Thought I would do an intro since I haven't yet. I'm Kayla or you may know me as @flamingdiva. Mia Thermopolis in The Princess Diaries who inspired me to actually start writing in 2007 when I was 13. For some time after high school, though, I stopped writing. In 2018 my desire to pick it up again grew and I am finally back to writing nearly as much as I did procrastinating school work.
I pretty much write what I like to read: fantasy, sci-fi, YA, dystopian, and mystery. I've written some poetry too.
I love being tagged and getting asks but I am an autistic shy creature with ADHD so it might take me some time to respond!
Favorite writers: Jane Austen, Marissa Meyer, Kathy Reichs, Susan Fletcher, Veronica Rossi, Ruta Sepetys, Meg Cabot
Other interests: Doctor Who, otome games, manga, Asian dramas, SHINee/kpop, Miraculous Ladybug
(links will be added as I post more)
Updated: April 18 2024
Main WIPs:
The Revenged & The Scarlett's Song
A duology (planned) that takes place in my world. Lady Shuntala decides to elope after meeting the wonderful and romantic merchant sailor, Nahuel. Soon, though, she's on a path to piracy in her quest for revenge.
Fantasy, Strong Female Lead, Healing From Trauma, Pirates
Intro post; tag (WIP: The Revenged); character intros
Desktop: project page
And They Were Roommates
A very self indulgent project that has many characters from another WIP (Thylore). After Jayme and Takashti are assigned as- you guessed it- roommates they have to learn to live together and deal with each other's emotional baggage.
Modern AU, Tropes Everywhere, Found Family, Fantasy, Neurodivergent Protagonist, Multi POV
Intro post; tag (WIP: ATWR); character intros
Project page
Secondary WIPs:
Home: Ka'il's Story
As persecution of elves escalate and more go missing each day, Ka'il worries if he would be able to protect his family while helping others. Then the worst happens: he's taken captive by slave traders. Will Ka'il make it back to the home he loves? Will it even be there?
A novella (maybe) that follows Ka'il's journey up to when he meets Shuntala in The Revenged.
Fantasy, Trauma, Slavery, Pirates
Intro post; tag (WIP: Home); character intros
Project Page
The Taste of Thyme
Happy with her job and life, Sadie couldn't wish for anything more than the next biggest recipe from time for her award winning blog. But after some encounters with her boss's son, Liam, she realizes time traveling is far more dangerous than she had thought.
Sci-fi, mystery, romance, diverse cast, historical
Intro post; tag (WIP: TToT); character intros
Project page
WIPs I'd like to get to someday:
Anar (title pending)
When Princess Djamila is orphaned her uncle takes advantage of the situation by trying to force her to wed a vessel of his choosing. Mila and her guardian cat run and end up in the neighboring country. There she befriends Nkiru and comes up with a plan just crazy enough it might work in getting her country back from Uncle Jayesh.
Fantasy, "fake" marriage, strong female lead, big cats
Firebird Summer
Alex and Kella are destined to be together. That's what everyone in their small town knew even before they started dating. It was never a question of if they would stay together but a question of if Alex could hold out long enough to escape his father's drunken anger.
YA, trauma, romance, coming of age, (does 2012 count as historical? someone tell me no)
Ayra's Tale (title also pending)
Four teens and their faerie companions are pulled into a nefarious plot involving the disappearance of Lady Ayra when Zim loses his faerie friend, Ziv, after running away from home.
Fantasy, Found dysfunctional Family, Mystery, Disabled Protagonist
Intro post; tag
Thylore
Saira vows to assassinate Thylore's human king in an effort to end the persecution of elves. Takashti just wants to keep his impulsive, adoptive cousin from getting herself killed while keeping as far away from Saira's lover, Cyrail, as possible.
fantasy, strong female lead, lots of bickering how are they going to lead a revolution at this rate?
Sofia (give it up for pending titles!)
Sofia Alesci has everything figured out. She'll go to college and become one of the best forensic anthropologists in the nation. What she hasn't figured out, though, is how she'll survive having to socialize and why the police won't believe her that the professor has been murdered.
YA mystery, autistic protagonist
An inquiring mind would like to know at which point do you think it's too late to add another POV to a novel with multiple POVs? And how many POVs is too many?
I guess I’ll further break in the new writing blog attempt by answering tag games from a while ago
I was gotten by @thewriteflame forever ago — ty ! you can go find kayla’s post here
A line about clothes & A line that has foreshadowing in it
just a cute thingy hehe. you can guess what happens
(bc it’s not clear devoid of context, Cecyl’s is the first line of dialogue)
Bazyli caught just a sliver of his face, but it was enough to spot the cutest little grin, still lazy with sleep. "You should lay down with me."
"I love you, but we both know I won't be able to pry you off of me when we have to leave."
