Here is a very small snippet that wrote for my WIP! I’m still trying to figure out if this should be the introduction to the story, or if I want one of my characters to say this. Point is, this is the only part I’m confident keeping in the story as of right now...
Every forest has a story; most with terror, but some with whimsy. This forest though, has a story both terrifying and whimsical. Nobody knows the exact origin of the story, but everyone who leaves the forest leaves knowing it's true.
So, I decided to start a new WIP called The Guardians of the Forest! I’m not entirely sure of the direction it’s going in, but I’m excited to see where it goes.
Hey everyone! I’m sorry for my inactivity lately. I ended up catching a pretty gnarly cold, but the good news is I should be back and writing again in the next few days. Until I start feeling better though, I have to continue taking it easy. I hope you all are having a great day and are finding a lot of writing inspiration!
I’ll be back again soon, but for now I’m going to eat some soup and drink some juice!
I’ve been following the advice of reading when you’re suffering a bout of writers block, and I’m happy to say that I’ve finished reading Homeland by R.A. Salvatore. I still have my bout of writers block, but I’m starting to finally get an idea of where I want to take my story.
For those unfamiliar with R.A. Salvatore’s work, he is best known for his series The Legend of Drizzt, which happens to start with Homeland. The Legend of Drizzt series is part of the Dungeons and Dragons franchise, and takes place during the Forgotten Realms period. Salvatore has also written books for the Star Wars franchise, and is a New York Times best selling author.
I highly recommend his books for those who are interested in works of fantasy. He creates scenes that captures the attention of the readers, and easily maintains that attention throughout his books. Salvatore also does an excellent job with world-building and getting you into the mind-space of inhabiting the world the main characters are in.
I wanted to try another version of black out poetry. I’m hoping to improve on my black out poems by playing with words a bit more. Let me know what you all think!
Right now I’m working on re-writing The Journal of Varien Arator. My goal is to get a rough outline ready to participate in July’s Camp NaNoWriMo since I didn’t meet my goal for April’s camp. I have new details already worked out, so now I want to focus on character development and try to get a feel for each of the characters I want to introduce.
I want this story justice since it’s been the only thing I’ve been thinking about for the past few months. Here’s to hopefully completing an outline that I’m proud of!
I’m excited to share the opening page of The Journal of Varien Arator. This is the backstory of my Drow Rogue. I’m still in the process of editing this piece, but the opening is something I’m most proud of.
Deep underground lies a cavernous domain known as the Underdark. The Underdark is cold, and the only sources of light come from the dimly luminescent mushrooms. The terrain is hard and jagged with stalagmites and stalactites scattered all over. There is not much in terms of life forms in the Underdark. There are spiders, goblins, and the main population known as Drow.
Drow are elves of darkness, ruled over by the goddess known as Lolth who claims to protect them from the surface dwelling elves who once aimed to slaughter them all. The Drow moved to the Underdark to stay protected, but Lolth had other plans. She granted the Drow some of her magic to make them more powerful under the pretense of protection. She then used this magic as a way to get them to do her bidding.
Lolth holds special praises for females as only females may serve by her side. The more females a family has, the more favor they have in Lolth’s eyes. The highest Drow house in all of the Underdark has 10 females, not including the Matron Mother. Every house in the Underdark wishes to attain the same rank held by the first house, yet that would not be possible with Lolth watching carefully over it, so every Matron Mother tries to birth as many children as they can in hopes of having all females.
This was how Varien Arator came to be. Varien was born eighteen years ago as the last child Matron Mother Cazna could safely conceive. In that moment, Matron Mother Cazna believed House Arator was doomed as four daughters was not enough to earn Lolth’s favor. She then put all of her effort into training them to become the strongest clerics Lolth has ever seen to try to earn House Arator more favor.
9th Day of Mirtul
I am sick of my life in the Underdark! There is nothing for me down here in this land of injustice. All I wish is to be free to train in weaponry. I am not one of those traitorous faeries who fling their magic about. This house will never understand! Just because I am a female automatically means I am to serve as a cleric to Lolth…
Lolth – I am incredibly sick of her too. Always in our lives, yet never to be seen, and for what? Murder, sabotage, and literal backstabbing of our own kind. What kind of a goddess wills for you to kill your own, especially when your own race is massacred by relatives? We were always taught that the high elves and wood elves betrayed us; killed their own kind, and it was Lolth who guided us to the Underdark to protect us. Hells, what kind of a goddess is part spider, and why would anyone trust or believe a being that cruel? Truly, this is an example of desperate times calling for equally desperate measures.My sisters come forth again. I must go.
