Hobbies: play the harp, bake, cook, read, sew, go on walks outside, watch YouTube, storytelling
Likes: Opera, Celtic themes, food, true crime stories, history, fantasy and scifi, the coast, faith, family, scambaiting, and great stories
Favorite Books: Harry Potter series, The Giver, Mistborn, Uglies, Frankenstein, The Two Princesses of Bamarre, Jane Eyre, A Walk to Remember, Silas Marner, The Hunger Games, Ender's Game, The Chronicles of Narnia, Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, Jacob Have I Loved, Forestborn, Princess Academy, Defy the Stars, Tom Sawyer, The House on Mango Street
My WIP's:
The Blood Cleaners (YA dystopia)
Columbus Day (YA scifi)
The Keeper of Maralla (unconventional high fantasy)
The Star House Club (MG/YA urban fantasy)
Brigid Aideen Quinn (sci-fi fantasy superhero)
Sanctuary Calling (Space sci-fi Dystopia)
Voice of Shadows (high fantasy)
The Enchantress (MG fantasy)
New Victoria (steampunk sci-fi)
Greyhat (Cyberpunk)
Cindy (1950s Historical fiction)
Chiquita (dark academia fantasy)
White Crystals/White Roses (romantasy fairytale retelling)
I'm tired of pansters telling new writers they need to panst, as well as outliners telling new writers they need to outline. There are lots of high quality stories that resonate with readers created by BOTH pansters and outliners. We're all different. I myself am a planster and love doing both pansting and outlining. I encourage new writers to try both. I've noticed regret from new authors who took too long to figure out which they are.
💙: how has the idea changed between starting it and where it is now?
Hi! Great question! My WIP The Blood Cleaners changed the most. Originally I wanted it to be a fantasy Dystopia like Mistborn. As I received more influences like The Hunger Games and Fallout 3, I realized it was a Post-apocalyptic story. I'm glad I made this change for many reasons. I like how it deals with technology that seems like magic and the hidden influence of AI. I also hadn't expected the romance that would be central to the story. I knew that my boy Justin would have a love interest, but I didn't expect the story of him and his girl to be a major plot line that contributes to the climax in the end. Stories evolve. Thankfully, it's a good thing ❤️
How did May go for you and your writing? If you'd like to share something you wrote this month, please do.
💜
Hi, thanks for asking! May went beautifully well! I finished rewriting a chapter of The Blood Cleaners. I brainstormed at least 4 pages for my Snow White retelling. I've been writing an outline for Draft 3 of my YA Scifi First Contact story Columbus Day (it's going to be a big story overhaul). I've also been working on my personal curriculum, i.e. I'm acting like I'm a student of creative writing by picking books to read, writing exercises, and my WIP's with the goal to improve my writing before I feel ready to publish.
In the past 10 months I had a partial hiatus on my writing because when I looked at where my writing was, I felt I needed to pause and improve my writing. I needed to be a student again. So I switched to reading and got active in Booktube. I'm glad that I did because with each book that I read, I realize what I'm doing wrong with my writing. I've learned a lot from both good books and bad books. This month, I got tired of reading, got into a reading slump. But it was a good thing because I really needed to write.
I hope to get a lot more writing goals and reading goals done this year. Finishing draft 3 of The Blood Cleaners is the priority.
My favorite thing that I wrote was my character arc to improve one of the antagonists in Columbus Day. My alien villain Sarmil was previously a poorly written villain. I improved on his background and motivation. Here are my notes:
Side Character Name: Sarmil
Problem (Flaw that needs fixing): He lost family members to a sapienvore race. He despises most alien races. He goes to alien homeworlds initially to find allies against the sapienvores, but he is angry when potential allies instead prove to be pernicious. He worries someday other races will kill his daughter.
Want (Goal that character is pursuing to find happiness): To destroy enemies before they hurt others. Destroy enemies before they hurt his daughter.
Need (Life lesson to be learned): Making friends and alliances with alliances with other races is in his daughter's best interest. Understand there’s a greater power in the universe.
Thank you again! I wish all of my Tumblr writers luck with their projects!
