I Am Neither Doing NaNo Nor Skipping NaNo, But A Secret Third Thing

I am neither doing NaNo nor skipping NaNo, but a secret third thing…

WIP INTRO - Seventh Virtue

Genre: Adult contemporary fantasy

Status: Currently drafting / 155k words (summer 2021-present)

Synopsis: After being tormented by nightmares of his ex-boyfriend, Lonan, Harrison seeks a magical intervention from old friend, Reeve. But when she reveals she and Lonan are members of the Seventh Roost, one of seven magical families that coincide with the 7 Holy Virtues and 7 Capital Sins, she also unveils another secret: Lonan is part Virtue, the immortal bird that represents each house, and her family is holding him captive in hopes of extrapolating his power. Harrison must choose to continue life as he knows it or rekindle relationships he thought he’d left behind to save someone he once loved.

Setting: Manhattan NY, Buffalo NY

Vibe: Candles burned to the stump, indigo raven feathers, early 2000s pop, snowy woods at blue hour, dawn fog, a bloody lip, the clatter of city traffic, the singe of gasoline.

Characters:

Harrison Frost (narrator - 25) | loyal, impulsive, dependable, stubborn

Reeve Aldaine (narrator - 23) | persistent, observant, reclusive, unreliable

Lonan Clark (25) | logical, introspective, ambitious, impulsive

Darren Peterson (26) | sensible, focused, compassionate, reliable

Foster Creed (24) | empathetic, intuitive, wistful, unassuming

Excerpt (CW: gore):

Don’t blink when in an instant, none of this—the lake, the bodies—is there. When all there is in sight is a bird heaving in the centre of a concrete room. Approach him. Know him–and quickly. His black feathers so slick, they gloss indigo in the single floodlight fluorescing him. Notice he’s injured. Notice he has hands, fingers, that he grips something small, polished. Notice the blood, how it gels everything—his skin, feathers, the floor. Notice how he holds it all: the knife, the blood, his skin, the feathers, the floor.

Please ask to be added to the taglist! <3

LITTLE BY LITTLE

HI IM VERY EXCITED ABOUT THIS SILLY LITTLE STORY. it is:

a feel good lighthearted story about a bunch of kids in high school 👍

one half enemies to lovers romance, other half queerplatonic coming of age 🤨

dual storyline following two annoying siblings who will die for each other 🤱

set in chennai because i want to draw the city i grew up in and have a crisis over not having seen it enough 🤯

me deciding to compensate for my non existent final years of high school via fiction because who needs therapy tbh 🤔

BLURB

It’s Sameera’s last year of high school, and everything’s going her way: she’s a student council head, the captain of the girl’s Kho-Kho team, and she’s liked by almost everyone in her grade. Almost. Frigid, uptight Kayalvizhi, fellow council head, is the lone exception. Their first interaction was a nightmare, and while Sameera is told that Kayalvizhi’s just indifferent to everyone around her, she still feels personally attacked. So when the two of them are paired up as the cultural leaders for their school’s end-of-year ceremony, she’s more than thrilled to prove Kayal wrong by outshining her in everything. Too bad the latter’s determined to shut Sameera up by competing just as fiercely. What neither of them expects, though, is to find common ground, or to realise that the other person isn't who they thought they were, or, god forbid, actually start to enjoy each other’s company.

Anbu is a reserved kid, Sameera’s younger sibling by two years and the apple of every teacher’s eyes. Still just getting used to adolescence, Anbu is, to say the least, a bit disoriented. They’re exploring their confusing world, trying out new hobbies, grappling with their gender identity and pushing the limits of the life they’ve led so far. But right when they think they’ve got it all figured out, change hits them between the eyes in the name of Tamizh—their cool, mysterious neighbour who’s come back from Mumbai years after moving away. Anbu and Tamizh were childhood best friends, but that's childhood, and they know better than anyone else that adolescence upends everything with a rage. As the two’s rekindled friendship begins to deepen, Anbu is left questioning whether they see him as a friend, a crush, or something else entirely.

At least one thing’s certain for them all: this will be an unforgettable year.

CHARACTERS

SAMEERA. she/her, bi. annoying ass extroverted jock mf. everyones fave gremlin. needs constant love and validation or else she will perish

ANBU. they/them, trans. former sweetheart now saddled with a growing bloodthirst. going through too much all at once and is on the verge of emotional burnout.

KAYALVIZHI. she/her, trans, lesbian. moody ass introverted nerd mf. hates every single person to ever grace this planet and i love her so much actually

TAMIZH. he/him, aro. Resident Cool Kid™ except he feels very uncool and very unchill, ball of nerves just barely keeping it together. is unlearning a lot of toxic beliefs on gender and he’s doing it with style.

