Just a little writer

|Writeblr, history, books |WIP: For God and Gold (Wolf Hall fanfic on AO3, by CowperViolet) | WIP: To Topple a Throne (original fantasy, search the tag)

[cowperviolet]

WIP: To Topple a Throne

Secondary world epic fantasy, some romance, some swashbuckling, lots of political shenanigans.

The realm is crumbling under the weight of debt and hunger, the ruling creme de la creme is insulated within a blissful bubble, and a flimsy pretense of consulting with the people is enough to fool most… but not all.

Sidonie de Favriel, once a debutante darling of the upper crust, is reduced to selling her favours after a scandalous divorce. However, a chance brings her together with a young firebrand lawyer. He is a man determined that her talent with a pen should both thrive and be put into the service of his beloved cause… but that will also place her into a mortal danger.

Armand Verennes has startling ideas on how the country should be governed. However, these ideas far outstrip his current position as a modest deputy in the Great Council. The anger boiling the country might give him a chance to rise and fulfil his destiny… but strange hauntings that plagued him since childhood might be pointing to a legacy altogether darker.

Audrine de Favriel used to be the prickly rebel of the cruel noble family she was born in. However, imprisonment, exile, and a life as an actress under an assumed name have dulled her fire. Then she comes to the attention of the young Queen consort who needs any help she can get. A startling mission seems to give Audrine a new purpose in life… but it might also sunder her from her sister Sidonie forever.

Character profile: Sidonie de Favriel

Character profile: Armand Verennes

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[cowperviolet]

Just came back with a new library haul. Well, the bottom two are the library haul, the one at the top is an AbeBooks haul (though it did originally belong to the library of some small American college, I believe. And before that to some dude called Abernathy).

I swear by all the gods, I’ve done less research for my postgraduate thesis all those years ago than I’ll clearly end up doing for this self-indulgent historical fantasy project.

[cowperviolet]

If you can get a hold of any of the out-of-print copies of the English translations of Claude Manceron’s 5-volume history of the years leading up to the French Revolution, DO IT.

[cowperviolet]

So. I live in a ground floor flat, with the doors opening into this common inner courtyard. And a bunch of loud, laughing dudebros are currently having a party in the flat at the opposite side of the courtyard. Which is not remarkable all by itself.

Except the music they are playing on loop is an electronic club remix of freaking Greensleeves??

[thornfield13713]

The great problem of being in both the Smallville and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms fandoms is that I keep trying to spell 'Lionel' as 'Lyonel'.

I am very sorry, m'lord, Mr Laughing Storm, sir, I don't mean to compare you to that bastard. It's just the names thing...

[lua-cor-de-rosa]

If THIS Lyonel was Lex’s dad things would have gone soooooooo much better.

He would be loved for one

[thornfield13713]

#smallville#a knight of the seven kingdoms#lex luthor#lyonel baratheon#Lyonel canonically went to war because someone slighted his daughter’s honor and pride#if anyone even LOOKED at Lex wrong Lyonel would have bitten their heads off#no more psychological and emotional manipulation only party now#now I have this really cute image of baby Lex and his laughing dad spinning on the ballroom of the castle#maybe LuthorCorp doesn’t exist here they are just rich people#and the castle is a fancy Lyonel decide to do and now the family uses it as a summer home or something like that#they are there in the day of the meteor shower not because of the factory but because they are constructing the castle#they go there when they don’t want to deal with shit in high society anymore#they need to detox ya know#or have privacy for their endeavors#LexCorp on the other hand may be on the horizon#but now Lex has his dad backing and support#also baby Julian is Alive! Lilian has no reason to fear this Lyonel’s parenting style#FUCK I CANT WRITE THIS RIGHT NOW IM WRITING A THESIS#petition to body swap Lionel with Lyonel when Lex is like 1 year old or something and Lyonel just rolls with it#unaware that he is changing the entire narrative of this world forever (tags via @lua-cor-de-rosa)

YES! YOU SEE THE VISION!

And, honestly, Lyonel just swapping in (can't picture Lyonel's personality behind John Glover's face, so maybe it's just a case of full-on swap but nobody notices they look different because- handwave, handwave, a dimensional imp did it) when Lex is very small sounds like an awesome idea on so many levels.

