#from antisnowwhite

[writingmoth]

For the not-so-nice asks!

Monster: Is your OC monstrous in any way? Is there something that makes them monstrous? Are they aware of their own monstrosity? Do they accept it or reject it?

Nightmare: What does your OC have nightmares about? How do they deal with their nightmares? Do they tell people, or keep it to themself?

i will answer these for rowan (from fantasy romance wip)

monster: honestly you'd have a hard time trying to find an oc of mine that isn't a bit monstrous, but rowan is a special case bc his monstrous side is an issue for him/the story. long story short, when a wild hunt happens humans should stay inside and seal their doors so the fey don't come for them. rowan fucked up when he was a kid and was outside when they came, so he was forfeit to them, basically. the god of the forest intervened and he was saved... but not without consequences. he's been a bit monstrous ever since, and has tried REALLY hard to not let anyone notice anything different about him... with a 100% success rate so far. not even his best friend is aware of the weird stuff he can hear/feel/sometimes do. mind, everyone is still wary of him (bc he was out during a wild hunt and has the scars to show for it) but as far as everyone is concerned that just means he's cursed, not that he's monstrous.

one of the themes of fantasy romance wip is being/not being monstrous, and what being monstrous even is, though. so rowan starts out the story definitely not accepting his monstrous side!!

nightmare: i think rowan had tons of nightmares about the wild hunt right after it happened and for some years after that, but they've mostly stopped/are rare now. his biggest issue is that he can't sleep that much - he's more susceptible to the first forest (said monstrous side!) when he's asleep so he avoids doing that as much as he is physically able to. but yeah, his nightmares are (when they happen) mostly about the wild hunt, the first forest and, sometimes, his parents/siblings.

thank you so much for the ask!!

[faeryink]

rain | 26 | he/they | aroace | trans/nonbinary | webdev by day, aspiring writer/artist by night

blogs

raininthewoods - main blog. i interact from there. post mainly about ffxiv, asoiaf, league and dragon age.

raindev - dev blog. where i post about my interactive fiction projects. currently: briarheart.

faeryink - you are here! writing blog for my current projects.

about my writing

i write fantasy. sometimes i dip my toes in sci-fi, but that happens once in a blue moon, really.

i love weird magic.

forest magic!!

faeries, elves, weird nature-inspired creatures/stuff, etc

heavy focus on the platonic aspect of relationships, even in romances, because, well *is aroace*

also here for siblings, friends, platonic relationships in general!

most of my characters are nonbinary and in the aro/ace spec, usually masculine-leaning and gray-ace/aro.

about my wips

#merpirate

fantasy | post-apocalyptic | mystery | merpeople & winged folk | memory loss | reality-bending places | pirates | gods & demigods

a pirate who is a merperson in disguise enters into an uneasy truce with the winged pirate hunter who has been trying to capture them for years. their goal is to venture into the lost sea, a magical, warped place where the end of the world began ten years ago, to search for their lost memories - only to find out they aren’t the only one interested in their mysterious past.

#antisnowwhite

fantasy | post-apocalyptic | mystery | faeries | creepy forest | snowwhite-inspired | revenge & redemption

in a world that was once covered and ruled by a magical, bloodthirsty forest and its monstrous inhabitants, a young prince is exiled to its borders for mysterious reasons and raised by seven shadow wolves until, ten years later, he finally manages to escape. his goal now is simple: get his throne and kingdom back.

find me

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[writingmoth]

Characters Out Of Context

tagged by @isabellebissonrouthier (thank you!)

rules:

include one character quote — of your choosing ⁠— from each chapter of your wip(or as many chapters as you'd like).

give absolutely no context, save for what's between two parts of an interrupted sentence, should that occur. you may mention who said it.

have fun, no pressure!

tagging: @author-a-holmes @little-mouse-gardens @ anyone else who wants to play!!

