, sometimes it, occasionally he. It varies on the bit, but you probably can't go wrong tbh

we're - we're going to say early 30s. it's not wrong and it's better than this being outdated in a little over three weeks when it all changes once again

no I did not plan this, no I can't do a basic formal outline, I have to ramble. what did you think i wrote for.

Other Places I Can Be Found include twitter & instagram under more or less the same username

~~~

Writing Focuses!

Everything is fantasy, everything is queer. Excerpts can be found under Writing Pieces

I'm largely jumping around between vaguely connected scenes and character work right now, but there's definitely a pattern!

mainly;

Soul of the Party - when a series of mysterious thefts sweep across town in the weeks before the annual tournament, Solaris is removed from the duelling tournament to avoid bringing attention to his cousin's family. Instead, he and his cousin and a band of Feral Mages investigate on their own and find a plot targetting one thief from Off-World (ft. four separate magic types, light crime, sword fights, mistaken (secret) identity, curiosity almost killing the cat)

Shapeshifter WIP - when things start getting tense between neighbouring countries, Syn volunteers to slip across the border and pass information back in an attempt to avert the looming war. They may have underestimated how hard it was going to be to go back when no one recognises them and their own best friend hates them (ft. pining, friends-to-lovers of the star crossed variety, hand wavy world building, questionable morality, questionable spying techniques, A Certain Level of Dumbassery, some Fucked Up Shapeshifting)

Dumb of Ass, Snake of Tits - a DnD story of a dragonborn monk who leaves their monastery to see the world, ends up with a Morally Dubious Courtesan for a travelling companion, gets cursed (twice), has a slight corruption arc, but somehow still comes out better than they started and with a boyfriend to boot (ft. travelling, fights, the unwillingness to wear a shirt in camp and making that everyone else's problem, other uses for bras when you don't have tits, revenge, What Sharp Teeth You Have, unquestioning kindness until it isn't kind, overthinking but eventually manage to communicate about it, slight pining, one vaguely horny dragon)

@dorksndisasters for the not-technically-dnd campaign that I run! The full first draft of the first arc is up there and I am currently editing to make it less stilted and transcriby

and, you know, the usual. Fair Folk, Superheroes, Pirates, Time Travel, WereCreatures, Winged Folk, Storytellers, Vampires, Curses, Even More DnD. All of the WIPS can be found on this page and some of them are in this definitely out of date post here

I'm always up for answering questions about any of them, even if some haven't been touched in literal years. They're still growing mould somewhere in there. Branching out in ways I didn't conceive of.

~~~

World Building

also a big ol' thing here, the main tag is world building but that isn't just my stuff in there, it's also a lot of reblogs

largely centered around the Mist Worlds which is where most of my WIPs are set. There is an Overview post, a Magic post, a bit on the Mist Itself, and also the Worlds (and a page where this is collated)

some bits are incredibly handwavy and made up on the fly, other bits I have been thinking Too Much about for Too Long

~~~

Characters

Oh boy we got 'em. Occasionally can be found via rambles on Sundays under the tag So It Ends

Syn and Maverick are competing for blorbo of the year right now and if a wip or specific characters aren't mentioned, these are probably who I'll answer ask games for

Syn - a distractable and mischievous shapeshifter who volunteers to be a spy because "pretending to be someone else is what I do" no we're not going to unpack that right now. they/them, big fan of antlers. also goes by Val or Lance

Maverick - a frost dragonborn who's a little bit naive to the ways of the world and prefers to assume the best of people if they can. Likes to help, doesn't question as much as they should. Not quite an "everything happens for a reason" mentality, but certainly thinks that they got what they deserved at points. they/them, has been known to act without thinking on a number of occasions

[ashxketchum]

For the requests:

“Wanna hear a joke?” “Absolutely not.” TyHil obvs.

