Somehow, every story will involve a magic city

Abby. 21. she/her. Writer, programmer, conlanger, student. I write mostly fantasy with a dash of sci-fi. Always looking to learn and improve. Twitter: @abbyhodgewrites

[incandescent-eden]

A little test page for a scene/short comic I’d like to write lol (click for better quality!)

[id: a short three-panel comic page with a thick black border surrounded by white while the panel dividers are thin black lines. The art is sketchy and digitally drawn in black and white with pops of color. The panels show:

Top, horizontal panel: A little girl with a dismayed expression holds a pig stuffed animal in one hand and is pointing behind her with the other. Around her are dragonfly-like wings, several eyes, and sharp teeth surrounding her pointing hand. Her eyes, the floating eyes, and teeth are all rimmed in a dark pink. A hand written text box in the top left corner of the panel reads ‘My daughter wakes me up on a Sunday morning. She says,’ where ‘daughter’ is written in the same dark pink.

Bottom left panel: A man with a short scruffy beard and neutral expression holds his glasses in one hand with the other resting on blankets. Behind him are the outline of a pillow and a line indicating a headboard. Surrounding his head are circles and scribbles indicating grogginess. His eyes are violet. A text box at the top center of the panel reads ‘“Papa,”’ with the word written in violet.

Bottom right panel: A man stands at a door with his back and large feathery wings to the audience. His head is at level with oval decorations on the door and his halo is a scribbled oval in a dark yellow that sits on a slant from left up to right on his head. A text box near the bottom of the panel where his wings cross reads, ‘“There’s an angel at the door.”’ where the word ‘angel’ is written in dark yellow.

End id.]

[otherwindow]

Zombie setting where the undead are drawn towards unhygienic scents, so survivors constantly bathe to avoid being eaten.

Zombies are docile when adorned with flowers.

Settlements overgrown with herbs and flora.

Barely any banditry; everyone is focused on farming and gathering.

Different human factions and towns named after flowers like Lilies, Orchids, Roses, etc.

Instead of immediately killing an infected survivor, they’re given special funeral rites - the zombie is covered with flowers to keep them calm, and  allowed to walk out from the settlement to join the hordes.

[otherwindow]

#this makes me curiously sad #the idea of flowers covering the undead #that symbol of human love is what makes them docile

[bambitini]

me to zombies:

[otherwindow]

Thank you all for the responses!!!! I got a few more notes to share from folks asking me about this setting :D

It’s incredibly risky to attack zombies. The scent of the attacker’s aggressive intent coupled with spilled pungent rotten blood drives other zombies into a frenzy.

Zombies given funeral rites grow flowers within their bodies, eventually bursting from their chest and head area. These zombies are naturally gentle and their presence tames other zombies in the vicinity. Due to their helpfulness, it’s taboo to harm “blooming” undead:

Sweaty summers are the worst and everyone hopes they have enough dried flowers to last the winter. 

It’s a colourful apocalypse! An overabundance of flowers in the world leads to plenty of dyes and busy little honey bees!! Scented candles are a thriving export.

Survivors who help spread flowers, look after “blooming” undead, cull the hordes, and herd zombies away from safe areas are affectionately called Florists.

Regular weapons such as guns and knives are still used but everyone prefers perfumed water guns, spray bottles, and incense.

Zombies are so overwhelmed by the pleasant scent of rain that entire hordes cease movement until it’s gone.

[ink-and-incense]

DREAMWALKER // CASTER ENFORCEMENT AGENCY

In a city packed with chaos and casters, mundanes have one major fear: their safety and security in the presence of unpredictable magic. While the Volcaic Council established laws governing casters’ magic use across the country of Levanoris, the police force alone cannot keep tabs on both mundane and caster activities. This led to the creation of the Caster Enforcement Agency (CEA) some thirty years ago, allowing a specialized branch of law enforcement to track caster activity across Levanoris.

