#this poem is a wip but have this in the meantime

[orpheuslament]

Sharing a Cigarette With Joan of Arc, Dante Émile / Jeanne d'Arc, Albert Lynch

[todderwodders]

WIP WEDNESDAY

Tagged by: @mightymizora and tagging in @baneschosen @lamortwrites @cats-obsessions and anyone else who wants to post a WIP. Maybe I'll write when January is over, in the meantime, I hope I'm not repeating myself w this snippet from Lethe Hands:

Enver smiles, his lips curling and his eyes wondering as she steps into the room, shutting the door behind her. The contrast of day and the murk of the chamber makes him blink, makes him break composure to rub a knuckle against his eyes.

“Apologies, I know it is terribly dark in here.”

The shadows of the space seem to eat the girl alive for a moment before settling back into their proper bounce and shift of non-light, slinking into pseudo tapestries stained cream and blue and peach with erotic scenes of bodies in a complex twisting of limbs.

“No need to apologize,” he says, turning back to the table. The floors must be magically heated - he can feel sweat begin to trickle down his neck, his toes sticking together in his boots. He does the blasphemous but smart thing - he pours out the wine and then cuts it, sharply, with water and grapes that are chilled to the touch.

“Though I pay good money to see you, Fruit. Step into the light, have a cup of wine.”

“Oh,” Any veneer of refinement promptly crumbles as the girl groans, throwing her head back with a dramatic roll of her eyes. “I do wish you wouldn’t call me that. Soon every patron who thinks they are my most utterly beloved will be crying over fruit. Perhaps even writing a soggy poem or very sticky letter with the name.”

She takes the cup offered to her, presses it to her cheek before she sips.

[awakeagainstmywill]

This blog now has more than 100 followers!

Which is insane to me because I never had anywhere near 100 people listen to my random fandom thoughts or look at my fanart ever. Sooo, yeah 1) Hello! and 2) Thank you all for the warm welcome and the kind comments/tags 🥹!

✨ Have a little WIP under the cut! ✨

I'll publish this post once I'm finished with an Aziraphale portrait that's coming along nicely so far. In the meantime, here's the WIP! Almost done, just rendering the hair is giving me ~.*trouble *.~ 😅

I absolutely adore all the fanfiction, fanart, gif sets, metas, cosplays, crafts, comics, animatics, fan videos, poems, AUs, memes, tags and whatnot I come across on tumblr. People are insanely talented and creative around here and I just soak it all up, it's so inspiring. Happy to offer some drawings and ramblings in return!

What's in the future? I don't know, I'll keep having random fandom thoughts probably and I also have like 4 sketch book pages and a dozen sticky notes full of thumbnails of Good Omens related stuff that I would like to draw.

Now that Procreate and I have become friendly with each other I might attempt something that's not just a portrait? Actual backgrounds? Proper composition? Idk I want to challenge myself a little, but it takes me FOREVER to finish a drawing/painting. You have been warned 😅😅😅

[altruistic-meme]

OH!!!! [poor Victorian era boy in the streets manner] please sir, may i have some scraps regarding your poetry WIP?

i am so curious how your collecting poetry is going for it

HI!!!!!

ngl my poetry collecting has been rather sporadic bc i my focus had to be completely shifted to other things temporarily but!!! your ask just triggered the wonderful idea to make a channel on discord to compile all the poems so i will be working on that now 🫡 finding all the poems i've tagged on here as well as the ones saved in my phone will be fun assfdsffds and copying poems from my poetry books as well aaaaaaaaa

i should buy another poetry book when i go to the bookstore tomorrow......

anyway!!! i should really get back to this wip more properly now that i'm not in a deadline-induced writing frenzy :'))) in the meantime here are some things for the poor victorian era boy in you!!!

since this fic's existence currently is 92% Just Vibes, i have some screenshots from my pinterest board to share with you :3

it's going to be an adventure figuring out how to create these types of feelings and aesthetics in the story but i am looking forward to the challenge of it!!!

[squarebracket-trickster]

new here but am wondering what your current WIP is about? if you don't feel comfortable I understand!! love your blog btw <3

Omg thank you so much!!

My main WIP right now is WIPVII (placeholder name until I am forced to actually name it).

It is a lower YA (for 13-15 year olds) low/no magic fantasy (takes place in a different world) with a romance subplot.

It's a (high/late) medieval western European-inspired setting, specifically the year 1333 CE in southern England - I try to be somewhat historically accurate because it makes the setting feel a little fresher than leaning on the medieval European stereotypes common to a lot of fantasy. But alas, there is only so much research I am willing to do (and I did take some liberties because, dammit I wanted a masquerade ball).

