#sonder lore

[ask-sonder-and-co]

quick sonder and immi animatic :3

(immortalpaw belongs to @autumnmoon-morrison )

(go ask immortalpaw questions @immi-beloved )

[sonderden]

5 Things I Never Tire of Writing

I was tagged by @aohendo to share five things I never tire of writing and tag others to keep the game going. Thank you for the tag, and the chance to talk about things I enjoy! 

I’ll Tag: @writewithfire, @hannahactuallywrites, @crossroadcrow, @365runesofwriting, @midnight-and-his-melodiverse, @galaxialdarktale, @writingpotato07, @ancient-writeblr, and as always anyone who wants to join can say I tagged them!

My Five Things:

Animal/Plant Symbolism: I’ll spend days researching the symbolism of specific animals and plants, just because I find it satisfying to work my themes into the little details of my work – if you see a character mention a specific species of animal or type of flower, it probably has a meaning or two that I’ve painstakingly double and triple checked before having it come up on-page.

Stranger in a Strange Land: I love this trope, especially in the isekai or time traveler formats, because it gives a good opportunity to explore both the rules of the strange land and the worldview of the stranger who’s suddenly living there. Also because it’s fun to make my characters feel lost and bewildered for a little while, I like to see how they deal with those emotions.

Vivid Color Descriptions: I go a little overboard describing the colors of things in my writing sometimes, but it’s because I love the way it can show a character’s point of view – which colors they choose to focus on, what associations they have with those colors, what they gravitate towards in their fashion or decor choices. Having a character who associates red with love and another who associates it with anger can be really fun to explore, and communicating those associations to a reader is really satisfying.

Accidental Confessions: Whether it’s confessing love,confessing secret identies, confessing longstanding lies, confessing crimes, I love when a character is so emotional or so distracted that they just blurt out the words they’d never meant to say and have to choose between backpedaling or just telling the whole truth. It’s both fun and a way to show a character’s priorities. Even if their secrets are important, getting them emotional enough or cornering them can prove that they prioritize other things over their secrecy. 

Friends to Lovers: My love for this trope might be honest since I’m demiromantic myself, but I like to think that even if I wasn’t demi I would still appreciate the buildup of a bond from platonic feelings to something that’s shifted into romantic territory. Having characters truly trust and love each other before they realize their romantic feelings is like having a very soft chair in that there are some times when you just want to sink into it and feel safe and cozy – though it’s not without angst potential, either.

[sonderden]

heya!! sorry for the basic ask but i don't know a lot about your projects? mind sharing?

also if you have told me and i've forgotten im so sorry my brain is a colander

Thank you for the ask, it's always fun to talk about my writing. I understand colander brain, too, mine is the same a lot of the time.

I have a lot of WIPs, both original and fanfiction. Most of them take place in the same universe, some worlds and stories even being connected to each other.

I summarized a few of the ones I work on most frequently in this Google Doc:

Ongoing WIP Summary

I have a lot of WIPs, active & shelved & planned for the future, but here are some short (ish) descriptions of the ones I've been giving the

If you want more details on any of them, feel free to send another ask or reply to this post.

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Motivated by This Ask: 426 words

Total Written Due to Asks: 5,314 words

[sonderden]

Unusual Character Associations

I was tagged by @junypr-camus to play a game created by @thenightmarewrites, where (as far as I understand it) I list what comes to mind when I associate specific words with my OCs. Thank you for the tag, this is a really interesting game that can give a lot of insight into my characters and how I perceive them! 

I’ll tag @marinesocks, @on-noon, @midnight-and-his-melodiverse, @starlightscribe, @writingpotato07, and anyone else who wants to join in the game can say I tagged them! 

For this list, I chose Micah Renner from my novel WIP “To Be Honest” as my associative OC. 

