Meant to post this a couple months ago whoops but anyways, writeblr official intro post!
Heya! I'm a queer fantasy author currently publishing my first novel online, I'm still figuring out the final version of my pen name but Magi is fine (they/them pls).
On to the stories!
Shadowbird is about a young queer mage accepting and finding power in both facets of their identity, and using that power to fight against the restrictive and cruel Illustrian Empire. It's about how our choices shape who we become, and it flips dark/light symbolism and explores love and other types of connection. Incomplete (130k+), updates Thursdays on Tapas. (I also have chapters on Royal Road, but am no longer updating there.)
I also have some tie-in short stories, plus a youtube channel where I might post music and/or audio chapters? We'll see
A New Dawn, the first Shadowbird tie-in, is about grief, and choosing life over revenge. Complete on Royal Road and Tapas. 12k words.
Let your Star Shine is about family born and family found, and queer girls making their own family together. Complete on Royal Road and Tapas. 11k words.
Life's Path (may not be final title) is about anxiety, fear of what you could be, and difficult choices. Incomplete.
Winds of Change is about domestic abuse and being strong enough to be weak. Incomplete.
For Love of the Game is about the lengths one might go to secure the future they want. Incomplete.
General content warnings: The world of Shadowbird is not always a kind one to people who do not fit the expected norm. There is cruelty contained within these pages, bigotry wearing multiple faces. Some stories contain other sensitive topics, listed below. Feel free to ask if you need additional content warnings.
Shadowbird: Death
A New Dawn: Child death (offscreen)
Let your Star Shine: N/A
Life's Path: Noncon body modification, child harm (mentioned), animal death (referenced). Potentially more
Winds of Change: Domestic abuse
For Love of the Game: TBA
Non-ShadowVerse work:
Past the Sun. I'm writing this one for a contest on Royal Road and crossposting it to Tapas. It's about a dragon who shouldn't be in space and the ship captain who finds him there. Incomplete (8k+ words). CW: N/A
The Monster at the Lake. Short fantasy adventure based on a dream, it's about friendship, trust, and survival. Complete at 3.5k words; I'm currently trying to get it published in a literary journal. CW: character death.
Feel free to ask if you are curious about other sensitive content or specific topics.
Taglist info: #ShadowVerse: All updates from this world, including stories and art. Probably not memes. Individual stories, tagged with their titles: chapter updates and artwork for that story only. Let me know which taglist(s) you want to be on and I'll do my best.
(Note: I do have another Tumblr where I've posted a fair bit of Shadowbird-related stuff. Anything reposted here is not plagiarized I swear, it's just from my other self XD (please don't go looking for that blog, I'd like to keep this one separate))
And now we've reached the end, so have a cute cat and a couple Destiny doodles!
ID: a series of fake tweets from my characters Seren (@/staroftheshow), Blythe (@/bleddynbach), and Stella (@/thesecondstar). Likes/replies/retweets are randomly chosen numbers. Seren and Blythe have wolf pfps, Stella's is blank
Seren (June 1, 2017): wrote and performed a song for my girlfriend for pride month what are the rest of you doing
Blythe (June 1, 2017): You beautiful, wonderful, ridiculous girl.
Seren (June 1, 2020): Update. Two songs and she's my fiancee now <3 #lovewins #pridemonth #loveofmylife #meanttobe
Stella (June 1, 2020): "Oh no, what if she doesn't like it" "What if she says no" "What if she's not ready/I'm not ready" Told you
Seren (June 1, 2020): lies
Blythe (June 1, 2021): Update. Twins.
/end ID
the dates aren't accurate bc this is another world but the time gaps roughly are anyways happy pride month to these girlies Specifically
hi yes wtf if this is because of that one person who's been going on reading binges and liking each episode over the course of the past few days THX ILY
hi yes wtf if this is because of that one person who's been going on reading binges and liking each episode over the course of the past few days THX ILY
I went and searched my pen name online for reasons related to insecurity and now
Well there's a site that's pirated my FREE STORIES. Apparently this is like. A Known Problem for stories on RR, specifically with this site. Anyway if you see my stories anywhere besides Royal Road and Tapas they've been stolen (I did put part of Shadowbird and lyss on Mimtory briefly, but that site has since broken), and consider searching your pen name or story name occasionally especially if you publish on RR to see if your story has been stolen
...My stories are available fully for free, not even a pay-for-early-access period, why the FUCK are you pirating them. They're already free!!
I have a new story! Written for Royal Road's community magazine contest this year! Prompt was "dragons in space" so yeah this one is science fantasy about Captain Lilah of the spaceship Tempest and the dragon she finds floating alone in a spacesuit designed for a human. NOT written in the "Shadowbird" 'verse, which was fun bc it meant thinking about an entirely different way dragons might be!
Introductions, from chapter one:
“I’m Lilah,” she said. Instead of holding out a hand to shake, which she was fairly sure was rude for dragons, she bowed from the waist without making eye contact. “Lilah Gershwin, captain of this spaceship, Tempest.” Names were important to dragons.
