#untitled novel

[cjstockton]

Part Two: Interlude

Officially, it was a gas leak.

That’s what the news said. That’s what the official paperwork said, right there in black and white. You could even request all the documents and get copies to review at your leisure.

It all looked pretty boring when you saw it written down like that. Gas leak. Bad wiring. House exploded. It happens. Seven dead. Two survivors. Shit happens more often than you’d think. I looked up the statistics once, as if that might make me feel better. Guess how that worked out. 

The police report was downright banal. Survivors were outside at the time of the explosion, foul play not suspected, thoughts and prayers, bullshit bullshit bullshit. House destroyed due to the fiery explosion. It all wrapped up very neatly. One of those odd bits of news you repeat to friends for the rest of the day, then forget about before you fall asleep that night.

Sounds of a disturbance at the house before the explosion, including screaming and loud crashes, were dismissed by officials. Obviously the survivors were hysterical, and everyone knew the neighbors had probably just overheard a particularly loud television.

The thick black sludge found around the area - hanging from trees, lying in streaks across the front yard - was a bit harder to explain.

[untitled-smp]

Hello everyone, I'm here with some very sudden but great news!

[Untitled] SMP's first visual novel is coming out on July 3rd!

That's right, in less than three days! Development and soundtrack for the first episode is FULLY FINISHED! And I couldn't quite wait for a later release <3

[androgynosaurus]

Been percolating on some worldbuilding ideas for an Untitled Fantasy Novel while I've been away on vacation but now I think I've got so many bits that don't quite mesh together or do the same thing in different ways so I might just have to split it down the middle and write two different stories lmao

[groovebunker]

me: has a full time job, doing a qualification for said job, planning a wedding, has two ongoing fics to finish and a bunch of others to update.

also me: but have you considered......original fiction?

[haverkampink]

Borrowing a trick I learned in grad school for costume design--when you feel at all alienated from your characters because they exist in a different time, try to imagine them in the present. What's the same? What changes? How would they act with different social pressures on them, and what does that say about the heart of their personality?

I felt like I was getting in the weeds plotting #untitledregencyfantasyproject and moving the characters around like chesspieces, rather than letting them have some agency to drive the story, so here's a little experiment - drawing the girls as contemporary students (I'm lucky to have loads of reference on a daily basis).

Gwen, a romantic, wears her wispy hair long, , and sports a flirty challis jumpsuit (it's probably floral). I think she'd major in bio specifically to do fieldwork because she wants very badly to have Adventures™. Julia, meanwhile, is an English Lit major who loves being comfortable, and thrifts all her clothes as a point of pride. Her eyes aren't bad enough in URFP to make the concession to glasses quite yet, but her brother wears them, so it's likely that modern opticians would recommend it (especially since her contemporary self would never be far from her laptop).

[konglindorm]

Untitled BATB retelling, chapter 2

Mira plays on the floor with her baby brother, and invents for her mother a whirlwind romance with a wealthy suitor from the city. Her mother doesn’t question this highly improbable story; the curse takes more out of her every day.

It came upon her slowly, at first. But Henry’s nearly two now, and it’s had plenty of time to settle.

Henry was christened late. There was no help for it—the only priest in miles was dreadfully ill, and he came as soon as he safely could. But an un-christened baby is a terrible temptation for fairies.

They tried to take him, and leave a changeling. Mama was watching, and she chased them off, but got a scratch on her arm for it.

It won’t heal. The priest and the local witch and the doctor they called in from the city all agree it won’t kill her. It will only trap her deeper and deeper inside herself, until she’s as good as gone. They all agree there’s only one cure, magnificently expensive, only available from a sorcerer in the city who communes with the fairies directly.

Mira doesn’t know how her father will ever afford it. He’s been putting a little by, whenever he can, and they had hoped that maybe Mira’s bride price—but it’s been a hard year. Father has to feed his children before he cures his wife.

She doesn’t think even double her bride price will be enough, after how hard a year it’s been. But the extra can be put away in savings, and maybe in a year or two, when her sister Anna marries—maybe.