Cecyl went quiet. No sigh. No mutter. No murmur. Not even a disgruntled shift of breath.
"Don't you dare bite me or I will throw the curtains open and pick you up."
Mouth not suspiciously half open, Cecyl laughed into Bazyli's shirt; just a far too endearing tuft of messy golden-white hair out of the corner of his eye.
A line with an animal
god I love comparing Baz to a cat when I get bored. also, petition to see non-words like “bap” in actual books? 👀
“No, get out.” Cecyl bapped him until he finally wiggled his way out from under his shirt like a stupid cat, and pecked that silly nose of his.
A line said in jest
"Baz, gods above, I will strangle you." Careful to not pull, Cecyl grabbed a fistful of his hair and squeezed.
Bazyli grinned, and all at once, Cecyl wished he would make good on that threat. "Not a bad way to die: by my lover's hands."
With a roll of his eyes, Cecyl pecked the tip of his nose so harshly Bazyli recoiled. “You’re awful.”
“I know.”
Although that grin didn’t fade, Bazyli took in a deep breath and tried to keep himself still. He focused on the finger tipping up his chin, gentle but firm—a bit more than a suggestion, closer to a reprimand. The way Cecyl steadied his hand with a hum. Grimacing only slightly when the brush ran along the small scar over his upper lip, just before its first point.
I’ll give a gentle boop to @shay-the-maker @sithbelle & anyone who wants an excuse to do this w:
A line with a river (or stream), a line about a forest (or leaves), a line with gloves, and a line with a scarf
I was gotten by @thewriteflame for this as well ! ty ! go read kayla’s post here
oh I love writing dialogue, so this was difficult
Before Bazyli could fully step back, Cecyl pulled him close, tucked him just out of the sun’s reach with a quick half-turn, and kissed him like a man starved. Bazyli’s yelp died against those soft lips he was helpless to give in to: melting with a teasing brush of his tongue, sighing as those fingers splayed against his back dug in—the bite of his nails dampened by his shirt.
Finally, Cecyl withdrew. Grey eyes catching a stray sparkle here and there as the evening light shifted. The freckles that danced along the bridge of his nose deeper in color on tender, sunkissed-pink skin.
A soft breeze and a breath later, the cluster of leaves overhead fluttered, dangling down from the stone archway. And they were breaking into twin smiles, laughing, Cecyl’s hand on his cheek as if holding the sun’s glow there.
ever so gently passing the torch to anyone who sees this & has something to share 👀
Daughter of fantasy villains decides to rebel against her parents by actually going through with her arranged marriage to a local golden retriever of a prince instead of running off with some local villain-to-be or conquering said golden retriever’s kingdom and ruling it solo like her parents expect her to. Plus, sue her, she’s into the clean-cut earnest look.
At the same time, local prince charming discovers that he’s actually very into the gothic fiance his parents have landed him with in order to try and establish peace with the local evil lair down the lane, he would never have guessed a spiderweb pattern could look so fetching on a ball gown…?
Meanwhile, two pairs of parents in a tizzy because they both expected their offspring to whole-heartedly reject this union and give them an excuse to conquer their goody-two-shoes/evil neighbours, they’re not supposed to actually like each other-!
respective friend groups undergoing culture clash like all of prince charming’s knights are like what vile spell has been used to ensorcel our prince. we must be on our guard for surely this is but a ruse for an assassination attempt
meanwhile the villain bride’s friends are all like clearly he loves you not, why do you persist in a manner that will ensure your own heart break, i mean if he was taking this seriously there would be at least three assassination attempts by now. it’s like he doesn’t even notice that you have massive amounts of dark power to covet for his own
smashcut to
fully armored knight, clanging through the hallways in attempts at stealth, blades drawn: i’m just saying, i took an oath of protection. this feels wrong.
prince charming: it’s not wrong, it’s celebrating cross cultural traditions for my beloved bride
to be honest, i only personally care about plotholes when they appear in writing i already have a bunch of other problems with. if i like something enough, i'll give it a pass/invent an explanation in my head. i can't find the exact quote, but roger ebert said something about this. to paraphrase: "the movie's problem wasn't [such and such inconsistency], its problem was that i was bored enough to be thinking about that."
#the fact that 'can prove access to an online account at least 12 years old' or even 'account to be verified is itself fully 18 years old'#AREN'T accepted methods of age verification is such a telling sign of what the real purpose of age-gating laws is:#data harvesting and deanonymization and the buildout of state-controllable ways to restrict both content and internet access itself en masse (via @shinelikethunder )
LLM psychosis is simply the democratisation of being surrounded by yes-men and unctuous toadies, an experience previously only accessible to dictators and kings and cult leaders and venture capitalists
Considering a big purchase? Competitive bargain hunter? Just trying to save money? Here's everything you need to know about buying stuff.
