#tpatb

[conkers-thecosy]

Hi Conkers!

I've just read the ask where you mentioned your original works, could you tell us something about them? I read more fiction than fanfiction so I'm always looking forward to the next good story 😁

Hope you'll have a lovely day, and no pressure to answer this anytime soon (or at all, if the mood doesn't strike!)

Thank you ❤️❤️❤️

Hullo!!

Thank you for sending this, but I hope you know what you've done by asking me about them! 😂 Brace yourself!!

Okay, so I have a few ideas for original stories, but the two that I've started are "The Prince & The Botanist" and "All's Fair". I write exclusively queer fiction and romance, because when I was a gay little kid growing up there wasn't a lot of variation, and certainly no fantasy novels with queer leading characters! (Which I suspect is why I projected so much onto The Hobbit and LotR, and Bilbo in particular)

"The Prince & The Botanist" is my murder mystery! It's about a reclusive botanist, Dante Morsatra, who has isolated himself from the rest of the nobility, and started up a sort of school/apprenticeship for the common folk. He's considered pretty odd, and the Court all give him a wide berth and let him get on with it, until one day someone who antagonised him and made his life miserable growing up is brutally poisoned. One of the princes of the realm, Lucien Advaris, is put in charge of finding the culprit, but after meeting Dante he decides to use his knowledge of botany as a resource, all while keeping an eye on his prime suspect.

Despite having started this wayyyy before I started writing fic for The Hobbit, I'll be honest and say this one is extremely bagginshield coded! To the point where I actually considered turning it into an AU, lol.

"All's Fair" is my captured princess/enemies-to-lovers story! Alenia is my leading lady, a lonely princess who's waiting to come of age so she can be wed in a political marriage arranged by her father and older brother, but the realm is at war, and shortly after her father rides out to lead the failing armies of their country, they lose. The enemies are at the gates and take over the capital in a single night. Virion, the new ruler of the country, decides to keep Alenia and her older brother, Alosrin, alive as hostages to make the transition of power easier and not rouse any sympathy in the people who don't currently seem inclined to fight back against the new regime. Virion finds Alenia much easier to deal with than her older brother, so the pair of them end up speaking often, playing chess of an evening, and eventually making a deal to benefit them both!

*Sighs happily*

Thank you for asking me about them! I have such an itch to work on them at the moment (specifically "All's Fair") but I want to finish BTTW and Soldier, Poet, King first, at the very least! In the meantime, any chance to info-dump about them is helping to soothe my muse while I focus on other things, haha!

Hope you're having a wonderful day!!

[lola-theshowgrl]

The Prince and The Botanist - Chapters 1 & 2 now on Wattpad

[flintoaster]

Shut up and help me manifest

[a-deadly-serenade]

dear kamelot, please play my pantheon (forevermore) & the proud and the broken on thursday, august 17th in silver springs. amen

[starrybrush]

whoop i haven't posted on here in a while, but nanos here so its time to work on tpatb again! here’s a lil snippet from chapter 20 that i just feel like sharing!

if anyones interested, im writing a lesbian romance novel called the princess and the bard! feel free to send asks about it or pm me about it! im willing to give out links to read my WIP draft~

[krebstar]

dude is there any part of tpatb available to read already? i'm digging what you've posted about it so far

oooh man! i might share the document with people via google docs if they’re interested! if you are, you can pm me your email!

[conkers-thecosy]

Ohh, they all sound so good, could you share about "The Prince and the Botonist" please?

Hullo! 💛

Okay, so The Prince and The Botanist is a murder mystery/romance! I started writing it last January as an original story. Here's a snippet!