The WIP draws inspiration from Shakespeare comedies (Cymbeline, Twelfth Night, The Tempest etc), Alfred Tennyson poems (in particular "The Splendour Falls"), the Robin Hood myth, and fairy tales and medieval epics in general.

[More below the cut]

The blurb:

Two kingdoms long at war have laid down their arms at last, but peace hinges on treaty that can only be sealed by the marriage of the eldest son of the King of Dian to the eldest daughter of the King of Cithidy. But Isolda de Angenet, the princess of Cithidy, has gone missing and she does not want to be found. In disguise as a peasant boy, Isolde (known as Aldus) accidentally falls in with a ragtag group of bandits - and Henry, a knight with a mysterious past - who have been sent to find the missing princess and deliver her to the outlaw lord Hob. But there is some larger scheme afoot here. Once more, a Cithian army marches reluctantly toward Dian and Isolde fears the only way to stop it is to return to her old life and join the husband she has never met in Dian. Isolde has forsworn this marriage but unless she can find another way, she fears she will have to choose between her own freedom and peace. In the meantime, Henry is hiding something and Isolde will find out the truth, hopefully before Henry finds out who she really is.

Some other things about this WIP:

The name: WIPVII is just WIP + the roman numeral for 7 (VII). I refuse to properly name this WIP until I am forced to, so WIPVII is a placeholder name. I have a lot of WIPs so I number them from oldest to newest to keep track of them (this has nothing to do with the order I choose to work on them). This also means, when a WIP doesn't have a name yet, I have a convenient placeholder name ready to go! WIPVII is 7 because it is the 7th WIP I thought up.

Status: I am currently 60% of the way through my 3rd draft.

Word count: draft 2 was 77k and I am expecting draft 3 to be similar (around 82k because I added some description and worldbuilding and the prose is more flowery). I am aiming for 80k, give or take 5k.

WIPVII is meant to be a standalone.

--

The was inspired by the premise:

A princess runs away from an arranged marriage and ends up falling in love with the person she was supposed to marry (neither of them know who the other really is).

-- this is technically a spoiler, but they way the story is written I think most readers will guess the twist looong before it comes. And honestly, I think the story is a lot more fun if you figure it out well in advance. I am a sucker for dramatic irony.

[lorenfinch]

4, 6, & 8!

End of the Year Writeblr

4. what is your favorite line you wrote this year?

OOH that's a tough one!! I have,, literally my entire draft so far to go off of, but I do think this one sentence I've shared before sticks with me:

I really thought becoming a vampire meant I would be swept away to some faraway castle where I would be courted by its enigmatic lord, where I would become the subject of poems, the next muse for the dark and mysterious, and no one would think of lifting a finger to hurt me ever again.

6. did you make any new writeblr friends? give a shout-out! if not, it's time to praise one of your old besties <3

I did!! I created this blog this year; shoutout to some peeps I've interacted with: @writernopal (hi!!) @liv-is @sam-glade

Also sorry I haven't been super active on here as of late; it can be a bit exhausting trying to keep up with a whole bunch of things at once! I'm keeping up the writing though and am eager to share my progress!

8. what are three things you're looking forward to next year?

Well, the biggest thing is...I'm on track to finishing my entire first draft next year!! So I'm looking forward to that, as well as revisions, finding beta readers, and hopefully polishing my manuscript! I also may start working on other WIPs in the meantime, and look into finding an agent, and maybe even outline book 2 of this series since it's been roughly plotted out!

There's also some new books and shows coming out next year that I'm excited for!

[erseac]

Year-end wrap

I dunno, I just felt like writing something. This year has been a lot of fun in terms of writing fanfic for me!

I started writing smut fics, and I found that I really enjoy it. Whether I'm any good at it, dunno, that's for you to tell, but I do know that I enjoy re-reading my stories.

I also wrote smut poetry for the first time, and I can tell you that I am definitely not good at it. But I did have a lot of fun, and now for any new fic I can say "at least this is not the silliest thing I ever wrote".

As part of that I also started this E-rated second account, both here and on Tumblr, which was interesting (I'm nowhere near active enough on this Tumblr). And I started using Discord, which was a lot of fun. I'm not the most active Discorder, but the talk and community there is way different from what I was used to on just Tumblr and Ao3. I really appreciate all of you!

Current state: Six proper fics and one silly poem. The arguably best and certainly most popular is Fancy Jewelry. My personal favorite is definitely For Science!, though.

Future outlook: I started November with six active WIPs (more or less, leaning towards less), working titles (feel free to ask for details if you're interested):

Nino (multi-chapter)

Adrinette (multi-chapter)

Revealatrix (one-shot)

Chlobrinette (one-shot)

Cruise (multi-chapter)

Alyagaminette (one-shot)

My plan was to finish one of those first before starting something new.

Since then I started something new, specifically

Chloé pictures (three chapters)

But I wasn't going to start anything new before finishing that.