The Caster Enforcement Agency, led by Joseph Grant, is trained and equipped to deal with countless caster-related crimes and incidents, and are first responders in any situation pertaining to the discharge of magic in public spaces. Levanorian law states that magic cannot be directed at any individual or property, unless contractually stated (e.g. for certain jobs and businesses), and thus the CEA takes every measure available to ensure this law is enforced.

The presence of Silencers within the Caster Enforcement Agency is a common controversial topic in Levanoris, and a source of outrage for countless casters across the country. As tensions build in the city, the CEA finds itself busier than ever, working around the clock to keep casters from harming citizens or public property.

It’s rumored that the CEA maintains a database of all caster citizens in Levanoris. What they do with this information, however, remains up for debate…

Read more here.

taglist: @ren-c-leyn​ @lachiffon​ @westywrites​ @quilloftheclouds​ @sunlight-and-starskies​ @kriss-the-writing-nerd​ @semblanche​ @heldinhishands​ @hecataes​ @evelyn-paine​ @phantom-stargazer​ @clocksandchaos​

[cataclysmic-writer]

Wow I really do love short stories. I think writeblr focuses so often on novels, on 50, 60, 70, 80K word counts, but there’s something so intrinsically beautiful about telling a compelling story in 2,000 words and then moving on to tell another.

[enigmatic-elegance]

Give me body horror in magic.

Give me pyromancy that burns the skin off your hand until your bones are showing. Give me arcane that cooks you inside-out from manaburn. Give me cryomancy that cracks your skin and chips it away. Give me necromancy that causes your teeth to turn necrotic and your eyes to glass over white.

I don’t want cute magic. I want magic to be a raw and dangerous force. I want those who harness it to feel the full effects of what a great and terrible thing it is. I want mages who wear the effects of their magic on their skin and in their bones.

That’s the good stuff.

[theshadowborn-deactivated202008]

Give me that light healing that is like being cauterized from the inside out. Give me the agony of feeling your bones being reknit by nature magic. Give me the sensation of feeling like you are drowning when a shaman works their healing magic. Make it -uncomfortable-.

[the-kouchfort]

FUCK. YES.

Why on earth should it all be sparkles and giggles? Healing shouldn’t be instantaneous, nor should it be painless.

I mean, RP what you want, but this is my preference by far.

[noonmutter]

Give me magic that has consequences. Give me healing that does heal better than mundane methods, but at the risk of killing you from shock in the process. Give me a reason people in a world with magic have scars, curses that actually act like curses and have a 90/10 downside/upside ratio, the potential of actually becoming addicted to the endorphin rush that comes after this kind of healing, and the necessity that magical healers still know how the body works or they risk magically re-knitting those parts in the wrong order.

[wearemage]

Hey @donmiticool (tag doesn’t work, sorry) why would you hide such fine additions to this post in the replies? 

When I rebloged this post earlier today, I was on mobile so I couldn’t add much.

But I wanted to add a couple of more general ideas. Mages (wizards) are often seen as wise and kinda fragile scholars, sometimes as madmen (Call of Cthulhu-like ones). Want wizards that smith-like, musuclar, dirty and sweaty with callous hands, scars and burns from their craft.

This is one of the reasons I like blood magic so much. I enjoy the trope of a high price to pay for power. What if there is no mana to pay for spells? Only lifeforce and the most efficient one is the spellcaster’s one…

I still have an old draft about it on this blog. I should get back to it.

[themmfatale]

2020 gothic

- you join a zoom call. everyone’s mic is muted, but no one is talking anyway. you stare at the squares with faces in them. which is your face? you can’t be sure.

- the news is full of numbers. you try to learn what they mean, but the articles are full of jargon from fields you have no experience in, and you swear the numbers change when you blink. 

- you wake up. you sleep. you wake up. you sleep. how many days was that? you have no idea.