Anna, she tells the truth, or most of it. She says, “He’s richer than Ralph, and not so scary, really. I don’t think he’ll hurt me.” Which is true.

She doesn’t say “I’d rather be eaten by a monster than marry Ralph,” or “I all but begged the Beast to take me,” both of which are also true.

In the morning she’ll leave. It isn't much time to say goodbye. But in the afternoon Ralph will come home, and ask officially for her hand, and she wants to be far away by then.

-

Continue the chapter on Patreon, no membership required. Become a free member to access chapter 3 today, one week early!

[ranger-kellyn]

it's like i want to get started on the next season of korra bc i'm excited since this is the season korra and asami start Noticeably Hanging Out A Lot More, but i think i have to just. go listen to music and think about asami instead dklsfhj

[cryskir]

monoceros

[sesamestreep]

hi hello I'm here to ask about "write a loving letter" and "mystery door no. 4"

how dare you make me format TWO excerpts??

“write a loving letter boy” should maybe not be on here because it’s not exactly an active WIP because I’ve fully forgotten the actual plot I had in mind for it, but I love the draft title so much I can’t delete it (see below if the reference eludes you). The basic idea was yet another daredevil college au (what can I say, I have a Type) but in this case it’s…like a Cyrano de Bergerac AU?? where Foggy ends up helping one of their classmates woo Matt because he “knows him so well” and ends up discovering his own feelings for Matt that way?? I watched an episode of Bones that was obviously a Cyrano pastiche but they refused to acknowledge it and it made me so annoyed, I had to write this AU instead. Also thought I was very clever for thinking of a queer Cyrano retelling and then remembered “The Half of It” exists. Whoops.

Here’s the only scene I have, which is Foggy talking to the girl who wants to date Matt, who ended up just being the most fun OC to write:

“I was going to ask you something, actually,” Willa says, in that precise way of hers. Foggy likes her, based on the few conversations they’ve had, but he imagines she makes a lot of people their age feel a little frivolous, just based on her general energy. Foggy already knows he’s pretty frivolous, as a person, so he doesn’t take it too personally, which probably helps. “Sure. Shoot. Go ahead.” “You’re really good friends with Matt, right?” “We’re roommates, yeah,” Foggy replies, as he brings his drink to his mouth. “Right. I know,” Willa says, frowning. “But like…you’re friends too?” “Of course.” “I’m not friends with my roommate,” she supplies, explaining her clarification without actually explaining it.  “Oh, sure,” Foggy says. He likes the way Willa’s brain works, he’s just remembering. It’s like he can see the gears moving inside of it. It’s kind of fun. “Yes, Matt and I are friends as well as roommates. Why do you ask?”

title reference for page break reasons

“mystery door no. 4” is actually not fanfic, it’s an original novel I’m kind of working on (I am working on it, I just have no real vision for what I’ll do with any of it should I actually finish it, is what that sentence means, ftr). It’s based on an old idea I did for the made up movies meme on here years ago and I’ve been mostly handwriting it as an excuse not to look at screens during the spring/summer when I’m a lot more headache prone. I went through a period of about 2-3 months where I hated every fic idea I started and was just miserable about writing in general and decided to try writing some original fiction, which is not something I’ve done since I was like 12 (a long time but redacted amount of years ago) and it’s been very fun so far though I’m keeping my expectations low.

here is an excerpt, featuring my new OCs who I’m sure I’ll start tagging in stuff soon as the next step in my full descent to madness:

“Again with these words!” Aleks groaned. “Didn’t you just wake up?” “Not just.” “Still. ‘Puerile’? I couldn’t use that in a sentence correctly with three cups of coffee in me!” “Was that a hint?” “Hmmm?” “Do you want coffee? Were you asking me to make us some coffee?” “Are you part sheep dog or something?” Aleks asked. “Will you go crazy if I don’t give you something to do?” “Maybe,” Eugene admitted reluctantly.

[cjstockton]

Part One: The Road

This is just another version of the same story. Both of them, if my memory serves, are true.

There was a beautiful dead boy singing on the radio, and Jakob wouldn’t stop staring at me. You have to understand - Jakob had these big brown eyes that made him look kind of like a cartoon character. He could go a long time without blinking. 

