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SUNLIT MAGE– excerpt: Hikaru and the cat
A snippet from chapter 5, which will be out on Tapas on Wednesday. Because we all love a good talking kitty cat, right?
A chirping meow snapped him out of his thoughts, and Hikaru paused. A tabby cat was standing only a few meters away, its bushy tail held aloft in greeting, gold eyes looking straight up at him.
Hikaru should be surprised, but he really wasn’t. The school grounds were heavily warded, but anyone had yet to invent a warding spell capable of keeping out cats. They were creatures of the barrier, and the very magic that held back others was their natural habitat.
“Hello,” Hikaru said softly, crouching down and instinctively slipping into his mother tongue. “What’s your name?”
The cat padded soundlessly closer, letting out another meow. He had only half expected to understand it, but in the end he wasn’t too surprised when he did.
“Finally, a human I can communicate with,” the cat said with a dry undertone to its voice. “You have no idea how tiring it is, hearing nothing but kissy noises and ‘pspsps’ all day long.”
Hikaru couldn’t help it; he cracked a small smile. “People are tiring, aren’t they?”
“A little, yes, but quite endearing in their stupidity. And at least they feed me.” The cat looked at him expectantly. “You don’t have any food for me, do you?”
At home Hikaru had always carried cat treats around in his pockets for when he spoke to the neighborhood cats. Here, however, he patted his pockets in vain. “Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t expect to meet a cat here.”
“That’s on you, human. You should always expect to meet a cat anywhere.” Sitting down, the cat scratched its ear, then began to clean its fur. “But since I’ve missed speaking to humans, I’ll let it slide this once.”
“Sorry,” Hikaru said again. “Thank you.”
The cat’s whiskers twitched in what might have been amusement. “So where do you come from, little speaker?” it asked. “They don’t seem to have any humans with your skill around here.”
There hadn’t really been anyone back in Tokyo either—at least, anyone Hikaru knew—but he didn’t say that. “I’m from Japan,” he said.
“Hm. Not a bad country. Very fond of cats.” The cat paused its grooming routine. “By the way, can you speak to other animals too?”
Hikaru gave a nod. “I can speak to foxes, dogs, birds…”
“Birds? Excellent.” The cat got back up. “Tell the sparrows in the yard they don’t have to be scared of me, I’m not going to eat them. Not enough meat on their bones.”
Experience told Hikaru that cats were excellent and shameless liars, so he probably shouldn’t believe that and neither should the birds. But to avoid drawing the cat’s anger, he inclined his head in agreement anyway. “Okay,” he said. “I will do that.”
The cat suffered him to pet it for a moment in return, then trotted off in search of a sunny spot to nap in. Hikaru felt a little lighter already. Humans didn’t tend to like him much, true, but on the bright side, at least he was better with animals than anyone else.
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HIKARU HIYAMA– character intro
“People are tiring, aren’t they?”
- Name: Hikaru Hiyama (飛山 光, Hiyama Hikaru written with the kanji for “to fly”, “mountain” and “light”)
- Age:15
- Appearance: Average height for his home country, slightly shorter than average abroad; very lean and light to maximize flying speed; fair skin; short, fluffy hair that can look black or dark brown depending on lighting; dark brown eyes; intelligent-looking but expressionless face
- Familiar: A very large komainu (one half of a pair, with the other one belonging to his twin sister) named Fuyu
- Strengths: Flying; “speaking in tongues” (talking to animals); enchantment
- Magic type:
Light
The surprisingly powerful son of an average Light Mage family. Outwardly stoic, though mostly just bad at expressing emotions; only as nice as the other person is to him, and petty and spiteful when provoked. Not very good with people despite his best efforts; strongly prefers animals to humans. Easily stressed by the sound of human voices.
Excerpt:
Why should I be jealous of the guy no one would care about if he wasn’t this fast? He knew, of course, but he hated to hear it. He didn’t want to hear it, not from someone like the ace of this team, Finnian Day, who could have anything he wished for with a snap of his fingers. Finnian, who could be an arrogant, insufferable person and still have lots of friends because he wasn’t like Hikaru, he was normal, and he could easily fit in with the other normal people.
Why don’t you try to play with the other kids? You’re always alone.
Hikaru’s weird. We don’t wanna play with him.
Why are you always so quiet? You should socialize, you know.
What do I do with this child?
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to fit in or have friends. It was just—people were so loud, and confusing, and they rarely seemed to say what they meant. And Hikaru was too straightforward, too literal, too bad at figuring out all the hints and clues and subtleties that seemed to come easily to everyone else.
He was better at it all now, through years and years of painstaking study. He had learned to maintain eye contact. He had learned to understand when people said one thing or meant another—mostly. He had learned to bite his tongue instead of rambling on and on about the things that fascinated him, not realizing that he was boring everyone else with them. But it was still the difference between a native speaker and someone who had only ever learned the language from books and classes.
Finnian was right, Hikaru thought, as much as that thought angered him. If not for his exceptional flying skills, even his parents would think he was no good.
Note: I’m aware that the creature in the moodboard is, in fact, not a komainu but an Okinawan shīsā. However, since the creatures are very similar and it was impossible to find a free image of a komainu that would’ve fit into the color palette, I decided to take this liberty. My apologies.