Seasoning: salt

Weather: an early Winter snowfall, the kind that just barely starts to stick to the ground

Color: gray-blue, also like early Winter

Sky: the kind of hazy sky where it looks clear at first glance, but only because the light haze of clouds across it is so seamless

Magical Power: sleep magic

House Plant: aloe vera

Weapon: taser

Subject: algebra, or astronomy

Social Media: livejournal, though in canon he probably only uses some facebook equivalent because his cousins signed him up against his will

Makeup Product: concealer

Candy: sea salt and caramel dark chocolate bar

Fear: abandonment

Ice Cube Shape: chunky squares

Method of Long-Distance Travel: trains

Art Style: impressionism

Mythological Creature: kitsune

Piece of Stationary: filing folder

Three Emojis: 😑😮‍💨❤️‍🩹

Celestial Body: saturn

[sonderden]

🍇🍎

Thank you for the ask, and thank you so much for the compliments! It validates my writing a lot to hear that you want to get to know my work better. I also do a lot of worldbuilding, both for my current WIPs and to develop foundations for possible future stories, so knowing you like what I create means a lot!

If you're interested, here's a bit of worldbuilding for you:

My novel WIP "A Place to Return" is (partially) set in the world of Ryedenne.

This world used to have four deities, each of them granting a piece of their power to hand-picked Saints who could help look after the world as its animal populations and civilizations grew. Shortly after choosing their Saints, however, a fight broke out between the deities. One of them had betrayed another, hurting them so deeply that their tears infected the world with a curse. The traitor was exiled to wander other worlds and the worst of the curse was contained, but every Summer since the world has remembered the agony of that betrayal. Even now, there are those who are vulnerable to the curse and will find themselves prone to violently lashing out and destroying whatever's in their path. These individuals are called Crows and often spend the Summer months in quarantine halls where they're kept in isolation from people or things they could harm.

Leo Echo-Wilhelm, a native of Ryedenne, has never had a Crow Summer in his life. Owen Marlowe, who swaps bodies with Leo, has his first Crow Summer at 12 years old. Same body, different souls, and only one is vulnerable to the curse of the Ryedenne deities.

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Motivated by This Ask: 483 words

Written Due to Asks: 11,547 total

[sonderden]

Happy WBW!! Are there any particular Rites of passage people in your world must go through? Where did they come from?

Several Worldbuilding Wednesdays later... on a Friday... I've finally managed to get to this ask. Thank you for asking this, and for patiently waiting for my response!

This is actually a tough question to answer, because several of my worlds have rites of passage that are important to their various cultures. I keep thinking I know which one to talk about, then feeling guilty for leaving the others behind.

That said, I was finally able to narrow it down by deciding that I should stick to the WIPs I've shared snippets of on this blog before. I ultimately chose Ryedenne, since it's been referenced in snippets from my novel WIP "A Place to Return" and is an important part of the overall plot of that story.

Like I usually do, I'll put the explanation itself under a cut just in case it gets too long.

On the main continent of Ryedenne, if not in the lands of its smaller neighbors, the main way to be recognized as an adult is to graduate from apprenticeship.

There is no public schooling system where kids go to learn general knowledge, just teachings from parents and any relevant experts in the towns and cities where kids grow up. They learn by whatever means they can, then travel (sometimes to the building next door, sometimes all the way across the continent) to a relevant Work Hall.

These Halls are sort of like guilds or unions, each one managing the officers, employees, and trainees of a given profession. There are Merchant Halls, Chef Halls, Construction Halls, Mage Halls, Farm Halls, etc and so on for almost any profession you can think of -- within the scope of a medieval-era-ish fantasy world. The main characters of APTR specifically travel and apply to the Mercenary Hall to be the closest thing Ryedenne has to "adventurers" or "heroes" and the plot follows their shared career closely.

The rite of passage itself involves several steps once you've made it to your Hall of choice. The first step is a qualification exam known as an apprenticeship test. It tests whatever basic knowledge you've acquired from your hometown, your intuition for the job itself, and your overall physical/mental capacity. It's generally rough, though some Halls take it easier on their applicants than others.