“Tea?” Dante asked after a long moment.  “Thank you,” Lucien nodded. “Was that all you wished to say to me before we begin?”  “Actually, there was something else,” he admitted, organising the cups and saucers with slightly shaking hands. “There’s something I’d like to ask of you, if I may.”  “You may ask,” he said noncommittally.   “My students are all commoners, you understand. They come from poor homes and poor families,” Dante explained, lifting up the teapot and starting to pour, but missing the cup and splashing into the saucer slightly.   Concerned he might scald himself, Lucien nudged the tea tray a little so that the tea was squarely in the cup. Dante’s eyes went wide in surprise, and he stared at the now cleanly pouring tea like it was somehow extraordinary.  “Yes, I understand,” Lucien said, when no further comment followed. “Local families from the lower city, I’m told?”  Dante poured the second cup without saying anything, this time without spilling any. He then replaced the teapot, and picked up the cleaner of the two cups, offering it to Lucien politely.   “It’s important that they feel comfortable here,” he continued, then offering Lucien milk and sugar, which he silently refused by holding up his hand. “Which is why I ask to be called by my first name only.”  “Lord Dante,” Lucien began, picking up a teaspoon and gently stirring the fragrant, hot liquid he had been served. “I can’t possibly…”  “Your Highness, I really must insist,” the younger man said firmly, some of his original energy returning. “At least within the confines of my home and gardens, I would ask that you call me Dante. We’ve all worked very hard here, and overcoming the fear they had of me simply for our various backgrounds has sometimes seemed insurmountable. I will happily answer any questions you have, I will cooperate with you and your enquiries of course, but I will not have my students and apprentices disrupted.”  Lucien turned this over in his mind, slowly considering his words. It would be a breach of protocol, certainly, and to him it felt hugely disrespectful, especially to a young noble of his standing. Still, he had to admit that what Dante said made a certain amount of sense, and to request it only within his own home was a fair compromise.   “Very well,” Lucien agreed at length. “However, I must stress that you continue to address me as a Prince of the realm, no matter where we are.”  “Oh of course!” he agreed readily, as though that hadn’t even crossed his mind. “I wouldn’t dare suggest otherwise, your Highness.”  Lucien nodded. There was a moment of silence again, and Dante offered him the plate of biscuits without a word. He maintained the quietness, and accepted one graciously.  “That was all I wanted to say,” Dante told him, taking a biscuit for himself and sitting back in the wide, winged chair. “Thank you for hearing me out.”  Lucien sipped his tea and was immediately intrigued by the delicious, floral taste. The tea was a pretty, bright yellow, and somehow tasted of sunshine. 

Thank you for asking about it! It's a little over 50k words right now, and I'm toying with the idea of rewriting the plot as a bagginshield fic! (I deliberately chose this passage because it reminded me of Them a little!)

Thanks so much for asking about the project! I hope you enjoyed my answer!

Conkers 🌰

WIP List Here

[lola-theshowgrl]

Five years ago Dante Morsatra graduated from the Royal Academy with the highest ever recorded grades in botany. He then mysteriously removed himself from society to live on the outskirts of the Capital, and is rarely seen or spoken of. Now a selective teacher in his own right, he remains detached from Court life and all its drama. Lucien Advaris is the 3rd prince of the realm, currently investigating a fatal string of poisonings at the palace. Suspicion has landed on the illusive Dante Morsatra, but after meeting him, Prince Lucien decides to enlist his help to find the culprit instead. Can the two of them learn to trust each other and find the guilty party in time to stop another murder? And will they be able to find a middle ground to meet on as the unforgiving walls of society and duty close in around them?

Read it here

[lola-theshowgrl]

Guys. GUYS.

My mum read the first two chapters of The Prince and The Botanist and called me, all hesitant and concerned, like??

...

Mum: Oh Lola, I read your little story, and I was just wondering... I mean, don't take this the wrong way... it's only that... well, I wasn't sure but... I was just wondering if... is the story about... I mean, are they... they... Gay???

Me: Yes mum. It's a gay romance.

Mum: Oh! Oh right! Well, I wasn't sure! I just wanted to... I mean, I wasn't sure if you meant... it was just the way they seemed together... I just got a feeling, and I... well, I thought I should check... if it was deliberate... not that there's anything wrong with that, but I wasn't sure... I wanted to ask if you meant them to come across... as... as.... Oh, I can't remember the word? I just said it!

Me: Gay?

Mum: Yes! Yes, that!

...

My mum isn't homophobic, but she doesn't think that the gays should be allowed to marry or have children, and she doesn't understand why the gays need pride, they have equal rights already anyway, and the gays are always shoving it down everyone's throats all the time really, and she doesn't think I'm gay anyway, I just haven't met the right man yet. But she isn't homophobic lmao

[lola-theshowgrl]

Dante Morsatra

"The Prince and The Botanist" by Lola Elliott

[lola-theshowgrl]

Hullo!