Thank you @forthesanityofstorytellers for the tag! I've been inactive from Tumblr for ages but hope to make a return. I have plenty of WIP stuff to share with all of my writing projects ahead.
This tag looks especially fun. Link to songs that describe one of your characters. Since I recently started a new WIP called White Crystals (or White Roses; still working on the title), I'm going to post songs about the MLI/MMC, Prince Zane.
If All She Has Is You by John McGlynn
Whistle While You Work cover by Amy McDonagh
Son of Man by Phil Collins
In Her Eyes by Josh Groban
Desert Prince by Derek Fiechter
Happily Ever After by Brandon Fiechter
Heroes Tonight by Janji and Johnning
Marco Polo by Loreena McKennitt
El Dorado by Two Steps from Hell
Next time I do this I'll make a list for the FMC Princess Alba.
Tagging (no pressure): @kitkins13 @kaylinalexanderbooks @tildeathiwillwrite @winterandwords @forthesanityofstorytellers
@agirlandherquill @diabolical-blue @dyoniawrites @gioia-writes-and-others @kitty-is-writing and OPEN!
❤️: what’s the working title?
🧡: what were previous working titles/ideas?
💛: what is the title based on?
💚: how long have you been working on it?
💙: how has the idea changed between starting it and where it is now?
💜: where are you in the writing process?
🖤: what are your MC names?
💔: give a brief character bio of your 3-5 MCs
❣️: which scene has been hardest to write so far?
💕: what has your favorite scene been?
💞: which future scene are you looking forward to writing?
💓: is it part of a series or standalone?
💗: what genre is it in?
💖: are you planning on publishing it? if so, how?
💘: give us a huge spoiler
💝: who has your favorite character arch? give a brief summary
💟: how is your style different in this work compared to previous ones? has it more shifted for the story or just developed in general?
Thanks for the tag @theeccentricraven (here)! This is a cool tag game I hadn't seen before now. It's always neat learning about everyone's behind-the-scenes writing processes! Feels like forbidden secret knowledge into other people's WIPs 👀
Rules: Share a tiny glimpse of your WIP outline. It could be a scene, a beat, or just a moment. Keep it vague or get specific. No spoilers needed!
My outline process for Ambrosia Heights was a lot more all-over-the-place, but by the time I got to Unfathomable, I had landed on a format that worked for me:
First, I wrote out a messy, unpolished, big-picture-overview, present tense summary of the entire story (33 pages in Unfathomable's case).
Then I split up this summary into chapter chunks, edited out stuff I'd already decided against, and added additional ideas and snippets to form my chapter-by-chapter outline.
Additionally, I broke down each chapter into labeled "parts" (vaguely correlating to each scene) and topic-by-topic bullet points which helps me track my progress in the drafting stage. (Breaking it down into smaller and smaller steps means more I can check off my writing-to-do list each time :))
For purposes of this tag game, I'm sharing my super-secret forbidden-knowledge outline for chapter 1 of Unfathomable below (text from screenshots written out below the cut). The finished draft version of chapter 1 can be read here if you'd like to compare.
No pressure tagging: @kingragnarok-writes @petalsandspiderwebs @finickyfelix @tildeathiwillwrite @pluppsauthor and open tag! If you don't write with an outline (which is also totally valid), feel free to share some other behind-the-scenes insight into your writing process instead :)
— 🌊 —
Outline for Unfathomable Chapter 1: Graduation Day
Part 1: The nightmare
The chapter begins with a dream sequence from the POV of the main character, Marlo Finear, revisiting a scary memory from one of his class field trips to the Capital city a few years ago. Looking out the window of the transport sub, he happens to spot the edge of the continental shelf drop-off, beyond which is nothing but deep black ocean.
That part was from the literal memory, but his dreaming mind exaggerates it from there. All of a sudden, his classmates vanish and he’s inexplicably outside the sub, perched at the edge of the precipice all alone. Then he notices something moving in the water below. He freaks out, loses his footing, slips off the edge of the precipice, and is then rapidly pulled down into the abyss by some giant sea monster about to swallow him up.