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SUNLIT MAGE– the magic system
I. MAGICAL ABILITY
People known as mages have an additional sense, similar to how some animals can sense the Earth’s magnetic field. They can “see” magic as moving threads in different colors and shape them with their minds and gestures—“see” in quotation marks because it’s a synesthetic experience, and they feel the color more than anything. Magic itself is raw emotional energy drawn from the thoughts and feelings of the surrounding people; positive emotions produce Light Magic, negative ones Dark Magic, and emotions in between fall on the Twilit spectrum. A neutral form can also be artificially generated; this type is easier to control, but less powerful and often used by Light Mages for emergencies where they can’t rely on positive emotions being present. Magical abitily is genetic and usually inherited from a mage parent, but can sometimes occur in non-mage families through mutation.
II. TYPES OF MAGIC
There are different types of magic, and most mages can only use one of them. None of them are inherently good or evil; the only thing that sets them apart are the emotions from which they are derived.
1. Light Magic
Light Magic is magic derived from positive emotions, such as happiness, joy and love. Traditionally it’s considered the weaker of the “binary” magic types, as it relies on people being happy and is less effective in times of crisis or danger. However, it’s also seen as the more morally pure, largely through propaganda by the Light Mages themselves. To compensate for their weaknesses, Light Mages have done extensive research, which they guard jealously, and are the most magically advanced of all the magic types. Users perceive it as shining threads of light.
2. Dark Magic
Dark Magic is derived from negative emotions: anger, fear, hatred or sadness. As such, it tends to thrive in times of war and crisis, which has led to accusations of Dark Mages leeching off of other people’s suffering and even intentionally creating it to make themselves stronger. This, in turn, has led to centuries of witch hunts and persecution and now strict exclusion from Light Mage spaces and knowledge. The Dark Mages have built their own communities and conducted their own research, but are still far behind Light Mage knowledge. It’s perceived as black threads like spilled ink in water.
3. Twilit Magic
Twilit Magic is derived from emotions that are neither positive nor negative, such as doubt, surprise and confusion. Too dark for Light Mages, too light for Dark Mages, its existence has always been hushed up, especially since Twilit Mages can only come from a mixed Light-Dark couple or parents who are Twilit themselves. Since Light and Dark Mages rarely produce children together, Twilit Mages are very rare and don’t have their own community, although they’ve recently been allowed into Dark circles. Twilit Magic is perceived as gray threads that can range from silver to almost black.
4. Spectral Magic
Spectral Magic is the rarest kind and virtually unknown. While normal mages are limited to just one magic type, Spectral Mages can access Light, Dark and Twilit Magic selectively, only being able to use certain types for certain spells. Unlike Twilit Magic, Spectral Magic is not a result of mixed ancestry but a mutation that can occur among any type of mages; whether it can be inherited is unclear. There are, however, theories that every mage is Spectral to some degree and can sometimes access forms of magic other than their default one, e.g. under extreme duress.
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Excerpt from Sunlit Mage chapter 4.
Fellas, is it gay to obsess and feel jealousy over a guy who bested you one (1) time?
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A miracle gave me too much time yesterday. I decided to waste it put it to good use by making this.
Image credit: this picrew
If you haven’t checked out Sunlit Mage yet, then what are you doing?
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Snippet from JELLIE chapter 45. Or, the one where I roast Nate Fairweather and Elise Jamieson all in one fell swoop.
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Meet Sol, Finnian’s teammate from the flying team. They only came to me this afternoon, but I think I’m keeping them.
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FINNIAN DAY– character intro
“Now we’re talking. Maybe I should keep threatening you till you tell me how you cheated to get thatresult.”
- Name: Finnian Cassiel Day
- Age:15
- Appearance: Average height and light, flying-optimized build; very pale skin; thick, slightly wavy light blond hair, artfully messy to avoid looking too “mama’s boy”; large gray eyes; pretty face with prominent features
- Familiar: White winged lion named Atlas
- Strengths: Flying; alchemy; combat magic
- Magic type:Light
The spoiled, wealthy heir to the prestigious Day family. Arrogant, bratty, a sore loser with an obsession with being the best; not above threats, blackmail and bullying tactics to get what he wants. A decent person deep down, but that’s knowledge you can blackmail him with. Owner of a pet snake named Anthony.
Excerpt:
Too slow.
Gritting his teeth, Finnian threw a punch against the big screen of the stopwatch. Too slow. Again. Why couldn’t he do it? He was doing everything that exchange student bastard had done, and he still wasn’t getting faster. Why couldn’t he reach that guy’s time? What the hell did this stranger have that he didn’t?
That guy…Conflicting emotions boiled up in Finnian’s veins, and none of them were good. He had to be cheating, he had to. He had probably manipulated his broom somehow, and that was the only reason why he had beaten Finnian’s time. Finnian was an outstanding flyer, one of the best in his generation, a rising star on the broom-racing sky. He couldn’t just stand there and take a defeat from a random stranger he had never seen before.
The sun was setting. The air was growing chilly. His racing clothes did a decent job at protecting him from the elements, but even under the thick protective fabric he was starting to shiver. Soon it would be too dark to fly, and he still hadn’t figured out what he was doing wrong.
Stop threatening people and practice. He couldn’t believe he was actually doing what that bastard had told him—that insolent jerk, who did he think he was? He hadn’t even responded to Finnian’s threats! Finnian hadn’t meant to blackmail him for real, of course. He had just wanted to rile him up, get under his skin like that guy had gotten under his. But apparently the exchange student had defeated him here too.
He gritted his teeth. What would his parents say when they found out he had lost to some random no-name foreigner—what would his father say? He was a Day, heir to one of the oldest and most influential Light Mage houses in the country. He couldn’t afford losing.
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He was just about to head off to the locker room and change into his racing clothes when something caught his eye. A movement in the air, a blur, a shadow; and before he knew it he had paused, turning back towards the racing grounds to watch.
