Hello all! I couldn't remember if I had done a writeblr reintroduction and, as it's been a while and I've acquired a good number of followers since, I figured I would give it a go.
about the author:
I love to write, particularly historical fiction, fantasy, and thrillers.
When not writing, I like to crochet and knit.
I'm disgustingly in love with Fjallraven Känken backpacks. I have 7, so far, and a laptop case.
When not writing, I am a History Person. I am currently a middle school social science teacher.
You can call me Sav, I'm 29 (white, cis, female). My pen name is Cornelia Stone. All original written works are copyright to myself and that name, so you'll see it floating around. My current projects are as follows:
OPERATION ECLOGUES - An urban fantasy series focusing on the plight of a private investigator and his motley band of misfits as they search for missing import company heiresses, combat corrupt government and radical third party groups, and attempt to make a messy, magical world a bit more orderly. [ SECONDARY WIP ]
Bonus: PHOTO NEGATIVES, the prequel to the events of Book One, about 5-7 years before [ OUTLINING ]
A CASTING OF LOTS - A historical fantasy retelling of the events centered around Homer's Iliad and Odyssey which focuses on questions of fate, war, and free will and how all of these may intertwine to become manipulated and how four individuals can use that to make their way home.
WHERE THE BLACKBIRDS ROOST - A mish-mash of psychological thriller meets historical fantasy, this standalone, nonlinear novel focuses on themes of guilt, regret, and how time can break even the most seasoned of investigators. The storyline follows two San Francisco homicide detectives as they must unearth the secrets surrounding a serial killer that has been buried beneath political machinations and the sensationalism of mass media. [ ON HOLD ]
ODILANI'S ROSE - A romantasy reminiscent of This Woven Kingdom, with lush world building and a political intrigue plot, interspersed with romance and shenaniganry, this standalone focuses on the parallelism between love and war when the young prince of a nation on the brink of political turmoil must choose between his heart or his people. [ ON HOLD ]
PROJECTHOOD - Current brain weasel, Robin Hood historical fiction inspired. Possibly my NaNoWriMo project for 2023, alongside ACoL.
NOTE: I usually rotate through WIPs one or two at a time. However, I will still answer questions and occasionally create drabbles for all works to keep the ideas alive. If it's on hold, that means inspiration has waned, but it's still on my mind.
ACoL just hit 25k after nearly 6 years of planning, researching, and writing (occasional)
That is all (I'm freaking out)
In other news, Philoctetes / Philoktetes is an interesting little man, whom I have enjoyed poking with a stick, and I somehow accidentally wrote The Funniest euphemism between him and Patroclus and now it's making me 🤔
We talk a lot about Odysseus and Neoptolemus' mutual hatred post Troy (as we should) but I also think we should explore more the beginning of their relationship, when Odysseus would still use pretty words and promises of glory to influence Neo. And how it broke apart.
Imagine this twelve year old boy just following Odysseus around like a lost duckling at first, which Odysseus himself could've found endearing any other time, but quickly he starts telling himself this boy is not his son, he's not a pet, he's a weapon. Don't get attached.
As the time goes by, Odysseus gets more and more irritated with Neo, but he still manages to catch himself before snapping. I think their mentor/apprentice relationship starts straining after the Philoctetes mission.
In the play, Odysseus loses his patience with Neo and actively threatens him, saying he'll tell the Greeks Neo is a traitor for giving Heracles' magic bow back to Philoctetes. Neo ignores his threats, deciding to give the bow back anyways, but his decision happens off scene. I think it's not unreasonable to believe they fought once Odysseus realizes Neo is coming back to return the bow. Maybe that's the first time Odysseus lets out all of his frustration and the pent up irritation with Neo. He's so close to finding his way back home, and this kid, who shouldn't even be on a battlefield in the first place, has the audacity to put all of that in jeopardy and in the name of what? Honor? And Neo realizes that Odysseus is not the man he had thought at first, that maybe he shouldn't have trusted Odysseus the way he did.