Part 2: Waking up, getting ready for the day
Marlo wakes up, heart pounding and skin beaded with sweat. Slowly, he calms down. He’s safe, in his familiar bedroom, and all is well. He gets up and opens the blackout curtains, looking at the view of colorful underwater cave-plants and the occasional ray floating by. He’s still underwater, but this is home. In this cave, there’s a roof over his head, no sea monsters in sight, zero view of the deep open ocean, and he’s surrounded by bright bioluminescent plants and harmless fish. There’s nowhere else he’d rather be but right here, and he is intensely grateful that dream of the terrifying abyss was just a dream, nothing more.
Part 3: Breakfast and meeting Dad
Marlo leaves his room and greets his parents before leaving for the day.
Describe Marlo’s appearance in comparison to them, rather than just having him look at himself in a mirror. His skin tone is the same blue as his parents’, his hair is probably a similar dark blue but less well kept, and any fins and scales and markings on his skin are probably similar.
Briefly mention the type of food people eat here for breakfast and what their house looks like. Maybe mention the modular structure of the town in general, every building following the same “pod” blueprints.
Have Marlo’s parent’s jobs come up in conversation, what they do to contribute to the community and how suited they are to those positions, plus the detail that they both have the day off to attend the big event today. (Edit: Just Mom will be at the ceremony. Dad will have to work.)
💡 IDEA: Maybe Marlo’s dad is a fish trucker, someone who drives a sub through fish shoals to scoop up fish in tanks that are easy to swim into but hard to swim out of. They tried raising fish in hatcheries, but they didn’t thrive, leaving the better option to catch them in the wild instead.
Visual description snippet for Marlo’s dad:
Dark blue fins sticking out of the side of his head along his jawline, like sideburns. (Similar to Dougal, who has fins under his nose like a mustache)
Snippet of conversation over breakfast:
Dad: You need a haircut.
M: *shrugs* I guess so.
Dad: Well, at least there’s time before next weekend. You’ll want to look your best for the big day.
(Marlo doesn’t answer, changes the subject quickly)
Part 4: Going to the schoolhouse/multipurpose building
It’s Graduation Day, the last day of school in which each graduating student presents their final project to the entire town of Brightvein.
Backstory: This was originally founded as a mining town, until the ore vein unexpectedly “dried up” and the mine closed, leaving the town’s name an ironic misnomer. The town attempted to pivot its focus to indoor hydroponics farming, but still struggles to bring in a lot of resources compared to some of its neighboring settlements.
In this society, Graduation Day is treated as a community togetherness event – an excuse to come together and celebrate each others’ achievements, an opportunity to mark the transition from childhood to adulthood, but also to give the graduating student a chance to showcase the skills they have developed and the area of focus they chose for their education. In most cases, this will directly correlate to the role/job in the community they will soon transition into now that their schooling is over.
Traveling via the fully enclosed tube-shaped corridors connecting each underwater building, Marlo walks to the school and/or Community Hall (possibly a multipurpose building) to get ready for the ceremony. There are only three students graduating this year, and this will be the last Graduation Day for quite a while, so it’s a big deal for everyone. The town faced an unfortunate series of tragedies in recent years affecting the birth rates, some miscarriages and early deaths, some illnesses and maybe some disappearances/accidents/people moving away, and that all resulted in a huge gap between Marlo’s generation and the very young students still in school. Even of the three graduating today, Marlo and his best friend Keeley Magorian are the only two the same age; the mayor’s son Bracken is a handful of years older and should have graduated a long time ago, but he’s not very bright and kept getting held back. Bracken is basically guaranteed to graduate this year though, whether he’s ready or not, as the mayor plans on finally starting to train him to take over his job or otherwise employing him in some other important position, like deputy to the sheriff (Bracken’s uncle, the mayor’s brother). Marlo does not look forward to the day when Bracken will be in a position of authority like that. He doesn’t even want to think about the possibility of Bracken running this town someday.
💡 IDEA: Maybe while they’re getting ready for the ceremony, Bracken is teasing Marlo by making fun of his last name.
Once everything is set up for the ceremony, the whole town piles into the community hall (about 200 people comprising the whole population). Having known all these people his whole life, Marlo knows everyone by name, and a lot of them are close family friends. However, Marlo does notice a few faces he doesn’t recognize in the back of the room. They look official, like they’re from the Capital city. Possibly here to do business with the mayor, or to scout for talent to recruit for some job that needs filling in the city – which would explain why they’d come watch the students’ final presentations.
