The Crow's Nest

28 | Pan | ♏ | ENFP | Chaotic Good

[a-forlorn-crow]

Writeblr introduction!

Hi everyone!

My name is Jools and I'm a 28 y.o. enby from Poland!

I'm currently writing a very queer dark fantasy and comedy blend called Forlorn.

What can you expect from it?

An undead protagonist: Ever yearned for a fantasy story that explores undeath from a different angle than your usual zombie apocalypse? Here it is! My darling Crow is dead and very upset about it, at the same time not really being that keen on eating people's brains!

Fun times! I think laughter is a big part everyone's life and I incorporate comedy heavily into the novel. My favorite author of all time is Terry Pratchett, and I think it shows in my work.

Magic and sword: It's a typical high fantasy setting, complete with knights in shining armor, dragons and other staples of the genre.

Dystopian setting: Do you like evil empires with an iron grasp on the world? Great! There's one in Forlorn, and it's deliciously messed up!

Psychology and mental health issues: I dive deep into my characters' psyches and most of them are not in a good place when the action starts. 

Slowburn queer romance: Do you like when characters get established properly before jumping in on the romance arc? Does 20k words before they even meet sound up your alley? Do you squeal with sadistic delight when fate throws only obstacles in the way of them being together? Then Forlorn is definitely for you!

Make sure to check out Forlorn here on AO3, and if you happen to like it, don't forget to leave a kudos and a comment!

Dividers by thecutestgrotto@tumblr

[writing-is-a-martial-art]

truly some people have no genre savviness whatsoever. A girl came back from the dead the other day and fresh out of the grave she laughed and laughed and lay down on the grass nearby to watch the sky, dirt still under her nails. I asked her if she’s sad about anything and she asked me why she should be. I asked her if she’s perhaps worried she’s a shadow of who she used to be and she said that if she is a shadow she is a joyous one, and anyway whoever she was she is her, now, and that’s enough. I inquired about revenge, about unfinished business, about what had filled her with the incessant need to claw her way out from beneath but she just said she’s here to live. I told her about ghosts, about zombies, tried to explain to her how her options lie between horror and tragedy but she just said if those are the stories meant for her then she’ll make another one. I said “isn’t it terribly lonely how in your triumph over death nobody was here to greet you?” and she just looked at me funny and said “what do you mean? The whole world was here, waiting”. Some people, I tell you.

[ariiadnes]

i am so genuine when i say that people love to listen to you here btw. no, you're not talking too much. no, you don't need to shut up or quiet down. no, you're not spamming the dash.

it is so easy to be unkind to yourself. keep posting your fics whether you think they are good or bad - to everyone else, especially the people who support you, they are a product of everything you are and your efforts and hard work and creativity. we'll love it all the more. share your ocs-- you created someone and brought life into them !! that's incredible. and share your selfships -- the lore, the little things!! if it is a great comfort to you, then it is a great comfort to us as well. it is okay to be yourself here and to share the things you love and care about whether you make content or not. please don't ever let doubt or anyone else push you down. you're doing just fine. you have every right to exist in this space

[miyku]

[a-forlorn-crow]

hi may i request to know three things about Crow, two things about Lirius, and one thing about their relationship? as spoilery, spoiler-free "that was already on the page", or tantalizingly teaser-y as you feel like

Thanks for this one, I love it!

Crow:

His favorite flowers are forget-me-nots.

Has very elegant, cursive-like handwriting.

Had a very tumultuous relationship with his own sexuality and gender expression when he was still alive.

Lirius:

Is dyslexic.

Has never kissed anyone.

And the one thing about their relationship:

They've known each other since they were toddlers. The friendship that emerged from it was a dangerously codependent one.

[junewild]

socks are the primary producers of the laundry biome. they typically mate for life and come in a wide variety of patterns, though—unlike shoes, which many theorize to be a symbiotic species—they lack sexual dimorphism. juvenile socks resemble their parents, but have yet to develop the long necks that distinguish socks from other species of the extremity family, such as mittens

[junewild]

the lint trap is a fascinating example of a decomposer. it relies on the environment to bring food in the form of detritus, which it then breaks down into lint. lint traps have relatively long lives in comparison with other species (especially given the recent downward trends in lifespan, which are likely caused by a combination of genetic bottlenecks and poor nutrition). the lint trap has an unusual relationship with fire—some theorize that it uses fire as a tool to increase resource availability, while others believe that its frequent proximity to fire is due to environmental factors