Before finishing that I also started

Marigami misunderstanding (one-shot)

The latter will probably be the first one I post, although most likely next year. The first draft is done, I just hate it and have to rewrite all of it to be better. But I know what's missing and how to write it, so that shouldn't be an issue. I'm just waiting for a bit (and working on Chloé pictures in the meantime, plus some offline stuff) until my hatred for the first draft has died down, and I can re-read it and go "actually some parts of this aren't terrible".

Or maybe I'll start another WIP. I saw this one prompt that… no, I'll try to stay focused for now.

[violetsandfluff]

welcome to my little corner of this hellsite !! ˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚ .

ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : If I Can’t Have You 0:33————|——— -3:10

about me ˘͈ᵕ˘͈

⚘ larries, lirries, and anti-brooklies dni

⚘ my name is sofia, but i gladly go by sofie, sof, fifi, and violet if you must. whatever suits your fancy!! i usually go by she/her pronouns, but they/them is also perfectly fine.

⚘ i am a pisces (sharing my birthday with the falling mv) and i live in Vikings territory (sorry, harry)

⚘ i like to write, whether it be fics, essays, short stories, poems, or composing/arranging music!!

⚘ other hobbies of mine include dancing, singing, playing piano (and saxophone), sculpting, and… killing time in hell on tumblr.

⚘ i am obsessed (to say the list) with the highlight on the tip of harry’s nose.

⚘ i have perfect pitch!

ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : Tears On My Piano 0:18————|——— 3:00

⚘ feel free to ask me more!! i look forward to getting to know each and every one of you!!

⚘ for now, here are my favorite colors {🌈🐚🪵🌱}, my favorite animals {🦦🐞}, my favorite song {updated 12-27-22}, what spotify assumes to be my favorite song, my favorite flower {lilacs}, and my dream job {composing music}. Xx

ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : Falling 1:52————|——— -4:00

my writings ˘͈ᵕ˘͈

✎ among others, i write about shawn mendes, charlie puth, and harry styles, and you can join their taglists here.

✎ here is my current wip/series, tidy little secrets.

✎ send me requests!! life is crazy and it might take me a while, but i will try my very hardest to get to them!!

✎ in the meantime, here is my most noted post, my favorite thing i’ve written (for tumblr), and lists of blog and fic recs.

ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : This Town 0:49————|——— -3:51

[i made this in lieu of redoing my carrd because carrd was being too problematic for my liking.]

[ren-c-leyn]

 Alright, folks, I’m heading out again. The head cold is kicking my butt right now. I’ll try to be back to run Something Neat Sunday, but I’m not going to make any promises.

 In the meantime, in light of everything I’ve just learned, I’d like to boost more lbgt+, poc, and disabled writers when I finally kick this cold in the shins. So, if you fit in one or more of those categories and have a short story, poem, wip except, wip intro, ect. that you’d like to get more attention, feel free to tag me in it and I’ll take a look when I’m on the mend. <3

 Also, I’m going to be running the December Book Dragon Challenge, a writeblr event to help generate more engagement.So, if you’d like you can add yourself to the masterlist of writeblrs who are okay with people reading and reblogging their stuff for the challenge here, I’m sure there’s lots of folks who’d love to read your stuff. I know there’s already several lgbt+ folks on there, so it might also be a good place to find more writeblr friends too. ^^

 Thank you, again, to everyone who reached out to inform me of what’s been happening. I appreciate it.

 I hope you folks all have a lovely day/evening.

[jar-of-vicissitudes]

But his fragrance will endure

The night is still. Even the snow has stopped falling. There is only a black figure near the trees, walking slowly under the bright moon. Only the white sword on his back separates him from the darkness. The snow is crunching under his stiff steps, breaking the quiet of the frosty night. No voice, no word, no song, no other sound.

Nothing is alive. Not even him.

The silence does get to him, sometimes. Song Lan regrets being so greedy with his own voice, his own words. He regrets the last words that he gave to Xiao Xingchen. He regrets not telling him to stay. He regrets that his own last words were to someone not deserving the solemnity they should have had. He mourns the what-ifs, knowing that nothing can change anymore. He is trapped in time and silence, condemned to err in loneliness.

Maybe he is not really alone in this, but his companions could hardly pass for more than mere immaterial presences in their pouch most of the time, lost somewhere between the Earth and the Heavens.

A-Qing is remarkably active during the day, and never during the night. Song Lan likes to think she is maintaining her old human habits and has a hard time giving them up, the same ones he himself abandoned years ago. But they both know it is not the truth.

The night belongs to Xiao Xingchen.

