Learn about my Novel in the making!

I'm a young author working on a story called Shades of Red (my goal is to publish it in one to two years, and I've got the rough outline down). I'll appreciate any support, criticism, feedback and suggestions for my work! :)

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Shades of Red trigger warnings:

- gore

- homophobia

- parental issues

- anxiety/panic attacks

- anger issues

- mental disorders

- psychosis

- suicide

- self-harm

- queer struggles

- mental abuse

- main character death

- physical abuse

- hints of conversion therapy

- childhood trauma

- flashbacks

- ragebait

- crude language/gestures

Please keep these in mind, and be safe! Thank you, and if there are any more trigger warnings you think I should add, please comment!

Shades of Red Quick Links:

Introduction post

Worldbuilding

Intros:

1. Primrose

2. Adany

3. Nova

Book Samples:

1. Chapter 1 (rough draft)

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Haven't been very active here in the past few days, so, uh... Take some psychological lore I guess?

My characters, Adany and Primrose, are both reflections of myself. Adany is who I am on the inside, and Primrose is who I feel like on the outside, because that simply makes it easier to write them.

Essentially, Shades of Red was created because I needed a way of venting about my anger. I needed a way of translating my feelings into words. This was before I discovered I had Alexithymia.

The easy way of explaining Alexithymia is having trouble identifying your emotions and feelings. I have a more detailed explanation somewhere on my main blog, @justanaveragebi.

Adany is a very angry individual. She uses anger as a shortcut instead of facing her real feelings, but the deeper (and kinda romance-y) part of it is that Adany has a hard time masking around Prim, her best friend, and she's scared that the second she'll let Prim know who she really is, Prim will leave her and she'll be alone once more.

Primrose isn't Alexithymic. However, she does have extreme Generalized Anxiety, as well as overreactive instincts. She puts on a chill, self-absorbed, and relaxed front, but in reality, Prim is very worried about her kingdom, her mother, her friends and her servants. If something happened to anyone because of her, she would never forgive herself. She's also very stubborn and shortsighted, however, so she has a difficult time telling when someone is struggling mentally or emotionally versus when they're bleeding out right in front of her and the solution is a quick bandaging. This is why Adany's Alexithymia is such a predicament when it comes to her and Primrose's relationship.

Another thing about Prim is, as I mentioned before, she's very stubborn and shortsighted after being raised with a golden spoon in her mouth. She gets everything she wants, and sometimes she forgets that it's not the same for everybody else. A lot of people find her selfish for this, or call her stuck-up or naïve. This doesn't necessarily help her relationship with her kingdom.

Thanks for learning about my characters ^^ as always, any questions, concerns, compliments, advice or feedback, anything like that is appreciated. Feel free to leave a comment or send an ask. Any bit of support gives me more and more motivation for this project, meaning I can give more and more to anyone wondering about Shades of Red. Thank you!

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This is an introduction to my character, Nova Soprano.

Nova Soprano!!!

Nova Soprano is the sister of Adany, supposedly. She, along with Adany, was raised by their parents and forced to do handiwork for them all their lives. When her best friend, Georgia, died in a crossfire of borders, she was ten. When she finally gained the courage to talk to people again after Georgia's death, she was eleven. When her sister was sent away to a conversion camp, Nova was only twelve.

Nova lived her whole life under a promise: she would turn the Islands into a better place, some way, somehow. Adany made a promise, too; she'd stand by SuperNova when she saved the world.

Name: Nova Soprano

Age: 12

Gender: Cisgender Girl

Sexuality: ???

Role: Major Side Character

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A little bit of world building for the detailed universe of Shades of Red:

So, the Islands are a place I've been working on for a while now, but this story focuses mainly on the world of the five Astronomian kingdoms, which reside in a place called Gana (not Ghana- Gana, pronounced GAN-uh, not gone-uh. I should probably workshop that a bit.) These five kingdoms are called Astronomia (wow it's not like that's the title of the kingdoms or anything), Pondan, Easton, Raidon, and Fostonn- which is one of the Main Characters, Primrose's, kingdom. These kingdoms, as well as Gana, are all part of the Islands, which is, as the name suggests, a mythical grouping of islands held together by the Godd Celestienna and her force of Gravity called Centeré Grävisse (roll the Rs).

Anyways, Celestienna basically saved the Islands three or four times, and was always underestimated, either mortally or immortally. The first time, she saved her town back when the Islands were first created, and everybody had doubted her. She'd died to save the people, and was made a Godd. Most recently, she'd turned herself into a source of gravity to hold the Islands together and keep them from drifting away, since they aren't tethered to any ocean floor. These islands orbit her like a planet.

But the thing is, since people outside her family and closest friends have done nothing but underestimate, hurt, and betray her, she doesn't trust in people outside her lineage. She will only bless her descendants with ruling her kingdoms, which is why so many people doubt Primrose's ability to be queen, having been adopted and all.

So there- now you know a bit about the lore. If you have any questions, leave a comment or send me an ask!!