- you go for a walk. a shadow follows you down the street, moving when you move, stopping when you stop. always the recommended six feet away.

- every day you get several emails from corporations you’ve never heard of. each company name sounds fake, too vague, too optimistic. “Stay healthy! :)” they say. “We’re committed to keeping you safe! You must stay healthy! We love you very much! We learned everything about you so we can keep you safe! Please believe us we love you so much we’ r e  , s 0Rry:):)):))”  You try to unsubscribe, but the link just takes you to a blank black webpage. Suddenly, you can make out your reflection in the screen. What’s that over your shoulder?

- you’ve been wearing the same clothes for days, but somehow there is laundry.

[headspace-hotel]

another proposal for a new genre

Unrealistic Fiction: Like realistic fiction, except everything is super unrealistic. I don’t mean in a “fantasy/speculative fiction” sort of way, I mean things like “characters turn out to be long lost siblings for no reason” and “a side character is wealthy because he won the lottery and also he used to be a circus performer and is the descendant of Thomas Edison.” Characters die of super rare diseases and are born either on February 29th or on the exact stroke of midnight on new year’s eve or something equally unusual. The main character’s mother and father meet when one of them is skydiving and the other one is being attacked by a shark and the skydiver accidentally lands on the shark. Someone gets struck by lightning while photographing the last known specimen of an endangered bird. Two characters have the exact same birthday for no reason. The main characters’ family have an albino crow and albino deer in their backyard that are friends. The long lost siblings’ dogs are also long lost siblings. None of it is anything that couldn’t happen, just something that would sound super unrealistic if it was put in a story, and none of it is remotely relevant to the plot.

[worldbuildingwren]

Writing Update!

So I finished my first draft of Castle Veh some time around late February, and did that standard “chuck it aside for a month and then revisit it” thing. Wrote a lot of fanfic in the meantime. World fell into chaos. It was fun. Anyway, back to hell work. Some thoughts:

1) I love my “core four” characters: Kavo, Lek, Thousand Cuts, and Mem. They’ve all got shit they’re dealing with, they’ve all got very distinct ways of seeing their society and their part in it, they’ve all got goals and fears and ambitions (should probs do some character sheets for them at some point huh?) I really like writing in Kavo’s POV, the way she views the world and the things she chooses to focus on make for an interesting narration style. That said...

2) She knows too much. She knows too much about what’s going on in the world around her, about the inner politics of the castle, about how dreamweaving works. So do all the characters around her. There’s no “dumbass who needs the world explained to them” (i.e. the “Harry Potter” worldbuilding technique) and no infodumping cause I hate it, so the world is way too confusing for the reader. 

3) The plot can also be cleaned up. There’s a lot of plot threads and side characters that feel forced—I added them in as a way to shove the plot and mystery along, but it doesn’t quiteeee work and it leaves the plot feeling muddled and confusing. 

After mulling it over, I’ve reoutlined the story, essentially making Kavo’s starting knowledge base a lot smaller. She’s no longer a kingpin of the castle’s underworld, but a normal rich asshole who decides to involve herself in the castle’s underworld when her girlfriend gets hurt. That means she’s a lot more clueless (which makes the clumsiness of her early decisions actually make SENSE thank god) and a bit more sympathetic to start out. I’ve cut out about five unnecessary side characters, promoted one of the vaguely-menacing characters (aka Lek, my boy) to full on book one antagonist, and given the first act a lot more time to showcase the world and gradually warm up the reader. 

So! Onwards to draft two! Some of the scenes will remain the same (quite a few actually) but I’ll still likely be rewriting pretty much everything, just because Kavo’s perspective/emotions/motivation/etc are gonna be different. I’m aiming to get 50K words done in April for Camp NaNo. And hey, now I actually have some emotions to fuel the “underground city where no one can escape” plot

[pens-swords-stuff]

WIP Blind Date March 2020 [Writeblr Event]

Hey everyone! Do you want more people to check out your WIPs and projects? Are you interested in finding some new WIPs to adore, and people to befriend? Check this out!