[junewild]

the apex predator of the laundry biome is, of course, the dreaded duvet cover. duvet covers lead solitary lives, and are rarely seen socializing with one another. its preferred prey is socks, although it is an opportunistic eater and will prey upon much larger targets, such as t-shirts, leggings, and even sheets. aside from its large territory and antisocial nature, its behaviors are poorly known and highly controversial. one major theory is that the duvet cover is an ambush predator, lying in wait for its prey. another is that the duvet cover seeks out prey, using its superior size and large mouth to overwhelm its victims in a matter of seconds. a third, less popular supposition is that the duvet cover lures its victims to it by mimicking the laundry bag, a preferred shelter for many residents of the laundry biome. more research on this topic is necessary

[only-cat-memes]

[thestuffedalligator]

The urban fantasy show I actually want to see is a hospital drama with a dedicated wing for supernatural illnesses.

Vampirism. Lycanthropy. Cheap spells gone wrong. A woman brought in for her prenatal has to be told her baby is a lindworm. Someone is literally being followed by the anthropomorphic personification of the Black Death.

Someone somewhere out there is having their perception of the world irreparably shattered by the knowledge that magic is real, and at the other side is a team of doctors who have to roll their eyes and pull out Grimm’s Complete Fairy Tales because some high school kid tried to go Carrie with a cheap spellbook and turn all the kids at prom into frogs, and the doctors have to wrangle a couple dozen teenagers into admitting if they have a true love who can break the spell.

[sindri42]

I want the hospital director to be some dark entity that feeds on human misery but figured out that if you successfully treat the source of the misery then instead of hunting you down as an abomination the humans start bringing more miserable people to your house en masse and things kinda got out of hand from there.

[omicronus-1326]

Grimm's Anatomy

[the-davest-of-uncles]

[hdgnj]

"Well someone's visited a back alley witch. Why do people always go for 'love spells'"

[unnameablethings]

knight who is constantly searching for a good and noble king to serve but cannot fucking find one for the life of him so he has to become the good and noble king himself.

and now all these other knights are coming around like "please let me serve you" and like obviously hes going to let them serve him thats the point of being a good and noble king but its also. very annoying. one of you become the good and noble king for once lets trade

[pixiemuse]

[ace8space]

wake up, babe! new odysseus reference just dropped!

article link under cut

Ancient Greek inscriptions point to the ‘Sanctuary of Odysseus’

Archeologists continue to shed light on the historical origins behind Homer’s ‘Odyssey.’

[a-forlorn-crow]

i keep refreshing the ao3 page for Forlorn so uh

do you have a taglist for it and if so may i be on it pretty please? i want to see the Crow/Lirius ✨️confrontation✨️ as soon as it's up lol

Sure, I'll add you into the taglist when I update the book! Sorry for taking so long by the way, real life is killing me 😓

[kochamregionalizmy]

beautiful names for a baby girl:

- Jelita (like a fancy form of Julia)

- Melina (means raspberry in polish 😍)

- Morenka (so cute you could call her Rennie)

[arsenictangerine]

- Biegunka (a girl that's a fast runner 🏃‍♀💨)

[zmorak]

May I also add:

- Popitka (after minor Slavic goddess, still respected in many households)

- Padlina (alternative to Paulina/Pauline)

[kaseth]

Margaryna (Polish Margaret!)

Zmora (just like smores 🥰 so sweet)

Perwersja (very elegant, coquette coded)

[kochamregionalizmy]

like to charge reblog to cast

[desultory-suggestions]

I know people love to think of ADHD as just “haha fun disorder” and being distracted and ditzy. But neurotypical people will never know the legitamate stress and pain of losing track of items in seemingly a second, all day, every day. 

I set down my phone? It’s gone. I spend twenty minutes looking for it while on the border of tears because I just want my phone. It’s on a shelf three feet away, I can’t see it. I can’t trust myself to keep track of anything. I see a text? It’s gone the second I look away. I ghost someone for days and every time I remember I feel terrible.

It’s incredibly stressful! I know it’s easy to reduce something to simple terms, but please remember that it isn’t that simple. ADHD effects a persons life every waking moment. Lets not dimish the impacts. 

[samaeldire]

Putting this here instead of tags because I feel like people genuinely forget that ADHD is a DISORDER. It’s often treated like a quirk. Like a personality type. Like you’re just a daydreamer or easily distracted.

ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder, it is literally a disability. The combination of many ADHDers having a lot of internalised ableism who refuse to acknowledge that, as well as the rampant misinformation and total lack of information about ADULTS with ADHD, combines to make it a disability that’s so often totally disregarded as being a “real” disability.