for ANTISNOWWHITE:

these are from a VERY rough half-finished first draft i wrote almost 4 years ago. story has changed a lot since them but here's my chaotic child valerian (other characters are too irrelevant in this draft tbh. which is why this version of the story died halfway through it):

ch01: “I know who I need to see,” he whispers and turns to the wolves. Seven pairs of cunning eyes stare back at him, shimmering like divine stars in the night.

ch03: I didn’t open that door by mistake, he thinks, knowing Medra is listening. I wasn’t lost. I was never lost.

ch04: I was raised by wolves, he thinks. I can do anything.

ch06: This is the end of one world, Valerian thinks, and the beginning of another.

ch07: “My name,” the rightful heir to the throne says, “is Valerian.”

ch08: Valerian snorts. “She has always had a flair for the dramatic.”

ch09: Valerian shrugs.. “You will have to, it seems. But you will have my heart. If I don’t tell you,” he smiles. “Put a knife through it.” Again, silence. Valerian arches another eyebrow. “Well?”

ch10: Valerian, though, stopped listening after their second sentence. His face lightens up. “A village, you say? And new clothes?” He smiles and it’s the first genuine, happy smile Ira has seen from him so far. There is no malice in it, no mischief. “There must be many people living there, doesn’t it? Even so far from the capital?”

ch11: The grin widens. I’m coming, mother.

ch12: Valerian shrugs. “Works fine for me.”

ch13: Valerian’s smirk widens. “I’m pleased to disappoint.”

ch14: “Don’t worry,” Valerian says. “I can deal with a bit of cleaning.”

ch15: “But you wanted him to die,” Valerian continues. “It’d be so much easier, would it not, if the one who destroyed so much and killed so many, died from his wounds? He would become a tragedy. A sad tale vosteyans would repeat for years to come. But,” Valerian can’t stop the anger from bleeding into his voice. “He just wouldn’t die.”

for FANTASY ROMANCE WIP:

my plan for fantasy romance wip is to have rowan as the only pov character, but ironically he hasn't said a word in the ~2k words i've written for the story so far lol so here is few choice words from other characters:

ch??: The faerie yanks him up, hand going yet again to his throat. The black horse advances and the god glances at him for the first time, only for the shortest of seconds, but it is enough to send a shiver of fear down his spine. The faerie is still talking, their words barely registering for Rowan; I found him, he is mine, he came outside, why are you denying me what is mine, the mortal is mine, mine, mine…

cheating a little, but the first words of loifa aka the god of the forest aka the love interest:

ch??: Rowan’s mouth goes dry. The rider’s voice is quiet, but sharp, and the first forest buckles under its weight, its reverie slowing to a crawl. Once again, Rowan can’t make out any words, but this time no meaning reaches his conscience and he is left in the dark, listening to the heavy tone of the god he has feared his whole life. The horse steps forward and the forest flinches back, a wave of whispers spilling from its new epicenter, and those Rowan understands. Anger, resentment, fear, and, below it all, a resigned, bitter, almost blind devotion.

[writingmoth]

🌑 New moon - Who is your most mysterious character? Are they different from what people assume?

hmm i'd say reia from #antisnowwhite. she is the mc's mortal enemy (also his stepmother) and it takes a looooooooooong time for her real motivations/personality to become known (both to the mc and the reader). she's a complicated person and since she's also a queen everyone has an idea of what she really is. not many get to see the real reia, though.

thank you for the ask!!

[writingmoth]

found the prologue for antisnowwhite!!!! written in 2017 (SIX years ago, time is a LIE) and i had just started writing in english (i mean its my third draft in english, queen of hearts and merpirate came first, but i was a beast in 2016-2017 so they were mostly written at the same time), so it's really bad lol i think i will rewrite it just for fun, but here it is, in all its awkward english glory:

-

It begins with a door, and with lies whispered in the dark.