I HAVE A VERY GOOD REASON FOR WHY THIS TOOK SO LONG

This dialogue is so perfectly TyHil that it fit well with 3 of my ongoing WIPs and I tried to write all of them ( w h y ) and ended up getting too lost and invested in each of them that the reason for including the dialogue kind of slipped away from me...TyHil really is a virus in my brain...

So finally I'm deciding to post the one I think makes the most sense (who am i kidding) since I still have 2 more requests to go and not enough time lol.

This is from my Fake Dating AU which is also a Rich Girl/Poor Boy AU. Since this particular excerpt skips ahead in time I tried to add as much background information about what's happening as I could without it getting boring. I can't post the whole thing yet because it's around 8k and the main angst/fight scene hasn't even started yet (can't wait to dump a super long update 6 months later that no one will read haha 🥲).

Thank you for requesting, and so sorry that my power of TyHil brainrot actually ruined the whole thing in a way 😭

Post dividers by @/cafekitsune

Prompt: “Wanna hear a joke?” “Absolutely not.”

One of the most distinct memories Hilary had of her childhood was when she’d told her first lie, blaming one of their house helps for a vase she’d broken and having her mother catch onto her immediately. The disappointed look on her mother’s face as she’d told Hilary that the consequences of her actions would always catch up to her, was forever etched in her mind, and even now, every time she decided to lie, that scene would play in her mind like clockwork. Yet, somehow that hadn’t kept her from lying to make things easier and only made her a little more paranoid about getting caught. Almost two months had passed since she’d announced to a room full of her close acquaintances, that she had a boyfriend and his name was Tyson, and two more since she’d somehow managed to rope in that very Tyson into playing the part. 

She was spending every day looking over her back and covering her tracks, hoping that at least this time she would be able to escape facing any of the consequences of her actions. 

Tyson obviously, did not make things any easier for her. 

After she’d gotten him to agree to her ridiculous demand, they’d met once for coffee to set down some simple ground rules, every which one he’d managed to flout shamelessly. Hilary was very particular about keeping their stories straight, since any discrepancy would lead to suspicion, while Tyson on the other hand, loved to make up answers on the go. Even if she spent a whole evening texting him the correct responses to any questions they may get asked at the party they would attend the next day, he made sure to make up extravagant incidents that anyone would find hard to believe as true. Hilary would then need to improvise her own version of the story on the spot, and that often led to the two of them arguing in front of her friends. 

To her relief, however, this oddity in their so-called relationship had earned them the reputation of 'the cute bickering couple' and managed to keep her lie afloat so far. Not that it stopped Hilary from trying to get Tyson to listen to her plan, or Tyson from trying to make sure that Hilary always looked like the loser in his stories. For instance, in Tyson’s version of their first meeting, Hilary had been the sad nerd pretending to read in a corner when all she really wanted to do was have somebody ask her to dance. Hilary always tried to interject and make it clear that she had been enjoying reading her novel, but somehow people always gravitated towards Tyson’s version more. 

Tyson’s only rule throughout all of this was that they shouldn’t get involved with each other too personally, though he did a bad job of explaining his reasoning, what Hilary gathered from his incoherent stuttering was that if they got too close, this thing would blow up in their face. She agreed with him, to a certain extent. Since the two spent most of their time together attending parties and events in her social circle, Tyson knew more about her than vice versa. Her acquaintances were notorious for wanting him to know just how much Hilary didn’t fit in before his appearance, and in doing that they overshared information about her life that she wouldn't have brought up with Tyson had it just been the two of them hanging out. 

In an attempt to keep things even, she would try her best to coax information out of him, about his family or about college, but he was a master of evasion tactics. He’d already made himself aware of all the things that made her tick, so anytime she tried to flip the question towards his personal life, he’d go ahead and do something to annoy her. If that didn’t work, he’d give the vaguest answer which would keep Hilary guessing about what her follow-up question should be, and by the time she was ready, they would’ve reached the venue or Hilary’s house and it was already time to say goodbye to the small amount of time alone they got with each other.  

