Badly Summarized WIPs

Badly Summarized WIPs

I was tagged by both @athenswrites and @amaiguri, so thanks to them for the tag! I've cut them down to the ones I don't really talk about, since I have way too many to fit the polls and I don't want to overuse some of them lol. I might do another one with the rest of my WIPs later, though!

Let me know what you think! I have a LOT of WIPs, more than I have room on polls, and I love talking about them lol.

(Gently) tagging: @theunboundwriter, @da-na-hae, @nemaliwrites, and anyone else who's interested!

Prologue Tag Game

Belated thanks to @amaiguri for the tag! I'll be going with Asteria Heights, which I've already done some worldbuilding spotlights on, lol.

"What's one of the most interesting things that happens before Page #1?"

(Picture isn't mine.)

Hundreds of years ago, humans and magical beings were able to roam freely between two realms; Earth and Velsaid. Not only was magic well-known, but humans and magical beings had a relatively peaceful relationship with each other. That was, of course, until the Great Divide.

The Great Divide was a sudden and unexpected catastrophe that destroyed the connection between the two worlds without explanation, leaving some beings stranded on the wrong side.

Not long after, tensions began to rise on earth between humans and magical creatures. As such, Asteria, an elven woman, created a gated community to host and protect the people of Velsaid from humans.

Several other communities also cropped up around the globe, and before long, most non-humans were sequestered away from human society. The two eventually encountered each other less and less. While there were no worldwide events that instantaneously sparked the separation, various regional incidents such as the infamous Salem Witch Trials eventually spurred non-humans to go into almost total hiding from humanity.

To this day, there are still global efforts amongst non-humans to research the nature of the Divide and find a solution to their predicament. This is where the story begins; with humans' rapid globalization and penchant for scouring every centimeter of the earth out of curiosity, non-humans are beginning to feel more and more cornered.

And then a human gets murdered on their lands.

Thanks again for the tag! This is the shortest bit of worldbuilding I can think to make a post of lol. Though now that the polls of the other post are closed, I guess this could've been backstory about that... meh.

(Gently) tagging: @athenswrites, @aalinaaaaaa, and @gummybugg next!

OC vs Cockroach

Belated thanks to @athenswrites for the tag! Finally going through my mentions and catching up after my disappearance, lol. Love a new ask game!

Gonna bring it back to Asteria Heights with this one, lol.

Rate your OCs on how well they’d fare against a cockroach

Meg: 3/10. Would scream first before setting it on fire, probably after missing and hitting other stuff a few times. Wouldn't have been so freaked out if not for the fact that her house has insect-repelling spells all over it, and therefore has no fucking clue how it got inside

Aven: 0/10 would shit himself and run screaming for the nearest person. Would suddenly forget that he literally knows magic and has spent half of his life traipsing through forests rife with insects. He can handle spiders, but ROACHES?

Nina: 10/10. Does not give a shit. She's seen worse. If it's in the house, she'll either kill it with a newspaper roll or capture it with her bare hands and let it out. If anywhere else, she'll leave it be unless asked to do something about it. As long as it stays off of her and her things (and Antheia doesn't notice it), it'll be like it's not even there.

Antheia: ????/10. Would be 10/10 if she wasn't so fucking weird about it. If left to her own devices, would capture the roach with her bare hands, shove it in a glass jar, and rattle it, giggling the whole time. Aven is more scared of her than he is of the roach. No one would see that roach again, and no one would want to know what happened. Rest in peace, roach.

Seraphina: 7/10 would do nothing. Her butler will handle it. If not, her ringneck snake will handle it. A Lady (TM) doesn't bother with insects.

Luella: 9/10 would fight the roach. Being barely taller than it, they'll see each other as a threat. If her assistant isn't there to handle it, and she finds herself unable to either ignore it or fight it with magic, she'll whip out her sewing needle sword and go to war.

Michael: 10/10 would eat the roach. No questions asked.

