I Don’t Talk About Her Very Much, But This Prompt Is Definitely The MC From It Will Hurt: And There

100 visitors of the archives!!

holy shit, the archives has gotten to 100 followers!!!

i am beyond grateful, it's so amazing to see so many people pass through, reading the stories, engaging with tag games, and simply existing here. i am so touched and incredibly thankful, this feeling is really beyond compare. you are all amazing <3

i won't tag everyone this time, because that is a lot of people and i haven't slept properly in three weeks, but just know i am so happy you've stopped by, even for just a moment.

thank you so much everyone.

Day 24 (33 in base 7) of re-writing my novel

Since google docs (my primary writing tool, accompanied by my note-taking journal) doesn't quite accurately describe my true word count, today I will celebrate 30,000 words like I promised yesterday, because it's close enough to be within a 5% error.

I wrote more today, including getting deep in the weeds with the relationship between Izi, Hero of Cognition, and Dolgof, the Hero of Life. Without sharing very many spoilers, they're in very similar situations. Or, have been.

Izi, the current Emperor of Zeneste, has never been in a position of power before, nor has he been a proper leader. Dolgof had been in his position during the drafting of the Constitution of Zeneste, but she never became a good leader.

I like this dynamic between them. Not only does Izi have someone to discuss what being a leader means with, he also has someone to juxtapose himself against, however unhealthy that may be.

Find the Word

A tag from @theothersideofthewoods.

The goal is to find these words in my WIP: charm, bubble, poison, kiss

Your words are: gloom, shimmer, muck, home

Charm

Tonight, the chef had left a couple sliced apples with grilled salmon next to it. Irotijv, I thought to myself. The national dish of Zeneste. Definitely a good-luck charm for tomorrow. The apple was sweet and juicy, and the fish was seasoned and seared perfectly. I fell into my bed soon after having supper.

Bubble

I jumped back, ducking beneath the stream of flames when she turned around. Hota crossed their arms and closed their eyes. “I’m casting a blanket of tranquility,” they yelled, spreading their arms. A blue bubble enveloped the whole train car, dimming the flame in her mouth, but not the orange in her eyes.

Scar

[Taguchif] was sitting by a large window in another empty train car, staring out at the coast while the moon shone over it, reflecting over the water. Her gauntlets laid beside her, exposing her scarred hands. She did nothing when I sat beside her.

Poison

(Is it bad that this word literally doesn't show up in Meiste in the first ~50,000 words???)

Paging: @foxgloves-garden and @reedandstorm, along with open tag.

Day Six of Writing my Novel again (follow up from last night because I forgot.)

I smashed past 8600 words in Part One last night, and if my novel has 4 parts like I plan for it to, then the total word count should be somewhere along the order of 60-75,000 words. Not a lot, but good enough for draft 1!

I wrote about 2200 words of Meiste today while flying home from Albuquerque. Since I had no wifi to load up my google doc (peak writing setup, I know) I instead began working on Part 2 (out of how many? Not even I know!)

For the most part, I have a vague idea of the main characters, how they grow together, and where they end up, but part of the fun in writing is surprising myself in the moment. Like, today, the two characters who will wind up in a relationship by the end of the book, I wrote their introduction and first outing. It was glorious.

Day 45 (1:21) of rewriting my novel

No piece of writing of mine would ever be complete without the 4-legged table theorem. So, I added it in today in the 1200 words I wrote. And I'm still not done with Part Three (but getting closer!)

Speaking of Part Three, I'm getting close two being done, I think. I have a couple gaps left to fill, but that's about it. I'm surprised I haven't managed to write the actually important last scene (that being, the meeting with Governor Bunthun.

I still feel bad about romanizing her name, but nobody (except people who read Cherokee in its romanized form) would figure out that it's pronounced [ˈbə̃.ˌθə̃] and romanized as bvthv. So, preying on the fact that English speakers (mostly) nasalize their vowels and <u> can represent the "strut" vowel, so [ˈbʌ̃n̪.ˌθə̃n] will have to do. It's close enough.

Meanwhile, outlining Part Four looms on the horizon, nebulous as it was before. I know how I want it to end, and the major points in between, but that's about it. Somehow, Part Five seems to be more fleshed-out in my mind than Part Four.

I still have to derive Modern North Zeneth, whose closest living relative is supposed to be Low Zeneth. It's derived from a northern dialect of Old High Zeneth that split away from Old High Zeneth about 800-600 years ago. Maybe then I'll have a better name for Bvthv, but it wouldn't make sense for Governor Luwbefê to call her anything other than Bvthv.

Character names are hard.

The Usual Suspects: @oldfashionedidiot @quillswriting

If you'd like to be added to my taglist, please respond to this post or DM me.

Foreshadowing is so fun! Even though I'm still on draft one of my novel, I may list which of these elements I've incorporated so far below.

Lozerief knows stuff she shouldn't. How did she know Izi's dad? If she knew his dad, did she know his mom? (Spoilers, yes, she did, duh.)

Colors. Everywhere. Lozerief wears black, foreshadowing her role as Hero of Earth. Izi wears white, foreshadowing his role as Hero of Cognition and her antithesis. Hota wears teal for their role as Hero of Mind.

I (mostly) know how this will end.

Not a Checkhov's gun but I repeatedly bring up Izi's old home for more reasons than just trauma.

I keep track of what I put in languages that I create so that only I (and the characters who speak those languages) know what they're saying. (I foreshadow the rise of the White Army this way.)

Names with meanings is a big one for Lozerief...

I realize only now that Lozerief is the character who hides the most, and it's amazing she doesn't spoil it all right away. Maybe she's bound by some old agreement...?

subtle ways to include foreshadowing

one character knowing something offhandedly that they shouldn't, isn't addressed until later

the crow rhyme

colours!! esp if like, blue is evil in your world and the mc's best friend is always noted to wear blue...betrayal?

write with the ending in mind

use patterns from tragic past events to warn of the future

keep the characters distracted! run it in the background until the grand reveal

WEATHER.

do some research into Chekhov's gun

mention something that the mc dismisses over and over

KEEP TRACK OF WHAT YOU PUT. don't leave things hanging.

unreliable characters giving information that turn out to be true

flowers and names with meanings

anything with meanings actually

metaphors. if one character describes another as "a real demon" and the other turns out to be the bad guy, you're kind of like...ohhh yeahhh

anyways add anything else in the tags

Day 48 (1:24) of rewriting my novel

Ok today I thought I'd share the Lozerief song:

Particularly when the rhythm solidifies somewhere around the 57 second mark, but the whole thing really. It captures her vibe immaculately, I think; both the badass side, and the yapping side. (She's a chronic yapper.)

I only say this because I start Part Four today with Lozef yapping about the Heroes' plan to retake Ir Nouzonif. I also reveal in this chapter that Lozef loved Dolgof ("Lozerief, ner zimouhes ezimouhes Dolgofenif?"/"Zimouhes, ner lougodenif zisi!") (Lozerief, did you love Dolgof?/Yes, and you're a cow (as an insult)).

Usual suspects: @quillswriting @oldfashionedidiot

If you'd like to be added to any of my taglists

If you would like to be added to one of my taglists, please see this post or DM me!