#kaatiba's nano 22 updates

[kaatiba]

legends of mourra - nano excerpt no.5

↳ a muslim themed fantasy epic feat. a kidnapped prince, a rescue mission, djinn, and lingering legends

[[ content warning: depiction of traumatic flashback, implied ptsd, implied panic attack ]]

❝ Suddenly she’s on her feet, her breath strangled in her throat, memories consuming her, blinding and deafening her to all but remembered jeering laughter and monstrous figures and constant whispers everywhere and fire, fire, fire that doesn’t burn and terror turned despair because she cannot get out she will never get out she is trapped and lost and forgotten and forsaken no one is coming for her no one will help her no will save her she is alone alone alone.

From far away she hears Ilyas call her name, but it is muted under the voices saying let us play a game, come fly with us, we might even catch you if you fall and then, suddenly there is a sharp pain in her shoulder, a pain she recognizes, and the soft trill of a call she would know anywhere, a call that guided her out of the dark and kept her safe.

Nujaym.

Her little star. ❞

lofm excerpts: pre nano / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4

general writing taglist (open!): @lockejhaven

lofm taglist (open!): @muddshadow, @hyba, @jellybeanswriting

[kaatiba]

legends of mourra - nano excerpt no.1

↳  A Muslim-themed fantasy featuring a boy abducted by the djinn and the determined mother, lovelorn kinsman, gentle warrior, female Ranger, and scarred outcast hoping to rescue him.

❝ Once, in the oldest of days and times, there were four kingdoms: the kingdom of Men, the kingdom of the Djinn, the kingdom of the Elyoud, and the kingdom of Beasts. I say once, but they are kingdoms still. They are not, nor have they ever been, united, though only two are sworn enemies: the Djinn and the Elyoud, who will have no alliance or consortium with each other. 

The kingdoms of Men and Beasts ever been their jointed battleground, their jointed enemies or allies, for Men have something in their nature to afford them a sort of kinship with either race, and while Beasts are a kingdom unto their own, they intersect and are, in many cases, vassals to Man, Djinn, and Elyoud.

Once, in the oldest of days and times, there was also a famed poet. His name was Bilal, and he had a voice so beautiful it softened the heart and elevated the minds of his listeners, tamed wild beasts so that they would sit docile at his feet, and called to all manner of birds wishing to improve their music through attendance on him or who were simply enchanted by his song, such as that empress of birds, the anqa’ of the sun, for his voice was the closest in beauty and power to hers. ❞

general taglist (open!): @lockejhaven

lofm taglist (open!): @muddshadow

[kaatiba]

legends of mourra - nano excerpt no.4

↳ a muslim themed fantasy epic feat. a kidnapped prince, a rescue mission, djinn, and lingering legends

❝In the back garden, the hens are clucking. Halah is thinking that she will have to feed them a little later than usual when Raoul clears his throat.

“You have heard of what has befallen the prince,” he intones, fixing her with his pale grey gaze.

Halah tries not to stiffen too obviously, tries not to bow into herself. With that single statement, she understands why they have come to see her. “I have,” she says, somewhat numbly.

Ilyas glances at her and then Raoul and then down at the table with a focused intent, as though the water-stained tabletop is a fascinating puzzle. The queen shifts, her shoulders pushing back, her posture—already faultless—somehow becoming more exact. Her glass of qahwa is cradled delicately in her hand.

“Contrary to what the kingdom has been lead to believe—have decided to believe—he is not dead,” the queen says, lending credence to the rumours that have sprung up about her. She doesn’t seem at all maddened though, only—fervent. Resolute. Immoveable.

“My son is still alive,” she says, with the kind of unflinching conviction that moves mountains and builds kingdoms.

“It is only a chance,” Raoul cautions.

“But it is enough for me, no matter how slim that chance may be,” the queen retorts. “And forgive me, Syeda Halah, but that is what has brought my cousin to tell me your story. To tell me what happened to you.”

Halah feels a hot flash of betrayal spear through her before she pushes the emotion away. Two years and six months Raoul has kept her secret, and that is a long time, for all that it feels like the blink of an eye. He owes her nothing. She is the one who requested a divorce of him.