Sometimes Xiao Xingchen is hiding in the moonlight. A soft wind delicately brings back the memory of his voice, long since distorted by time. Song Lan swears that the pouch is warmer when it happens. Most of the time, there is nothing. No sound. No movement. Just the bitter cold. However, on three occasions, Song Lan heard a heartbreaking scream. He knows he will hear it again, probably countless times in the future.

Song Lan may be the only one with a body, but he is not the only one imprisoned in a never-ending cycle.

Between A-Qing the undead dead for good, Xiao Xingchen the broken soul, and himself the undead corpse, Song Lan ponders if the situation aggravates his loneliness. They all exist in an obscure territory, at various levels. They probably broke their own life cycle, and none of them would be reborn. At least, Song Lan selfishly thinks, Xiao Xingchen and he would never be separated further. Not that it means anything when Xiao Xingchen does not tenderly smile at him. When their arms do not brush against each other. When Song Lan does not hear “Zichen” in Xiao Xingchen's soft voice. When Song Lan is a walking corpse. When all that is left of Xiao Xingchen is a spirit torn in too many pieces.

Tonight however, Song Lan finds comfort in the silent winter night. A gentle breeze caresses his face. He closes his eyes, stops walking, lets the delicate wind embrace him. It nearly feels warm against his cold body. Song Lan puts his hand against the pouch.

Tonight, Xiao Xingchen is here.

Song Lan would smile if he was able to. Instead, he opens his eyes and holds the warm pouch against his frozen heart. He glances at the white plum blossoms piercing through the snow. Song Lan wishes he could whisper Xiao Xingchen's name one last time. But he can only keep walking for the both of them. For A-Qing. For the three of them.

And so he does.

[ev--writes]

Hypocrite Update| Time Skip Edition

Wip intro here

Because I kind of lost track of my blog, I wanted to just restart my updates by filling you in on the timeline/process I’ve gone through.

THE PAST

DRAFT ONE--Drafting

This process started in 2019 with like nine poems I had written over the past four years, mostly for classes. I set a goal for 50 poems, which I completed in Oct. 2020. 

DRAFT TWO--Revision Round One

I believe this is where we left off last time. Many of the early poems I hadn’t touched in years, so this was the most involved step so far. Some poems only needed a word or so removed, but others like my poem Dress Up basically ended up being completly different poems.

DRAFT TWO AND A HALF--Poems for Submission

During my read through for draft two, I picked out twenty poems that I thought were the best and put the into their own seperate document. These poems went through another round of edits before I started submitting them in batches to different literary magazines. 

DRAFT THREE--More edits

This is essentially what it says on the tin, although I also added five or so new poems that I had written in the meantime. 

THE FUTURE

DRAFT FOUR--Final Edits

This is what I’m going to start in the next few days or so. I have two lists of criteria--one to catch poems that need more work, and one to catch poems that need to be cut. Although I’m fairly proud of almost all of the poems I’ve written for the book, there’s a few that just fall flat. And now that I have more poems than I need, I have the wiggle room to let go of a few.

PUBLICATION

I’ve already started submitting individual poems for publication, and it will likely be awhile before any are actually published. But once most (if not all) of the “Chosen Poems” are published in magazines, I’ll start looking to submit the chapbook as a whole in contests and such. Although I’m sure it wouldn’t be too hard to self-publish the chapbook, but I don’t really have the time or money to be able to properly market a book, nor do I feel like I have a large enough platform for it. 

That’s all I had to say for now. I’ll likely also be posting intros/behind the scenes of some of my favorite poems in the future, so keep a look out for that. 

Taglist (DM to be added/dropped):

@peachyln @feathered-inkling @incipientdream @cat-is-writing 

[aureliobooks]

Hiii I'm Rain, I love your story I can't wait to read more of it! I didn't have time to comment on it yet but the weekend is coming and I've already planned time to catch up on it. It's amazing you made a whole language for it :D If you're still doing the hjelohk translations, I'd love to get the name of a poem/epic within my WIP in it: Fate and Their Saint.

AH!!! thank you so so much, i’m very glad you’re enjoying it so far!! i’m getting to this ask Incredibly late and i apologize for that, but i hope you’ve been doing well in the meantime!! 

fate and their saint: 

temok sei tii av’kha

av’kha, the word for saint, comes from avok (god) and akhan (mortal), as people regarded as saints/saintlike figures in 7s were often thought to be offspring of the gods, or seen as mortals with the heart of a god. the word for saint reflects the muddled line between god and mortal that saints in 7s often walked.

(also, this is an incredibly interesting title for an work in your wip, i’d love to hear more about it if you’d ever like to share!!)

i’ll write your name/a line from your wip in my conlang!

