#starscribes

[starscribes]

Heads Up 7 Up Tag Game

I was very lucky today to be tagged by @sarandipitywrites to play Heads Up 7 Up, you can find her lines here and I do highly recommend them! In return, I'll tag (very softly with whispered words of encouragement and validation) @lordfenric-writes, @daisywords, @sugarlesswriting, @awordchemist, and anyone else who wants to be tagged can consider themselves tagged!

My 7 lines are from my NaNo WIP Shades of Night under the cut!

“There’s something in there.” Cold sweat beaded up on my skin, and my throat felt like it was closing up. I hadn’t been this scared in a long time and I had no idea why. Every sense in my body was telling me to run far away and yet my muscles were all working together to bring me closer.  Dad and Sam both snapped their heads up to look as an arm reached out from the Portal towards me.

[sarandipitywrites]

Happy STS! Many writers have unique approaches to developing their characters and plotlines. What methods or strategies do you use to create compelling and relatable characters in your stories? -starscribes

hi star!

most of my stories start with a question as a premise - what if a monster were the key to freeing a cursed city? what if there was a monster living in the house down the street? (basically all my stories are about monsters. i love them, i am kissing them on the forehead and tucking them into bed) - and then i make characters to fill in the roles required by the premise.

then the fuckery begins.

(this got quite a bit longer than i intended, so putting the rest under the cut)

pretty early on, i ask each major character three questions:

what would compel someone to complete the actions required of the premise?

what's their astrological profile (yes, really)?

what's their Lie?

for the first question, i'm looking for their surface-level motivation. for the second, i'm looking to build a kind of personality cheat sheet. this isn't really set in stone, but it helps to have in the back of my mind to better understand how/why a character would respond the way they do to situations (Lienzo from The Art of Empty Space is scorpio sun, sagittarius ascendant, aries moon, leo mercury, aries venus, and scorpio mars. y'know. in case you were curious).

the Lie is probably the most important one, and i totally stole that term from somebody but i can't for the life of me remember who (if you know, please tell me!). the Lie (or Lies) is a fundamental misbelief the character has about themself or their world that prevents them from reaching their goals. because my stories are very character-driven, the resolution of their Lie (or resisting its resolution) forms the backbone of that character's story.

once that's all done, it's time for backstory. i focus on what events contributed to the Lie and how they got into their current situation, necessitating their participation in the story. the backstory usually starts influencing the plot at this point, and vice versa.

by this time, the character usually has their fingers in the plot and has changed it or added to it to suit their arc. connections to other characters in the story have usually sprung up from the background work as well by now. once i'm sure they're comfortably situated and can go through with the story (or fail spectacularly when needed), i start looking at the smaller details that make a character feel real and relatable - things like skills and hobbies, fears and wants, their body language and vernacular, etc. the more time i spend with a character, the more small details tend to spring up, so i just write them down even if i don't intend to mention it in the story because you never know when it could be important 🙂

that got a bit longer than i intended lol. thank you so much for the ask! 💜

[starscribes]

Crescent Unbound WIP Intro

Title: Crescent Unbound

Genre: Fantasy

POV: 3rd limited

Setting: Emberhaven is a city in the process of rebuilding after it was destroyed in the last battle between good and evil, the story starts here and then broadens out through forests and mountains, etc.

Plot: When Astrid was a girl her city was destroyed in the last battle between good and evil, the Chosen One triumphed over darkness and the world celebrated their freedom. But Astrid was the only member of her family to survive the collateral damage. 20 years later, she works as a historian in the now mostly rebuilt tourist city of Emberhaven, helping restore the buildings and helping curate the museum of artifacts recovered from the rubble after the battle. She has always been haunted by the past, but now her nightmares have taken a turn towards the future, and a voice whispers to her that the battle is not over. In order to stop evil from reawakening she must deliver an ancient artifact of great power to the one person she despises above all others, the Chosen One.

Characters Under the Cut

Protagonist: Astrid Vale (she/her) is 28 years old and works as a historian in the city of Emberhaven. As a girl she was confident, a little haphazard, and the first to step in against a bully. Since the End of the Beginning - the last battle fought between good and evil - she's been dealing with survivor's guilt, questioning why she survived when none of the rest of her family did. As an adult, she is more withdrawn and keeps to herself. She doesn't find it easy to connect or form meaningful relationships and tends to sabotage them when she gets too close to others. Now she avoids confrontation and conflict, rejecting leadership roles. She finds solace in solitude and has become well practiced in masking her emotions, appearing strong on the outside while vulnerable on the inside. She is more cautious, feeling a compulsive need to be prepared for anything, and seeking activities that allow her to be in control. She is haunted by nightmares of her past, and despite her more withdrawn attitude, she seeks a purpose, a reason why she survived. She thought the reason was to preserve the history and memories of those who died in the battle by becoming a historian. However, as her nightmares of the past turn towards the future and strange powers begin to awaken around her, she realizes the answer might not have been so simple.