The second step is undergoing apprenticeship itself. This means living at the apprentice housing for your Hall while having the most vital skills for your job drilled into you during intense training and job shadowing. You do this for two weeks, as a sort of intense boot camp.

Then comes the part that people get sentimental about, the one that officially makes you an adult in the eyes of society. The second exam. This is known as the profession test. You're tested on everything you've learned, then assigned a real shift/gig/task according to your profession. If you pass the test and do well on your supervised/judged first assignment, then you are a full-fledged Hall employee and have passed from childhood to adulthood.

This is often celebrated by new adults getting as much alcohol as they can get their hands on and going out camping until they're so drunk that the letters they send back home are (usually to the pride and amusement of their families) illegible. Some opt out of the drinking part, or are prohibited from drinking if they're Crows*, but the night spent sleeping outdoors with fellow new adults is an important way to bring the rite of passage that is starting your career to a close.

It's closer to a graduation party than anything, and the whole apprenticeship process is less grandiose than other rites of passage on other worlds, but it's an important part of their culture and it affects the way both main characters see the world around them.

[sonderden]

🤝 Does your OC have someone they want at their side when they are scared? Who? and 🌌 If your OC has a nightmare, what’s it most likely about? for two OCs of your choice?

Thank you for the ask, and the chance to talk about my OCs! Since these two haven't had a chance to show up on-page much yet, I'll pick Jessenia Ritter and Kade Bailey from my novel WIP "Apricots" and answer each question for both of them. Doing it this way will make the post long enough to need a cut, but I feel too inspired to make it any shorter – for better or for worse.

🤝: Does your OC have someone they want at their side when they are scared? Who?

Jess

A: While she prefers not to show weakness if she has a choice, Jess does let herself rely on her boys sometimes. When she's sad, Kade's gentle understanding cheers her up. When she's angry, Ian's thoughtful support calms her down and gives her perspective on the situation. When she's anxious, Noah's confidence and protective attitude help her feel safe. When she's really, truly scared she'd like nothing more than to curl up in a pile with all three of them surrounding her. Kade to shoo away the ghosts (because they tend to gather in tense situations), Ian to rationalize her fears and guide her through meditation, Noah to punch anyone who might try to hurt her. They don't usually end up having to do any of those things, and all of them know she could fight off both physical and magical threats better than anyone, but she likes the security of knowing they're all there for her. Especially when she gets scared of things she can't punch or throw magic at herself.

Kade

A: He's not always good at expressing his fear – or his feelings in general, given that he's an autistic soul mage – but Kade relies on all of his lovers as well. The difference is that being with all of them when he's scared would be too much. It would add a pressure he doesn't need. Just one person, and maybe a ghost or two who can alert him to danger if he dissociates too much, that's all he really wants in a moment of panic or terror. Usually, for Kade, that one person is Ian. Noah is reliable and comforting, and being able to talk to Jess telepathically and have her anticipate his needs is always a relief. Ian, however, doesn't have any magical advantage or physical strength. His protectiveness isn't pre-emptive like Jess's or active like Noah's. He's patient. He's quiet. He just holds Kade's hand, and lets him sort through his fears at his own pace. He's safest with all three of them, but he feels the most secure with Ian specifically. He's the lover who handles Kade's fear best.

🌌: If your OC has a nightmare, what’s it most likely about?

Jess

A: Generally, Jess's nightmares come from things she's heard in other people's thoughts. Her normal dreams will become warped by the guy she'd overheard worrying about his lungs since he's a smoker or the kid she'd overheard hoping the monster under their bed isn't actually real or the person who had an anxiety attack over midterm tests. She'll dream of her own lungs blackening, or a monster eating the child whose thoughts she'd heard, or her dogs giving her a midterm test and being disappointed in her when she fails. Sometimes, however, her nightmares will be her own. These are usually nightmares about people she loves leaving her due to her telepathy, or dreams of watching her own funeral after she's died – which are especially common in timelines where she dies of illness. She'll talk for hours about the other nightmares, lightheartedly complaining about how ridiculous they are, but she's glad she doesn't know any other telepaths besides herself when she's abandoned or dead in her dreams. She doesn't have to tell anyone a single detail that way, or even admit the nightmares happened at all.