WIP Blind Date is a Writeblr event where you can go discover a WIP you may have never encountered before! You can submit your WIP and have someone assigned to check it out and comment on it, and you are assigned a WIP to look at as well! It’s a win-win :)

RULES

You must follow either @pens-swords-stuff or @wip-blind-date. All important information will be posted on both blogs, and tags aren’t reliable.

By agreeing to participate, you must reblog your blind date’s post onto your blog, and review it. (You’ll be provided a feedback form to fill out!)

Try to be a prompt as you can in your reblog and review!

You may select one WIP to submit, and one only.

In order to participate, you must have some sort of writing project of your own to share. It can be at any stage in the writing process, as long as you can direct people to some place where they can check it out.

Be kind, be courteous, and keep an open mind!

If you have any questions, please submit them to the ask box of @pens-swords-stuff

Sign-ups will end on March 27th, 7PM CST

HOW TO SIGN UP

***Please note that you need to do every step in order!

1) Reblog this post and follow @pens-swords-stuff or @wip-blind-date

2) Fill out the following form, post it on your blog, and tag it #wip blind date entry. (Please delete everything after the bolded portion! All the notes are just there to help you fill it out.)

Title of your WIP:

Genre:

Trigger Warnings: (If there are any trigger warnings that need to be stated, do so here! If not, please indicate that as well.)

Stage of writing process:

Synopsis:

Character information: [OPTIONAL]

Links: (It can be a link to a WIP page, AO3/Wattpad/other websites that host writing, a google doc, tumblr posts about your WIP, moodboards, pinterest boards, excerpts, WIP art… As long as it’s something that you want to share that pertains to your WIP, go for it! You may include as many links as you like without being excessive — make sure they’re all appropriately labeled and clear about where it will lead! If you have a lot of links, be sure to indicate a couple of the most important links for your date to prioritize, just in case they can’t visit all of them)

WIP tag: (Whatever you use to tag your WIP for organizational purposes. Please link it and write it out!)

Other WIP Information: [OPTIONAL] (This is just here for you to add any extra information or comments about your WIP that you might want to!)

Constructive criticism: (Yes or no; this is to indicate whether you are open to receiving constructive criticism about your WIP or not. If you are looking for a certain type of feedback (e.g.., specifically about prose, characterization, pacing, etc), you may specify that here)

You are allowed to add images, or fancify this post however you wish, as long as it has all of the necessary information!

3) Fill out this google survey

You will not be signed up for this event until you have submitted this! This survey is for organizational purposes and won’t collect any information. Don’t worry, it’s short!

What if I want to look at people’s WIPs, but don’t want to submit my own?

That’s okay! There will be a part 2 of this event. I will be providing a way for people to discover a random WIP even if you’re not signed up for the event (or outside of your assignment if you do decide to join!). 

Basically, I’ll have a post with links to every single WIP entered in this event, but they won’t be labeled! They’ll be numbered instead. You can pick your favorite number, and it’ll lead you to a fantastic new WIP to love and enjoy! You won’t be required to reblog and review for part 2, but it would be nice if you did.

I signed up, what next?

Thanks for signing up!

After the sign-ups have closed, I will go through and assign everyone a WIP to go on a blind date with. Depending on the number of people participating, it may take me some time so please be patient.

Once I’ve done that, I’ll create a new announcement post, and we can proceed from there. Please note that you will be required to fill out a feedback form. This will be provided in the next informational post I’ll make, once sign-ups are closed.

Thank you so much for checking this out! Please spread the word even if you won’t be participating, and I hope you all enjoy this Writeblr event!

[pens-swords-stuff]

Since I’m seeing some people saying they’re scared to participate…

Look guys, everyone is required to fill out the feedback form. And this is what the feedback form looks like:

General impression of WIP:

Favorite part of WIP:

A compliment about writing style:

Favorite character:

A post that I liked a lot:

What I’m looking forward to seeing next:

Anything else?:

You will not get any criticism unless you specifically consent to it in your entry.

