What do you feel has helped you to grow most as a writer in regards to joining the writing community on tumblr? Has it helped you with your worldbuilding, character development, ability to pitch your ideas, etc?
Hi!! Thanks for dropping by!
I think the biggest thing being on writeblr has helped me with in regards to my writing is confidence, honestly. Even though I don't share excerpts as often as I used to (it's harder and harder to share things out of context and have them still Hit when I'm now halfway through writing the series) the way people react and the specifics of what they enjoy when I do share stuff really helped me realize that my writing was worthwhile, you know? It's one thing to have friends and family say nice things about your work, and a whole other thing for complete strangers on the internet to tell you straight up that they loved even a tiny fraction of it.
That, and it has absolutely been a great way to experiment with different ways of pitching things and what ways work to get which groups.
asdasdasd HELLO. your parents realised they were aro/ace after they got married?!?!?! no pressure at ALL but if you feel comfortable i would loveeee to hear more abt that oh my god, incredible
HI YES. HAPPY TO ELABORATE BC THIS IS NOT PUBLIC INFORMATION AND THUS CANNOT DOX ME
so the wildest part about all this, potentially, is that they both figured this out literally less than 6 months ago.
my mom was in therapy one day and had The Realization that actually she's an ace lesbian. this was after, I shit you not, having primarily open lesbian roommates and best friends from the age of 12 onward despite being raised in a hellishly conservative Catholic household. literally ALL of whom, when she told them, were like "yeah???? we could tell??? but we weren't gonna crack your egg???"
my dad was literally ready and happy to be a bachelor for the rest of his life 2 months before meeting my mom. unfortunately they insta-clicked and, in retrospect, mistook that neurodivergent "this person Gets Me like literally no one else ever has" friendship giddiness for love and got married less than a year later.
the kicker??
all of those lesbian friends (and MY DAD'S LESBIAN FRIENDS AS WELL BECAUSE HE ALSO HAD A BILLION LESBIAN FRIENDS BTW) were joking the ENTIRE TIME!!!!! that the two of them were honorary lesbians.
anyway in the last 2 years they've both realized they're autistic and in the last six months realized they were different flavors of acespec and ya know I think that's why my family is straight up just Chill. there's never been relationship drama. there's always been a level of respect for children as People. sex ed was never an issue cause everyone just treated it as A Thing That People Can Do For Fun and not as a relationship definer. it's wild
they're both 52. btw. and have been married for 25 years
It's a day with the possibility of answering asks! When you get an idea for a story out of nowhere, is it more likely to be "Hey that sounds familiar to an idea I've had before" or "okay that's different"?
hi my beloved friend sleepy it has been one william years since tumblr told me i got asks even though you have apparently sent many and i would like to say first and foremost thank you and secondly tumblr why. why do this to me
BUT to actually answer the question:
I don't tend to get random story ideas very much! Which is wild, considering how many WIPs I have, but the thing that comes to me first every single time is a character (or, more often, about three dozen) and every actual story that then happens has to be built up around that character. And usually that stems from information about them that was beamed directly into my brain when they first appeared. I think it's a thing I picked up from spending the vast majority of my creative life from age 10 and on in primarily character design spaces. Much like people who just Make Up A Guy for an art piece or two, I get the visuals first, and have to build a story around those visuals. My primary medium just happens to then be writing instead.
Most of those stories tend to feel very unique once they accumulate, though! Even when they're set in the same world, as any of the handful of people who have read both Whispers and The Millennium Saga can attest. There's often a common thread of rebellion and anti-capitalism, but that's less a repeated idea thing and more of a that's what I believe and also what I find most interesting to see analyzed in a story kind of thing.
I know you get story ideas out of nowhere, though! Have you had any cool ones popping up as of late that you haven't gotten to talk about??
Hi! I'm Pax, and I write Big Books that keep getting darker and darker in subject matter 🎉🎉
Basics about me:
he/him or they/them, Mid 20s
Favorite genres: Fantasy, SciFi, Horror, Mystery
Favorite authors: N. K. Jemisin, Tamsyn Muir, Brandon Sanderson, Pierce Brown, Samantha Shannon
Other things I do: Digital art (including commissions!), Twitch streams (usually art or writing sprints, occasionally video games), digital art assets and fonts (PWYW on Ko-Fi!)