[kite-writes]

ABOUT THE WRITER

hi, i’m abi! i’ve been meaning to post this introduction for a while now - i’ve been dipping in and out of the writeblr community for a few years now, but i recently graduated uni and so finally have the time to dedicate to writing my own stuff. right now nullifidius (more about that below) is my only wip, although i’m also playing around with historical dark academia, a sci-fi plot about elves! in! space!, and a collection of short stories taking inspiration from each of shakespeare’s plays. ok. am not really sure what else to put here and will probably make a better intro soon, but in the meantime here are some facts:

i wrote my dissertation on mothers in early modern tragedy, and news flash: i love medea

i’m 22 and i’m from the uk - i live in a very boring town in the middle of nowhere. i’m gay and i write poems about 1) being gay 2) space

i really love greek myths and ancient greek history

please let me know (either through this post, dm, or ask) if you want to be on any kind of taglist for nullifidius - i’m going to start posting excerpts and character bios over the next few days, as well as aesthetic moodboards (which i am addicted to making) and playlists! it would be great to connect with more writers on here - if you like/rb this, feel free to introduce yourself and i will definitely check out your blog!!

ps. you can find me on goodreads here and my brand-spankin’-new writing twitter is here!

NULLIFIDIUS: THE GODS OF CATS AND BIRDS

GENRE

ahistorical fantasy; new adult

THEMES

lgbt; diverse; mythical creatures; supernatural creatures; astronomy; religion; gods; nature; female relationships; time; betrayal; prophecies; flora and fauna

POV

third person limited; past tense

STATUS

first draft; world-building; outlining

SYNOPSIS (under read more)

twenty and one more makes the wolf white eye waxing, white teeth flashing waiting in time and shadow and flesh.

In the ancient city of Corinth, times have changed. Harpies - females warriors, once known as the winged dogs of the father-god himself - still watch over the city, but the threats that once hammered at its walls are now so distant that they no longer trouble the memory of even the oldest fae: they are consigned to myth, to imagination, to folklore.

In place of War, Peace thrives. It reclines over the city like a well-fed calf - glossy-coated and bright eyed, senses lulled by the scents of sweet-grass and wild flowers, the drone of honey bees burying the sound of the rasping knife. Under its docile tranquility, centaur-drawn carts clatter down streets made cloudy with dust, silk-clad dancers pay a feverish homage to the stars, and selkies forget their water-lust under the intoxicating light of the moon.

And so danger, when it comes - in new stars in the sky, in spectral glimpses of the uncannily familiar, in blades waiting on the hillside - finds no resistance. It slips, weasel-fast, between cloven hooves, and slides beneath an unprotected underbelly undisturbed. When Peace finally startles - smelling the iron threading the breeze, feeling the nosing of claws at its open chest - it heaves itself onto unsteady knees, ungainly and drowsy in the summer heat. Head bowed, legs quivering, it moves to stand.

Too late, of course. It is already dead, even if it doesn’t understand it yet - even if the teeth in its throat feel foreign, and the gore matting its fur it doesn’t recognise as its own. It is dead.

Maybe this was fated. Maybe Peace is only ever meant as a sacrifice, to be bred and fed and fattened until the serrations of its dual existence - security and doom, future and altar, divine and defiled - catch at the skin of something ancient and terrible, which Peace will forever die to sate: a bog-body that refuses to drown blindly beneath the quagmire; a fly struggling against the amber that binds its wings. A forgotten god nursing a fierce and wounded pride, caged under a midnight sky by a people who insult him with their ignorant blasphemy. Peace is not the only thing he will claim in recompense.

When, one night, a trespassing cat witnesses the dark and gruesome depths to which forgetfulness is plunging the city, her path will be forever entwined with those of a stargazing gardener and a reluctant priestess, and together they will learn the reality of dreams, the strength of friendship, and the inevitable cost of outwitting the gods.

it will begin with a bee that does not sting; it will end with four birds who do not sing.

[ailec-12]

12, 13 and 14 :3

Aw, thank you, darling! The first two questions are really hard to answer and I don’t know yet if I have a good answer for them, but I’ll try.

12. How do you deal with self-doubts? 

I’ve think I’ve got used to it, so much that now I don’t even know how I deal with this issue. Self-doubt has never been as dangerous to my writing as it’s been to my social and work performance. The thing with the latter is that you just have to perform anyway, y’know? Like, I tend to procrastinate those things I feel really insecure about and then do everything at the last minute as best I can, but I have to do it anyway, because it’s my job. It doesn’t really matter if self-doubt is killing me, it’s got to be done. So, I guess I just got used to living with self-doubt and swallowing my fears when I must present something.

It may seem like this method can’t work with writing, though, because I don’t really need to share what I write. And. sometimes, I do feel like what I wrote doesn’t make any sense or isn’t any good. I feel like I genuinely can’t write. At that moment, I ask myself, “Is this what I needed to write anyway?” If the answer is yes, then I will remember that is okay, that’s the whole purpose of it. “Do I want to improve it?” Again, if the answer is yes, great, then send it to somebody else to see what’s wrong. ‘But it’s bad!’ self-doubt will say. Well, that’s why you’re asking for another person’s opinion, to improve what needs to be improved.

