#lila's wips: jof

[writeblrfantasy]

THE FOOLS TRILOGY; wip intro

🃏genre: fantasy

👑comp titles: six of crows, a darker shade of magic, mistborn trilogy

❤️ playlist here

an inquisitor's sacred duty is to use her powers of persuasion, seduction, and stealth to protect the people of the three cities—red, violet, and blue—as the only people who can freely cross between them. stalia griffin is an inquisitor, and her mission is jack starbright, star entertainer and celebrity of the red city—land of debauched nightlife, where being loud is the way to fit in. the city of bold colors and spotlights is far different from the home of shadows and darkness stalia hails from, and it's a difficult adjustment. on the orders of her violet city friend and boss, stalia must discover the secrets of jack's success and fame without ever revealing her true identity. as stalia befriends jack, his friends, joins his company, and swiftly makes her way into his confidence, she must grapple with how her affection for jack turns genuine. following a trail of clues from jack's ex, stalia learns how jack keeps attention and what he means to do to increase it. while love wars with hate, knowing that she is the only one capable of stopping him, stalia is faced with an ultimatum: jack or her home the violet city. the home of inquisitors. the only home she has ever known, until now. she cannot have it all without a price.

THE FOOLS TRILOGY

jack of fools | completed

queen of crowns | editing

king of aces | editing

updated taglist (lmk to be added/removed) @magic-is-something-we-create @imaginationxlost @outpost51 @worldbuildng @ashen-crest @faithfire

[writeblrfantasy]

it's my birthday!🎉🎉

to celebrate, have an except of Stalia celebrating herself from Queen of Crowns. it's not her birthday, but she decided that she would throw herself a party regardless.

(also, if you'd like to give me a present, you could consider signing up for my monthly author newsletter!)

The room has been decorated in glittering chandelier light, all of her guests dressed to perfection in their finest Madam Woodson attire. “I would like to say a few words.” Stalia accepts a champagne flute from a passing waiter. “To my darling friends. To the wonderful Red City, which has given me so much, and is a home now more than ever. Here’s to me.” Stalia raises her flute high, letting it catch the sparkling chandelier light.

“Hear, hear.” Jack is loudest of all, raising his flute highest of all. He grins as he drinks, catching her eye. “I don’t suppose this is a dinner where we get to give speeches? Speeches from notable admirers to highlight the brilliance of the lady of honor?”

“Can’t resist the spotlight even when the night is not about you, Jack?” Stalia teases. “I had not planned on any speech, no, but I would never deny you a pleasure like that. If you deign to speak, then speak, and know I cannot stop you.”

He kisses her temple and speaks. His voice is deep and thick and smooth, just as charming as it was the night they met.

“Stalia Griffin has brightened my life and the lives of all others around her since the day she graced them. To have known her has and will always be a true pleasure. Thank you.” He bows and resumes his seat to gentle applause, another toast in Stalia’s name.

jof taglist (lmk to be added/revmoed): @magic-is-something-we-create @imaginationxlost @outpost51 @worldbuildng @ashen-crest @faithfire

[writeblrfantasy]

Demetrius smiles. It’s a closed mouth, gentle thing, exactly why Stalia doesn’t trust it. Her guard has been up since they walked beyond the curtain. “Ah, so you are one of those.”

just call her a slur demetrius!

[writeblrfantasy]

i have this wip jack of fools, i talked about it last year, and i want to tell you a bit about the main characters, stalia and jacke. jacke and stalia. king and queen. my favorite pair i've ever written about (?) why?

they are the most bisexual, queerplatonic best friend soulmates partners in crime each other's kryptonite pairing i have ever written, with notable lines like

and

and also this

(all from the same scene)

their relationship is really up to reader interpretation--for instance, i wouldnt be mad if someone decided to ship them romantically, but it doesn't feel right for me to write them that way. the only thing tahat matters is that jacke and stalia love each other more than the whole world.

i don't know what this post is, but i've written 12k of them in the past two days after not writing anything of theirs for months and months, and i needed to word vomit these feelings. words cannot encompass how much i love stalia and jacke, but i hope this post makes you love them too <3

general taglist (lmk to be added/removed): @nicola-writes@worldbuildng @twoseeds @magic-is-something-we-create @muddshadow @myhusbandsasemni @wickerring @47crayons @directionoftime @familiarvillian @nikkywrites

