#spruce anon

[bonesandthebees]

Also I missed my 4 year anon anniversary by like 2 months or something. All of us be in the trenches.

-🌲

aw don't worry about it I'm also in the trenches- WAIT 4 YEARS????? oh my god. have we really known each other 4 years. time isn't real istg

[bonesandthebees]

*surfacing from a misty bog* —I'm alive! I'm alive.

How's everyone doing?

-🌲

*surfaces from my own bog*

hi sorry I'm 2 days late answering this but HI SPRUCE glad to hear you're alive! I'm alive too! hope you're doing well!!!

[bonesandthebees]

🎤

Tell me about Between two fires

-🎄

HI SPRUCE

ok well Between Two Fires is a horror novel set in medieval France, specifically during the height of the plague. I've never read a historical fiction book that really dove into the plague and I really loved how the author didn't shy away from the brutal descriptions of how horrific it was. the setting is borderline apocalyptic with the characters constantly finding abandoned structures, dead bodies all over the place since no one is burying them anymore, and struggling to find food, since there's not enough people left alive to tend crops. so I found that aspect of it really really interesting

but the novel itself really shines with the characters and the horror elements. the story is about a former disgraced knight who ends up (reluctantly) becoming the protector of a 11-12ish year old orphan who is either a witch, a saint, or an angel in human form he's not exactly sure which. she sees angels and tells him he needs to take her across France for reasons she can't explain. these two have the classic 'grumpy older guy becomes the protector of a young girl who annoys the shit out of him and they get a found family arc out of it' trope going on and it's wonderful. the other main character that joins them on their journey is a priest who is dealing with a lot of his own inner struggles and is trying to tell himself he's still serving God even as he continuously falls weak to his vices and he's a wonderful character as well.

also, this is a horror novel and oh boy the horror element didn't disappoint. I haven't really read much horror before but I've heard people say the horror elements in this book are presented less like modern horror and closer to gothic horror, with really horrifying things just happening and everyone having to deal with it and move on with their journey. I really loved how the horror elements are described, the writing style is really interesting and distinct and the descriptions are beautiful. at first I went into this thinking the horror element would be more of a grounded, 'people are the real monsters' kind of thing and then very quickly I realized no we are dealing with some really fucked up monsters in this ok let's go.

so yeah uh. if you want a historical fiction medieval horror story with really well written flawed characters and a very sweet found family story that'll make you tear up at the end go read this book it's so good I loved it so much

[bonesandthebees]

Btw, question: have you read Among the Burning Flowers yet? Because I just started and I'm wondering if the illustrations are specific to my special copy or if it's because this is a shorter prequel.

P.s. I can already tell that Marosa (Donmata) pov is going to kill me with the future of Priory in the back of my mind.

-🎄

It’s so funny you sent this ask because I was literally just sitting in bed reading it. I started it a few days ago and it’s SO good I always forget how addictive it is to read anything in the roots of chaos universe

And I also have the illustrations in my copy they’re so gorgeous!! Marosa’s POV makes me so sad like I know things are going wrong for her now but they’re only going to get worse :(

Also tbh it’s been so long since I read Priory it took me way too long to realize Estina Melaugo was another side character in the original book I totally forgot about her. Tbf she was a very minor character but it wasn’t until I saw Captain Harlowe appear that I was like wait a minute wasn’t he in the first book… and so I had to go back to my Priory copy and skim till I found him and Melaugo

[bonesandthebees]

You know, I just realised I’m coming up on 3,5 years of pestering you as an anon. It somehow feels both shorter and longer than that. Anyway,

Thank you for always reading my rambles and replying in earnest! Reading your fics and having analysing discussions about the content was one of the things that helped me get through my degree when there were times I hated every second of it.

I can’t believe I’ve been working for more than a year. There were points I didn’t believe I could be happy getting a job with this degree and yet I’ve found my little corner of happiness.

So, you know, good luck with your own battle through the uni system. From what I hear it’s going well. I miss doing analysis, but some day I will catch up on Rose and go insane.

P.s. Thank you for being in my life.

Have a nice day, Bee! Love you!

-🌲

Oh my god 3.5 years is crazy time really flies

That’s so sweet Spruce. I hope you know you and the ask community you spawned really helped me as well when I was kind of lost, unsure what I was going to do with my life, dealing with irl stress and all that. Having you guys here really gave me a sense of purpose and also just gave me a feeling of community I really didn’t have in my daily life at the time. It meant so much and it’s been so nice seeing all of us move forward with our lives but still get updates and hear how everyone’s doing

And I’m so glad you’ve found your little corner of happiness <3 hoping the rest of us can all find that as well

Thank you for being in my life too Spruce <33 love you too!!

[bonesandthebees]

I wanna jump in on Icy confirming that writing really is just practice, because IT IS!

I started doing this writing challenge in July that was originally an actual challenge but quickly devolved into “How much can I write today?” rather than my usual target of 200 and somehow that’s easier to do than setting a goal you want to reach. Just the open approach.

I’ve been doing it for 3 months and I have an average of like 24k. I’ve written like 75k this way. And all of it is normalising practice, removing the pressure to write good or write a lot and just focusing on the routine of writing.

So, if you wondered what happened to the Stars reread… I now spend the time I used to spent reading and analysing on writing every day.

P.s. I’m actually making progress on my manuscript! I thought this would never happen! I’ve rewritten and restarted this thing so many times and now I’m at chapter 15!

-🌲

I’m so late answering this I’m so sorry with the little free time I have these days I’m usually so brain dead

HOWEVER I’ve arrived at my campus very early today so I have some free time :D

And that’s so wonderful Spruce!!! It really is so much easier to focus on just getting some words down rather than trying to hit a specific count. I’m terrible about that myself, whenever I have a writing session I feel like a failure if I don’t hit at least 1k words but considering I haven’t even written 1k words in the last month I no longer feel that bad lol

But I’m so happy for you!! That’s incredible that you’ve gotten so far, at this rate you’ll have a full draft finished before you know it

[bonesandthebees]

Okay, so I have not read the new chapter yet, but I almost jumped out of bed last night because I remembered this line:

[“Once I’d finished steeping the tea I set it on a tray alongside a bread roll to bring up here. But before I left, I was called away by Lord Sneeg. He wanted to know if I’d washed the kitchen linens.”

Everyone in the room looked at Sneeg, who nodded. “I called her out of the kitchen to ask her that, yes.”

“Who else was in the kitchen at the time?” Phil asked the woman.]

Coincidence? I THINK NOT!

Yea I will continue to blame everything in Phil.

-🌲

hmmmm very interesting thing to notice :)

all I will say is that the exact dialogue going over what happened was very carefully planned on my end :)))

[bonesandthebees]

Also, I need to catch up on Rose, don’t I? I’ve been hearing vague screaming in the distance for like 3 chapters.

-🌲

spruce shit is getting REAL but also no rush because god knows I'm probably not gonna be able to update it again for a while