In general, with writing and with life, I try to keep in mind I don’t actually remember other people’s failings. So, even if I’m right and the thing isn’t that good, there’s always a chance to do it better in the future. And, really, that’s all that matters.

13. How do you deal with writers block?

Mm, another difficult question, because it’s been a while since I’ve cared enough about writer’s block to deal with it actively. Let me explain.

I used to get really worried about writer’s block, as if the words were never coming back to me —that’s literally how I felt. I don’t really know at what point I realised that would never happen, but it was probably after a big writing hiatus. For instance, I once spent two years without writing —nothing, not one poem, not a single short story. Afterwards, I’ve had writing hiatuses of two or three months at most. And words always came back without a hitch.

So, the thing is, I still get writer’s block as often as ever. A couple of months ago, I spent two weeks without working on my HP WiP after having written two chapters I didn’t like at all. In the end, I came back to it when I felt like I knew how to redirect the story, scrapped those chapters and, well, you know I’m right back on track now. I wrote other things in the meantime, though —alternative scenes on my phone, short stories that needed to be written, that type of things— and accumulate feelings to get back to House Potter.

So I can’t really say I try to fix my writer’s blocks. Sometimes, I’ll force myself to write, like when I finished those chapters I didn’t like. Sometimes, I’ll let it be. I just do whatever I feel is right at the moment and try to remember that, just because I feel like I can’t write to save my life today, it doesn’t mean I’m going to feel like that forever.

14. What’s the most research you ever put into a book? 

Medieval blacksmithing, for my Shiore story. I still must have loads of bookmarked web pages about the topic. I remember I was so obsessed with researching it that, as soon as I bought my current laptop, I started reading and watching videos and everything I could find on the internet. The thing is, I used like maybe 5% of the info I learnt and then never finished the story. xD

You curious?

[inked-waves]

It's been a while since I actually talked about myself or my projects on here, rather than just irregularly posting angsty poems about relationships, so here we go.

Those poems I've been posting are part of a project I'm working on for myself I'm calling Polyamorish, a collection of poems written to explore my relationships and identity. I don't intend to publish it or even finish it, but it's nice to have something to work on when I'm feeling the Feelings™️

Some other projects of mine include writing for a slam poetry competition I'm doing with my university, I may share some of my works from that here. I'd like to, slam poetry is a little more out of my comfort zone than what I'm used to, but it's definitely growing me as a writer and performer.

Y'all also seem to know me as that writeblr who writes romance and not a whole lot else, but I'm actually working on a script for my light entertainment society which is the most out of my comfort zone I've been in my writing in a while, but man I'm loving it. Turns out I'm actually fairly good at it too, who knew I could be funny?? Id like to share some information about that here, it feels like the wip most important to me right now so it seems only fair. Let me know if you wanna hear more about it, I might be motivated to get round to telling yall that way.

Thanks for sticking around while I'm finding my ground with the writeblr community. I doubt I'll ever properly know what I'm doing, but I hope you're enjoying my mess in the meantime

[prettylittlelyres]

Inside the Writing Process - Part 5

I’ve been so excited about the ideas this chart has given me for Violins and Violets, so I’m making this fifth “Inside the Writing Process” post about it. It’s immensely useful for...

Expanding a Story into a Series

OK, so I’m sure a lot of people with ADHD have seen this going around and related to it a lot, but I think a lot of writers could relate to it as well in terms of things that can distract us from the main points of our WIPs (and of course some writers have ADHD anyway).

I saw a copy of this chart on Facebook yesterday, and it got me thinking. Disclaimer: I don’t know if I have ADHD (I have executive dysfunction and a lot of trouble concentrating, but I don’t know why, and don’t have time or energy to get it looked into), but it did get me thinking.

It made me think about how to organise my expansions of the world around my WIP Violins and Violets (currently seeking beta readers), because I wanted to address a lot of things in the book that just weren’t practical to address (because there’s only so much you can put in a book without it become completely unreadable. This is why I’ve never finished Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey, even though I love it, especially all the beautiful world building... it’s just too much to hold in my head). It was always in my mind that I could solve this problem (too many ideas for one book) quite simply, by writing more books.

This is a really long post, I know, but if you want to learn a fun way to come up with ideas for prequels, sequels and companion books for your story, keep reading! It’s a little bit like the snowflake method, and of course you can then use that to expand each individual idea that you have. It’s also available in shorter form here.