So they're back to Troy, now Odysseus doesn't bother hiding his irritation with Neo anymore, likely putting it on account of the almost failed mission. Neo maybe thought there was a chance they could make amends, but it just keeps getting worse until Odysseus doesn't bother even looking at him if it's not something related to the war. Odysseus doesn't like that, he know it's not fair, but he can't help it. If he looks at Neo too long he starts seeing Telemachus, he starts seeing all of the boys who stayed behind when he left Ithaca, all of them who would sit on his lap and eat from his plate like they were his own sons. He can't treat Neo like that, Neo has a purpose to fulfill.
Enter Philoctetes himself. That man hates the other Greeks for leaving him behind, the only reason he came back to fight was because Heracles' ghost told him to do it. And I think maybe all of his contempt starts seeping into Neo's head. Most of the other soldiers don't bother showing him much more kindness than Odysseus ever had, he already feels isolated. And the more brutal Neoptolemus becomes, the more everyone else distance themselves from him. Maybe the Kings won't treat like the child he's supposed to be, but they don't treat him exactly like an equal either. Philoctetes himself never meant to influence Neo, but it just...Happens.
Just the adult men around Neo unfortunately having a hand in shaping him into the cruel man he becomes.
The thing about Philoctetes is that, at some point at least, Neoptolemus was a good kid. Or he tried to be. He outright refused to lie to Philoctetes, even after being threatened by his mentor figure, and after the war he fulfilled his promise to see Philoctetes back home again. So what changed? What made this apparently good, honorable kid become so rotten to kill an old man inside a temple? When even his own father and the other Greeks had shown Priam mercy? How could this child be dragged into war and not suffer a single wound during battle (at least according to Odysseus) but come out with a completely twisted and brutal mind? At what point exactly did he break? Did he ever lie awake at night regretting what he's done, but unable to stop being what he became? If he was such a skilled warrior, was it possible that he let Orestes kill him, because he couldn't take being a monster anymore? Out of all the lives he destroyed, which one haunted him the most, if any at all? Did he ever look at his mother and hated her because she let him go to war, even if he knew she didn't have a choice? Did Deidamia ever look at him and hated him because he killed the most precious one of all, her Pyrrhus?
ACoL just hit 25k after nearly 6 years of planning, researching, and writing (occasional)
That is all (I'm freaking out)
In other news, Philoctetes / Philoktetes is an interesting little man, whom I have enjoyed poking with a stick, and I somehow accidentally wrote The Funniest euphemism between him and Patroclus and now it's making me 🤔
You can't have a character with significant scarring and not give them the non visual aspects ot scarring (numbness, chronic pain, mobility issues, itching, temperature disregulation, etc.), thats just disability erasure
Okay okay okay Thinking Thoughts about them again while I wait to take my momma to lunch and:
Laocoön is at least mid to late 30s, possibly early 40s.
Kassandra is mid to early 20s. It'd be weird for her to be unmarried at this age but, as a priestess, now that's negated.
They met the night she was given to the temple at like 17, but nothing has happened until recently. Previously, and still at least for Kassandra, Laocoön is a very, very good friend.
Because of REDACTED, Laocoön might offer to REDACTED but 🤭
He will still be working Troy about the horse so, uh, yeahhhh
Guys they're cute and I'm mad about it. Below the cut is an unedited scene between the pair.
When he raises a hand, Kassandra lets her eyes fall shut, a shaking breath escaping as he runs a thumb over the bone of her cheek. Her shoulders sag, forehead hitting his chest as Laocoön takes her weight, an arm wrapping, loose, around her lower back.
“I am plagued, Laocoön,” she breathes, the words trembling at the admission, fingers tightening in his chiton. “I just want to sleep; there are times…there are times I cannot even do this.”
“With me, you may. My bed is yours. Come, agapētos. Let us sleep. I will share your burdens later.”