Basics about my WIPs:
THE MILLENNIUM SAGA
High fantasy/Steampunk epic, 8 books planned.
Book one: Firebreathers (160k words; ~700 pages)
Book two: Echoseers (148k words; ~600 pages)
Book three: Goddess-Touched (15k as of posting; 3rd attempt at drafting)
First person, Multi POV
What starts as a simple rebellion against their local Citylord becomes a flight - and fight - for their lives, as Ember Timber, their family, and their newfound friends are forced to flee overseas from the vengeful general who will stop at nothing to earn her Eternal King's favor, and will in fact relish hunting her own son and grandchildren for sport. But along the way, the crew learns that the Eternal King's immortality was not granted in return for his success as the Chosen One long ago, as they have always been told - and the sacrifice for such a thing is not only paid dearly in blood, but on its way to being repeated.
WHISPERS
Dark fantasy Noir. Currently with beta readers. 172k words; ~750 pages.
First person, Dual POV.
Set in the same world as Millennium Saga, ~5 years after the series concludes.
Marika Swiftfoot owes her life to the Shadow of Fowden, the sorceress leader of a terroristic crime syndicate based in the north pole. When the man she once loved finally comes to collect on that life debt ten years later, she plans to kill him the moment it's safe. Too soon, after all, and everyone else she's ever loved will join him beyond the Veil.
But hate isn't the only feeling that lingers between them, and when they're offered another way out of their debts, the lives of a few innocents looks like a bargain compared to the life of cruelty ahead of them.
Lorelei has been hunting the Shadow for twenty years, and looking for the sister who disappeared for thirty. And here, names are legacies: she wants to earn Hopebringer before her legs give out for good, to erase the stain her father's name has left with Vowbreaker. And for that, she sees one way forward: she must never break her vows, no matter how small.
The Shadow must die, and the Whispers with her.
Her sister must be found, even if all that's left to find is a story.
She must find answers for every case she takes on, even if she doesn't know so much as the name of the man who's gone missing.
THE LOST
Space opera webcomic. First scene fully illustrated; will release once the first chapter is complete, a week after Patrons receive the final scene.
In the far reaches of space, the term "Media Empire" is quite literal; the Watchers have extended their influence throughout their galaxy filament with the help of their beloved Coliseum, and the Champion therein. After all, having a shapeshifter capable of replicating anything leads to some gruesome, spectacular fights, made all the more heartrending when they are the last of their kind, trapped in the ship molded from their kin's corpse.
But while the Watchers have total control over what happens in the pit, they cannot predict the audience.
And they certainly cannot predict the malfunctioning psychic implant of an assassin in the front row, and the loss of both opponents and a long-time prisoner of war to the escape.
I also post art of all of these semi-regularly, including in-progress stuff, as well as excerpts and rambling braindumps!! I'm also a huge worldbuilding nerd, so if you ever want to learn more about the worlds I'm writing, don't be afraid to ask!! I love talking about them :D
Boosts are appreciated <3 tell me about your own WIPs in the tags/replies/wherever!! I love learning about what people are working on!
I don't think I usually do this but I decided it would be a fun thing to do each year to remind myself of how much progress I've made when it comes to creations of all kinds, so...
- THINGS I DID THIS YEAR -
Scrapped the second attempt at Goddess-Touched... and after reconfiguring the end of Echoseers, completed a full first draft of the third attempt, from start to finish!
Began drafting book 4, which is tentatively named Fateweavers (though i am thinking about calling it Paragon(s) instead for Lore Reasons)!
Made another full editing pass of Echoseers, (potentially 2, i can't remember for sure) to the point where it'll be given to beta readers who finished Firebreathers to help me debug it some time next year.
This is also the year I gave Whispers to beta readers! And while that happened at a time where many of them couldn't finish, I did get lots of really valuable feedback on the book as a whole!
I launched a whole webcomic! And as you're reading this, Chapter Two is now out for the public! The Lost has been a particularly interesting thing to work on, because of the blend of visuals and writing, and I can't wait to do more and explore where the story is headed!