I ignored him. We’d been driving for roughly four hours at that point, and I had another three at least before we stopped for the night. Jakob had spent the trip alternating between staring out the window and staring at me. He hadn’t said a single word to me since he had stepped into the vehicle.

I didn’t mind his silence. I had been too long without silence, without endless voices and sirens and alarms. The past few weeks had been nothing but fucking noise. Arguing and shouting and talking with police, with distant relatives, with the coroner, with the funeral home. It was all a ball of howling noise.

Music was different. Music made sense. Music was, in a way, the opposite of noise. Let Jakob stare. As far as I was concerned, the kid could stare all he fucking wanted. Didn’t bother me one bit. 

I wiped the moisture off my forehead and flicked it out the open window. I was less than pleased with the broken air conditioner. I thought I’d fixed it, but after half an hour of driving, the air conditioner gave the saddest little wail and died. I sympathized.

‘I want to go home.’

I jerked the wheel in surprise at his voice, swerving down the empty road. Jakob didn’t blink. It felt deliberate.

‘You trying to make me have an accident?’ I smacked the heel of my hand against the AC for something to do, and focused on the road. Jakob blinked. I sighed and settled back into my seat. The vinyl seat stuck to my back. 

‘You’re going to ignore me?’ Jakob demanded.

‘I’m not ignoring you. I’m driving.’

He folded arms across his skinny chest. 

‘I want to go home.’

‘I heard you the first time.’

‘You didn’t say anything.’

‘What the hell do you want me to say?’

‘What do you think?’

I turned up the radio. Jakob turned it down. I raised the volume. Jakob turned it off. I batted at his hands ineffectively. 

‘Stop it! We’re going to have an accident!’ I put the radio on at a lower volume. Jakob threw himself back into the seat, squirming fitfully.

‘This isn’t fair.’ He put every ounce of 13-year-old surliness into three words. It was impressive. 

‘OK.’

OK?’

‘I’m not arguing. You’re right. It’s not fair. What do you want me to do about it?’ 

We were running low on gas. I hoped we’d make it to the next motel without having to stop, but that seemed increasingly unlikely. I coaxed my geriatric Jetta a little faster down the desert road. Jakob leaned towards me, face twisted and earnest.

‘Turn the car around. We’ll go back.’

‘To what?’

‘I don’t know! We’ll just go back! They can’t stop us.’

‘You know that’s not possible.’

‘I don’t care!’ He folded his gangly limbs into a ball, sneering at me. ‘You just don’t want to go back. You didn’t want to be there in the first place.’

‘Can you stop?’

‘I hate this!’

‘Get over it.’ I pushed my damp hair off my forehead. ‘Go back to the quiet sulking. I like that one best. You’re giving me a headache.’’

‘You’re such an asshole!’

I whipped my head around, aghast. 

‘Hey, you watch your mouth!’

‘You’re not the boss of me!’

‘I damn well am, you little brat.’

‘You’re not Mom!’

The car was suddenly, deafeningly silent. It had a taut, heavy texture the earlier quiet had not. 

Jakob looked out the window. We drove for a few miles. I concentrated on not grinding my jaw. We passed a dead tree. In the distance, thunder rumbled.

‘This is bullshit,’ he muttered under his breath. I sighed. A gas station rose up in the distance like a particularly shitty mirage 

‘Yeah. But it’s our bullshit.’

[fiddles-ifs]

quick! choose ONE song that you feel is each of your IFs "theme songs"

FUCK. UH. UH. UHHHH.

Greenwarden Book 1: In the Pines/Where Did You Sleep Last Night -- Caught a Ghost version

Greenwarden Book 2: Family Tree -- Ethel Cain

The King's Physician: Valhalla Calling -- Miracle of Sound/Peyton Parish duet version

Wolf Creek Run: Howl -- Florence + The Machine

Untitled Hospital Simulator: Plastic Heart -- Nostalghia, Tyler Bates, Joel J. Richard

[untitled-smp]

So there's been something I've wanted to announce for a ..while now, even hinted at it every now and then if I remember correctly, this is coming a LOT later than i thought (there were some very important things that set the release of this further away haha oops) but I think now it's time.

