#fantasy writing

[move-slow-and-savor-things]

Today I asked my friend's two kids to read the first 1000 words of the middle grade novel I'm writing. Her daughter said it has "Ella Enchanted vibes." I couldn't be happier with that feedback!

[volieree]

introduction

hiiiii i'm voli, working on a high fantasy novel and fighting against the idea that the idea is too generic (even though it might be)

im always down to read anything even though i may not be that good at it, and i am also looking for people to share my drafts with (progress is slow but if i have more ppl waiting i hope i can go faster)

[lumisthegloomis]

i yearn to create. i yearn to make. i yearn for new ideas and yet i am too fucking tired to do anything about it god dammit

[nihilityfl0wr]

Ashes of the Eternal Flame – The Tribes of Dragons

Over time, tribes of dragons have developed across the entire world with their individual traditions and beliefs.

While every dragon has their own individual story, the very belonging to some tribes makes them think about certain aspects differently.

🔥 Hellfire Tribe

The tribe based on strength, endurance, and survival. The dragons from the Hellfire believe that one needs to earn strength and endurance with time.

🌿 Nature Tribe

The tribe which is connected to nature and its rhythms. Dragons from Nature appreciate growth, harmony, and unity between all creatures.

☁️ Heavenly Tribe

The tribe associated with the ideal notions of purity and order. Their beliefs and history have led to many important moments in the world.

Every tribe has its flames, its scars, and its stories.

And every tribe has its dragons who will shape the history.

[sylvielashwood]

Chapter Twelve: Five Sharp is now up.

By Honors Physics, the morning had sharpened into the particular kind of exhaustion produced by being observed by the same person in three different classrooms. Dr. Chen spoke softly enough that everyone stopped moving to hear her, and a laser pointer traced the projected path of a projectile while three equations waited beside it. Cassie and I shared a lab table near the windows. Dr. Chen had paired us at the beginning of term because our scores were close enough to interest her and our intolerance for imprecision was strong enough to protect the equipment.

The demonstration required measuring launch velocity and predicting the landing point of a steel sphere. Cassie adjusted the photogate while I checked the track angle, her eyes moving between the level and my hand.

“You are off by half a degree,” she murmured.

“The table is uneven.”

“The table did not set the track.”

“The table created the conditions.”

“Blaming infrastructure already?”

“It worked for half the city’s historians.”

Her mouth twitched, but she bent to check the level again. A loose strand of blonde hair slid across her cheek, and she blew it away impatiently without using her hands because both were steadying the apparatus. I reached out before thinking and tucked the strand behind her ear.

My fingertips touched the warmth of her skin, and both of us stopped moving. The lab continued around us, metal rolling, calculators tapping, and Dr. Chen reminding someone at the back that significant figures were not a creative decision. Cassie’s eyes lifted to mine from less than a foot away, holding there while the strand remained trapped behind her ear beneath my hand.

I withdrew my fingers and adjusted the track angle by half a degree. “You were blocking the scale.”

Her gaze stayed on my face. “My hair was blocking the scale.”

“That is what I meant.”

“No, it was not.”

The words were quiet enough to belong only to the narrow space between us. I looked down at the launcher and checked a measurement that no longer needed checking.

“Do you want the sphere to land in the tray or not?”

Cassie held my gaze for another second before returning to the photogate. “At the moment, I am undecided.”

We completed the trial within two millimeters of our prediction. Dr. Chen paused beside the table, examined our numbers, and gave one approving nod before moving on. Cassie recorded the result in her precise handwriting, and I pretended not to notice that one line slanted slightly where it never did.

The Firefly’s Burden

Sylvie L. Ashwood

https://www.wattpad.com/story/402694169-the-firefly%27s-burden

[sternlyelasticdruid]

Romance and fantasy authors. What is your story all about?

[roachliquid]

I think a lot about that pop culture trope where "human" is defined as Purely Human, and the second you add something else to the mix then you become Something Else.

Grow a pair of wings? No longer Human.

Weird eyes and psychic powers? Not Human Anymore.

Twelve feet tall and green? Yep, you guessed it, that thing ain't human.

The trope, of course, is rooted in disfigurmisia - and has fingers in several bigotry pies, including racism and fatphobia. Because it's not about figuring out what defines a human being: it's about getting to decide which humans are human enough.

It's no accident that this trope is often used on characters with a lot of privileged identities - male, cis, abled, well-to-do, conventionally attractive, and/or part of a dominant ethnic group. The mental image of a "human being" is usually built on these traits, and the best targets for Maximum Angst are ones who have no other experience being dehumanized.

I wouldn't say that this is an inherently bad thing. It's possible to write a story about a privileged person "falling from grace", and in losing their official humanity, exposing the flaws and dangers of this system and/or developing a much healthier framework. You can even draw attention to the fact that the "real humans" are just the biggest assholes - it's been done, and even done well.

On the other hand, it's also very easy for this trope to go very wrong. Sometimes, rather than using the character as an entry point to talk about a widespread problem, the author treats it like an individual tragedy - a fluke that's only worth caring about because it happened to This Person Specifically. The fact that this only happened because the rules of society allowed it to - because we've defined "human" around such a pointlessly restricted standard - ends up floating around the story, unacknowledged but obvious in a way that betrays the author's endorsement of the system.

And then there's the other form of tacit endorsement: "no, guys, THIS time they're REALLY unfixable monsters, it's OK to shoot them." It's a popular horror variant of this trope, where - sometimes after paying lip service to the natural human urge to save people who have the Evil Virus - the movie makes a point of the fact that the former humans can't be helped.

It's not impossible to do this version well, either. I'm partial to the tragic zombies in the original Dawn of the Dead, and of course, Sinners knows exactly what the fuck it's saying with those vampires. But there's the rub: both of those movies had something specific to say, and not "eugenics is actually good if the people you target are freakish enough." In fact, both Sinners and all of Romero's zombie films make a point of refuting that mindset.

If I have a point to this post, it's that I fucking love me some transformation horror. I'm trans and disabled, so I'm gonna eat that shit up with a spoon. But also, I'm trans and disabled, so if I catch a whiff of the author implying that I deserve to go under the bus, I'm out of there. If you want to write a good story about someone losing their humanity, you have to start with a clear and meaningful definition of what you mean by both "human" and "nonhuman" - and what, specifically, you're implying when you say a character is no longer human.