Cheri Noix

I'm Lyn || 21 || Ace || A writer and an artist || I follow from Honeynutts

[cherinoix]

Merciless || WIP

Genre: High fantasy

POV: Third person limited and omniscient

Setting: Year 0 in a new (made up) universe

Content Warning: Existential crisis/exploration, cosmic horror, religion, cults, violence/gore, death, general warning for possible adult themes

Progress: Plotting, worldbuilding, and character reference sheets

Mercy + Merciless

My plan is for Merciless to be a comic, which means multiple stories within one (so the summary I provide below will be relatively short, but there's more info coming on the other stories!) Merciless is a supplementary story to my other series, Mercy, as it details all the lore and ancient history referenced throughout.

I would like to publish both Mercy and Merciless down the line, so I won't be posting the full story, or many lore-relevant details. You can anticipate comics unrelated to the main plot, artwork of characters, world building, and writing/plotting snippets!

Summary

Following the creation of the Origin, the Goddesses of Trinity, Juno, Dumah, and Alva, fall swiftly into their eternal roles: love triumphing hate with indifference to mediate. As humanity takes shape, it becomes apparent that their petty feud will lead to the destruction of the universe they just created. When they don't heed his warning, Alva devises a plan to save the Origin from demise.

Typical stories and subplots include

The development of civilization, societies, and dogmas

Interactions with lesser gods (intros coming soon!) 

Humanity finding its purpose

Meeting the ancestors of characters from Mercy

Characters

Juno, Goddess of Love and Purity

Juno is the embodiment of all things good: light, love, miracles-- the list goes on. Due to her mostly positive interactions with humanity, she is the favored Goddess within the trinity, and is worshipped as such. Juno typically takes the form of a faceless, veiled angel, but possesses many forms over the course of the series. 

Dumah, Goddess of Hate and Corruption

Dumah is the embodiment of all things evil: darkness, hate, curses, and so on. Because of her knack for destruction and disorder, Dumah is a widely feared, yet respected Goddess; her appearance hardly helps her case, being that she can change her size at will and is already nine feet (274 cm) tall, and originally flaunts 1000 eyes. Needless to say, she’s not exactly the Goddess humanity prays to often. 

Alva, God of Indifference and ???

If Juno stands for all things good, and Dumah for all things evil, Alva rests right in between. Though he is ridiculed for his lack of morality, it is Alva’s objective eye that maintains a semblance of order in the universe. Alva is an ever-changing being, inspiring the many faces of the beings and creatures within the Origin, until he finally settles on... this one. 

Anyway, Merciless is Alva’s story, and explores his relationships with divinity, humanity, and the fragility of life.

House Keeping

My asks are open and empty, so feel free to ask any questions you have! 

Fanart is okay and appreciated! Reposting my work especially without credit is not. 

I don’t really have a solid draft, and I’m currently in the plotting phase, so while you’re welcome to send me tag/writing games and such, I may not be able to participate. 

Dm me, reblog, etc. to be added to the taglist for this project! 

And finally, sorry for any and all errors-- I rarely proofread~ 

Taglist: @cryptid-s-wips​

[cherinoix]

Its goretober babey!! Here's day 1 + sketch and the sketch of day 3; this challenge is only getting me more excited for halloween this year ahh!!

[cherinoix]

Merciless || Wip Update #1

Long time no update, but that's because I've been cracking away at the art side of things, and plotting-- which I can officially call done for the most part! :D

I've already started drafting the first chapter, in which Alva details a rather visceral experience with his first mortal. Can't say it's a light hearted start to the story, but definitely one that I feel encapsulates the overall themes while introducing one of the main conflicts.

Though I can't get into the details yet, I figured I would discuss my strenuous plotting process instead. As much as I'd like to be a pantser, by nature of writing a "high fantasy meets cosmic horror" comic series, I've found plotting to be the best course of action to keep all my metaphorical ducks in order.

The very first thing I have to do is characterization; knowing whose stories are being told and what they entail, along with who I'm working with shapes the entire story. (I'm not sure if that's a common first step, but this is what works for me!) My predicament with Merciless in particular is that I already had these ancient characters set in an environment for a story (Mercy) that takes place in a present timeline-- one that didn't do them justice or give them space to develop at all, but they were also tied to important historical events. So really, my main goal was to flesh out the characters I already had and make sure their stories "accurately" lead up to the events that will happen later on. New characters were created for sub plots and such, but the majority of the characterization I did was directed towards the older characters and finding them a place to settle in Merciless.