The sky was blue. The air was clear, and far above him, a person darted through the skies. Speeding through the course, dodging the obstacles, the slim figure seemed to be riding on the wind itself, pressed close to the broomstick in a flawless, elegant form. The rider had their broom under perfect control, all but dancing through the air, completing the obstacle course with weightless grace while still radiating a fierce, burning ambition.
Finnian stood mesmerized, his own errand forgotten. The world came to a standstill, and even his breathing paused, his whole self, his entire being focused only on the solitary rider alone.
Pleasing descriptions aside, I love this bit because Finnian’s first impression of his future arch-rival that he’s gonna spend half the book hating is that he’s basically enamored with him. It’s so deliciously ironic and insulting and honestly, he’s such a brat that he deserves it.
So…I know I said I’d be more active on here again, and then I disappeared. I’m sorry. Update schedules are still my foe and my enemy and keeping me captive. HOWEVER, I’ve also been working on a fun new thing in my downtime, enjoy some out-of-context quotes:
- Their debut album, Sad Boys Take Over Your Radio Station, had been a surprise hit. With their sophomore album, Not Every Long Sentence Is A Song Title (Sometimes, They’re Album Titles), they had become household names, playing themselves firmly into the hearts of gloomy teens and nostalgic twenty-somethings everywhere.
- Sky was intimidatingly broad and sturdy, […] but about as dangerous as the average tree. He just stood around the landscape and sometimes rustled in the wind, unless he suddenly and randomly decided to drop a branch on you.
- Attractivewomen, of course. The rest of his identity would have to stay home tonight, sleeping in the closet where it belonged.
- And Zeke had already done his damnedest to follow the directions the nice lady at the information counter had given him—hell, he had even gone back and asked again, not that it had gotten him anywhere except on her nerves.
- For a second he wondered if this was their meet-cute and she would ask him to get coffee together now. But just as he prepared to embrace his new rom-com existence, she had already turned and rushed off to disappear in the nameless, faceless crowd.
- Someone should invent an improved death glare, Neo thought irritably as he watched her try to decide between various identical-sounding beverages. The kind that also worked without eye contact. Was there such a thing? If there was, he would pay good money for someone to teach him.
- As far as he was concerned, being fawned over was better and cheaper than therapy.
- Oh no. Thank goodness. But also, oh no. He appreciated not having to deal with this lunacy alone anymore, but out of all his bandmates, did it really have to be Zeke?
Duology and series covers I’ve designed for stories I have (for the most part) yet to write: a compilation post.
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WELCOME, KIND STRANGER!
I have been quiet for a while. Let me reintroduce myself or, if you found this as the pinned post on my blog, introduce myself to you.
WHO ARE YOU? Ruby, twenty-two as of writing this post, she/her, from Germany. I’m a writer, artist, and also design graphics and the occasional book covers.
WHAT DO YOU WRITE? Anything I feel like writing. Usually that’s fantasy—high, urban, you name it—but I also write contemporary stories and the occasional fanfiction. In terms of target audience, my books are either YA/NA or have no target audience at all.
WHERE CAN WE READ YOUR WRITING? You can find my original works on Tapas (active) or Wattpad (semi-inactive), and my fanfics on AO3.
Secondly, let me tell you about my works:
ONGOING:
JELLIE: A Band Story – contemporary NA web serial novel. A reserved writer teams up with a passionate singer to write songs and joins her band; cue rise to fame and ultra-slowburn sapphic romance.
Queen Bees Only – contemporary YA deconstruction. The popular mean girl has to save the naïve new girl from her controlling, manipulative bad boy ex and ends up falling for her herself.
Sunlit Mage – urban fantasy YA, sequel to Twilit Mage (see below). A spoiled heir and a quiet exchange student have to put aside their rivalry when the latter’s unusual powers make him the target of a magical hate group.
Mean Boys – sports dramedy webcomic. A boy who’s been admiring a basketball player since fifth grade finds himself teaming up with his idol in high school to help him connect with their team.
COMPLETED:
Twilit Mage – urban fantasy YA. In a divided mage society, a girl descended from both sides must prove her place in the one that admitted her while finding out who framed her as an enemy spy.
The Colorless Land – epic fantasy. When a tween boy escapes from a dystopian society with a priceless magical artifact, he and the people around him become the target of soulless soldiers and get caught up in an impending war. Basically Lord of the Rings meets Studio Ghibli with extra diversity.
Shut Up, Cinderella – YA/NA fantasy romantic comedy-drama, fairytale retelling. A grumpy shoemaker gets dragged to the prince’s ball and must protect his identity when the latter enlists his help to search for his “lost love.”
Book of Gold – YA urban fantasy. A psychic boy and a girl raised by fae are sent on a quest to search for a long-lost treasure across mythologies from all over the world, but not all is as it seems.
ON HOLD:
The Colorless Army – epic fantasy. Direct continuation of The Colorless Land, so I really can’t say any more without spoilers.
Two Monsters in a Car – urban fantasy comedy. A vampire and werewolf agent who’ve been pining for each other for 3000 years go on a road trip to retrieve an ancient artifact of doom. Hilarity ensues.
That’s it for now! It’s a pleasure to meet you!
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Zarina
Age unknown. Fae. Counsellor of the Faerie Court and a friend of Constanza though she disapproved of her role in the Majin Revolution. Worked her way up from nothing. Determined. Sharp-tongued.