Thanks again for the tag! (Gently) tagging: @amaiguri, @anoelleart, @mysticstarlightduck, @paintedbutton

In honor of Worldbuilding Wednesday... How do you present your worldbuilding to your audience without overwhelming or boring them? What techniques do you use?

Thanks for the ask! To be honest, it's not really a hard and fast rule that I work with. It's sorta just a vibe? But essentially "explain as I go". I don't reveal anything that isn't relevant until it is. For example, if the story is about a trek in a fantasy land, I don't need to mention the currency/bartering system until they're actively making purchases or bartering. And even so, I try to refrain from full-on explanations.

So instead of a scene like:

She pulled out a dalc- a round gold coin about 10 centimeters in radius with the previous queen's face stamped into it- and made the purchase. A dalc was the highest form of physical currency in their country, and the previous queen, Queen Annie XIII, was so renowned for her economic advancements that she'd usurped King John IV for the honor of her face on the coin. Cassie won this coin by yada yada yada

I'd instead do something more like:

She presented him with a round gold coin. "Would a dalc suffice, or is that still not enough for His Royal Stingy-ness?" It'd better fucking suffice. She doubted even Jack had a dalc to spare.

And just leave it at that. Frankly, none of the other bits of information means shit to a reader, at least not in that moment. So if it REALLY becomes important at some point, I'll just wait until that point to explain the rest of it. It helps to keep in mind that, while this is a book, and the reader is new to the world, no one else in the story is (unless you made a character just for that). While you still need to explain things to the reader, it's just as jarring for them if the characters act as if they're in an educational show for elementary school students.

If you made a character just for this express purpose of having someone else who also needs the world explained to them, I think a good measure to keep in mind is the kinds of questions you (or someone you know whose personality is similar to your character) would actually ask in this situation. Would someone drop-kicked into fae-land ACTUALLY give a shit about whose face is on that coin? Would they care enough to ask? Would it ever actually occur to them to ask how their irrigation system works, or how the monarchy was established, while they're on a cross-country journey to save the princess?

Yeah so that's it, lol. Long-winded, but the TLDR is "context only as context is needed." Thanks again for the ask!

Hello! A pre-emptive Storytelling Saturday for next week: Describe your WIP in bullet points so my ADHD brain gets it quickly! 🥺🥺🥺

Hello! Thanks for the ask <3 Gonna be doing Teddy and Finn again, they're kind of my fixation right now.

Boy meets boy

Correction: human meets demon

Finn: cute ball of anxiety and random obscure historical knowledge

(also obsessed with "the occult" but in a scared repressed former Catholic kid way)

Teddy: quiet and curious gentle giant looking to learn more about human culture

(also happens to be a demon)

Teddy is short for Theodore, his "human" name (nickname bequeathed by Finn)

This is a romance, obviously

Teddy meets one (1) anxious sweet human and decides he's HIS now

Finn does not initially know Teddy is a demon

Finn is a hobby ghost buster (and a ghost/supernatural magnet)

Does not understand why ghosts do not appear whenever Teddy comes with him on his ghost hunts

It is in fact because the ghosts are scared of the entity standing behind him that is obviously a demon

Teddy is not just any demon but is in fact one of the princes of hell

Teddy isn't hiding it; Finn is just incredibly dense

Lol this ended up being kinda long, but I hope you still enjoyed it! Thanks again @amaiguri for the ask!

OC in 3 Tag

Belated thanks to @mysticstarlightduck for the tag! This is for Sora from Beyond the Mirror, a WIP I haven't formally introduced yet.

Rules: Post 3 pictures that represent your OC plus the source

Not very cohesive but I couldn't find a better third picture! Got all of mine from Pinterest.

I saw the previous post had songs, but I'm nowhere near confident enough to show anyone what I have in my playlists lol.

(Gently) Tagging: @amaiguri, @paintedbutton, @athenswrites, @bunnymermaidwrites, and anyone else who wants in!