Next, I made a list of every major event that 100% needs to happen for the story to be told. Luckily, due to having developed Mercy first, I already knew the ending to Merciless. And in having some past characters with significant backstories also gave me a few middle scenes too. The real struggle then should have been the beginning, but... seeing as I had plans early on to turn this into a comic, well, I could really start anywhere I saw fit! In tandem with this, I also tackled some of the worldbuilding. I really just try to flesh out which countries, civilizations, and kingdoms are most significant or interesting. Knowing where events happen in the world is pretty important, and I also want to make sure there is variety in the cultures and faces that are present in Merciless!

Following that, I made a list of every minor event that I wanted to at the bare minimum attempt to include. Interactions between certain characters who didn't yet have a reason to meet, fight scenes, and just novel little myths and happenings for individual characters. This part of my plotting process is lowkey an ongoing step, as anytime I get random ideas while going through my day, I add them to this list. (I also have like... 30ish + characters to work with?)

The second to last step in my plotting phase is to create a timeline, except... I kind of sort of have 4 timelines... ahaha... OK to explain myself--

I have a timeline for Merciless and its chronological events in order...

And one for every event out of order, as in the order in which the story will be presented/written for an audience.

One timeline is meant for strictly for side plots, and is a running timeline in that I develop it as I write to make sure its position in the book/comic makes sense and has some form of contingency and relevance.

The final timeline is a special one, featuring any event that will be directly referenced in Mercy. I added this one halfway through because I started losing track of which plots need to be known in both series, and which ones can be kept in Merciless.

Timelines always take up the most of my time, but with Merciless, I really had to look out for inconsistencies and plot holes, considering there is another story to predate or follow it. Figuring out solutions to plot holes is typically my final step; I make a list a problems in the form of questions, and then I answer them the best I can.

So... yeah! That's my plotting process for the most part. I didn't include the obligatory "stare into space and wait for a solution to grace me from the void", but it's certainly something I do a lot. I'm really looking forward to sharing character art and writing introductions for them too! I'll most likely make another update when I actually test write something to share, so until then, thanks for reading! And if you're working on a project yourself-- happy writing~

(also sorry for any typos-- proof reading is not my strong suit, but I usually try to go back and edit as I catch them overtime~ ;w;)

Taglist: @cryptid-s-wips

If you'd like to be added to the taglist, just let me know!

[cherinoix]

Merciless || OCS || The Seasonal Gods

From left to right; Daphne (Fefe for short), Freya, Solaris, and Haukea~! More character info below

There's lowkey a lot to get into, but for the sake of clarity, I'll simply discuss group dynamics here and will do individual posts when appropriate to do so.

The seasonal gods are also recognized as the seasonal siblings, a title earned thanks to the shared scowl that they each bear. Minor gods are typically the faces of the Origin's natural elements. In this instance, Daphne is the Goddess of autumn, Freya is the Goddess of Spring, Solaris is the God of Summer, and Haukea is the God of Winter. Thus, people who chose to host the season (like Dei in Mercy), are endowed with the powers of these gods.

The consensus across the realm is that these gods are much better revered than worshipped. The typical practice in many civilizations is to dedicate shrines and sacrifices in their honor, in the hopes that the seasonal gods will spare their region from the consequent hardships. The niche approach in other societies is to full send support for one God over the others, either resulting in rather tumultuous seasonal patterns, or pleasantly stable ones.

Internally, the seasonal gods have a decent relationship with one another. Though they most keep to themselves, they certainly aren't above coming together for quality time and friendly rivalry. Compared to most familial Gods, these siblings are surprisingly cordial-- if not down right loving-- and it is that external observation from the other gods that leads them into conflict later on.

And... that's all I'm gonna say for now! I'll have individual posts going more into depth on their abilities and personalities and such down the line, but I didn't want this post to be miles long~ Thanks for reading! Looking forward to posting more characters soon :^)

((P.S. Freya owns my heart, I would die for her ok bye,,,))

Taglist: @cryptid-s-wips, (dm me if you want to be added!)

[cherinoix]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JONATHAN! 

That’s it, that’s the post! I love my son! 

[cherinoix]

💚 Meet Pinku and Teal!! 💖

I was commissioned to make an illustration based on a friend's makeup looks and had an absolute blast doing it! These cuties will be getting prints, stickers, and a zine-- so stay tuned!! :D

My commissions are also still open; there are 3 slots left! Head over to my Ko-Fi or dm me for more details!