💡 IDEA: The gov officials wouldn’t have sunglasses in a world with no sun, but if they still want their eyes obscured, maybe they wear mirrored glasses. One-way mirrors they can see through but others only see their reflection on the other side.
(Would this be a reason to give the sea elves human-shaped eyes? These older non-hybrid elves are the only ones with the slit-shaped pupils?)
Anyway, when Marlo sees them in chapter 1 or 2, he notes to himself that he saw officials just like them in the Capital when he went on his field trip. Their mirrored glasses are a dead giveaway. But also, they all have ears with no fins, and none of them have scales or stripes, which is odd.
Another idea for the gov officials’ appearance: Maybe their clothes are long dark robes with gilded edges (or silver edges), like the Thalmor robes from Skyrim.
When Keeley is introduced:
Note there’s an adhesive bandage on her chin where she habitually picks at one of her facial scales when she’s nervous. While waiting to give her presentation to the town, she might raise a hand to pick without thinking but stops when she feels the bandage.
(Bandage is made from whatever plant fiber mesh they make most of their clothes from, plus plant glue for the adhesive)
If Bracken’s dyed hair comes up in this chapter, otherwise saved as a surprise for chapter 2 when he gives his speech:
💡 IDEA: Maybe the bright glowing turquoise chemical from the Brightvein brine-pools is what Bracken used to dye his hair. Further foreshadowing the significance of this substance?
Part 5: Final convo just before the ceremony
End the chapter just before the ceremony begins, after Marlo, Keeley, and Bracken have been introduced, after Marlo’s mom has been established as the teacher (make sure continuity for seeing her or not seeing her earlier at breakfast is accounted for), and end on the note of how important this ceremony will be for all three kids’ futures and how they hope nothing goes wrong. (Plus the added pressure of the people from the Capital watching.)
Important: In these first few chapters before Keeley disappears, take every opportunity to highlight her and Marlo’s friendship. Give their dynamic friendly “sibling energy” as much as possible. Have them joke around, mess with each other a little (all in good fun), and express genuine support for each other. Try to stay away from anything that comes across as explicit flirting, unless I’m going for an intentional misunderstanding in that regard.
Thank you @willtheweaver for the tag! I especially like this one as a planster (someone who plots and pants!)
Share a tiny glimpse of your WIP outline. It could be a scene, a beat, or just a moment. Keep it vague or get specific. No spoilers needed!
Even if you don't outline - any note, braindump, or sketch counts.
For me, I've been creating my own templates based on Save the Cat! They are evolving as I'm still figuring out my process. I've included the first couple of pages of my outline of Draft 3 of The Blood Cleaners.
Tagging (no pressure): @kitkins13 @kaylinalexanderbooks @tildeathiwillwrite @winterandwords @forthesanityofstorytellers
@agirlandherquill @diabolical-blue @dyoniawrites @gioia-writes-and-others and OPEN!
✧ Crying isn’t pretty. It’s snot, blotchy faces, gasping for air, and red-rimmed eyes. Forget the single tear rolling down like in Hollywood.
✧ Anger often hides hurt. People lash out, slam doors, shout, not always because they’re just mad, but because they’re covering up fear or pain.
✧ Shaking is common. Stress dumps adrenaline into the system. Hands tremble, voices break, knees won’t stay steady.
✧ People go quiet, too. Not all breakdowns are screaming and sobbing. Some are dead silence, staring off, numb responses. Equally devastating.
✧ Exhaustion hits after. The “post-breakdown crash” is real ... headaches, sore eyes, complete emotional hangover. They’ll want to sleep for hours.
✧ Words get messy. Rambling, repeating the same sentence, stuttering, saying things they don’t mean. Emotions trip over themselves on the way out.
✧ Breathing changes. Short, shallow breaths, hiccupping gasps, or holding their breath without realizing. Sometimes it even feels like they’re choking.
✧ Embarrassment creeps in. Once the wave passes, a lot of people feel ashamed, apologizing or avoiding eye contact. Vulnerability often leaves guilt in its wake.