The door groans, creaks as it opens; the child doesn’t know, but it is older than the palace in which it is hidden, older than the kingdom that surrounds it. It slides forward easily and light spills from beyond it, flooding the child and the dark hallway in cool shades of blue and purple. The child blinks, stunned. How can something so bright exist buried inside the palace?

He steps forward, bare feet touching not stone but grass and earth. Trees grow around him, their leaves going from blue to green to violet, the sunlight filtering through them. The air is different, too; colder, humming with energy and life.

But it’s the coffins that catch the child’s attention. There are two of them, their lids made of glass that reflects the sunlight, the black stone in which they were built shining like onyx. The first one’s lid is broken, its pieces scattered through the ground. The child approaches, tiptoeing. The coffin is empty.

He turns to the second one. It is larger, more impressive. Words are carved in its sides, but the child can’t read them, and wouldn’t if he could. His eyes go to the person inside of it.

The glass lid is cracked as if hit by a hammer, the spidery veins spreading through its semi-transparent surface. It’s hard to see the person inside through them; the child gets a glimpse of pale skin, of pitch black hair, of a closed eye.

They are dead, the child thinks, half terrified, half amazed. They are dead.

But something changes. The air grows heavier, the winds howl, the whole forest, impossible as it is, seems to hold its breath.

The closed eye opens. The child gasps. The glass creaks.

And then the whole world shatters.

[writingmoth]

Secret & battle

2. SECRET - How many unnamed OCs do you have?

hmmm around 5 or so? probably less tbh. i have tons of ideas for stuff i want to eventually write and the characters in these ideas have no name to speak of but i have this weird little system where i use already existing characters in new ideas until they have morphed enough to be their own thing, if that makes sense? so not many unnamed ocs to speak of in the end

10. BATTLE - Who is your most evil OC?

i've been here staring at this ask for SO long but i just don't know? i don't think i have a truly evil oc. reia from antisnowwhite did very shitty things, but she had good intentions. valerian is a selfish brat but he'd never go out of his way to hurt someone who did nothing to him (tho he'd absolutely hurt someone who did something to him and his definition of "something" is pretty loose). even roma's asshole ex is just a very frustrated person in somewhat unfortunate circumstance.

if i had to pick one... hmmmm... reia? she did send a 8 year old into a monstrous forest, after all. but she isn't really evil.

thank you so much for the ask!!!

[writingmoth]

Ginkgo and Sycamore for the ask game

Gingko: What part of your story is the oldest, has stuck around from that original idea?

for fantasy romance wip, it's probably the idea of the health of the god of the forest (that isnt really a god but thats neither here nor there) being linked to the health of the village/its inhabitants, and the romance being between said god of the forest and an human touched by the first forest.

for antisnowwhite, it's probably the whole fairy tale thingy. valerian is snow white, isra is red riding hood, roma is rapunzel and there is also a sleeping beauty. since the ~bones~ of the story were straight up stolen from the fairy tale, they are the oldest parts

Sycamore: Which character is protective, would be a great person to turn to in times of danger?

answered here!

thank you so much for the ask!

[writingmoth]

tagged by @isabellebissonrouthier (thank you!!)

tagging: @darkgazer @little-mouse-gardens @shineywrites @inkthepage

my words: sour, vomit, blade, poke

your words: hatred, anger, lovely, tongue

(nothing for sour or vomit)

blade:

(sharing antisnowwhite's first draft is weeeeeeird)

“It is really his,” the queen whispers, eyes on the heart in front of her. It doesn’t beat, though it is very much alive. No one but Valerian himself would be able to resuscitate it, and he doesn’t wish to, not now. He almost expects her to produce a blade and to knife it, killing him instantly, and some part of him almost wants her to – it would reveal her fear of him, of what he represents, more than her desperate hunt for him had done. He doesn’t know if he would survive it – maybe, if he used his strange new powers, but who knows? – but oh, he would have enjoyed it very much, would have loved to see her despair.

poke:

(from fantasy romance wip)

The trees of the first forest crawl over the village’s building like maggots on a corpse, vibrant purple, pink and green leaves covering the windows, branches poking at the doors, slithering like polished serpents upon the grass. Dozens of creatures run through the street, wolves as big as a man, white owls with blood dripping from their wings, the slender, inhuman figures of the faeries or witches or worse, dancing and knocking on doors, asking for permission to enter, calling those inside to play, voices soft then insistent then angry, then full of mirth once again. No one answers their plea and still, they don’t give up. 