Also related to art: I took a bunch of commissions, one of which was a series of promotional bookmarks for A Sharper, More Lasting Pain by Alex Harvey-Rivas @authoralexharvey which was my absolute favorite to work on this year, and not just because that book absolutely obliterated me emotionally. The entire illustration process was the coolest thing ever to do with Alex, and I'll forever be grateful to them for choosing me to do it <3
- MY NUMBERS THIS YEAR -
Because I myself sometimes get caught up in numbers in a Bad Way, this section's going to be behind the read more - I'm really proud of what I managed this year, though!
If you want to skip past the numbers, there will be another bolded section for my hopes/plans for next year, too!
So, for some context: Back in early September (I believe it was specifically on September 6th) I looked at my word count for the year on my habit tracker and realized I had written just under 80,000 words.
And then I did some math. And made the biggest commitment of consistency of my life.
Because I realized that if I consistently wrote just under 1k a day for the rest of the year, I would hit 200,000 words by new years eve.
I ended up hitting 200k on December 14th, and this year's total word count (as of the morning of December 30th, when I'm finishing up this post and filling in all the blanks), ended up being 213,000 words!
Some other fun numbers from this year:
I read a total of 16 books, and started 7 more (some of which are on pause due to not scratching my brain right)
I drew a total of 300 panels for The Lost (give or take about ten, depending on how you define panels), 186 of which were in chapter one, and 114 in chapter 2! In total, The Lost is now 40 pages long (25 and 15, respectively)!
The total word count for Goddess-Touched ended up being 126,000 words (or ~500 pages)
As of writing, Fateweavers is at just over 34,000 words so far
The rest of the remaining words were split between some personal projects, the script for The Lost, and some experimental things that ended up being cut from drafts as I went (but the words still got counted and still exist on my hard drive!)
I streamed for my Patrons 32 times this year, despite getting sick a few times and getting absolutely obliterated by the holiday season.
- MY HOPES/PLANS FOR 2025 -
I want to write the same amount I did in 2024 (which will be easier, knowing the goal from day one instead of day 249)
I also want to decide, once and for all, whether I want to go self pub, indie pub, or trad pub. If I go trad pub, I want to get at least one round of query letters out into the world by October, and if I go self pub, I want to have hired an editor by the end of the year to go through whichever book I decide to publish first.
I want to read at least the same amount of books, too! Ideally, I want to read 4 more, which is the goal I set for myself last year, but considering how tough it's been to consistently have time for reading my main goal is to just keep up the pace, because right now my TBR is actually shrinking a bit!
I also want to get to making youtube videos again! It's been a long time, and I doubt I'll have a consistent schedule, but I have a really cool idea for something I can do that might be fresh and fun for the niche I want to fill. I'll definitely keep everyone updated on that front as I get closer to making it a reality!
I want to make more time for personal art, because that fell by the wayside in favor of The Lost, this year. I can feel the art bug itching at me in a way that the comic isn't fulfilling, and I have to get it out somehow.
Overall, despite the State of the World being what it is, I'm hopeful and excited for my personal goals and life in the upcoming year!!
Thank you for the tag, @ashen-crest!!! This is a lovely little game <3<3<3 happy new year everybody!!
I did a much more in-depth personal recap post here, but since this is a tag game i'll do an abbreviated version now :)
2024 accomplishments:
Completed drafting book 3 of the millennium saga (after restarting twice - the full final draft was written from january to november!) and started on book 4!!
Gave Whispers to beta readers, and have a beta reader now going through all of what i've written for TMS so far for series-scope feedback!
Launched a whole webcomic with 2 chapters out so far!!
Overall, I wrote 213,000 words between books, comic, and experimental things along the way!!
2025 goals:
Decide on tradpub vs selfpub and start the next step on the journey to publication accordingly!!
I want to hit the same word count I did in 2024 but with more warning for the goal this time (i had 80k at the start of september. 133k has been written since then because i got excited about the Possibilities)
Make more time for personal art outside of The Lost because while I love it to death, it has consumed my Entire Art Life, so this also comes with ways to speed up the process of making the comic
And that's all for the short version!! I'm going to softly tag @vacantgodling, @authoralexharvey, @nacricissa, and @ettawritesnstudies - but as always, absolutely 0 pressure to do this, and if you want to participate feel free to say I tagged you!!!