[Begin Image Description: Three images, from left to right: the words “You looked me in the eyes for a little too long to "not have any feelings for me” on a white background, a man with dark brown hair, blue eyes and a tiny bit of facial hair and a man from the waist down in a white dress shirt with black dress pants and an undone bowtie
End Image Description]
Julian Kovalenko
35. Advisor to the Belzovian Royal Family. Bit of a playboy. Did not sign up for this.
When Julian was offered the position to act as an advisor for the royal family, he thought he was having a joke played on him and actually hung up on the person who called him-who turned out to be the Crown Prince.
Not the greatest first impression but amazingly, he still got the job, in part because of his extensive knowledge of Belzovian etiquette, politics and history (he’s a bit of a nerd).
He’s stood by the Crown Prince couple throughout everything, including their fertility struggles and became more of a friend than an employee, often acting as their sword and shield when it came to the ruthlessness of the press and Belzovian court.
He has a reputation for being a bit too focused on his job, while he got along well with the other members of the staff, he had a reputation for being slightly harsh which made some members fear him out of respect. Though that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have his admirers(and he certainly admires them back, being quite charismatic when he wants to)though they’re often left disappointed when he plainly states he has no intention of being in a serious relationship.
Julian would do anything for the Crown Prince, which is why he is very taken aback not only by his sudden death, but the revelation of his three daughters, raised in Canada with no idea of Belzovian etiquette who he must now advise.
It is a huge undertaking, and the eldest daughter—the new Crown Princess—has a way of getting under Julian’s skin and breaking his normally stoic facade.
This…might be a challenge.
Image Descriptions Below:
[ID 1: An all white PowerPoint slide with the title Deadly Crown in the center, the subtitle says aka a slightly more suspenseful Princess Diaries-esque story by MissWriteress. The surrounding text reads, clockwise: contemporary novel, set in a fictional Slavic country (heavily influenced by Ukrainian culture) and there’s also been a murder and a whole lot of plotting for a modern royalty story End ID 1]
[ ID 2: A PowerPoint slide titled How did everything happen. a bullet point list reads as follows:
- Basically there’s this country called Belzova, that has its own royal family that somehow managed to survive all the revolutions. It’s main language is Ukrainian, with English, Russian, Romanian and a couple of others being considered minority languages.
- A long time ago the then Prince Dmitri met a very sweet Ukrainian-Canadian girl, they fell in love and with the permission of his parents and the blessing of his older brother the Crown Prince they ended up moving to Canada where they had their eldest daughter Alexandra followed by Larisa two years later.
- However five years after the marriage Dmitri’s older brother tragically died and Dmitri was left to become the Crown Prince, but his wife was considered unsuitable as a Crown Princess and she also had no desire to be Queen so with heavy hearts they ended up splitting up just as they learned she was pregnant with their last child, another daughter who they named Nina.
- It was decided that she would raise the girls in Canada away from everything that to do with royalty as the Crown Prince was going to be married again and was expected to have more heirs.
- And she did, for about twenty or so years…until the Crown Prince ended up dead with no living heirs except for his secret daughters no one knew about.
- Yeah, that’s going to be a fun mother-daughter conversation.
- Did I also mention the Crown Prince’s death was possibly, maybe definitely an assassination? End ID 2]
[ID 3: Slide titled Belzova (aka where everything happens)
Bullet point list reads as follows:
- A small country existing to the south of Ukraine, north of the Black Sea and Crimea
- During the reign of the USSR the country was taken over with the royal family forced to abdicate and flee temporarily to Canada, however after the fall of the USSR the royal family was able to return with the support of the people
- It’s main exports are primarily agriculture and minerals but is also considered a big player in the technology field/
- The country has been ruled by the Voloshin family since the 1900s, with the current monarch being Queen Sofiya.
- Off to the side is a map of Europe, with a part of Ukraine highlighted in light and dark green, there’s an arrow pointing to it with text at the top reading where Belzova is (in real life has historically been called New Russia or Novorossiya) End ID 3]
[ID 4: A slide titled Let’s meet the girls!
Below it is three images, from left to right: an image of a woman with dark hair and light brown eyes, an image of a woman with slightly reddish-brown hair and light blue eyes and an image of a woman with long dark hair and brown eyes.
Below it, from left to right:
Text saying Alexandra Malinovskaya-Voloshina followed by bullet points saying:
- Eldest of the sisters
- Very much gives off elder sister vibes: is a perfectionist to a fault, very serious
- May God have mercy on you if you go after her sisters
- Is currently a lawyer for a well-known Toronto law firm
Text saying Larisa Malinovskaya-Voloshina followed by a bullet point list saying:
- The middle sister
- Quiet and a peacemaker, never really wanted the spotlight
- Has a passion for helping people and is currently pursing a Masters in Health Sciences
- Is the only one of her sisters to have inherited their father’s blue eyes
Text saying Nina Malinovskaya-Voloshina followed by a bullet point list saying:
- The youngest sister
- Bold, never afraid of anything and has no problem fighting someone
- Ended up joining her cousin’s best friend’s private investigation firm along with her childhood friend/ex-girlfriend
- Is very suspicious of the circumstances of her father’s death End ID 4]
[ID 5: A slide titled The Love Interests, followed by the following text:
Julian Kozachenko
- The thorn in Alexandra’s side (or so she says)
- Born and raised in Belzova, though he did spend some time in Canada, and considered an expert in royal protocol as well as economics and politics.
- Has been serving the royal family for at least five years and considered remarkable given his young age
- Is assigned to act as a mentor to the girls but especially to prepare Alexandra as next in line which neither are thrilled about
Yuri Stepanovich
- Half-Romani, head of security for the Royal Family
- Previously served in the Belzovian Special Forces and was hand-picked by the King himself.