She couldn’t be too mad at him for this either, since he was still playing along to her ruse and if she was being honest, he did clean up well after himself. There was no denying the fluttering of the butterflies in her stomach every time Tyson held out his arm for her to take with a lopsided smile gracing his lips and dark eyes shining with excitement as he took the lead. It was also hard to control the giddy feeling that swelled in her chest every time he led her to the dance floor and heads would turn to catch a glimpse of them. And of course, she couldn’t hide the smugness she felt when the girls who’d spent years laughing at her non-existent relationship status, drooled at the sight of him showing up on his bike to pick her up. 

That’s also why it was hard for Hilary to be afraid of the lie and all the things that it could lead to when it felt so good to live it every day. Until one day the ripples she was most afraid of setting off finally took effect. 

Her parents were bound to find out about her boyfriend sooner or later, Hilary had braced herself for this from day one. But she’d hoped that she would gather the courage to lie to their faces before this news reached them via different channels. But she had so much going on in her mind lately, that she kept putting the task off until her parents very dramatically confronted her about it over dinner one night. Caught like a deer under headlights, Hilary found it hard to argue back and instead became part of a very one sided conversation where her parents lectured her about mutual trust. They spared no antics in expressing how sad they were about being left out of her life like this, and somehow, in the middle of apologising for keeping them in the dark and consoling them about how she was still their little girl, Hilary ended up agreeing to let them meet Tyson. 

The graveness of her mistake only set in when Tyson was the one to put his foot down about going ahead with it. He echoed all of her thoughts out perfectly, and she wished that it would’ve been him sitting across from her parents at the dinner table that night. But what stung Hilary slightly was how adamant he was about not wanting to see her parents. She tried her best to apologise for slipping up and offered many services, such as writing his assignments for a month, in return, however, Tyson didn’t budge until she broke down and cried. Knowing that the only way to get her to shut up was to agree to her plan, he finally gave up with a loud huff and sigh. 

Setting up the meeting had been easy, as much as her parents insisted on having Tyson over for dinner at their house, Hilary managed to convince them to do it in a much more private setting considering how short notice the whole thing was. She patted herself on the back for picking a party her mother was throwing for a friend as the meeting place, giving her parents the restriction of behaving well in front of their guests and Tyson the chance to manipulate that restriction to his advantage if things went south. 

Luckily the evening had gone exactly how she had expected it to so far. Her parents were busy attending to the many guests and only had the chance to wave at Tyson and her from afar once. Hilary hoped that by the time they finished their social round and reached the two of them, they would be a little exhausted, giving Tyson and her the upper hand in the conversation. However, as she stood close next to Tyson in a corner and watched her parents hop across the room, the tension in her veins kept rising when her father only looked more excited the closer he got to finishing the required greetings. 

“Wanna hear a joke?”

Hilary averted her eyes from the party in front of her and turned to look at Tyson, leaning against a wall column, completely at ease as he gulped down the champagne in his hand at an alarming speed. While she had been tracking the movement of her parents, his dark eyes were fixed on her and his voice lacked the usual charm and humour he used when he spoke to her. Even his eyes, she noticed, seemed to be clouded with an emotion that was difficult for her to read. 

“Absolutely not,” she said, feeling a shiver go down her spine at how distant Tyson felt from her tonight, despite of standing so close to him. In an attempt to mask her nervousness, she shot him an annoyed glare before asking, “Why would I want to hear a joke right now?”

He rolled his eyes at her reaction, shaking his head before turning it around to signal to one of the waiters. Within a minute, he’d exchanged his empty champagne glass for a new one, and once again made to gulp it down in a way that he knew would get on her nerves. 

“So that your parents think you’re happy in this relationship and not so much constipated.” His lips curved up in a smirk as he gestured behind her, choosing to gulp down his drink after all. 