You can watch the process of this piece via this link on YouTube~!

https://youtu.be/9JgEYFJ07gc

[raptorific]

Whenever I see people discoursing online about how all fiction must model good behavior and explicitly state that any bad behavior depicted is wrong, lest someone in the audience mistake it for “glorifying,” all I can think of is that line from Arrested Development where Buster, in his mid-30s, objects to something by saying “that’s not the way mother is raising me”

[raptorific]

Like yeah maybe YA books and kids’ cartoons have a responsibility to demonstrate the difference between Right and Wrong, since the audience is, like, actual children, but if you’re consuming literally anything more advanced than Disney XD’s Ducktales, you should absolutely be expected to bring your own moral framework from home and not need your media to spoon-feed morality to you

[raptorific]

if you see a show about a a man manufacturing and selling methamphetamine while abusing his wife and murdering people and you can’t tell whether the author intends for you to think his actions are right or wrong? That might be more your problem than the text’s. You might just, at that point, be an idiot.

[honeynutts]

Hiya baybees!! I'm opening up commissions, starting with 5 slots!

I will not do:

-NSFW/hate art

-meccas/detailed armor

-hyperrealism

If I'm uncomfy with your request, I simply will not do it~

You can commission me through Ko-fi, or if you don't have PayPal, dm and we can sort something out!

Thank you! :^)

[cherinoix]

!! I thought I made this post here?? Oops-- anyways:

3 slots left!

[maggie-stiefvater-deactivated20]

The Art of Invisible Movement

Several weeks ago, an aspiring writer asked me what my opinion was on “in-between” scenes — scenes where “nothing happened.” She noted that her favorite scenes in books were often ones where characters were only talking about their lives. How did I recommend including these while maintaining pacing?

I have three thoughts on Nothing scenes.

1. Always Be Mindful of Invisible Movement

I don’t believe in Nothing scenes. I believe in scenes that appear as Nothing scenes to the reader, but are actually full of invisible movement. I have a rule for myself — insofar as I do rules — that every scene should be doing at least two things, preferably three or more, no matter how much it appears to be about merely one.

Here are examples of things scenes can do:

• give backstory

• demonstrate character change

• create a sense of place

• satisfy logistics; i.e. move a character from place A to place B

• establish character

• explain worldbuilding

• move through action sequence

• move external plot forward

• establish dynamic between two characters through conversation or action

It can be tempting to grab just one of those and say DONE. SCENE. GOOD. But efficient storytelling, powerful storytelling, involves doing many of these at one time. A scene may appear to be merely about a character crashing his best friend’s car. But it must also be about his character journey and about his dynamic with another character, all the while pushing the external plot forward. Complexly written, but simple to read: ah yes, these scene where Ronan takes the car.

A Nothing scene might overwhelmingly appear to be merely a conversation, but it needs to be doing heavy lifting in the places in between words. Work in place, backstory, character motivation. Let the unspoken seethe inbetween the spoken. Subtly tie the conversation to the external plot. Why is the conversation happening now? Make sure it references the steps that came before it to make it seem inevitable instead of like an element that can merely lift out and be placed elsewhere without consequence.

What you’re attempting to do is maintain invisible movement. Remind the reader of what is still lurking during this quiet moment. Or remind them that this is the stake: that this quiet moment is what the characters are fighting for. Or situate the quiet moment within a larger, external plot machination, and end the conversation by wrenching them externally according to the plot.

But don’t just let them talk. You can at first. Draft it that way. Be delighted by the quiet conversation you’ve written. But then get back to work. You ain’t done. Push things forward invisibly by having the scene do something else in the background.

2. Earn It

You’ve got to earn all frothy conversations or quiet moments in two ways. First is the rhythm of the thing. It’s like a mix tape. Don’t group all the quiet stuff together, dude! Tense action scenes seem more speedy when interspersed with quiet moments, and vice versa. Earn your quiet moment by putting us through our paces for a bit first.

Second: you’ve got to emotionally earn your quiet moments, your Nothing conversations. You may have been daydreaming of the moment your two characters finally open up and reveal their deepest truths through memes, but if you do it too soon, the scene will feel empty … and slow. Like just a Nothing scene. 

An emotional conversation should be a reveal, a satisfying culmination of something half-seen until that moment. Timed correctly, far enough along in the emotional journeys, these conversations will feel like a resting place or a reward instead of a lull. 