Kade

A: While his anxious dreams have generally improved since he's known his lovers, there is one recurring nightmare that never seems to get less intense or terrifying. It's actually a common fear for soul mages in general, but – like Jess not knowing other telepaths – Kade has never met a soul mage he could ask about this issue. He just has to deal with the nightmare himself. The one that starts out normal and peaceful. Where he goes to the woods or the Ritter family apricot orchard and talks with ghosts like usual. He gets sleepy while talking, and the ghosts encourage him to rest for a little while. When he gets back up, the conversation resumes but with a nagging undercurrent of uncertainty. A feeling that he's forgotten something very important. When he finally addresses that feeling and goes back to Jess's house or Noah's cabin or Ian's apartment, he finds that all of them have aged. He wouldn't mind, but none of them respond to him. They can't speak to him or see him at all. He's crossed over from the side where he struggles to talk comfortably with the living, to the side where he can't talk with them at all. He's become a ghost, and left everyone he loves behind. It's not quite the same fear of death that Jess has, but it's similar. The times when he thinks about this nightmare, or talks about it with Ian in faltering sign language and hushed croaks of speech, those are the only times Jess considers talking about her own. But she focuses on reminding Kade that the people in their polycule and in their families are all still alive. He hasn't left anyone behind. It helps him to know that, and to double check with each of his important people in turn.

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Motivated by This Ask: 302 words

Total Written Due to Asks: 22,990 words

[sonderden]

For the OC asks, for Stray Cu'taeru:

🕐🛏️

Thank you for the ask, and for the chance to talk about Stray! I've been neglecting the WIP he stars in, but I still think about him a lot so it's nice to share those thoughts sometimes.

🕐: Was there ever a time your OC would have given everything to turn back the clock 5 minutes? What happened?

A: A big part of Stray's story is the way he's clung onto precisely those times in his life – agonizing over the ways he could have changed things if he had only made better choices. He's wished to turn back the clock and better protect his loved ones many times over the last few centuries, and the decisions he wants to redo usually are made in five minutes or less. How he could have grabbed a friend's hand and run away together instead of fleeing on his own. How he could have stood in front of his wife to defend her, instead of hiding in the trees. How he could have spoken to the kid who'd thought of him as a pet cat, just once, instead of sneaking away in the night. How, if he'd made a portal to Earth just a few minutes earlier, he could have kept Marco from dying altogether. Each time, he seriously considers giving up his own happiness – and his own life – for the chance to go back. Unlike some of my characters in other WIPs, he never gets the chance. He gets lingering memories instead, and headmates formed from those memories.

🛏️: What does your OC’s bed look like? What would they like their bed to look like?

A: Stray usually adapts to whatever type of bed will seem most "normal" for the form he's taken and the culture he's trying to blend into, and this is especially true when he copies Marco's form to live as a normal human. His bed in the Treen household is a simple twin mattress on a simple wooden frame, with blue plaid sheets and a comforter that Marco's mom gave him as a birthday present years ago. One side has cats on a green background, the other side is a simple earth-brown tone. He used to keep the cat side hidden when his friends came over, but he isn't as anxious about their reactions to it anymore. Stray's ideal bed, however, would be a warm basket – a sturdier, better insulated version of the one he used to sleep in when he was a pet cat and his owner would take him on errands, with familiar-smelling blankets and a stuffed animal or pillow he could hug. One that could change size to match whatever form he's in when he finally gives in to his own exhaustion. He'll take a sun-baked patch of grass, too, though it doesn't have the same feeling of safety or comfort.

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Motivated by This Ask: 251 words

Total Written Due to Asks: 22,688 words