- Generally appears stoic, though he does have a sense of humor that usually comes out when he’s lightly poking fun at someone.
- Has three younger sisters, two of whom also serve the Royal Family
- Ends up becoming the bodyguard for Larisa when she returns to Toronto to finish up her semester
Roy Sagara
- Japanese-Canadian, childhood friend of Peter and therefore grew up with the sisters.
- Joined Peter in the Canadian Army where they served together in the same regiment.
- Was honorably discharged and, rather than go the traditional route with law enforcement, decided to open a private investigations/security firm
- Generally tends to be very snarky and, for a man who was in the military, can be a little short with authority.
- Took on Nina as an assistant/partner at her insistence (and doesn’t really regret it) End ID 5]
[ID 6: A slide titled How about we meet the family? followed by the following text:
Sylvia Malinovskaya
- Alexandra, Larisa and Nina’s mother, aka the first love of Crown Prince Dmitri and his secret wife.
- Is a very compassionate woman who knew the cold life of Belzova court wasn’t for her
- Also does not take shit from anyone
- Did not expect her daughters to be anywhere near the throne as Dmitri was supposed to marry and have more children
- Is very much a mama bear
Natalia Petrenko Voloshina
- Wife of Crown Prince Dmitri, daughter of a countess.
- Knew Dmitri since they were kids and was their initial choice for him to marry which didn’t end up happening once he met Sylvia
- Their marriage was quickly arranged after Dmitri became the crown prince and they struggled with Dmitri still loving Sylvia, but the two of them eventually developed a loving relationship and Natalia even became friends with Sylvia
- Was seen as the ideal noble lady: poised and eloquent but faced immense scrutiny for her infertility issues.
Dmitri Voloshin
- Crown Prince of Belzova, the youngest son of Queen Sofiya and her husband Ivan, who’s deceased.
- Literally the reason this entire story happens, both in life and death
- By all accounts was considered a good Crown Prince expected to be a great King except for the whole not having heirs thing (which turned out to not even matter)
- In case you haven’t got it yet, he very dead.
Peter Romanyuk
- Cousin to Alexandra, Larisa and Nina (though acts more like their older brother)
- His mother married his father very young, but they had a happy marriage before he tragically died
- Ended up serving in the Canadian Army alongside his childhood friend Roy, while Roy was discharged he is still serving. End ID 6]
[ID 7: A slide titled Other Characters! (Mainly the sisters’ friends) followed by the following text:
Miriam Hollenberg
- Larisa’s friend who is an anthropology grad student
- Similar to Larisa in disposition, though never hesitates to say what’s on her mind
- Is also Jewish
Tatiana Yovenko
- Childhood friend of Alexandra, works as an investigative reporter
- Is very stubborn and loyal, to the point where she doesn’t hesitate in joining Alexandra and her sisters in Belzova
- Also is very nosy which gets her into trouble
Lucy Graham
- Nina’s best friend who she met in high school and partner-in-crime (the two also dated from high school until their second year of college, but parted amicably)
- Joined her at Roy’s private security and investigations firm.
- Is somewhat more cautious than her friend, though won’t hesitate to back her up.
End ID 7]
[ID 8: A slide titled More Characters! (Dear god, why so many??) followed by the following text:
Milana Zahara
- A Belzovian noble assigned to be Alexandra’s lady-in-waiting
- Comes off as very prim and proper but is very shrewd in the ways of the Belzovian court.
Anika Litovchenko
- Raised overseas by an American mother though her father was a Belzovian noble
- Returned to Belzova for university and her not being raised in court led to her being selected as Larisa’s lady-in-waiting
Stefania Petrenko
- Natalia’s younger sister who she practically raised
- Isn’t very fond of the Belzovian court and plays loose and fast with the rules
- Is very good at fencing so please don’t upset her
- Chosen as Nina’s lady-in-waiting (to the regret of many)
Grigori Ivanenko
- Long-time Private Secretary to the Queen and thus one of a handful of people aware of the Crown Prince’s previous marriage and daughters
- A staunch traditionalist, putting him at odds with the sisters and even Julian who favors a more modern approach
- Is utterly loyal to the Crown (maybe too loyal?)
At the bottom is additional text that reads: There’s honestly a lot more characters but that would make this like twenty slides so that’s enough End ID 8]
[ID 9: A slide titled In Conclusion followed by a bullet point list that reads:
- Sisterly relationships, mother-daughter relationships but also a lot of family resentment because hey tell your daughters they might one day be Queen of an entire freaking country!
- Also romance: bodyguard romance, friends to lovers, little bit of age-gap (Roy is like seven years older than Nina, Yuri and Julian are even older like in their early to mid thirties) and a lot of belligerent sexual tension between Julian and Alexandra (Alexandra does not want to be told what to do and Julian has no idea how to deal with that)
- Slowly developing friendships as the sisters also uncover a lot of murder and plotting against their family and they might also be in danger.
- Literally I have no idea where I’m going with this, it’s just purely a fun WIP for me to work on because I’m going through a Princess Diaries phase apparently.
End ID 9]
This took me a lot longer than it should have, but here’s my Comic Sans Powerpoint Intro for Deadly Crown!
As mentioned in the PowerPoint itself, there are a lot more characters (the sisters’ staff, security team and a couple of pesky nobles) but this PowerPoint intro was getting long enough so I’ll just make character introductions for these characters.
There’s also some information about the characters that I forgot to include, but I’m not going back to edit the slides then retake these pictures so those will be included in the actual character introductions.