[writingmoth]

Death, Greed, Hope for the ask game!

9. DEATH - What WIP would you want to be remembered for?

probably antisnowwhite or my first ever project, which i abandoned years and years ago lol i started writing it when i was 11, stopped when i was like 17 or 18. the sad thing is that ive lost a lot of what i wrote for it and i wrote a LOT for it (like... probably over 300k over a few drafts). and i don't remember much about the finer details of the story :( but one day i will try to dig up my files for it.

24. GREED - If you could steal a character from any other story, who would you take?

whew this is hard. i think i'd steal dany from asoiaf? mostly bc im afraid of what her canon ending might be and just thinking about it fills me rage and/or frustration lol

i would also steal elidibus from ffxiv i think. and the unveiling's winnower from destiny 2.

26. HOPE - What would be your dream come true?

have enough money and free time to write and draw as much as i want lol of course when i was younger i wanted the "my books are turned into movies and everyone has heard about/read them" dream as well, but i think i'm past that now. i'd be happy if a dozen ppl read and liked my books.

thanks for the ask!!

[writingmoth]

Sycamore: Which character is protective, would be a great person to turn to in times of danger?

rowan, certainly. he is very much the protector archetype, sometimes too much even. vespertine from antisnowwhite is also pretty great when it comes to protecting and leadership in general, and isra/ira (i haven't decided yet ;-;) too. also ves from briarheart!! they are all very much the protector/leader type.

thank you so much for the ask!!

[writingmoth]

🦎 for the WIP asks? - @duskforged

🦎 LIZARD: Who is your most untrustworthy OC? Why?

probably valerian from antisnowwhite lol he's a little shit. usually he only cares about himself and his goals but he can be convincing when he wants to, and that can make ppl trust him when they shouldn't. he's not evil exactly, but his empathy is directly related to how annoyed he isn't by you, i guess

[writingmoth]

comet and satellite!

☄️ Comet - Who is your most self destructive character? Why are they like that?

probably nima from briarheart. loifa has some destructive tendencies too, and so does rowan. nima because... spoilers. loifa because their coping mechanisms are absolute shit and rowan because he's an stubborn ass. you know that person who will break before they bend? that's rowan.

🛰 Satellite - Do you have a character who is very dependent on another character? Is it healthy or unhealthy?

*chuckles nervously* that might be one of my lowkey favorite tropes? i have the guardian and the heartless from the hanging heart, loifa and cyan from fantasy romance wip, even valerian and vespertine from antisnowwhite (kind of). but the only really kinda unhealthy relationship is probably the guardian & the heartless, mostly because the heartless becomes an asshole and the guardian is too loyal to do anything about it. cyan & loifa are mostly just tragic, not unhealthy, and valerian and vespertine are so beyond being normal that it becomes being healthy in the end.

ty for the ask!!

[writingmoth]

Daffodil yellow and ocean blue

Daffodil Yellow: Does worldbuilding come easily to you?

it depends. big, sweeping things do, but more detailed stuff... nope. not even a little bit. as in, i know the world of antisnowwhite and fantasy romance wip was once covered by the first forest - a magical, monstrous forest - and that even if it isn't the case anymore, every single kingdom, village, town, etc has some traditions/beliefs bc of it. some worship the creatures of the forest, some hate them, cities near the border of the forest have a more militaristic lifestyle, it's common for villages to leave offerings near the borders too, etc, etc, etc. but beyond that? no idea what's going anywhere.

