Where is my fantasy female protagonist who's a little too socially adept maybe I'm tired of the assumption being that all fantasy female protagonists don't really understand the nuances of conversation in politicised situations. I want a girl who knows exactly how to play people and is always a little privately concerned that she's evil for it.
"haunting the narrative" is one of those phrases i wanna put up on a shelf. not all characters that are dead haunt the narrative. not all characters that are dead haunt the narrative. not all characters that haunt the narrative are dead.
a character who haunts the narrative is a character whose presence in the story itself is sparse to none (!!!!!) but whose actions have major consequences to the story and help to build the theme of the work (!!!!!!!!!) if blorbo blingus doesnt tick both these boxes then im sorry. they are not haunting the narrative. they just died.
Fun concept to introduce writeblr and readblr to; slowburn worldbuilding. Picture this. You are dropped into a setting. The rules of the setting are not immediately explained to you, but as the characters move along the plot / their lives / their character arcs and the world, you start piecing things together. Maybe the characters already know what's up with their world, but you as the audience have to figure out what's up based on what you encounter over time.
character who is sun-coded but not in the traditional ray-of-sunshine way. character who is sun-coded in the sense that they burn hot and bright and powerful, that they're a raging fury of fire and passion, and that maybe, just maybe, they are destroying themselves as they do so.
everyone has a ship thats just: theyre perfect. they hate each other. theyre married. they havent spoken in 15 years. they have date nights three times a week. theyre divorced. theyre pining, its unrequited. its requited. theyre starcrossed. theyre meant to be. theyre doomed by the narrative. they love each other. theyve never held hands. they wont stop making out at parties. they cant look each other in the eye
Have I told you guys how much I love my characters?? I love how Liv is kind and good and always has a smile for the people around her nad helps in everything she can and how Rakan has a big heart and got injured saving a little girl that needed his help and is always optimistic and how Kylem is always trying to think of the best way to help people, to end the horrors, and sometimes he is awkward and doesn't know how to speak to people but he uses his shadows to play with little children so they have fun and how Gabriel is charming and also always wants to help, to ease the burden of those around him
First (Second?) Of the out of context snippets. This is an encounter between Seoham and Kylem. Can't decide if this is in a stealth mission or there is a battle happening outside.
They find each other fighting alone in a room (Seoham has probably killed the few others that came with Kylem if there were any)
Kylem tries to regain his breath. His chakrams lay on the ground, lost in the battle. He had just managed to take one of Seoham’s swords for himself on his last attack. Now they are looking at each other across the room, each one with a sword on their hand, both pointing down. There are a hundred things that Kylem wants to say, but nothing comes out of his mouth. Seoham lunges again, his sword up. Kylem diverts the attack easily. Years may have passed, but he knows Seoham’s moves like they are his own. That’s why he recognises an opening after they exchange a few blows. An opening that shouldn’t exist. That’s why Kylem goes for it, his sword swinging towards Seoham’s throat, knowing full well that he will block-
Kylem stops.
He barely has the strength to stop his attack before it reaches Seoham’s throat. His blade touching his skin, a small drop of blood appearing under it. Seoham is still, his arms limp against his body, his eyes closed. When he feels the touch of the blade his opens his eyes, slowly.
Kylem feels his heart hammering on his chest, not because of the battle, but fright. Because he had almost-
He feels anger. He feels hate. Towards himself, the situation, the b- no, not the boy in front of him. He pushes forward, his sword moving to cross the front of Seoham’s throat and he pushes, yes, pushes at the boy’s chest with his other hand when he doesn’t move back, letting the blade pierce more into his skin. Kylem hears Seoham dropping his sword to the floor, the clattering loud on the empty room. He moves them until Seoham’s back is against the wall, pinned there by Kylem’s sword, their faces close.
Kylem looks at him, searching, even if he doesn’t know what for. Answers, reason, feeling. But Seoham’s face remains impassive, somehow giving away less emotion than a statue could. Kylem looks at his eyes, those impossibly coloured eyes that he can’t get out of his mind, doesn’t matter how hard he tries. Their eyes stay locked on each other for a few seconds, a hundred years, and Kylem does something he had never dared to.
He pushes his mind.
He lets his mind out to find Seoham’s, his presence familiar and foreign at the same time. He can’t really get inside Seoham’s mind. He is too trained; he had taught him how to protect his mind himself. But he can still feel something around him, so strong it would be impossible to mask.
Sadness.
Complete and overwhelming sorrow that knocks the breath out of him.
It is easy, once he has finally felt it, to see the sadness reflected on Seoham’s eyes. Kylem wants to say something, everything, Seoham’s name. But he feels his breath knocked out of him again, this time different when Seoham pushes him back, first with his body and then with a strong gust of wind that sends him to the other side of the room. Kylem only takes a few seconds to stand back up but it’s late. Seoham is gone.
Bc it's been really difficult for me to write in chronological order lately, I've decided to psot here the snippets that I manage to write, even if they are out of context and spoilers, just to get them out, like I did with the Meira snippet
having ocs is like she's my daughter. she's my power fantasy. i'm giving her everything i hate about my personality. she's a war criminal. she's never done anything wrong in her life ever. i love her. i hate her. i'm making her life miserable. who did this to her. she's unlikeable but everyone should like her. she's baby. she does cocaine in the bathroom
A small out of context snippet of Meira, a bit gorey and maybe a spoiler?
She is insane your honour
Meira looks down at the man lying on the floor. He is coughing blood, trying to get up. He makes for a very pathetic view. She kicks him, so he is now lying on his back, letting out groans of pain. She crouches next to him, taking her knife from its sheath on the lower part of her back, and touches the man’s cheek with it, carefully. This is the man that knows where they are keeping [redacted]. She fixes her grip on the knife while she takes her hand back, enough to gain a bit of speed to drive the knife into the man’s throat.
He makes a surprised noise before he starts choking on his own blood, his air conducts destroyed and blocked. She waits for a few seconds before she drives the knife back, out of the man’s neck. That’s when the blood really starts coming out. She looks at him, trying to breath, blood coming out of his mouth and neck. He tries to move a hand up to cover the wound but she stabs it to the floor. You won’t do anything, you need me alive, he had said, your morals as the Kyusei of Light won’t let you hurt me.
She keeps looking at him choking on his own blood, just a few more seconds, and when he looks like he is really going to die, she puts her hand around his throat and heals him. He takes a long deep breath before he goes back to gasps, as she tightens her hold on his throat.
“You know what is the best part about perfecting healing?” she asks. Not that she expects him to answer. “You won’t die. I can cut all your fingers and limbs and reattach them to cut them all again. I can stab you, choke you to death, make you experience all the pain that a human being can and don’t let you die, heal you enough that you stay awake, but not enough that the pain goes away. Now I will ask you again, where is [redacted]?”
He is looking at her differently now. Gone is the look of superiority and defiance. Now there is only horror, and fear.
I just remembered (yes I forgor) that in the first draft of the marked, Meira (called Velarne at the time) was hurt in her first encounter with the shadow soldiers when one of them grabbed her forearm and it left a black mark on her skin that she always covered with a bandage
It was actually a big part of her characterization and it had big consecuences. Don't remember why I scratched it
jbbartram-illu
areudirty
snowghoul
stormborns
blakekathryn
andulkaphoto
ellievsbear
vaporwave