For the past few months I've been working on..

The Royal Wedding - An [Untitled] Visual novel

Yep, you've heard right !

Despite what the blogs inactivity and general lack of videos may make it seem (oops), the smp has been more active than ever before! We developed our own fun little system to roleplay our characters in game, and even developed many storylines and character arcs. It's honestly been really fun, and I hope I speak for all when I say, that we're very happy with what we have made this season!!

But, (unfortunately) most won't people want to go through almost a hundred transcripts of these sessions to experience this season. So, I thought of making a visual novel myself :]

This game will cover the first arc of season 3. the [Political Union Arc]. There are 6 "episodes" that are planned to release eventually (I have an idea to add 2-3 extra episodes if there's enough support for the game tho!)

After escaping the grasp of the void, the players of [Untitled] settled upon a new world to temporarily call home. However, due to the growing distrust brewing between the group, they were fragmented into factions. ...Eventually, an agreement is made between all factions to maintain diplomacy amongst one another, the Peace Treaty.  But said peace is disturbed when a certain faction ruler causes discord upon the players with a simple question.

I'm sure you're wondering, when will it come out? I don't have a set deadline yet, since the last part of the game, the soundtrack, is still in production and I do not wish to rush that, but stay tuned for updates on the blog!!

[rainbow-arrow]

i'm gonna write and publish a book that begins with x just so people (me) have a good book to read for their alphabet challenges

[abronzeagegod]

Untitled YA Project Chapter 2: The Working Life of A Shrar

First Chapter || More

6:58 PM local time

Training Barracks, House Kaiyantsh, Si Yátz

A thousand miles away from the cold November weather of the Midwest, Hiraksyau, woke on her small cot in the island nation of Si Yátz. She had been up late reading. Last week, she had gotten a book from the library that was a narrative history of the Caribbean Wars with her people and the Spanish back in the 1500’s. There were so many fascinating things happening, and she had already been curious about pirates so this was an amazing find. She couldn’t help herself and was trying to read through it as fast as she possibly could.

Besides, reading about pirates was much more interesting than going to bed on time and being up and ready for her required military service duty rotation.

Hira would rather sleep, or read, but no, she really had to get up. If she didn't, Natúdrafe would be all over her. Not that Rafe needed a reason to be all over her. Hira was just a shrar stationed at this middle of nowhere outpost, and Rafe was a dralf, only one step above her, so that made Hira her responsibility. Any time Hira messed up or failed a task, it would reflect badly on Rafe, so she pushed her subordinate hard.

She climbed off her bed, and rolled her shoulders, a motion that released some of the tension that had built up. She shook out her wings and then her legs, trying to get the blood flowing and wake up more.

After addressing her morning routine (a light brushing with some unscented cleaning oil and a functional brush, cleaning her mandibles and teeth), the young zlilfian put on her morning workout uniform and left her tiny little room. She had to make it to the gym on time, otherwise Rafe would be mad.

Why did she make Hira get up two hours early to do combat training?

At the small gym, Rafe was already waiting for her. Hira sighed, quietly to herself.

“You’re late again,” the older shrar said. “Up late reading again?”

Hira nodded, rubbing her right eyes, making sure to get both the larger eye and the smaller compound eye.

“What is it this time? More human history? Like the history of American colonization and their coercion of their 40 states into a government?”

“No,” Hira responded. “That was two weeks ago. This time it was about pirates and the wars with the Spanish we had five hundred years ago.”

“Sounds like fun, but not so much fun that you can get away with not doing your job.”

Hira just grumbled at her, a deep humming noise that was emphasized by a subtle beat of her wings. It didn’t help that Rafe was already a better shrar than her, but this whole being in charge thing wasn’t fair.

Rafe heard the dissatisfaction and told Hira, “How about we make a deal? You beat me in our sparring match and you won’t have to do anything with me the rest of the day.”