She is the one who owes him.❞

lofm excerpts: pre nano / 1 / 2 / 3 /

general writing taglist (open!): @lockejhaven

lofm taglist (open!): @muddshadow, @hyba, @jellybeanswriting

[kaatiba]

legends of mourra - nano excerpt no.2

↳  A Muslim-themed fantasy featuring a boy abducted by the djinn and the determined mother, lovelorn kinsman, gentle warrior, female Ranger, and scarred outcast hoping to rescue him.

❝ Meanwhile, the boy is watching with curiosity as a shadow detaches itself from the greater shadow of one of the bushes of the garden and winds its way towards him, revealing itself to be a long, thin snake, all black.

He knows to be careful of snakes. He knows to ask them politely to leave, if he comes upon one, and if they do not then to remove himself from the vicinity carefully and quickly, because snakes are fast and often venomous but also disinclined to attack him if he poses no threat to them. He knows when he is older he will be allowed to dispose of a snake himself, if he must, but otherwise to have an adult do that for him, because he promised his mother he would, and promises are important to keep.

So he doesn’t get closer to the snake, but as it stops a while away from him, he doesn’t back away from it either, simply watches to see what it will do. It raises its head. It looks at him. And then it speaks.

You are wearing something around your neck, it says, in a sibilant voice that he hears in his head, rather than with his ears. What is it?

He startles a little, retreating half a step. Animals don’t speak to you, unless they are not animals, or unless you are very special. He doesn’t think he’s very special, and a speaking snake…

He has heard stories like this before.

“Are you a djinn?” he asks.❞

lofm excerpts: pre nano / 1 /

general taglist (open!): @lockejhaven

lofm taglist (open!): @muddshadow, @hyba

[kaatiba]

quick nano update

I'm gonna change Ranger to Wayfarer because it sounds more.....poetic and fitting to the various cultures I'm pulling from, while Ranger (at least to me) has European fantasy connotations. (Which isn't a problem, it's just not the main inspirational source for Legends of Mourra).

And I mighhhtt....."downgrade" Sirin from a queen to tribal chieftainness? Partly because she does go on this entire quest and like. Can queens do that without vast political repercussions that (crucially) I don't want to write or reference? I mean I could also just change the style of royalty, but eh....I gotta give this more thought. But also I wanna change it because I'm gonna introduce a villain who's not the djinn and.....I dont want to have large scale political reprecussions. Small(er) scale one instead.

Anywho ye :]

[kaatiba]

ya girl has written 7.5k of lofm, completed chapters 1 to 3, and is excited to share that the plot is officially off the ground

[kaatiba]

besties I'm at 6k and the plot is kicking off 🤩

Halah's history has been revealed, four of the six main characters have met and talked, nujaym (halah's pet mini griffin) got screentime, and everything is Very Tense

I promised snippets and I will deliver! At some point! Someone remind me!

[kaatiba]

I've hit 4k on lofm!! I've had fun weaving timelines and povs in that shifting fairytale way too!

[kaatiba]

nano wip thoughts

i find it funny, in a grim sort of way, that every iteration of legends of mourra has kept the funeral scene, pretty much word for word since i wrote it four or five years ago.

the latest version isn’t even for the same person. ...technically, no one’s even died. the entire plot has been overhauled so completely it only bears a passing resemblance to previous versions. the wip doesn’t even have the same name. and yet....the funeral scene still exists. the kingdom still mourns. the same character is still absent, though for different reasons than before.

this funeral’s the lodestone this wip is built around, apparently.

[kaatiba]

Legends of Mourra - NaNo Day 1

I've begun writing and I love it I love it I love it!!!! It's exactly what I wanted it to be, mythic and folktale-ish and rooted in my culture and beliefs and magical and exciting and most importantly, new. I'm so glad I finally revamped the plot! 10 years of struggle and it turns out I just needed it to be Something Else.

I also really love that the legends part of it is already evident and integral to tone and structure!!! Expect an excerpt (wow say that three times fast) sometime today!!!

[kaatiba]

I know it's super cliche to give your MC special eye colour to denote their specialness (in this case, blue) and I almost, almost backtracked away from it...

But I love tropes and I like cliches when well-used and this one has a world building element and foundation for it and plot reasons and dammit all, I can give Halah blue eyes if I want. I'm not stopping myself just because my imagined readership might cringe at me