vilyaluna

[vilyaluna]

Don’t mind me, just totally in an autumnal mood and writing random spooky things. 🐦‍⬛ 🎃 🍂 🐈‍⬛

I wrote this scene because I was sorting out something in an RP game, but it actually turned out decently spooky? So I figured I’d post it with zero context. 👻

🍁 The little boy’s mother opened the front door and called out to her son as he played in the yard. “They’ll be lighting the lanterns soon,” she reminded him.

He heard her, but his focus was on the tiny frog he’d been chasing through the leaves. “Okay,” he called back, just missing the slippery creature. He followed the frog all the way to the side of the house, the leaves crunching noisily under his feet. He finally had it trapped in his hands and giggled as it made a “ribbit” noise.

He soon let it hop away again, watching as it made its way back towards the front of the house.

That was when he saw the pumpkin staring at him. It was a figure standing at the edge of the front yard as still as a stone statue. It had a pumpkin where its head should have been.

If the boy wanted to get to his front door, he’d have to get closer to it. He took half a step forward and the pumpkin moved, its hollow eyes focusing in on him.

The boy froze in place and the pumpkin was as still as stone again. His knees started shaking and he stumbled backwards involuntarily. The pumpkin didn’t move this time.

The boy crept backwards and finally bumped into shed on the side of his house. He ducked inside and shut the door.

A whimpering noise escaped his lips as he held the door closed in the darkness. There wasn’t a lock.

A crunching noise came from outside. After a moment there was another. The boy held his breath, afraid that any noise would draw attention to him.

Two more crunching footsteps and then a pause before two more, like something was tip-toeing through the yard.

Just as the noise had become unbearably loud it stopped. After a few minutes of silence the boy allowed himself a chance to breathe.

His arms were aching from reaching up for the door handle and holding it so tightly, but he couldn’t let go yet.

The street lights came on outside, spilling underneath the shed door in three distinct sections. The boy froze.

It was right in front of him. How was it so quiet? Why didn’t it move, speak, or even breathe.

He shut his eyes tightly, bracing for the door to be yanked. He wouldn’t let it open. He couldn’t let it open.

A distant noise of a baby crying broke the silence. The boy opened his eyes to see that there was only one solid stream of light coming from under the door now.

He gasped for air, feeling like he’d just run for miles as sweat dripped down his forehead, but he was still somehow freezing cold.

The boy slowly opened the door, peeking out around the edge of it. There was nothing there. He bolted out of the shed and through the open front door of his house. He looked around frantically, following the sound of his baby sister’s crying into the kitchen. He opened one of the lower cabinets and the girl crawled out into his arms.

“You’re not supposed to be in there,” he scolded, unable to do anything else while she was in his arms. She was too big to carry.

“Mum? Dad?” The boy called, wondering why they hadn’t come already. There was no answer.

[vilyaluna]

𝔟𝔯𝔦𝔪𝔪𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔴𝔦𝔱𝔥 𝔴𝔥𝔦𝔪𝔰𝔶

[vilyaluna]

Ciar trudged into the kitchen and was nearly blinded by the morning light streaming through the window. His sister Sorcha was eating a bowl of cereal over the sink, partially obscured by the beam. "You're up early," she remarked. Ciar managed a sleepy nod as he shielded his eyes from the sun and made his way to the fridge. "There's no more milk," the girl warned. "I just used it up. I was going to go to the store before you woke up." He shook his head in reply as he grabbed a can of pop from the fridge. Not an ideal breakfast, but at least it'd keep Sorcha from going all the way down to the store just for him. There was a loud clatter as Sorcha dropped her empty bowl in the sink and rushed to steal the can right out of his hand. "You can't have a fizzy drink for breakfast!" she scolded. "Its fine," Ciar sighed, reaching to take the drink back. Sorcha quickly shook the can before relinquishing it. Ciar stared at the shaken drink in his hand in tired disbelief. He couldn't open it now!

Sorcha gave him a smug smile and then took a new bowl and spoon from the cabinets along with Ciar's favorite cereal. She placed everything on the table and then dragged her brother back through the sunny kitchen and shoved him into his chair. "I'll just go and borrow some milk from Ms. Clarke's house." Sorcha rushed out the front door with her eyes fixed on the living room clock as she ran. "Be back in 12 minutes!" Ciar placed his shaken can on the table and then plopped his head onto it with a groan of frustration. He was so useless compared to his little sister. He was supposed to be taking care of her, not the other way around.

After mentally kicking himself for nearly five minutes, he realized that Sorcha was probably already headed back home. He ran to his room to quickly change from his pyjamas into some proper clothes and then rushed out the front door. Moments later he spotted Sorcha walking towards him with a bottle of milk in hand. The girl stopped and waited for him to catch up to her, confusion causing her to fidget in place. "What's wrong?" she asked. "Did we need something else?" Ciar shook he head and then took the bottle of milk from her and nodded for her to walk with him back to the house. "It wasn't heavy," Sorcha continued. "I could have made it all the way home." What was he trying to do? This wasn't exactly helpful after his sister had gone most of the way by herself. She always did everything by herself. "I needed the fresh air," he lied. Sorcha tutted, not believing him for even a second, but didn't press further as they walked back to the house.