The hand that had cradled her face tucks its fingers into her hair, loose and unadorned for the fact she was within the safety of the temple walls. Laocoön drags them through, taking the curls away from her face, before stooping to press a light kiss to the top of her head.
Okay okay okay Thinking Thoughts about them again while I wait to take my momma to lunch and:
Laocoön is at least mid to late 30s, possibly early 40s.
Kassandra is mid to early 20s. It'd be weird for her to be unmarried at this age but, as a priestess, now that's negated.
They met the night she was given to the temple at like 17, but nothing has happened until recently. Previously, and still at least for Kassandra, Laocoön is a very, very good friend.
Because of REDACTED, Laocoön might offer to REDACTED but 🤭
He will still be working Troy about the horse so, uh, yeahhhh
I also like the idea of showing something as a problem before it’s shown as a strength. Almost every character trait has two sides, and by showing the “bad” side first, it sets things up to not only make sense, but to also be very satisfying.
I also like the idea of showing something as a problem before it’s shown as a strength. Almost every character trait has two sides, and by showing the “bad” side first, it sets things up to not only make sense, but to also be very satisfying.
"wahh i only like enemies to lovers if it's gay bc i don't want men to be mean to women" what about a woman doing heinous shit to a man and that man (who also sucks) being pathetically psychosexually obsessed with her. you people have no fucking vision. if you were willing to read & write women doing actual wrongs this wouldn't be a problem. let that female character commit atrocities with the sole goal of ruining one guy's life while they have weird sexual tension about it
I will forever die upon the hill that the iliad is about love
The irrational fleeting love helen has for paris. The love menelaus has for helen, so much so that he started a war. The love agamemnon has for menelaus, so much so that he led a war for him. The love hector has for his family and by extension all of troy. The love thetis and aphrodite have for their sons. The love achilles has for patroclus. The love and sympathy for the enemy that achilles shows priam in book 24. The love for fallen warriors we consistently see, through defending bodies and lavish funerals.
The love odysseus holds for telemachus, whom he mentions even though we never see the boy. The love and pain hecuba feels for her sons. The love achilles has for the son he will never meet. The love and kindness priam shows helen. The love between teucer and ajax. The fatherly love nestor shows diomedes on occasion.
The love between glaucus and sarpedon. The love between the allied achaeans and the trojans with their allies. The love and respect shown to elders like phoenix and nestor. The self-love that both achilles and agamemnon have to their detriment. The selfless love that leads both patroclus and hector to become martyrs.
The love the gods show towards their favourite heroes. The love between guest-friends, who honour it on the battlefield. The love and admiration ajax and hector show to each other. The love apollo holds for troy even as he watches it fall before his eyes. The love zeus feels for sarpedon as he debates saving him from his fate, instead choosing to have him buried at home amongst family. The love achilles’ horses felt for patroclus. The self respect and love for the land that the river xanthus would not tolerate being violated.
The love and care homer shows for every single character who gets killed, giving us a glimpse into their lives that were so full of love before it was taken from them.
quarterly reminder that if i reblog something ai-generated it is 110% and always an accident and for the love of god please tell me so i can delete it from my blog
Kinda want to continue the drabbles with Antinous and Telemakhos and develop that plot line bc I think it's gonna be a BIG one in the latter half of ACoL
If anyone has ideas I am all ears, however here are a few options:
in less than three days i am over 75% of the way to recouping the loss; i cannot thank you all enough for signal boosting
there are still some copies remaining of...
• Mr Warren's Profession, a gay Victorian cross-class romance featuring the wonders and horrors of the industrial revolution.
• Hold Fast, a gay Victorian romance between a whaling harpooner who inherits a baronetcy and the estate agent tasked with turning him from sailor to gentleman.
• Fiorenzo, a fantasy-of-manners mm romance featuring swordplay and hurt/comfort in an alternate version of 18th century Venice.
• The Haunting of Heatherhurst Hall, a Gothic lesbian romance rife with horror and heartache, wherein an American heiress makes an ill-advised marriage to bring herself closer to the woman who’s stolen her heart.