12th Day of Mirtul
I made a grave mistake. I chose to go against my mother’s command of going to the Arcane Magic and Alchemy Academy. She is giving me only one chance to correct this and go to the academy, otherwise I will have an eternity’s worth of punishment. I do believe my mother when she says that. It would be of more beneficial for her to torture me into submission rather than allowing me into the weaponry program if I denied the academy again. Women in the Underdark are valuable assets that lead you closer to Lolth as only women may serve at Lolth’s side. It is extremely rare for a male to be by her side, but when there is he is only being used as a pawn. I have until dawn to make my decision about attending the academy. For now, I must gain some rest.
Happy Mermay! Here is a short story I’ve been working on that has to do with pollution and mermaids.
“Our eggs are to hatch soon.”
“Aye, and they will be as beautiful as their mother.”
Days turned to weeks as the expectant parents awaited their children.
“Any day,” Nereus said to calm his wife’s nerves.
Moselle paced the seafloor, her glimmering reddish-pink tail swept up some sand with each pass. Nereus, nervous himself, wrapped his arms around her to try to give her comfort.
“What if they don’t hatch?” Moselle’s voice cracked.
“Don’t say that,” Nereus said sternly, “They will hatch when they’re ready.”
“They should have been ready by now, Nereus!” Moselle yelled as she pushed him away from her.
She went over to the nest they made out of seaweed and sea stars where their five eggs laid still in the bottom. Moselle cried as her curly brunette hair surrounded her face. Nereus stood behind her unsure what to do next. He brushed his light blonde hair back trying to calm himself. His children needed him, his wife needed him, but he felt useless. He moved closer to their nest to take a look at his children. The tip of his shimmering green tail rested on the seafloor in front of the nest.
Please hatch soon, Nereus thought.
Almost a month had passed before the parents finally begun to see life emerge from their eggs. Moselle stooped low as she welcomed her children to the world. The first to emerge was a boy who they deemed to be Tertis. Unlike his mother and father’s tails, his tail was a dull brown. The fins of his tail also appeared as though they were cut. Curious, Nereus and Moselle tossed him gently into the sea above to see if he could swim. Tertis flapped his tail, but could only manage to sink. Nereus and Moselle looked at each other worried as they held their son, then returned their gaze back to their nest.
The second to emerge was a girl who was deemed Coventina who had hair as light as her father’s, but as curly as her mother’s. Her tail held a combination of reddish-pink scales and green scales; it was the most beautiful tail Moselle and Nereus had ever seen. Moselle passed Tertis fully to Nereus as she went to pick up Coventina. She looked down at her daughter to see one of her tail fins are smaller than the other. Moselle gave her a gentle toss, but all Coventina could do was spin.
“All of our children… are they going to be,” Moselle said trailing off, returning her gaze to the nest.
Only one more child had emerged from their egg, another girl, but with a stunted green tail. This girl was deemed Nadya. Moselle sobbed at the loss of two of her children. Nereus held her as he cried with his head atop hers. Mosella and Nereus weren’t the only couple to have birth defects amongst their children, other merfolk of Raen faced the same problems. Multiple children were born with cracked or abnormal sized fins, stunted tails, and dull scales. The leader of Raen called for a meeting in the center of their city to address the problem.
Moselle and Nereus arrived with other merfolk who were all joining a crowd in front of Raen Hall. Other children of the merfolk stood closely to their parents, most of them being held or supported.
“Merfolk of Raen, this birthing season has been the worst ever recorded in our history. It is believed that the cause of the birth defects our children possess is from the amount of pollution in our home,” Koia, the leader of Raen, said.
The merfolk’s voices began to rumble together questioning what should be done about the pollution.
“Quiet!” Koia shouted over the crowd. The merfolk looked at each other, then turned their attention back to the muscular female floating above them.
“What we need to do is simple. Every time trash comes into the area, it is usually trailing behind passing ships. If we take out the ships, then we will take out the problem,” Koia’s voice rang over the crowd. The crowd stood silent as they thought about the proposition.
“How are we going to take out the ships?” a merfolk called up to Koia.
“We’ll have weapons. We can either make our own, or we can search through the trash the humans keep bringing in to see if they have human weapons in there,” Koia responded.
Moselle swam up from the crowd, leaving her children with Nereus. “I’ll join,” she said sternly.
Currently I’m working on a D&D backstory for my Drow Rogue. This is what I was working for Camp NaNoWriMo. It still needs more editing before I upload it, but I will keep everyone updated on the progress being made!
I am also working on a short story piece about mermaids for Mermay! I’m hoping to have that finished and uploaded on here by tonight. I haven’t done much with mermaids, but I’m happy with how the short story turned out. I may even expand on it later.
I have been on a hiatus for a while because of school. This is finals week and I had quite a few papers to write. Today marks my last exam, so I’ll be done with the semester! I should definitely be able to post a lot more now, and can’t wait to start writing some short stories to upload here.
Here’s to hopefully getting to 10,000 by tomorrow! I have been blessed by the motivation gods since I haven’t really stopped writing since this morning.