Also, I did include image descriptions above the read more, I usually just do the alt text but because of the nature of these images, I thought including the image descriptions in the captions might be better. So, please don’t delete that if you reblog this post.
I’ll likely be doing the character introductions for Julian, Yuri and Roy next whenever I actually get the energy to do them
[Begin Image Description: Six images, going from left to right: a woman in a black leather jacket and grey t-shirt from the neck down, a dark-haired woman wearing a silver tiara on their head, a person wearing grey leggings and black combat boots from the knee down, a grey text message saying the words “looking fashionable while taking down massive crime syndicates”, a woman with long dark brown hair and brown eyes, two text messages, the top one saying “what can I say? I’m charming and irresponsible” and the bottom one saying irresistible, grey boxing gloves hanging on a grey boxing bag, a text message saying “I’m not protecting anyone’s fragile masculinity” and a group of white and light beige Canon cameras hanging together End Image Description]
Character Introduction: Nina Malinovskaya-Voloshina
private investigator / brave / impulsive / rebel princess
Nina knew from a young age that she would never be the type to settle or stay put (to the amusement/worry of her mother and chagrin of her grandmother), too interested in climbing the highest trees she could or following after her cousin Peter and his friends in an attempt to join in their sports (Roy and Peter were always willing to let her join, no matter what their friends said). She’s never been one to back down from a challenge or try new things, being quick-witted and resourceful which allowed her to think on her feet especially later on when she became a private investigator.
Fiercely independent, one of the biggest sources of friction between Nina and Alexandra is Alexandra’s tendency to act more like a mother than a sister and baby her which often led to her acting out in her teen years. She also has a short temper, never hesitating to get into an argument or even fights with someone she views as being in the wrong, especially if they’re picking on someone she cares about.
As confident and brave as Nina can be, she often found herself struggling with what she wanted to do with her life especially when people compared her to her two older sisters. Eventually, however, her desire for the unconventional combined with a desire to help others (it’s a Malinovskaya trait) led her to ask Roy to take her on as a sort of apprentice with his private investigation/security firm which he eventually agreed to.
Above all else, she is fiercely loyal to her family and for all that she might argue with Alexandra, she would absolutely stand beside her and Larisa without hesitation. This is what leads her to start looking more into her father’s death with the help of Roy, as she fears something more deadly may be at work and endangering her sisters.
Character Introduction: Larisa Malinovskaya-Voloshina
grad student / peacemaker / quiet / reluctant princess
Quiet and shy, Larisa is well-known for being the “good” Malinovskaya sister, often acting as a mediator for Alexandra and Nina as while the two cared deeply about each other, at times their similar personalities and short tempers often led to them butting heads.
Slightly older than the newborn Nina but still too young to really have a memory of her father Larisa never held a grudge against him, believing he had to have a reason and accepting the birthday cards, presents and letters sent to them to Alexandra’s chagrin. That belief in people’s ability to be good was what fueled much of Larisa’s character: a soft-spoken, compassionate girl who never failed to lend a helping hand when needed.
Larisa’s desire to help people fueled her to pursue a career in public health and could be often found volunteering in nursing homes and hospitals in high school. She didn’t want the spotlight, she just wanted to help and in fact, wished to shy away from attention as much as possible.
Now with her royal heritage being revealed, she’s thrust far more into the spotlight than she’s ever been before, especially since she’s the only sister to inherit their father’s signature blue eyes.
WTW SIDE CHARACTER WEEK - DAY 5: RELEVANT TROPES
Hollis Vane
Beleaguered Assistant
The woman-Hollis-pinched the bridge of her nose as she stared at Gray with an expression that indicated her displeasure
“I’m going to regret asking this, but who are they?”
Gray grinned wolfishly. “Why dear Holly, they are a psychic and a mortal, plus the psychic’s girlfriend, who have come to ask for our help in locating the mage that exposed the supernatural world!”
“Gray, I just want one day of peace, one day!”
Belligerent Sexual Tension
“What the hell was that Gray?!”
“That was me trying to save your sorry ass, a thank you would suffice!”
“No, that was you being reckless and stupid, I don’t need you to save me!”
“Well too bad, because there’s no way in hell I’m letting you die!”
Character Introduction: Alexandra Malinovskaya-Voloshina
lawyer / stubborn / perfectionist / crown princess
The eldest sister, Alexandra grew up with the memory of her father walking out the door when Nina was just a newborn and never looking back which left her with a deep-seething resentment towards her father coupled with the childlike fear that he left because of something she did made her strive to always be perfect, to be a good daughter by helping her mother raise her sisters.
While Nina was often considered the spitfire of the Malinovskaya sisters, Alexandra was not one to hold her tongue, especially when she witnessed something she felt was wrong (often being the first along with Nina to jump in when Roy was being teased or bullied) and that fueled her decision to become a lawyer (as people liked to joke, Alexandra was pretty good in an argument), particularly becoming a lawyer to help those who might be overlooked.
Alexandra had a habit of pushing herself to the brink of exhaustion, her sisters often finding her slumped over her textbooks during high school. Many people who know her will joke that they’d like to know where her off switch was because Alexandra was not the type of person to slow down.
Fiercely protective of her sisters to the point of being overbearing, Alexandra (along with some help from Roy and cousin Peter) very easily terrified most of her sisters’ suitors, with some exceptions and God help you if you tried to hurt her sisters.
Alexandra certainly hadn’t expected her deadbeat father to be the heir of an entire country and really didn’t expect that with his death, she was now the heir.
She also didn’t expect that someone would be trying to kill her and her sisters.