Hilary turned away, partially annoyed and partially anxious, only to have her heart jump out of her chest. It looked like her parents had rushed through their greetings and were now heading towards her and Tyson. She waved at them half-heartedly, taking a few deep breaths to calm her nerves as she edged closer to Tyson, who straightened up next to her. Her heart kept screaming at her to grab his arm and run from the scene. It may have just been the anxiety of having to lie to her parents so straightforwardly, but she still felt like something was wrong with Tyson and he wasn’t being his usual supportive self. The warmth that she always felt when she stood next to him was missing tonight and that itself was enough to make the alarm bells ring her mind.

“Here they come,” Hilary stated out loud, more to keep herself grounded in the moment than to let Tyson know. Risking a glance at his face from the corner of her eye, she fought the urge to bite her lip at the impassive expression that covered his face. With whatever courage she could build up, she added in a low voice, “Please, remember everything I told you.”

For a brief moment, just before her parents announced their presence, their eyes met and Hilary felt as if time stood still around them. She searched for any signs of familiarity in Tyson’s face but was instead met with a look of hurt and what she thought was betrayal. It confused her and made her mind turn into a bigger mess than it already was, but before she could ask him what was wrong and why he was so mad at her, Tyson gave her his coldest smile ever as he gritted his teeth together in response, “No guarantees, sweetheart.” 

Thank you for reading!

[emeraldgreaves]

I'd love to hear more about Take Your Daughter to Work Day for the finish your fics friday, please?

send me a fic title so i can add five sentences and ramble about it

“Because we could change it. We could steal some schematics and leave them in a conference room right now, and just let someone find them.” “How would you guarantee that they use them?” “I don’t know, we’d think of something.” “I have,” Sarissa says sharply. “Think about it, Gwen. Really, properly consider it. You would need to convince multiple people— Riel Syndran, chiefly, never mind our own parents—to divert their resources to publicly constructing defenses when Haven is already being rocked by major political turmoil—” “So we tell them to wait a few months.” “And why do we know how long to wait? How do we justify that information?”

in which gwen and sarissa clash over how much to interfere with their parents’ present. discussion of time travel genre beats, spoilers for terry pratchett’s night watch, and why i’m in wip-of-a-wip purgatory with this fic under the cut!

brief au context: there’s a scenario post on the shoh blog from like four years ago about how the ROs would react to their child from the future coming back, and i think that’s fun, so. fic.

one of the direct inspirations for this fic is terry pratchett’s night watch, in which sam vimes goes back in time to the very start of his police career to stop a serial killer and has to preserve the chain of events started by a citizen revolution. my main structural takeaway was the causal chain, or, the list of cause-and-effect events stretching from the past to the points in the present.

narratively, three things have to happen (examples from night watch): (1) the villain has to break the chain, forcing the protagonist to fix it (e.g. the night watch villain murdered young vimes’ original mentor, forcing him to step into that role) (2) the protagonist must also be tempted to break the chain, but ultimately upholds it for the greater good (Vimes repeatedly debating whether he could jumpstart some of the changes that make his present more stable) (3) the self-fulfilling paradox to preserve the chain (vimes being his own mentor)

so this is me taking a stab at (2). however. i do not know what the causal chain looks like because we haven’t finished the main game, so (1) and (3) are kind of in limbo. and therefore: purgatory!

usually i would just make an educated guess and move forward, but this fic will necessarily involve the difficult choices that go into preserving major endgame canon events, so there are gaps in my outline that i simply do not have the information to fill. on the plus side, it does mean i potentially get a burst of inspiration at the end of every month—the reveals at the beginning and end of ch7 were major for determining exactly when to set this. so for now i just daydream about the girls vs remembering there’s no cable car in past haven and they have to walk??? two hours??? to get across town???

[acmartin]

Take Two: Scene Concept

Scene concept for my two main love interest characters in my WIP.

Context of Characters: Both characters at this point have strong feelings for one another if not in love with each other already. Character A is afraid because she has never been in a relationship before, she hasn't even ever been kissed. There is also the factor that her enemies would harm the woman she is interested in and it's a terrifying concept to put Character B in that position.