The dragon set their helmet on the floor, rose again, and bowed back elegantly. “I am Ekhazyrnkh Zrryl, but you may call me Haze, and refer to me as masculine in your tongue. Warm greetings, Lilah Gershwin.” His voice was deep, though most dragons had deep voices, and was smooth as honey, with a hint of a growling accent.
“And to you” –Lilah took a breath and made her best attempt at the name– “Ekhazirnkh Zirrel. I prefer feminine forms of address, though I’m not picky.”
Second chapter: In which I begin using neopronouns. And also make Haze very sad, although ce was already very sad but just hiding it. Ce gets to cry. Sort of.
I have a new story! Written for Royal Road's community magazine contest this year! Prompt was "dragons in space" so yeah this one is science fantasy about Captain Lilah of the spaceship Tempest and the dragon she finds floating alone in a spacesuit designed for a human. NOT written in the "Shadowbird" 'verse, which was fun bc it meant thinking about an entirely different way dragons might be!
Introductions, from chapter one:
“I’m Lilah,” she said. Instead of holding out a hand to shake, which she was fairly sure was rude for dragons, she bowed from the waist without making eye contact. “Lilah Gershwin, captain of this spaceship, Tempest.” Names were important to dragons.
The dragon set their helmet on the floor, rose again, and bowed back elegantly. “I am Ekhazyrnkh Zrryl, but you may call me Haze, and refer to me as masculine in your tongue. Warm greetings, Lilah Gershwin.” His voice was deep, though most dragons had deep voices, and was smooth as honey, with a hint of a growling accent.
“And to you” –Lilah took a breath and made her best attempt at the name– “Ekhazirnkh Zirrel. I prefer feminine forms of address, though I’m not picky.”
Architect, aesthetic, and song bird for the what type of writer ask?
Architect : Name the three most important things for you to plan
....To tell the truth I don't plan all that much and when I do sometimes things end up going differently. I still do try to have a loose idea of where things are gonna go - steps that have to happen to get from where I am to what I know happens, how I'm going to bring characters back in later, and... whether they die in the story or not
Aesthetics : Look for three images which best showcase the overall aesthetic for your WIP
Mmm this is hard. We're gonna try these
Song bird : If you could pick three songs to capture the feel of your WIP, what would they be and why?
Already been asked this! Here are three totally different songs :D "After the War" by Reinaeiry, "Watch What Happens" from Newsies, and "Inkpot Gods" by The Amazing Devil
Character questionnaire : What is the most important question to answer about your characters?
Chronological : Have you ever gotten stuck with a scene? If you have, how do you power through and finish?
Song bird : If you could pick three songs to capture the feel of your WIP, what would they be and why?
1. Probably "What's their motivation here, why are they doing this/what can make them do what I need them to?" Sometimes just for whatever scene I'm working on, sometimes I get more in-depth and wind up with a bonus scene or even a short story!
2. Ohhhh yes. Absolutely have. I saw something on Tumblr one time suggesting that when that happens, you delete the last 10-ish lines and then try again, and pretty often that works. (Sometimes turning it over to distract myself to sleep helps with both things tho)
3. This is so hard. I have so many playlists with so many songs! But uhh... maybe "This Is Me" from The Greatest Showman, "Don't Think Just Run" by Beth Crowley, and mm... "Crashing Down" by Heather Dale. (This is going to be a different answer every time lol)
Later than I intended but here are promised sketches. Some of these are from last month, one is a few years old
1. idk this is just. How black cats look. Iykyk
2. I played Blades of the Dark recently and made a Whisper gremlin whose name was kind of an excuse to get called Robin irl. Then I drew them bc I had pencil and paper and my hand slipped.
3. Mind was blank at art group one time so I doodled Destiny and the Light Lord with some lyrics from Epic: The Musical (Six Hundred Strike)
4 and 5. Digital art doodles bc I wanted to practice so I drew a rainbow dragon and then made the rainbow blurry
6. Dragon pirate queen. Yes she will be in Shadowbird. Yes I've already written her. Yes I love her so much. Look at her can you blame me. This was intended to be a little sketch but it's going to be a full-page illustration, there's a background and everything
7. Vida sketch. This is how Des saw her that first time XD
8. "Our campaign is finishing soon," the GM said, "anyone want to do a Christmas oneshot next?" "Can my character be Jewish?" I said. "Absolutely," he said. And so Lior was born.
9. Seren and Blythe! This sketch eventually became the cover for "let your star shine"
10. First ever drawing I did of the Light Lord, I think this was my second drawing of Destiny, possibly third. Their appearances have changed a bit since this, mainly Des's hair has only gotten curlier, but the vibes are the same lol
One full year (just about) since I put the first chapters of Shadowbird up on the interwebs! Celebration is a sketch dump and probably some incorrect quotes later and also if you ask me anything today or tomorrow I will attempt to do a small sketchy thing for each story-related ask