[writeblrfantasy]

on the home stretch of editing draft 2 of queen of crowns!

hoping to have it done by tomorrow, cross your fingers for me! this book is going to be the death of me i swear. after i finish this pass i have some structural things to change here and there, and things will change again once i edit book 3, i'm sure. but at least when this pass is done, i'll have a whole book instead of a fractured one!! wish me luck everyone!

jof taglist (lmk to be added/revmoed): @magic-is-something-we-create @imaginationxlost @outpost51 @worldbuildng @ashen-crest @faithfire

[writeblrfantasy]

clocking in draft 2 of Queen of Crowns!! it's done!! it's not perfect but it's comprehensible instead of a bunch of disjointed scenes!! i'm so happy with it where it stands, but even more excited to go into further editing to clean it up and weave those plot threads. editing this book nearly broke me but i overcame! let the celebrations begin yall

jof taglist (lmk to be added/revmoed): @magic-is-something-we-create @imaginationxlost @outpost51 @worldbuildng @ashen-crest @faithfire

[writeblrfantasy]

EXCERPT FROM QUEEN OF CROWNS: the theater

“Are you two done?” Jacke yells, looking over his shoulder at them with a raised eyebrow. “What the hell is so important that you must talk over the music? The symphony of this fine performance? I love you both to death, but can it, will you?”

“Sorry, Jacke,” Theo says shamefully.

“Just turn your pretty little face back to the show,” Stalia says, patting Jacke’s shoulder and gently turning his head for him. He rolls his eyes, but goes willingly—until she feels her hand being pulled, and she all but shrieks as she’s pulled into the chair beside him.

“Sit with me,” the king of the Red City most certainly whines, reaching for her.

Stalia tries to shrug her arm out of his grip, but he persists. With a sigh, she says, “Jacke, for gods’ sake, I was gone for not even a full day—”

“It felt like more to me,” Jacke says, laying his head on her shoulder and looking up at her with batted eyelashes. “You wounded me. You took yourself out of my presence.” He presses a hand to his heart—he’s been wearing black leather gloves recently, a new fancy. They go well with his red coat and top hat. Stalia still prefers her own silk white ones, but that’s just another layer of juxtaposition between them, hm? Two sides. White and black. Mirrors, in many ways, a good and an evil, according to some. It’s becoming harder and harder to tell which is supposed to be which.

“You don’t own me, Jacke.”

“Ah, but you own me. The things you could do to me, my darling.”

Stalia rolls her eyes. Who’s talking over the music now? “I’m surprised you’re allowing us to see a show that’s not yours.”

“Well—”

“All of you shut up and sit still or I’m going to murder you,” says Thena, the one most capable of carrying out the threat.

“Sorry, Thena,” Jacke and Stalia chorus, going straight backed and still.

The music comes to a crescendo before the curtains draw back on the stage. Applause erupts throughout the theater, as the lead singer—the one who Jacke met at some party, who got him the invitation here in the first place—opens his mouth. He bellows out to the theater, a sweet song of vice and virtue. Stalia is instantly captivated, squeezing Jacke’s hand within hers.

Jacke’s eyes sparkle from the lights. Stalia recognizes the fire alighting in his soul at that very moment, ideas spinning behind his eyes.

“Drawing inspiration?” Stalia has to practically shout to be heard, grinning.

“Of many sorts,” Jacke murmurs, a certain fiery heat entering his eyes.

jof taglist (lmk to be added/revmoed): @magic-is-something-we-create @imaginationxlost @outpost51 @worldbuildng @ashen-crest

[writeblrfantasy]

who would like my playlist for the jack of fools trilogy? 👀👀

[writeblrfantasy]

EXCERPT FROM KING OF ACES

the opening of book 3 of the fools trilogy! after the difficult time I had editing book 2 (which is not close to entirely done) i'm moving on to easier waters. this book is going to be much more fun to edit in theory, but do not hold me to that haha.

jof taglist (lmk to be added/revmoed): @magic-is-something-we-create @imaginationxlost @outpost51 @worldbuildng @ashen-crest @faithfire

[writeblrfantasy]

JACK OF FOOLS: PROLOGUE

He did not start out starbright.