Character B has past relationship traumas and doesn't want to let herself fall for Character A, especially not in the middle of the war they are fighting. This causes her heart and brain to be in their own little war.

Scene:

Character A and B are getting ready on opposite sides of a door for a party that they have to infiltrate to get some information that will be vital to the war.

Character B: "Are you almost done getting ready for the party? We are going to be late at this point."

Character A:"Wasn't the whole point of this mission showing up late so we could capture our target off guard with our presence?"

Character B (clearly becoming irritated with Character A): We need to be late and not arrive after the party has ended.

Character A: "I- oh, sorry. I am just having some problems with my outfit. I should just be another few minutes and we can go."

Character B knows Character A better than that. It will be far longer than a few minutes if she doesn't intervene in some way.

Character B: "Do you need help with the dress?"

After some time passes without a response Character B calls out Character A's name.

Character A: "It's not that kind of problem with the dress. I'll be fine I just need to put on my heels and then I'll be ready."

Character B notices that Character A is doing a terrible job at deflecting.

Character B: "Is it alright if I come in?"

Character A: "I guess."

With the sound of the door unlocking, Character B opens the door to find something that she didn't expect. Character A was looking at herself in the mirror on the opposite side of the room, fidgeting with her golden and ruby dress. Seeing her fidgeting with the dress is not what she didn't expect, what she didn't expect to see was that with the open back design of the dress, she saw a back riddled with scars.

She knew Character A had scars on her back but she never laid eyes on them, Character A usually walked around with long-sleeved shirts or jackets and now. Now she is in a backless dress that shows off much more than just her scars. She has found Character A beautiful since the day they met, but she has never seen her like this and the only thing she can think is,

Character B: “Wow”

The second she said that she felt her body coil back in embarrassment. She didn't mean to say that, not that she didn't mean it, but that one word can be taken out of context and the last thing she wants is for that to happen.

Character A: "Yeah... I have a lot of scars. Sorry."

Just as she expected, it was taken out of context. Character B takes notice that Character A's eyes are closed as she is still facing the mirror. She knows that she has to tread lightly here, to not say the wrong thing.

She takes the last few steps to where Character A is standing. She is right beside her, close enough that the other woman can most definitely feel her presence but not so close that she is invading her personal space.

Character B: "Why are you apologizing for your scars?"

Another pause occurs before Character A responds.

Character A: "Habit, I guess? Sorry."

Character B: "Don't apologize for something that is a part of you. Your scars aren't what make you, you."

Character A: "I know that, but when I look at them that knowledge escapes me."

Character B takes a chance with something and moves in front of Character A slightly guiding her hand to her companion's face grazing the scar on her chin. She lifts Character A's head up slightly so that when her companion opens her eyes they will lock with her own.

Character B: "So don't look at them. Look at me instead."

Character A with her eyes still closed: "I don't want to."

Character B: "Why not?"

Character A: "I don't want to see the look on your face."

Character B: "And what look would that be?"

Character A: "Pity."

Character B: "Do you trust me?"

Character A: " What kind of question is that? Of course, I do."

Character B (as softly as she can): "Then open your eyes."

Character A does as she is asked and is not met with pity at all. She looks at Character B's eyes and almost gets lost in them. All she sees is adoration. Without hesitation, she takes a step forward and gives the other woman one of the biggest hugs she could.

The hug is reciprocated immediately and with just as much love and pressure behind it. They didn't know it but they both needed that hug. Once they separate, Character A takes a few steps back to properly take in what her travel companion fully looks like in her party outfit. She wishes that the look Character B was wearing would make her speechless but instead...

Character A: "You're terrifyingly beautiful."

A few moments pass before Character A realizes what she said.