I’d been letting ideas for storylines involving other characters rustle around in my head since I finished the first draft of Violins and Violets in August... and then I saw this yesterday, and realised it would be a pretty good place to start thinking about the ideas that I do have, and listing them in relation to the main storyline of Violins and Violets. I spent about an hour writing down everything, just letting it all spill from my head, and this is what came up.

(Side note: I really do adore Pukka Pads Irlen refill pads. Another thing I may or may not have is Irlen syndrome, which would explain why I can’t read off white backgrounds for very long, and why my eyes hurt if I try. All I know for sure is that these pads help me so, so much, and they come in very gorgeous colours! These pages are from the “rose” pad, but I use “lavender” ones as well, a very soft and relaxing pale purple.)

Expanding Violins and Violets

Pre-Story Prologue for “Context”

Write down all ideas about character backstories to help you develop a prequel (or set of prequels) by exploring those.

Magdalena’s upbringing and Conservatory training with Dorota and Maja (these characters also never appear in Violins and Violets (with the exception of Magdalena) but I really want to explore their lives, going into more detail about Dorota and Maja’s relationship, how they raised Magdalena as their daughter, how they met, and Dorota’s fight to get Magdalena an education).

Käthe and Hansi touring Europe with their music. I’d be missing out on the opportunity to portray a fun sibling dynamic like the Mozart siblings had if I didn’t write this story. However, I do feel it might be better suited to a series of short stories, a collection of small standalone pieces, than a full-length novel, but it’s early days, and I have a lot else to do for this project in the meantime.

Franz and Julia’s early marriage/courtship, particularly how it really only happened once they were married; it would go a long way to explaining why Katharina’s parents are so relaxed about her having an arranged marriage; they genuinely believe it’ll work for her, like it worked for them (and they’re not entirely wrong, but that’s quite literally another story).

Start of Story

Consider all the characters involved in the main story, and ask yourself what’s going on in their lives that the protagonist doesn’t see. If a character only appears partway through the story, ask them what they were doing before.

Katharina goes to Prague (which is of course the main story of Violins and Violets).

Hans tours Europe with a comically large and ever-increasing pet entourage (this post goes into that in proper detail!).

Renée finds her way to Malá Strana and makes friends with Magdalena. Not for a second does she realise that a) Magdalena is with Katharina or b) that she, Renée, is in love with both of them. And then she meets the man who becomes her husband, also a big bi disaster, and Realises™.

Johann and Wilhelm meet at university; they’re both Law students. This would be a fun opportunity to take a step into the Dark Academia genre, but I’m not exactly sure what I’d do with them. Perhaps a poetic treasure hunt sort of mystery love confession? (I know already that this will be tricky because I manage to write about two proper poems a year and I’ve already written one in 2019, for Violins and Violets. I may have to put this off for a while.)

Semi-related side-story

Now think about the characters who come and go in the story and think about why that happens. Develop the stories of what they do after they leave.

Herr Benes and his boyfriend have a marvellous time in Budapest, enjoying their retirement away from the scrutiny Benes faces in the Malá Strana Opera House in Prague.

Herr Havelka is a devious and sacriligeous boi, also a sneaky bastard, but why is that? What other yuck things does he do after he leaves the Malá Strana? What is the origin of his malice?

Herr Janda retires and leaves Katharina (or Sebastian) in charge of the Malá Strana Opera House, but how does he spend his retirement? What does he think of Katharina’s continued work after she’s discovered? He’s a composer, himself, so I want to explore the compositions he works on, later in life. Maybe he’s quite inspired by Katharina both in terms of technique and ideas for music to compose in her honour.

Magdalena’s husband, Bartolomeǰ, runs a bookshop, and this is how they meet. He’s a big fan of Katharina’s music, and gets to know a lot of his regular customers. What are their stories? Who are his friends? What do they think of Magdalena? What do they think of Katharina?

Wait, OK, back to the main story

If you’re a fan of time-jumps, then a) Violins and Violets might be right up your street because it has a massive one, and b) this is probably a good and useful step for you. If not, maybe not. But ask what happens in the time-jump and then write about it. What stories can you tell about the space in between one part of your story and the other?

I want to explore Katharina's life in Salzburg, her friendship with Johann, Wilhlem, Lulu and her family, and her reconciliation with her parents after so many years apart. They're not angry at her, nor she at them, but things aren’t perfect between them, especially while they’re grieving Hans, and I want to look at that.

Something I just now remembered

Do you ever get deep down a rabbit hole, thinking about your story, and realise part of it you’d never thought about particularly deeply is actually very sad or very happy or makes you angry? Go into detail about it.

Magdalena and Bartolomeǰ never have any children born to them, but they're everyone’s Cool Aunt and Cool Uncle, and are basically extra parents to Evžen after Bartolomeǰ took him on as an apprentice.

