Aliston J. Drake

@alistonjdrake

I write gay fantasy and shit. angry&short syndrome June | He + him | Surprisingly old

15.4K posts

Writeblr (Re) Intro

Hi, I made some changes so I might as well do this again.

I’m June (he/him) and I write under the penname Aliston J. Drake. Everyone just calls me June though. I write adult court intrigue/political fantasy about corrupt royalty with m/m romances about either very pretty men or criminals. I also like short stories about sad men with slight magical elements.

My Main Projects:

The Saints Song Series (adult court intrigue fantasy)

The Night Court + The House of Ruin (adult fantasy/poly romance)

Someone Will Die (1930s setting monster mystery)

The Sad Men:

A Werewolf (the only thing scarier than the supernatural next door neighbor is marriage and trauma)

But Who Will Take Care of God? (40+ year old man with daddy issues)

You can also find out about my side projects and other stuff here and here if you’re interested!

I’m also a cesspit of fashion history knowledge and I’m always down to talk about costuming and character design from a fashion standpoint and fashion as an extension of character arcs and traits. I’m always down to connect with and follow other 18+ writeblrs or talk about world building so please hit me up if we have similar interests. I’ll also eventually open up to resuming critique exchanges if anyone is interested. Y’all can also hit me up on discord, which you have to ask for because I’m paranoid like that.

#writeblr #writeblr intro #writeblr introduction #lgbt writers #I haven't been around much because I've been busy not writing and getting sucked into fashion again #but I'm getting better with time management and such so I'm making a full comeback and I'll make more world building and vague fashion #related posts again

Vikings | 3.01 Amy Bailey as Queen Kwenthrith

#character inspiration

maybe it's me being a brown woman but i can't comprehend how & why people treat having a racist phase as a teenager as smth okay or a norm

it's def not good but treating people who got better like they're still shitty people is a good way to make them turn back into shitty people

in case anyone wanted to shame me, this is officially how long awoni is after my first attempts to rectify some issues and add in other things

#june trash #writing progress

the only problem I'm gonna have here with the two Mathilde thing is I feel like it further muddies how old Ernest is??? I have no idea. I try to avoid talking about how old he is.

Him and Falko and Oswald's dad too. I always imagined Falko and the unnamed brother are older than Mathilde (that's why one is already married they must have been waiting for Mathilde to also reach majority). So then, how old is the other Mathilde? These are questions I will not answer for the sake of my sanity.

#june trash #writing progress

My biggest issue as a writer is that I just read a book (nonfiction) in which 15 women central to the story being told were all named Margaret and that was fine for me and every time I try to recreate that in fiction people beat me with hammers. Frankly I find it weird when authors refuse to let more characters have similar or the same name, especially if they’re from the same place (or even in the same noble family). I love repeating names. Everyone hates me for it.

There are three unnamed women I always felt weird about leaving unnamed in awoni (Mathilde’s mom, Notker’s sister/Ernest’s first wife, and Notker’s mom).

I very much now want to name 2/3 Mathilde. My reasoning being that I feel like it would ground Mathilde more to her setting to imply her name was a popular/common pick, it would strengthen her and Notker’s bonds as first cousins. My thinking being that his sister would be named Mathilde after her mom (or maybe their shared grandmother) to further tie in that their mothers were sisters.

And AND it would just be really funny to me for Ernest to have two queens named Mathilde which in the end would add further credence to the historical cover up to discredit Mathilde’s contributions to Vilsland (I.e, sources claiming it’s from an earlier Mathilde and not her or historians mixing up the Mathildes in contemporary sources that would lend to the confusion over her character) but the only thing stopping me is figuring out how to differentiate the two by name.

Like in a lot of text where two historical figures have names it’s best to use title, surname, where they’re from, etc. But arguably Notker’s sister and Mathilde would have the same name exactly. Notker’s family is from the same town where Mathilde’s continue to place their namesake. It would be Mathilde van Bibbr vs Mathilde of Bibbrtown.

They would both be (at different times) Queen Consort to King Ernest so one could be Queen Mathilde is text while our Mathilde tends to mostly use her inherited title (Princess) and not her married one (Queen)

Notker’s sister could also just be referred to as Mathilde Dimmock.

I know it would confuse people. I know. But I just think they should have the same name

It's a good idea (to ME!) but I did not think about how little I actually mention Ernest's first wife so I have no idea where to add this detail.

maybe if I lose my mind I will just add in new excerpts to my already long draft??? thinking about Mathilde Dimmock considering Princess Mathilde as her and Ernest's adopted daughter only for her to die and then he marries her????

