#future novel

[weirdefilippis]

In the Hellions mini, Tag said that if he didn't have his friends, he'd have no one. I was wondering what the deal is, regarding his home life? What was life like for him before coming to Xavier's?

We hadn't plotted it in detail, but we were planning to explore Brian's backstory. He was a kid who never got attention even before his mutation manifested. We weren't sure if he came from a broken home, or was just neglected in his home, but either way, he always felt like he didn't know who he was even before he realized he was a mutant. As a kid from Puerto Rico, he was treated like an immigrant even though he was a citizen, and he felt somewhere in between.

Ultimately, the way we saw it, he had no real sense of a family, and in our initial proposal for the Hellions mini, we also stated that he had "no real sense of identity" beyond his friends and his role as a student at Xavier's.

One of the reasons we had Brian be with Cessily in the aftermath scenes of the final issue of the Hellions mini was to subtly set up that his situation and hers were similar.

We did know we were going to have Julian dig into this after the Hellions mini - that story was going to alert Julian to the fact that Brian had locked his sense of self into this group of friends, and Julian was gonna want to do something about it. This would have led to a story where Brian reconnected with his parents and we would discover that he hadn't been home since coming to Xavier's.

Our memory of those plans are pretty vague, but we think we wanted his mother to actually have missed him, and that Julian would push Brian to reconnect in ways that would help Brian forge a sense of self that would help him take the next steps in figuring himself and his powers out.

The trick with Brian is that some of our memory of these plans have blurred with the storyline for a supporting character for a novel we're writing. We wrote the novel years ago and are rewriting it now, and we realize we folded unused Brian plans into a character in that book and now don't remember how much of what we remember is unused Brian plans and how much is stuff we filled out when we morphed those plans into this new character.

The novel, which we've decided to brush off and rewrite, has a lot of our unused ideas for Academy X rebuilt into something new, so we always struggle to separate the old plans from the novel ideas they morphed into.

[chaoticwomanlove]

"She went to the area where there were large rocks and she saw some people sat; they were meditating or reading and others were talking in total peace. She climbed some of the rocks and sat over one of them which had a smooth rounded shape, that made her feel comfortable.

She watched the waves and meditated on the beauty of the landscape looming before her eyes, and spent many hours of the morning scanning the horizon and mixing sensations with the abundance of her memories.

She carried a small book in her purse which began to read. As she was already thinking that should go back on track and going further along the coast, a kite fell over her feet. She looked around and saw a tall, thin young man approaching. He was wearing light brown trousers and a white shirt, over which he was wearing a buttoned and sleeveless vest, the same colour of the trousers.

A gold silk bowtie fell untidily under the handsome young man's neck. The sleeves were folded to the elbow, revealing manly arms. The youthful face, looked cheerful and fresh, the messy hair and the fine mustache were blond. He wasn't wearing his shoes, so Irene noticed that his feet were as white as the clouds in the sky.

She took the kite and stood up. She observed that a young woman was calling on to the man who was waiting under the rocks, but he was watching at her:

-You got it Gustav? answer me! Baron!

The young man turned to look at the fine lady who was calling him and then Irene, quickly and trying to hide her surprise, launched the kite, causing it to fly until it fell close to him.

Before he was going to pick it up, Gustav stared at her. Irene realized that he might recognize her, so she turned and fled quickly.

"Wait!" He yelled, but it was too late because she, dodging the gaps between each rock, jumped one after another and hurried away.

Her heart was beating strongly..."

[missnxthingg]

can't you give us anything else about the book's plot? maybe we can help picking a title

well, it's going to be some mystery/suspense book, involving family secrets, motorcycle gangs and ex lovers. i don't think it makes sense if i don't give you too much about it, but basically the main character comes home after graduating in college and some weird shit is happening with her family. i don't know if it helps

[avengerofyourheart]

“I felt like an exposed nerve, hyper aware of every sound he made and unable to ignore the silence when once upon a time, we shared laughter and words of love every time we were alone. Now, I had to learn to do without. It was time to find that hardened shell I acquired after months of his supposed hate. He had cracked it wide open months ago when he kissed me and now it had shattered entirely, leaving me defenseless. I couldn’t go on like this.”

From my current manuscript.

Copyright Anika Allred 2019

[blue-manuscript]

Lone Shadow: Prologue

A child is born on a rainy night. Its mother is in deep pain, clenching her fists on the side of the bed, knuckles burning white. She is crying out, desperate, but the doctors only stand and watch as this happens. They have given her nothing--no support, no pain medications. They know that there is nothing they can do to save her.

There is another scream adding to the agonizing uproar as the child is born, but it only lasts for a moment. This is when the doctors move forward, this is when they come to help. They take the silent child, pulling it away from its mother. She is running out of breath, sweat covering her like a wet blanket. “No, no, no,” she’s whispering adamantly, over and over, as her breath comes thinner and thinner. “No, no, no, I’ll never see him, I’ll never love him, no…” The last doctor remaining shuts off the mother’s machinery, and walks away, locking the door behind him.

The woman continues whispering weakly, until she at last gasps and falls still.

[honeybeesss]

if you want to find happiness, you need to open yourself up. stop hiding, stop shutting yourself away. nothing can slip through the cracks and maybe that's why you're so sad.

— him

[sasshole-for-rent]

Roslyn walked down the aisle in a gown fashioned of white petals and silk so fine it looked like spider silk. The dress flowed around her hips and exposed her porcelain skin. It displayed her bruises that marked her as a Survivor. To Vashti’s surprise, her bride had forgone the silk gloves she had fussed over. Instead, she left them bare for all to see, the dainty scars that flecked her knuckles. Vashti had never been more proud. Roslyn was a fighter. Her perseverance as prevalent as her infectious smile. She strode to the altar with her head held high and her almond eyes glittering with happiness as sheer as her gown. The two women stood before each other with their entwined hearts laid out bare. Roslyn smiled at her lover, the summer sun gilding her loose tresses. Vashti smiled at her bride, wind wrinkling her cream headscarf. A small gathering of people bared witness to the wedding of Roslyn and Vashti. With shaky hands, Vashti placed the crown of woven roses upon Roslyn’s head. Her fingers caressed the veil as she covered her lover’s face. “I crown you as you are my queen and I, your protector.” Vashti breathed, entranced by how Roslyn’s breath moved the veil. She was so thankful that this woman who held her heart in her hands was still breathing. “No harm shall fall onto thee as long as I draw breath.” Roslyn drew a dagger of pure glass with an engraved ivory hilt from the folds of her wedding gown. With a smile that could stop hearts and make them beat again all the same, she pressed the hilt into Vashti’s awaiting palm. “I arm you as you are my protector and I, your queen.” Vashti turned over the hilt and ran over the engraved ‘you never failed me’ with her thumb. When she looked up at her lover, silver lined her violet eyes. Roslyn’s smile quivered with laughter, her eyes bright. “With this dagger, know that your love will be safe as long as my heart still beats.” Vashti lifted the veil. She sealed their love with kiss she had waited so long to place upon those rosebud lips. It was chaste and pure and so full of love. It was Roslyn who deepened the kiss and Vashti had, at long last, a taste of sanctuary.