I'm Lola, and I'm a writer living in the East of England, with my dog, Wilfred!

I write silly little romance stories, mostly, and I'm starting a new collection with queer leads doing fun tropes with happy endings!

My current WIP is called "The Prince and The Botanist" which is about a secluded botanist who gets accused of murder by poison, teaming up with the third prince of the realm to find the real killer, and falling in love with each other in the process!

I'd like to post it up somewhere to read, but I'm still weighing my options (I have a little over 30k words written already!) so if anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear from you!

I really hope you'll enjoy what I'm up to over here 💛 Thanks for visiting!

[lola-theshowgrl]

The Prince and The Botanist

[lola-theshowgrl]

is your mc neaurospicy? i dont think you should write that.

Hey anon!

Sorry for the slow response, honestly I've been grappling with what you could possibly mean by this.

First of all, yes, Dante is on the spectrum.

That was the easy part. The less easy part is why you think I shouldn't be writing a neurodivergent character, if that is what you're saying? Do you mean I specifically shouldn't be writing a neurodivergent character, or that you're not comfortable with anyone writing neurodivergent characters? Either way, you don't come off great here.

At the end of the day though, my blanket response to anyone who says I shouldn't be writing a certain thing is this:

If you don't like it, don't read it.

That's all, really. I'm going to write whatever I want to, and not even god can stop me, so you certainly can't.

[lola-theshowgrl]

Tagged by the excellent @doublegoblin for this game! 💛

Rules: give us your characters' names and definitions and vote whether or not they fit the meaning.

This is fun, because I generally never look up name meanings for my characters, I tend to just pick names I like the sound of! That means this is the very first time I've seen the meanings for my MC's names, and it's been super interesting!

-

Dante Meaning: Steadfast; enduring; everlasting. Flooded with literary meaning, Dante is a name of great creative potential. A contracted form of the Italian Durante, Dante shares its meaning of "steadfast" or "enduring" from the Latin root duras.

8/10 - This is actually a pretty good fit for Dante! He has a lot of resilience and has endured a great deal of trauma over the years, so it seems I've accidentally picked something pretty apt!

-

Lucien Meaning: Light. Elegant and ethereal, Lucien is a French name that means “light.” It is the French equivalent of the Spanish Luciano and the Latin Lucianus and Lucius.

6/10 - I mean, it's fine, you know? He's just some guy out here doing his best, trying to prove himself to the world. It's not a bad fit because he'll bring light to Dante in various ways, but it's not a meaning I would have picked for him!

-

I dunno how many folks I follow here that write original fiction, so this is open to anyone who wants to take part, as well as no-pressure tags for: @skymeria @words-after-midnight @mysticstarlightduck @crowandmoonwriting 😊

[lola-theshowgrl]

WIP: The Prince and The Botanist

Current Task: Editing/formatting

Pages Complete: 64 of 89

Current Music: Obsessions - MARINA

Almost finished my run of editing what I have so far, so that's good! It's been nice to give my brain a little break from actually writing after the past few months, but I'm now ready to jump back in and keep going with Dante and Lucien's story!

I posted the first two chapters to Wattpad on Friday, so thank you to everyone who went and had a read, who voted it up, commented, or added to their reading lists, I'm so incredibly grateful!

It'll never be as easy to encourage folks to look at as fanfiction was, but it's gone better than I had expected, so that's just wonderful! 💛

I'm planning to update every Friday!

[lola-theshowgrl]

'Perhaps some tea?' Prince Lucien suggested, gesturing to Chel who immediately jumped and went to do as he had been silently ordered. 'Chel, you are not a servant,' Dante stopped him, not looking away from the prince and frowning. 'Young man, I do not take kindly to your high-handed manner.' The Prince laughed shortly, though there was no trace of genuine humour in it, then bowed apologetically. 'I believe I am at least three years your senior, Lord Dante, but I apologise to have upset your household. Won't you at least sit and listen to what I have to say?' Dante gave him a long, hard stare, pretending to only consider his words despite knowing he would have to humour his request on some level. 'You're in my seat,' he told him, then looked at the ticking clock on the wall. 'You have ten minutes before I have to leave and check on the greenhouses.

"The Prince and The Botanist" - Chapter Two by Lola Elliott