You have nothing to be scared of: come on and sign up!!!!

[pens-swords-stuff]

Only a handful of people are signed up so far, and I would love to see a lot more!

Tagging a few more people I like and admire, please consider joining and boosting!

Keep reading

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

there’s a quarantine going on… no pressure but i KNOW ya’ll have WIPs

[madtumbleson]

[heywriters]

Writer: here have some Emotions™

Reader: I don’t want these

Writer: yes you do have some more

[summersromance]

okay but i LOVE those authors who link all their books together?? like not even spin offs and shit,,, just mentioning, like, a street that was where another protagonist lived, or this brand that they both adore?? like srsly i aDORE that

[incandescent-eden]

Me afraid demons are going to come for me vs @worldbuildingwren making a good point that I’m really just gonna throw away a whole story that my brain just handed me on a silver platter while I was sleeping

[worldbuildingwren]

W r i t e ! I t !

[inkskinned]

Actually life is beautiful because the sound I make while trying to breathe around hot food sounds like my dog trying to eat an apple. When I yawn my cat tries to put his face in my mouth like a little dentist man and when he yawns I put my finger in his obligate-carnivore trapzone and we both know he will not hurt me. When I do not fold my clothes, they do not hold it against me.

I am demonstrably sad, and lonely, and full of fear. But there are other people who will hold my hand, who will point out the hawk overhead, who will give you That Look in a public place. The other day at a coffee shop a child said "look! It's snowing!" so all of us strangers went to go look out the windows. It wasn't the first snow and it won't be the last but wasn't it lovely, like that?

How wonderful to live in a world where birds and frogs both say beep! How wonderful to have an ocean of beautiful sharks with their dinosaur teeth! How wonderful the moon and her changing face, how wonderful the bees and their dancing to communicate, how wonderful shrimp and their forbidden layers of vision! How wonderful, you, and what you will give the world! The way we love things enough to spend entire blogs devoted to them? How people will let me explain my Pokemon team to them? How we will both jump at the scare in the movie, how we laugh so loudly, how it feels to give someone your baking? How wonderful to be alive. I am sorry for forgetting.

This is the process of getting better. With wonderful people and wonderful strangers and wonderful friends: I am getting better, slowly. Thank you, whoever you are. In some way, you've been wonderful, and left a wonderful place in the world to ripple out to me. In some small way - isn't it beautiful - I promise, you've been helping.

[worldbuildingwren]

Should I make a comic sans presentation for castle Veh?

[pens-swords-stuff]

Shoutout to all the writers out there who do worldbuilding on a small scale.

Big, sprawling fantasy worldbuilding for an entire original universe tends to get most of the attention in this community — for a very good reason! A lot of people do it, and it is all seriously interesting and impressive.

But this post is for all the people who do small worldbuilding too. This is for all the people that worldbuild original cities in a modern setting for their story. This is for all the people that put a lot of care and attention in creating a shop, restaurant, school, building, and come up with really cool backstories that may or may not make its way into the actual narrative. This is for all the people that discovered little details to weave into a culture on a smaller scale — like a local community, a school, a family, a person. This is for all the people that do worldbuilding — but a different type of worldbuilding than the kind we typically associate with that term.

Worldbuilding on a smaller scale is so cool and I really love seeing it! Every detail you guys include are so interesting and it hasn’t gone unnoticed. Keep worldbuilding you funky dudes, it’s all super awesome to know that so much love and care was put into the small things.

[valtsv]

idk why listening to people complain really passionately about something that i don't even care or know anything about is so entertaining but it is

[valtsv]

me sitting down to watch a tired college student with like 100k subscribers rant for half an hour about how bad some trashy YA novel i've never read is on youtube