Hira perked up at that. Her combat skills were extremely poor, she could readily admit that, which is why she was station out in this tiny outpost at the edge of the island on the nightwatch section for her mandatory stint in her Great House’s military. She had to do her duty, she just didn’t like doing that duty. So the fact that Rafe was offering to give her a day away from all the nonsense of training and drills and tests, was an offer she couldn’t refuse. With all that extra time Hira could probably finish the general history on the pirates and then spend a couple hours looking up famous zlilfian sailors of the era and trying to find biographies to read next.

Rafe could see how excited that offer made Hira, which instantly made her much more awake and alert. Her plan did the trick.

“You’re on,” Hira said, trying not to sound too excited. She sounded exactly as excited about this as she was.

“Alright. First one to pin the other twice wins,” Rafe said as she climbed into the little sparring ring and started to get ready with a few quick stretches, flexing her arms, legs, and wings.

Rafe had the height advantage on Hira, by a few inches. She was bigger than the average shrar at just over five feet tall. Things didn’t look good for Hira, especially since she had only ever managed to pin Rafe once in their hand to hand drills.

Hira climbed into the ring and settled in to spar with her superior officer.

“Hold your guard up, in front of your face,” Rafe said, correcting her form the second they started.

“I can’t see if I hold my hands in my face.”

Rafe gave Hira a flat look, eyes slightly closed, antennae out to the sides. “You know that’s not what I meant. You’re too focused on using your front vision, let your other eyes alert you to movement and then react.”

Hira tried to concentrate and use her compound eyes, the smaller set that sat a few centimeters above the bigger set of binocular eyes. But in the time that she spent trying to concentrate and let her compound eyes take over and sense the motion, Rafe had struck her twice. The blows weren’t as hard or as fast as they could have been. Hira knew she was being played with.

“You got to stop thinking about it so hard,” Rafe commented as she ducked a very wide swing Hira let out with her right hand. “You’re smart, so you got to fight like it.”

Hira grumbled and tried again. The second set of eyes every zlilfian was borning with, while not good at seeing detail, were excellent at detecting motion from a very wide angle. She took a second to breathe and stopped focusing on the specific details. In the fight it wasn’t necessary to look at Rafe’s almost perfectly symmetrical stripes of black and yellow that ran horizontally across her face and shoulders, in contrast to Hira’s big splash of yellow across her entire face that sort of dripped down her chin and neck then down her chest. Or the fact that she was very tall for a shrar, or that, in just about every way, Rafe was a very pretty woman who was going to kick Hira’s butt again.

The next series of blows Rafe sent towards Hira, she was able to dodge all the punches, but the kick almost threw her off balance. Hira could only counter by fluttering her wings in a quick flight backwards to get out of Rafe’s range, but unfortunately that put her into the corner of the ring.

The second Rafe closed the distance it was all over. The grapple and pin were quick and not entirely painless. After a moment of being held in a tight embrace, Hira tapped out. Rafe helped her up.

“Use your strengths, use my strengths against me, come on,” Rafe said, trying to get Hira motivated and active. “Use that big brain of yours.”

“It’s early Natúdrafe, give me a minute to wake up,” Hira snapped.

“Combat isn’t going to wait for you to be well rested and ready, Hiraksyau,” Rafe countered, using Hira’s full name in retaliation for her using Rafe’s. “You can do this. Or you’re going to be joining me after rounds for a full weight work out. And flying drills.”

Hira groaned again. She hated weight training, it was hard work and intensive and gross. But flight drills were easy, Hira was always a good flier.

“Although if you can pin me twice you won’t have to do either,” Rafe said gently, trying to tease some life out of Hira.

They settled into their ready poses, and Hira had a sudden idea. She fluttered her wings, both sets, the big ones on her shoulders, and the small ones from the middle of her back. The sudden burst of movement from all over along with a feint attack with her left arm caused Rafe to back into a defensive pose as her compound eyes saw a lot of movement from lots of directions.

Using this moment of defensiveness from Rafe, Hira moved. She transitioned to using her wing movements to push herself forward, and slipping under and around Rafe’s guard. From her blind spot, Hira managed to grapple her from behind, and pushed Rafe to the ground.