Thinking about the letters she could write, how close they could be (I already have middle-aged Princess Mathilde refer to her as her mom in place of her bio mom in a Cierra chapter), the weirdness of the transition from Mathilde Dimmock to her younger cousin???

Weird how even unnamed Notker's sister is the source of a lot of the early tragedy. Her son dies, her husband dies, her other son dies, her grandson becomes king. Her cousin becomes a cartoon villain.

I did not have a fever dream and there is a line where Ernest soft lauches Mathilde as a new queen option while the old one is still alive! Instead of writing a new part I may just overhaul the royal hostage one (which is the only one where I even mention Mathilde's upbringing so it makes the most sense).

I still might add in something (not anything long) about Mathilde Dimmock later like I did for Isabeau eventually.

#writing progress

(knows nothing about a subject) I Should Start An Ambitious Project

Oh boy, a complex character who's a woman! I love messy characters who hurt everyone around them and continue the cycles that hurt them!! Can't wait to share this joy with fellow fans– why's everyone calling her a bitch

My biggest issue as a writer is that I just read a book (nonfiction) in which 15 women central to the story being told were all named Margaret and that was fine for me and every time I try to recreate that in fiction people beat me with hammers. Frankly I find it weird when authors refuse to let more characters have similar or the same name, especially if they’re from the same place (or even in the same noble family). I love repeating names. Everyone hates me for it.

There are three unnamed women I always felt weird about leaving unnamed in awoni (Mathilde’s mom, Notker’s sister/Ernest’s first wife, and Notker’s mom).

I very much now want to name 2/3 Mathilde. My reasoning being that I feel like it would ground Mathilde more to her setting to imply her name was a popular/common pick, it would strengthen her and Notker’s bonds as first cousins. My thinking being that his sister would be named Mathilde after her mom (or maybe their shared grandmother) to further tie in that their mothers were sisters.

And AND it would just be really funny to me for Ernest to have two queens named Mathilde which in the end would add further credence to the historical cover up to discredit Mathilde’s contributions to Vilsland (I.e, sources claiming it’s from an earlier Mathilde and not her or historians mixing up the Mathildes in contemporary sources that would lend to the confusion over her character) but the only thing stopping me is figuring out how to differentiate the two by name.

Like in a lot of text where two historical figures have names it’s best to use title, surname, where they’re from, etc. But arguably Notker’s sister and Mathilde would have the same name exactly. Notker’s family is from the same town where Mathilde’s continue to place their namesake. It would be Mathilde van Bibbr vs Mathilde of Bibbrtown.

They would both be (at different times) Queen Consort to King Ernest so one could be Queen Mathilde is text while our Mathilde tends to mostly use her inherited title (Princess) and not her married one (Queen)

Notker’s sister could also just be referred to as Mathilde Dimmock.

I know it would confuse people. I know. But I just think they should have the same name

It's a good idea (to ME!) but I did not think about how little I actually mention Ernest's first wife so I have no idea where to add this detail.

maybe if I lose my mind I will just add in new excerpts to my already long draft??? thinking about Mathilde Dimmock considering Princess Mathilde as her and Ernest's adopted daughter only for her to die and then he marries her????

Thinking about the letters she could write, how close they could be (I already have middle-aged Princess Mathilde refer to her as her mom in place of her bio mom in a Cierra chapter), the weirdness of the transition from Mathilde Dimmock to her younger cousin???

Weird how even unnamed Notker's sister is the source of a lot of the early tragedy. Her son dies, her husband dies, her other son dies, her grandson becomes king. Her cousin becomes a cartoon villain.

#writing progress #I must have had a fever dream bc I was so sure I wrote about how when first wife was still alive King Ernest soft launched Mathilde #as her replacement and I cannot find it for the life of me #this is not the first time I have done this

blondebrainpowered

My biggest issue as a writer is that I just read a book (nonfiction) in which 15 women central to the story being told were all named Margaret and that was fine for me and every time I try to recreate that in fiction people beat me with hammers. Frankly I find it weird when authors refuse to let more characters have similar or the same name, especially if they’re from the same place (or even in the same noble family). I love repeating names. Everyone hates me for it.

There are three unnamed women I always felt weird about leaving unnamed in awoni (Mathilde’s mom, Notker’s sister/Ernest’s first wife, and Notker’s mom).

