floweryprosegarden

Latest Posts by floweryprosegarden

Out of Context Line

Thanks @glasshouses-and-stones for tagging me! I've been busy with my studies, but writing. Planning on making an intro post about Liquor and Locusts when I have time, oddly it's gotten some interest after years in my asks. But for now here's a random excerpt from a chapter I'm revising this afternoon.

Tagging: @orphanheirs @tildeathiwillwrite @defeatistwriter, and anyone else who wants to join. Happy Saturday :)

June 3, 1938 Virginia Woolf, “A Writer’s Diary” (1918 - 1941) originally published: 1953

Made this mood board using Canva with some free images from Unsplash. Slapped on some snippets I wrote and shared a little while ago,,,,,and yeah.

By the way, one told me second drafts could be so brutal.

So I edited another chapter of my wip that burned the heart out of me. Decided to do some sketches this morning of a cafe in Project Istanbul, some tea and mosaics. It was kinda therapeutic.

Seven Lines

Thank you @glasshouses-and-stones and @comicgoblinwrites for tagging me. Even though I should be writing a production proposal for Macbeth this afternoon for my

cw: alcohol, mild sickness

ok at this point if my characters just spoke normally that would actually interest me.

Tagging: @orphanheirs, @noirwordsmith, @writingwithsnails, @mintyswriting, @tildeathiwillwrite, @icarianauthor, and @holdmyteaplease, to share (aprox.) seven lines of their work if they’d like!

Stuck in an unanticipated editing spiral at the beginning of Draft 2 of Project Istanbul, oh and mourning the plot lines that got chucked for the Greater Good. Goodbye side character whose only purpose was to be aesthetically pleasing, I never knew you.

Word Find Tag

Thank you @orphanheirs for tagging me!

My words: desire, cook, under, and heat!

p.s. just realized my 95K manuscript doesn't include the word 'cook' anywhere. Probably because my characters are too lazy to cook ahahah

Zero pressure tagging: @tinywater @icarianauthor @noirwordsmith @literaryvein @macabremoons, and anyone else who wants to join! Your words: thought, walk, sky, and laugh!

We're beating flowery prose with razor sharp specificity around here

I'll be like waw I just wrote a paragraph of such striking, such specific, juicy prose—then I'll read a sentence by Nabokov where he described a man running to catch the bus and I'll be crushed forever

Writing Share Tag

Thank you @drchenquill and @autism-purgatory for tagging me.

Sharing some excerpts below from Draft 1 of Project Istanbul that are getting scrapped (these scenes didn't survive my developmental revision plan). Hope you enjoy!

TW: addiction, unsafe quitting methods in first snippet.

Gently tagging: @literaryvein @mcplestreet and anyone who wants to participate. Rules are simple: just share some of your writing!

productivity tag game

Thank you @mcplestreet for tagging me!

goals: Finish outline for Draft 2 of Project Istanbul, share with beta readers, then begin writing Draft 2. Also reread Hamlet and Macbeth.

productivity tip: Caffeine (obviously), YouTube videos of typing sounds, 'office ambience', mild jazz. The Forest app for timed sessions―this is fun because you 'grow trees' each productivity sprint. I've also heard the Pomodoro technique is useful.

current project: Project Istanbul― literary noir/mystery/thriller novel set in Istanbul, Turkey. Check out my recent wip intro post for details.

exchange something: Some jazz for you: "Générique" by Miles Davis

quote: “Curiously enough, one cannot read a book; one can only reread it. A good reader, a major reader, and active and creative reader is a rereader.” ―Vladamir Nabokov, Lectures on Literature

Leaving game open for whoever wants to play!

Happy WBW! ^^ If you could bring one thing/person/place/etc. from your wip into the real world, which one would it be and why?