Character A: "Wait, terrifying is the wrong word to use. I don't find you scary, I find you beautiful. I don't know why I said terrifying. Well actually I do, but that's not important. It is and I shouldn't undermine my emotions but, you know what. I am going to stop talking and just end this now before I keep going. Just forget I said anything, please."

Character B has known Character A for a few years now and has been rejecting the feelings she has for her for the last year. She knows Character A well enough to know just exactly what she meant by her first comment. Character A is afraid of her emotions, afraid of what may come from them. Emotions are a hard and difficult thing to wrap one's head around and in the midst of a war, it makes the difficulty tenfold. They are both lucky they have even gotten as far as they have.

Character B knows that this is a conversation neither of them are ready to have. Not yet, soon though. She begins walking to the door wondering if she should say anything or just leave in silence, but then she remembered something.

Someone once told her that when it comes to quiet moments of war where you can even look at someone the way they just finished looking at each other if something can be said, then say it. If you are in a war for the Gods' sakes and you don't know if you will be able to say anything later on because of the battles you will endure than say something. Say anything. So that's what Character B does as she walks through the doorway.

Character B: Take the time you need but I just want to say something before we move on from this. Something I think you need to hear as much as I need to say it. Is that fine?

She waits for Character A to give a small nod and look up at her.

With a sly smile, Character B says what needs to be said/heard.

"I find you terrifyingly beautiful too."

Character B turns as she states this knowing the message is well received and closes the door behind her.

[pens-swords-stuff]

Nanowrimo Project 2022 // Always the Bridesmaid

Title // Always The Bridesmaid

Genre // Murder mystery, romance

Current Status // Brainstorming

TL;DR // Enemies-to-lovers that goes through a fake relationship/wedding/marriage between two bisexual rival detectives

Synopsis:

There’s been a string of murders. While tragic, murders are commonplace enough in [Fictional City] that no one blinks an eye when they are reported on the six o’clock news. The victims had nothing in common, so it was largely believed to be the work of separate killers, unrelated and commonplace. Except for one tiny detail: Every single victim had been a part of a wedding party the month prior to their death. Two private detectives were hired to investigate separate incidents, two different murders. When it becomes apparent that this trail of wedding murders has one culprit, it was only natural for them to team up and work together, because two heads are better than one. The only problem: They are rival detectives with differing styles that clash and find each other insufferable. When clue after clue lead them to dead-ends and false information, they are forced to confront the reality that they need to do something drastic to pin down the culprit. Pretending to be engaged and planning a fake wedding to lure out the killer seems extremely out there, but if they can survive a fake relationship, perhaps they can bring down the killer once and for all. It’s a crazy plan, but it just might work. Because if there is one thing for certain… The victim is always the bridesmaid, and never the bride.

Tags // All official ATB content (snippets, drabbles, character intros, etc) can be found at #always the bridesmaid or @always-the-bridesmaid-wip. You can find all the ATB posts that I post on my blog that includes rambles, fun facts, shitposts and random thoughts on #atb.

There is no taglist for Always the Bridesmaid! If you are interested in being notified when there's a post, please follow @always-the-bridesmaid-wip and turn on the notifications for that blog.

I only reblog official ATB content that can be found at #always the bridesmaid onto @always-the-bridesmaid-wip. I barely post official content, so you will not be plagued by notifications.

Things to note:

Word count goal: 50k. I however have very low expectations for myself. I tend to do Nano for 2 days before stopping.

Takes place in a "soft AU" in a world where private investigators have much more power, influence and authority than the real world.

This is completely pants'd. I have a general direction, my main cast of characters, and that's it. I don't even know who the culprit is!

Credit for the amazing tagline goes to @inkysky, thank you so much!

There are some drabbles and character introductions that are already posted on #always the bridesmaid or @always-the-bridesmaid-wip that you can check out if you are interested!

[stephmcx]

Fic Writer 20 Questions

I was tagged for this by @luredin a few days ago and recently also by @itwoodbeprefect, thank you both!