ADHD is already exhausting. Listen to your ADHDer friends, really listen to them, and please don’t be yet another person making it even more exhausting for your ADHDer loved ones to exist in this world.

[steph-manser]

Here are your asks!

🍻 - What is your OC(s) perfect way to spend a Friday night?

🌹 - Does your OC(s) have a favorite flower? If so, does it hold any special meaning for them? If not, do you have any flowers that you associate with them?

I'll happily take a question in return :)

🍻 - Reading an obscure book about weaving in order to find new fashion patterns, extra kudos if it happens to have any kind of use in pattern magic (spell ideas)

🌹- No special flower, but I think I'd say a blue Hydrangea, because they grow in acidic soil and flourish.

Question to you:

🍻- If a deathspeaker's potion gets you high on life when brewed with old moss, how did it work in his prime?

🌹- Do any of your OC's eat flowers? Which one and why? If not, who would be likeliest to try one?

[a-forlorn-crow]

🍻- I'd say the magical properties of the Bloodmoss remained the same despite the fact that it was old, it's just that the physical properties changed enough to make brewing the potion problematic. When Arnath drinks the properly brewed one his sensations are much like Crow's were, he's just more used to it, knows what to expect and the first time he brewed and took it was in much more controlled circuimstances, where he didn't have to talk with a ghost as fast as possible.

🌹- I think most Eternals would try to eat flowers upon first seeing them. They don't really get them at home, considering it's a cursed magical desert, most of them (especially the lower class of citizens) are constantly hungry, and I can't imagine them at least not trying. It smells good, it's organic, what can go wrong? As for those who don't live in the lands affected by terrible famine, Arnath makes a delicious Elderflower syrup which he uses to spice his tea!

[a-forlorn-crow]

What are a couple of your favorite (already revealed) worldbuilding details in Forlorn?

I love writing about the Empire, its impossible to meet standards for a perfect knight (which Lirius is so obsessed with meeting) and all the ways in which their religion interweaves with their daily life. It's all in the little details, for example how Lirius (unlike Crow, Arnath, or the rest of our characters residing in the mortal realms) never says "Gods above" or anything similar - instead going for By the Light, whenever he feels like calling upon the divine. One favorite lines of mine is how Lirius, thinking about his own appearance, is glad that his red eyes (which signify he doesn't posses any magical ability) make him relatively safe from the eyes of the Inquisition.

I also squeal with joy whenever I get to mention princess Silarisa. She's going to be a really important character, but she has to haunt the narrative... For now. There are things to bring under the mocroscope already about her in the text, though. 🥲

[writeblr-live]

Writeblr Live in June - Q1

Happy Pride Month! As you can see, we have a hideous new image to celebrate. I am sorry for my tiredness in not making it nicer, but it's what we've got. I hope it doesn't burn your retinas. Don't ask about the hearts, I don't know why I did that.

--

Questions will have about a ten minute delay while I flit about bothering everyone I can get to with follow-up questions.

And remember;

This is a live ask event!

What that means is I will be active for the hour, hopping into ask boxes with followup questions as I am able, while encouraging you to do the same.

Answering the questions tells me you are cool with this.

You may answer all questions via reblog, reply, hopping in my askbox or even reposting. Just remember the #writeblr and #writeblr live tags if reblogging/reposting so we can find ya.

We’re here to help rebuild interaction in the community, so get in there and have fun with it!

—

*Taglist for Writeblr Live Reminders, yell at me if you want on/off*

@lunesartsworld @nossumusstellae @houndsofcorduff @darkluminosity

@keeping-writing-frosty @write-with-will @pluppsauthor

@transman-badass @an-indecisive-nerd @aalinaaaaaa

@imsoveryveryconfusedatlife @leahnardo-da-veggie

@bellascarousel @watermeezer @of-potions-and-blades-official

@beloveddawn-blog @sodaliteskull @enbeemagical

@firesidefantasy @andrewbelindo

[a-forlorn-crow]

Hi!

I'm Jools, an almost 30 y.o. enby from Poland who's writing Forlorn, a dark fantasy and comedy blend about an Undead man, who, having risen from the dead with no memories of his former life, struggles to find his identity and purpose in the world. Also, he's a disastrous bisexual while doing that.

If I had to pick one particular thing that I'm proud about, it's the amount of wordbuilding and hidden secrets inside of it all. If you've ever been one of those people who spend too much time theorycrafting in fandom spaces, I think you might really like Forlorn!

[shxltl]

the tradition continues. after 5 whole years, we have made it back into hiatus until lars of the stars releases. gonna call it SU:LOTS

welcome back soldiers