More characters coming soon....as I figure them out

[starscribes]

What if - hear me out - what if I abandoned my current WIP for NaNo and started on a completely new and unfleshed out plot bunny I just thought of today

[starscribes]

NaNo Update Day 21

Words Written Today: 1567

Words Written Total: 32993

Overall Feeling: Pretty good, I'm gathering more ideas about what's going to happen in the plot, just trying to tie it all together in the beginning

Song: Overwhelmed (Ryan Mack Remix) by Ryan Mack is the first song I added to Astrid's playlist. It's very much her, she also gets overwhelmed, and hears her dreams calling to her (getting more serious now that the story has gotten going). She finds her anxiety difficult to manage and her thoughts start going a mile a minute and dominate absolutely everything she's doing.

Snippet: (under the cut) (additional context: it's a dream)

“STOP! STOP! STOP!” Her words were nothing to the void. “LEAVE ME ALONE!” The swirling dragon and phoenix were too fast to recognize independently now, and they were closing in on her, drawing nearer with each pounding heartbeat. As the circle closed in as close as it could get, the phoenix and the dragon took up opposing places, the dragon in front of her, staring her down with its tar pit eyes. She couldn’t see the phoenix, but the void showed her, it was positioned exactly opposite the dragon, behind her shoulder blades, its beak a beacon of light. “Please,” she begged, her voice silent. The creatures rushed one another, Astrid caught in the middle. They shot through her torso, the dragon bursting out the back and the phoenix charging from the chest. As soon as their job was done, they dissipated, all trace of them gone. Astrid gasped for breath, they had stolen it from her as if each had taken one lung for itself. She dropped to her hands and knees to the invisible floor, tears evaporating from her cheeks as soon as they appeared. They’d killed her at last, finished the job they had started at the End. It had taken them long enough, it was cruel of them, letting her live on as a ghost, thinking she had escaped. The void watched for her as her eyes closed.

[starscribes]

Heads Up Seven Up

I was tagged by @sarandipitywrites here to post seven lines from my WIP, but I'm afraid it won't be nearly as compelling as what she wrote! I want the rest of that scene immediately!

Before I post my lines I'm tagging @card-queen, @lordfenric-writes, @sugarlesswriting, @thethistlegirlwrites, and an open tag for anyone else who wants to join!

I'll be posting 7 lines from my new WIP Crescent Unbound which I just started writing today! Under the cut is the first paragraph of the Prologue! TW/CW for violence.

Chunks of a building smashed across her face. A wave of energy followed and pushed her to the ground. She tried to cover her head but her arms felt heavy, too heavy to move. She tried to call out for help but dust and rubble choked her, coating her throat in grime. The energy wave subsided and she felt her body become lighter again. Blinking through the sunlight and the dust she could see people getting up and running, screaming. She tried to do the same, her ears ringing from the explosion, but as soon as she got a foot under her a soldier in black and gold trampled over her, stepping on her back and pushing her back down into the ground. He didn’t get very far before two arrows pierced his armor at the neck, he ran five more steps and fell to the ground, dead.

[starscribes]

NaNo Update Day 12

Words Written Today: 2395

Words Written Total: 20136

Overall Feeling: Fantastic! I've finally caught up with where I'm supposed to be! Also, I figured out a fun subplot for Samantha and I'm excited to write it!

Snippet:

“When I’m standing over you with my sword at your throat,” Samantha said confidently. “Who should I attribute your last words to?” The woman snorted through her nose as she readied her blade. “Captain Rodnee Dommers, girl, and yourself?” As Samantha opened her mouth to answer, Dommers made the first move. It would have been clever if she’d not been ready for a move like that. Samantha smiled as she moved around the strike, pushing the sword away from her. “Samantha Devlin,” she answered with an adrenaline-filled breath, exhilarated. “Don’t you know the rules, Captain? Never make the first move against a Devlin.”

Song: Go Getter by Royal Deluxe is one of the few songs I have on Samantha's playlist, she's a hard one to pin down in terms of characterization. She's always been smart and strong and the favorite. She never makes a mistake, she's the eldest daughter, she's ambitious, she's logical and pragmatic. Chances are, whatever you can do, she can do better. She's funny, but not in the way most people would get. She follows a little too closely in her father's footsteps. She saved her brother from a ghoul when he was just seven years old and she was nearly fourteen. But she wasn't fast enough or strong enough to save her mother.

[starscribes]

☂️ for the WIP ask game!

Thank you so much for the ask, Saran! This is from that WIP excerpt ask game I’ve been doing! It’s been so much fun!

For this excerpt, this is the description of the crescent pendant Astrid wears which is obviously a central part of the story because the book is named for it!

From Crescent Unbound under the cut!

The crescent had been with her since the End, found in the rubble of her home, one of the only things to survive, besides her. She couldn't remember either of her parents wearing it, but it must have been her mother’s, maybe one she saved for special occasions. It was gold filigree with three precious stones inlaid, two small blue ones and one larger green one. There was a fitting on the top to attach it to a chain. There was also one on the inside of the top for another gemstone to hang freely into the middle of the crescent, but she had never been able to find one that looked right.