MASTERPOST: Everything You Need To Know About Buying Stuff for Cheap
How to pay for stuff
Buy Now Pay Later Apps: That Old Predatory Lending by a Crappy New Name
Businesses Will Happily Give You HUGE Discounts if You Ask This Magic Question
Dafuq Is a Down Payment? And Why Do You Need One to Buy Stuff?
Ask the Bitches: Should I Get a Loan Even Though I Can Afford To Pay Cash?
Season 2, Episode 10: “Which Is Smarter: Getting a Loan? or Saving up to Pay Cash?”
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Why Name Brand Products Are Beneath You: The Honor and Glory of Buying Generic
How To Save Money With Affordable Car Repairs
How to Save Money on Your Beloved Pets
How to Get DIRT CHEAP Pet Medication, Without a Prescription
The Pink Tax, or: How I Learned To Love Smelling Like Bearglove
Blood Money: Menstrual Products for Surviving Your Period While Poor
Understand the Hidden Costs of Travel and Avoid Them Like the Plague
7 Totally Reasonable Ways To Save Money on Cheap Entertainment
How to buy stuff ethically
Ethical Consumption: How to Pollute the Planet and Exploit Labor Slightly Less
Ask the Bitches: “How Do I Consume Ethically AND Frugally Under the Trump Tariffs?”
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Fast Fashion: Why It’s Fucking up the World and How To Avoid It
You Are Above Bottled Water, You Elegant Land Mermaid
Kara Perez’s Debut Book “Green Money”: How To Use Your Money To Save the Planet
Wallet Activism: Using Your Money for Good with Author Tanja Hester
How Can I Justify This Deeply Unethical Purchase?
How to buy stuff secondhand
Almost Everything Can Be Purchased Secondhand
Our 5 Best Secrets for Secondhand Shopping Like a Frugal Warrior
The Library Is a Magical Place and You Should Fucking Go There
Your Library Lets You Stream Audiobooks and eBooks FOR FREEEEEEE!
How to buy big ticket items
Bullshit Reasons Not to Buy a House: Refuted
Season 2, Episode 2: “I’m Not Ready to Buy a House—But How Do I *Get Ready* to Get Ready?”
How to Pay Hospital Bills When You’re Flat Broke
Our (Ridiculously Simple) Method for Choosing the Right Healthcare Plan For You
Buying a Car with the Bitches, Part 1: How to Choose Your Car
Buying a Car with the Bitches, Part 2: How to Pay for Your Car
The Only Advice You’ll Ever Need for a Cheap-Ass Wedding
You Deserve Cheap, Fake Jewelry… Just Like Coco Chanel
How To Pay for College Without Selling Your Soul to the Devil
Splurging on Kids: When It Works, and When It Doesn’t
How to buy gifts
The Anti-Consumerist Gift Guide: I Have No Gift to Bring, Pa Rum Pa Pum Pum
How Can I Tame My Family’s Crazy Gift-giving Expectations?
In Defense of Shameless Regifting
Traditional Wedding Gifts Can Burn in Hell Where They Belong
Other People’s Weddings Don’t Have to Make You Broke
How to buy food
To Hell and Back for Cheap Groceries: The Epic Investigation (and Shocking Results) of My Grocery Store Price Comparison Quest
How to Shop for Groceries like a Boss
Cosmic Truths of Cheap Grocery Shopping: 12 Universal Rules to Save Money on Food, No Matter What You Buy or Where You Shop
The Ultimate Showdown: Cheese Crackers, Ranked
If You Can’t Afford to Tip 20%, You Can’t Afford To Dine Out
We Ranked Chocolate Sandwich Cookies by Taste and Price So You Don’t Have To
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How to avoid buying stuff
How to Avoid Lifestyle Inflation … and When to Embrace It
The Magically Frugal Power of Patience
Don’t Spend Money on Shit You Don’t Like, Fool
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Here’s What to Do With Those Credit Card Pre-approval Offers You Get in the Mail
Your Yearly Free Medical Care Checklist
How to COMPLETELY Insulate Yourself From Advertisements
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That’s all for now, bitchlings! We’ll periodically update this list as we post new content. In the meantime, if you’d like to support our mission of [checks notes] scathing reportage and dank memes, donate to Bitches Get Riches on Patreon or PayPal with the buttons below!
We want Flawed Female Characters! No, not THOSE flaws. 😕 Those aren't sexy, COOL flaws. You know, the ones that I don't think actually SHOULD be considered flaws, that I might even feel personally judged for. The "unjustly martyred by the court of public opinion" kind of flaws. So like a "flawed" woman who's actually kind of a Saint in a way. I didn't want, like, FLAW flaws. What she did was WRONG and that makes her a BAD PERSON, and how can you justify that? If you still like her after what she did, that makes YOU a Bad Person too. Ugh, disgusting. 😕 But anyway, WHY isn't anyone writing flawed female characters?