He got his origins here, in this very bloody alleyway—though it’s not so bloody now. Everything’s been cleaned, washed away. This alleyway, for all appearances, is like any other in this city at night. Dark, cloaked in shadow where monsters of endless kinds lurk, dangerous to the wrong folk who get lost wandering. The ones who should never have been allowed to wander so freely in the first place. He was one of those, once. That night that led him here.

This alleyway fades and yet he has never forgotten its location, even after the buildings on either side changed and burned and built back up again, replaced with new owners and new memories. Only he remembers the old days, undoubtedly.

If he closes his eyes, he can breathe in the long ago bloodsoaked stench on his hands, his nails, the cobblestones, the glinting knife in his shaking grip. His blue coat. That blue coat got sliced to shreds quickly, the last of its kind.

It was here in these shadows, here that he said, I will never be powerless again. Here that he said, not another living soul will go a day without recognizing my name, even after I am cold and gone. Here where he grew his famous smile.

Here that his faded old name became lost to time, banished to the darkest hallways of his mind, and he became starbright instead. Glittering. Effervescent. Unforgettable.

Eternal.

Many in his position would say they do not remember the before times, the era where they scrounged for scraps of bread and groveled in the filth for a copper. They claim they were born draped in silks and velvets, never bathed in anything cold and dirty. They laugh. They sparkle with their eyes, their jewels, their coin, just as he does every night.

They all lie.

The memories so crystal clear grip Jacke with a cold hand, a tight hold around the throat that chokes and cloys even after all this time. He does not need to stand in this alley to summon the fear, bitter and sour. It has not forgotten him.

Footsteps make his eyes fly open, an instinct born from these before times. What worry, after all, would someone of his status and wealth have for his own safety when he could hire out a whole battalion of the city’s most talented protectors? He should sleep like a baby each night in his plush mattress and satin sheets, unwitting to the assassins lurking outside, forever waiting for their moment. Instead, he lies wide eyed most nights, frozen stiff with anticipation of attacks that he has not suffered since this alleyway.

The footsteps are not coming his way, a drunken stumbling he is well familiar with hearing. However, they are a stark reminder that he is not at home, and he’d best get going. He has indulged himself in humbling memories long enough. No matter where he goes, it seems he’s never alone for long, even if the passersby don’t know who he is standing in the shadows, his hat tipped low to hide his eyes. He doesn’t need to see much here, not that the dark would be agreeable. His feet know the way.

Without a further sound, he creeps back down the shadows the way he came, leaving any who might’ve seen a red coated figure scratching their heads as to his whereabouts.

general taglist (if you'd like to be on a taglist for jack of fools let me know) @magic-is-something-we-create @muddshadow @47crayons @worldbuildng @nicola-writes @twoseeds

[writeblrfantasy]

the fools trilogy is about discovering the mistakes your ancestors made and choosing to repeat them anyway because you love that person too much to stray from the path! it's about looking into the past and smiling when others flinched. it's about the extents you will go to for love, even when everyone around you condemns you for it.

[writeblrfantasy]

on today's episode of stalia and theo are my favorite friendship

[writeblrfantasy]

King of Aces editing is proving challenging. There are so many plot threads and half finished scenes, so many details I have to carry over from the first two books...and this is just draft 2 out of 3. ah save me

[writeblrfantasy]

Fools trilogy was always a villain gets the girl story, but then I watched nbc hannibal in the middle of drafting the second book and oh…ohhhh

Let’s just say the protagonist became a lot less resistant to the villain’s affection after that

[writeblrfantasy]

in jof, i am writing both a lovers to enemies and a friends to enemies relationship, which is unusual for me (too much angst) but as an author i am immune to the angst i create, aren't i? having a ton of fun with it right now. i just wrote the backstory for the friends to enemies relationship post betrayal. super angsty and fun

[writeblrfantasy]

i have the greater part of all three books of a trilogy planned after a morning’s work brainstorming!! i’m doing some casual drafting now, but i’m very happy with my progress in the outline, even if i know it’s nowhere done. worldbuilding is my next big goal, and worldbuilding almost always yields some plot along with it