After a few seconds of struggle, Rafe couldn’t break the hold and Hira’s weight pinned her down.

“Ok, ok, you got me,” she said. “Now let me up.”

Hira hummed slightly to herself in joy as she stood up off the other girl, holding out her hand to help Rafe up off the mat.

“Alright, last one,” Rafe informed her. “This is for all the seeds.”

Hira rolled her shoulders and her wings, and settled back into her ready position. Rafe did the same. Hira wanted to win so badly. She could have a night off, free to do whatever she wanted, and not have to worry about work or any of the other boring tasks she had to deal with on a daily basis. This was too good of a reward to pass up.

She tried the same maneuver, a feint combined with a flying maneuver, but at the same time Rafe went in with a series of quick attacks. Both girls moved at the same time, resulting in what should have been a soft blow, but instead was a very hard blow with a low crack as Rafe inadvertently hit Hira square in the face.

The world for Hira went black for a moment after the blow landed. The pain came in hard a second later. When the world returned and the pain subsided from a harsh spike to a dull ache, Hira found herself on the ground, Rafe kneeling over her.

“Sorry about that,” Rafe said quietly. Her antennae pointed down, both in shame and to help her examine the injured shrar. “I didn’t expect you to move so fast.”

“Ow,” Hira moaned.

“Are you ok?”

“Nothing broken, just hurt.”

Rafe held out her hand. “Well to make it up to you, we can just do the flying drills tonight.”

Hira groaned again and didn’t take the offered hand right away. She just lay on the ground, despite the uncomfortable position on her wings.

“That sad look isn’t going to get you out of this. Even if I do feel very bad.”

Hira rolled her eyes and took the offered hand.”

“Go get ready for breakfast, my treat this time.”

Hira stood up, and failed to suppress a happy little dance. Rafe may be abrasive and much too into the physical stuff, but she always had a way of finding the good fruits and nuts for breakfast.

“Don’t look too pleased with yourself,” Rafe called over her shoulder. “It isn’t because I like you. I just feel bad for how badly I beat you.”

my kofi where you can read more of this

next

[tortoisebore]

Very on board with the fluffy domestic year long fic idea! Could we possibly get a sample..

okay good same me too. i’m thinking so much.

y’all rly put me on the idea with all those little ramble requests 👹 writing random specific boring little snippets of their lives made my heart go 🥰💕💞🤲🫶🤭🎊😁💗 and now i need to write that kind of domestic fluff constantly and forever.

here’s a list of all the rambles so u can get a taste of what it might be like if i write it! like imagine this vibe but it’s an entire year. month-by-month. very boring. very sweet. very nothing by bruno major. very lover by taylor swift (i already have an untitled playlist for this & those two are basically the theme songs)

what would remus’ contact name for sirius be and vice versa

what do they love most about each other

domestic sunday!!!

love languages

how do they sleep

what are their favorite movies & shows

coffee orders & music taste

what would they order for saturday brunch

((there are a few more of these requests in my ask box i’m going to get to!! if u sent me one i haven’t responded to yet dw i’m still planning to answer!!)

[hippolotamus]

beloved hippo, I have mostly been absent from tumblr today but I would love to hear about a WIP you are most excited about

Beloved Science Penguin! All the other WIPs have been asked about so I chose a special one for you. An off menu item, if you will. The untitled one from the most recent Seven Sentence Sunday. In that post I mentioned it as an original work, but it's really more than that because I want to turn it into a published book.

The details are foggy but the loose premise of it is a woman who has obviously been hurt, and had her heart broken, enough times that the whole idea of Romantic Love seems ridiculous and unattainable. She is recently new to being on her own, without a partner, for the first time in a long time. All those factors considered, the last thing she wants is any kind of strings attached relationship. Not so much as a single frayed thread. She just wants to have fun and do what she wants.

In the process of rediscovering herself, and letting loose, she meets someone I'll just call A for now (I am legit just winging stuff here). A is younger and just the right amount of entertaining and distracting. So what happens when she (A) starts to become more than that? More than just a good time?

Anywho, that's what I've got so far 🤷🏻‍♀️