Like- maybe it looks to everyone like Lionel has suffered global amnesia or something from a head injury and his whole personality has completely changed, so Lillian is having to deal with the man she married suddenly being a completely different guy- but on the other hand, given that Lionel-with-an-i was a monster and Lyonel-with-a-y isn't, that's a trade up, so long as she can trust it to last. Lyonel, meanwhile, is just- figuring out this whole new world, maybe goes and finds historical re-enactments so he can still do a lot of the things he loved back in Westeros- like, he's a smart guy, I could see him figuring out Lionel's life, and- look, running a corporation is not that different to ruling a province about the size of Ukraine (which the Stormlands roughly is).

But also the added issue that- Lyonel-with-a-y is not responsible for and does not know of Lionel's various Crimes (the whole 'blew up a tenement building to kill his parents' thing), but can't really use that as any sort of defence. He also has no idea who Morgan Edge is or what he might want, which also leaves him vulnerable.

...I am not going to write this. I have too many projects to write this, and prev has dibs anyway and I really want to read their version. But it is a very cool idea.

[cowperviolet]

Lyonel, meanwhile, is just- figuring out this whole new world, maybe goes and finds historical re-enactments so he can still do a lot of the things he loved back in Westeros

So, basically this guy:

[helenvaughans]

📢📢📢

[cowperviolet]

Well… apparently, there was a board game in 1770s France that was sort of like Monopoly, but instead of real estate you collected ridiculous-but-modish coiffures.

I kid you not:

[cowperviolet]

Thinking of this guy who managed to be an obnoxious Right-Wing Podcast Bro two and a half centuries before the invention of podcasts

[cowperviolet]

I hate these people so much it’s unreal. Also, it’s giving D-list villain speech.

[cowperviolet]

This is the worst post-elopement Hannigram disguise I’ve ever seen

[willgrahamcracker2013]

wdym it’s literally perfect???

[cowperviolet]

Do you know the best part? They were founded in *2015*

[willgrahamcracker2013]

oh my god that makes it even better

it’s official brammibal’s donuts ships hannigram like fedex

[cowperviolet]

It gets better. They are (supposedly) entirely vegan

“we want to change the perception of plant based food, one donut at a time.”

[cowperviolet]

[cowperviolet]

Stumbled upon them today

And yes, the glowy decoration inside says “Donut [as in, don’t] eat animals”

[ring2002]

sexually repressed people be like “i have an ancient evil stirring within me. no one can know” and its literally just craving intimacy

[cowperviolet]

Itchy Bitesized 43: What Do You Research?

What material does your novel, memoir or creative non-fiction need you to find out?

For all the fantasy and historical fiction writers in here. And, frankly, for every other writer too.

[cowperviolet]

I am currently absolutely fascinated by this primary source find - one of the ‘grievance lists’ (cahiers de doléances) written in 1789. This one was created by a widow from Normandy. And… if half of these lines had been given to a period drama character, the screenwriters would have been raked over the coals for being hamfisted and anachronistic.

[cowperviolet]

Obsessed with this quote about different sorts of people the Dean of the Wells Cathedral has to deal with over the course of one week

(It’s from Christopher Sommerville’s Ships of Heaven (a non-fiction book about cathedrals)).

[cowperviolet]

…and yes, they DID genuinely start as a regular book club

[cowperviolet]

It’s not that it’s ever been a secret that extensive screen time/phone addiction depletes mental health (especially for people with diagnosed depression), attention span, creativity, and cognitive abilities. It’s just that I have only very recently realized how much.

So… I am interested in taking advantage of this whole neuroplasticity thing, breaking out of the scrolling addiction, and getting all of my chops above back. I miss being able to read paperbacks for hours, for one thing. Not to mention writing.

My measures, starting today, include:

Switching most non-essential notifications off

Removing social media apps from my main Home screen and onto a separate board

Making myself read physical books for at least 10 minutes a day (timer via the app called Flora, it’s one of those “don’t open anything on your phone or the tree dies” apps)

And also starting more physical exercise (2-3 or so classes a week. I’m kind of lucky to have this “all you can eat”-style membership with Urban Sports Club).

I know that most changes listed above are very modest, but that’s kind of by design. My main problem has always been consistency and keeping on, not starting with a bang.

So… wish me luck?

[cowperviolet]

Apparently, gloating villains in dystopian novels aren’t unrealistic at all.

The OOP is Elizabeth Ann West the “author” of AI-generated Jane Austen variations (read: fanfics published for money), btw.