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Quick lil unedited dump of what I'm currently working on for shades of red: (it's a first draft, so it may not be too good, and feedback, criticism or anything like that would be much appreciated)

“It’s late, Primrose,” Medianne sighed, “and you have a busy day tomorrow.”

“Right, right, a busy day full of princes and marriage.”

“Stop it with the sarcasm, young lady,” Medianne snapped. She sighed and rubbed her temple, as if she was the one being forced into marriage at fifteen years old. “I have no clue what I’m going to do with you.”

That stung.

“Mother, I’m not getting married.” Primrose had put her foot down on that years ago; if she was to be Queen, she would do it without a man by her side.

“Primrose, you don’t have a choice. You’re already on thin ice with the kingdom. What would they say if-”

“You’re supposed to be ruling the kingdom,” Prim interrupted. “Not letting the kingdom rule you!"

Medianne stepped back. “Decisions have to be made, Primrose- Sacrifices. You’ll learn.” She turned, and absentmindedly called back, “Get some rest. You’ll need it.”

Sorry if it feels rushed or anything, this was all written in about five to ten minutes, so again, it's not the best quality. 😁

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This is an introduction to my character, Adany Soprano.

Adany Soprano!!!

(picrew used: sushicore!)

Aside from her parents, her sister, and a few merchants or assassins in captivity, Adany Soprano is one of the only humans in Fostonn. Only her wit and her luck have gotten her thus far in a society where her race could get her hunted, killed, or worse.

Her parents always claimed she and her sister were theirs, but they'd have to be idiots to believe that. While Adany was obviously human, with pale skin, blonde hair and vicious blue eyes, her sister, Nova, had pink skin and black braids. Both of them looked nothing like their parents, with their tanned skin and brown hair. So Adany, under the cover of being a stablemaid for the Queen, forced distance between her and her parents, returning only for Nova every few months.

Her time as a stablemaid caused her to run into the Queen's own daughter, Primrose, who originally thought Adany was a fox, hiding in the bushes. They became fast friends, sneaking out into the woods and playing pranks on the guards whenever they could. When it was time for Adany to visit her parents a few years later, what she found was terrifying.

Her parents planned on sending her to a conversion camp, a human one, hundreds of kilometers away. She would be separated from Prim, Nova, and everything she'd come to love.

But Adany Soprano wasn't one to let a camp break her.

Name: Adany Soprano

Age: 16

Gender: who knows? (I do)

Sexuality: lesbian

Role: main character

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Have you ever considered posting short passages so people could get an idea of what the book is like? I just really want to read some, it sounds really good! ☺️ 📚

Yesss I totally would do that if I had passages ready 😅 unfortunately I'm still in the early stages of the first good copy, but if I write a part of the story I'm really proud of that's good and edited, I will definitely share it 😁

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This is an introduction to my character, Primrose ai'Fostonn.

Primrose ai'Fostonn!!!

(picrew used: sushicore!)

Primrose's story begins when, at eight years old, she is adopted by the Queen of Fostonn, Medianne, and set as the kingdom's next heir. Exactly one year before Primrose's coronation date, her best friend, Adany, goes missing. Still, her mother forces her to choose someone to marry...

But, amongst many other problems that keep popping up, Primrose's biggest fear grows more daunting by the day: what if the kingdom doesn't welcome Primrose? Since she's adopted, the people are only skeptical about her being a ruler... What if she's not cut out for it, anyways, especially if it seems everyone she gets close to disappears?

Name: Primrose ai'Fostonn

Age: 15

Gender: Cisgender Girl

Sexuality: ???

Role: Main Character

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Yoyoyo

This is my side log (mainblog: @justanaveragebi) where I talk and share progress on my stories, specifically my WIP, Shades of Red, which hopefully I will be able to publish within a few years. If you have any questions or headcanons or recommendations or anything, feel free to DM me or send me and ask.

Learn more about the story:

Now, for a bit about Shades of Red:

Shades of Red is a novel I have been working on for quite a bit now, and it's fantasy/adventure with quite a bit of gore and depressing themes. It centers around two girls: an adoptive princess named Primrose of the kingdom of Fostonn, and her best friend, Adany, who went missing six months before the main timeline of the story takes place. Basically, Primrose's mother adopted Prim when Prim was about two years old, and the Kingdom isn't sure about the decision. Fostonn is one of the five kingdoms of Astronomia sprinkled throughout the fantasy world this story takes place in, and that means the rulers have to be descendants of the goddess Celestienna, or said ruler won't be properly blessed. But Queen Medianne didn't let that stop Prim from being raised as a princess.

When Adany, the stablemaid, came along, she clicked with the princess immediately. Medianne never liked her, but she was glad Prim had made a friend who liked Prim for Prim. Years later, Adany disappears without a trace, leaving Prim to choose a prince to marry all on her own.

And so the story begins 👀👀👀

I will probably post biographies on all of the characters somewhere on this blog, so stay tuned and please give me any feedback or ideas!