SO WHATS THE DEAL HERE

idk what happened in the last two years but i’ve gone from being a prose hoe to a webcomic bitch and it has been working out great for me. comics are such a brilliant format for someone who’s equal parts artist and writer and recently all my important all-consuming story ideas have been webcomic ideas and im so excited to get to make them!!

there are two parts to this story, two parallel arcs, one for each sibling: sameera’s enemies to lovers story with kayal and anbu’s queerplatonic coming of age thing with tamizh. i think the main inspiration behind this was a) bridgerton season two which was the first time i actually ENJOYED an enemies-to-lovers romance and which made me go hmm yanno what. i’m going to do the same but without british people. b) me realising that as much as i love romance and writing romantic relationships i also would like to write a queerplatonic relationship please and thank you [it is endlessly amusing to me that my favourite genre is romance despite me being aromantic lmao] and i esp wanted to try writing a qpr from the pov of the non-aromantic character, just for that extra spice!

in the very short time ive had these four they’ve taken over my brain completely and i love it so much!! im currently working to on getting the basic prep work done [character turnarounds, uniform designs, bg models etc etc] and i’ll post updates on progress whenever i feel like lmao

interested in liminal spaces. interested in the in betweens. rest stops. airports. schools at night. late december. teenagedom. purgatory. grief.

today’s date is the 3rd? what’s next, the 4th? the 5th? the minor fall, the major lift? 

WIP INTRO | Cal Magney’s Bouquet of Hydrangeas

Camp NaNoWriMo, July 2022

DISCLAIMER: This is my original work that I’m choosing to share. Plagiarism in any form will not be tolerated. 

genre: litfic (duh)

pov: vignettes and a nonlinear timeline with alternating POVs!!! 

what: father and daughter are a little too similar for their own goods. they fight, they mediate, there’s whirlwind romances at boarding school, a gay art history professor with a mullet, an emotional support english teacher, a huge old house that’s probably haunted, gay aunts who like tarot cards and traveling, and lots of pranks and assorted mayhem

when & where: london (shoutout to dallon for answering my questions), switching between the late 70s and late 90s 

who:

etta magney: age 17, she/her, kind of a bitch, perpetually unimpressed, lowkey a hopeless romantic, super close with her dad(s), heavily enjoys not living up to her potential 

cal magney: 17 and 36 for the most part but it skips around a lot, he/him, had etta super young, also kind of a bitch, the disgraced heir to a massive fortune and one of the oldest noble houses in britain, really likes david bowie

evan doyle: 17 and 36 for the most part, he/him, cal’s not-husband and etta’s stepdad, he and cal dated in high school, took a break, and got back together. he’s the gay art history professor with a mullet and earrings. super cool and super smart.

lucien tahir: 17, he/him, etta’s best friend and love interest, penchant for absolute mayhem, would not commit arson but i would not rule it out bc he is definitely capable of it 

ollie tahir: 17, he/him, lucien’s twin brother and etta’s other best friend, also loves mayhem, is the only one with a shred of dignity and/or common sense out of the three of them, would probably commit arson

also featuring:

jamey reed: cal’s brother from another mother, definitely has undiagnosed ADHD

ms millard: aforementioned emotional support english teacher for both cal and etta

elvira: gay aunt who loves tarot cards, partner is roxy, gay aunt who loves traveling and cowboy boots

smith: he is weird 

+ the rest of etta’s weird aunts and uncles aka cal’s ragtag group of gay friends from high school

themes and aesthetics: receiving a bouquet of your favorite flowers just because, old tudor houses, london when it’s raining, trying to do homework in a grand old library, crisply pressed school uniforms, smoking out your dorm window, scratched records, berets and knee-high socks with mary janes, hiding behind a pillar, stomping in puddles on the sidewalk, dancing in the kitchen with your parents

ok so what’s the plot: y’all know i love a good story where nothing actually happens. it just kinda goes back and forth between cal’s school days and etta’s school days until the reader understands why they’re so similar and fight so much but at the end of the day love each other because that’s the beauty of a healthy family relationship. cal falls in love with evan, etta falls in love with lucien, cal fights with his mother, etta fights with her father, lots of parallels. 

taglist: @dallonm @august-iswriting @rataltouille @jennawritesstories @smalltownwriter @phiwrites @lottieiswriting​ @writing-in-liminal-spaces​ @rowenkrahn​ ask to be +/- :)