i guess it's more that i do well with magical/fantastical worldbuilding aspects, but do very badly with everything else. it's like pulling teeth tbh

Ocean Blue: Least favourite piece of dialogue from your wip

i dont have much from fantasy romance wip (which is my main wip nowadays) but the first draft of antisnowhite is like... terrible with dialogue. i think i can just open any chapter and find a cringeworthy dialogue line. here, i will do just that and see what monstrosity i can fish today:

“We’re approaching the Crimson Lake,” the Guard is saying, her eyes scanning the trees with none of the apprehension of her apprentice and all of the wariness. “The bloody roses there are in good number and they fall into the water, making it seem red. It’s safer, of course, having so many of them around. The trees and creatures of the forest can’t cross that many.”

“But,” the apprentice says promptly, momentarily forgetting their own fear. “We must never let our guard down. Even in places considered safe.”

The Guard smiles. “Yes, Ron.”

ugh. in my defense, i wrote this first draft almost 4 years ago, and it was the second thing i ever wrote in english. it shows.

thank you so much for the ask!!!

[faeryink]

new to writeblr!!!

hello, everyone! i made this blog a few weeks ago but never posted much. i want to get back into writing so i thought i'd introduce myself here!!

i'm rain, 26, a transmasc a-spec aspiring writer. i love writing fantasy with lots of queer characters and weird worlds. i also enjoy writing interactive fiction games and you can check them out on my other blog, @raindev. i've got a short game out and another, longer one in the works!

for regular fiction, i have two wips right now: #merpirate, a story about a merperson (who is, obviously, also a pirate) trying to recover their memories after losing them thanks to an apocalyptic event caused by the gods of mischief, and #antisnowwhite, a - you guessed it - queer snow white retelling where snow white was raised by wolves in a very sentient, creepy forest, and now wants revenge against the queen. i made a page with more info - you can check it here.

i write mostly about masc-leaning nonbinary characters in romantic and/or queerplatonic relationships with other masc-leaning nonbinary characters. i also love elves, faeries, witches, old gods and forest spirits!

looking for more blogs to follow as well!!! i follow from @raininthewoods aka my main blog!

[writingmoth]

ok im rereading the draft i wrote (and never finished) for antisnowwhite and its so bizarre how different the story was. the characters are more or less the same, but i apparently couldnt trust the reader to come to their own conclusions to save my life and there are some fundamental changes to the main character.

in this shitty first draft valerian is the main point of view, even though isra has a few chapters, but in the more recent version of the story (that exists only in my head, sadly) neither valerian nor isra have pov chapters at all. i dont think isra even shows up in the first book! i will trying something different where another character will narrate (well, will be the main point of view) the story and valerian will be a stranger until the very end. i think it would more impactful for the reader to not know valerian for reals until it's all gone to shit. book 2 would be from valerian's point of view, of course.

im not sure if this idea will stick. it will be pretty hard to convince the readers that this stand in character is interesting enough, so i will have to come up with a hook for him too. maybe other pov chapters would be nice too, like roma's. idk. antisnowwhite is still a mystery to me i guess

[writingmoth]

air, fire, lust, wrath?

1. AIR - What is your WIP's first sentence?

for fantasy romance wip:

When Rowan was ten years old, the god of the forest saved his life. 

20. FIRE - What is the worst thing you've ever created?

probably the first (and so far only) draft of antisnowwhite lol it is SO bad, sometimes i'm baffled by the fact i wrote it after both merpirate and aroaceprincess, which are very far from good, but still not as bad as this cursed first draft.

31. LUST - Who is your hottest OC?

whew this one is hard. i'm ace so i'm not going by appearance but maybe roa from merpirate? he's charming, at least.

49. WRATH - Do you prefer writing endings or beginnings?

endings! beginnings are pure hell and endings are just so nice. everything comes together (hopefully) and then it's over and you've written a book!

ty for the ask!