Probably Mr. Sinclair, the talking locust from Liquor and Locusts, because although he’s very nihilistic, we’d have a good time drinking brandy and being self-indulgently cynical together.

tolstoy, vladimir nabokov (trans. dmitri nabokov)

thank you for the follow! just wanted to say hi since im a bit newer to the non fanfic side of writers on tumblr, and also that all your wips sound super interesting but especially yellow houses. in my brain it's giving little miss sunshine/moonrise kingdom/fantastic mr fox vibes but like slightly spookier

Thank you! That’s very kind of you.

Yellow Houses does have that type of whimsical vibe, so that’s a very cool connection. The project is currently shelved while I revise my current project, but I’ll get back to YH eventually. It was a neat little book. It’s been years though, so I don’t imagine I’ll be happy with it now.

Posting a link to my veryyy old wip intro for Yellow Houses below in case anyone is interested in reading what it’s about. It’s like a dark comedy/mystery set in a uni town with a bunch of art kids™

Tumblr

Wip Intro: Yellow Houses

I should start by saying that this project is shelved. I’m currently too busy to devote it the time it deserves while juggling uni and anoth

Hello friend, it’s been a while. I completed the first draft of my adult thriller novel, which I’m currently referring to as Project Istanbul, so I wanted to share my mood board for this project and some excerpts with you.

a little about me/the blog™

I’m a Turkish-Kurdish English student living in Canada

I’m very introverted

I mostly write literary fiction

This blog is a nook for my novels and short fiction wips. I also share works I adore from my fellow writerblrs

a little about Project Istanbul

Set in Istanbul, Turkey (obviously) during the early 2000s

Story features a morally ambiguous journalist, unethical stalking, controversial therapy methods, too many expresso shots, glamourous outfits, and murder

Vague aesthetic inspos: Despair by Vladamir Nabokov, The Bell Jar by Slyvia Plath, The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Rear Window (1952)

TW: my novel explores mental illnesses including PD and NPD

random excerpts just because

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i’ve been a big fan of your work and always keep an eye out for your posts, very fascinating person you are, keep it up!

Thank you! This is incredibly kind.

I’m back, and currently drafting the final chapter of Project A.M.

PLEASE, I can’t wait to start draft two and whip this project into shape. But I always rush endings. Perhaps I should slow down and savour this first draft.

Not really, I’ll be writing but not 50K this time around. However, I’ve been part of the NaNo community since 2014—back when I was 14 if you can believe it, haha and it’s really motivating to connect with other writers during November. I’m looking forward to it!

who is doing nanowrimo this year? how prepared are we feeling?

oooooo i love the dark academia vibe you got going on. what books would you say inspired your writing tastes? what's an underrated book you'd suggest? what's a book you really want to read but haven't gotten to yet?

Sorry for the delay, I'm finally beginning to wade through my asks!

I've read the 'DA' classics--Bridgehead Revisited, The Picture of Dorian Gray, works of Emily Bronte, etc. And recently, I read a book that offers an almost film-noir-type atmosphere which sort of fits the vibe. Laughter in the Dark by Vladimir Nabokov. It blew me away. Nabokov is a master of sparingly constructing descriptions that create vivid imagery and atmosphere. He once described a character's aura as a "large live furnace," and how when she departed, one would experience "a cold, cold to the point of nausea". His prose is beautiful, nostalgic, specific. Despair is another favorite. Actually, If you're looking to get into Nabokov, his novella The Eye is a thirty-minute read. I didn't care for Lolita.

Anyways, this was meant to be a DA reply, but perhaps I got a bit sidetracked. To conclude--a DA novel I haven't gotten around to reading yet is Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.

WIP Intro:

LAST RITES

tw: disease/pandemic, gore, violence, psychological abuse, detailed medical imagery,

About

MEXICAN GOTHIC X DRACULA X THE STORY OF BURKE & HARE

A queer Gothic Historical Horror set in Victorian Edinburgh ft. mushrooms, cults, the cutting edge of medical science, spooky manors and bodysnatchers.

