a work in progress

Rae/Straw || 24 || aroace || just trying my best to actually finish shit || main: @silverraes

[wraetingsonthewall]

hello and welcome to wraetingsonthewall

aka an absolutely terrible attempt at scramming my nickname into a fun url

This blog can offer you:

half-assed ideas and 3am daydreams that haunt my waking hours

too many characters and too little plot

"a name? no. but I could curate an entire playlist for this character"

very likely months or years of absence bc I do not control the speed at which motivation strikes

at least 10 unfinished and/or not even started WIPs that I hide in my closet. we do not speak about them.

shitty comic sans intros

comma use purely based on vibes

romance and fantasy

Sounds familiar? Or do you just like the torture of following people who have never managed to finish a story, ever, in their life? Then fret not, you have found the right place!

As you can surmise from my absolutely banger url, I am your humble author (non-practicing) Rae, but people also know me as Straw. I am 24 years old, aroace and German, but I prefer writing in English bc that's just how my brain works by now lol. Apart from writing, I am also a huge enthusiast of books, video games, Asian dramas & music.

As for my current WIPs:

#Catalyst WIP

WIP Intro - Comic Sans Presentation

Our heroine Vivian thinks she got her happy ever after four years ago when she and Prince (now King) Valen defeated the rebellion and stopped the rebels from discovering the location of the catalyst, a device with the power to bring magic back into the world... and tear it apart as a result. All good, right? No, because now Vivian is plagued with weird dreams about the rebellion's leader - who has been dead for four years. She watched him die and everything. And she's well aware that you shouldn't trust ominous warnings from villains in your head... but then shit happens and now she really has to rethink her life choices.

#Arthurian WIP

WIP Intro - Cimic Sans Presentation - Writing Log

An M/M romantasy inspired by Arthurian legend, set after Arthur's death - This is basically just King Arthur's return but make it gay. Oh, also the evil witch Morgaine poisoned the source of Albion's magic, Merlin has been living in hiding for centuries because the people of Camelot aren't exactly the biggest fans of magic right now and a large part of his magic was sealed along with Excalibur. And to top it all off, Arthur might finally be reincarnated now, but he remembers exactly nothing about his past life and Merlin has to somehow convince him to trust magic again so that they can go defeat Morgaine and purify Albion's magic to free the land's witches and warlocks from the curse they'd been living under. Nothing easier than that, right?

#Fairy Tale WIP

Fun Little Presentation

This one's mostly still in the "no plot head empty, we're operating on vibes only" stage, but from what I currently have it's likely going to be a series of interconnected standalones about a magic forest and the people cursed to live out their own tragic fairy tales within it. We currently have four couples: The Romantic & The Lonely Prince, The Witch & Her Hunter, The Elf & The Human and The Vampire & The Wolf. If you wanna know a bit more about the vibes and premise, check out the presentation I put together. Otherwise, I'll deliver intros for the separate stories once I work 'em out lol.

Last but not least, my main is @silverraes so follows and all that fun stuff will be coming from there.

If you're somehow still here: hello! Get comfy because this will be a long ride.

[catie-does-things]

if you want your female characters to both have agency in the story and be complex human individuals then sometimes bad things have to be their fault

[blessthosewhocurseyou]

Also if a female character in a story has canonically bad things that are at least partially her fault it’s not #girlboss feminism to blame it on everyone but her and accuse the author of being sexist for daring to imply a woman might have done something wrong

[kjscottwrites]

[mynowherenothing]

[red-shameless]

Presenting to you my writing cycle

[promptsforthesoul]

Reminder that continuing to mention a character’s injuries and how they impact their mobility, pain, thoughts, etc. moving forward is one of the coolest things you can do as a writer.