3. You Can’t Live on Ice Cream Cake, or You Ruin Ice Cream Cake

There’s a reason why a lot of readers think they love Nothing scenes — they mean the scenes mentioned above, quietly emotional scenes placed well within the narrative. They feel amazing! But the chemical make up of these scenes mean that they only work when used sparingly. It’s not the quietness of them that makes them incredible. It’s what had to happen to make the quietness possible. Ice cream cake is special because it’s a rarity, brought out only for special occasions. The same goes for all pleasurable excesses in novel-making: banter, kissing, action sequences, emotional porn. They all need to be used sparingly, and to be placed as a result of story, not instead of it, or you’ll find yourself with a Nothing novel, because ice cream cake for every meal makes it lose its meaning.

The thing to remember about novel writing is that the key to pacing is tension, and tension doesn’t always come from negative consequences. Positive consequences can work just as well (think of it: love stories, exploration narratives, training sequences). Make sure your Nothing scenes maintain invisible movement by continuing to promise some kind of tension, and you’re golden.

Oh yeah, and most important? Don’t beat yourself up if you can’t pull it off in a first draft of a scene. Just because you have to end up with a hard-working scene doesn’t mean you have to be able to juggle all those layers at once. Writing is revision, revision is writing, etc. etc. etc. 

[sarahreesbrennan]

I have gone back to this post because I keep thinking about it!

I remember a scene from one of my books which an editor asked me to take out: a scene in which the characters were largely enjoying themselves. Readers have often told me that this scene was one of their favourites, because I think it does work as a reward for them–it gave both the characters and readers a respite after a time of some stress! At the same time, I thoroughly understood why the editor asked me to take it out, and I did cut it down. And it wouldn’t have worked–it wouldn’t have BEEN a relief–without the stress preceding. Pleasurable excess is super pleasurable, but you don’t want there to be an excess of excess. 

I deeply understand the impulse to go ‘too much of a good thing is wonderful!’ Boy do I. I once wrote an entire chapter devoted to a long-running yoghurt joke. (I don’t even eat yoghurt.) Friends, I did not keep this chapter, because it wasn’t doing the work described above–it was not infused with meaning. There was no hidden ballast in there (telling you more about a character, how they feel or what they want, through the jokes).

I love to make people laugh, and I love to make people suffer, and I think people really do enjoy doing both. I think the two things are actually best when done side by side–for instance, once you make a character seem funny, lovable, and like someone you know, it’s much worse when you kill them! 

A friend of mine once told me she didn’t like making her characters suffer, and I was like ‘…Can’t relate.’ I don’t think anyone can name a character who they love, who also hasn’t suffered. The suffering is part of their story, as suffering is part of all our stories to some degree. Characters win our sympathy through their suffering, and win our love by how they struggle through it. To use the words of my people, in the land of Tir na nOg, because there is no sorrow, there can be no joy. (Because there is no hurt, there can be no hurt/comfort. Don’t look at me, I’ll show myself out.)

Another writer friend of mine refers to frosting scenes–reading just those would make readers feel like you do when you only eat the frosting. Initially awesome, but you start to feel rather peculiar quite quickly, and after a bit you don’t feel like eating anything at all. The frosting is all the sweeter for having its sweetness cut.

There must always be balance, in novels as well as the Force. ;)

[ryebreadgf]

monster that doesn’t know that it’s a monster because it’s never seen its own reflection, doesn’t understand why it’s feared. lonely creature only trying to love and be loved but it’s clumsy and doesn’t realize its power, doesn’t know it’s different. why don’t you love me. why are you scared of me. i’m just like you

[ryebreadgf]

[coutelier]

WRITER INTRO ALERT!!!

Much as I abhor talking about myself, I figured I should post and pin an intro here. And this is it. The intro. Which I am about to begin. Right now! It’s about to start! The intro! Here it comes! Any second now! It’s on its way! Should be arriving right about now! Intro, intro, intro…

I am a writer diagnosed with autism. I feel like that’s worth mentioning right away so you understand that sometimes I get so intensely focused on something that it will seem like I’ve disappeared for weeks or months at a time. I haven’t. I’m still around, plugging away at writing when I can. Pronouns he/him.

