#ffxivwrite2020 warm-up

[sea-wolf-coast-to-coast]

That’s right, folks - YEAR 4 of our annual FFxiv 30 Day Writing Challenge begins on Tuesday, September 1st at 12:00pm PST!

More Info: https://ffxiv-write.carrd.co/

Artist Volunteer Sign-up: https://forms.gle/bMojWcWWiUMXZzht5

Questions: My Ask box is open, or ask me on Twitter (MoenMoenFFxiv)

Need a warm-up? Here are some short weekly prompts to get the writing gears in motion:

I challenge you to keep your responses short while writing to these weekly warm-up prompts. Why? Because they’re just warm-ups - a moment for your creative brain to stretch a little before running the marathon.

And, I want you to practice writing short because if, during the Challenge in September, you start feeling creatively exhausted from this marathon, you’ll be able to think back to how short your responses to these warm-ups were and it may encourage you to submit something super short so that you meet your goal of writing every day without overtaxing yourself. I mean it when I say that short and sweet entries count. ❤️ I will accept single sentence entries!

See if you can do one of these warm-ups each week leading up to the Challenge. If you want to repeat one or two of them multiple times, go for it! Whatever you need for your creative brain to feel good and ready.

I won’t be tracking responses to these warm-ups. They’re purely for your benefit. Use the hashtag #FFxivWrite2020 warm-up if you’d like.

WEEKLY WARM-UP IDEAS:

Write a haiku about your character

Write about your character’s facial expression (10 sentences max)

Write a limerick about your character

Write about the sound of your character’s voice (10 sentences max)

Make up your own warm-up idea! (10 sentences max)

Have fun! 

[renataturner]

Indecipherable

Sullen might have been a word used to describe the Highlander's usual expression, though one would get the feeling that it was decidedly not the right one. Was she angry, resolute, annoyed, or simply detached and uncaring? Those close to her could pick up subtle variations and motion that hinted at the truth of her mood, but those with the talent to do so were few in number.

Despite being softened over the years by such things as love and friendship, the woman was still tough to get close to, and she liked it that way. Her edges didn't cut so much anymore but they still effectively dissuaded those she didn't particularly think worthy of her time or regard. Not that she was snobbish about it, but she didn't really want too many more vulnerabilities, even though she had learned that such connections were more strength than weakness.

But the face had shifted over the years, no longer did it bear an openly hostile sneer twisting narrowed lips and furrowed ebony brows. It wasn't easy to tell anymore if that small curve to her mouth was a smile of warmth, a smirk of attitude, or her wordless way of saying one simply did not know what they were getting into with her. It hid her core of warmth, loyalty, dry wit and wicked humor from most people and that was her goal.

After all, some things were sacred to only the people who occupied spaces inside her once frigid, angry heart.

[lettersnorth]

FFxiv Write Warm-Up: Your Character’s Facial Expressions (10 Sentences Max)

Her expressions were sparse, they always had been, even as a child. An economy of motion that had come from learning it was best not to draw attention to herself. A corner of her mouth might curl to indicate pleasure, a ghost of a smile gone before it even began. Laughter often came as a pillow of breath, sheared of the sound that came so easily to others. But these spartan communiques never escaped his notice. So attuned he was to the minute details that anything more took him by surprise. He just wasn't used to it. What was normal for others seemed effusive on her. A minimalist painting suddenly overwhelmed with color.

[dawning-star]

Rosy hair, ruffled by the salt-swept breeze.     Lilac eyes, lit afire by pain and will.         Sun-kissed skin, warm ebony scales.             Her summery dress, fluttering at the knee.

One leg, her own flesh and bone.     The other false, wrought by skilled hands.         No shoes, as feet touch the cooling sand.             The rising tide, licking at bare ankle(s).

In that setting sun, once more standing on her own...         Casting a single, stubborn silhouette.

-------------

A simple piece specifically for the ffxivwrite2020 warm-up. Felt fitting in a follow up after tonight’s RP. I just felt like doing something small and different from my usual ♥

[coerthanrobin]

Azette was in love with her sister,

An' her brother was sadly her mister,

To gaol she went,

'Cause her old boss was bent,

And Halone knows, she should've kissed 'er.

[renofmanyalts]

She was fire to his water -- bound, channeled, guided by his cool-eyed strategy. She spurred him to action, to the flashpoint-boil of irritation that tore him out of the abstract, spread him out into the here and now. 