[katarinazurar]

me while writing: ah yes, this character should do this, it feels so natural with what they're saying

me while editing: why the FUCK does he lean on the doorway SEVENTEEN TIMES IN THIS CHAPTER

[wraetingsonthewall]

Writing Log: Arthurian WIP

- otherwise known as the accountability log or: rae kicks her own ass to finish this thing -

sooooo yeahh, I saw some people on here do sth like this before and since this is the first story where I'm just kinda... making shit up as I go (read: the first story I'm actually making progress on) I figured this would be a nice way to keep track of my progress and to keep y'all updated. kick my ass if I go too long without posting one of these.

Words written: 3173 over two writing sessions

Words total: 3173

Progress: prologue & chapter one finished

Favorite line from this session (double feature since this was two writing sessions):

I found him. And then I immediately lost him again.

♥♥♥

“You look as if you’ve seen a ghost,” she remarks now. I look past her at the fireplace. “Ghosts are everywhere, Vera,” I mutter and relight the fire with a snap of my fingers. “Nothing unusual.”

Goal for next session: make progress on chapter 2, ideally get to the part where our idiots actually meet

Thoughts: busy with a ton of end-of-semester uni stuff so writing is slow, but at least I'm actually liking my first chapter and my progress so far. I'm usually someone who likes to overplan absolutely everything before I even start writing, but that usually also means I never really get around to writing a lot before the next WIP idea grips me lol... so just going with the flow is actually a nice change of pace for once, I guess? I mean I do know what my major plot points are going to be, but figuring out what the world looks like, which characters enter when and how to get from one plot point to the next is gonna be a problem for future me lmao.

[wraetingsonthewall]

because I can't come up with a WIP without making a shitty little comic sans presentation: here is one for my arthurian wip

let it be said that I've actually written two chapters for this one already so if you're at all interested: kick my ass to keep going before the procrastination wins again lmao

link to the picrew

[achillesinhighheels]

choosing to ignore my weirdly symbolic dream because i have a lot going on rn already

[wraetingsonthewall]

desperately gonna need someone to invent a way to beam words out of my brain directly into my document because the amount of times the written scene just simply does not hit the same way it did in my head is diabolical

[wraetingsonthewall]

"this character will be a simple side character, completely unimportant to the overall plot. local barmaid who's only there to drop occasional life lessons."

I lied, this character is now the MC's emotional support bestie who will drag him back from hell herself, all the while complaining about his self-preservation skills.

[wraetingsonthewall]

most essential part of writing is definitely going back to reread the words you literally just wrote five times in a row instead of continuing to write more words

[solarsthoughts]

it’s a canon event.

[theunfortunate-author]

my daily affirmation as an author

[wraetingsonthewall]

writeblr peeps interact, please!

the past 24h I've been working on my Arthurian legend inspired romantasy story more consistently than I've worked on anything else, ever, and I need someone to kick my ass to keep me working on it lmao

I also love to hear people talk about their own plot, OCs and world lore so if you're a hobby author writing an original story and want to yap about our stories and ideas or to engage in tag games and ask pestering hmu!!

[wraetingsonthewall]

WIP Intro: No Name, Vibes Only - Arthurian Edition

GENRE: fantasy, romance

POV: dual POV, first person, present tense (except for the prologue lol)

SETTING: the Kingdom of Camelot which is still looking suspiciously medieval after multiple centuries but we don't question that bc fantasy

STATUS: we're kinda just making shit up as we go tbh

TROPES/THEMES: arthurian legend, magic, grief & reunion, reincarnation, "I've been waiting centuries for you and you don't even know who I am", reluctant companions to friends to lovers, gay gay homosexual gay

SUMMARY:

Arthur Pendragon is dead. That has been Merlin's reality for hundreds of years now. Robbed of most of his magic and hiding in the shadows of a Camelot that sees magic as its greatest enemy, he's been biding his time. Waiting. Because centuries ago, after their tragic loss at the Battle of Camlann, after the witch Morgaine had poisoned the Well of Magic, causing it to turn against the very witches and warlocks who relied on it, the Oracle of Avalon had prophesied that Camelot's true king would return. And when Merlin has almost given up hope, he does. Only, Arthur has no memories of his previous life, of the unbreakable bond they once shared, and Morgaine's army of tainted witches keeps pushing ever further into the kingdom's borders. Can Merlin convince Arthur to trust him the way he once did, convince him that magic isn't inherently evil and that Camelot's Well of Magic can still be saved?