WTW SIDE CHARACTER WEEK - DAY 4: POWERS/ABILITIES
Hazel Song
TW: Child Abuse, Attempted Murder of a Child, Murder
From a very young age, Hazel knew she was different, after all, most little girls couldn’t levitate their stuffed animals above their bed or throw their father across the room when they tried to attack them
Hazel hated it, hated this ability she viewed as a curse; her father blamed it (blamed her) for her mother’s death shortly after she was born. All it took was just one emotion and destruction would follow
Neither her father or stepmother understood this ability, they thought she was a demon and did their best to “rid her of her demonic power”. Instinctively her power would kick in, protecting her from them, but that would just make things worse
And they tried to drown her in a bathtub, and out of pure fear she threw both of them down the stairs, killing her stepmother and forcing her to flee
Now she doesn’t hate her ability, she doesn’t love it, but as she stares down a grown man twice her size and brings him to his knees with a flick of her hand, she’s in control.
WTW SIDE CHARACTER WEEK - DAY 3: FAMILY/HISTORY
Maria Contreras
A childhood friend of James’s, raised in a hunter family with her older sister Pilar the two sisters were also best friends, with Maria looking up to her older sister and considered James and Dean (another childhood friend) to be like brothers.
Maria may or may not have played matchmaker with her sister and Dean, with some help from James
When the war broke out, Maria didn’t hesitate in joining James and Dean along with other hunters in fighting against what she believed to be a corrupt government, But she wasn’t prepared for the pain and bloodshed she both witnessed and felt and each day slowly began to break her spirit
And then her older sister was killed in an attack by an unknown person, Maria being the person to find her sister bleeding out and along with Dean was the last person to talk to her before she died from her injuries
Dean followed shortly after.
After the end of the revolution, Maria chose to stay in the supernatural world, working as a forensic expert for the Protectorate (facing immense backlash for doing so)
The truth was, she just wanted to do something to forget.
WTW SIDE CHARACTER WEEK - DAY 2: RELATIONSHIPS
Isadora Cavanaugh
“My sister might as well have died in that war because she sure as hell didn’t come back!”
Constanza’s older half-sister, though they may not share the same father and are as different as night and day there is no doubt that Isadora would walk through fire for her sister, which made her inability to do anything for Constanza in the aftermath of the Majin Revolution even more heartbreaking
WTW SIDE CHARACTER WEEK - DAY 1: INTRODUCTION
Valencia “Val” Avallone
31. They/them.
Ex-Hunter. Linguistic genius. Tired
When it comes to outlining, I think what should be focused on the most is not plot, setting or theme (though those do serve a role in outlining), but characters. Characters are the foundation of your story, and they will drive the events throughout your plot, influence the setting, and form the theme.
You don’t need to map out whole character arcs—in fact, I encourage you notto do that because you can probably create a more natural, satisfying, and consistent arc while writing your first draft that by planning it out beforehand. You can create a point A and a point B, but I would leave the rest of the specifics up to plot planning and then write out how the character develops alongside the plot in the first draft.
Instead, I encourage writers, especially those who need to outline in order to create a successful story (like myself), to write character essays.
Essays?!?! Like…. English class? That might appeal some of you and disgust others. I know myself that writing a bunch of essays in 12pt Times New Roman, 5 paragraphs with MLA citations would not be fun and not get me anywhere.
What I mean by character essays is notthe traditional English essay. I mean, if that’s how you want to do it, then power to you. But you should write these in the manner you feel will be most effective and comfortable down the line because you’ll hopefully be referencing these character essays while working on your first draft and maybe even while editing. That means they can be five paragraphs or they can be two sentences. They can include any relevant information: backstory, motivations, physical traits, relationships, etc. A character essay is not a biography. Don’t try to fit a character’s whole life into the essay. Only focus on what should be relevant to the story.
I recommend doing this for as many characters as you can. Obviously the main character, as well as prominent side characters, antagonists, love interests, mentors, etc. But try writing them for those random side characters too! Often, you’ll never directly use that information, but coming up with lives of those random people can add to world building and make your character live in a more 3D world. In real life, everybody sees themselves as the main character of their own story. Reflect that in your writing.
Writing character essays are beneficial for all the obvious reasons. You can get a better idea of what a character is like, leading to a more consistent first draft. You can develop a character while writing it, and fix character holes before they arise. But they also can lead to a bunch of good side effects. As aforementioned, they can help increase world building. For example, asking about a character’s hometown can flesh out the setting of the world as a whole.
They can also get you hyped! A lot of times, both writing and reading over these character essays can remind you why you fell in love with them and why their story deserves to be told.
With that being said, character essays are a tool, not a chore. You shouldn’t have to worry about editing them because they will never see the light of publication, and they are for yourself only. If they feel like an inconvenience, they can be done for some characters and not for others, or be in list format, or maybe just consist of a bunch of words associated with that character.
You can also try doing this essay technique with the story’s setting, plot, and theme. You’re a writer—you should write it out and use both the process and result to further develop your story.
Hope this helps!
A lot of times, writers worry about transitional scenes in their stories. And it is important to know how characters move from place to place, or how time passes. But a lot of that can be just be written into the necessary scenes (the ones that advance the plot and the characters), rendering transitional scenes to just be sort of… filler. My advice is to try to make your story more fast paced and concise by cutting as many scenes as you can where characters are just “moving” through either time or space. Instead, trust the reader to understand how we got here through the context of what is already written.
I encourage all writers to make weird metaphors. Normal, typical metaphors are boring. They’ve been done before, they say nothing unique about your character/description, and readers will likely skim over them and not gain anything from them.
