WIP Snippet Tag Game

WIP Snippet Tag Game

Rules: Post a snippet you've written that you're proud of and tag 5 people

Thanks @inkovert for tagging me. Your snippet is crazy good! I chose this one because I introduce my favorite character in it.

I'm gently tagging @skyderman @yesireadbooks @at-thezenith @silviathebard @siochaile

I could tell from a glance that Lady Ariella was nothing like her sister. She was just as deadly, but with none of the poise. She crossed her arms defensively over her chest and cast me a scowl that could burn. Instead of a strategically wrapped snake for a familiar, a wolf stood at her feet, growling and baring its fangs at me. Regardless, I held on to hope that she had a reasonable side. Our clans had never gotten along, even before the Great Witch War tore the clans’ trust in each other to shreds. But Lady Ariella and I could be the start of an understanding that was so desperately needed.

Lady Ariella beat me to the first remarks. She opened her mouth wide when she spoke, undoubtedly to show off her sharp canines. “For what reason are two Spiritwalkers visiting the stables?” 

I ignored the threat in her tone and bowed. “Lady Ariella, I have been meaning to introduce myself to you.”

“I know who you are, Lady Daron. Everyone does. And that doesn’t answer my question, unless you mean you followed me here.”

“Of course not. I came here to see Silver as she is the mare I will be riding for my horseback riding course. It is pure coincidence that you are also here.”

“No it’s not. I was given permission to feed the horses dinner. I’m always here.”

I had never spoken to someone so argumentative just for the sake of it, but I would not let her attitude deter me. I said, “Either way it is good that we are here together. As we are both ladies, we should make efforts to know each other and get along to strengthen the relationship between our clans.”

Lady Ariella laughed. “You want to strengthen our clans’ relationship? Even if I was interested in that, do you really expect me to believe you? Everyone knows you Spiritwalkers only care about your own clan!”

Maya shoved her way in front of me. “How dare you speak to Lady Daron like that!” 

In response, the wolf snapped its jaws at Maya. My attendant jumped back just in time to keep her fingers from being bitten off, but she did not cower. I was glad to see that Lady Ariella at least had enough sense to control her familiar. She stroked the top of the wolf’s head and softly told it to calm down. The wolf sat, but continued to growl.

I used this interaction to my advantage, hoping a topic Ariella was interested in would encourage her to open up to me. “Did you train your familiar to react like that?”

Lady Ariella scoffed. “You think I would train a creature that is meant to be wild? No, Perilous reacts on her own accord. She is merely influenced by my will.” She shifted her attention to Maya, who resumed her place by my side, “You, I can speak to Daron however I wish because she is not my primary lady. That’s the problem with you Spiritwalkers–-you set all these dumb rules and expect the whole world to go by them.”

I was stunned by the witch’s words. I encouraged my peers to act properly, but never enforced my clan rules upon them. Even so, it was my duty to make amends. “I apologize if there has been any miscommunication, Lady Ariella-”.

“Aria.”

“Pardon?”

“I go by Aria. And don’t mistake my intentions. I just can’t stand frivolous things.”

My eyes roved over her collared blouse, double breasted vest, and skirt made fanciful by a petticoat, but I refrained from lifting my tongue. I knew better than to fight with a Fang.

“I apologize if there has been any miscommunication, Aria. I can assure you, as I have been involved in my clan’s affairs my whole life, that we have never intentionally tried to force rules on others and we certainly do not care only for ourselves. You must understand that our work is strenuous and dangerous, so we must create certain regulations and focus heavily to get it done. But we do desire the best relations we can have with the other clans. I would not be here if that was not the case.”

Aria turned around, seemingly done with the conversation. “Tch. Just stay out of the stables. You’ll probably spook the horses with all your spirits.”

“As you wish,” I said as I turned on my heel and walked away.

“She has no right to treat you like that,” Maya said from behind me.

“And I have no right to try to control her.”

Happy STS!

What is your favourite genre to read? Is it the same as your favourite genre to write?

What subgenres within that genre are your favourite to read? Are they the same ones you like to write?

Happy STS!

My favorite genre to read and write is fantasy. Within it, I like dark fantasy and high fantasy. I’ve only written dark fantasy because high fantasy can be a lot to keep track of!

Now that I have an intro post for my wip, Spiritwalker, I want to get more in depth with my posts.

There are seven different clans of witches, each with a different set of powers, culture, and physical traits. So I'm going to make a post describing each of the clans. For the first post we have my mc's clan.

Spiritwalker Clan

Colors: Dark blue and silver

Symbol: Scythe

The Spiritwalker Clan is known for being the most structured clan. Witches of this clan can be serious to the point of aloofness because their magic revolves around the dead. Most of them work to bridge spirits, with each subfamily taking a different region of the country and the head family taking the most dangerous spirits.