Excerpt - Prologue:

The young warlock cried out as the sword hit the stone.

He could feel his power ebbing. All this magic that he’d come to rely on… reduced to almost nothing.

He’d lost so much already. They had fought so hard, given their all. And still it hadn't been enough. The kingdom’s magic—twisted into something cruel, something much more devastating. The few remaining witches and warlocks—now doomed to be ostracized forever, sentenced to live in eternal seclusion or succumb to the evil that had befallen their magic. The only man the young warlock had ever loved, the only hope for this entire kingdom… dead at his feet.

And now his magic, too. The only sliver of control he’d had left, taken from him so suddenly and without regard for his future or safety. But the Oracle did not seem to care that she had sentenced him to a life of eternal struggle.

She had appeared when the fight had already been over, a young woman more ghostly figure than human, her sallow skin glowing in the same pale yellow as her long, cream-colored dress and her golden locks, her bare feet never quite touching the ground as she walked across the devastation on the battlefield.

“Your time has not yet come,” she had said when she’d reached him. And then she had taken up the prince’s sword, examined it like she’d been trying to decipher a secret the young warlock hadn't been privy to. A few mumbled words and the woman had plunged the sword into a nearby rock. And the young warlock’s magic, it seemed, along with it.

“You’re killing me,” he cried now. “You're killing this entire kingdom. My magic was the only pure one left, the only thing that could save-”

“And it will,” the Oracle interrupted. “But it is as I’ve said—your time has not yet come.”

She regarded him with a look that offered no chance for argument.

“You will live, young warlock. As you always have.”

And she was right. He had never quite managed to die, escaping every impossible encounter with his life. When he’d been stabbed, the magic had stitched his skin back together within minutes. When he’d been poisoned, he’d woken up the next day with a minor headache and no lasting damage.

“Your magic may remain pure as of yet,” the Oracle continued, “but your body will not be able to sustain it forever, not under current circumstances. The amount of magic I have left you, yes, you will be able to keep pure. But even your body has its limits and you will be waiting for a long time to come, warlock.”

All he could do was stare at her. Blood was still staining his hands, his robes. Smeared across his cheeks where the prince had caressed them before exhaling his last breath. No, the young warlock did not want to wait. He wanted to lie down, to rot into the earth, right here, next to the smashed pieces of his broken heart and the tattered remains of his hopes and dreams. He balled his hands into fists, ready to tell her as much, but what the Oracle said next made him halt.

“He will rise again.” She stepped—floated—down from the jagged piece of stone, the sword’s hilt protruding from it like an impossible promise, and knelt down next to the warlock, ghosting the pale glow of her hand across the dead prince’s face. “He will carry the same name, the same face. But the generations will have made his people forget who he is, what importance his family line carries.”

She stood, looked down upon the bloodied man kneeling before her.

“And you will be his sword and shield. As you always have been, as you always will be. The oath you have sworn to his life is not so easily broken. When the time is right, you will return to retrieve the blade that is rightfully his and the magic that is rightfully yours. And there will be time to liberate this broken world yet.

“Until then, take care… Merlin.”

With that, she disappeared. Her translucent form flickered, like a candle in the wind. And then—nothing.

The young man kept looking at the place she had been, a vacant stare in his eyes. He dared not breathe, for he feared any small movement might wake him up, pull him back into this reality where all hope was lost and make him realize that the excruciating loss had made him go mad, had made him hallucinate the Oracle and her words that he was now clinging to like a lifeline.

For several more minutes he remained like this. Frozen. Unmoving. Until, finally, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. And when he opened them again, new determination had gripped the warlock, a grim look etched into the lines of his face. He bowed down, pressed one last kiss to the prince’s forehead. And then he rose to his feet.

Wait, the Oracle had said. And wait, he would. For however long it would take. To see his prince—his king—again, he’d wait for an eternity.