Magdalena and Renée never lose touch after Renée leaves to marry, and Magdalena also stays in touch with Herr Benes, and they each eventually figure out the other is bi (Magdalena) and gay (Herr Benes), and have many fun letter exchanges not dissimilar to meetings in a Lesbian Crying Cupboard. I love their friendships and I want to dive into them more than I could from Katharina’s perspective alone. Imagine something like Lemony Snicket’s The Beatrice Letters, and you have some idea of the absolutely delicious format I’d want for this--because it wouldn’t be a traditional prose novel; it would be mostly epistolary, and for that, I need something a little different--all the letters bound together in a collection along with diary entries from the characters, ticket stubs from operas, playbills, pictures of gifts they send each other over the years, absolutely everything. A treasure trove and a mammoth project, but I am so entranced by this idea! The Baroque/Rococo aesthetic of the late 18th century is right up my street.

Wrap up story and finally get to the point/end of story

I’m, uh... not excellent at fully understanding the sentiment of instructions, but I feel less bad about (deliberately) misinterpreting this one, because I do so to have it mean “create an epilogue/a sequel”. Write down any ideas you have to that end.

Lulu’s children all grow up to follow careers in music. Hanna becomes an opera singer following help from Katharina and Magdalena to get her into a Conservatory in Berlin. Minna becomes a highly renowned composer (arguably a successor to Katharina), and Theo... well, I’m not exactly sure what he does, but that’s the point. I don’t have to know just yet. All I need to know is that I want to find out.

After grieving Johann, Wilhelm finds happiness and new love. Perhaps he brings his new partner to Prague, or perhaps he meets him there. That’s something I want to explore, as is...

...Herr Benes’ return to Prague with his boyfriend, meeting Wilhelm and his boyfriend (boyfriends for everyone. In this house we write gay joy or we write nothing (or we write angst)). Maybe there follow some nice rag-tag-band-of-elders adventures (quite literally a band, too, since they’ll all be musicians) and/or shenanigans. Do they all--with Katharina and Magdalena, of course--go on a fun trip to Salzburg and Eggwald together? That would be rather lovely. Some kind of Best Exotic Marigold Hotel story. Happiness.

Too many details/lose train of thought

Now’s your chance to get away from the main story! Ah, the guilty pleasure of AUs. Ah, the even more fun version of AU-related guilty pleasure where you get to write AUs of your very own novel! Go on. You deserve it, because you wrote a whole novel and you’ve read it at least as many times as you’ve drafted it... but you still want more content. You want to see how these characters that you love will cope in different worlds, different situations, different everything. Go for it. And if you have any details about the far-flung prelude or coda to the story (music terminology drop? Who’s that? I don’t know her), get into those, too. You know the ones I mean. The ones where you discuss the impact of the storyline on people centuries later, or get into the creation story of the world your characters live in.

I was fool enough to start thinking about a Vampire!AU of Violins and Violets before I had finished the first draft of the actual book. But that’s going on this list, because I have already written a slightly-related one-shot, Daughter, and I certainly don’t plan for that to be the only thing I ever make for it.

Violins and Violets and Varsity - a high school AU I’ve been thinking about since December 2018 - drawing on my experiences playing Swing Band and Pit Band in secondary school. It would be set in the UK, though, and characters would have more Anglophone-sounding names. I have some ideas for this written down somewhere in my computer, but, for now, I’m just going to leave you with the names, because I’m not certain I’m super happy about the current premise for the plot.

Katharina - Kate

Magdalena - Maddie

Hans - Henry

Bartolomeǰ - Bart

Renée - Rena

Going back to the dark academia mentioned earlier, I think it could be interesting to explore--not a modern AU, but in the modern day--how people now would look back on the lives of the characters from Violins and Violets had they really existed. I grew up not far from Reading, where an original handwritten manuscript of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was found in a charity shop in 2011, and I want to take that idea and run so, so far with it. I adore dark academia, as my followers will know, and it seems like a perfect chance to combine my knowledge of Music History and Music Theory with my current studies of Sociolinguistics. Here’s what I’m thinking:

Music History students team up with Sociolinguistics students to study the letters exchanged between the characters and coming to realise that everyone involved was a big and lovely Queer Disaster in some way or other, and that Katharina and Magdalena, as Johann and Wilhelm, were in love. And then all the students fall in love, too, because dark academia plus romance is my downfall (hence my current WIP, She Has No Name).

Steps I missed out of this process, I missed out because I couldn’t think of ways to relate them to my storyline. Those are:

What was I talking about?

Realise I’ve been talking too long.

Apologise.

If you can think of ideas to go along with those steps (although I’m hesitant to encourage anyone to apologise for what they write), too, go for it, and please let me know! I love hearing about everything you write! Now I dare you to have a go at this process for planning expansions of your story.