The only exception is the Wisp subfamily, who train since birth to serve the head family. They are willing to do anything for their leaders as they believe their lives are only useful if it means serving them.

Spiritwalker powers include being able to see and communicate with spirits, being able to travel to the Spirit World at will, and being able to steal a spirit's magic. Their powers are strongest in the Spirit World.

The most notable physical traits of Spiritwalkers are black hair with some sort of white in it; black, blue, or purple eyes; and pale skin.

The Spiritwalker Clan posses a relic unique to them called the spirit dagger. Usually made out of precious gems, each heir to the clan has one made specifically for her. Its purpose is to cut between the living world and the Spirit World to draw out its energy. The first matriarch's spirit dagger was the scythe that became the clan's symbol.

The Spiritwalker Clan gets along best with the Psychic Clan and worst with the Fang Clan

This is the third of my wip's clans. Here is my first post and my second post.

The Fang Clan

Colors: Brown and gold

Symbol: Paw Print

The Fang Clan is known for being the feistiest clan. Witches of this clan are physically stronger than those of any other clan, and they love to entertain themselves by having fights. They are not a fan of rules and are quite spontaneous. This is one of the two clans that doesn’t have a secret.

Fang powers include strong, animal-like senses, each witch having a familiar, and the ability to communicate with animals. Their physical traits include blond or brown coarse hair; gold, brown, or hazel eyes; and sharp canine teeth and nails.

The Fang Clan gets along best with the Arsonite Clan and worst with the Spiritwalker Clan.

This is my second post about my wip's clans. My first post is here.

Herbneivorous Clan

Colors: Dark green and purple

Symbol: Holly Berries

The Herbneivorous Clan is known for being having great medics. Their powers include the ability to grow plants, the ability to eat poisonous plants, and the ability to tell a plant's properties by touching it. The latter power is what makes it easy for them to make medicines. Their powers are strongest when they're in nature.

Despite their aptitude with medicine, not even the Herbneivorous Clan can find a cure for the plague.

Their physical traits include green, brown, or hazel eyes; brown or black curly hair; and brown skin.

While most clans are tight-knit and reclusive to others, the Herbneivorous Clan has a case of in-fighting. The Hemlock and Nightshade subfamilies are the two most powerful of this clan and often compete to be the most powerful. The Nightshade subfamily will even go as far as poisoning other witches to gain more power.

The Herbneivorous Clan gets along best with the Fang Clan and worst with the Arsonite Clan.

Ooh, this is a tough one. On the one hand, no one owes anyone an explanation of their sexuality. On the other, it’s really shitty for authors to pretend to be queer just to sell more books.

I feel like it depends on a few different things: intent and interpretation. Like if you are intentionally queerbating for profit, then yeah that’s on you and you suck. But also fanbases can interpret things wrong and make assumptions. For example, I’ve seen people accuse Taylor Swift of queerbating because some of her fans say she’s gay but she’s never made a statement. I’m sorry but everything about that discourse is delusional and it’s not queerbating. If anything, it’s taking away from the actual topic.

I don’t think we can gatekeep people from telling queer stories if they’re not. If they’re respectful and do their research, I see no problem with it. I actually think this is a good opportunity for straight authors to foster their understanding and empathy for the queer community. And even if they’re not queer, they can still share similar experiences. We should be trying to help people see eye to eye and not build walls between them.

So yeah, intentionally queerbating is not good, fans assuming content creators’ sexualities is not good but it’s also not the creators’ fault, and authors should write be able to write the stories that speak to them without having to expose their private lives.

(This is just my opinion, don’t come for me)

SPILLED INK SATURDAY 》 Writeblr Discourse Series

Session 3: "Queerbaiting"

For more information on what Spilled Ink is go check out our first session post.

As always, to participate in the discussion, you can do so one of two ways:

➸ Return to the OG post (which will always be linked in the title of the post) and reblog with your take on the topic, either in text or in the tags

➸ If you see someone’s take on your feed and you want to chime in on something they said, feel free to reblog their response

If you choose to participate, please be respectful when providing your opinion or when responding to someone else’s. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, no matter how strong it is, but there’s a difference between being opinionated and being borderline rude and antagonizing. Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia or hateful speech of any kind will not be condoned or tolerated.

What are your thoughts on authors "queerbaiting" their readers? Is it a valid criticism? 

Some guiding questions below the cut if you aren't quite sure where to start with this one. Topic and questions inspired by/drawn from this video.

How much of their private lives do creators owe if they profit off of queer content?

Who has the authority to tell queer stories?

How do we differentiate between protecting a marginalized community versus gatekeeping people from freely exploring their identities?