Synopsis

Dr Ernest Mayweather is the only patient he can't treat. He's dying, and he's looking desperately to find a way to stop it. When a colleague of his at the prestigious University of Edinburgh Medical College discusses the avant-garde idea of using a disease to cure another, he begins a pursuit of the thing that will save his life. It leads him to a strange illness wherein strange flowers and funghi grow within the body. Curious, and keen to study it, he visits Auchindrain House, a sanctuary for the illness run by two mysterious aristocrats and their Italian acquaintance. When the horrifying nature of the house and its occupants come to light, Ernest must soon choose between accepting a quick and quiet death or chasing something potentially endless, with all the blood and horror that might come with it. What will Ernest's conscience allow him to do to survive?

Snippet

Status

It currently stands at around 69k, though by the end of this draft I think we'll be looking closer to 120k.

As of October 2023 I'm currently working on the second draft! I did a detailed re-outline after the first draft which I completed in April 2021 for Camp, and now I'm filling in all the extra scenes I need before I rewrite the novel again following the comprehensive developmental editing plan I've made, focussing on adding extra detail and coherence, especially in terms of the plot. I was initially hoping to finish this by the end of October, but at this rate, it's looking like that's not going to happen, so I'll probably pick this up again in February. (One thing you have to know, is that each month I shift projects to another one of those in rotation. I aim to always have one new project, one dev edit project and one later-stage project in rotation at all times to reduce fatigue!)

First drafts are fun, easy, as long as I don’t extensively read what I’ve written. I’ve been sitting in libraries. Yesterday I had my first ever chai tea latte.

It’s been some days. What have I been doing—ha! actually writing! How relieving. The weather’s cold and I’m enjoying scenic walks to my local cafe, strapped w my laptop and headphones.

A bit early perhaps, but is anyone doing NaNo this year??

/gently taps the mic

It is my birthday today.

If you like, you can read the pilot chapter of RAVENOT right here for free.

Hi! I know Yellow Houses is on the back burner project wise, but damn if I'm not curious about it! Could you tell me a bit more about the university that Ellen attends? Anything really from how it looks to the types of classes they offer to they types of unhinged students you'd see milling about?

Happily! Thank you for your interest.

Yellow Houses takes place in a “college town”, where you only have a handful of locals. The university is an old rickety building shaped like a cylinder. It’s not aesthetic to say the least, blocky with lil AC units jutting from the windows, etc. The vast majority of the students are in the environmental resource management program.

Excerpt:

Half the town was made up of rich college kids who enjoyed nature photography, skiing, shot-gunning beers before noon. During the winters they jumped in the lake in negative forty weather. There would be an ambulance parked up the street if Henry Baker were to have a stroke again; ready to drag him out of the lake by his blued, freckly legs.

I forgot about this short wip, I hope I didn’t lose the actual document now

I wrote this short story a while ago, intending to submit it to some magazines, leaving it to decay chill until I had time off from uni to edit it. Currently busy af w *shiny* new novel, but  I wanted to share some of it on here to motivate me to work on it. Alors,,,,,,

genre: spooky lit-fic logline: Trudging through the barren Arizona desert after a night out partying, a group of friends come across a cupcake shop owned by a creepy old lady and her cannibal husband.  TW: drug use, dead rats, disturbing cupcake ingredients, murdery elderly people.

Everything had been going well up until I lost my pink sneaker. It jumped into an Uber and drove off waving, never texted or called, leaving me to live my life without protection from sharp objects or raccoon shit lying around my frilly socked feet. Then we missed the last bus.

Keep reading

Some of y’all really need to learn the difference between “This character is badly written” and “This character is a bad person” and “This character isn’t my personal cup of tea.”

Old books kind of ruined me for that. Cue me staring at my own three paragraph run on sentence while editing and not even understanding it

i love reading old books because they invent such ways to create a long ass sentence

That moment when you print out a chapter and what you’re doing suddenly feels very real and tangible and oh, I love reading on printed paper it’s so motivating

This thunderstorm cured my writing burnout.