How many works do you have on AO3?

68 works

What's your total AO3 word count?

157,933

What fandoms do you write for?

At the moment, it's still mostly H50 and some Ted Lasso.

Generally, the fandoms that make me want to write for them are the ones where I feel that there's still much left untold by canon. Be it character backstories that are just hinted at or be it the chemistry between two characters that makes me ship them, when I can't stop thinking about them it's usually me starting to write stories about them in my mind already.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

A Beautiful Thing (H50)

Oi! Tartt! Boot Room now! (Ted Lasso)

A Sense of Belonging (H50)

A hui hou nō (H50)

Together (we make a family) (H50)

Funnily enough, the first two fics are basically the same premise, just different fandoms: an outsider POV catching a private moment between the main characters and watching a kiss that wasn't meant for their eyes.

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Not as consistently as I want. Sometimes it's the bare lack of time, often times it's that I don't know what to say even though getting a new comment makes me ridiculously happy. Please know I love and appreciate every single comment I have ever received on my works!

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I'm a sucker for happy endings and I hate unresolved endings so I usually don't write them. I tend to end my stories on a hopeful note at the very least so I'm not sure it qualifies as an angsty ending, but Runaway is closest I think. It's one of the rare cases where I wrote the ending in between and before the middle part of the story.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I say it's my H50 finale fix-it, A hui hou nō.

Do you get hate on fics?

Thankfully not.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Occasionally. I try to make it not just porn but include the emotions as well; I aim to capture the intimacy of the moment.

Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Nope. Not my thing.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes. Here We Go Again was translated into Russian for Fandom Kombat last year: Ну вот, опять

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nothing that's officially published. But bouncing ideas back and forth in the comments or via dm is lots of fun and has added up to fic length regularly (especially with Katya; we haven't done that in a long while, @teruel-a-witch!).

What's your all-time favorite ship?

I think McDanno has ruined me for all other ships.

What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I have a WIP that's a few years old where Danny and Steve help with the Spring Cleaning at Charlie's kindergarten. They are mistaken as a couple by the teachers and the other parents alike, no thanks to Charlie calling them both "Dad". It's one of the fics where I have written the first part (and I like how it turned out) and then I just stopped without leaving a clue for myself how it's supposed to resolve. I know I once had an idea for it, but no matter how many times I open the document I can't remember what it was.

What are your writing strengths?

I think I can write short stories well that are precise and that can pack a punch. I'm told I write emotions well but I'm not always sure I agree. :)

What are your writing weaknesses?

I often find it hard to write dialogue. It has gotten easier over the years but I still find it hard, especially since I'm not a native English speaker.

Also, generally, writing in a foreign language can be challenging. There are some cultural things (informal speech, behaviors, acronyms, insults, unwritten rules etc.) that are hard to research. I'd love to write more about Steve's military background for example, but I don't think I know enough about life in the US military to do that in a believable way.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Not a big fan. I mean, if it's subtle or if, for example a character uses one or a few words from their native language regularly, that can be meaningful and add to their characterization. But if it's whole sentences or dialogues in another language it tends to pull me out of the reading flow.

What I have really come to hate is written dialects. There are some Ted Lasso fics I refuse to read because they tried to write down Jamie's Mancunian accent. As funny as it is hearing it on the show, it's just annoying to read.

First fandom you wrote for?

Uh, Harry Potter maybe? Or RPF for the German band Die Ärzte? I did write some original stuff. The first fic I published was definitely Football RPF.

Favorite fic you've ever written?

I can't really chose a favorite one. There are many stories I feel proud of and there are others that mean a lot on a personal level. I'm gonna pick Me Ke Aloha pretty much at random and I might chose a different fic if you ask me again tomorrow. :)

Tagging: With no pressure @cowandcalf, @actingcamplibrarian, @emphasisonthehomo, @stellagioia, @goneahead and anyone who feels like answering these questions - it was fun!