I took a DNA test once and discovered that I’m about two thirds Irish and one third Scottish, which is about what I expected. Didn’t find out that I was the rightful King of Denmark or something, so a bit disappointed by that. But it’s the writing we’re all here for, so some things that have influenced me include:

Star Trek and all kinds of sci-fi, from Mary Shelley and HG Wells to the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (I also still have vivid memories of Jeff Wayne’s musical War of the Worlds). Terry Pratchett’s Discworld was a major thing that helped me get through my teens. I’ve always been fascinated by Dinosaurs and Mythology, so anything that involves those. Also fascinated by the paranormal – I will read any magazine and watch any trash TV documentary about UFO’s, ghosts, Bigfoot, etc (even though I don’t really believe in most of that stuff). I have studied Physics, Ancient History, Philosophy, and Psychology. Now onto the works currently in progress:

Irongate: A tween terror, a vengeful Queen, two friends who have grown apart, and a CEO who believes he’s God. This is a fairy tale – or is it? It’s up to our heroines to find out, and maybe save the world while they’re at it.

Status: Currently working on the near final draft (after that will just be proof-reading and editing). I also have a number of other stories in this world - of varying length - on the go.

Astral Strays: After an encounter with a singularity, an ancient space probe returns to Earth. But this is not the world it left. All traces of Human civilization are gone from the surface, but even so it might not be alone on this wild planet.

Basically I like space opera. I like speculative zoology. I like the idea of writing a story with no Human characters and a hero who’s almost completely silent. So why not combine all of them?

Status: Pretty much just started, so titles, names, species, etc, are subject to change.

[cherinoix]

Need more space opera-inspired stories in my life; thanks for filling that void !!!!!

[cherinoix]

As promised, here’s Silent Hill 2 DeSpooked!  SH2 is my favorite game in the series, so it was difficult to not draw every single monster and face, haha! You can watch the process of these cuties below! 

I think I’m gonna shift to Resident Evil for the next one; I need a break from the Other World O-O 

Here’s the video link! 

[writingamongther0ses]

And my WIP intro is up!

[cherinoix]

Ok but all of your characters are cute and I have adopted them, thanks. <3

[crypticpaths]

Hello all! I feel like my dash is a little dry right now, so I figured I might as well do one of those "reblog if you're a writeblr" posts because I'd love to meet some more writeblrs! So feel free to like or reblog (and maybe with a lil' description of your WIPs to boot!) and I'll go check your blog out! :)

Bonus points if:

you write Sci-Fi, horror, or fantasy

you're LGBTQ+ and/or write lots of LGBTQ+ characters

(especially trans characters!)

you're a fellow writer of color and write characters of color

[cherinoix]

Heyooo!! Story description coming in the next few days-- but I can answer yes to all of these~! :D

[oddcryptidwrites]

HEY YOU!

Yes you!!!!

It’s been a while since I’ve been on writeblr and I need new active writeblrs. If you are a writer and fall into any of these categories you should totally follow me then reblog this, so I can follow you

You write often

You rarely write

You post oc prompts

You post writing advice

You’re lgbtq or write lgbtq content

You’re ADHD or autistic

You like or write scifi

You like or write dystopias

You like or write morally grey characters

You reblog content from other writers

[cherinoix]

Ooh hi!! Welcome back!

[cherinoix]

Here's my favorite people and monster designs in the first silent hill game. I will definitely be continuing this as a series of reimagining horror games into cute designs-- Silent Hill 2 is next!-- what other horror games would you like to see de-spooked?? 🤔

Aaaand here's the process video! :^)

[owlishink-deactivated20221120]

✿ Writeblr Intro

Hello all! I’m new to the community and wanted to give myself a formal introduction now that my blog’s all set to go and I’m ready to start posting!

✿ About Me

Nohemi, she/her, 20s.

Latina and Indigenous.

Stereotypical Virgo and just about the shiest INFJ you’ll ever meet.

US -> EU transplant

I work in IT, but I’m currently attending uni as well!

My hobbies are digital art and Dungeons & Dragons.

I’m a sucker for high fantasy and revenge plots.

✿ Goals

I’m not very disciplined, but I’ve been crafting whole novels in my head for as long as I can remember. So overall my goals are to:

Hone my own style of writing as I work on my WIP

Make some new friends here in the community

Read some cool stories written by others and become completely consumed by them

Be creative every day—even if it’s just a little.

Finish my own WIP, of course!

✿ WIP Vision — NA HIGH FANTASY — General tag. Inspo.

After a string of nightmares, a young oracle takes it upon herself to assassinate the heir of a neighboring kingdom before he can drown the world. 

✿ — I’m always happy to meet new people, so feel free to message me or drop an ask whenever! I’m looking forward to getting to know other writers here, and I hope we can all get along.