✧ Physical pain shows up. Tight chest, stomach aches, tension headaches. Because emotions don’t just stay in the mind , the body carries them too.
This is your invitation to share a few lines that you've written recently and are really happy with. If you haven't written any new lines lately, you're welcome to share a bit of lore from your WIP or an interesting detail about one of your characters 💜
Thank you for thinking about me 💞 I just moved to a new place. It was so hectic, took a toll on me physically and mentally. But now I'm slowly getting back to writing. Shortly before the move chaos, I wrote this romantic moment for The Blood Cleaners. One part of my says it's fatuous but another part of me is proud of it.
He lowered his head and shrugged. “I guess….”
She locked her eyes on him.
His eyes met hers. “I worried you would have a problem with me being in love with you.” He stared at her lips, noting the distance between him and her. She watched. She waited. His heart hummed.
Joselyn closed her eyes and sighed. “I’m sorry…I…”
He stepped closer to her. “Is it a problem?”
She laid her hands on his shoulders. “Of course not.”
Her touch was soft, gentle as a feather on his shoulders. He caught small rhythms of her trembling. He stared at her lips, smooth and red. He put his hands on her waist. She blushed.
She lowered her head. “I’m not going to dwell on what could have been.” She put a hand on his waist. “If luck said I survived the screening without you, I would have been lonely. Dealing with that pain on my own. Not feeling any better around my father. But you….I'm never lonely with you. You wash away my misery. It’s like….” She breathed on him like an arid wind that conquered the cold. “You’re not only my co-worker. My friend. I care for you. Mi corazón.”
He knew the words. My heart.
He got a little jittery, admiring each line of her cheek. He breathed through his nose. She smelled sweet, dauntingly stirring up butterflies inside himself. “If I’m being honest, I never thought…it never crossed my mind that I’d fall in love. I've never known a girl like you. You’re the most amazing…” He choked on his spit.
Joselyn rubbed his waist.
He heaved in a breath. “You’re determined, caring, smart, and strong. I’m new to this love stuff, but….I love you.”
Joselyn shed tears. She lowered her other hand down to his waist. “I’m so grateful for all that you’ve done for me. I would not be here if it wasn’t for you.”
“Don’t discredit yourself. I wouldn’t be here either if it weren’t for you.” He saw his own reflection on her eyes.
“Jus,” she cooed, “I don' t know what I did to earn you. The most handsome, six foot tall, dark-eyed, dark-haired man alive. The funniest. The sweetest. The most creative. The…” She bit her lip, as if too embarrassed to say whatever was on her mind.
He laughed nervously. “I…didn’t know I deserved such a compliment.”
She brushed her nose against his.
He chuckled. “It’s funny when I think about it. I was afraid of what might happen if I told you. Now, it’s like, what the hell?”
Joselyn chuckled. “Can’t believe I was afraid to say this. Justin, I love you. Mi amor.”
Flaws/Quirks in Male Characters That I’m BEGGING Writers to Explore
✧ Dudes who are bad at sports. Yes, Chad, not every male character needs to throw a perfect spiral in high school. Let him get hit in the face with a dodgeball. Let him (please) suck.
✧ The “pretty boy” who's not vain, just vibing. Like he knows he looks like he walked out of a Renaissance painting but has the self esteem of a lost ferret.
✧ Shy, awkward boys who don’t magically become suave by Chapter 6. No, he’s still weird at parties and says “you too” when the waiter says “enjoy your meal.”
✧ Flirtatious guys who are actually super respectful. He's flirty but not a walking lawsuit. Shocker. He’s playful, not predatory.
✧ Male friendships that aren't emotionally constipated. Yes, two guys can say “I love you, bro” and not immediately punch each other to cancel it out.
✧ The soft spoken leader. He doesn’t need to scream orders or have a “gruff, commanding voice.” He just talks, and people shut up and listen because he’s competent.
✧ Dudes with weird hobbies. like, your guy MC collect antique spoons or have a YouTube channel rating old vacuums. Why not. It’s his passion.
✧ Guys who are clingy and insecure in relationships. Not abusive, just genuinely terrified of being left on read for too long. He's trying his best, ok?