What (or who) is your OC most thankful for? If it's a who, would they ever tell them? What would they say?

[vilyaluna]

Yay! I’m so excited for this! 💜

The Kickstarter is live! 🎉🎉🎉

Inspired by the works of Holly Black, Julie Kagawa, Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and classic Celtic and English folklore, the Winter Fae's Blight series follows faery Deirdre and two human brothers, Iain and James, and their ragtag group of allies as they try to stop a brewing war between the human military and the Faerie Courts across a 7-book series.

Every author dreams of hearing their stories come alive through an audiobook! My co-author and I believe that human-written stories need real, human narrators to do the work justice. The Winter Fae's Blight series is told through multiple POVs, so we wanted two narrators to allow the characters to shine.

The Kickstarter will run from June 10 to July 9, and features a wide variety of digital and physical rewards. Check out the link above to learn more! 😊

[vilyaluna]

I may have stumbled upon a new way to break that troublesome Writer's Block!

On a long car ride I wrote the question in the second panel at the top of my notebook and finished an entire scene! It's a huge mess, but teenage me didn't care! She was writing with passion! Who cares about the dull adult who has to do the editing now?

[vilyaluna]

This is a picture for those who think being a writer is easy: WE FEELING STRESSED ALL THE TIME!!!!!

[vilyaluna]

The last cover is now mine! ❄️ This is such a great depiction of Raisa; as beautiful and terrible as winter itself. 🥶

Thanks so much for the lovely new covers, authors!

[vilyaluna]

Possibly my favorite book in the series and it has my two favorite characters featured on it! 💜 Definitely the best of the new covers. 🥰

The meme was definitely a case of “If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry.”

[vilyaluna]

Can and Have:

1. Catholicism (After an hour I usually have to text a Canon Lawyer)

2. My OCs (but not their stories 😆)

3. Spider-Man (I used to be paid to do so!)

4. The Lord of the Rings (books>movies)

5. Dungeons and Dragons (I was paid to do that too…)

I saw this meme going around on twitter and I think it'll be perfect for this account.

List 5 topics you can talk on for an hour without preparing any material.

[vilyaluna]

Winter Fae’s Blight book five is now mine! 🐈‍⬛ The atmosphere of this one is so spooky, I love it! 🤩

This one had to be a cat meme. It was nonnegotiable. (Please forgive me, KC.)

[vilyaluna]

As a Pantser, can confirm. Especially that last panel…

Pansters write "from the seat of their pants" and discover stories featuring varying degrees of wonder and terror.

[vilyaluna]

writing quiet characters

He looked at him. He looked at him in a different way. Blinked. He tilted his head. He looked at him sideways. Under his lashes. In a unique kind of tilt. In a violent sort of way. He stared at him in a kind of way you haven’t read about before. He sighed. He looked away. He looked at a different away. He stared. Considered. Pondered. He was silent but it was interesting, somehow. It was a questioning sort of silence. Puzzled. He was still. He went even more still. He was barely breathing. He was dead with anticipation. He tensed. He relaxed minutely. The seconds ticked by, silently. He waited. He narrowed his eyes. His eyes widened. He followed you with them. His eyes. He did something that was nothing but filled the required beat of a line. He

[vilyaluna]

I now have more than half of the new covers with The Shattered Mirror! 🪞 Alvey looks so elegant here. 🥺

This book gets pretty tense, so Deirdre and Iain’s romance was a real lifeline. 💕

[vilyaluna]

A nice little story? No such thing!

This is the first of a series of comics I'll be posting weekly about writing and woes and lessons learned from around ten years of self-publishing books and comic creation.

...Starting with my ongoing struggle to keep stories simple and manageable 🙃

[vilyaluna]

*The one character in my story that has Samwise Gamgee levels of obsession with elves and magic*

Dwayne: Wait, you mean to tell me that everyone gets to meet the elf except for me? EVERYONE?!

Me: No, not everyone! (Begins counting on fingers.) Oh, actually yeah. Everyone.

Dwayne: …

Me: You’re going to derail my plot again, aren’t you?

Dwayne: Quite handily, yes.

[vilyaluna]

The third new cover in the Winter Fae’s Blight series! ⚔️ One of my favorite books in this series, in no small part due to Sir Cai. ♥️

I swear I only planned on making the one meme as a spur of the moment thing, but now I’m having too much fun here! 😆

[vilyaluna]

“you’re a writer, right?”

me, staring at the one sentence i’ve managed to add in the last hour and the 12 open tabs on the specifics of shoes in 1845 Ireland: In theory.