For example, saying “she was as fast as a cheetah” or “her legs turned to jelly.” There isn’t anything wrong with using these, per se, but they certainly aren’t specific or interesting. I could apply those metaphors to anything, and it would work the same. It doesn’t add to a character or theme. At that point you might as well say “she was fast” or “her legs felt weak” because they lead to essentially the same visualization. While this sort of mundane description is sometimes needed just to move the story along, I think writers should try to create weird metaphors.
Weird metaphors are original, but they don’t try to be. Original doesn’t mean they have never been done before. In fact, in the history of humankind, I bet that no matter what metaphor you make, somebody, maybe in a country across the world, maybe in a foreign language, maybe 200 years ago, has made the same metaphor. So there’s no use in trying to make the strangest, most unheard-of metaphor that could ever exist. You’ll probably just end up confusing the reader.
Opt not to be original with your metaphors, then: opt to be specific. Use metaphors as a chance to add to characters or theme. Create a vibe: it sounds kind of silly, but using metaphors and other figurative language is actually the best opportunity for a lot of writers where they can really create a certain feeling invoked in their work.
One idea is to compare a certain sense to something in another sense. For example, you could say “the walls were sour” or “the candy tasted pink in my mouth.” Even though this doesn’t make much technical sense (how can something taste pink?), I think the intention is clear. Pink has the connotation here of sweet, maybe artificial or maybe romantic or funny. What’s nice is that these types of metaphors are left up to a perfect amount of interpretation from the reader.
Of course, there are other ideas for how to make strange metaphors. You can use weirdly scientific terms, or use morbid terms for a nice thing. You can use a recurring theme in your metaphors, or maybe compare everything to a trait you want to accentuate in a character. Let yourself go out of the box and explore the beautiful, intimidating, and straight-up weird world of language!
Sometimes writing means standing up from your desk and pacing around the room for 15 minutes while trying to figure out a way to solve that plot hole.
And when it finally hits you, there is literally no better feeling on earth for a writer.
A lot of writers moving from that beginner-intermediate stage to intermediate or even advanced stages will discover how to properly “show not tell,” and they’ll do a great job at it. They will shape a scene perfectly through only the characters’ actions and dialogue, creating theme and tone through setting and description, and form the plot not through a contrived form but by the motives of the characters.
Then they’ll lose faith in their readers at the last second and tell.
Take, for example: “Everything around her turned red. She felt her heart pulse, her muscles contract, the hatred building up in her brain like a parasite. She was angry.”
That last sentence is redundant at best and harmful at worst. You trust the reader… and then you throw it all away. I know it’s usually not this obvious, but I encourage all writers to keep an eye out for crutching your showing with telling.
I think it all comes down to a key phrase that writers should remember whenever they put pen to paper: Trust the reader!
Hi everybody! In honor of… well, there isn’t really a specific reason to why I’m hosting a contest now, but I just feel like doing one! So, here’s the prompt, and then I’ll tell you more of the rules/guidelines for the contest!
Prompt:
Write a flash fiction or poem based on a song! The piece can include actual lyrics from the song, but it isn’t necessary. The top entries will receive prizes!
Rules:
The song can be any song—it can be explicit or clean, it can be in any language, genre, tone, etc. You will not be judged solely off the song you picked (i.e. this is not a competition of who has the best music taste)
Each writer can submit up to one flash fiction and up to one poem. You are eligible for both prizes if you win in both categories, but you can only submit one piece in each.
The word count limit for both the poem and the fiction is 400 words max. There may be a little leeway within 15-20 words above, but please no more than that. There is no minimum, and writers will not be judged off the length of their work.
Guidelines:
Both the fiction and poetry will be judged on these criteria:
- The quality of writing, including description, narrative, tone, and theme
- The matching of the writing to the song: do they fit each other tonally, narratively, thematically?
Points will be taken off for:
- Poor grammar/spelling/syntax
- No title or a bland title
- Song and writing do not match each other
- Going excessively over the word count
Of course, there will be no racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, ableism, etc. permitted. You can write aboutthese things, but your writing cannotsupport/affirm these things.
How to Submit
The due date for all pieces is Sunday, November 14th at 11:59 p.m. EST. There will be no exceptions made for late submissions, and they will automatically be disqualified. You can submit your piece as early as you like before that deadline.
Please submit it to me in an Instagram DM (@sweet_writng), in a file attached to some sort of caption letting me know that this is a submission for the contest. Saying “Contest Submission” is fine. Please do not send me a bunch of photos/screenshots of your writing in a DM. The file can be in doc, docx, or pdf format.
I am not sure how long it will take to read through and judge all the entries, and it entirely depends on the volume of entries received. I will try to do it within the week after 11/14, though.
Prizes
Okay, finally, the fun part! Here are the prizes that will be awarded for each category (there will be the same prizes for both).
1st Place: A $25 gift card to either Amazon or Barnes & Noble (your choice), a shoutout and permanent post of your writing.
2nd Place: A shoutout and permanent post of your writing.
3rd Place: A shoutout and permanent post of your writing.
If you get first place, you’ll probably need to give me some sort of contact information so I can send the prize. If you don’t feel comfortable doing that, you can still enter the competition but I will just give the gift card prize to second place.
There may be honorable mentions, I’m not sure yet.
Anything Else
I’m sure I forgot to answer some question. So, please leave any questions about the contest in the comments. And yes, I did do a contest like this one way back when (so if you remember that, shoutout to you because you’re a real one). It turned out very well and so I’m excited to see how this one goes!