So closely woven, they became vapor, mist: insubstantial and flighty (and they thanked the Wanderer on their knees for that, that he had seen fit to hold them at his side) -- but the ground tilted so often under their feet that they sometimes wondered if it would drop out from beneath them.

Renan missed her laugh, deep and throaty, and his dark chuckle. Their bright crowing was still alien, when memories rang so loud in their head: what it sounded like to hear and to laugh, also. 

Sometimes they could feel him shift forward in the inseparable dance -- feel the wash of stillness, the weightless depths stretching below them, buoying them into clarity. 

She emerged within them as joy, as the lick of flame, the flash of an axe blade -- war, bright-headed -- that let them pelt forward through pain and distraction to the goal. 

They were one, yes -- but sometimes their frayed edges let the threads show through.

-----

Written for FFXIVWrite2020 Warm-ups #5:  Make up your own warm-up idea! (10 sentences max). In this case, the prompt I chose for myself was “a significant relationship.”

N.B.: Renan is pictured above, pronouns are they/them.

[benjimirthursby]

"Portholes, Relics and Beacons.” [1.0] - The Book of Thursby: Scions of Numenor

"The coming of the adventure could have been foreseen by looking out of a portal anytime in the previous lifetime.  But Arda 922 only took on significance when the Beacon of Andunie began to shimmer in the dark of Benjimir's quarters."

- Loxonica Omber, "Through the Crystal, Darkly."

Benjimir’s quarters afforded him a wide porthole that stood deck to ceiling. He spent untold hours there, pondering the endless stars and journey now ages old and bound to last for many more beyond his own life.  For a year now he had looked to the red and blue points of light.  A planet and moon it seemed.  The ships of the fleet were to pass by it en-route to their intended destination.  He no longer needed the visually enhanced projection on the porthole to pick them out.  His own ship, the Entulesse would be the third of seven ships to pass through.  The first, Andustar was less than a  year from its encounter.  The Meneltarmir a year after and his own remained some five years away.

Benjimir’s quarters on Entulesse were also more office space than a stateroom, a perk of his role as patriarch of the Thursby family.  A modest bed and personal care space were attached.  He came to his rank by promotion through provost marshal, regent and finally election as the steward of the monarchy.  It was the now defunct bloodlines of the Kings and Stewards which had set its people into the stars, leaving behind their world to other races.  A wall of relics near sacred to the people aboard the seven ships gave material testament to the reality of the mythic tales of their history.

Chief among these relics were the Silithar, a gem which once was used in forging a sword wielded by kings.  The sword had remained on its homeworld in the keep of a being known only as the Blue Lady.  Should it or one able to wield it be needed again the Lady would provide it to another.  

Near to the sword were other items of metal, daggers, including one passed for many generations to the matriarch of the Thursby family.  One dagger was said to shimmer in different hues when danger approached it's owner.  

On a small tripod on the shelf was a dark, marbled crystal.  It was the Beacon of Andunie.  It was kindred to the seeing stones of the past ages.  However rather than give the holder means to see through the span of time and space it provided personal Revelations.  

The Beacon of Andunie would shimmer and glow it was thought to signify to it's guardian of the impending approach of momentous moments.  In this way the crystals guardian customarily meditated while holding or gazing into the Crystal.  Indeed, it was precisely in this way that a seeing stone akin to the beacon itself had prompted the High King to set his people assail in the stars, seemingly directing them to the point in the sky the seven white ships were even now approaching.  This quest had become the mandate of the Thursby family with the end of the line of Kings and old line of Stewards.

*******

@crystal-rp-ffxiv​

[ainarosewood]

Sea-Wolf-Coast-to-Coast Writing Challenge Warm Up-Week 1

@sea-wolf-coast-to-coast @ffxiv-writers

*So here’s my Week one Warmup. ^.^  This year I think I’m going to further challenge myself my focusing on just this pair ^.^

Journey’s Start

"Holha wait!" Holha turned to see Shera rushing across the sands towards him.  

The Miqo'te slid to a halt before him panting, "Your not going anywhere without me!"

He blinked at her in surprise, this was not something he had expected.  They had always been close but he never realized she'd want to leave with him.

"Its a long way to Limsa," he murmured, "Are you sure?"

She looked him square in the eyes her mismatched ones shining with determination, "I don’t care how far it is, so long as I am at your side!"

He just gave her a grateful grin in response and nodded.  She jumped for joy then stepped beside him as he resumed walking. Together they set off heading out of the Sagolii and toward their first adventure, together.