I very much now want to name 2/3 Mathilde. My reasoning being that I feel like it would ground Mathilde more to her setting to imply her name was a popular/common pick, it would strengthen her and Notker’s bonds as first cousins. My thinking being that his sister would be named Mathilde after her mom (or maybe their shared grandmother) to further tie in that their mothers were sisters.

And AND it would just be really funny to me for Ernest to have two queens named Mathilde which in the end would add further credence to the historical cover up to discredit Mathilde’s contributions to Vilsland (I.e, sources claiming it’s from an earlier Mathilde and not her or historians mixing up the Mathildes in contemporary sources that would lend to the confusion over her character) but the only thing stopping me is figuring out how to differentiate the two by name.

Like in a lot of text where two historical figures have names it’s best to use title, surname, where they’re from, etc. But arguably Notker’s sister and Mathilde would have the same name exactly. Notker’s family is from the same town where Mathilde’s continue to place their namesake. It would be Mathilde van Bibbr vs Mathilde of Bibbrtown.

They would both be (at different times) Queen Consort to King Ernest so one could be Queen Mathilde is text while our Mathilde tends to mostly use her inherited title (Princess) and not her married one (Queen)

Notker’s sister could also just be referred to as Mathilde Dimmock.

I know it would confuse people. I know. But I just think they should have the same name

It's a good idea (to ME!) but I did not think about how little I actually mention Ernest's first wife so I have no idea where to add this detail.

#writing progress

My biggest issue as a writer is that I just read a book (nonfiction) in which 15 women central to the story being told were all named Margaret and that was fine for me and every time I try to recreate that in fiction people beat me with hammers. Frankly I find it weird when authors refuse to let more characters have similar or the same name, especially if they’re from the same place (or even in the same noble family). I love repeating names. Everyone hates me for it.

There are three unnamed women I always felt weird about leaving unnamed in awoni (Mathilde’s mom, Notker’s sister/Ernest’s first wife, and Notker’s mom).

I very much now want to name 2/3 Mathilde. My reasoning being that I feel like it would ground Mathilde more to her setting to imply her name was a popular/common pick, it would strengthen her and Notker’s bonds as first cousins. My thinking being that his sister would be named Mathilde after her mom (or maybe their shared grandmother) to further tie in that their mothers were sisters.

And AND it would just be really funny to me for Ernest to have two queens named Mathilde which in the end would add further credence to the historical cover up to discredit Mathilde’s contributions to Vilsland (I.e, sources claiming it’s from an earlier Mathilde and not her or historians mixing up the Mathildes in contemporary sources that would lend to the confusion over her character) but the only thing stopping me is figuring out how to differentiate the two by name.

Like in a lot of text where two historical figures have names it’s best to use title, surname, where they’re from, etc. But arguably Notker’s sister and Mathilde would have the same name exactly. Notker’s family is from the same town where Mathilde’s continue to place their namesake. It would be Mathilde van Bibbr vs Mathilde of Bibbrtown.

They would both be (at different times) Queen Consort to King Ernest so one could be Queen Mathilde is text while our Mathilde tends to mostly use her inherited title (Princess) and not her married one (Queen)

Notker’s sister could also just be referred to as Mathilde Dimmock.

I know it would confuse people. I know. But I just think they should have the same name

#a woman of no importance #writing progress #I have not named Notker’s mom tho

My biggest issue as a writer is that I just read a book (nonfiction) in which 15 women central to the story being told were all named Margaret and that was fine for me and every time I try to recreate that in fiction people beat me with hammers. Frankly I find it weird when authors refuse to let more characters have similar or the same name, especially if they’re from the same place (or even in the same noble family). I love repeating names. Everyone hates me for it.

#june trash #writing progress #okay people do not hate me but it’s at least number one on the list on my most common critique

It's so important that I have a book to read at all times.

Cierra and Edelgard's relationship is very special to me that is why I have been avoiding going over their chapters even tho I really need to

I have recently been going over their chapters. I’m still in the middle of it. I get stopped so often because maybe I’m not sure what I want to say about their relationship? Or what I want the reader to take away from it?

Their dialogue exchanges are still some of my favorite though.

#writing progress

There's lots of problems with USA public education but also a lot of you were just drawing Naruto characters kissing while your history teacher tried to tell you about the Scramble for Africa

scavengerofcool

They should make an anime about major history events actually. That way people could still ship the characters and be forced into accidentally learning things

Shut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut upShut up

It's a moral imperative that we write more sex scenes which are

Weird

Uncomfortable

Not good for anyone involved

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